Eastern Coastal Region, Family and Individual in Higher
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HIGHER EDUCATION CHOICES AND DECISION-MAKING A Narrative Study of Lived Experiences of Chinese International Students and Their Parents Vivienne jing Zhang A thesis submitted to AUT University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) April 2013 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TTITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... ……. iviii ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP ........................................................................................ x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. ixi CHAPTER 1 SETTING THE SCENE ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Some Observations on Recent Trends in Chinese International Students Choosing to Study Abroad.......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 My Story .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.2.1 The Research Path Taken: Family-History-Narrative-Interpretive-Method (FHNIM) 6 1.3 Significance of This Thesis ................................................................................................ 11 1.4 Organization of This Thesis ............................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................ 17 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Part One-Mapping the Conceptual Territory ..................................................................... 18 2.2.1 Perspectives of Intergenerational Matters on Education and Occupation Choices and Decision-making .................................................................................................................. 18 2.2.1.1 From socialization to subjective beliefs and values ............................................. 18 2.2.1.2 Status attainment................................................................................................... 20 2.2.1.3Life course perspective-Intergenerational connection in times, locality, and mechanisms of decision-making ...................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Toward a Social Phenomenology of Lived Experiences ............................................ 23 2.2.2.1 Alfred Schutz and the phenomenology of the social world.................................. 23 2.2.2.2 Course-of-action and person types ....................................................................... 24 2.2.2.3 Causal and meaning adequacy .............................................................................. 24 2.2.2.4 Life-worldly stock of knowledge ......................................................................... 25 iii 2.2.2.5 The selection and ordering structures of experience as the “Because” and “In- Order-To” Motives ........................................................................................................... 27 2.2.2.6 Reflective analysis and its evidence ..................................................................... 28 2.3 Part Two-Parents and Children in China‟s HE Institutions 1912-2011 ............................. 30 2.3.1 General Accounts of Imperial Examination and the Structure of Chinese Traditional Society .................................................................................................................................. 31 2.3.2 The Emergence and Early Development of Modern Higher Education Institutions in the Republic Era (1912-1949) .............................................................................................. 32 2.3.3 Current Students‟ Parents and Their Education Experiences – Education Systems 1950-1970s ........................................................................................................................... 33 2.3.3.1 Technical and managerial ethos‒the 1950 HE system in perspective .................. 33 2.3.3.2 Revolution in education and mass mobilization‒ HE in the decade of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) ................................................................................................... 33 2.3.3.3 Cohort of „worker-peasant-soldier (WPS) students‟ ............................................ 34 2.3.3.4 Cohort of examination-era students in the transitional post-Mao era (1977-1978) .......................................................................................................................................... 35 2.3.4 HE Characteristics after 1978 ..................................................................................... 37 2.3.4.1 Massificating HE admission ................................................................................. 37 2.3.4.2 The role of “211 Project” & “985 Project”........................................................... 37 2.3.4.3 The “Top Four Obsession” in Shanghai perspective, 1998 and beyond .............. 37 2.3.4.4 Keypoint system‒The secondary school in Shanghai .......................................... 38 2.3.4.5 Studying abroad after 1977‒from State project to mass overseas mobility ......... 38 2.3.5 Mobility, Identity, and Belonging in Shanghai‟s History and Today ......................... 39 2.3.6 Cultural Influences in Appraisal of HE decisions within the Chinese Family Context .............................................................................................................................................. 40 2.3.6.1 One-child families in urban China ........................................................................ 41 2.3.6.2 Filial piety: Cultural implications in perceived roles of parents and children ...... 41 iv 2.3.6.3 Decision and the meaning of face and family honour .......................................... 42 2.4 Summary of Literature Review .......................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY AND METHOD ............................................................... 44 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 44 3.1.1 Research methodology and design .............................................................................. 45 3.2 Research Procedures ......................................................................................................... .46 Family-history-narrative-interpretive-method (FHNIM) ......................................................... 46 3.2.1 Familial-Biographical-Narrative Interview ................................................................. 47 3.2.2 Analysis of Biographical Data and Family History .................................................... 49 3.2.2.1 The principle of sequentialization ........................................................................ 49 3.2.2.2 Peircean hypothetic-inductive analysis: Datum-by-datum interpretation ............ 50 3.2.2.3 Formulating hypothetical contexts from the observed phenomenon.................... 52 3.2.2.4 Progressing from hypotheses to follow-up hypotheses and empirical testing...... 52 3.2.2.5 The reflective team approach ............................................................................... 52 3.2.3 Analysis of Told Story: Theme-Thematic-Field Analysis and Modes of Presentation .............................................................................................................................................. 56 3.2.3.1 Definitions of theme and thematic field ............................................................... 57 3.2.3.2 Mode of Presentation ............................................................................................ 59 3.2.3.3 Reflective analysis of self-observation and observing other individuals within the context of interview .......................................................................................................... 61 3.2.4 Reconstruction of Case History and Detailed Microanalysis of Individual Text Segments .............................................................................................................................. 63 3.2.5 Comparison of the Lived History and the Told Story ................................................. 64 3.2.6 Development of Family Typologies and Issues of Generalization ............................. 65 3.2.7 Delimitations……………………………………………………………………68 3.2.8 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….. 69 3.3 Data Collection Procedures...........................................................................................70 3.3.1 Sample and access..........................................................................................................