Culture-neutral Assessment

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Use of ‘culture free’ tests in psychological assessment has proved beneficial and appropriate when dealing with people from diverse cultures. With such tests, the culture of respective subjects does not influence the judgment of the psychologists (Afolabi, 2014). Although this sounds theoretically feasible, it is practically difficult and requires an evidence-based selection process.
The first step is to avoid bias (Gerstein, 2009). Construct bias occurs when a test measures one thing in a given population and measures something different in another community. The test must measure only one aspect across the board. Method bias happens when different techniques are used to collect data from the subjects. Only one method ought to be used in gathering the information. Any variation in methodology must be explained to the participants. Finally, item bias occurs when there is the ambiguity of research item or when certain cultures have a low familiarity with the items included in the study. Proper item translation, wherever possible, can solve item bias.
The second step is to maintain construct equivalence, measurement unit equivalence, and full-scale equivalence (Gerstein, 2009). As a methodological approach, construct equivalence tries to oversee the cultural differences that may affect results of the study in two or more cultural setups. On the other hand, measurement unit equivalence holds when the scale used to measure an aspect are of different origins but measure the same thing, for example, the temperature can be measured in both kelvins and degree centigrade.

With full-scale equivalence, only one scale is used across the board. For example, instead of using both Kelvins and Celsius scale, a scientist chooses to use only one level. The values obtained can be compared without any biases.
The final step in culture-neutral assessment is maintaining a translational equivalence of the assessment instruments (Afolabi, 2014). Due to the dynamic linguistic abilities of different countries across the world, assessment tools cannot be written in only one language. It is imperative that the document is translated into various languages for it to be understood by as many people as possible.
Culture-neutral assessment remains a viable technique that can be used to help in understanding human behavior irrespective of their cultures. The approach becomes useful to employers who want to recruit staff from all over the world and when healthcare providers are handling patients from diversified cultures.
References
Afolabi, O. E. (2014). Bias and Cultural diversity in Psychological Assessment: An Empirical Review.
Gerstein, L. H. (Ed.). (2009). The International hand book of cross-cultural counseling: Cultural assumptions and practices worldwide. Sage.