A Challenging But Worthwhile Learning Experience - Asian International Students Perspective Of Undertaking A Dissertation In The UK

Rong Huang is International Students Tutor at the University of Plymouth. Her research interests
focus on a number of aspects of the tourism phenomenon. In particular, she has published on rural
tourism, public-sector tourism and student travel. Specific research locations include Britain and
China.
Vol. 6, No. 1.
ISSN: 1473-8376
www.hlst.heacademy.ac.uk/johlste
ACADEMIC PAPER
‘A Challenging but Worthwhile Learning Experience!’
Asian International Student Perspectives of Undertaking a
Dissertation in the UK
Rong Huang (rong.huang@plymouth.ac.uk)
Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Cookworthy,
Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA
DOI:10.3794/johlste.61.130
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 Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education
Abstract
Over the past decade international student enrolment at British higher education institutions has
grown significantly. The majority of international students that study for a British qualification
originate from Asia and especially from China. In Britain a dissertation is a significant form of
assessment in the postgraduate curriculum. This paper aims to explore the international students’
perspective of undertaking dissertations in tourism and hospitality management in the UK. Through
personal interviews with 40 international students from Asian countries from April to May 2005, the
experience of undertaking a dissertation was examined. Microanalysis was adopted to understand
their experience. Empirical results indicated that there were three main reasons for choosing a
research topic. For the students the positive experiences gained from writing their dissertations were
generated from learning useful information and peer support. Their negative experiences were related
to difficulties in meeting the demands of writing critically, the relationships with their supervisors
because of cultural barriers, and also access to data.
Keywords: Dissertation, Research Methods, International Students
Introduction
The provision of education and training services for people from overseas has become an increasingly
important source of income for certain countries, including the UK (Mazzarol, 1998; Mazzarol and
Soutar, 1999, 2002). The term ‘international’, ‘overseas’ and ‘foreign’ are used interchangeably in
literature to refer to students studying in another country. Okorocha (1997) observed that there is
some controversy about whether the appropriate term is ‘international’ or ‘foreign’. The argument
being that the word ‘foreign’ has a negative connotation and the word ‘international’ does not
(Okorocha, 1997). In American literature the term ‘international’ is often used, while in British

Huang (2007) ‘A Challenging but Worthwhile Experience!’ – Asian International Student
Perspectives of Undertaking a Dissertation in the UK
Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education 6(1), 29-38. 30
literature ‘overseas’ is used. The term ‘foreign’ appears mainly in literature from Australia and other
countries. However, for the purposes of this paper, the term ‘international’ is used to refer to students
from countries outside the United Kingdom, especially those coming from different cultural, language
and religious backgrounds, some of which are very different from the host culture. The implications
are that they see things differently from their hosts in many areas. Some of the issues they value very
highly may not be valued in this society and vice versa (Okorocha, 1997). They are people in
transition who have come to accomplish an education goal with a view to returning home (McLaren,
1998).
The majority of the international students that study for a British qualification originate from Asia and
especially from China. Britain’s popularity amongst Chinese students has grown since America
tightened visa regulations after the terrorist attacks in 2001. Britain has become the most popular
destination for Chinese students, ahead of America, the previous most favourite, and Germany, where
higher education is virtually free (Bird and Owen, 2004). British universities, facing deepening
financial difficulties, have seized on the economic potential of the Chinese market. However, it
should be noted that a sharp drop in total students from China (Kingston, 2005) sent a signal that the
students from this market are getting more discerning when they decide where to attend university.
At a British educational institution, a dissertation is a significant form of assessment in the curriculum
of a masters’ degree. In order to successfully complete a masters’ degree, many tourism and
hospitality programmes require research to be undertaken and then the submission of a dissertation.
However, many studies suggest that international students might have preferred a different learning
approach to the one used in their host country (Barron and Arcodia, 2002; Huang, 2005). Whilst there
are many texts on research methods and also guides to the design, development and writing of
dissertations (e.g. Fitzpatrick, et al, 1999; Mauch and Birch, 1998; Philips and Pugh, 2000), much less
attention has been given to the actual writing and structure of the dissertations. Although a focus on
postgraduate dissertations is evident in educational research (e.g. Kangis, 2001; Abel, 2002; Paltridge,
2002), there is a lack of voice from international students about their own experiences. Therefore, the
aim of this paper is to explore Asian international student perspectives on undertaking a dissertation
by drawing on qualitative research with postgraduate tourism and hospitality management students in
the UK. In order to achieve this research aim, two research objectives are established as follows:
1) To assess the motivations for topic choices by the Asian international students
2) To discuss the positive and negative experiences of Asian international students have in the
research process.
The Role of the Dissertation in the Masters’ Degree
The terms ‘dissertation’ and ‘project’ are used interchangeably within many educational institutions.
However, the author agrees with Clewes’ (1996) classification that ‘project’ refers to first-degree
research, ‘dissertation’ to masters’ degrees, and ‘thesis’ being reserved for higher research-only
degrees. In turn, the dissertation is defined as a substantial piece of work, of about 15,000 – 20,000
words, written with a view to proving or disproving something, and thus adding to, or creating new
knowledge.
Kangis and Carman (2002) identify that commonly encountered (written or unwritten) expectations of
dissertations are to:
1) add to knowledge by creating new ways of looking at what is around us;
2) test existing knowledge as it might apply to new situations;
3) familiarise a student with the literature in a given area of discourse;
4) provide a critical structuring of what is known with a view to addressing a problem;
5) help develop analytical skills; and
6) be an integrating piece of work, demonstrating that the student has competently addressed a
management problem.
Thus, a dissertation requires the candidate to demonstrate a mastery of the subject area being
researched, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the research methodology being used. It

encompasses both intellectual and skills development. For the vast majority of students, the
dissertation is by far the most challenging piece of academic work that they have attempted or are
ever likely to attempt in the future.
However, there is a strong trend for masters degrees to be based largely on coursework. According to
Remenyi, et al., (1998) the rationale for this is that coursework for a masters’ degree is intended to
prepare individuals to take a more specialist, or in some cases a more distinguished, role in their
profession. Therefore, masters’ degrees are sometimes referred to as mid-career development
degrees. Thus the research component, although still present, is relatively small when compared to
doctoral degrees, but it is still an important component of the curriculum.
The dissertation is a key feature of masters’ degrees in tourism and hospitality subjects in the UK. In
his recent evaluation of dissertation practice in hospitality, leisure, sport and tourism in the UK,
Buswell (2004) identifies that in the majority of courses (90%), the dissertation is a compulsory
element of the programme, a limited number of courses offer an alternative, and others are
considering further options such as a case study, or a project (eg. Enterprise-related). He noted that
all courses (except one) provide some form of research methods instruction prior to the dissertation
process, and only 10% of departments do not assess research methods modules.
As a significant component of the curriculum, assessment of student research has been studied and
evaluated by reflective Higher Education (HE) practitioners in the UK (Buswell, 2004; I’Anson and
Smith, 2004; Dutton et al., 2005). The focus on postgraduate dissertations is evident. Based on the
analysis of 100 dissertations from one British business school and on simulations with random
numbers, Kangis and Carman (2002) concluded that rigid adherence to the conventional scientific
model should be toned down, and that the potential benefits of several alternative models of research
and knowledge creation should be given greater prominence. Woolhouse (2002) explores the
relationship between a supervisor and a dissertation student, and identifies the similarities and
differences in their expectations. In terms of the similarities, supervisors and students agree that:
1) writing a dissertation will enhance knowledge of the topic;
2) students need to commit to their project;
3) students need to be alerted by supervisors about time scales of their projects; and
4) supervisors are advisors for the student projects.
The students noticed more similarities than differences, but in contrast their supervisors saw more
differences than similarities.
The Learning Experience of Asian Students in the UK
International students come to Britain with expectations that come from their past experience in their
own countries and, whether they realise it or not, they must learn to adapt to new circumstances in
order to succeed academically. This includes incorporating priorities formulated by the British
education system and often adapting to new ways of studying and preparing assignments (Lowes,
Peters and Turner, 2004). Problems arise for British academics when they are confronted with what
appear to be differences between the academic standards and expectations of the lecturer and those of
the Asian international students, and this may have an impact on the potential success of those
students. The ability to think critically is required to do well at university in Britain, but Asian
students are often criticised for their lack of critical thinking skills (Egege and Kutieleh, 2004).
Casanave and Hubbard (1992) found that such international students often have difficulty in meeting
the demands of the kind of writing required of them at masters’ degree level. This is especially the
case for students who come from a context where the conventions and expectations of academic
writing may be quite different to the situation they now find themselves in (Ballard and Clanchy,
1997).
One of the most common issues for international students (and also domestic students) is
unintentional plagiarism (CSHE, 2002). Many researchers note that in some educational settings

outside British higher education, the more closely a student can replicate the work or words of an
expert, the greater the student’s learning or mastery of the subject is considered to be. The students
are unaware that this is not the case in British higher education and that, in sharp contrast to their
previous experience, they may be penalised for such replication.
Aboutorabi (1997) argues that although the student-supervisor relationship should normally develop
into a co-operative working relationship, which could ideally include some personal friendship, the
relationship between international students and their supervisors could be ruined because of cultural
differences. As Dudley-Evans (1995, 1999) and Thompson (1999) argue, given the increasing
numbers of international students undertaking masters/research degrees in English, much more work
needs to be done to establish the particular characteristics of this group. While there is growing
literature exposing difficulties that Asian international students encountered while they were studying
in the UK, there is seldom research on the positive learning experience they had, especially from
writing dissertations.
Methodology
This research adopted a qualitative approach to investigate the experience of Asian international
students who were doing their dissertation in tourism and hospitality subjects. After detailed
secondary research, a three-part semi-structured questionnaire was developed for in-depth interviews.
The first part related to personal information such as their gender and country origin, the second to
their motivations for topic choices, and the third was concerned with their positive and negative
experiences of the process of writing a dissertation.
This research was not designed to present a statistical representation of all Asian international
students’ experience on writing dissertations. Rather, its emphasis was on the richness of information
being gathered and the meaningful comparisons possible. In this sense, the research worked on the
principle of theoretical sampling. Using this sampling strategy, new cases were consciously added to
extend data comparison. Working through the process, the researcher was theoretically sensitive to
new insights developed. New research participants were invited after the preceding interviews were
recorded and analysed. In doing so, the information gaps between the previous and successive
interviews were filled. The research did not stop sampling until no new information emerged from
the latest interview. In total, the researcher interviewed 40 international students from three different
countries about their experience. In-depth interviews were carried out in April and May 2005.
In terms of data analysis, this overlapped with data collection to build a coherent interpretation of the
data. Using a manual process, the researcher made interview transcriptions immediately after each
interview and conducted analysis simultaneously. The analytic procedure referred to Strauss and
Corbin’s microanalysis (1998). This is a line-by-line analysis that is used to generate initial
categories and to discover relationships among concepts (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). The rigour of
the analytical procedure depends on its adequacy and transparency.
Analysis went further than microanalysis, comparisons between categories were also conducted. At
this stage, the relationship between categories was judged at the level of internal convergence and
external divergence (Patton, 2002). Comparisons were made not only within the individual cases but
also cross the individual cases. Concepts discovered from every previous interview were aggregated
immediately. As the insights emerged, they were compared in successive interviews. In this sense,
theoretical sampling was also directed by the data analysis so as to “extend, test, and fill in
information” (Lincoln and Guba, 1985: 201). By doing so, patterns of data were found. At that point,
provisional frameworks were produced. Thus, the analytical process moved from an inductive
approach towards “a more deductive approach to data collection and analysis” (Patton, 2002: 67),
which focused on verification and interpretation (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Strauss and Corbin, 1998).
On the one hand, the researcher compared similarities and differences among categories within the
empirical study. On the other, she compared the emerged categories with previous literature that, to a
certain extent, provided a set of guiding hypotheses to this research. Constructed in this way, the

results of this research were built. The completion of this signalled the final stage of the analytic
process.
Findings
Profiles of the interviewees
All of the 40 interviewees were full-time students taking their masters degree in tourism and
hospitality related subjects. In terms of their country origin, 25 of them were from China (19 from
Mainland China, 4 from Hong Kong and 2 from Taiwan), 6 were from Malaysia, and 9 were from
India. In terms of gender, there were 25 female students and 15 male students.
Motivations for topic choices
From the interviews, it was very clear that there were three main motivations for the students in their
choice of research topic and these are now discussed below.
Link to career development
This was the most common motivation for choosing the topic. Most of the interviewees used the
dissertation to understand deeply and thoroughly a topic related to their jobs or possible job prospects.
The following quotations from the interviewees illustrate this motivation:
“I worked in a big travel agency in China. I intend to go back to work there. Doing a project
on travel agencies in China would benefit me later.”
“I have always wanted to work in the hotel industry in Beijing, especially during 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games. Nowadays there are many international hotel chains in Beijing. I thought
that doing a dissertation related to international hotel issues in China would afterwards help
me to get a job in Beijing.”
These concur with Clewes’ research (1996), which identified that skills development and the practical
value of the project in terms of improving job prospects were important.
Personal interest in the subject area
A personal desire to learn about a specific area in their research was the second most important
motivation for the interviewees. This was illustrated by statements from two interviewees:
“I came from the very northern part of China. I like skiing. I really want to go skiing in
Europe. So I did my project about a ski resort in Switzerland. Although it was very difficult
for me to find information, I enjoyed finding the information I had for this resort. I have
planned to go there this winter.”
“It was definitely because of my personal interest! I am a tour guide in Malaysia. I enjoy
traveling. I have never been to Africa. But Africa is so mysterious for me. So I did my
project on tourism development in Egypt.”
The concept that personal interest is a motive for choosing a research topic has been supported by
many researchers (e.g. I’Anson and Smith, 2004; Cadman, 1997).
Perceived ease of access to secondary and primary data
The interviewees also reported that perceived ease of access to sources of data is an important factor
in decision-making and topic choice. They reported an ease of access to primary data through
established contacts with individuals or organisations, either through their current or previous jobs, or
through their family connections. For example:

“Although I was keen to write something related to travel behaviour of disabled people in
China, I just could not find many data. So I changed my attention to Chinese outbound travel
since I found a lot of articles in English journals.”
“I am an international student in the UK. I have met a lot of international students here. So
when I thought about my dissertation, I decided to write something relating to international
students. This was because of my own experiences and also my network of other
international students here. From a practical point of view, it would be easy to do my survey
and interviews.”
The positive experiences of writing a dissertation
Although writing a dissertation in their non-native language was very hard, many students reported
gaining benefits from their writing up of the dissertation, which an interviewee summarised as “a
challenging but worthwhile learning experience for me”. The students who gave positive experience
statements agreed that writing a long piece of work in English was very beneficial to them. The
following statements illustrate this:
“It’s the first time that I have written such a long piece of work in English. I developed my
writing skills and also I gained some confidence in my language skills.”
“I learned a lot about skiing destinations in Europe. I enjoyed reading articles about the
destination I researched. I really look forward to going there now.”
“Although before studying here I’d wanted to work in the Shanghai conference industry, I had
no real ideas about it. After writing my dissertation, I not only had some knowledge of
conference planning, but I also obtained some first-hand information about its operational
situations.”
The above findings appear to support l’Anson and Smith’s view (2004) that positive experience of
writing a dissertation tended to be reported when research was relatively unproblematic, or if it was a
particularly relevant and interesting research topic. These findings also seem to support Woodhouse’s
(2002) observation that writing a dissertation will enhance knowledge of the topic that the students
research. Several students also reported that during the writing of their dissertation, support from
their classmates was a very positive benefit for them:
“After meeting my supervisors, I had often been very depressed. Then my classmates would
encourage me to carry on. To be honest, without my classmates, I really could not have
finished writing my dissertation.’
“Because we were in the same situation, we understood each other. When I had some
questions about my literature review or methodology, they often tried their best to help me to
solve them.”
“I have limited language skills. I was overjoyed when I knew that I had passed all the
modules. Writing my dissertation was a very big challenge to my level of English. My
classmate helped me a lot by making sure that my sentences were flowing.”
These findings seem to agree with Olsen’s (1998) opinion that peer support was one of the important
factors influencing students’ positive experience in writing dissertations.
The negative experiences of writing a dissertation
Although the interviewees all reported they had a great sense of achievement after finishing writing
their dissertation, they also all told me of their negative experiences. The three most common
negative experiences are summarised below:

Critical approach/analytical writing
According to Madsen’s (1983) criteria for thesis assessment (which are still widely recognised by the
English language social science academia), writing in this discipline should comprise: a convincing
account, an ordered, critical and reasoned exposition, the testing of ideas, competence in independent
experimentation, ability to make critical use of published work and source materials and originality.
Many interviewees were confused and depressed about their critical analytical skills because of a lack
of knowledge in this area. For example:
“I have been told by my supervisor that my work lacks critical analysis. I really don’t know
what critical analysis means.”
“By beginning the writing of my dissertation without a clear understanding of the critical
approach, I really suffered when I read the feedback from my supervisor with regards to my
literature review. I thought I did a good job, but my supervisor asked me where was my
opinion.”
The above two statements clearly reflected that their lack of experience and clear guidelines from
their lecturers on how to think and write critically made it difficult for the Asian students to know
what the requirement entails in practice. These findings seem to agree with Cadman’s (1997) finding
that international students found it very difficult to write critically. Paltridge (1997) also commented
that students with English as their second language often have difficulty in meeting the demands of
the kind of writing required of them at a critical level.
Other students complained that different suggestions about critical thinking they received from their
lecturers confused them.
“I have been given examples on how to write critically. It seems that I need to criticise
published work from my academic journals. But how dare I be critical? The authors in those
journals were professors or lecturers!”
“Different lecturers tell me different things when I ask them what critical thinking really
means. These really confuse me when I write my dissertation.”
The above finding reflected that Mingers’ conclusion (2000) that the concept of critical thinking is
vague and different educators have different views on this matter.
The relationship with supervisors
All the interviewees reported that there were many cultural barriers to them having an effective
relationship with their supervisors. As a result of cultural differences, they had incorrect expectations
of, or misunderstandings with, their supervisors. The interviewees said:
“I don’t know what help my supervisor is supposed to give me. But it is not my place to ask
him about it. I just did what he told me to do.”
“In my culture, we will not question what our professors say. So in our meeting, I never gave
any real answers to my supervisor. Most of time, I just said ‘yes’.”
“My supervisor misinterpreted my draft. I didn’t know whether I should explain it to her.
What she said was not what I wanted to do, but she is a professor and I am just a student. So I
completely changed my draft to satisfy her comments.”
These findings appear to support Aboutorabi’s (1995) research, which showed that because of cultural
barriers, international students found it very difficult to develop a proper relationship with their

supervisors. The interviewees also admitted that insufficient language skills were also a barrier to
proper communication with their supervisors.
Access to research samples
The interviewees identified difficulties in data collection due to uncooperative respondents. Some
interviewees complained that because student research was not highly rated in their own countries,
their requests for information from officials in tourism departments, hotel managers in a hotel chain
etc, had often been refused. For example:
“For my research I tried to find out about the kinds of preparations that international hotels in
Beijing had been doing for the Olympic Games. Therefore I had planned to interview hotel
managers from different international hotels in Beijing. After one month of telephone contact
with them, there was only one hotel that accepted my request. I was very disappointed.”
Some interviewees rebuked themselves because they had a low level of understanding about data
collection methods. Also, because they lacked sufficient time management skills they could not get
enough data for their research.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Although this was a small-scale project, this research does provide international student perspectives
on the writing of dissertations, as a counterbalance to the current dominance of the academic’s
perspective and the focus on students originating from within their own country. This paper
identified that there were three main reasons for the international students choosing a particular topic:
a link to career development, personal interest in the subject area, and perceived ease of access to
primary and secondary data. For international students, the positive experiences gained from writing
their dissertations were those generated by learning useful information and also peer support. Their
negative experiences related to difficulties in meeting the demands of writing critically, relationships
with their supervisors and access to and collection of data. It should be noted that the relationships
with their supervisors were perceived negatively not because of academic understanding, but because
of cultural barriers and lack of English language skills.
The findings from this research have implications for research training given to students and also to
lecturers, in terms of pedagogy. As writing a dissertation is a new experience for international
students, they need to have tutorials on how to prepare a dissertation and how to deal with their
supervisors.
As the students have highlighted, cultural differences influence their learning experience and some
cultural influences on learning, such as referencing, and social practices, such as relationships
between teachers and students, could be discussed by both the students and the lecturers in order to
avoid misunderstandings between them. The ground rules about their respective roles and
expectations could be set out at the beginning of their study. This would help in encouraging the
students to express their personal views about their research material, using both oral and written
methods.
During the early stages of topic selection, the challenges of accessing and collecting data should be
emphasised. This will help highlight the important implications of their decisions on research topic
and also avoid disappointment during data collection. The research results appear to suggest that a
short training session on critical thinking skills would also be beneficial to the international students,
as most of them have no clear idea on what critical thinking is, and how to be critical of the literature
they read and also of their own work. For lecturers, it would be very helpful if they could develop a
model for critically analysing a subject, or give examples to the students of how to do a critical
analysis.

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