On Studying Interethnic Communication between the Hakka and Other Ethnic Groups in Taiwan

2.1. Research Questions

Theorems asserted by Kim (2005) in the contextual theory of interethnic communication were 

used to construct the following research questions. 

1. What is the personal network structure of the Hakka respondents in terms of their 

interethnic interaction with the other ethnic groups in Taiwan? 

2. What is the relationship between the personal network structure and associative/

dissociative interethnic behaviors for the Hakka respondents? 

3. What is the relationship between the associative/dissociative interethnic behaviors 

and identity inclusivity/exclusivity for the Hakka respondents?

4. What is the relationship between the associative/dissociative interethnic behaviors 

and identity security/insecurity for the Hakka respondents?

5. How are the environmental factors affecting associative/dissociative interethnic 

behaviors for the Hakka respondents?   

3.   Methods

The current study was designed to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches by 

employing survey methods and in-depth interviews. The use of survey method intends to 

analyze the quantity of interethnic contact, whereas in-depth interviews are employed to 

analyze the quality of interethnic contact on individual differences (

Kim & McKay-Semmler, 

2009; Schaafsma, et al., 2010

). 

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Intercultural Communication Studies XXI: 3 (2012)

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