Using true experiments to study culture: Manipulations, measurement issues, and the question of appropriate control groups

Authors

Christine Ma-Kellams, San Jose State UniversityFollow

Publication Date

3-26-2021

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Methods in Psychology

Volume

4

DOI

10.1016/j.metip.2021.100046

Abstract

Social group memberships are primarily studied in quasi-experimental contexts, but how can culture, class and gender be manipulated in true experimental designs? This review highlights the different empirical strategies that can be used to manipulate “culture” as it relates to race/ethnicity (activation of thinking styles, language, and priming of cultural constructs), class (social standing, group status, or perceived social status), and gender (role salience, gender identity, sex hormone administration). I review measurement issues related to manipulation checks and the problem of what construct is tapped by the manipulation, appropriate control groups, and intersectional identities or group memberships.

Keywords

Culture, Experimental design, Ethnicity

Comments

This is the Version of Record and can also be read online here.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Department

Psychology

Recommended Citation

Christine Ma-Kellams. "Using true experiments to study culture: Manipulations, measurement issues, and the question of appropriate control groups" Methods in Psychology (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metip.2021.100046