Investigating the Experience of Japanese Graduate Students in U.S. Classrooms:A Description of, and Reflections on, the Methods Used in a Qualitative Narrative Research Study

For my investigation of the experience of Japanese graduate students in U.S. Higher Education classrooms, I chose to adopt a narrative approach and to collect data by utilizing a qualitative interview method. This paper describes the ways in which I went about realizing my objective of collecting adequate and reliable data on multiple student experiences. In the process, it also highlights how, unlike in quantitative studies that allow for the employment of an objective and value-free approach, researchers in qualitative ones such as mine cannot separate themselves from the subject of their studies to anything like the same degree. Thus, being a Japanese graduate student just like my research subjects, I rapidly became aware that their experiences were constructed in a context from which I could not readily abstract myself. In working to safeguard the accuracy of my data and the validity of my conclusions, I learned how crucial it was to maximize my self-awareness, to identify clearly my own perceptions and expectations, and thus to avoid imposing my own frame of references on the process of data collection and analysis. Conducting research in a U.S. environment also proved to be of value in improving my ability to relate ethically to my research subjects. Learning to follow the ethical guidelines governing the conduct of research in the U.