Cross-cultural research is an exciting development in the context of marketing and branding, as it allows businesses to tap into a specific niche and expand their audience. However, it’s hardly as simple as it sounds. In fact, researchers face their fair share of challenges when conducting market research on multicultural groups. This is why it’s imperative to collaborate with a multicultural marketing research firm for nuanced insights.

Here are a few existing challenges in cross-cultural research.

Sampling Challenges

One of the biggest challenges researchers face is narrowing down a sample for their study. Finding participants from a specific multicultural group is easy. However, finding participants within that group who meet certain criteria is much harder. Moreover, determining which specific variables and factors to use for sampling is also challenging, as it raises the concerns of accurate representation.

For instance, a brand may need information about consumer behavior of Hispanics in the US. Consumer behavior varies across socioeconomic, gender, and other identity groups within the Hispanic community. By focusing only on a certain factor, brands are at a risk of generalizing and acquiring information that doesn’t fully align with their target audience.

Inaccurate Information Due to Cultural Obligation

Another common challenge that arises in cross-cultural research is getting data that doesn’t align with previous research and current expectations. This isn’t to say that new findings should be dismissed if they contradict earlier ones. However, researchers often report a discrepancy due to the participants’ modified attitudes and behaviors.

This usually occurs when participants feel obligated to represent their community in a certain way. As a result, they may give inaccurate or inauthentic responses to prevent being stereotyped or perceived a certain way. This leads to misinformation due to participants’ “cultural obligations”, disrupting research.

Ethical Challenges

Ethical guidelines must be implemented in all researches involving human participation, but are especially crucial during cross-cultural research. Many researchers struggle to obtain specific information from multicultural groups as participants are hesitant to share details. This is especially likely if the researcher isn’t a part of the multicultural group being studied. Moreover, researchers also experience heightened issues of anonymity and consent in cross-cultural research.

It’s imperative to adhere to ethical practices when obtaining data. Sometimes, ethical codes may be breached when the researchers have little awareness about the norms, values, and behaviors of the groups they’re studying. This is a serious concern in cross-cultural research and needs to be addressed.

Hire a Multicultural Marketing Firm in New York for Your Campaign

Ethnotics is an experienced multicultural marketing research agency that conducts ethical research and provides brands with consumer insights. We help businesses with their market research and analyses, enabling them to create and execute inclusive and impactful marketing campaigns.

Reach out to our multicultural marketing research firm today to get started.