Cross-Cultural Research

A modification of Fisher's exact test for the 2 x 2 x 2 contingency table is proposed as a test of the null hypothesis of no three-way statistical in teraction among variables, controlling for the two-way or first-order correlations. The test uses a truncated hypergeometric distribution, limited by the bivariate marginal totals of the variables. Possible generalizations to L x M x N tables are discussed. The test is also applicable to the null hypothesis of no difference in the magnitude of correlation in a comparison of two bivariate distributions. Illustrations of each application are provided. One obvious use in cross-cultural or survey research is as a test of the replication of a correlation in different subsamples of a population.

Kleiman's review of monogamy among mammals contained several hypotheses concerning correlates of monogamy among humans. This paper utilizes holocultural tests to investigate these hypotheses and finds most not to be supported by the ethnographic record. The paper also contains a discussion of the theoretical and methodological problems confronted in attempting to test explanations of human behavior advanced by evolutionary biologists by means of holocultural research.

This paper was the Presidential Address at the 11th annual meeting of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research in Minneapolis, MN, February 19, 1982. Three things are discussed: (1) some new activities being planned by the Human Relations Area Files to encourage new kinds of comparative research; (2) the author's hope that future comparative research will be more attentive to causal mechanisms; and (3) some elements of a style of research that have proved useful to the author and Carol R. Ember and may be useful to others.

The relationship between the sexual and nonsexual aspects of male- female interaction across cultures is explored. Results indicate that societies are neither entirely consistent nor entirely arbitrary in their patterning of heterosexual relationships. Three clusters or dimensions of opposite-sex interaction were isolated so that variables within a cluster were highly correlated and variables in different clusters were largely unrelated. This research suggests that sexual relationships, nonsexual intimacy, and male sexual orientation are not highly related to each other.