A Tale of Two Cultures: Building Community by Researching Community

Autor/inn/en	Drane, Jon; Cai, Wenjie; Wechsler, Andrea; Mussi, Eveline; Shi, Ye; Crommelin, Laura
Institution	Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)
Titel	A Tale of Two Cultures: Building Community by Researching Community
Quelle	(2012), (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
ISSN	1324-9320
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Graduate Students; Culture; Study Facilities; Physical Environment; Interpersonal Relationship; Familiarity; School Security; Mixed Methods Research; Ethnography; Case Studies; Research Projects; Observation; Student Surveys; Interviews; Focus Groups; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Kultur; Natürliche Umwelt; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Ethnografie; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Forschungsvorhaben; Beobachtung; Schülerbefragung; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Australien
Abstract	Upon beginning postgraduate research at the Faculty of Built Environment at UNSW, the authors were surprised to find themselves working in a library-like environment, where a culture of silence prevailed. Assuming initially that this was just how postgraduate research was, they soon learned that the building also housed a second postgraduate lab with a different work environment featuring more interaction. This discovery prompted the authors to create an informal research community group, the Cohort Knowledge Share Group (CKSG), and to develop a "mini-thesis" to explore the lab differences and to share the thesis creation process. Auto-ethnographic perspectives shaped the mini-thesis study, which utilized mixed methodology incorporating a questionnaire, individual reflections and interviews, focus group sessions and observation. The mini-thesis results illustrated that despite undertaking a common journey, the research student community's diverse and multicultural nature created complex needs for facilities, community engagement and personal support. In addition, while undertaking the mini-thesis study, the authors discovered that the innovative CKSG model had changed the sense of community in the main postgraduate lab, as well as the broader research student journey. As this case study will show, the CKSG has therefore been a transformative experience in more ways than one. (Contains 4 tables, 6 figures and 2 footnotes.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Australian Association for Research in Education. AARE Secretariat, One Geils Court, Deakin ACT 2600, Australia. Tel: +61-2-6285-8388; e-mail: aare@aare.edu.au; Web site: http://www1.aare.edu.au
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10