This chapter introduced the research framework, research method and procedure, data collection, and date analyses.
Research Framework
According to the purposes of the study, the research framework was formed as Figure 3.1. The researcher firstly reviewed literature of intercultural competences and intercultural communications, then developed interview guideline and began to interview financial practitioners. The interview guideline explored the tasks and job contents of financial professionals, needed intercultural competences, and barriers they have met in intercultural communications. Through analyzing interview data, the researcher found the intercultural competences needed in Taiwanese financial industry, the barriers they have met in intercultural communications. Finally, the researcher explored developmental approaches of intercultural competences which can be developed for professional financial workers.
Figure 3.1 Research framework of the study
Research Approach
The purposes of this study aimed to explore intercultural competences for professional financial workers, to explore communication barriers they met in intercultural context, and to investigate the developmental approaches of intercultural competences for them. Due to the limited study of intercultural competences of financial professionals in Taiwan, and in order to achieve the research interests and purposes, this study adopted qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of Taiwan financial industry. Qualitative approach can provide in-depth description of a specific program, practice, or setting, and can study things in their natural settings, attempting to interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Mertens, 2005)
Literature Review Intercultural
competences
Intercultural communications
Interview Guideline 1. Tasks and job contents 2. Intercultural competences
3. Intercultural communication barriers
Intercultural competences needed and barriers in intercultural communication
Developmental approaches of intercultural
competences
Data Collection
This study employed semi-structured interview and observation instruments to collect data. Observation takes place in the natural field setting and can provide firsthand information. According to Merriam (1998), the combination of interview and observation allows for a holistic interpretation of the phenomenon being investigated, thus, these two instruments were employed to collect data for this study.
Interview
The interview questions were designed according to literature review. After established the questions, the researcher discussed with financial practitioners and experts to revise the questions. Then the researcher conducted pilot interview, and revised the questions again. After deciding the questions, the researcher started to conduct formal interview. In order to get further information and allowed the participants to have more time think about the questions, the researcher sent interview questions to interviewees before the interview.
In interview, the researcher briefly introduced the research purpose firstly and asked permission for recording interview. Then, a brief questionnaire was filled out to get personal profile and working experience for gathering further information.
Data collection took place between Octobers to November of 2011.
Interview Questions
The interviewees answered following questions.
1. What are your role and task in this company?
2. What competences do you think are needed in this work?
3. Please describe your intercultural experience during work.
4. What intercultural competences do you think are needed in your work?
5. How do you make your intercultural communication effectively?
6. How do you build your relationship with clients?
7. What training courses you would like to take in order to improve intercultural competence?
The interview questions were adjusted according to interview situation. For example, the interview mentioned that they have many road shows. The researcher then asked further questions like “can you give more information about your road show?” or “what is the process of a road show?”
Observation
The researcher participated the daily work of company A, which is a foreigner investment financial company in Taiwan. The researcher observed financial
professionals’ daily works to gather deeper information and had observation for two months. The frequency was twice a week. Each observation spent for half a day and observation notes were taken.
Sampling Strategies
The criteria for subject selection were based on the purposes of this research.
Professionals who work in financial industry are the population of this study. Since the study aimed to explore intercultural competences and barriers of intercultural communication, participants have to work in intercultural environment, which means participants colleagues or clients need to be foreigners. The researcher gave the criteria as below.
1. Participants have to work in financial industry.
2. Participants have to work in intercultural environment.
3. Participants must have at least one-year working experience.
Research Participants
The participants were gathered from snowball sampling. There were nine interviewees in the study, including 5 males and 4 females. There were researcher analysts, research associates, equity sales, and secretary as interviewees. The seniority was from 1.5 years to 20 years. The year of having lived in foreigner countries was from none to 16 years. The background information of interviewees is presented as table 3.1.
Table 3.1
The Description of Interviewees Interviewee
Code
Gender Position Seniority (Year)
After conducting the interview, the researcher transformed the interview content as transcripts. Process of data analysis is presented in steps as follow. First step was coding the interview contents. The researcher read the codes again and
again, and used open-coding method to extract important concepts. Then, similar concepts were put into one category and serial numbers of coding were given. While doing categorizing, similar concepts were emerged into a category, and categories were further put into one theme. The researcher provided the example of the coding process in appendix B.
Reliability and Validity
In order to increase the validity of the study, a copy of the interview questions was provided to experts at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and practitioners in financial industry in order to check their quality. These experts then provided advice on the consistency and logic of the questions. Interview questions were revised. For example, one of the original questions was “how is the frequency you communicate with foreigners?” The revised version added options as below,
How is the frequency you communicate with foreigners?
□Everyday □1~3 per week □1~3 per month □1~3 per year
□Other ___________
Next, a pilot study was conducted before the formal interview to assess the feasibility of the questions, and modifications were made.
In order to increase the reliability of this study, peers debriefing and member checks were implemented. During the research process, the researcher had discussed the framework of the study, research questions, interview content, analysis, research findings, as well as discussion with peers and professors. The peers were graduate students of NTNU who major in human resource. Professors were experts in human resource development. Besides, when the interviews were conducted, the researcher
had verified with the respondents about what had been said and clarified participants’
perspectives to accurately reflect interviewees’ thought.
During the actual interview, the researcher used voice recorders, and
transcribed personal notes. After finish interview, the researcher translated interview as transcripts. Open-coding method was adopted to extract important concepts. After coding the interview contents, the researcher invited two peers to review the coding to see whether the concepts generated from interview contents make sense or not.
The level of consistence was above 95 percentages.
Research Procedure
This study aimed to explore intercultural competence for professional financial workers, communication barriers they met in intercultural context, and to investigate the developmental approaches of intercultural competence for them. Literature related to intercultural competence, intercultural communication, and barriers of intercultural communication were reviewed. The researcher further developed the purpose and questions of this study. In order to gain a deeper understanding of Taiwanese professional financial workers, qualitative approach was adopted. Based on the literature and the purpose of this study, the interview guideline was developed.
Then the researcher conducted pilot interview, discussed with experts and peers, and revised the interview question. After this step, the researcher started to conducted formal interview. Then, the collected data was coded and analyzed. Results and discussion were further provided. The Figure 3.2 showed the whole research procedure.
Figure 3.2 Research procedure Identify Research Topic
Review Extant Literature
Develop Research Purpose and Questions
Decide Research Approach
Develop Interview Outline
Conduct Pilot Interview
Conduct Interview and Collect Data
Analyze Data
Provide Research Findings
Propose Conclusions and Suggestions