1st Research Step: Pick a Topic
We had started to research picking a topic first. But basically we had to have an idea about "What is culture", talked about our cultural differences between us because we are already coming from different cultures. Our idea was about if there is an effect of learning culture on our future opinions and decisions. For example it could be like you learned something about your culture and it shaped your thoughts which related to your future. In that extent we shaped our question as ‘ How does learning culture direct your interests / opinions at the primary school?’. After that we decided to specify our question and find specific regions to make research on. However it made more complicated before than because if we put some regions to compare with each other we probably could not find enough information about our question. So we decided to make our question at the end “How does learning culture direct your future interest at the primary school?” Also we consider our first text which was about “Are there cultural differences in in learning style” and international students in our university. In this step, we also created our mind map in order to made a decision for which ones are more important in the contents of our research.Thus mind map became a loadstar for us. Also that step was in our learning zone. We use “Onion Model” to see all ideas in one picture.At the last, we determined our next steps.
2nd Research Step: Consider Environment
At second step we had to consider environment. Who can shape your interests or which kind of things can effect your interest? We tried to answer this questions and also we added our findings to our mind map. Also we tried to find an expert who has a knowledge related with our topics to talk about our research question. But this part was hardest part of our research because we found an expert and he did not reply our e-mail. In that step we confused. Thus we tried to focus our readings before about our topic and discussed it. In the light of reading for session, which was about “Does culture influence learning styles in higher education?” , we made our decisions more clear and we discussed about culture, leraning styles, and effects of culture on learning styles. And we took as an example of ‘Culture Star Model’ to consider environment. In this way, we can easly see what kind of things are most important for a person.
That step was in our panic zone only because of we could not find an expert. However the other actions that we made were in our confort zone.
4th Research Step: Research Question
The research question is an essential part of the whole process. Our research question outlined us a bit quietly. In the beginning, questioning was a bit challenging and we were thinking a lot about the question and its significance. It is important to understand the whole question and its meaning when drafting the question. Eventually we got the question in its final shape.
When considering the question we also considered the target group of our research. The target group affects the whole question and its preparation. It is essential to shape the question for the target group. In our target group we chose university students and most of them are exchange students. We wanted to find out about the effects of the university student`s primary school learning culture on their future and interests.
When we got our research question done, then the topic of our research became clearer to us. After the research question, we had to think about our research questions in the questionnaire. We had to try to think about the questions so that we could answer the whole question of our research.
Method: Survey Questionnaire
1-) Onion Model
There are many ways to visualise the concept of culture, but one of the most popular models is based on an onion. The Onion Model of Culture shows how culture has a number of layers. There are a number of interpretations of this model but the simplest one consists of four key layers.The outer layers represent cultural artefacts or symbols such as flags, architecture or traditional clothing. Heroes make up the next layer, such as Winston Churchill in the UK, and tend to represent many of the culture’s values and beliefs.The next layer is composed of common rituals and traditions. This could include how people greet each other, eat meals, get married or practise their religion.In the centre of the onion are the underlying values and cultural assumptions which influence all of the other layers. These beliefs, norms and attitudes are much harder to recognise without a deeper analysis and thorough understanding of each of these layers and how they interact.
Working Together: Comfort-Zone Model
The comfort zone model is widespread within adventure education literature. It is based on the belief that when placed in a stressful situation people will respond by overcoming their fear and therefore grow as individuals. This model is often presented to participants prior to activities with a highly perceived sense of risk and challenge which arouses strong emotional and physical responses to novel tasks (e.g., ropes courses or rock climbing activities). Students are encouraged to think about ‘stretching themselves’ by moving outside their comfort zone, to expand their preconceived limits and by inference learn.
6th Research Step: Doing Research
With prepared questionnaire, we started to survey to the target group. We asked them in person and also made an online form and distributed it to international students of European University Viadrina. We first asked them their sex, ages, and nationalities. And research question was ‘Who affected your interest at primary school?’ and ‘Did you get some special interest about your culture at primary school?’ We interviewed 24 people and there were duplication replies so we could get 46 answers from first question. 20 of them said that they were affected their interest at primary school by family, 10 of them said teacher, and 8 of them said friends. Other 8 people said heroes, computer games, sport teams, himself, sport stars, and so on. From the second question, 7 of them said no, and other 17 said yes. Who said yes answered the interest as dancing, playing music instruments, oratorio, giving speech, cooking, exercise and sports, math, interacting with each other, and so on. With the result of survey, we can reach to the fact that people who came from various countries do not have huge differences depending on cultures and learning culture has not that big effect on future interest.
2) Culture Star
Culture star is more about individual values and belongings. Everyone has different culture star because of each person has different personalities, values and perceptions. In this model, we can see the deeper individualized dividedness.
3rd Research Step: Dig Deeper
When doing research, it is important to get to the topic carefully and accurately. There was a need to think as far as possible. It was also important for us to understand the subject and its dimensions. To be able to do research is to understand the subject as a whole. In our meetings, we discussed the topic and its various dimensions, and with this we gained a better understanding of the whole subject and the subject we are investigating. In our group we discussed this topic and everyone brought their own opinions.
When we came to the subject we discussed a lot about the learning culture and what it means. Learning culture is a broad topic with different dimensions and meanings. However, in learning culture, it is essential that people experience it in their own way and for most children it is a very important part of childhood.
It was initially challenging for us to find a team of expert. For our expert, we found a pedagogical practitioner working in a Finnish university. Fortunately, we found it and we got her views on our subject. According to her, a learning culture has a great impact on the child's future interest and the learning culture has a lot to do with children and interests. Learning culture is a key part of the child's life.
5th Research Step: Research Design
On this stage, we contemplated which methods we will use to research. We chose our worldview to social science and decided to use survey questionnaires as a research method. We concerned that our question is whether What, Why, or How question. We finally considered it as How question because we should research the ways that learning culture has an effect on future interest.
Also, on this stage, we were concerned about using interest or opinion in our research question and set our question definitely as ‘How does learning culture direct your future interest?’ Because, we thought that interest directly affects on our future job and what person wants to be than opinion. On the basis on our research question, we made some interview questions and continuously changed and clarified them. After we had done made the questionnaires, we decided the survey target to international students in European University Viadrina. This stage was a learning zone to us because it was hard to classify worldview and what kinds of question it is.
7th Research Step: Reflection
When we stated to research at first, that was so complicated and we did not know what we have to do. But by the time we used to it and felt ourselves more closer to our research. Also we had some problems about finding an expert and meeting times because we have different classes to go. However at the end of the Project we worked good together untill now and we have the results of our research. We learned lots of things in that research process. For example fist we learned work together , new cultural modals, perception of world, different worldviews. These all are new things for us. And also we learned some values of ourselves from models like cultur star.
Result of Topic
We made interviews on international students and found and expert from Finnish University. When we compare with our results of survey and reply of expert, we can see easly they have the same points. So we can say that about our research, yes learning culture is changing but some points do not change culture to culture. People who answer our survey questions are coming from different countries and cultures but almost all of them are effected by family, friends, teachers. To sum, this research showed us if there are some cultural differences among people, there is not huge changes on effective persons who effects childhood period.