Challenges and strategies for conducting survey and focus group research with culturally diverse groups

The professions represented by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association are serving a wide range of populations as diversity in the United States continues to grow rapidly. This article offers tentative guidance for and invites an open dialogue with other researchers interested in culturally sensitive research issues. Specifically, as the professions adopt an increasingly global perspective, it is likely that researchers will need to acquire skills in conducting research within culturally diverse populations. Within this article, research scenarios are discussed, in particular, methods for survey, interview, and focus groups. Topics such as preparing a research instrument, gaining access to clients, and effectively utilizing interpreters are presented. In brief, this article is designed as a beginning conversation about an increasingly important topic: conducting culturally sensitive research in communication disorders.