This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework for studying cultural differences and commonalities in specialized knowledge domains. This framework, referred to as Cultural Network Analysis, provides a collection of methodologies for characterizing the mental representations distributed among members of cultural groups. This framework is being developed as an approach to increase our understanding of real, complex, and dynamic operational environments, such as is the case in coalition planning teams. In coalition planning, human actors are tasked with communicating and collaborating with other humans who have different cultural understandings of the tasks at hand. A solid scientific understanding of the knowledge employed in complex, dynamic work domains will provide us with a foundation for developing design principles for tools and systems that can better support complex tasks such as coalition planning by taking cultural differences in understanding into account.