Culture and Identity Abroad Survey

Culture and Identity Abroad Survey  
     
Survey for: Students studying abroad (or recent graduates living abroad)

Survey length: 8 open-ended questions

Time to complete: 20 minutes to an hour (unlimited time)

Email responses to r.m.shakespeare@gmail.com or fill out survey online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=72133390808
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Hi! I'm a second year graduate student at American University in the School of International Service studying International Communication. I'm currently working on my thesis, looking at how people understand their culture as they study or live abroad. I am using this survey to gather information about individuals' experiences abroad.

This survey is designed to gather qualitative information - stories, descriptions, reflections - and the questions are mostly open-ended. It is most valuable for my research if you answer all of the questions with detail and thought, but short answers are also useful.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary, and all responses will be used anonymously - please do not disclose sensitive material. If you cannot or do not want to answer a specific question, you may skip it. Questions 1, 3, and 4 are required. There are 8 total questions.

You will not be able to go back and change your answers - there is a space provided at the end for any additional comments or changes you would like to make. Additionally, you may email me if there is anything that comes to you after taking the survey.

If you have any questions, please contact me via email at r.m.shakespeare@gmail.com.

If you are interested in this survey, but would rather answer the questions by email, on your blog, in a video blog (ie on YouTube), by VOIP, or by recording your spoken answers, please email me.

Thank you very much for your time and contribution to my research!      
          
1. *required* Introduce yourself. Please include your first name, age, relationship to school, current country/city of residence, how long you’ve been there and how long you’re staying. If it helps, consider how you would introduce yourself to a friend of a friend – someone who is not a complete stranger, who you would like to know a little about yourself.
     
2. Your email address (optional - see above).
               
For the following questions, home is how you define it. If you have more than one definition/understanding of home, please include that.

3. *required* Think through your day-to-day life – from getting up to going to sleep. What kinds of things have you noticed are different from home? Is there anything that you do, interactions you have, etc that you would consider “like at home” or “not like at home”?
     
4. *required* Is there anything that you do to create home for yourself while you are abroad? Is there anything in particular that you need, that you do, or that you brought that gives you a sense of home? Why these things?
     
5. Tell me a little about “home” – where or what is your home? What makes it home to you? Are there any specific things you associate with home?
     
6. What do you miss from home? Is there anything specific that reminds you of home while you are abroad? What makes you feel like home? How? Why?

Have you been homesick? What do you do when you are homesick? Is there anything that you need to not feel homesick? If so, what?
     
For the following questions, please consider yourself now, as you are studying abroad. If, for any question, you answer "it depends," please explain why and how it is different in different situations.

7. Consider your identity. How do you introduce yourself to the different people that you meet? Do you introduce yourself differently to different people - people who are from your current location, people who are from your “home,” people who are from everywhere else, etc?
     
8. Are there/have there been any situations when you realize that you are from somewhere different, or when you have felt different? If so, what situations are they, and how did you come to realize this difference?
     
9. Have you ever been asked about your culture, or where you are from? If so, how do you reply? Do your answers change from person to person or over time? How?

10. Based on my questions and your reflections, is there anything else that you would like to add?
     
Thank you very much for your time and for answering these questions. I hope that they gave you a chance to reflect on yourself and your experiences.