The document outlines the process for developing a research proposal, including identifying interests and curiosities, relevant academic knowledge, stakeholders who would benefit, and assessing feasibility. It then provides an example of how these steps were applied to develop a research topic on how mainland Chinese students' intercultural sensitivity develops during their first year studying in a Scottish university. Potential research questions are also proposed to address how their sensitivity changes over time and what university experiences contributed to its development or lack thereof.

1. Frank Xu

2. Last trimester in the IBC class:
The coursework-research
proposal of this module-
an academic report which
presents your intended or
designed plan that makes sense
of that process to readers.

3.  researchtopic refers to what we
want to do;
 researchquestions show how we
want to deal with what we want to
do

4.  what are we interested in or curious about in
this field?
Interest(s) or curiosities could derive from…
◦ daily life;
◦ working experiences;
◦ academic experiences;
◦ our observations;
◦ discussions or conversations with others…

5.  What academic knowledge we could use to
build the connections?
Knowledge could derive from…
◦ from IBC module;
◦ from TESOL modules;
◦ from MCDO module;
◦ from other selected business modules…

6.  who will benefit from our research or study?
take the various stakeholders into account
◦ institutions: universities, corporations and
companies, governments or other agencies etc.;
◦ people: students, teachers, staff, employers or
employees etc.;
◦ academia (if possible): modified, develop or add
new understandings to existing
theories, frameworks etc.

7.  Will my study feasible?
consider the feasibility and accessibility
◦ Is the study feasible for a certain amount of time;
◦ Is the participants accessible for me;

8. Interests and curiosities Academic knowledge
Research
Topic
Feasibility and accessibility
Stakeholders benefits

9.  Broad senses at the beginning:
◦ I am interested in Intercultural Communication;
◦ I am an international student in a Scottish University;
◦ I have sojourning experiences encountering cultural
difference;
◦ I come from China and met many same level students
from China as well in our university;
◦ I want to use my study make people know something;
◦ I learnt cultural dimensions, small culture
approach, (non-) essentialist views on understanding
IC, cultural shock, intercultural sensitivity, intercultural
competence…

10.  Narrow them down one by one….
◦ I am interested in Intercultural Communication
◦ “intercultural sensitivity”

11.  Narrow them down one by one….
◦ I come from China and met many same level
students from China
◦
◦ focus on overseas Chinese students

12.  Narrow them down one by one….
◦ The intercultural environment and most our
interactions occurred in our university;
◦ comments I heard most regarding their
studies, which could be connected to university
service
◦ academic life in a Scottish university

13.  Organise the narrowed thoughts to produce the
research topic
◦ intercultural sensitivity;
◦ overseas mainland Chinese students;
◦ academic life in a Scottish university;
◦ university as a service provider
 Research topic:
whether and how mainland Chinese students’
intercultural sensitivity develops during their first year
of sojourning in a Scottish university

14.  Once the research topic is made up in our
mind, next we could think about how to
“realise” this research topic step by step in
the research questions.
 Here, we have to consider what could be the
logic to make our research topics be
conducted.

15.  whether and how mainland Chinese students’
intercultural sensitivity develops during their
first year of sojourning in a Scottish university
what their intercultural sensitivity was when they arrive here
and what that could be after studying for a year
If any change(s) happened during this period, what
could be the attributes that make this development
happen

16.  1. How did they react to cultural differences they
perceived at the different points of their academic
sojourns?
 2. What patterns can I identify, from a comparison of the
participants’ reactions to cultural differences at different
points of time, about their intercultural sensitivity
development?
 3. What events that happened during the sojourning life
might have contributed to their intercultural sensitivity
(non-)development?

17.  Taking the stakeholder into consideration, I add the
last question:
 From a business perspective, what are the
recommendations from the findings above for the
improvement of the university’s practices as an
education service provider?

18.  Xu, H. (2011) An Exploration of Intercultural
Sensitivity Development of Mainland Chinese
Students Sojourning in a Scottish
University, Unpublished Master
Dissertation, Edinburgh Napier
University, Edinburgh.