Summers, Mark; Volet, Simone. “Students’ attitudes towards culturally mixed groups on international campuses: impact of participation in diverse and non-diverse groups” Studies in Higher Education 33.4 (2008). 13 Apr. 2010 <http://www.informaworld.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1080/03075070802211430
This article takes a look at the interaction of a culturally diverse group of students working together on a group project at a university in Australia. The article starts by mentioning that previous research has shown that there is minimal interaction between different cultural groups in universities. They also mention some previous research studies that have shown the benefits that may come from multicultural interaction in group work. The authors tried to address four questions with their study:
(1) How students’ attitudes towards multicultural group work change over the course of their undergraduate studies.
(2) The relationship between students’ prior multicultural experience and their attitudes towards multicultural group work.
(3) The extent to which students’ expressed attitudes towards multicultural group work determine whether they self-select into a mixed or not-mixed group.
(4) How their attitudes change over the course of their participation in a specific group project, and particularly whether their participation in a mixed or non-mixed group has a bearing on the changes that are observed.
The study used a complicated scale to evaluate the participants’ responses. I am not sure if I fully understand what the data means but the detail that went into it seems sound. The study followed the students’ feelings toward working with culturally diverse groups as they went through their undergraduate education. In the summary of their results the author indicate, “…our findings provide support for the view that universities should take measures to promote culturally mixed group assignment work in order to achieve the educational and social goals of internationalization (369).”