301-A-1A IRB #:
(For IRB Use Only)
University of Oklahoma – Norman Campus
Institutional Review Board
Description of Study Protocol
Submission of a copy of a grant application does not replace completion of this form. Please respond to each item. Incomplete submission forms will be returned to you.
1) Click below to describe the research design of the study.
The study collects data from multiple sites in Taiwan. It also involves different methods, with the primary ones being face-to-face interviews and videotaped observations. Most interviews and all observations will be conducted at participants’ homes.
Interviews will be conducted with families where one spouse (in most cases the mother) is a foreign born national (most from Southeast Asia) and the other is a Taiwanese national, and there is at least one child as a result of this marriage, ages 7-12. The following members of such families will be interviewed face-to-face: mother, father, grandmother (mother-in-law). In addition, grandfathers (father-in-law) may also be interviewed, although they will not be actively recruited for this study. Teachers of children ages 7-12 who have a foreign-born parent will also be interviewed. Finally, a comparison group of families with children ages 7-12 and both parents Taiwanese born nationals will also be contacted. In these families only the parents will be interviewed.
Participants will be asked if they grant consent to have their photograph taken in their homes. This will be indicated by checking off the appropriate box on the Informed Consent form.
Interviews will be conducted with members of 20 families at the primary research site, Chang-Hua County. An additional 20 families residing in other parts of Taiwan (e.g., Hsin Chu, Taipei) will also be recruited and interviewed. Ten families who fit the profile as comparison group will also be interviewed. These may be recruited in Chang-Hua County or other locales in Taiwan. 25 Teachers in Chang-Hua County and other parts of Taiwan will also be interviewed at schools and/or New Immigrant Centers (established for the purpose of hosting educational activities involving foreign spouses, their children, and family members.)
Participants will be asked if they grant consent to have their photograph taken. This will be indicated by checking off the appropriate box on the Informed Consent form.
Observations will be conducted with five (5) families in Chang Hua County, recruited from among the 20 interviewed transnational families. These observations will be video-taped and occur in the home, focusing on interaction involving the child and his/her primary caregiver (e.g., mother and/or grandmother). Each observation will be 2-3 hours in length. Observations will be conducted at monthly intervals over a period of 3-6 months.
2) In the input area below, describe the recruitment procedures. Attach a copy of any material used to recruit subjects (e.g., informed consent forms, advertisement, flyers, telephone scripts, verbal recruitment scripts, cover letters, etc.) Explain who will approach potential participants to request participation in the research study and what will be done to protect the individual’s privacy in this process.
At the primary research site, Chang-Hua County, Taiwan, participants will be recruited through personal contacts. The PI has visited the site since 1990, and conducted research there in 1998, 1999, and 2002-2004.
At secondary research sites, e.g., Hsin Chu and Taipei, potential participants will be recruited through personal contacts through the Co-investigator, Chung-Hui Liang of National Chiao Tung University. In addition, researchers employed by National Chiao Tung University will assist with the research and recruitment of participants.
All participants will be contacted face-to-face. The purpose and design of the study will be explained to them using the verbal recruitment script. If they agree, they will then be presented with a consent form to read and sign. If they cannot read the form, the researcher will read it aloud to the participant in the appropriate language (e.g., Taiwanese, Hakka). Participants will be given an appropriate time to read the script (10 minutes), and any questions regarding the study will be answered. The participant will then express consent by signing the consent form. A copy of the consent form informing the participant of his/her rights will be given to the participant to keep.
Attached are copies of the verbal recruitment script for interviews and consent form for interviews.
Following a participant’s participation in the study, he/she will be asked to recommend others who may be interested in the study. These will in turn be contacted by the researcher and asked to participate in the study.
Finally, participants in Chang-Hua County will be asked if they are willing to participate in the observation phase of this study. This will be explained according to a verbal recruitment script for observations..
Attached are informed consent forms (English and Mandarin Chinese versions) that will be presented to potential participants in interviews. Separate consent forms with slightly different wording will be presented to parents, grandparents, and teachers.
Also attached is a consent form for parents and an assent form to be distributed to children ages 7-12 who may participate in the observation phase of the study.
3) Below, list and describe the tasks that participants will be asked to perform, including a stepbystep description for each procedure you plan to use with your subjects. Provide the approximate duration of subject participation for each procedure. If data collection instruments will be used, indicate the time necessary to complete them, the frequency of administration, and the setting in which they will be administered, such as telephone, mail, or facetoface interview. (You must submit a copy of each study instrument, including all questionnaires, surveys, protocols for interviews, etc.)
As described above, face-to-face interviews will be conducted with adult members of transnational families with at least one child ages 7-12, including mothers, fathers, grandmothers (mothers-in-law), grandfathers. Teachers of children ages 7-12 with one foreign born parent will also be interviewed. Finally, a comparison group of Taiwan born nationals, married and with at least one child ages 7-12 will be interviewed. Only the mother and father of such families will be interviewed.
Potential interview participants will be contacted face-to-face. Following their consent to participate in the study, they will be asked x questions. The interview will be audio-taped and should take 45 – 60 minutes. A copy of interview protocols (English and Mandarin Chinese versions) for parents, grandparents, and teachers is attached.
Furthermore, a smaller number of families will be asked to participate in observations. The aim of this phase of research is to understand everyday interaction involving the child and his/her primary caregivers. No particular questions will be asked of the participants. However, the researcher may engage in everyday conversation with the caregiver and his/her child. During observations two researchers will be present, one to operate the camera and the other to chat with the caregiver.
4) Describe your data collection procedures. If data collection instruments will be used, indicate the time necessary to complete them, the frequency of administration, and the setting in which they will be administered, such as telephone, mail, or facetoface interview. (You must submit a copy of each study instrument, including all questionnaires, surveys, protocols for interviews, etc.)
Face-to-face interviews will be conducted in participants’ homes or a place of convenience to the participant. They will last 45 – 60 minutes.
Observations will be conducted in participants’ homes and last 2-3 hours. Observations will be conducted monthly for a period not less than 3 months, and not more than 6 months.
5) Click below and provide background information for the study including the objective of the proposed research, purpose, research question, hypothesis and other information deemed relevant.
In recent years the number of marriages between a local, Taiwan ROC citizen and foreign national has increased dramatically, notably among women. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education provides information on the number of marriages registered annually in Taiwan (MOI, 2006a). For the five-year period of 2001-05, on average 97.5 percent of males who married were Taiwan ROC citizens. Among females, the average was 76.2 percent. The largest percent of non-ROC citizens (13.7) came from Mainland China and the second (9.81) from Southeast Asia. During this five year period when 784,921 females were married, 76,341, nearly 1 out 10, came from Southeast Asia.
One of the purposes and functions of marriages, especially among Confucian influenced societies, is to begin a new generation by bearing children (Hwang & Chang, 2003). During the years 2004-05, on average 86.9 percent were born to mothers who are ROC citizens; the remainder were born to mothers from China, Hong Kong/Macau, Southeast Asia, and other nations (MOI, 2006b). Like we find in marriages, the largest number of babies born to mothers who are not ROC citizens, were from China and Southeast Asia. However, unlike marriages, the rank was reversed: on average 7.9 percent of babies were born to mothers from Southeast Asia and 5.0 percent from China. That is, of the total number of babies born during these two years, 21,102, or 1 in 20, were born to mothers of Chinese (PRC) citizenship, and 33,543, or 2 in 25, were born to mothers of Southeast Asian nationalities.
The rapid increase in non-ROC citizens coming to Taiwan in recent years needs to be understood in its historical context. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual land comprised of “four ethnic groups—Mainlander, Taiwanese [also known as Hoklo, Minnan, Hokkien], Hakka and Aboriginal” (Lin, 2006). In recent years the ROC government has promoted the vision that Taiwan’s continued growth is linked to its openness to the world and liberality among ethnic groups. This, however, contrasts with recent history under Japanese colonial rule when the populace was encouraged to assimilate to the “superior” Japanese culture (Ching, 2001; Lamley, 1999). Furthermore, following 1949 when the ROC government retreated from the mainland to Taiwan, the populace was educated to see Taiwan as the “true” heir to the Chinese, Confucian tradition. Great efforts were made to educate the populace to learn the National Language, Mandarin (Sandel, 2003) and perceive themselves as Chinese (Wu, 1991). In sum, Taiwan’s tradition can be interpreted as, on the one hand, a land composed of multiple cultures and languages, open to the world and learning from the world, and, on the other, as a land where China’s great cultural heritage, based upon Confucian values and practices, has been preserved and unaffected by the excesses of the Communist Revolution. While the current government of Taiwan emphasizes the former view, the latter still remains and forms an important part of political and social discourse.
The purpose of this proposed research project is to fill a gap in our understanding of transnational families in Taiwan. It will build on the study by Hwang and Chang (2003) by looking at the issue qualitatively, from the point of view of the participant. The primary research method will be in-depth interviewing of married women from Southeast Asia who have been in Taiwan at least 5 years, and have one or more children ages 5-10. In addition, husbands and mothers-in-law will be interviewed. As found in previous research the relationship between the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law is most important in Taiwanese families (see Sandel, 2004; Sandel et al., in press; Wolf, 1972/1987). No studies have yet looked at how Taiwanese husbands relate to their wives and children. As indicated in Hwang and Chang’s (2003) study, these participants play an important role in facilitating or hindering the woman’s adjustment. In-depth interviews will also be conducted with the teachers of children who are in kindergarten or elementary school. Their perspective will help us understand language and educational needs. Furthermore, ethnographic notes will be taken when visiting families and observing children at educational sites. Finally, in-depth interviews will be conducted with men and women of similar age with young children who do not constitute “transnational families.” Their perspective will help us understand the degree to which transnational families are accepted by society at large. In sum, the study will address the following:
Objectives: (1) Understand the adjustment challenges of members of transnational families. (2) Identify resources and the means which help facilitate positive adjustment. (3) Study the identity formation of the mothers and children of transnational families. (4) Examine perceptions of transnational families as being an addition to a multicultural society, or a threat which should be assimilated to the dominant, Confucian-based culture.
Research Sites. The percentage of children born to a Southeast Asian bride and Taiwanese husband is lowest in the cities of Taichung and Taipei, and higher in rural and southern counties (MOI, 2006b). Therefore, the primary site for research will be a rural location. As the PI has conducted research in Chang-hua County, the proposed study will be conducted in this locale (see Sandel, 2002; 2004). Interviews will be conducted at other locations in Taiwan as opportunities arise. Finally, from previous research the PI has learned that gender plays a role in the interview process (Sandel, 2004). Therefore, at least one female research assistant will be trained to interview women participants.
Participants at Primary Research Site, Chang-hua County:
· Interviews with 20 women from Southeast Asia who have lived in Taiwan at least 5 years and have one or more children ages 5-10; 20 husbands; 20 mothers-in-law; 5 or more teachers of participants’ children; 10 adults (5 men and 5 women) who are not in “transnational families” and have children ages 5-10.
· Observations and field notes of family members, focusing on mothers and their children at homes and educational sites.
Participants at Secondary Research Sites including Taipei, Hsin-chu, and Yunlin Counties:
· Interviews with 20 Southeast Asian women, their husbands, and mothers-in-law; 10 kindergarten or elementary school teachers.
· Observations and field notes as in Chang-hua.
Interview Questions will include the following content areas:
· Background: Country of origin, languages spoken, educational achievement, economic conditions, family composition (nuclear or extended).
· Adjustment issues in early years of marriage, e.g., language, education, health.
· Relationships: Relationship between spouses, mother-in-law, child(ren), community members, other transnational families or women from Southeast Asia.