Interview themes and research questions

Figure 3 below reflects the interview themes which emerged from this phased interview process. This emergence can also be described as convergence since the themes I concentrate on in the discussion of my data are fewer in number than those which were identified in the earlier interviews, some of which were subsequently dropped.

Figure 3: The emergence (convergence) of themes during interviews

In the pre-pilot interviews I identified certain topics to pursue later on in the main interviews, and narrowed the list of themes as interviewing progressed. For example, after the pre-pilot group interviews I dropped the theme of “Chineseness” because my participants did not understand what this term meant. Another theme, influence of parents, was originally included as one specific aspect of Van Manen‟s existential themes (relationality) and because of its possible link with motivation (see Vansteenkiste et al. 2005). However, the way my interviewees responded to this theme appeared to be unrelated to the main topic of my research, so it was also dropped from later interviews. On the other hand, language, relationships and skills became major themes as students responded readily to my questions. Table 4 indicates how participants responded to the themes of the pre-pilot interviews with the themes which became important in later interviews highlighted in bold.

Table 4: Themes of pre-pilot interviews

Pre-pilot themes Responses

Group versus individual interviews Individual interviews preferred, although some support for group interviews. Timing of interviews Mid-term or beginning of holidays, but not at the beginning of their sojourn. Time experienced whilst studying

in the UK

Contact time very low in UK compared with China; more independent study. Places where students study Classroom, library, at home (differences between China/UK).

Relationships Parents: parental expectations, finance, pressure;

Teachers: teaching styles and some teachers‟ disrespectful attitudes towards Chinese students;

Chinese students: social support networks, competitiveness; Non-Chinese students: friendships, hostility, collaboration;

Language difficulty: understanding and expressing oneself.

Motivation Extrinsic: impressing parents and friends, work for family business; Intrinsic: interest in subject, personal challenge, intercultural skills. Active Learning Group work: good and bad experiences;

Group dynamics: choosing and being chosen or ignored by other group members; working in mixed nationality compared with all-Chinese groups; Skills: using a wider range of approaches to solve problems;

communication and assignment difficulties due to language. Being Chinese (“Chineseness”) Unable to respond to the general concept of “Chineseness”;

respect for teachers and parents; relationships (“guanxi”); embarrassment (“face”); racial abuse from some local residents; poor treatment from some home students and some teachers.

The use of a relatively unstructured approach in the pre-pilot group interviews was a conscious attempt on my part not to define the topics in advance and not to test out a pre-determined theory, but to discover which topics were important to my interviewees and to “follow the data” (Rubin and Rubin, 1995: 65). This design allowed me to identify a number of topics which I had not previously encountered in relation to pedagogy, but which emerged as key components in understanding my participants‟ experiences. For example, a number of students commented on their experience of hostility from other students. In this way, I came to understand that whilst Active Learning pedagogies are designed to increase student interaction, this might be painful for some students. For other students, working in mixed-nationality groups was seen as a positive opportunity to explore the implications of cultural differences. However, since not all of the students I interviewed had experienced hostility I found this topic too narrow and merged it with the general theme of relationships in later interviews.

In the second pre-pilot group interview I had the benefit of having already listened to the first interview several times and noted that there was some ambiguity over whether students were expected to comment on their own experiences or those which were common to Chinese students in general, but I managed to clarify this in the pilot phase of interviewing. At this stage I also became aware that since I was interviewing in English, I needed to think carefully about the way I worded the questions in order to make the topics as accessible as possible. In this way the pre-pilot phase provided valuable opportunities to explore topics and test questioning approaches.

After transcribing the pre-pilot interviews, I modified my initial topic areas and formulated specific interview questions, which are presented in Table 5 below. Having identified four main areas of interest, I went into the first pilot expecting the conversation to revolve around a much tighter agenda, which it did to some extent. However, there was still some ambiguity and misunderstanding in that interview, much of which was due to my own error in not using specific questions to ask about the student‟s own experiences. I also tended to conflate too many elements into some of my questions and at several points the student asked me for my key point, which is clear evidence that I had not pitched the questions at the correct level of specificity.

Table 5: Themes of pilot interviews

Broad topic areas Interview questions

How different is studying in the UK from studying in China?

Do you feel that studying in the UK is different from studying in China? In what ways?

What are the things you find most difficult about studying here? Give examples. How important is language in these problems?

Are there other differences between the UK and China which make studying here difficult?

What is the role of

relationships with tutors/other students?

How do you find working with other students in group work? What kinds of problems do you have in group work?

When group work is going well, how do you know it is going well? Give examples.

Is the relationship between students and teachers different between China and the UK? In what ways?

How do you find the teaching styles here?

Can you think of situations where you have found the teacher unhelpful?

How influential are parents and friends?

Was the decision for you to come to the UK mainly taken by you or by your parents?

When you discuss the course with your friends, how important are their opinions to you?

Are your parents‟ experiences and opinions important in how you approach your studies?

Awareness and development of metacognitive skills.

What kinds of skills do you learn from studying abroad? What are the main benefits of studying here?

Have you noticed any changes in the way you think or behave since you started your course?

Are these mainly related to study (academic skills) or to your personal life? Would you recommend other Chinese students to study here?

(The arrows indicate overlapping thematic links between the broad topic areas and certain interview questions)

I went into the second pilot intending to use a more personal questioning stance and this seemed to work rather better. This interview was shorter than the others (25 minutes compared with 80 minutes for the first pre-pilot, 60 for the second pre-pilot and 50 for the first pilot), but I had the impression that it

covered the areas I was asking about in a lot of detail. After analysing the two pilot interviews I realised the importance not only of focussing my questions on specific topics, but also of directing my questions at the students‟ own experiences, rather than asking them about the experiences of Chinese students in general. These were valuable lessons which I carried over to the main interviews.

By mid-November 2011, after about half of the main interviews had been carried out, I had linked my interview questions more clearly to my main research questions, as shown in Table 6 below.

Table 6: Questions in main Interviews

Main research questions Sub-questions Interview questions

How do Chinese students describe their learning experiences on modules which use Active Learning pedagogies at a UK business school?

What do Chinese students consider to be the greatest opportunities and challenges facing them on these courses?

What do Chinese students consider to be the important similarities and differences between their previous educational experiences in China and their experiences here?

Which teaching, learning and assessment styles are favoured by Chinese students?

Before arriving in the UK, what did you think that being a student here would be like? What do you consider to be the greatest opportunities and challenges of studying here? What would you say are the main differences between studying in China and studying in the UK?

Tell me about your experiences on the modules which involve [Active Learning pedagogies] simulations, group projects, investigative studies etc.

Which aspects of these modules do you find most difficult?

Which aspects did you find most satisfying?

How effective do Chinese students consider Active Learning pedagogies to be in supporting their learning on these modules?

How well do Chinese students feel they understand what is required of them on these courses?

How effective do Chinese students consider Active Learning pedagogies to be in providing opportunities to develop their metacognitive skills (e.g. awareness of their personal learning styles, cross-cultural skills and awareness of higher cognitive skills development.)

How well do you think you understand/ understood what is/was required of you on these modules?

How do you know when work on these modules is going well?

How effective do you consider Active Learning pedagogies to be in supporting your learning of the subject on these modules?

What other skills (apart from subject knowledge) do you think you have developed on these modules?

Do you feel you would learn these skills on modules with more traditional teaching, learning and assessment approaches?

If you were asked to recommend changes to the teaching, learning and assessment at the Business School, what would you recommend? Why?

Tables 4, 5 and 6 summarise the specific questions related to the main topics of my research which I formulated after transcribing and reflecting on the themes of the pre-pilot and pilot interviews. I made modifications to my interview questions sometimes in response to instances of incomprehension on the part of the interviewees, and sometimes in order to achieve a greater correspondence with my research questions. In both the English and Chinese interviews, supplementary questions were used to invite interviewees to clarify their replies or explain certain issues in more detail.

Having recorded all of the interviews, I obtained eighteen transcripts, which included contributions from twenty-four participants and added up to about seventy-five thousand words. These formed the data base which I proceeded to analyse using tools available on NVivo software, as outlined in the following section of this chapter.