Breeuwsma, Ilona (2022) A Small Qualitative Study on the Effect of Cultural Differences on Well-Being of International PhD Experiences. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the work environment of international PhD students. In the academic environment pressures are high, influencing the well-being of the scientists negatively. For international PhD students there is this extra influencing factor, namely culture. In a small qualitative research study (N = 9) at the BSS faculty (University of Groningen), I asked international PhD students in an interview to report on their experience in order to try to answer the research question: ‘How do international PhD students experience cultural differences in their work environment and how do they perceive the relationship between these differences and their well-being?’. Even though participants reported that cultural differences were present, they were most of the time not perceived to influence their experience, nor their well-being. In these experiences, the evaluation was individual: every participant experienced cultural differences in a different way. Additionally, other factors related to the work environment (i.e., personality, Covid-19, the PhD itself, and the supervisor) and factors outside of work (i.e., social network, the governmental system, moving, and weather) were reported by the participants to influence the experience and well-being more than cultural differences. In the future, experiences should be evaluated individually since every person is different and factors vary in the extent to which they affect the individual. Keywords: international PhD students, cultural differences, work environment, well-being, individual
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Hoek, J.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Jun 2022 12:43 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Jun 2022 12:43 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/501 |
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