THE IMPORTANCE AND THE DIFFICULTY OF DOING RESEARCH WITH A MISSIONARYPOPULATION

In a recent study, 50 mission boards were contacted and over 300 first -term missionary appointees were asked to participate in research on t he predictive validity of the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory. T he research took place in two phases: one before the missionaries left for their respective fields and the second after approximately six mo nths on the field. Fifty missionaries agreed to participate in the stu dy and met the qualifications for doing so. By the end of the second p hase of the research, however, only 14 missionaries had completed the study with no missing inventories. This research note highlights both the importance of doing research among missionaries and the difficulti es encountered in the process.