Question Formulation. Culturally competent question formulation entails two major tensions: 1) knowing when to focus on culture as the catalyst in interactions between persons and their environment and 2) ascertaining the potential generalizability of the findings. Formulating culturally competent research questions entails a process that uncovers how diverse populations experience their social environment in a linguistically understandable and culturally congruent manner. Such a process enhances the validity of the findings and informs culturally competent practice with people of color.

Research Design. In the positivist tradition, the "evidence" in evidence-based practice should ideally be obtained through experiments. However, experimental design is extremely intrusive, requiring the manipulating the independent variable (intervention) and randomizing participants which may not be acceptable to ethnic minorities, particularly the less acculturated. Research consistently shows that ethnic minorities underutilize and delay social service use. Once they overcome the barriers to helpseeking, their primary concern is symptom reduction, not risking assignment to a control/no treatment condition. Their reluctance to participate in a randomized, controlled research study may be further exacerbated by potential mistrust of authority figures secondary to past experiences of discrimination. Thus, when searching for the best practice, social work researchers need to be cognizant of imposing/inflicting their values/science on populations they presumably wish to serve.

Intervention Development. Traditionally, investigators develop interventions without significant input from the intended service population. Such an approach may result in culturally irrelevant and insensitive treatments that fail to be of assistance. Instead, the development of culturally competent interventions entails the de-centering of the research authority by integrating and addressing the unique points of view and experiences of participants and community of color into the intervention.

Measurement. Standardized measures are widely used in research and based on psychometric properties originally established and tested in white populations. When these instruments are used in ethnic minority samples, their psychometric properties may be questionable. Too often, researchers only report internal consistency (reliability) whereas little attention is paid to cross-cultural validity. Reliability, however, does not imply validity. Interethnic and intercultural differences in language, values, social desirability, and styles of communicating about personal symptoms and functioning might lead to differences in response patterns. Failure to acknowledge potential differences in cultural and racial/ethnic responses may lead to improper interpretations and inaccurate conclusions.

All of these challenges will be illustrated by examples ranging from HIV prevention with Mexican migrant laborers to parenting intervention for Chinese American immigrants.

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