Understanding Interpretive Research Through the Lens of a Cultural Verfremdungseffekt

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCross‐cultural studies contribute to engineering education as a globally interconnected field. The methodological challenges posed by research across cultural boundaries must be explored to ensure the quality of such studies.PurposeThis article explores challenges and opportunities for insight by examining the effects of researchers' and respondents' cultural norms and values on interpretive research.MethodDuring a prior study of engineering students' competence formation in the United States, Australia, and Thailand, reflections on the project's progression were collected in the primary researcher's log trail. This article analyzes these records through the lens of a Verfremdungseffekt, whereby assumptions underlying the methodology became apparent in its transfer to a different cultural setting.ResultsResearch challenges related to characteristics of Thai culture revealed three methodological insights. The pronounced power‐distance in Thai culture and its effects on the prior study's focus groups highlighted the non‐dualistic nature of interpretive data gathering. The culture's collectivism necessitated significant changes to the data‐gathering tools, thus illustrating the need for an emergent research design in interpretive inquiries. The high‐context communication characteristic of Thai society presented challenges in eliciting and collaboratively analyzing student accounts, and exposed the processes of social construction that characterize both data gathering and interpretation.ConclusionThese methodological insights illustrate the importance of an understanding of and engagement with the local context that span the entire research process from making to handling data.