ABSTRACT
Culture shapes research practices from the choice and formulation of theories and methods to the interpretation of findings, as well as applied sport psychology service delivery that needs cultural competence to be effective. Cultural anthropologists’ pioneering research on cultures, often using ethnographic fieldwork, provided a foundation for the psychological research on culture. Cultural sport psychology emerged in sport psychology as a call to engage with issues surrounding sociocultural difference, cultural diversity, and cultural competence in theorizing, research, and practice. Cross-cultural psychology became an established research field within psychology in the mid 20th century and brought together the anthropologists’ interest in culture with research methods established in psychology. Cross-cultural scholars understand culture as an individual’s membership in a particular group, most often based on nationality, language, or race and ethnicity. Cultural studies research is characterized by an openness to various theoretical and methodological approaches and content areas.
