The Documentary Method in Intercultural Research Scenarios

Abstract

The documentary method appears to be especially suitable for preventing possible ethnocentrisms in the interpretation of data in reconstructive research, as well as for precluding concessions with a statistic and normative cultural concept. As an illustration of this thesis, this article presents a study—undertaken at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences—in which the effects of an intercultural contact programme between international students and German families are analysed. Special emphasis is placed on the question of the students' emotional and cognitive changes, called educational processes ("Bildung") in the educational science. The theoretical and methodological background of the study and exemplary results are presented. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901478