Cross-cultural comparisons take several forms. One is comparison of case studies, another is controlled comparison among variants of a common derivation, and a third is comparison within a sample of cases. Cross-cultural studies, the third of these forms, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences (sociology, psychology, economics, political science) that uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture. Unlike comparative studies, which examines similar characteristics of a few societies, cross-cultural studies uses a sufficiently large sample that statistical analysis can be made to show relationships or lack or relationships between the traits in question. These studies are surveys of ethnographic data.
Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called Holocultural Studies, has been used by social scientists of many disciplines, particularly cultural anthropology and psychology.
Extensive cross-cultural studies were later carried out by 19th century anthroplogists such as Tylor and Morgan. One of Tylor's first studies gave rise to the central statistical issue of cross-cultural studies: Galton's problem.
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Ember, Carol R., and Melvin Ember. 2001. Cross-Cultural Research Methods. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Korotayev, Andrey, World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0
Levinson, David, and Martin J. Malone. 1980. Toward Explaining Human Culture: A Critical Review of the Findings of Worldwide Cross-Cultural Research. New Haven, CT: HRAF Press.
Macfarlane, Alan. 2004. To Contrast and Compare, pp. 94-111, in Methodology and Fieldwork, edited by Vinay Kumar Srivastava. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
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