Argument Memo of My Final Project

Korean International Students’ Success in American Higher Education

1.     We need to better understand how Korean international students who are studying at a theological seminary in the United States perceive their success as students.

      a. South Korean international students, who are the major ethnic group (over 40 %) of the international students at theological seminaries in the United States (ATS, 2013).

      b. American higher education need to adapt international program policies and practices because international students’ success in the United States is a crucial issue for building a healthy relationship between people and communities during global changes (Ryan, 2014).

      c. International student program will bring together differences that will benefit both the institution as well as the individuals.

2.     We know little about Korean international students’ success, who are studying at a theological seminary in the United States.

      a. International students are often grouped as one homogeneous group to compare their success with domestic students.  Among Asian, however, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students have different cultures, languages, and ethnic backgrounds.

      b. Previous research of international students often focused on the international students’ success within the academic setting.

      c. There was a lack of research on international graduate students’ success because most research has been studied of undergraduate international students.

3.     For these reason, I proposed to study six exemplary Korean international students to understand the following:

      a. How do they define students’ success?

      b. How do they describe their experience with institutional services as related to their success?

      c. How do they describe how they contributed by themselves to their students’ success?

4.     The setting and Korean international students selected are appropriate for this study.

      a. My relationship with Korean international students is my personal strength to conduct the interviews. I, as a research instrument in a qualitative study, am culturally appropriate to approach the way of asking questions and gaining information. 

      b. The productive relationship with the selected participants (interviewees) is important factor to answer my research questions. 

      c. The Korean international students selected are appropriate and diverse (from Theology and Missiology School).  My selection decision takes account the feasibility of access and data collection with concerning validity and ethics of the research.

5.     The methods I plan to use:

      a. Participant observation: field notes, videotaping in class and small group discussions, taking pictures. 

      b. Korean student individual interviews: open ended questions based on the protocol, semi-structured, audio recording. 

      c. Sample (selections) is guided by theoretical sampling, rather than statistical representativeness.

6.     Analysis will generate answer to these questions.

      a. My analysis will “be ongoing and inductive to identify emergent themes, patters, and questions” (Maxwell, 2013, p. 151).

      b. I will analyze data by reading the interview transcripts, observational notes, and documents that are to be analyzed (Emersonetal., 1995).

      c. During actual process of transcribing interviews, notes, and memos through listening and reading them, I will use ‘open coding’ for categorizing analysis my data (Corbin & Strauss, 2007).   

7.     The findings will be validated by the following:

      a. Triangulating: how to design the use of specific approaches for collecting data with purposeful selecting from a diverse range of individuals, purposeful multiple-site settings, and particular methods that are relevant to my research questions and goals (Fielding & Fielding, 1986).

      b. Discussing findings and entire transcripts with the interviewees and colleagues.

      c. Comparing findings with existing theory.

      d. Checking bias in the selections, settings, and methods.

8.     The study poses no serious ethical problem.

      a. School and interviewees will be anonymous.

      b. Approval from IRB with consent form.

9.     Preliminary results support the practicability and value of the study.