DECODING DIVERSITY

An analysis of IDCE
May 2012

By Neha Rayamajhi
Ronza Al-Mdbouh
Katie Irwin
Hajara Bello
Weiyuan Han

Table of Contents
1

Acronyms and Definitions .....3

Acknowledgement...4
Introduction.......5
Literature Review.6
Methodology....8
Results and Discussion..14
Conclusion.....23
Recommendations...... 24
Future Research26
Bibliography and Appendix .....28

Acronyms and Definitions

IDCE- International Development, Community and Environment
2

IDSC- International Development and Social Change

GISDE/GIS- Geographic Information Science for Development and
Environment
CDP- Community Development and Planning
ES&P- Environmental Science and Policy
Dual Degree- Community Development and Planning / Master of Business
Administration or Environmental Science and Policy / Master of Business
Administration
Sex/ Gender- Male or Female
Classification- How students describe themselves:
International- identifies themselves as international and/or not an
American citizen
Domestic- American citizen
Both- consider themselves American and/or have citizenship
Staff- Clark or IDCE employees (not students, unless otherwise stated)

Acknowledgements
3

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all who helped us complete this
research. Thank you to Professor Marianne Sarkis for guiding us throughout the semester. Thank
you to all our participants for sharing their opinions and experiences with us. And thank you,
especially, to everyone who make IDCE a diverse institute of learning and sharing.

Introduction
IDCE prides itself in being a diverse department that stands for
development and social, political and environmental justice. It consists of
students representing a wide range of national and cultural backgrounds. At
present, 60% of IDCE is international students. Likewise, students at IDCE are
constantly being encouraged to learn from this diversity through events and
programs that highlight and celebrate these differences. However what does
this diversity mean to the students in the context of IDCE?

Our everyday conversations, observations, and experiences have

suggested that these differences bring positivity to the IDCE community, but
they also come with challenges. Our findings suggest that these challenges
affect the academic and social interactions among IDCE students. There is a
need to address these challenges in order to create a healthier learning
space in IDCE.
The objective of our research is to explore how IDCE students define
the term diversity, and how it shapes their daily experiences here. We
assume that diversity plays a role in the everyday lives of graduate students
and their interactions with each other. We hoped to explore this and the
relationship between diversity and experiences of IDCE students.
The research is expected to contribute to appropriate understanding
about IDCEs weaknesses regarding diversity, and suggest recommendations
to strengthen our community while still respecting the differences that
constitute IDCE.

Literature Review
Colleges and universities in the United States are known for having
students from different countries, backgrounds and nationalities (McMurtrie,
2001). The common perception about US colleges and universities is that
they are diverse. This varied demography influences students academic,

social and personal experiences. In this literature review, we will examine the
meaning of diversity and its effects on students.
The term diversity is broad and has various definitions. The Diversity
Council, which is an independent nonprofit organization that educates people
to embrace diversity, states that the term encompasses differences of
culture, background and experience among individuals and groups. Such
differences include, but not limited to, differences of race, ethnicity, national
origin, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and
disabilities, as well we political and religious affiliation and socioeconomic
status (http://www.diversitycouncil.org/summary.shtml). Similarly, higher
education institutions in the US define diversity based on their own
perceptions. For instance, The University of Oregon views diversity as a
concept that
Encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding
that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual
differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical
abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies. It is
the exploration of these differences in a safe positive and
nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and
moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating
the rich dimensions of diversity contend within each individual
http://www.nmsu.edu/diversity/diversity-defined.html.
In short, diversity has different definitions depending on how different
bodies, instructions, and individuals perceive diversity.
Diversity has a positive influence on students in higher education. First,
it enriches their educational experience through their interaction with
students from different backgrounds and countries. In addition, it increases
6

their awareness and understanding of the different cultures, beliefs and

ideologies of the different students. Paul Umbach and George Kuh explain the
benefits of diversity for the educational experience of students by referring
to Patricia Gurin (professor of psychology in the University of Michigan) who
argues that a diverse student body creates a unique learning environment
that leads to increased probability that students will interact with peers from
different backgrounds (2006: 169). In addition, both authors refer to Sylvia
Hurtado (professor and director of Higher Education in UCLA) and other
scholars who suggested that diverse peers in the learning environment
could improve intergroup relationships and mutual understanding by
challenging students to refine their thinking and by enriching the dialogue
between students (2006: 169). Diversity improves students understanding
of themselves in relation to others as Umbach and Kuh argue (2006: 170).
They explain that students, in relation to others, would be able to define the
type of activities they want to be engaged in, define their attitudes toward
others and their skills and competencies in working with different types of
people during and after college (2006: 170). Third, diversity creates a
suitable environment for students to engage in intergroup dialogues in
classrooms and university campuses (Gurin and Nagda et al. 2003). Through
these intergroup dialogues, students from different backgrounds are
brought together to discuss racial issues and participation in multicultural
campus events (Gurin and Nagda et al. 2003).
However, some scholars argue that diversity creates challenges for
some students. Such challenges are related to how students perceive the
term diversity. For instance, in a case study conducted by the Center for the
Study of Higher Education in the University of Arizona, 24 students from 15
countries were interviewed to examine the challenges they face in the
university. The students who were interviewed in this study felt that there
was unfairness and instances of discrimination against them related to
students race, culture, or status as foreign residents (Lee and Rice 2007:
7

391). Other challenges international students face (because of diversity) is

the lack of acceptance in US universities. This lack of acceptance is related
to language, cultural and social factors. As a result, the stress level of
international students increase, and their adjustment process becomes
difficult (Lee and Rice 2007: 385).

Methodology
Our study consists of only International Development, Community, and
Environment (IDCE) graduate students at Clark University. While pursuing our
research question, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data from
our participants. For the qualitative data, we conducted formal and informal
interviews with 11 students as well as a focus group that included 7
participants. For the quantitative data, we emailed an online google survey
(freelists) to IDCE graduate students. A total of 28 students completed the
online survey.
After gathering all the data, we started analyzing it by using
quantitative and qualitative methods. We analyzed the quantitative data by
using Anthropac and Microsoft Excel. The quantitative data includes how
students define diversity and what they think of IDCE. For the qualitative
data, we analyzed it by using Nvivo 10. We came up with different codes
which we combined into categories and then into themes. Then, we used the
modified grounded theory to further analyze the themes and come up with a
theory and main findings for our research.

Figure 1: Methodology
Interviews (formal and informal): Random convenience and snowball
sampling were used to select the participants. We interviewed eleven
students whom we asked 25 questions (See Appendix B to review the
questions). There were six formal and five informal interviews. The interviews
were conducted at various locations that the participants preferred such as
the Academic Commons, IDCE house and personal houses. We recorded the
formal interviews.
Focus Group: We used convenience sampling method to select participants
for the focus group. Before the selection, we considered who were eligible to
join the discussion. We also tried to choose participants from different
programs, sex and classification. We asked our participants four questions in
order to explore their opinions about the definition of diversity, their
experiences in IDCE and the challenges they face. We recorded the focus
group.
Freelist (Online Google Survey): We emailed the freelists to IDCE
graduate students. The freelists contained total of 7 questions. Five
questions are general information about students and the last two questions
are open ended questions that are related to how students define diversity
and what they think of IDCE. Students replies helped us better understand
9

their perceptions of diversity and IDCE (See Appendix A). This survey was
completely anonymous. We also attached a separate optional form to our
survey that allowed the students to write down their contact information in
case they wanted to participate further in our research. We collected 28
freelists for our research.
Pilesort: We used convenient sampling. We designed the pilesorts based on
the results we received from the freelists. We asked some IDCE students to
participate in the pilesorts. However, we only had four pilesorts so we
dropped them out from our data analysis.
Descriptive summary of participants data:
The participants of interviews and focus group were all IDCE graduate
students. The following information was gathered about the participants in
the interviews and focus group. The information is categorized by sex,
classification and program.
There were a total of 18 participants in the interviews and focus group. 61%
were males, and 39% were females.
Frequency distribution by sex

Female; 39%
Male; 61%

Figure 2: Frequency distribution by sex

10

We had international and domestic students. From the total 18 participants,

56% were domestic students, and 44% were international students.
Frequency distribution by classification

International; 44%
Domestic; 56%

Figure 3: Frequency distribution by classification

The frequency distribution by program shows that there were slightly more
students from IDSC. It is because some students we approached from other
programs did not have time to participate in the interviews and focus group
or they agreed to participate but they did not show up (see Limitations
section).

11

Frequency distribution by program

CDP; 25%

GIS; 14%

ES&P; 22%

IDSC; 39%

Figure 4: Frequency distribution by programs

The following information was gathered about the participants in the

freelists. The information is categorized by sex, classification and program.
More females participated in the freelists. It is because there are more
female students in IDCE programs.
Frequency distribution of freelists' participants by sex

Male; 39%
Female; 61%

12

Figure5: Frequency distribution of freelists participants by sex

Out of 28 participants, 82% of students were domestic, 14% were
international. There was one participant who considered himself/herself as
both domestic and international.

Frequency distribution of freelists' participants by classification

Both; 4% International; 14%

Domestic; 82%

Figure 6: Frequency distribution of freelists participants by classification

All the IDCE graduate students from all programs participated in the freelists.
54% were IDSC students, 18% were GISDE, 14% were ES&P, 7% were CDP,
and 7% were dual degrees.

13

frequency distribution of freelists' participants by program

Dual; 7% CDP; 7%
ES&P; 14%

GISDE; 18%

IDSC; 54%

Figure 7: Frequency distribution of freelists participants by program

Limitations:
Our research came across numerous limitations. These included
participants representation, time, and software we used for analysis. Our
participants were not as representative as we had hoped for in terms of
nationalities and IDCE programs. This was due to some students refusal to
participate in the research for various personal reasons. Also, some of the
students who had initially agreed to participate did not show up for the
interviews. As a result, we ended up having more domestic students than
international students even though 60% of our student body represents the
latter group. We also had to deal with time constraint and work on different
projects for other classes at the same time. Similarly, we as a class, and a
group, spent more time on data gathering and less time on analysis. Better
time management to balance both of these would have filled our gaps in
improvement. Third, the unfamiliarity of the software we used caused some
confusion and loss of time. Implementing it for the next project will definitely
help us use it more efficiently in future. In addition, some of us have Mac

14

laptops which do not work with the software. This lack of tool resulted time
loss.

Results and Discussion

The main findings of our research are represented in two main themes;
challenges and interactions. Our findings show that diversity has resulted in
challenges for students. These challenges manifest themselves in
interactions between students as well as between students and
faculty/staff/administration. In addition, there is a difference in the
perception of diversity between graduate students and IDCE administration.
We will first elaborate on this difference and then discuss the two main
themes.
Definition of Diversity
Graduate

students

define

diversity

differently

than

IDCE

administration. As we mentioned earlier, IDCE administrations definition of

diversity is primarily based on nationality. As seen on their website and
various publications, they often emphasize on the presence of international
students at Clark, who according to IDCE website, create rich diversity of
perspectives and backgrounds in our classrooms. However, graduate
students share a broader definition of diversity. For them the definition is
beyond nationalities, and includes different programs, sex, race, ethnicity,
language, religions, sexuality etc. The below charts show our analysis to the
freelists, interviews and focus groups to come up with students perception
of the term diversity.

15

Figure 8: Freelists of top ten words of students perception of the term

diversity

Word

Count

different/differences

192

experience(s)

113

culture(s)

55

background(s)

41

share

15

perspectives

34

thoughts

10

gender

cultural

Figure 9: Students perception of the term diversity in interviews/focus group

16

Figure 10: Analysis according to sex and classification

Figure 11: Analysis according to IDCE programs

We also asked graduate students about their opinion on how IDCE

defines diversity. Students share three common opinions. First, that IDCE
uses diversity as a marketing tool to attract students. One student said,
Colleges are a business so I think Clark makes a lot of money, and has a lot
of success of making its claims to diversity like a good marketing strategy.
Second, that IDCE defines diversity according to the different countries
graduate students come from. Third, students think that there is consistency
17

in the theme of diversity on the official website of Clark. However, this

diversity is missing in the courses offered by IDCE and in the teaching
pedagogy of the professors. According to students, Clark claims to have
diversity even in the courses they offer but in reality, there is a lack of this.
Themes

Figure 12: Themes

We divided our findings into two main themes; Challenges and
Interactions. These were further divided into subcategories. However, it is
important to note that all these categories and subcategories are connected
and overlap with each other. We have shared quotes from our interviews to
illustrate our themes more clearly. For the purpose of confidentiality, we have
changed the names of people and country to alphabets.
Challenges
Our participants list numerous challenges that they face or have faced
in IDCE, as a direct or indirect consequence of diversity. In this section, we
discuss the most frequent challenges the participants talked about. We
divided these challenges into four subcategories.
Language:

39%

of

our

participants,

including

both

domestic

and

international, mentioned language as being an important cause of various

challenges. For instance, students shared experiences in which some
18

domestic students mocked the accents of international students. In addition,

the participants shared the limitations they faced due to their different
languages and/or their different levels of English language proficiency.
Domestic

students

reported

having

difficulties

while

working

with

international students in group projects for classes. Likewise, international

students reported not feeling confident or comfortable speaking up in classes
because of their proficiency with the English language. Students also
reported that language differences influenced their social circles. One
student said,
I remember at the retreat, we had campfire and all of us were sharing our
experiences. And first years were nervous and yall were so cute. It was such
an amazing night, but then I walked over to this group, and it was first year
folks, two of them from my home state actually, making fun of how b and
imitating her accent.

Class Culture: 39% of participants, including international students only,

mentioned differences in the education system between the United States
and other countries as being one of the challenges they face. For instance,
speaking up in class is new and challenging for international students who
come from educational system that emphasized on listening to professors
instead of talking in class.
Job

Opportunities:

39%

of

participants,

again

both,

domestic

and

international students, talked about lack of employment opportunities for the

international students who are allowed to work only on-campus. Participants
pointed out and questioned the prevalence of domestic, specifically white
students, in IDCEs student-work positions.
Lack of attention to sensitive issues: 22% of participants talked about faculty
and administrations lack of attention to incidents surrounding diversity. For
instance, participants shared negative experiences to which faculty and/or

19

administration did not respond effectively to incidents that included various

forms of discrimination based on nationality and race. One student said,
After the incident, the director called a group meeting, and we sat here and
wasted our time trying to talk about it. Of course nobody did, except B. This
whole intervention was inappropriate, uncomfortable and all kind of wrong
way to handle this urgent and sensitive mess. I was pissed. I am still pissed.
None of those folks were punished, none of them apologized. In fact, they
walk around the department as favorites of IDCE.

Challenges
39%

39%

39%

22%

Figure 13: Percentage of participants responses of challenges

Interactions
Our findings suggested that the challenges mentioned earlier manifest
in interactions among the members of the IDCE community. We have
subdivided this category into two sections; inside classroom and outside
classroom. We further divided these two sections into interactions between
students and faculty/staff/administration, and interactions among students.
Inside classroom (Student Faculty): 22% of the participants, all of whom
were domestic, mentioned that some professors discouraged discussions
20

that students thought would have been productive regarding the issue of
diversity. Some professors, according to our participants, explained these
discussions as being outside the course syllabus and time consuming. 22% of
the participants, both domestic and international, also talked about some
professors not correcting students remarks or actions that may have been
offensive or insensitive to students from minority groups. Participants also
mentioned instances where faculty was responsible for insensitive remarks
regarding other countries and cultures. One student said,
Every time this international student said something in class, these two
domestic students looked at each other and smirked, or changed their facial
expression. It was so obvious. But Prof. A never said anything. Mmmm
neither did I. I felt bad. And as a domestic student who occasionally hung out
with these two, I was embarrassed.
Inside classroom (Student-Student): 39% of the participants, again both,
domestic and international students, reported either experiencing or
witnessing students being disrespectful to each other, either with offensive
remarks or actions in response to students accents and/or language. One
student said,
But here, is part of the participation, professors are expecting you to speak
like other native speakers, it is hard for us. And the language speaking skills
is not good, when speaking in front of the class I feel embarrassed
sometimes when professors and classmates did not get what I meant. Or
American students look at each other when I speak. for such things, I thinks
that professors do not understand international students in lot of ways. as
well, talking about language, as an international student, speaking English
with accent is common, but I found some of the native speakers are making
fun of our accents, which made me even more not want to speak in front of
them.one more thing, I found some of the professors are making jokes about
my country. I felt offended about that. I mean, during the class, studying
cases about problems in Kenya, which is understandable. But if you making
jokes about my country, especially when there are Kenyan students in the
class, is really inappropriate. I felt like the professor was making joke of me.

21

In classroom
39

22

22

Figure 14: Percentage of students responses of interactions in classroom

Outside class (Student-Faculty/Staff/Administration): 50% of our participants,
both domestic and international, reported experiencing, witnessing or
hearing about insensitive remarks or actions by members of faculty, staff or
administration. These instances ranged from what students thought were
offensive comments, to lack of appropriate response to incidents of
discriminations, especially racism.

Outside classroom (Student-Student): 33% of our participants talked about

negative interactions among students that happened outside classroom.
Again, these instances included domestic students making remarks about
accents, food and cultures of international students. Participants also talked
about lack of interactions between domestic and international students
outside the classrooms. 100% of our participants reported having positive
interactions among students from different communities and groups, in the
form of learning opportunities. On student said,
22

I had no idea that country A and Country B eat same kind of food. C and I
went to Ruby Tuesday with a group of friends and when they brought food,
both of us said This not spicy. Actually before I met C I did not know much
of Country C.

120

100

100

80

60

40

33

20

Outside Classroom

Figure 15: Percentage of students responses of interactions outside

classroom

23

Conclusion
As a first year graduate students at IDCE, we have witnessed and
experienced challenges based on diversity in IDCE. Our group started this
research with the intention to understand what diversity meant to students
in IDCE. Furthermore, we were curious to examine students experiences in
IDCE and their relation to diversity.
Through our qualitative and quantitative data analysis, we found that
diversity has resulted in challenges for students. These challenges
manifested themselves in interactions between domestic and international
students, and between faculty/administration/staff and students. We also
discovered that there is a difference between how IDCE administration
perceives the term diversity and the way students define this term.
Diversity, as we have discussed comprises of various identities and
experiences. As mentioned by most of our participants, the term is more
than just nationalities or races. However, the challenges that we found
categorized themselves into the domestic and international dichotomy. Also,
most of the examples shared by our participants included problems faced by
international students in IDCE, whether it was with other students or with
faculty, staff and administration.
It is important to note that in spite of all these challenges, 100% of our
participants shared positive experiences that they attribute directly to the
diversity that IDCE has. It is also interesting to note that international
students expressed more concerns regarding diversity than domestic
students.
Overall, our research indicates that diversity brings about challenges,
especially in academic settings such as IDCE. These challenges as stated by
our participants can be discouraging and can also cause tension among the
members of the IDCE community. However, the opinions shared by the
24

students also suggest that these challenges can be used as a learning

opportunity, and can be overcome. We end our research with
recommendations listed by our participants as well as suggestions by our
group, based on our findings from this research.

Recommendations
In our interviews and focus group, we asked our participants to share
their recommendations for students, faculty and administration/staff. This
was helpful for us to understand the challenges that they are most
concerned about. Also, it was useful for us, as a community, to think of ways
to address problems that have arisen because of diversity. In addition, we
have also listed recommendations that we as a research team have
developed. We hope that IDCE administration and faculty will take these into
consideration and help us create a stronger and better community for all the
students at IDCE.
Students Recommendations
There were two categories of recommendations; one set was geared
towards students while the other was for faculty, administration and staff.
Students:
One recommendation included discussions and/or forums to talk about
issues around diversity. We found that 50% of our interviewees and focus
group participants suggested this recommendation. It is important to note
that this was voiced by both international as well as domestic students. Few
international students also expressed a need for social and emotional
support for international students. A suggestion we thought was interesting
included having a combined orientation for both domestic and international
students. The students, who recommended this, thought that some points
25

raised in international student orientations could be useful for domestic

students as well. At the same time, this is when social groups are formed ,
and not including domestic students at this initial stage creates division
between international and domestic students.
Faculty/Staff:
One of our findings included that students noticed lack of racial and
gender diversity in IDCE staff. 39% of participants mentioned that staff
(students and non-students) should be more represented racially, nationally
and gender wise. One of the most frequent recommendations, specially
made by international students, was inclusion of international students in
staff. 39% of our participants stated that IDCE should hire more international
students in their staff. Participants talked about IDCE consistently hiring
predominantly white domestic students. Second recommendation included
cultural sensitivity training. 28% of our participants expressed the need for
this training because of the challenges in classrooms that we discussed in
the Themes section. 22% of students also felt that there was not a wide
range in faculty research fields or courses available, and hence suggested
that this should be fixed.
Our Recommendations
Based on the recommendations listed by our participants, and on the
entirety of this research as well as our personal experiences and
observations, we have developed a set of suggestions for the IDCE
administration. We have tried our best to make these suggestions concrete
and practical.
In order to increase opportunities in both involvement and
employment, IDCE could hire more international students as their staff
members. The lack of international students in the staff has created financial
problems for internationals students who are not eligible to work off-campus.
26

It has also caused many international students to doubt the perception of

IDCE administration/staff towards international students. Giving more job
opportunities to internationals students will not only help these students
financially, but will also improve their relationship with the administration.
To address the need for a space to facilitate dialogue about diversity,
existing organizations such as the SOURCE (Students of Underrepresented
Race, Culture, and Ethnicity) should be provided with more support, both
financially and emotionally. Instead of only focusing on events to celebrate
food and festivals of international students, the department could focus on
emotional, social, and academic problems faced by these students as well.
This could be achieved by creating a position that deals with these issues.
Currently, there is an absence of such support for international students.
To prove to students that IDCE does not tolerate racism, xenophobia or
any form of bullying, the administration should take a stance against these
instances. Students, who are found guilty of disrespecting others, should be
reprimanded based on the severity of the incident. Inconsistency in this has
caused students, especially international students and students of color, to
lose faith in the administration. Improving this will be beneficial for the
relationship between students and administration.
We understand that professors do not always have time to address
students concerns in the class, especially if they do not directly fit in the
syllabus. However, instead of just dismissing discussion topics, which
students think could be productive, faculty could follow-up, and use other
time or space to address these issues. Such suggestion could be brought up
to faculty meetings. In other words, before faculty members hold their
meetings, students could be allowed to share their concerns and
suggestions, which later could be discussed in these monthly meetings.

27

Future Research
The research we have conducted provided us with many ideas for
future research as well as related issues that we have not focused on.

One

topic we realized while writing our report is the interactions between IDCE
programs; this could be a deeper examination of the relationship of IDCE. To
continue our research, there could be collaboration with IDCE and Clark
University regarding the structure or different organizations on campus that
present or work on diversity at Clark University. Since we focused on the
students experiences, it might be interesting to see the side of faculty or
staff and how they deal with the challenges of diversity. There are different
studies on diversity at IDCE each year for Research Methods class; it would
benefit all students at Clark University to create a database of past and
present researches on diversity. This could help future students to think of
new ideas on this topic and allow students to conduct further research on
diversity without repeating previous researches. A database will also be
helpful for implementing recommendations at IDCE and Clark.

28

Bibliography
Lee, Jenny, and Charles Rice. "Welocme to America?International students
perceptions of discrimination." (2007): n. page. Print.
McMurtrie, B. (2001) Foreign Enrollments Growth in the U.S., but So Does
Competition From Other Nations. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 16
Umbach, Kuh, and George Kuh. "Student experiences with diversity at liberal
arts colleges:Another claim for distinctiveness." 77.1 (2003): 169-192.
n. page. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://wwwpersonal.umich.edu/~pgurin/benefits.html>
n. page. Print. <http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu/docs/Benefits_Challenges.pdf>.
N.p.. Web. 28 Feb 2013. <http://www.diversitycouncil.org/summary.shtml>
http://www.nmsu.edu/diversity/diversity-defined.html

29

Appendix
Appendix A: Google Freelist Form
1.

Gender? (multiple choice) Male or Female or Other

2.

What program are you in? (multiple choice) IDSC, GISDE, ES&P, Dual

Degree, CDP, or Refuse to answer.

3.

What year? (multiple choice) 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 5th year, N/A

or Refuse to answer.
4.

Are you a domestic or international student? (Multiple choice) Domestic

student, International students, N/A or Refuse to answer, or Other.

5.

If international, from which region? (Optional and open ended).

6.

In the box below, please list all the terms that come to mind when you

hear the term diversity: (please list at least 5 terms: one term per line.)
(open ended)
7.

Please list all the words that come to you when thinking about IDCE.

(Please list at least 5 terms: one term per line) (open ended)
Appendix B: Interviews
Thank you for taking time to talk to me about Diversity in IDCE. We are
interested in your opinions and experiences. For the questions that we ask,
anything you say is ok. There are no right or wrong answers. Everything you
share will be confidential. You are not obligated to answers any of the
questions, and we can stop the interview at any time if you wish.
Do you have any questions for me before we begin about this?
Ok. Lets begin. First, I would like to learn more about you. Can you start by
telling me something about your background? Where are you from? When
did you start at IDCE? Which program are you in? (If international: How
long have you been in America?)
1. How did you learn about IDCE?

30

2. So what brought you to IDCE and Clark?

3. Thank you. Now I am going to ask you questions about Diversity and
your thoughts about it:
4. When you hear the term diversity, what comes to mind?
5. How do you define diversity?
6. How do you think your definition differs from other peoples'?
7. Has your definition about diversity changed since coming to IDCE?
If yes, how?
8. How
9. How
10.
11.

do you think IDCE defines diversity?

do you think diversity shapes everyday experiences at IDCE?
Do you think IDCE is diverse? Why or why not?
Do you think that students' experiences match with the definition

that
12.
13.
14.
15.

IDCE has about diversity?

What do you think are the challenges of diversity at IDCE?
What are the benefits of being in a diverse setting(IDCE)?
What have been your experiences with diversity in IDCE?
What have been some of the positive challenges you

experienced as a result of diversity?

16.
Have you had a negative experience at IDCE as a result of
diversity?
17.
Do you consider yourself diverse? If yes, in what ways
18.
Think back about a situation where you were faced with issues of
diversity at IDCE. What was that like? How do you think that diversity
played a role in that experience/situation?
19.
Explain what the experience or situation was like for you,
personally.
20.
Do you think this experience is common at IDCE? Why do you
think that is?
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21.

What do you think would create a positive atmosphere in dealing

with issues of diversity at IDCE?

22.
What recommendations would you have to IDCEs administration
about dealing with diversity?
23.
What recommendations would you have to IDCEs faculty about
dealing with diversity?
24.
What recommendations would you have to other IDCE students
about dealing with diversity?
25.
Anything else you would like to add?
Appendix C: Focus group
Thank you for being part of the focus group for our research. Ronza,
Weiyuan, Hajara, Katie, and Neha are in Research Methods class with
Professor Sarkis. Our group Decoding Diversity is interested in exploring
diversity in IDCE. Our research question is: What is diversity, and how does it
shape experiences in IDCE? We will be recording this; two of our members
will be taking notes, while one will be facilitating this discussion. We reassure
you about the confidentiality of your participation and everything that you
say here today. If anyone wants to discontinue the interview or leave at any
point, please feel free to do so. We really appreciate your time and support
1. First, let us start with your ideas about diversity. What do you think
diversity is?
2. How do you think IDCE is diverse?
3. How has it affected your experiences in IDCE?
4. Can you think of both, positive and negative situations (related to
diversity) that you have had in IDCE? Would you like to share them
with us?

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