Globalization related issues

One of the things to consider with the regard to the proliferation of western education in China is the issue of globalization (Hu, 2002 ). It is significant to consider that globalization is a formidable force and most people in the world are feeling the need to be globally competent. Chinese education may not offer the necessary skills to compete in a global world where English is the de facto language. Apart from just English (note that Chinese universities do not use English as the instruction language), being conversant with western culture is an added advantage for most people who are not natives of the western world. As a result, the second group of questions will be designed to investigate this issue and determine if the younger generation of Chinese students is more concerned with being globally competent. In this regard, the questions will look at these perceptions of the Chinese students with regard to whether they feel that western education is superior to the Chinese education, especially where competing in a global world is concerned.

Family culture issues

The third category of questions will be with regard to how the students feel their parents regard western education. With regard to this issue, there are a few pertinent issues that have to be put into consideration. First there is the issue of the fact that Chinese parents are more overbearing in their children’s life more than western parents. In this regard, a Chinese parent is likely to be a major decision maker in the child’s life even if the person has reached the age of a young adult. Secondly, given that these are college students who are most likely to be dependent on their parents for financial support both for college fees and upkeep, this can be a determinant factor,

Attitudes relating to cost and cost structure of western education

There is definitely a wide gap between the cost structure for western universities and colleges and that of Chinese institutions. The fourth category of the questions will be geared towards identifying whether this cost structure is a determinant factor with regard to how the Chinese students regard western education. More importantly, the questions will first seek to identify if the students are aware of the cost difference. The questions will then move on to determine if the students feel that the cost difference is justifiable in terms of the quality of the education and also in terms of the relevance of the education in a global market.

Analysis

The analysis will involve looking at the responses of the individuals in order to make a conclusive decisions about the issue. More importantly, the analysis part of this study will look at the participants’ responses and then identifying the general perspective of the participants. To lead to a clear perceptive, it will be necessary to group the responses with regard to whether they tend to lean of the positive outlook of the western education. The analysis will involve three major processes as follows;

General perceptive

Depending on how the participants answered the question, it will be easy to determine if the student supports or does not support the western education. The question that will be most useful in this part if the one about whether the student thinks that western education at college level is better than the Chinese education.

The purpose of the study is to get the most reliable information about the general attitudes and perspectives of Chinese students towards western education. These perspectives can be affected by a host of factors ranging from family background to cultural background. For instance, a Chinese student whose parents were education in the west is more likely to have a positive perspective about western education compared to one whose parents did not go to such schools (Steinberg, et al 2002). Furthermore, the level of education of the parent, regardless of whether they attended a western or a Chinese institution of education can also affect the students’ attitude as the students are more likely to be inclined to their parent’s perceptions and attitudes. In this regard, it would be necessary to make sure that the cohort will be made of participants with varied family, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds in order to get the best results. Furthermore, this can be achieved through making sure that the study sample is composed of students from different school, possibly from both western and Chinese institutions.

The rationale about the perception

During the interviews, the students will also be asked questions regarding why they feel about western education. For those who will be have a positive perception about western education, further question will be on what basis they felt the way they did about western education. The answers will be based in issues such as quality, exposure or relevance in a global world. In terms of quality, the students will be answering the question of whether they feel that western education is of better quality than that found in Chinese institutions. With regard to exposure, the participants will answer questions regarding whether they feel or believe that the western education is better able to expose them to the world. Finally, with regard to relevance, the students will answer questions regarding whether they feel that western education is more relevant in a global world as opposed to Chinese education.

These two aspects will be used to determine how much the students are oriented towards one aide, either western of Chinese education. The conclusion will be based on the number of students who feel that one system of education is better than the other. Other factors such as whether or not the student is already in a western education institution will be considered. For those who are already in such institutions, it will be necessary to identify whey they are there as there may be a host of reasons. These reasons may be convenience (such as having a sponsored scholarship, the school being near their residence, or cost), whether or not the students chose to be in that school or were forced to go there because the parent said so, availability of the program they are doing in other similar Chinese institutions and any other reason.

All these factors will be considered as all will be important in not only determining the validity of the data collected, but will also useful in the analysis process.

Ethical Considerations

There are very few foreseeable ethical considerations or concerns for this study as it will involve just getting the perceptive about the participants on the issue of western education in China. However, regardless of this fact, a few issues will have to be put into consideration to avoid misunderstandings. For example, given the fact that this study is about two different cultures that seem to be competing, it is necessary to make sure that the materials used such as the questions and the questionnaires do not have anything that is demeaning to any of the two cultures. The questions will have to be designed in such a way that it does not insult any of the cultures. More importantly, it will have to be done in such a way that it does not insult the Chinese culture or depict it to be inferior to the western culture. As clearly established, the main issue to determine how the current generation of young Chinese students feel about western culture. As a result, proper language and wording will be used as a way to avoid unnecessary barriers that would hinder the efficiency of the study.

Issues to be aware of

Although the interviews are a formidable way to carry out this kind of qualitative study, there are many issues that are likely to come up and affect not only the validity, but also the efficiency of the study (Seidman, 2013). Information gotten through interviews can be subjective enough to thwart the validity of the study and the end results (Ratner, 2002). As a result, there are a few pertinent issues that will have to be considered through the planning and the execution of this study. First, it will be necessary to come up with way to avoid ‘politically correct’ answers and create a situation where the interview feels comfortable to give his opinion as opposed to saying what he or she feels to be what is expected of him. This will be possible by giving the students open ended questions so that they can have a way to explore their own opinions as opposed to being limited to a yes or no answer.

It is also necessary to avoid misunderstandings and have clear questions while avoiding ambiguity. As already stated, the issue of ambiguity will b addressed through the pilot study that will help in identifying any unclear questions that must be addressed before the actual study.  

References

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