Culture, Identity and Adaptation
For this assignment you will carry out a small-scale project on one aspect of adapting to unfamiliar cultures. We will assign you to work with one (or exceptionally two) other classmates to agree a research question, plan data collection and help each other interpret some of the data.
Procedure
1. Choose an aspect of cultural adaptation that you both wish to focus on.
We are focused on “The strategy of coping stress during the culture adaption process.”
2. Decide together what research question you will try to address in your study through collecting a small amount of interview data.
Already decided by my partner and me, which is ——
“How do international students manage adjustment stress?”
3. Read about key theories and research findings relating to the aspect of cultural adaptation you have chosen, working as much individually or in pairs as you wish.
4. Plan in your pairs how you will conduct your interviews in order to best answer your research question.
THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WRITTEN BY ME ARE ON THE ATTACHMENT TOO.
5. Collect your data individually. Transcribe your interviews using broad transcription.
6. Analyse your data (i.e. interviewee comments and pertinent critical incidents) with respect to your research question, and consider how your findings compare with the key theories and research findings you have read up on.
7. Write up your project using the following headings (i.e. using journal article format):
1. Introduction
2. Literature review (outline key theoretical concepts/models and report key research findings.
If possible, identify some gaps or inadequacies which your research question addresses.)
3. Methodology (describe key elements, including who your interviewees were, how you selected them, how you conducted the interviews, how you analysed your data)
4. Analysis (report your findings re your research questions)
5. Discussion (discuss how your findings compare with the literature)
8. Put your raw data (i.e. your interview transcripts and notes of partner interpretations of any
‘critical incidents’) into an appendix.
