Moses Kansanga this is an interesting question, and quite difficult to answer. In many ways, I think we sometimes pretend to be dealing adequately with cross-cultural issues, when what we are doing is simply comparing things without sufficient understanding and context. As an example, part of the issue of concern here should be defining the term "cross-cultural." Does that mean within a society, where there are identifiable "cultures" (which means you have to define culture at that level). Does it mean across countries, with the assumption being that a society has a majority culture (even though the research dosen't address that issue, or properly define culture at that level of analysis). Typically, when I have been engaged in related research, we use "cross national," indicating that what we are examining has to do with legal boundaries at the societal level. I notice that one of your interests in political ecology, so this could be a good choice for you in many situations, since you might be interested in how, for example, the political process in different societies is affecting some outcome (i.e., such as the construction of environmental law). So, my point is that culture and society are two different things and require different kinds of measures. Often, I feel that studies which claim to be cross-cultural are really cross-national given the measures that are employed.

Participatory observation technique could help overcome some of the challenges

Moses - Conducting cross-cultural research is full with methodological and ethical challenges as the term cross cultural implies interaction with people of different cultural, ethnic, age and class backgrounds. It uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior. Many practical challenges of cross - cultural research are: 1) cultural relativism - cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another. This distorts the reality of the cross - cultural data and many of the pre-conceived notions affect data analysis. 2) subjectivity - there is also the challenge of subjectivity as to what extent a researcher can remain objective as an observer when something that we see invokes intense emotions in us as human beings.

The main problem comes of language and understanding the meanings of respondents

Interpreting is time consuming and not reliable . Interpreter might not be knowing the essence of problems under consideration

Cultural differences are challenging. However, turning that into acceptance of cultural diversity is a strength and such a powerful learning opportunity.

Dr. Michael J. Lynch Thank you for your insightful contribution. Dr Manzoor Hussain and Dr. Satish Narula raised two critical issues (subjectivity and cultural relativism) which I think deserve more discussion. As a someone with vast experience in environmental research where power dynamics are central, What are some of the practical ways of addressing such challenges, especially the challenge of subjectivity. Dr Ismaila Rimi Abubakar proposed participatory observation technique, which obviously can help deal with subjectivity of interpretation in cross cultural research. However, participatory observation alone may not guarantee reflexivity. Dr. Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak talks about the potential of cultural diversity to be a useful learning opportunity. What other strategies could help make the diversity in cross cultural research a powerful revealing tool?