Open AccessA Differential Construct Methodology for Modelling Predictive Cultural Values
Author(s) -
Béatrice Boufoy Bastick
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2002.1970
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , psychology , indigenous , social psychology , ethnic group , ethnography , multiculturalism , differential (mechanical device) , cultural diversity , sociology , pedagogy , anthropology , ecology , computer science , engineering , biology , programming language , aerospace engineering
This paper presents an explanatory model of cultural behaviours, which resulted from a four-year ethnographic study of the different academic attainments in English of indigenous Fijians and the Indo-Fijians in the Fiji Islands. Fiji is a natural laboratory for investigating differential cultural behaviours because of these two culturally distinct main ethnic groups. Their different cultural behaviours were found to serve different values within each culture. A three-construct grounded model of these different values emerged from observations and analyses of these behaviours. These constructs were then de-constructed to define and explain a fourth target construct of their Differential Teaching Behaviours, which were contributing to the different academic attainments of the two cultures. The validity of the resulting four-construct model was both empirically and quantitatively ascertained and it is argued that the model can be used to predict culturally determined behaviours and educational outcomes in similar multicultural contexts.