Researchers who are unfamiliar with the cultural andethnic groups they are studying must take extraprecautions to shed any biases they bring with themfrom their own culture. For example, they must makesure they construct measures that are meaningfulfor each of the cultural or ethnic minority groupsbeing studied.

In conducting research on cultural and ethnic minority issues, investigators distinguishbetween the emic approach and the etic approach. In the emic approach, the goal is todescribe behavior in one culture or ethnic group in terms that are meaningful and important tothe people in that culture or ethnic group,without regard to other cultures or ethnic groups. Inthe etic approach, the goal is to describe behavior so that generalizations can be made acrosscultures. If researchers construct a questionnaire in an emic fashion, their concern is onlythat the questions are meaningful to the particular culture or ethnic group beingstudied. If.however, the researchers construct a questionnaire in an etic fashion,they want to includequestions that reflet concepts familiar to all cultures involved.

How might the emic and etic approaches be reflected in the study of family processes? In theemic approach,the researchers might choose to focus only on middle-class White families,without regard for whether theinformation obtained in the study can be generalized or isappropriate for ethnic minority groups. In a subsequent study. the researchers may decide toadopt an etic approach by studying not only middle-class White families, but also lower-income White families. Black American families, Spanish American families. andAsian Americanfamilies. In studying ethnic minority families, the researchers would likely discover that theextended family is more frequently a, support system in ethnic minority families than in WhiteAmerican families. If so, the emic approach would reveal a different pattern of familyinteraction than would theetic approach, documenting that research with middle-class Whitefamilies cannot always be generalized to all ethnic groups.

1. According to the First paragraph.researchersunfamiliar with the target cultures are inclinedto________________.

A) be overcautious in constructing meaningfulmeasures

B) view them from their own cultural perspective

C) guard against interference from their own culture

D) accept readily what is alien to their own culture

2. What does the author say about the emic approach and the etic approach'?

A) They have different research focuses in the study of ethnic issues.

B) The former is biased while the latter is objective.

C) The former concentrates on the study of culture while the latter on family issues.

D) They are both heavily dependent on questionnaires in conducting surveys.

3. Compared with the etic approach the emic approach is apparentlymore______________.

A) culturally interactive

B) culture-oriented

C) culturally biased

D) culture-specific

4. The etic approach is concerned with________________.

A) the general characteristics of minority families

B) culture-related concepts of individual ethnic groups

C) features shared by various cultures or ethnic groups

D) the economic conditions of different types of families