Hello, I am an English lecturer in the Applied Foreign Languages Department at TransWorld University (twu.edu.tw). I am looking for foreign English teachers who are willing to take a short online questionnaire to help me in my research study for a paper looking at foreign English teachers living and working in Taiwan. The paper will be used in one of my classes and will also be delivered at an English conference in Taiwan. The paper will also serve as a starting point for a deeper study on the lives of foreigners in Taiwan. Please read this consent form carefully and email any questions you may have before agreeing to take part in the study.
I do university extension programs, senior and junior high, private tutoring, in-house training at large companies, and have also been a writer/editor. Many of us have multiple jobs.
We get peoplw show up here quite often, asking us to take part in surveys, but nobody ever asks “what questions should I be asking?”
I do university extension programs, senior and junior high, private tutoring, in-house training at large companies, and have also been a writer/editor. Many of us have multiple jobs.
We get peoplw show up here quite often, asking us to take part in surveys, but nobody ever asks “what questions should I be asking?”[/quote]
You could always just use the “other” box and type “multiple.”
But you’re right that there are some glaring omissions. Just the fact that in the “strongly agree/disagree” section there is no question that reads: “I have often been thwarted in my efforts to obtain a retail outlet for sour cream” needs must call into question the credentials of the questionnaire and yes, the very genealogical lineage of the person who devised the survey.
[quote=“Lecturer White”]Hello, I am an English lecturer in the Applied Foreign Languages Department at TransWorld University (twu.edu.tw). I am looking for foreign English teachers who are willing to take a short online questionnaire to help me in my research study for a paper looking at foreign English teachers living and working in Taiwan. The paper will be used in one of my classes and will also be delivered at an English conference in Taiwan. The paper will also serve as a starting point for a deeper study on the lives of foreigners in Taiwan. Please read this consent form carefully and email any questions you may have before agreeing to take part in the study.
Obviously journalism and academia are two very different worlds, but in my book you never seek information/opinions from people without first fully identifying yourself and explaining why you want their answers. “Lecturer White” has done the second but not the first. Let’s have a proper name.
About 5 seconds of clicking will reveal that “Lecturer White” is his name (or at least his title). He gives his title, University, department, email address, and website. What more could you want to know?
Done. I had too many things to list for “What are the top 3 (in order) things that you enjoy about living and working in Taiwan?”, apart from traffic I had a hard time coming up with three things for “What are the top 3 (in order) things that you dislike about living and working in Taiwan?”, this “I do not like the term “外國人” (waiguoren) [foreigner].” should have had a “why” box to elaborate, and this “I use the term expat when talking about myself.” should have had an option for “If not, then how do you refer to yourself?” box, and this question "I would choose local food over foreign food if given the choice. " should have had an “it depends” option as I would rather eat roasted ass than stinky tofu, but otherwise I do prefer local fare.
[quote=“maoman”]Done.
In exchange for allowing your research to be conducted through Forumosa, please share the results with us when you’re finished, ok? Thanks![/quote]
Indeed. I’d also like to know what the results are.
First off, THANK YOU very much for all of your help. If any of you need a questionnaire filled out for a research project let me know. I have received 19 responses in less than a week, which is great. My hope is that I can get at least 25. An interesting item that I noticed is that of the 19 people only 6 are female. I hope that I can get more female responses, so that I can do a little comparison between the sexes.
Thank you for the suggestion. I will definitely keep Forumosa posted as to the progress of my research. My plan is to leave the link up for one more week, then take it down. After that I need to start looking at the data. Hopefully, by March I will have a paper that is ready to be presented at a conference (all I would then need to do is to find a conference). Before that I should have information available that I can share with Forumosa.
Thank you for your discussion of the questions. This paper is hopefully a good starting point into a deeper paper dealing with English speaking foreigners living in Taiwan. I am very interested in looking at the term “外國人” (waiguoren) vs. expat as it plays out in Taiwan. I also like your comments about the food question. I will need to remember to add something in my paper dealing with how these questions were only agree/disagree and that people might have a “but” to add to their answer as you suggested.
In the future I hope to add an interview to the process to be able to explore deeper these (and other) questions and to get a better understanding as to the lives of English speaking foreigners in Taiwan.
I’m not sure if I like this word “expat”… I guess I would rather be a foreigner, or waiguoren, than someone who is exiled from their own country.
I guess my point is that words people use are not really meant to be offensive if they are just common terms. I don’t think anyone really means any harm when they said “high nose” or “foreign ghost” either…
Thank you for your discussion of the questions. This paper is hopefully a good starting point into a deeper paper dealing with English speaking foreigners living in Taiwan. I am very interested in looking at the term “外國人” (waiguoren) vs. expat as it plays out in Taiwan. I also like your comments about the food question. I will need to remember to add something in my paper dealing with how these questions were only agree/disagree and that people might have a “but” to add to their answer as you suggested. [/quote]
You may want to consider Skype for that to reach those of us spread around the island.
I’m not sure if I like this word “expat”… I guess I would rather be a foreigner, or waiguoren, than someone who is exiled from their own country.
I guess my point is that words people use are not really meant to be offensive if they are just common terms. I don’t think anyone really means any harm when they said “high nose” or “foreign ghost” either… [/quote]
See, here’s my point exactly. I don’t consider myself an expat or a foreigner. I consider myself an immigrant.
Thank you again to everyone who helped out in the online survey. I was able to get 20 responses, which is perfect for what I want to do with this study.
I have loaded a PDF with some of the basic information on the participants (sex, age, how long in Taiwan, marital status, job) to the study’s website:
At this site you can see the following:
(1) A General Information About People in the Study (PDF)
(2) Likert Questions Analysis (PDF)
(3) Two papers that I have made from the data (PDF):
Expat vs. Foreigner: A discussion of the Terms and Usage (2001) - A paper delivered in May 2011.
Foreign Teachers in Taiwan: The Good, The Bad, The Why (2011) - A paper to be delivered in late 2011.
I hope in the future to find the time to go through the Likert Scale Questions Analysis (PDF) and develop the major paper for the study. The information is also available for other researchers to use in their research. If you do use it please send me an email letting me know.
[/quote]
