CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
3.2 R ESEARCH M ETHODS .1 Research approach
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
68
As qualitative comparison looks at real cases, seeking to show the mechanism of cause and effects in their actual context, a qualitative comparison must include a wide range of instances of the phenomenon in question (Bray 2006). The analysis of this study is carried out vertically and horizontally. Vertically, documents, tables and figures that are drawn in this study are used to reveal the trends of internationalisation of HE in recent years. Statements and first hand data particularly shown in this study are then to provide horizontal views to point out the similarities and differences of state/university preference in Taiwan and mainland China comparatively. Furthermore, in chapter 6, first hand as well as second hand data are displayed in the following 4 aspects: (1) education reform; (2) education practices; (3) international academic achievement; (4) state preference. When discussing the impact of globalisation to HEIs, aspects (1)-(3) are the usual analysis elements in literature as discussed in chapter 2; aspect 4 is an add-on perspective in this study particularly in an attempt to discuss how the capabilities of a state can influence HE development in a country. 9 propositions provided above are mainly discussed in chapter 7. It is not only to summarise the findings but also to verify the research hypotheses in this study.
3.2RESEARCH METHODS 3.2.1 Research approach
The approaches which are adopted in this study are mainly to overcome the obstacles occurred in current literature as well as to review how different nation-states respond to globalisation by adopting internationalisation strategies in HE.
This study centres on the selected public and private HEIs in Taiwan and China to examine the states’ capabilities (understood as state autonomy and state capacity). To meet up with the goals, state-centred approach, institutional approach and documentary analysis are adopted in this study. Currently, there are 160 HEI in Taiwan, among which 60 are public universities and 100 are private ones. 41 There are 1763 public universities (regular HEIs) and 706 private universities (non-government HEIs, or also known as Minban universities) in China. 42 Both Taiwan and mainland
41 The numbers of university is dated up to year 2012. Refer to MOE official website (2014b) from http://ulist.moe.gov.tw/Home/UniversityList (Access on 2014.9.26)
42 The numbers of university is dated up to 2013.9.04. Among the 1763 HEIs, 113 are under central Ministries and Agencies, while 1623 are under local authority. Data access on 2014.9.26, from China’s MOE official website (2014b):
http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s7567/201309/156892.html
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
69
China share similarities in language and culture. The current ruling party in Taiwan is KMT which was the ruling party in mainland China from 1927-1937; CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is the current and the only ruling party in China which was founded in 1921. There are clear differences in polity as well as social development in the selected two countries and yet the approaches that are used in this study examine mainly on the state policies, facts, and the interview outcomes.
As discussed in literature, state-centred approach is to understand the relationship between the state and the society from a centric perspective. Basically, state-centred approach emphasises more on the importance of the state while society-centred approach looks more into governance. The main argument for state-society-centred approach lies in that state and governments remain critical players and policies continue to be made and implemented hierarchically by the state. Although the society-centred approach emphasises on societal forces and those non-governmental organisations in state governance, whether the sovereignty state is losing its grip and is being replaced by new ideas about pluricentric government is in heated debates.
State-centred approach is to look at how states are attempting to expand their governing capacities not only by strengthening central state institutions but by forging new governance partnerships with a range of social actors (Bell and Hindmoor 2009).
In addition, China43 has had a long history in carrying out state-centred monarchical systems while Taiwan44 was also a rather state-centred authoritarian regime from 1945 to 1987. How the changes, if any, occur when the two states attempt to be more globally competitive and how much they have achieved such attempt through enforcing HEIs to be internationalised are the main theme in this study. Hence, it is fundamental to examine whether the two nation states, Taiwan and China, are responding to globalisation by different strategies adoption in policies and how the state receive benefits from making its HEI more internationalised so as to be more globally competitive.
Adopting documentary analysis is to examine the HE policies and laws that are related to this study in Taiwan and China. Also, documents, reports, news, talks, meeting minutes, lectures and PhD dissertations, masters theses that are related to the
43 In China, from the Chin dynasty, the first emperor, Chin She Huang had attempted to strengthen his ruling power. So does many of the following rulers in other dynasties, e.g. Han Wu Di in the Han Dynasty, and Tang Tai Zong in Tang Dynasty.
44 From 1895-1945, Taiwan became the colony of Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War. From 1945, Chiang Kai-shek of KMT retreated to Taiwan and carried out authoritarian rule until his death in 1975.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
70
theme are explored so as to understand the two countries’ HE internationalisation in the perspective of how the two state machines manage their HEIs. The purposes of analysing documents are conceptualising, using and assessing available documents.
The paucity of sources available until now means that this compendium will be invaluable to social researchers (Bell 2010). The advantages of documentary analysis is when a longitudinal study is undertaken, such as this study, the staff member are usually no longer belonging to the organisations being investigated and thus the documentary analysis can be used more as supplement information obtained from interviews.
Since HE nowadays is undergoing substantial changes in the face of globalisation, it is the prime time to examine the two countries’ HE internationalisation policies and institutional restructuring by institutional approach. As institutionalism deals with ‘the rules, procedures and formal organisations of government’ (Bell and Hindmoor 2009), HEIs can be regarded as formal organisations of government (or an extension of a governmental organisation). The review of HE rules, policies making, implementation and procedures is completed in a qualitative way. In order to retrieve important sources of data collection, interview fulfils the purpose of this study because an in-depth interview can uncover valuable insights, and enable one to discover the ‘real story’ from the people in the know. It is, thus, one of the appropriate ways to conduct this study by using the qualitative method of interview when understanding the formation and implementation of internationalisation policies in this study.
3.2.2 Data collection method
While understanding that the debates on using a mixed method divide, this study is mainly qualitative and via deductive approach. A deductive approach, which is emphasised in post-positivism, aims to test a theory or a hypothesis against data.
Since the aim of the research is to see a state as a key actor in the internationalisation of HE facing globalisation, there are several ways to achieve such a goal. Nordlinger (1981) provides a framework of analysis on how one can examine the relationship between state and society and how a state autonomy can be achieved via its capacity.
Nordlinger used documentary analysis to create its own analysis model and developed three types of ‘state autonomy’ and the implications of the ‘state-centred model’.
Migdal (1988) also discovered the state-society relations and state capabilities in the Third World by documentary analysis method. By using documentary analysis, both
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
71
researches have provided in-depth analysis on the issue of state capabilities. In this research, documents that are related to Taiwan and Mainland China especially on the issue of higher education internationalisation are collected and analysed in juxtapose with the interviewing data being collected in this research.
The interviewing method is particularly important source of data collection in mainland China because ‘internationalisation’ in China is more emotional than that in the West for cultural reason (Yang, R. 2002). In Taiwan, such method is often adopted when examining the process of internationalisation, its effects and outcome in HEIs (Ching 2009). 45
Prior to the actual interview, a pilot study was conducted in order to reach the goal of getting a sketchy understanding both Taiwan’s and China’s internationalisation of higher education. Before each interview, after the explanation of the purpose of this study and the provision of the list of questions for the talk, I requested the permission to use a reordering device for the purpose of data analysis only. The researcher has kept the interviews data confidential and has informed the interviewee that their talks during the interviews are under protection of confidentiality. Moreover, all the data are used as first-hand data and to be of academic research purpose only.
During the conduct of interviews, the researcher has tried to probe the interviewees to ‘speak more’. Since the interviews were mainly conducted by semi-structured, the interviewees are probed to speak as much as they wished. All the interviews were in principle free flowing and exploratory and there was by no means the limit of discussion. Even though each interview was not conducted entirely in the same order and the length of interview was also flexible, each interview had lasted 30 minutes at least. All the interviews are conducted in between February to October of 2014 by the researcher. Some are carried out in Taiwan while some are in China.
Altogether, there were 13 interviewees, 1 law maker, 4 civil servants, 6 educationists and 2 experts in higher education. 10 out of thirteen granted me to record, 3 declined. Of those who declined, I asked permission to take notes. The interview questions and the list of interview conducting date/location can be found in Appendix I and II. The collected data are displayed in chapter 4-6 as ‘quotes’ from a certain interviewee. The purpose of this is to juxtapose the retrieved data with figures and charts to provide an insight of a particular issue related to HE development and
45莊俊儒，（2009）。台灣高等教育國際化之衡量（未出版博士論文）。國立政治大學，台北
市。
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
72
state capabilities. The tables and figures in this study are provided either excerpting from other researches or retrieving directly from the official documents/reports/
websites in particular display to suit to purpose of this study.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
73