Caña de azúcar

Based on the research questions proposed in Chapter 1.2, a general focus group/interview schedule was designed for the focus groups to allow open-ended discussion and to raise issues that participants considered important from their own perspectives. The sub- questions identified in these focus groups could furthermore serve as the interview schedule for individual interviews where more specific questions were needed for the breadth of the research. Each focus group in Sample One was conducted according to the schedule shown below:17

17 _{Schedules for Samples Two, Three and Four were similar, with adjustments of the names of the countries} and with omission of some questions. This will be explained later in this section.

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1) When and why did you come to Britain/here?

This was to identify the time duration participants had spent in Britain as well as their motives for coming abroad. As outlined in 3.3.1, the time duration spent in the host country was considered as a variable that was relevant to participants‘ experiences as well as their understandings of the host country. Furthermore, in order to understand cross- cultural experiences, the intentions behind the decisions of going to a particular country were seen as important factors that would influence the actual experiences. Thus question 1 laid out the background information from which further questions about direct cultural encounters could be asked. Participants were also free to talk about any specific reasons they might have had for coming to the particular city or the university they were studying in, compared to other possible destinations.

2) What ideas did you have about Britain and where did you get them? What did you expect? What has been different in reality?

This is to understand participants‘ previous ideas about the host country as well as how it might differ from the perceived social reality after arrival. This question provided a comparable position for later exploration of their ideas, which were based on actual direct experiences, in order to understand the ways in which previous ideas might have changed. The sources of the prior ideas identified by this question lead to discussions with regard to the role of the media and other sources in the formation of people‘s perceptions of a foreign country, and how this might affect expectations and the actual direct experiences. In analysing the data collected in this respect, concepts and theoretical strands discussed in Chapter 2.3 will be referred to.

3) Was there anything you found difficult to accept or understand when you first arrived? Or is it still hard for you now? How do you handle it?

This question served primarily as a trigger to retrieve memory from the beginning of the participants‘ experiences. It was expected that coming to a new country would cause issues especially in the introductory phase. According to Oberg‘s (1960) popular ‗culture shock‘ theory, this initial phase is described as a ‗honeymoon‘ where everything is new and exciting for people who have just arrived in the host country. It was assumed in my study that these ‗new‘ experiences would be of particular significance in participants‘ cross-

Chapter 3 Methods and Sample 63

cultural experiences. By thinking of these ‗new‘ elements of the host environment, differences between the home and host country were revealed, stimulating the general discussion about cultural differences, which will be explored further in question 4.

4) What do you think is different from your home country?

This general question aimed to stimulate free-flow discussion on the topic of cultural differences. It was also a follow-up discussion of question 3 where initial issues had already been identified which might need further exploration. With this question, the participants were expected to have a relatively high level of control over the issues they were interested in and the interviewer‘s role was primarily to record topics that were brought up and considered important by the participants. Further in-depth sub-questions with regard to these specific topics were asked in the same focus group, as well as in others, and in individual interviews for deeper understanding.

5) Which elements of the Britain do you identify with and which do you not? Why? 6) Has living in Britain changed your attitudes or behaviour? If so, how exactly?

Question 5 focused on cultural differences yet it was intended specifically to understand how differences were interpreted and how new sets of cultural identifications were formed. According to Fong‘s (2004, 2006) previously discussed works, there was a shared desire amongst young Chinese students to go to the ‗First World‘ to study. It was thus assumed that there would be elements of the new environment that the participants identified with and wanted to learn to incorporate into their original cultural framework. Correspondingly, some aspects of the host society might not be accepted. Question 6 aimed to understand the actual changes that occurred to the participants in terms of values and behaviour, and how these were related to both the host and the home countries. The ways in which elements of cultures moved between societies were revealed through the discussion of these two questions, and the outcome of participants‘ direct cross-cultural experiences was discussed in relation to the theoretical framework proposed in Chapter 2 (especially 2.2 and 2.3).

Participants in Sample Two were asked according to the same schedule as well with ‗Britain‘ and ‗British‘ being replaced by ‗China‘ and ‗Chinese‘ respectively. Participants in Sample Three were asked Question 2, 4, and 5, with question 2 only being focused on the ideas they had about Britain and the sources of these ideas. Participants in Sample Four

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were interviewed with the same questions as Sample Three with ‗Britain‘ and ‗British‘ being replaced by ‗China‘ and ‗Chinese‘ respectively.