Associations and stereotypes about Russian people. Research.

[RacoonYuki]

Hi everyone! My name is Nastya, I am from Moscow and I really love Japanese culture. That's why I have chosen Japan as the object of my research for my University subject which is called 'Intercultural communication'. The research consists of a few questions, they are not hard to answer, I will be very thankful if you help me.

Note: the research was made only for Japanese people to reveal their associations, stereotypes and thoughts about Russia and its people.

The link with the interview is here: Intercultural communication research

 

[Lomaster]

Hey, Nastya. I've just taken a look at your poll. The questions are up to the point and not too many of them, hopefully some Japanese will spare a couple of minutes to participate. Good luck with your research.
By the way let me ask you a question. You've mentioned that you're from Moscow, right? Have you ever been to Moscow branch of the Japan Foundation?

 

[RacoonYuki]

Hey, Nastya. I've just taken a look at your poll. The questions are up to the point and not too many of them, hopefully some Japanese will spare a couple of minutes to participate. Good luck with your research.
By the way let me ask you a question. You've mentioned that you're from Moscow, right? Have you ever been to Moscow branch of the Japan Foundation?

Hey, Lomaster.
Thank you. Do you know any other resourses to spread this message with my questions? It's a bit hard to me to find Japanese who will take part in the research. No one has answered to the questions yet and I think that mostly thats because not so many English-speaking Japanese can see this message on the Internet. I would appreciate your help.

No, unfortunately, I have never been there. Why are you asking?

 

[thomas]

No one has answered to the questions yet and I think that mostly thats because not so many English-speaking Japanese can see this message on the Internet.

If you'd like to garner more reliable data you will have to translate your survey into Japanese and post it to Japanese websites. Japan Reference is devoted to the discussion of all things Japanese, most of the discourse is in English though.

 

[mdchachi]

This is tough. I can't think of a good way to do this without doing it in Japanese. Not only posting survey invitations but the survey itself would have to be in Japanese.
How many responses are you hoping to get minimally?

 

[Lomaster]

PM'd you. (check the top-right corer for notification)

 

[RacoonYuki]

This is tough. I can't think of a good way to do this without doing it in Japanese. Not only posting survey invitations but the survey itself would have to be in Japanese.
How many responses are you hoping to get minimally?

Well, there are no any concrete numbers. The more - the better. I hope to get 40-50 responses minimally. Maybe I can find English-speaking Japanese somewhere else? Unfortunately, I am completely blind and forceless in Japanese language to translate the survey myself or to find people somewhere on the Japanese segment of the Internet.

 

[RacoonYuki]

If you'd like to garner more reliable data you will have to translate your survey into Japanese and post it to Japanese websites. Japan Reference is devoted to the discussion of all things Japanese, most of the discourse is in English though.

How can I manage it myself? I think that my google-translate-version wouldn't be enough correct and I don't even have a person who knows both Japanese and English to help me to translate the survey and the to translate the answers.

 

[mdchachi]

I guess I would try locating active bilinguals and request their assistance directly. (Which is what you did here except the problem is that there aren't that many Japanese people here.)

I think if you can find a few (10?) key people to distribute your questions on their social network you should be able to achieve 50 responses quickly. For example here are a couple of active youtubers:
randomyoko2 - YouTube
Rachel & Jun - YouTube
I'd try to contact people like this one-by-one.
Also try FB groups. For example I found a "Japanese in Seattle" one: Japanese in Seattle! Public Group | Facebook

 

[RacoonYuki]

I guess I would try locating active bilinguals and request their assistance directly. (Which is what you did here except the problem is that there aren't that many Japanese people here.)

I think if you can find a few (10?) key people to distribute your questions on their social network you should be able to achieve 50 responses quickly. For example here are a couple of active youtubers:
randomyoko2 - YouTube
Rachel & Jun - YouTube
I'd try to contact people like this one-by-one.
Also try FB groups. For example I found a "Japanese in Seattle" one: Japanese in Seattle! Public Group | Facebook

Wow, your reply is really helpful. Thank you very much!

 

[WonkoTheSane]

Have you considered that the responses might be in Japanese?

Have you considered that if you only target bilingual people your sample will not be representative?

 

[RacoonYuki]

Have you considered that the responses might be in Japanese?

Have you considered that if you only target bilingual people your sample will not be representative?

No, I haven't. You think I should let people answer in Japanese? I just think that I can do some wrong stuff (mistakes, you know) with the translation from ther answers in Japanese to English and Russian.

Why do you think it won't be resperestative? Japanese people who speak English still have their own way of thinking - the Japanese way, not English or something. Yes, foreign language matters and affects on it, but its affection isn't that big.

 

[WonkoTheSane]

The population of Japanese who speak English fluently enough to answer this survey have a significantly different experience than the average Japanese person.

Are you sure you understand the concept of representative sample in research? The importance of it?

 

[mdchachi]

Are you sure you understand the concept of representative sample in research? The importance of it?

With all due respect to RacoonYuki, I think he understands he is not undertaking nobel-prize winning research. He doesn't even have to claim it's representative of the populations a whole. All he has to do is give his results for the given sample and note some of the potential limitations of that sample.

Note: the research was made only for Japanese people to reveal their associations, stereotypes and thoughts about Russia and its people.

I had my wife fill it out last night and I realized I wasn't sure what you meant by "associations." I took it to mean "impressions" even though impressions can be stereotypes which is covered by another question. The other interpretation would be actual associations (relationships). Like if I have a Russian friend or something it would go there?

I was surprised to learn my wife knew & could still sing this violent/racist playground song dating from Sino-Russian war times (1905) meaning it was still around in the 1970s. お　手　玉　の　歌

 

[Lomaster]

I was surprised to learn my wife knew & could still sing this violent/racist playground song dating from Sino-Russian war times (1905) meaning it was still around in the 1970s.

"Sino" prefix is only applicable to events involving China i believe.
Also RacoonYuki-san is a girl. Which reminds me how convenient it is to have gender-neutral pronouns.

As for representative selection, Wonko-san's got a point there. Opinions of Japanese fluent in English will probably be not as biased as general Japanese population.

 

[RacoonYuki]

I had my wife fill it out last night and I realized I wasn't sure what you meant by "associations." I took it to mean "impressions" even though impressions can be stereotypes which is covered by another question. The other interpretation would be actual associations (relationships). Like if I have a Russian friend or something it would go there?

Well, it's mostly the same as impressions, but it's not the same as stereotypes. For example, my friend asks me about my associations with Spain and I say the first ones that come to my mind: tomatoes, heath, impressive people, toreadors and so on and so forth. But when he asks me about some stereotypes I may know, I will say that I've heard that Spanish men are great lovers or that all of them wear mustache and know how to dance flamenco.
I understand that these two notions are very close to each other, but there is a difference.

The main problem with my research is that I have to ask foreign people and somehow contact with them and try to convey them the idea of all of this. As I can see, everything goes not that good as I thought it will go.
The other one is about the fact that my research is just a one hometask from many and maybe this game is not worth the candle even when I'm really interested in it :\

Guys, can you give me a piece of advice, please? What should I do to make it work better?

 

[mdchachi]

"Sino" prefix is only applicable to events involving China i believe.
Also RacoonYuki-san is a girl. Which reminds me how convenient it is to have gender-neutral pronouns.

Oops.

Well, it's mostly the same as impressions, but it's not the same as stereotypes. For example, my friend asks me about my associations with Spain and I say the first ones that come to my mind: tomatoes, heath, impressive people, toreadors and so on and so forth. But when he asks me about some stereotypes I may know, I will say that I've heard that Spanish men are great lovers or that all of them wear mustache and know how to dance flamenco.
I understand that these two notions are very close to each other, but there is a difference.

OK I think that's how I interpreted it.

The main problem with my research is that I have to ask foreign people and somehow contact with them and try to convey them the idea of all of this. As I can see, everything goes not that good as I thought it will go.
The other one is about the fact that my research is just a one hometask from many and maybe this game is not worth the candle even when I'm really interested in it :\

Guys, can you give me a piece of advice, please? What should I do to make it work better?

I think your original plan sounds fine to me. I also agree the sample you will get probably won't be representative of the whole population. But does that matter? Only you can judge how rigorous your research needs to be.

 

[WonkoTheSane]

Let me explain why I bring up representative sample here.

Just because research isn't into hard science or seeking a Nobel prize doesn't mean the impact of poor methods won't be felt.

Let's assume @RacoonYuki is hired to do marketing to attract Japanese tourists to Russia. This type of survey could be quite useful, but only if it captures data applicable to the population she wishes to attract. As is, it could well be a lot of money thrown at a problem with little or no return. The tourism industry suffers, jobs are lost, and businesses close.

However, I think this project has already been a success for @RacoonYuki because she has learned about some of the difficulties involved in doing research and when she needs to perform in the real world she will be better prepared.

 

[RacoonYuki]

Let's assume @RacoonYuki is hired to do marketing to attract Japanese tourists to Russia. This type of survey could be quite useful, but only if it captures data applicable to the population she wishes to attract. As is, it could well be a lot of money thrown at a problem with little or no return. The tourism industry suffers, jobs are lost, and businesses close.

LOL, okay, I got your point. But my job now isn't that mammoth. I just need people to answer the questions in English, cause that's how I can analyse all the anwers - in English, not in Japanese. If I had to make a real research, I would spend much more time on it and to gather a group of people who will do it with me, because such things are really hard to do all alone qualitively.
So, my main problem to solve is just to find people. I may seem a sloven to you because of the way I do my task, but pal, try to get into my position.

And you know, somewhere inside my soul I still wait for a good advice (because enough criticism was said) that will really help me to make a better job.

However, I think this project has already been a success for @RacoonYuki because she has learned about some of the difficulties involved in doing research and when she needs to perform in the real world she will be better prepared.

You're right. This is my first time of doing such surveys and now I know that there are much more thing I must count when I want to do a project which involves communicating with other people and gathering statistics.