Cross-national research: some methodological considerations

Cross-national research is a research methodology that aims to make comparisons across countries. Nowadays, cross-national research is growing, especially in some social science disciplines such as sociology, political science, geography, and economics. However, it has not yet steadily entered the field of audiovisual translation (AVT). Despite its theoretical and methodological challenges (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik & Harkness, 2005), cross-national research could be used successfully in AVT to investigate long-debated issues. These issues include, but are not restricted to, the reception of a given AVT method or strategy, and the different ways in which the translation process is accomplished in different countries. In this contribution, I will outline both theoretical and methodological debates in comparative cross-national research and apply them to AVT. After that, I will briefly present the results of a cross-national study (Perego et. al, 2016) designed to analyse the subtitle reception comparing the way the process takes place in different countries with different AVT traditions. The discussion of the study will contribute to assessing the potential strengths of cross-national research in AVT, thus offering indications on future methodological developments and enabling future and more rigorous international comparisons.

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Methodological considerations for identifying questionable publishing in a national context: The case of Swedish Higher Education Institutions

Quantitative Science Studies ◽

10.1162/qss_a_00033 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Gustaf Nelhans ◽

Theo Bodin

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Quantitative Estimation ◽

Higher Education Institutions ◽

National Level ◽

Journal Publication ◽

Publication Data ◽

Starting Point ◽

University Colleges ◽

Methodological Considerations ◽

Cross National

The overall scope of this study is an attempt at a methodological framework for matching publication lists at the national level against a combined set of blacklists for questionable publishing. Using the total verified set of publications from Swedish Higher Education Institutions (HEI) as a case, we examined the number, distribution, and proportion of publishing in questionable journals at the national level. Journal publication data was extracted from the national SwePub database and matched against three curated blacklists of questionable publishing. For the period 2012–2017, we identified 1,743 published papers in blacklisted journals, equal to an average of 0.5–0.9% of the total publications from Swedish HEIs. There was high variability between different HEI categories, with more established universities at the lower end of the spectrum, while university colleges and new universities had a much higher proportion (∼2%). There was a general decreasing trend during the study period (ρ = 0.83) for all categories of HEIs. The study presents a methodology to identify questionable publishing in academia that could be applied to other countries with similar infrastructure. Thus, it could serve as a starting point for the development of a general framework for cross-national quantitative estimation of questionable publishing.

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Maternal Perception of Infants’ Expressions of Emotion

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000008 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 173-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Martin Krippl ◽

Stephanie Ast-Scheitenberger ◽

Ina Bovenschen ◽

Gottfried Spangler

Keyword(s):

Response Pattern ◽

Electrodermal Activity ◽

Startle Amplitude ◽

Caregiving System ◽

Parental Caregiving ◽

Opponent Process ◽

Opponent Process Theory ◽

Valence And Arousal ◽

Methodological Considerations

In light of Lang’s differentiation of the aversive and the approach system – and assumptions stemming from attachment theory – this study investigates the role of the approach or caregiving system for processing infant emotional stimuli by comparing IAPS pictures, infant pictures, and videos. IAPS pictures, infant pictures, and infant videos of positive, neutral, or negative content were presented to 69 mothers, accompanied by randomized startle probes. The assessment of emotional responses included subjective ratings of valence and arousal, corrugator activity, the startle amplitude, and electrodermal activity. In line with Lang’s original conception, the typical startle response pattern was found for IAPS pictures, whereas no startle modulation was observed for infant pictures. Moreover, the startle amplitudes during negative video scenes depicting crying infants were reduced. The results are discussed with respect to several theoretical and methodological considerations, including Lang’s theory, emotion regulation, opponent process theory, and the parental caregiving system.

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Effectiveness of Programs for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000379 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Amaia Del Campo ◽

Marisalva Fávero

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Sexual Abuse ◽

New Zealand ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Prevention Programs ◽

The United States ◽

Sexual Abuse Prevention ◽

Negative Effects ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Methodological Considerations

Abstract. During the last decades, several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention programs implemented in different countries. In this article, we present a review of 70 studies (1981–2017) evaluating prevention programs, conducted mostly in the United States and Canada, although with a considerable presence also in other countries, such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The results of these studies, in general, are very promising and encourage us to continue this type of intervention, almost unanimously confirming its effectiveness. Prevention programs encourage children and adolescents to report the abuse experienced and they may help to reduce the trauma of sexual abuse if there are victims among the participants. We also found that some evaluations have not considered the possible negative effects of this type of programs in the event that they are applied inappropriately. Finally, we present some methodological considerations as critical analysis to this type of evaluations.

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Challenges of Fear Conditioning Research in the Age of RDoC

Zeitschrift für Psychologie ◽

10.1027/2151-2604/a000303 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 225 (3) ◽

pp. 189-199 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽

Jan Richter

Keyword(s):

Fear Conditioning ◽

Clinical Diagnosis ◽

Research Domain Criteria ◽

Major Focus ◽

The Future ◽

Definition Of ◽

Methodological Considerations ◽

Research Domain

Abstract. As the criticism of the definition of the phenotype (i.e., clinical diagnosis) represents the major focus of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, it is somewhat surprising that discussions have not yet focused more on specific conceptual and procedural considerations of the suggested RDoC constructs, sub-constructs, and associated paradigms. We argue that we need more precise thinking as well as a conceptual and methodological discussion of RDoC domains and constructs, their interrelationships as well as their experimental operationalization and nomenclature. The present work is intended to start such a debate using fear conditioning as an example. Thereby, we aim to provide thought-provoking impulses on the role of fear conditioning in the age of RDoC as well as conceptual and methodological considerations and suggestions to guide RDoC-based fear conditioning research in the future.

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