Introduction
With human interaction, the world becomes smaller in the essence that people from different cultural backgrounds come together in several platforms. Cultural diversity can be defined as the variations of differences that exist among different cultures of societies, or institutions of the world. Every setting has different practices that are unique to the other.
Different groups of people leave their native cultural societies with different intentions. Others go to foreign institutions to acquire knowledge and skills, others to seek employment while some go for short term periods, maybe for holidays and vacations. During their stay in the societies they visit, they interact with the locals and several other individuals from other cultures that do not conform to their cultural backgrounds.
The question of whether this cultural mix should integrate into one hybrid culture. Or if every individual should maintain his or her cultures, even in the mix with other cultures was my major concern. I intended to establish their feelings on the issue of cultural diversities.
Methods
I identified my preferred audience and the most suitable method that I could employ to gather all the information that I required to establish an informed conclusion on my study was a survey. I developed a questionnaire that I administered through all my respondents.
I took a survey of ten (10) individuals from several cultures and sought their views on this discipline. They included:
- Two male Korean citizens (KM1 and KM2)
- One Korean female (KF1)
- Two Canadian males (KM1 and KM2)
- One Canadian female (CF1)
- Two Japanese male citizens (JM1 and JM2)
- One Mexican male (MM) and
- One Mexican female (MF)
The respondents were selected according to their availability and willingness to respond to the questions. The survey was conducted over a short period in order to establish accurate results with the minimum resources.
The major concerns that I raised in my survey include:
- The need to learn about other cultures different from your own culture
- The need for universities to promote cultural awareness
- The view on the strength of cultural stereotypes in the society
- Adapting to cultures that one currently lives in, and
- Whether to maintain your language and cultural identity while living abroad.
Results
I conducted my survey considering the above concerns and classified the results from the respondents based on my opinion on their responses. I classified them as they ‘strongly agree,’ ‘agree,’ ‘neutral,’ ‘disagree,’ or ‘strongly disagree’
- The need to learn about other cultures different from your own culture
In this respect, one Korean male, one Japanese male and one Korean female strongly agreed. The other Japanese and Korean males and the Mexican female agreed that it is important to learn about other cultures. The Canadian female and the Mexican males were neutral to this question. However, the two Canadian males disagreed to learning other cultures. They would rather remain with their culture only as opposed to acquiring other people’s cultures.
- The need for universities to promote cultural awareness
When I posed this question, one Korean male and the Korean female strongly disagreed. In their view, there was no need for the universities to promote cultural awareness. The Mexican male had little to say on this. In my opinion, his response was neutral; he neither supported nor opposed the idea. All the Canadian specimens of my survey agreed on the importance of promoting cultural awareness in the universities. All the Japanese males, the other Korean male and the Mexican female strongly recommended the idea. They viewed this as highly beneficial in integrating diverse cultures of the students in these universities.
- The view on the strength of cultural stereotypes in the society
One Canadian male disagreed to this issue while the other together with the Canadian female and the Korean female strongly opposed the assertion that cultural stereotypes are strong in the society. Both the Mexican male and female and one Japanese male were neutral to this idea. Only the Korean male agreed to this idea while the other Japanese and Korean males highly recommended this assertion to be true.
- Adapting to cultures that one currently lives in
Most of my respondents supported this idea. Both Canadian males, the Canadian female, the Korean female, one Korean male, the Mexican female and both Japanese males, all highly considered it important to adapt to the cultures in which they presently live in. According to all the responses to this question, I considered none to either generally ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ to it. However, the Mexican male was neutral while the other Korean male strongly disagreed.
- Whether to maintain your language and cultural identity while living abroad.
This was the last question that I asked my respondents. The Mexican male and both Canadian males strongly agreed to this question. I considered the responses of the Mexican female and one Korean to agree to this idea. Both the Canadian and Korean females were neutral to this idea while the other Korean male and the two Japanese males strongly disagreed.
Conclusion
