Conducting cross-cultural research with diverse ethnic groups in sport and physical activity settings

Assessment and quantification of physical activity levels are essential components of the evaluation of the efficacy of interventions and policies aimed at increasing physical activity and sport (PAS) participation. Popularised methods of collecting these data include self-report such as focus groups, questionnaires and interviews (Silsbury et al., 2015), and objective methods such as pedometers and accelerometers (Vanhelst et al., 2013). Limitations of these methods when working with ethnically diverse groups have consistently been identified. Issues with construct validity of self-report methods due to a lack of appropriate cultural contextualisation of data collection instruments are known to affect the quality of activity data (Curry et al., 2015). In addition to issues with cultural contextualisation of data collection instruments, many self-report instruments such as questionnaires are developed in a vernacular that has no direct translation to many of the languages spoken and understood within diverse ethnic groups (Curry et al., 2015). Objective measures suffer from difficulties with compliance and adherence to data collection protocols, often due to participant suspicion of the technology or miscommunication of the objectives of the research (Curry et al., 2015). This chapter will explore the methodological challenges of collecting PAS data with diverse ethnic minority groups using a study with South Asian women in the UK as a case study. This study employed self-report and objective methods of measuring activity among several generations of Bangladeshi and Pakistani women in the UK. Issues around power and representation of ethnically diverse groups in the data collection process (cultural contextualisation, language, distrust of researchers/technology) as well as solutions that were employed to overcome barriers will be explored (participant input into questionnaires, pilot testing, gaining community and stakeholder trust). Finally, we will discuss how the complexities of conducting cross-cultural research with diverse ethnic groups can be practically overcome and make recommendations for future PAS research.