Surveys as cultural artefacts : applying the international self-report delinquency study to Latin American adolescents

Rodríguez, JA; Pérez Santiago, N; Birkbeck, CH

Abstract

Survey instruments are often watermarked with the language, thought patterns, experience and expectations of their designers’ cultural world. This creates some evident challenges when using surveys in international research projects (for example, in finding equivalent terms in translation), but also some less evident ones deriving from potentially hidden local variations in social experience,
values and cognition. Using examples from the International Self-Report Delinquency Study, this article identifies several potential challenges to measurement that arise when an instrument designed with the youth of industrialized democracies in mind is presented to adolescents in a Latin American country (Venezuela). Some strategies for addressing these challenges are outlined.

Citation

Rodríguez, J., Pérez Santiago, N., & Birkbeck, C. (2015). Surveys as cultural artefacts : applying the international self-report delinquency study to Latin American adolescents. European Journal of Criminology, 12(4), 420-436. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370815581701

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 16, 2015
• Online Publication Date: May 8, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: May 18, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: European Journal of Criminology
• Print ISSN: 1477-3708
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 420-436
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370815581701
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1477370815581701
• Related Public URLs: http://euc.sagepub.com/
• Additional Information: Funders : Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Venezuela; Projects : Encuesta Internacional de Auto-Revelación de la Delincuencia Juvenil - Venezuela; Grant Number: C201200930