title: Personality in cultural context: methodological issues.
abstract: Methodological issues in cultural and cross-cultural personality research are described. A taxonomy of these studies is presented, based on whether a study is exploratory or tests hypotheses, and whether or not contextual information is measured. Core methodological issues are bias and equivalence: a taxonomy and a brief overview of statistical procedures to examine equivalence are presented, with a focus on procedures for assessing structural equivalence (i.e., similarity of meaning of an instrument across cultures). Examples are given of studies in which cultural and cross-cultural approaches, often seen as antithetical, have been fruitfully integrated. Finally, multilevel models are described in which personality characteristics are examined at individual and cultural level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. fons.vandevijver@kub.nl
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van de Vijver
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leung
mesh_terms: D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D011582:Psychological Theory