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Equivalence in Research on Positive Development of Minority Children: Methodological Approaches

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Handbook on Positive Development of Minority Children and Youth

Abstract

We describe methodological challenges in studies of positive development of minority youth. A framework is described that captures the main validity threats in this type of research. The framework involves different types of bias (referring to sources of systematic error in studies of minority youth). If there is bias in a study, the comparability of constructs or scores across minority groups can be challenged. Many procedures have been proposed in the literature to deal with such methodological problems, which affect either the design or the analysis of a study. We review such procedures and pay special attention to two topics that attract much attention in recent studies: response styles and mixed methods. It is concluded that sound methods can help to make study results more robust and replicable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Fons J. R. van de Vijver & Jia He

  2. North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Fons J. R. van de Vijver

  3. University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia

    Fons J. R. van de Vijver

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  1. Fons J. R. van de Vijver
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Correspondence to Fons J. R. van de Vijver .

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  1. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Natasha J. Cabrera

  2. Fakultät für Psychologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Birgit Leyendecker

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van de Vijver, F.J.R., He, J. (2017). Equivalence in Research on Positive Development of Minority Children: Methodological Approaches. In: Cabrera, N., Leyendecker, B. (eds) Handbook on Positive Development of Minority Children and Youth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43645-6_4

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