On Tue, 24 Apr 2001, Martin J. Bourgeois wrote:
> Michael says:
>
> It is my observation re the FAE that international students
> are more likely to blame themselves for both academic successes and
> failures,whereas U.S students take credit for successes and have a
> tendency to blame environmental factors for their failures.
> -probably an offshoot of being culturally conditioned to assume
> that when things go wrong the environment may have played a part.
> It can be a form of stubborn and rigid and inflexible individualism.
>
>
> So it sounds like you are suggesting that if your observations contradict
> research findings we should trust your observations. So, in order to
> evaluate your claim, I would like to know:
>
> 1. How do you operationalize the FAE in your observations?
> 2. How do you establish the reliability and validity of your measure of the
> FAE?
> 3. On how many observations is your conclusion based?
> 4. Is this true of international students of ALL other countries, or certain
> ones?
>
> If you answer these for me, I'll compare your observations to the studies
> that have been published in peer reviewed (i.e., Eurocentric) journals, and
> then decide which is more persuasive.
>
Observations (not one observation) is another form of research
methodology.Not all topics are researchable.One ought to distinguish
opinion from observations.
Michael Sylvester
