抄録
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics has been performing a longitudinal survey on Japanese national character since 1953. Beginning in 1971, this survey was expanded to include cross-national comparative surveys as well as surveys on people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast and Brazil. The main focus of the cross-national survey is the comparison of social values, ways of thinking and feeling, and other relevant aspects of people from various nations. Another important purpose of our study is to investigate the conditions under which meaningful cross-national comparability of social survey data is guaranteed.
In the introduction to this special issue, we explain our research paradigm, which we refer to as ‘cultural manifold analysis (CULMAN),' discuss methodological problems of cross-national surveys and give an overview of our past surveys. Finally, we provide some comments on our future research.
