Towards Democratisation?: Understanding university students’ Internet use in mainland China
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- 3.4 The population: university students
- 3.4.1 Student protest and social movements in Modern China
- 3.4.2 University students and Internet use
3.3 Research designThis section details the specific techniques employed to collect and analyse data and to generate new themes. The methods of collecting data determine the quality of the data, and thus the quality and credibility of a research project. Collecting data marks the start of fieldwork and the data lay the foundation for research using grounded theory. Charmaz (2006a) believed that ‘the depth and scope of the data make a difference’ (p.18). The richness, substantiality, and relevance of the data makes a piece of research outstanding (Charmaz, 2006a). What kind of data will research have? Not only does the mode of data collection impact on the quality, but also the depth, and scope of the data. Charmaz (2006a) suggested that ‘how you collect data affects which phenomena you will see, how, where and when you will view them, and what sense you will make of them’ (p.15). The design of data collection begins with the question of what constitutes data for the research. For this thesis the research consists of three categories of data: participants’ detailed narratives of their online experience and interpretations; information about online content the participants encounter and the Internet applications they use; and the researcher’s memos. The first category of data was collected by six in-depth interviews and one focus group; the second and third categories were collected by searching and analysing web content that participants reported, and the researcher’s own digital ethnography. It is worth noting that for grounded theory, collecting the three categories of data simultaneously is involved. Data collecting and analysis are also simultaneous and shaped and reshaped throughout the research. Collection of the first category data is the main thread that sews together collection of the other two categories of data and analysis. Therefore, the demonstration of the research process follows the main thread (see Figure 1 for detailed demonstration). 3.4 The population: university studentsThe project focuses on a very specific group of the Chinese population, current home university students who constitute a crucial part of the Internet users in China, some of whom will eventually play important roles in Chinese society in the future since the purpose of higher education in China at this stage is to prepare high-skilled personnel and future leaders (Tsang, 2000). As Yee claimed, ‘a systematic study of contemporary Chinese university students’ political culture will cast some light on China’s future political development’ (Yee, 1999, preface). The researcher argues that a systematic study of their online activity will help to better understand the long-term political implications of the Internet in China. James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the former chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, focused his initial efforts on understanding college students when he started to study Chinese Internet users. He explained that: Their age group is more technologically savvy, they are in the midst of an important period of growth that will impact the rest of their lives, they will soon likely have significantly more purchasing power, they are more likely to be exposed to/be engaged in the international world, and, of course, they're a key part of China's future. Other groups matter, but this was a start that I felt could have maximum value.0
Another example is the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Mason (1994) observed that college students served as the ‘instigators’ of these demonstrations. He stated that ‘the post-Mao era has been marked by student-led unrest in 1976, 1978, and 1986-1987’ (Mason, 1994, p.401). ‘The leaders and the initial participants in the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were college students, mainly from Beijing University’ and demonstrations in other 84 cities ‘involved students from over six hundred institutions of higher learning’ (Mason, 1994, p.404). Chamberlain (1993) also considered the students to be the ‘core demonstrators’ of the 1989 protest. University students also play active role in the various nationalist protests both online and offline in China (Qiu, 2003; Weiss, 2014). 3.4.2 University students and Internet useUniversity students constitute a very important proportion of Internet users in China and Internet use is extremely popular among them (CNNIC, 1997-2013; Hong, et al., 2007). Gender difference was evident in whether respondents had ever used the Internet, the frequency of Internet use, the time spent per session and choice of Internet activities (Hong, et al., 2007). There was no distinct gender difference in having web friends or having met web friends. Grade (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior) was another important predictor of Internet use (Hong, et al., 2007). There was an increase in Internet use with years in college. Compared with students of other grades, seniors showed stronger interest in pragmatic use of the Internet like email and information-oriented use such as searching information and far less interest in entertainment-oriented use like watching sports and playing games. There are a number of problems or issues that have been associated with Internet use, principally Internet addiction, pornography and Internet games. Gender difference is significant in all three aspects. In their study, Hong, et al. (2007) used two questions to assess the addiction aspects of Internet use (“often or always feel the need for more time to satisfy” and “often or always feel anxious if cannot access Internet for a while”). Gender and grade were considered important factors when participants were chosen based on the above literature review. In total, twelve students from three universities in Chongqing, in the southwest of China, participated in the in-depth interviews and the focus group. University students in Chongqing have been chosen to avoid potential biases that studies of Beijing and Shanghai introduce, because university students in a metropolis at a regional level are more representative of the population than those in Beijing or Shanghai. For example, in his study, Cockain (2014, p.53, cited in Marolt & Herold, 2014) chooses students studying at Shanghai Normal University as his informants. His informants demonstrate much more curiosity for uncensored truth and desirability to access it through fanqiang (climbing over the Great Wall) than average Internet users in China (Guo, 2007) and my participants (see Table 57). Download 3.43 Mb. Share with your friends:
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