Chapter 14: Coping With Methodological Problems In Quantitative Research On Model Minority

“Model Minority” has been an appealing topic in the literature (Hsia & Peng, 1998; Kao, 1995; Lee, 1996; Macias, 1993; Sue & Okazaki, 1990; Wong & Halgin, 2006). Most of the research on model minority focused on the academic achievement of Asian students (including Asian, Asian American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students) as they score consistently higher on standardized tests than non-Asian students (or students of other ethnic groups) (Abboud & Kim, 2006; Hsia & Peng, 1998; Macias, 1993; Sue & Okazaki, 1990; Wang & Lin, 2005). Unfortunately, as pointed out by Chen (1999), McLoyd and Steinberg (1998), Okazaki and Sue (1995), Schaffer and Riordan (2003), and Wang (2006), there are some methodological problems among quantitative cross-culture studies. For example, Kuhn’s (2006) argument was based on an international survey study that used culturally-biased instruments; and Toupin and Son (1991) employed a sample of students from a small private east coast college which is not representative of the population.