Dongbei Daishu

Justine Crofts
Sylvia Hungria
Jeremy Monfries
Matthew Wood

POSITIVISM

The objective of Positivism is to explain and predict through detached, quantitative research, observation and study. Positivism proposes reality is constructed through absolute natural laws and mechanics. these laws and mechanisms can be defined through observation. if something can be observed, it can be defined and quantified.
the observer and observed are seen as independent entities, and the observer must keep an ‘objective distance’. there can be no interaction between the two, as this could influence the observers results.

Positivism conducts research through quantitative methods. conditions for research and observation must be carefully controlled to prevent improper influences. Questions and/or hypothesese are presented in propositional form and are subjected to empirical tests to verify them (guba, e. g., & Lincoln, y. s., 1994).

Positivism’s central tenet is that ‘anything that cannot be verified by experience in meaningless’ (Blaikie. 2007. p.113). originating in the work of comte, Positivism can be divided into three varieties. comte posited that laws about reality can be discovered through observation of discrete events and believed in a hierarchical structure in the sciences.

The second variety, Logical Positivism, was founded in vienna during the 1920’s. it was believed that any theory must be based on experience and observable phenomena, and is known as Phenomenalism. Differing from comte’s version of Positivism, the vienna school adhered to a reductionist perspective regarding reality and that all sciences were functions of physics.
the third variety, a derivative of the second, is know as the ‘the standard view’ and its main focus is the identification of universal laws.
the tradition view of science is Positivist, and this traditional view places a heavy emphasis on quantitative research. the more recent and less quantifiable social sciences are seen as ‘soft’ science. Positivists believe value judgements and the ‘subjective’ are deemed unscientific as they cannot be tested, so positivism would be inappropriate to most social sciences, which are difficult to explain in quantifiable terms.
Positivism is useful in the traditional sciences like maths, chemistry, physics, where quantification of material is useful and obtainable without risk of bias, influence or imprecision.

References
Guba, e. g., & Lincoln, y. s. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. in n. K. Denzin & y.s. Lincoln (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 105-117). thousand oaks, ca: sage.

Blaikie, n (2007) Classical Research Paradigms. Approaches to Social Enquiry. Polity Press, cambridge.

FEMINISM

Feminist theory can often be described as applying feminist principles to analyse textual constructs, imagery and research. it implies that women will have different reactions and experiences to men and strives to gain a female perspective to avoid gender-bias in the results. it is aimed at evaluating how gender is affecting politics, history and literature and is derived to provide multiple narratives of women beyond the typical views. Feminist research is research by women identifying as feminists (wadsworth, y 2001). the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of feminist research is drawn on women’s experiences in a patriarchal paradigm.

Feminism is developed by women, but has increasing influence with both sexes. it seeks to criticize, re-evaluate and transform the place of women in culture. the theory is based on the assumption that social organisations and culture have been dominated by men to the exclusion of women. “consequently, a major area of concern to feminism is the recovery and articulation of women’s experience in history and in contemporary societies and a reconstruction of the fundamental intellectual assumptions and social practises of many areas of study including sociology, psychology, history and other social and humanistic disciplines”.

The most central and common belief shared by all feminists…is the presupposition that women are oppressed. it is from this common acceptance that there is indeed a problem, that there is something amiss in the treatment of women in society, that feminism arises.’ (stanley and wise, 1983). this is not `knowledge for its own sake’ but rather is knowledge explicitly dedicated to bringing about change and improvement in our situation as women (wadsworth, y 2001).

The feminist perspective first evolved around the 1970’s to counter the general masculine bias in formulation, concepts, theories, methods and interpretation of results (Blaikie 2007, pp. 167). there have been texts dating back to the 1800’s which expose feminist viewpoints, but were never considered as such until much more recently. the basis of this theory is to discover the biased historical and cultural references towards women and to gain a matriarchal perspective which may have been lost or never considered.theoretical feminism aims to re-interpret patriarchal views which often provided biased opinions, providing new and accurate perspectives from a women’s account or own experience.“Further, women (and men) needed to consider what it meant to be a woman, to consider how much of what society has often deemed inherently female traits, are culturally and socially constructed” (siegel 2006).

There is not a single feminist theory, each attempts to understand the view of women and their social, economic and political positions in society.Feminist theories have challenged the objectivity in previous social sciences.

Theoretical feminism can be categorised into three general groups:

1. theories aiming at establishing a feminist view which aim to re-interpret history and literature to provide an accurate women’s perspective (feminist view of history and literature). this also includes a feminist standpoint in which women’s experiences (as oppressed members of society) are more reliable knowledge bases to place political action on. “standpoint Feminism claims less powerful members of society are able to achieve a more complete view of social reality than are others. Less powerful groups, like women and minorities, may be less incorporated into the reward system of society and more clear sighted and critical about its inequalities and deficiencies.”(wadsworth 2001).

2. theories having an essentialist focus (French feminism and psychoanalytic feminism). this extends to feminist postmodernism as knowledge is local and contextual, rather than universal. establishing that there is no criteria for establishing truths.

3. theories focusing on sexual difference and politics (gender studies, socialist feminism). including feminist empiricism as an attempt to reform, rather than replace traditional sciences.

These are theories of feminism which rejects the belief that the differences between men and women are socially constructed or are established through socialization. rather, it believes men and women are different in essence and that these differences arise from differing human natures. cooperation and competition, therefore are not just values which have been socially assigned to women and men respectively, but are values that arise from the fundamentally different character of the two sexes.
the feminist paradigm challenges the idea of neutrality in scientific research, believing that a person’s social standpoint and personal experiences limits and prejudices what one knows. Feminism is useful for research projects which explore women’s sciences and politics or to gain insight into historical experiences. Feminists view ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ as fluid meaning that they pertain gender to social views rather than their biology.

Feminist methodology can be applied to challenge most social sciences concepts of neutrality. Feminist theory application can be useful in social studies and could include literature, historical perspectives, art, criminology, technology, health, medicine, psychiatry, mental health, childbirth, contraception, abortion, urban services, town planning, welfare and education.

References

Books

Blaikie, n (2007) Classical Research Paradigms. Approaches to Social Enquiry. Polity Press, cambridge, pp 134-176
stanley, Liz, wise, sue (1983), Breaking Out – Feminist Consciousness and Feminist Research, routledge and Kegan Paul, London

Websites

K, siegel 2006, ‘introduction to modern Literary theory’ viewed 13 april 2011, http://www.kristisiegel.com/
theory.htm#feminismpdf a, mahmoudi 2006, ‘Feminism’ viewed 13 april 2011, http://www.istheory.yorku.ca/Feminism.htm
unknown, ‘introduction to women’s studies’ viewed 13 april 2011, http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/womens/ womens/section1.php
wadsworth, y 2001, ‘what is Feminist research?’, paper presented to Bridging the gap: Feminisms and Participatory action Boston college, June 22-24, <http://ggsc.wnmu.edu/gap/wadsworth.htm>.
unknown, ‘Feminism’ viewed 19 april 2011, http://sociologyindex.com/feminism.htm

INTERPRETIVISM

Interpretivism is based on the observation that there are fundamental differences between the natural world and the social world. Because of this, the logic and methods of the natural sciences are not applicable to the study of societies. unlike the natural world, where a particular action consistently produces a given result, social actors do not uniformly react to stimuli. rather, they actively interpret the situations in which they find themselves and act on the basis of these interpretations.

The aim of interpretivism then is to understand the subjective experiences of those being studied, how they think and feel and how they act/re-act in their habitual contexts. at its core is an assumption that social actors generate meaningful constructs of the social world in which they operate.
Pioneered by the work of weber, schütz and winch, interpretivism evolved out of hermeneutics and phenomenology and their view of the fundamental differences between the natural (Positivist) and social sciences. natural sciences assume the ability to generate ‘objective’ knowledge, focuses on causal relationships between events, and values testable hypotheses while ignoring anything that cannot be directly observed. social sciences focus on the ‘subjective’ experience and assumes that this experience cannot verified or tested using methods from the natural sciences.

Weber (1864-1920) was mainly concerned with understanding social actions, relationships and causal relationships. he focused on establishing a valid and objective science of the subjective nature of the social world. he defined sociology as ‘a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of it’s course and effects’ (weber, 1971. p.68).
schütz attempted to expand where weber hadn’t. he too considered the issue of an objective theory of subjective meaning structures to be the main goal of the social sciences. schütz identified weber’s failure to properly explore the meaningful act and explored more extensively weber’s idea of social ‘action’.

Winch focused on common elements, behaviour, standards in social life and the idea that behaviour was driven by a form of rule-following. winch argued that language was the main driver of this rule-following and that social relations were governed by the concepts communicated in language. winch believed that language and social activity were inexplicably linked. so, “language came to be seen as medium of social interaction, and everyday concepts as structuring reality.” (Blaikie, 2007. p.131).

Interpretivism has provided a powerful critique of many ideas of positivism that are widely used in social sciences. it influenced a whole field of research illuminating people’s everyday life experiences. it helps researchers understand social life from the point of view of those being studied, such as unstructured observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents.
it attempts to generalise by identifying ‘typical’ meanings, ‘typical’ social actors, ‘typical’ actions in ‘typical’ situations. this generalisation forms the basis of a methodology for creating objective theories of social interaction.
interpretivism is a qualitative research paradigm and could be useful for research projects where exploration and insight into the subjective experience are valued. interpretivism might be a useful research paradigm for research projects investigating commonality between linguistic elements in a particular society, researches conducted in natural settings in order to collect substantial situational information, unstructured observation, open interviews and discourse analysis.

References

Blaikie, n (2007) Classical Research Paradigms. Approaches to Social Enquiry. Polity Press, cambridge.

Weber, m (1964) The theory of Social and Economic Organization. oxford university Press. new york.

Hughes, J., sharrock, w. (1997) The Philosophy of Social Research. Longman social research series, London.

Hughes, J., Sharrock, w. (2007) An Introduction to Sociological Thinking and practice. Palgrave macmillan, uK.

Patterson, D. (1996) Law and Truth. oxford university Press, new york.

Smith, r. B. (2008) Cumulative Social Inquiry: Transforming Novelty into Innovation. the guilford Press, new york.

Abbott, D. (2010) sociology revision – methodology, Positivism and interpretivism [online]. 2010. available from
http://tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/sociology/comments/sociology-revision-methodology-positivism-and- interpretivism/ [accessed 08/04/2011]

Gregor, Shirley. information systems Foundations: constructing and criticising.
viewed april 13 2011,

http://epress.anu.edu.au/info_systems/mobile_devices/ch01s04.html#d0e197

Unknown, sociology index, interpretivist and interpretivism.
viewed april 14 2011,

http://sociologyindex.com/interpretivist_interpretivism.htm

Taylor, Dr s. (2011) Principles of sociology – chapter 3,
viewed 12 april 2011,
http://www.londoninternational. ac.uk/current_students/programme_resources/lse/lse_pdf/foundation_units/prin_soc/prinsoc_chapter3.pdf

This was a research proposal written in the Research Methods course at RMIT as part of their Master of Communication Design course.

Understanding Current Mainland Chinese Creative Arts and Design Students Preparing for an International Undergraduate Education

Keywords:
Australian, Chinese, Design, Art, Creative, Undergraduate, Education Curriculum, Internationalism, Outcomes

What is the objective of this research?

The proposed research will explore the motivations, expectations and backgrounds of mainland Chinese design students. Why do they study design? What outcomes do they want and expect to learn? How have they been taught to learn? What can be done to address these issues to provide a better education experience in Australia?

In this research, Chinese students are defined as mainland Chinese who studied secondary school inside the People’s Republic of China. (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are not considered mainland Chinese for this research)

The objective of the research is to establish information on prospective design students for education institutions that could lead to improved service provision. This may allow a move towards an internationalized, rather than western biased curriculum in design by education providers, Identify incorrect assumptions and false expectations, develop a better understanding of potential students.

This is not a study into the methods, theory and pedagogy of design education in China. The intention of this research is to understand the education history and expectations of students wishing to come to Australia and study design.

Why is this research important, and what is the rationale?

According to the International Association of Universities, the internationalization of education is “the process of integrating an international, intercultural and/or global dimension into the goals, functions (teaching/learning, research, services) and delivery of higher education” ( International Association of Universities, 2004, para. 1).

The increase in overseas student numbers is leading to an internationalizing of classes and education curriculums in Australia. The volume of international students increases revenues for education institutes, but brings up issues for teachers, students and education developers. Some of these issues include quality control, cultural differences, language barriers and student services.

There has been some research into overseas students, and Chinese language students as an entity (McCormick ; Niles 1995; Conlan 1996; Crassini, Smith et al. 1998; Chan 1999; Hellstén 2004), but little on International students studying a specific subject like Creative Arts and Design. Would a Chinese medical student be as different to a Chinese design student as Australian medical and design students are? The volume of Chinese students studying in Australia suggests a more focused analysis is possible and required.

The research will examine Chinese design students in China preparing for further undergraduate study in Australia. By understanding design students in China, courses, classes and assignments could be adjusted where appropriate. As some Australian universities already offer curriculums purely for Chinese language students, the research should show if Chinese focused curriculum and lessons would be necessary or advantageous for Chinese design students.

The international education market is highly competitive, and is a significant contributor to the Australian economy. International education activity contributed $14.2 billion in export income to the Australian economy in 2007. Chinese students make up 21.9% of this number ($3.1 billion). This makes them an important and valuable section of the education industry (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics 2007). A recent survey of 5,000 prospective international students (to all countries) by found a 54% rise in Chinese students wanting to study creative arts overseas. (Sharma 2011) If Australian Design Colleges wish to stay competitive, and attract Chinese students, an investigation is needed into what these students need and want, and ways if possible, educators can provide these.

Offshore education is also a developing field for education providers, and globalization and GAT treaties have made higher education “a service commodity, that is not only produced and consumed domestically but also traded internationally.” (International Association of Universities, 2004, para. 10). Offshore campuses, private education institutions operating in China providing design subjects, and domestic universities in China wishing to internationalize their curriculum will need a better understanding of students wishing to undertake Design classes.

Research Questions:

1. Who studies design in China? Where do they come from? What are their backgrounds? How have they studied design and what have they studied? How successful has there general education been? What is their socio-economic situation? What else have they studied? Are there similarities in the research group?

2. What are their wants, needs and expectations? This is value laden question, but as education moves into the service industry, it is a question that needs to be asked. How can education providers meet their clients expectations? What do they think design will offer them? Do they want a theoretical analysis of design; do they want to learn techniques or creativity and lateral thinking exercises or real world projects? What will make them successful designers? Will it assist in migration? Do they feel they’re getting what they paid for?

3. What problems are there and what assumptions are being made? How big a problem is language for design students. Are political issues relevant? What do students assume they will be learning and how they will be taught? Are Chinese students prepared and able to adjust to an internationalized curriculum? Is the assumption/stereotype of mainland students as passive route learners accurate or incorrect?

What research is out there?

Holdsworth completed a thesis for a Master of Arts at RMIT titled “An investigation of cultural values and educational behaviors in Chinese-origin Asian International students studying a creative discipline” (Holdsworth 2001). This appears similar to the proposed research topic. ‘The Chinese learner” or “learners from China”? A multiple case study of Chinese masters’ students in the University of Bath. ‘ (Tian 2008), was the subject of a PhD thesis that explored stereotyping ‘the Chinese learner’ and problems with generalizing Chinese students.

There has been some research into art and design education in China: “On the Education of Chinese Contemporary Art Design” (Huiyi, 2007 #21), and “The Research on the Innovation Education of Art Designing” (Ju Ping, 2005 – 2009 #22)

“Teaching Students From Overseas” (Ballard and Clanchy 1991) is one of the main resources for Teachers and lecturers teaching students from overseas.

The objective of the research is to establish information on prospective design students for education institutions that could lead to improved service provision. Possible outcomes of this research could lead to subjects specific to Chinese students. Examples could involve subjects in Chinese Typography, Bilingual Typography, English for Designers, and Creative Drawing.

Another possible outcome could be a recommendation to lower IELTS requirements for subjects requiring a portfolio submission.

What Theoretical Perspectives shall be used

Interpretivism would be an appropriate Theoretical Perspective for this research.

The aim of Interpretivism is to understand the subjective experiences of those being studied, how they think and feel and how they act/re-act in their habitual contexts.

Interpretivism is a qualitative research paradigm and is useful for research projects where exploration and insight into the subjective experience are valued. It’s also useful for research projects investigating commonality between elements in a particular society, researches conducted in natural settings in order to collect substantial situational information, unstructured observation, open interviews and discourse analysis.

If Australian schools are to deliver a more meaningful education experience for Chinese students, they need to identify and understand these potential students as individuals, and not one large collective. Personalizing these students through understanding their experiences in their own words will be a positive step.

Interpretivism will allow a personal insight into the subjective experiences of the participants. This is not research into what and how these students have learnt, but their motivations and expectations of the learning experience.

Methodology

Ethnography is an appropriate social science research method. It relies heavily on up-close, personal experience and possible participation, not just observation

‘Ethnography as method seeks to answer central anthropological questions concerning the ways of life of living human beings’ Ethnographic questions generally concern the link between culture and behavior and/or how cultural processes develop over time.

Interpretation involves attaching meaning and significance to the analysis, explaining descriptive patterns, and looking for relationships and linkages among descriptive dimensions. Once these processes have been completed the researcher must report his or her interpretations and conclusions.

Ethnography will be the methodology. At the core of the research is the need to understand the potential clients of Australian Universities (Chinese students) as individual people with deeply unique personal experiences. The cultural behaviour of these students is needed to be understood.

The International student market is highly competitive, with many prestigious and reputable institutions competing for the same students. Reputation will always be the most important factor for a prospective student, but universities will have a better chance of attracting attention if they market, address and relate to these students as individuals.

How will the methodology be conducted

The Ethnographic method in practice is to study people’s behavior in everyday contexts, rather than under experimental conditions. Observation and relatively informal conversations are usually the main ways of gathering data.

The approach to data collection is “unstructured in the sense that it does not involve following through a detailed plan set up at the beginning; nor are the categories used for interpreting what people say and do pre-given or fixed.

The focus group should be a single setting or group, of relatively small scale. In this case, it will be small group of Chinese students currently living in China. They will be final year High School students, or IELTS students preparing for overseas study in a design field. The research will be conducted in their final semester.

Following Tian’s methodology in her 2008 thesis The Chinese learner” or “learners from China”, multiple methods of data collection will be integrated.

Personal and audio diaries
Personal diaries do not need to be purely hand written documents. MP3 recorders can be given to participants and a daily audio diary can be kept. Anything they felt important or relevant could easily be recorded by individuals or in a group. A recording device is easier to carry, and data can be recorded instantaneously, thereby minimizing the distortion of memory.

Interviews

Three types of interviews can be conducted:

An initial semi structured interview. This will be at the beginning of the final semester. Educational and family background, experiences and initial expectations will be recorded.

Monthly follow ups. These are to clarify ambiguous points in the audio diaries, and record changes in participants conditions. These interviews can be as formal or informal, regular or irregular to suit individual participants situations, involvement and attitudes.

Final interview. This will be at the end of the academic year. The students will have known if they have been accepted into overseas universities. It will give the participants a chance for self evaluation, and evaluation of the research over the year.

Online interaction is a common method of communication now, and should also be incorporated into the research. Facebook, skype, messenger, blogs and twitter (as well as their Chinese equivalents) are great sources of sharing information, and should be used.

The most important part of the methodology will be to develop a professional, but trusting and friendly relationship with the participants. This will encourage honest, meaningful and volume of participation and depth of data.

Timetable:
The timeframe needs to be in the last semester of studies, as students prepare for further study overseas.

Prepare proposal by June 30
Complete literature review by July 14
Complete fieldwork by November 30 (End of semester 2)
Complete analysis by December 31
Give presentation on January 1
Complete final report by January 15

Validity and Ethics

Relationship between the researcher and participants is always a difficult issue. Ethnographic research requires active involvement with participants, but there are issues in my research and my relationship with participants that must be addressed.

Teacher/student relationship. I’m a teacher, and my participants will be high school/first year university aged students. This is a very strong hierarchical system in China and a difficult one to dismantle.

Chinese/Foreigner relationship. Not a hierarchical barrier like the teacher/student relationship, but a cultural one. China is still a very homogeneous society. Most young Chinese would have very little contact with foreigners.

Age. ‘Don’t trust anyone over thirty’ claimed a young Jack Weinberg in 1964. There will be an age difference of over twenty years between the researcher and participants.

Linguistic. Chinese is a very different language to English, which makes misinterpretation and misunderstanding common.

Reliability and/or distrust of authority. There is a deep rooted distrust and suspicion of authority, especially in research, interviews and investigation. Common advice given to young students in China is to ‘Say what the teacher wants to hear’ and play safe and ‘have no opinion’. There is also cynicism about intent of purpose (how much money would the researcher make from the research and how much money could be made from the data collected).

Anonymity, confidentiality, intent and sincerity of this research must be made clear and transparent to the participants.

Personal Bias. Just as the participants could just tell me what I want to hear, I could also fall into the trap of asking what I want to hear. It would be very easy for me to abuse or neglect my position of influence.

It would be ludicrous for a 40+ Australian teacher to expect to be accepted into a community of 20-year-old Chinese teachers as an equal. My position in this research will always be as an outsider. The relationship that would need to be developed is sincerity, trust and non hierarchical, with the focus being on the intention of the research being to ultimately benefit the participants.

Conclusion

China is going through massive social changes faster than any country in history. Ten years ago China was considered an underdeveloped country, and an overseas education was only for outstanding students or a rich elite. Australia was the most accessible and affordable option for the majority of these Chinese students seeking a western education.

Now China is the second largest economy, its universities are recruiting international students of their own, and an overseas education is more affordable and accessible for a larger group of students. Students have grown more discerning and demanding.

Violence against Indian students in 2009 was amongst one of the reasons in a 46% drop in Indian student visa applications the following year, and another 30% drop recorded in 2011. (Economic Times, 2011., Times of India, 2010)

Racism was not proven to be a motivating factor in these attacks, nor is it the only reason for the drop in numbers (inflation, stringent testing and checks included) but the poor handling of this issue showed a lack of understanding of the Indian student community and contributed to the drop.

Australian education institutes have grown to rely on the income overseas students provide. Students are becoming aware of this and are becoming more demanding in services universities provide.

It is common business sense to understand clients and people, and not commodities. Understanding and researching these students as individuals (as opposed to statistics) will help Australian universities develop a more personal education experience.

References

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