The 4th Summer School: "Designing mixed-method research in cross-cultural psychology"

On June 6-9, the International Scientific-Educational Laboratory for Socio-Cultural Research held its fourth international Summer School. The summer school was focused on improving the research proposals of the participants and brininging them up to standards for publication of the leading international scientific journals.

Work at the summer school was organized in three sections: values and value transmission, social capital and economic behavior, and attitudes towards outgroups. The participants were selected based on their research proposals from the students and researchers from HSE and other universities. English was the working language of the summer school.

The school opened with an introductory lecture on methodological challenges in cross-cultural research. After that, the group work began – for three days the teachers of the summer school, renowned cross-cultural psychologists Shalom Schwartz (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Fons van de Vijver and Seger Breugelmans (both from Tilburg University, Netherlands) worked on the participants’ proposals.

Each participant had an opportunity to discuss their project with every teacher. The teachers pointed out methodological and theoretical weaknesses of the projects and worked together with the students on resolving them. The main focus was on the clarification of research goals, choosing appropriate methods, and clarifying the theoretical grounds for research. The teachers shared relevant bibliographic references and practical advice.

During the school each participant received plentiful feedback on their projects from leading experts in the field and from their colleagues, and the projects have changed significantly.