ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 discusses research considerations in culture studies. It encourages students to critically assess the prevalent models for cultural analysis, and it provides insight and guidelines for choosing a research method that is most suited for the selected cultural group. It sheds light on the importance of a cultural fit between the research method and the epistemological framework. The chapter also assesses the ability of various methods to capture the intricacies of culture, such as large-scale surveys which have become the norm in culture study. It expands on etic and emic research approaches, and points at the quantitative-qualitative research dichotomy. It discusses ethnography and netnography as promising methods for analyzing culture. Finally, the chapter also discusses the importance of placing cultural analysis against a backdrop of the broader political and legal context in a host country, and the links between economy and culture. Case-in-point examples include the use of ethnography by Best Buy, netnographic research by Listerine, and the use of cultural metaphors. The mini-case included with Chapter 8 is Nike.
