 Margaret Mead and others joined these Columbia comparative studies of contemporary cultures and they were incorporated into Mead's "The Study of Cultures at a Distance," 
Steed planned "The Effects of Village Institutions on Personality in South China" and had funds granted for its continuation of her Chinese research in China.However the occurrence of the Chinese Revolution of 1948 scuttled the project.Steadfastly committed to field study of institutional determinants of individual and social character, she took up the suggestion of psychiatrist, Abram Kardiner, then associated with Columbia University's Department of Sociology, to pursue a similar study in India.