A Cross-Cultural Pilot Study
A study was designed to measure the attitude towards attitude about and belief on mentally retarded
children in two cultures, Belgian and Indonesian. The attitudes were measured by a questionnaire formulated by the investigator. It was predicted that the Belgian would show a more positive attitude than the Indonesian.
In a paper written last may (Nindyantoro 2010), on best educational practices with autistic children, concluded that in developing countries in the world this diagnostic is not fully understood. In the western world, autism has been studied extensively at least over the past twenty years. Since the present survey study is cross cultural and involved cultures unfamiliar with autism, the research question was changed from autism to mental retardation, and asked for a comparison between the Belgian and the Indonesian (the home culture of the investigator) cultures. A hypothesis was formulated that the Belgian culture will have more positive attitudes and beliefs about children with mental retardation because people from that culture have more knowledge about and experience with such children as well as means to support their lives. The circumstances under which the study which carried out limited the number of subject to five from each culture; therefore, this survey study is a pilot study will not yield result that would be applicable to entire cultures.
Procedures
Subject
For this cross-cultural pilot survey study the investigator sent ten consent forms (Appendix 1), half to Belgian adults and half to Indonesian adults, assuring them of total confidentiality. All ten subjects invited to participate responded positively. Therefore, the study has ten subjects divided equally between the two cultures. All subjects come from a convenient population personally familiar to the investigator due to the circumstances.
Materials
The investigator developed a tool to measure attitude towards children with mental retardation. The tool is a questionnaire which consists of twelve items distributed as follows: four “positive” statements, i.e., statements which support the hypothesis if the subject agrees to them (e.g., “Mentally retarded children have the right to complete health care”.); four “negative” statements, i.e., statements which support the hypothesis if the subject disagrees to them (e.g., “Mentally retarded children should not be allowed to play with normal children”.); and four “distractors”, i.e., statements that are neutral with respect to the hypothesis (e.g., “Mentally retarded children like to be alone”.). The order of the items was scrambled in order to keep from the subjects the exact purpose of the study and not influence them in their answers. The questionnaire (Appendix 2) was distributed to the people who agreed to participate in the study with the instruction that they had to choose one of the five answers (“strongly agree”, “agree”, “somewhat agree”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree”.) for each items.
Data analysis
Once the questionnaires were returned, the distractors were thrown out, and the remaining eight answers for each subject were scored as follows: all the “strongly agree” answers to the positive items and the “strongly disagree” answers to the negative items were awarded a score of five; all the “agree” answers to the positive items and the “disagree” answers to the negative items were awarded a score of four; all the “somewhat agree” answers whether to the negative or positive items were awarded a score of three; all the “agree” answers to the negative items and the “disagree” answers to the positive items were awarded a score of two; all the “strongly agree” answers to the negative items and the “strongly disagree” answers to the positive items were awarded a score of one.
Then the resulting scores were added up by culture and within the culture by type of item i.e., “positive” or “negative”. Finally percentages were calculated for each culture. The data are summarized in tables one to two. The bold face numbers represent the Belgian (table 1) and the Indonesian (table 2) supporting the hypothesis.
Table 1: Belgian Scores on Positive and Negative Items
The results show that 72.5% of Indonesian subject support the hypothesis.
The survey shows an 11% difference between Belgians (83.5%) and Indonesians (72.5%)
with respect to attitude and belief about mentally retarded children support the
hypothesis.
Result and Discussion
The hypothesis at the basis of this study was that Belgians would show a more positive
attitude towards children with mental retardation than Indonesians the data analysis
confirms the hypothesis 83.5% of the 40 observations coming from 5 adult Belgians are
in support of the hypothesis, and only 72.5% of the 40 observations from the 5 adult
Indonesians are in support. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed by an 11% difference,
which is a strong difference from a pilot study.
In spite of the fact that the hypothesis was highly confirmed, one has to be aware of the
limitations of pilot study in general, and in particular of a study such as the one repeated
here. The limitations of this study start with the small number of subjects selected from a
convenient population and end with the fact it was carried out in English with subjects
whose knowledge of the language may have been less than perfect.
If the further study proves the hypothesis, steps need to be taken in educating the
Indonesians about children with mental retardation. The investigator as a Brother of
charity is in a best position to carry out such an education in his country.
A study was designed to measure the attitude towards attitude about and belief on mentally retarded
children in two cultures, Belgian and Indonesian. The attitudes were measured by a questionnaire formulated by the investigator. It was predicted that the Belgian would show a more positive attitude than the Indonesian.
In a paper written last may (Nindyantoro 2010), on best educational practices with autistic children, concluded that in developing countries in the world this diagnostic is not fully understood. In the western world, autism has been studied extensively at least over the past twenty years. Since the present survey study is cross cultural and involved cultures unfamiliar with autism, the research question was changed from autism to mental retardation, and asked for a comparison between the Belgian and the Indonesian (the home culture of the investigator) cultures. A hypothesis was formulated that the Belgian culture will have more positive attitudes and beliefs about children with mental retardation because people from that culture have more knowledge about and experience with such children as well as means to support their lives. The circumstances under which the study which carried out limited the number of subject to five from each culture; therefore, this survey study is a pilot study will not yield result that would be applicable to entire cultures.
Procedures
Subject
For this cross-cultural pilot survey study the investigator sent ten consent forms (Appendix 1), half to Belgian adults and half to Indonesian adults, assuring them of total confidentiality. All ten subjects invited to participate responded positively. Therefore, the study has ten subjects divided equally between the two cultures. All subjects come from a convenient population personally familiar to the investigator due to the circumstances.
Materials
The investigator developed a tool to measure attitude towards children with mental retardation. The tool is a questionnaire which consists of twelve items distributed as follows: four “positive” statements, i.e., statements which support the hypothesis if the subject agrees to them (e.g., “Mentally retarded children have the right to complete health care”.); four “negative” statements, i.e., statements which support the hypothesis if the subject disagrees to them (e.g., “Mentally retarded children should not be allowed to play with normal children”.); and four “distractors”, i.e., statements that are neutral with respect to the hypothesis (e.g., “Mentally retarded children like to be alone”.). The order of the items was scrambled in order to keep from the subjects the exact purpose of the study and not influence them in their answers. The questionnaire (Appendix 2) was distributed to the people who agreed to participate in the study with the instruction that they had to choose one of the five answers (“strongly agree”, “agree”, “somewhat agree”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree”.) for each items.
Data analysis
Once the questionnaires were returned, the distractors were thrown out, and the remaining eight answers for each subject were scored as follows: all the “strongly agree” answers to the positive items and the “strongly disagree” answers to the negative items were awarded a score of five; all the “agree” answers to the positive items and the “disagree” answers to the negative items were awarded a score of four; all the “somewhat agree” answers whether to the negative or positive items were awarded a score of three; all the “agree” answers to the negative items and the “disagree” answers to the positive items were awarded a score of two; all the “strongly agree” answers to the negative items and the “strongly disagree” answers to the positive items were awarded a score of one.
Then the resulting scores were added up by culture and within the culture by type of item i.e., “positive” or “negative”. Finally percentages were calculated for each culture. The data are summarized in tables one to two. The bold face numbers represent the Belgian (table 1) and the Indonesian (table 2) supporting the hypothesis.
Table 1: Belgian Scores on Positive and Negative Items
The results show that 72.5% of Indonesian subject support the hypothesis.
The survey shows an 11% difference between Belgians (83.5%) and Indonesians (72.5%)
with respect to attitude and belief about mentally retarded children support the
hypothesis.
Result and Discussion
The hypothesis at the basis of this study was that Belgians would show a more positive
attitude towards children with mental retardation than Indonesians the data analysis
confirms the hypothesis 83.5% of the 40 observations coming from 5 adult Belgians are
in support of the hypothesis, and only 72.5% of the 40 observations from the 5 adult
Indonesians are in support. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed by an 11% difference,
which is a strong difference from a pilot study.
In spite of the fact that the hypothesis was highly confirmed, one has to be aware of the
limitations of pilot study in general, and in particular of a study such as the one repeated
here. The limitations of this study start with the small number of subjects selected from a
convenient population and end with the fact it was carried out in English with subjects
whose knowledge of the language may have been less than perfect.
If the further study proves the hypothesis, steps need to be taken in educating the
Indonesians about children with mental retardation. The investigator as a Brother of
charity is in a best position to carry out such an education in his country.
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