A critical investigation into cross-cultural research methodology: some insights and literature review

The importance of cross-culture research and its methodology goes back to early 1960s. However, the recent emphasis on this line of research became of paramount interest to researchers in the 1980s and 1990s. This critical investigation carefully examines literature on cross-culture research methodology in the last two decades of the second millennium. The selection of these two decades is mainly due to the fact that a large number of cross-culture methodology studies have emerged during these two decades. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify the most crucial methodological issues in cross-culture research during these two decades. The list of issues addressed in this paper is by no means collectively exhaustive; however, it fills a void that has been neglected for long time. And due to the lag in incorporating some of the new advances in research projects and papers published in this area of scientific inquiry, the time period starting with 1980s is much more appropriate, as Samiee and Jeong (1994) have indicated. This critical investigation is very important for researchers who want to embark on research projects in this area.