Research Seminar- Interaction Pattern among Multi-Ethnic Students

This is the 3rd time KDU UC Research Committee is organizing this workshop. The most recent on touched on the topic of "Interaction Pattern among Multi-Ethnic Students". The event took place at KDU Damansara Jaya Campus on 21 October 2011, organized by KDU UC Research Committee.

About the speaker:

Hasmiza Idris obtained her Masters in Anthropology and Sociology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2010. Her interest is in the study of ethnic relationships. She is also a lecturer in MPW Department of KDU UC.

The objective of this study:

We live in a multicultural society here in Malaysia. Good interaction among us plays an important role in our lives to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. The objective is to identify the social distance among students who have similar family status and financial background and to also observe symbols of interaction used by students during communication with others. Symbols in here also meant behaviour, words usage, language, food and so on so forth.

This research topic was her project when she was doing her dissertation for Masters at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). She also added that, when we want to start a research, there is 3 points to be noted and consider of;

3 points:

1) Is there sufficient material to support our study?

2) Has our study or topic chosen been done by other researchers?

3) Is the topic relevant?

How did she obtain her data?

1) She uses survey/questionnaires to collect feedback's/data

2) Compositions and size of data (Example; 94 out of 880 students in a University, age between 18-25)

3) She uses SPSS 16 (The Statistical Analysis Programme for Social Science Study)

Some of her findings:

The social distance is closely related to the level of interaction. If the social distance between groups are large, then there will be less interaction. If this continues to happen, it will cause a cultural and social gap. The social distance between students with similar family background is small. Most of the respondents that was attentive towards her survey, understood and uses physical symbols in the multi-ethic society in this country. She also mentioned that, Indian students are more open in terms of interaction with other ethnic groups.

Conclusion:

As a result of colonization, a differentiation in culture and social relations was created which complicated the process of national unity and integration among Malaysians. To wrap it all of, this study agreed that understanding towards other ethnic groups could create positive interaction among youngsters from different ethic groups in Malaysia. The higher education institution should provide a learning environment where it could create more interaction among students, and therefore, contributing harmony back to the society.

At the end of her speech, she concluded, "We as lecturers should also do our part in creating a positive environment in class for the students."