Taking the Benefits of Science to Underrepresented Regions of the World: Promoting Horizontal Collaboration in Social Science Research as a Meaningful Extension of Cross-Cultural Research Design

In a previous paper on cross-cultural research
design, we had underlined the importance of cross-cultural
research design in scientific activity. We had also
underlined the importance of obtaining various types of
emic and etic perspectives on various kinds of issues, and
had also attempted to bucket cultures into various
categories. In this paper, we attempt to take those concepts
a step forward, and call for a horizontal collaboration
among nations. We also define the terms horizontal
collaboration and vertical collaboration as being the two
types of collaboration involved in cross-cultural research.
Thus, this paper adds on meaningfully and significantly to
the concepts introduced in our paper on cross-cultural
research design, and introduces several new concepts and
terms as well. The concepts proposed in this paper hold
good for all branches and fields of sciences, though they
assume added meaning for various fields of the social
sciences where culture-specific data plays a major role in
the formulation of hypotheses. Horizontal collaboration
must not replace vertical collaboration entirely, but only
complement it in places where such collaboration makes
eminent sense. Western science has contributed greatly to
human welfare, and developing countries must also not be
self-centric. They must also contribute to human welfare
and human progress in general. This also assumes added
importance because the dividing line between developed
countries and developing countries will become thin in the
times to come as economic performance of various nations
also converges.