a) Intercultural Communication Research Project: Each student will research a community/group that is ethnically, culturally and/or religiously different from one’s own group. You could choose one of the following research methods:
1) Conduct interviews with one or more members of the group and analyze their responses to your questions (interviews, narrative analysis) OR
2) Participate in a religious ceremony, wedding, cultural festival or celebration of the group and provide a detailed report of the observed event, its cultural/religious significance, historical background and current meaning (participant-observation/ethnography)
Your research should be designed to answer a specific research question you raise in your research project about the group. The ultimate goal of this project is to increase your (and your classmates) understanding of the group and its culture so as to promote intercultural understanding and dialogue.
As a general guideline, your final research project should include the following sections:
Section 1: Proposal (1 or 2 pages)
1-Which cultural/ethnic/religious group are you studying?
2-Why do you think it is important for us to learn about this group in this class?
3- Provide a brief background about the group as it relates to your paper
4- What do you want to learn about this group through your research?
5- What is your specific research question?
6- Why is this question important? Why would people want to read about it?
Section 2: Review of existing sources (Literature Review) (3-4 pages)
1- What does the literature (published scholarly books and articles) say about this group and the research question you want to answer? What do we already know from previous work on this topic?
2- How will your research relate to the literature? (Are you trying to fill a gap in the existing literature? Are you trying to extend our knowledge beyond past research? Are you applying a theory to a new group?)
Section 3: Research Process/ Interview: (1/2 to 1 page)
1- Set up an interview with your subject in a timely fashion (OR identify an event you want to participate in). You need to plan ahead of time and not wait until the end of the semester to set up and conduct your research.
2- Describe what was the research process like? Have you encountered any issues/challenges while setting up or conducing the interview OR participating in the cultural event?
Section 4: Analysis of the Data: (4-6 pages)
1- Analyze your interview or ethnographic study findings. The analysis in your paper should be presented in an essay format (no bullet points, no Q/A format, no copy and pasting of the whole transcribed interview). Analysis requires interpretation and synthesis of the data. You will be well served to use the information from your literature review to make sense of your interview data.
2- Were you able to answer your research question at the end of the research?
3-How does your research findings help improve our understanding of and communication with this group?
To successfully complete the Intercultural Research Project you will need to:
1) Submit a research proposal and discuss it in class.
2) Turn in the draft of your literature review.
3) Present your final project at the end of the semester in class.
4) Turn in your final paper (to be uploaded on Blackboard)
