comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

exhaustive set of cultural value dimensions to objectively measurable indicators. These
parsimonious operationalised models may facilitate research design, but at the same
time they may distort the concepts and reliability or validity of results. By attempting to
increase the internal reliability and validity of the research process and outcome one
may sacrifice the external validity (the extent to which the research findings measure
what they purport to and can be extrapolated to other cases). Since much of this research
is looking for a narrow causal relationship, it focuses only on limited aspects of
phenomena under investigation, and can fail to provide a sufficiently in-depth
understanding of cultural phenomena. The impetus of empirical positivist researchers is
to make a priori predictions and test hypotheses rather than fully understanding and
explaining the nature of cultural phenomena (Earley and Singh, 1995). This particular
study employs two developed multidimensional surveys yielding scores on 10 and 12
dimensions respectively that have been applied in several cultures. The results indicate
that the measures of the dimensions and even the dimensions themselves are not
perfectly general across cultures. This issue is discussed in detail in subsequent
chapters.
THE REDUCTIONIST, POSITIVIST, EMPIRICAL APPROACH
(c) Scott Adams, Dilbert, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
Reductionism’s usefulness stems from its findings concerning emergent properties of
social systems that originate or evolve from the interaction of an individual or
organization with its environment, and it must be acknowledged that positivistic studies
are characterized by rigor, internal/external validity, and intelligible results. Since the
results are to a great extent context-free and independent of researchers, they may be
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