Ethnography Research with Monica Lin
Hua Fan
Introduction
My interview is with Monica Lin, she is an international student from Taiwan and come from a different education system than that of the US. Even though both me and Monica is of Asian descent we experience very different type of educational system. This interesting upbring have many similarities and also differences that I want to explore in this paper. Some of the things that might be interesting to know would be if the education is harder, what are the expectations for a student, both from parents and schools and where or how higher education is pursued. Some of the expectation going into this interview is that being in a Chinese culture that I am familiar with would be that the expected push for education is dictated by their parents to be doctors, lawyers, tech, or business field. I assume that I would find that, since Monica is in the Applied Psychology program, maybe her upbringing is different from that of most of her peers in her environment, but that is just a assumption. My main Interview question is Monica’s experience/ expectation in the context of Taiwanese culture differ from what experience and expectation in the US. Interview Summary The interview was done mostly in the classroom setting, which might have an effect on the answers. However, since everyone is conducting the interviews too at this point there is somewhat of privacy as most people are distracted, also the questions are not very personal as it was on education. Outside influences is at the minimum, at the same time I have known Monica for a while so there is a comfort level that have developed and make the interview easier. Some of the question are about basic geographical questions age and where did she lived. One of the more interesting thing that the interview revealed that Monica did not go to a public school in Taiwan instead she went to a international high school which was in english rather than mandarin which is used by the rest of the schools. On the same topic the college experience is different, as it seems that people are less engaged as college is looked as just part of life instead of higher education. Some other thing that is interesting is the fact that Monica’s parents, even though her parents planned most of her early education, Monica is able to choose what she want to study but still need to compromised by taking a business minor. Last thing that is really interesting is that there was a inward look for females in her setting as people in her community questions why they want to study in different country instead of being in Taiwan. Even though males, does not have the same expectation as the female that is in her culture. Most of the questions have given really interesting answers, as according to the questions, Monica seem to come from a high class family and are afforded many opportunities that most of the population did not have. It was an interesting outlook on culture …show more content…
The factor of SES within similar culture might produce different expectation and experience, but in this interview not much of it deviate too much from my own personal experience.
Conclusion
Going into the interview I did have some bias as Monica did come from similar cultural background I assumed some experience/ expectation differences based on gender, SES, and upbringing. However, going through the interview I was able learn that there are some shared similarities with our experiences which I actually find surprising as we are very different people. There was no Bias developed by simply observing Monica, as I do know her for a few semester and also share cultural heritage.
Sometimes listening to a person is enough, That was the mindset that I was in when I go into this interview and I was able to learn a lot more about Monica and where she come from. The insight that was able to get out of it and comparing that to my own experience I can take it as a valid data as, in this case, I am part of the In-group. However, If my interview was with someone that came from a different culture background I might have the same comprehension and might limit my understanding of that
Hua Fan
Introduction
My interview is with Monica Lin, she is an international student from Taiwan and come from a different education system than that of the US. Even though both me and Monica is of Asian descent we experience very different type of educational system. This interesting upbring have many similarities and also differences that I want to explore in this paper. Some of the things that might be interesting to know would be if the education is harder, what are the expectations for a student, both from parents and schools and where or how higher education is pursued. Some of the expectation going into this interview is that being in a Chinese culture that I am familiar with would be that the expected push for education is dictated by their parents to be doctors, lawyers, tech, or business field. I assume that I would find that, since Monica is in the Applied Psychology program, maybe her upbringing is different from that of most of her peers in her environment, but that is just a assumption. My main Interview question is Monica’s experience/ expectation in the context of Taiwanese culture differ from what experience and expectation in the US. Interview Summary The interview was done mostly in the classroom setting, which might have an effect on the answers. However, since everyone is conducting the interviews too at this point there is somewhat of privacy as most people are distracted, also the questions are not very personal as it was on education. Outside influences is at the minimum, at the same time I have known Monica for a while so there is a comfort level that have developed and make the interview easier. Some of the question are about basic geographical questions age and where did she lived. One of the more interesting thing that the interview revealed that Monica did not go to a public school in Taiwan instead she went to a international high school which was in english rather than mandarin which is used by the rest of the schools. On the same topic the college experience is different, as it seems that people are less engaged as college is looked as just part of life instead of higher education. Some other thing that is interesting is the fact that Monica’s parents, even though her parents planned most of her early education, Monica is able to choose what she want to study but still need to compromised by taking a business minor. Last thing that is really interesting is that there was a inward look for females in her setting as people in her community questions why they want to study in different country instead of being in Taiwan. Even though males, does not have the same expectation as the female that is in her culture. Most of the questions have given really interesting answers, as according to the questions, Monica seem to come from a high class family and are afforded many opportunities that most of the population did not have. It was an interesting outlook on culture …show more content…
The factor of SES within similar culture might produce different expectation and experience, but in this interview not much of it deviate too much from my own personal experience.
Conclusion
Going into the interview I did have some bias as Monica did come from similar cultural background I assumed some experience/ expectation differences based on gender, SES, and upbringing. However, going through the interview I was able learn that there are some shared similarities with our experiences which I actually find surprising as we are very different people. There was no Bias developed by simply observing Monica, as I do know her for a few semester and also share cultural heritage.
Sometimes listening to a person is enough, That was the mindset that I was in when I go into this interview and I was able to learn a lot more about Monica and where she come from. The insight that was able to get out of it and comparing that to my own experience I can take it as a valid data as, in this case, I am part of the In-group. However, If my interview was with someone that came from a different culture background I might have the same comprehension and might limit my understanding of that