Introduction
As an international student, naturally, I fall within the group of minority students in my educational institution. This population is often underrepresented and underserved despite the unique challenges they face while trying to acclimate to their new environments (Ecochard and Fotheringham, 2018). My status as an international student puts me at a disadvantage over other students who are accustomed to the learning environment. However, drawing from my foreign status, I come with a unique set of experiences and insights about the educational setting that could improve performance.
Key Considerations
This unique approach to interacting with the learning environment stems from my view of the student learning environment from the outward-in, as opposed to the inwards-out method used by resident students. Having an objective view of the learning environment is a unique way of identifying issues or opportunities for student relationships in the learning environment that an insider would not have. This nuanced understanding of the learning environment influenced the development and design of my research project. Particularly, it affected how data would be collected and interpreted.
Key considerations made when developing and designing the project were resource and time allocations. Notably, time was a more significant consideration because resource limitations could be solved through partnerships and collaborations, but time lost cannot be recouped. Given that I adopted the observational view of analyzing the research problem, I had a rare opportunity of making changes to the process design based on observations that I made from the process. The goal of doing so was to make the research process more relevant and appropriate to the study context. Particularly, looking at the topic from a “foreigner’s” perspective gave me multiple perspectives for developing different parts of the research plan.
My interest in the topic stems from my interaction with people across different levels of learning. I find that most students want to live harmoniously with one another and are eager to change their thinking as they learn more about each other. Therefore, any contributions toward making the student body work well and more efficiently instantly drew me to the research topic. How people relate to one another has always intrigued me as a young person, and I have held on to the same curiosity even in my adult years. This area of research interest informed my topic, which largely focuses on improving interpersonal relationships. I find that the education setting is the best way to explore this research topic because of the diversity of people who live and work in higher education institutions. Therefore, it offers an effective and controlled environment for investigating the research issue. As pointed out by Xu (2021) about the experiences of Chinese learners in international universities, the higher education setting creates a simulated environment for analyzing real-world problems. This environment also influenced the design planning process because it was meant to maximize outcomes.
While designing the research plan, I had to internalize the possibility that certain aspects of the study may not work as well as they should. Particularly, I was concerned about the modes of data collection selected because the wrong methodology could affect the quality of research information obtained. This fact is also highlighted by Stokes (2017), who pointed out the importance of obtaining the right sample based on the techniques chosen for data collection. To overcome this challenge, I redesigned the research process to include multiple sources of data. Therefore, each stream of information flow could be used to countercheck the characteristics of the other.
To improve the odds of making the research plan effective, I consulted widely among friends, peers, and my course supervisor to get their views about problematic issues. The goal of doing so was to align the research methods proposed and the expected outcomes, goals, and objectives of the study. Severally, I had to question my methods and their appropriateness for the achievement of the intended research objectives. The question that always lingered in my mind was – “Is there a better way?” Nonetheless, It emerged that one unique feature of the research project was its student-centered nature.
I found that the focus on students was rarely adopted in many contemporary investigations conducted in the higher education sector because most studies have explored current issues facing the sector from management or administrative perspective (Veiga, Magalhães and Amaral, 2019; Reza, 2016; Kooli and Abadli, 2021). However, I believe that the narrative of the student is equally important to explore as current education systems are being remodeled for better performance. Indeed, students enrich contemporary systems of education based on the input and feedback they give regarding various aspects of their learning experiences. Although the student-centered nature of the research topic was an important feature of the research proposal, the limited number of respondents that could be sampled in the investigation was a limitation of the study. Future research may consider expanding the sample of respondents to broaden the depth of data collected.
As an international student, my perspective on education could be influenced by my quest to see existing educational systems become friendlier and more inclusive of various groups of students in the learning setting. This type of bias is categorized by Ahmadi (2019) as “researcher bias,” and it occurs when researchers either intentionally or unintentionally influence the study process to achieve a predetermined outcome or reinforce certain beliefs or preconceived ideas. This type of bias may impact how findings are interpreted or assessed.
Despite being subjected to constant review, I believe that researcher bias could be beneficial in my case because it helped me to identify problem areas about student welfare that impact not only resident students but also international learners as well (Dang and Dang, 2021; Shaheen, 2016). Therefore, my “foreign student” status could enrich the learning process as opposed to undermining its credibility.
I will use the member-check technique to minimize the effects of this type of bias. This method works by requiring a researcher to confirm with the respondents that the findings presented in a report conform to their intended objectives (Stokes, 2017). It gives an opportunity for researchers to detect significant variances between what their respondents said and what is presented in a report. Therefore, it is useful in maintaining consistency between the researcher’s and respondents’ views.
At the same time, time management is a skill that needs to be further developed in the course of undertaking the research because I often had a difficult time balancing my work and personal obligations. Mukanzi and Senaji (2017) highlight this problem as being impactful to one’s commitment level in school. In this regard, I found that the research process significantly influenced my work-life balance. Particularly, this was notable during the weekends when I had to bring my project work to the house and spend hours planning out the research with little consideration for anything else.
Summary
To mitigate some of the issues highlighted in this reflective essay, I believe that I would need to delegate some of my personal duties to other people to free up more time to work on the project. I expect that such a modification in behavior would allow me to better maximize my productivity.
Reference List
Ahmadi S. M. (2019) ‘For a greater good: bias analysis in writing assessment’, SAGE Open, 7(2), pp. 1-10.
Dang, C. N. and Dang, T. N. Y. (2021) ‘The predictive validity of the IELTS test and contribution of IELTS preparation courses to international students’ subsequent academic study: insights from Vietnamese international students in the UK’, RELC Journal, 7(2), pp. 1-11.
Ecochard, S. and Fotheringham, J. (2018) ‘International students’ unique challenges – why understanding international transitions to higher education matters’, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 5(2), pp. 1-10.
Kooli, C. and Abadli, R. (2021) ‘Could education quality audit enhance human resources management processes of the higher education institutions?’, Vision, 6(3), pp. 321-323.
Mukanzi, C. M. and Senaji, T. A. (2017) ‘Work-family conflict and employee commitment: the moderating effect of perceived managerial support’, SAGE Open, 5(1), pp. 1-14.
Reza, M. I. H. (2016) ‘Sustainability in higher education: perspectives of Malaysian higher education system’, SAGE Open, 7(2), pp. 1-11.
Shaheen, N. (2016) ‘International students’ critical thinking–related problem areas: UK university teachers’ perspectives’, Journal of Research in International Education, 15(1), pp. 18-31.
Stokes, P. (2017) Research methods. London: Macmillan Education.
Veiga, A., Magalhães, A. and Amaral, A. (2019) ‘Disentangling policy convergence within the European higher education area’, European Educational Research Journal, 18(1), pp. 3-18.
Xu, C. L. (2021) ‘Time, class and privilege in career imagination: exploring study-to-work transition of Chinese international students in UK universities through a Bourdieusian lens’, Time and Society, 30(1), pp. 5-29.