Adding culture to studies of development: Toward changes in procedure and theory

This paper asks how an interest in culture and in development can be combined to the benefit of both and at the level of theory and procedures. Three steps are considered, noting for each some existing moves and some recommended extensions. The first step has to do with the sampling of people. Here the main existing move has been toward greater social diversity in sampling. The extensions have to do with giving closer attention to the bases for choice, the 'subjects' view of events, within-group diversity or consensus, and one's own culture. The second step has to do with sampling tasks and situations. Here the existing moves have been toward the greater use of everyday tasks, life-course problems, and tasks that involve two or more people: all shifts based on changes in concepts of ability and its bases. The extensions have to do with considering larger groups (going beyond dyads), the impact of audiences, the expectations people hold about appropriate contributions to shared tasks, and the conceptual bases for choice. The third step consists of alertness to unexpected or missing pieces in data or theory. It is illustrated by progressions within research by Peggy Miller and by the author and her colleagues (e.g., progressions in the latter case from Piagetian tasks to parents' concepts of development and household divisions of labour).