When Difference Doesn’t Mean Different

Cultural response bias is not a new theory. However, the ongoing attention paid to it by the research community shows it remains a significant consideration in research program design and results from interpretation. Indeed, for organizations to glean the most value possible from their global studies, it's essential to be aware of the substantial and systematic differences that can present themselves when analyzing scores across several countries.

Cultural response bias makes it very difficult to compare results between countries and reliably gauge whether disparities are the result of true differences in the performance measured, or simply due to cultural response styles. It typically applies to attitudinal questions where response scales are used, manifesting itself as a country-specific tendency to consistently use a specific rating in the scale, or set of ratings, regardless of what is asked. These disparities can have huge knock-on effects on a global organization’s Customer Experience and reputation.

Using Ipsos' Customer Experience global norms data, this paper examines the three commonly occurring cultural response styles and discusses the options available to address them. It explains how by ensuring that cultural response bias is considered carefully at program setup – or review for existing studies – its impact can be controlled and the results of global research studies can be more reliably interpreted.