Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship

Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity

FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTION OF TERTIARY EDUCATION
«NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY
HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS»
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Master's Program «Applied Social Psychology»

XUHUA SUN

Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship

Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity

Reviewer Supervisor
Scientific degree PhD in Soc. Psych.,
Position in university Junior research fellow
Second name, initials Bultseva M.A.

Moscow, 2021

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity

Abstract

Intercultural exposure has been demonstrated to have a considerable

positive influence on creativity in previous studies. Only a few research looked

at the link between intercultural relationships and creativity in the home country,

and they mostly focused on the overall concept of cultural variety in

communication networks or, more particularly, friendly relationships. However,

more research into the variables that lead to the establishment of friendly relations

in the context of creativity is needed. That’s why this particular study addresses

the relationship between multicultural climate, friendly intercultural contacts and

creativity. The study is framed within a context of a modern university as it

provides wide opportunities for establishing intercultural contacts in a home

country. The results of the theoretical overview analysis provided grounds for

formulation of hypotheses which describe the relationship between constructs. As

a result, I believe that a more pronounced multicultural climate will have a good

impact on both the intensity of friendly interactions and the creativity of the

majority of students. I created a meaningful design for the upcoming empirical

section of the study based on the hypotheses and the study's goal. The next stages,

as well as the research's potential limits, are highlighted.

Keywords: creativity, multicultural climate, intercultural contacts,

Chinese students

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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Content

Introduction 4

Chapter 1. Theoretical grounds of studying the relationship between

multicultural climate and creativity among university students aaaaa 7

1. Approaches to study creativity 7

1.2 Creativity and intercultural contacts 9

1.3 Multicultural climate of a modern university 14

1.4 Current study 17

Chapter 2. Methodological grounds of studying the relationship between

multicultural climate and creativity among university students aaaaa 17

2.1 Sample 18

2.2 Design and variables 18

2.3 Procedure 18

2.4 Instruments 19

2.5 Data analysis 21

2.6 Pre-test 22

References 23

Appendix 28

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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Introduction

Many recent studies have looked at creativity in the context of intercultural relations

and found that intercultural experiences can help people be more creative. Interactions with

representatives or components of other cultures, both direct and indirect, generate intercultural

learning and activate cognitive pathways linked to creativity growth (Leung et al., 2008). For

example, formal cultural learning, especially when it is arranged in the manner of analysing

rather than memorising data, fosters creativity (Maddux et al., 2010). length of stay abroad;

references to previous cross-cultural experience; priming (Leung & Chiu, 2010). Higher

creativity is also linked to the cultural and ethnic diversity of an individual's communication

network (Chua et al., 2015) and involvement in friendly or romantic relationships with people

from other cultures (Lu et al., 2017). The rationale for this is that they encourage a more in-

depth understanding of another culture as well as a greater opportunity to participate in

intercultural learning.

This research will help to find out the answer to the question that, Do acculturation

preferences of Chinese students in local universities towards foreign students relate to their

creativity and What role do acculturation expectations towards foreign students play in the

relationship of intercultural contacts and creativity of Chinese students?

Researchers believe that when social and cultural diversity promotes people to

overcome prejudices, it has a good impact on several parts of their lives, including creativity.

Acculturation stress can lead to a lack of knowledge about a new culture or a refusal to interact

with it. If a person can overcome acculturation stress and maintain effective intercultural

relationships, the mix of new and old cultural information can lead to an increase in creative

thinking (Crisp & Turner, 2011). This brings up the significance of adaptation and coping

methods, which leads to the study's main concept: intercultural competence, inventiveness, and

intercultural experience. Intercultural competence is defined as the ability to live, work, and

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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rest in the presence of intercultural and cross-cultural diversity in daily life (Matsumoto, 2001).

The idea behind intercultural competency is that it makes it easier to receive and assimilate

culturally particular information.

More than 300 terms and a large number of models are used in modern science

(Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009). Most of these models have the same core components

(Krajewski, 2011), and define intercultural competence as a set of attitudes, knowledge, and

skills that help people of different cultures communicate and interact effectively (Chiu et al.,

2013). Cultural awareness (or mindfulness) is occasionally added to this list. The key

variables impacting the development of intercultural competence are cultural learning and

intercultural interaction (Barrett, 2012). Intercultural competence can be acquired through

intercultural education and training (Klak & Martin, 2003) as well as by extensive

communication with people from other cultures (Zhai & Scheer, 2004).

Intercultural connections and cultural learning may enhance intercultural competence,

according to studies on related ideas. To begin with, intercultural encounters and learning

enhance the transmission and sharing of culturally specific knowledge, although

communication must be close enough for this to happen (Lu et al., 2017). Second, increasing

the frequency of interactions between people of other cultures improves cultural awareness and

the ability to learn from others (Bazron et al., 2005). At the same time, cultural learning theory

says that a person must master necessary knowledge and behavioural patterns in order to cope

with the repercussions of international connections. immersion in a new culture, or interactions

in a multicultural environment (Bochner, 2003).

According to studies, the educational system is ineffective. The environment, defined

in a very restricted sense as the curriculum itself, has only a minor impact on the curriculum

and a minor impact on students' inventiveness (Marquis et al., 2017). So there ought to be some

additional aspects that can boost creativity in a university setting. This research will addresses

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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the intercultural context of the home country local university as possible resource of creativity

growth and aims to investigate how intercultural experience in the university affects creativity.

The theoretical and methodological basis of this study is composed of works on

creativity and creativity factors. (such foreign authors as A. Leung, V. Maddux, A. Galinsky,

R. Crisp, R. Turner, S. Tadmor etc), works on cross-cultural competence (such foreign authors

like D. Matsumoto, M. Barrett, J. Berry, B. Spitzberg, J. Changnon etc). Objective of this

research is to perform an analytical review of the literature on the subject of creativity in the

context of intercultural interactions, as well as consider intercultural contacts and cross-cultural

competence in this context; to investigate the dynamics of creativity of Chinese students

studying in various conditions in terms of the possibility of intercultural contacts and the

availability of cross-cultural competence; to investigate the dynamics of creativity of Chinese

students studying in different situations in cultural education;

Chapter 1. Theoretical grounds of Studying the Relationship Between Multicultural

Climate and Creativity among University Students

Approaches to Studying creativity

A comparison with non-human social animals reveals the interesting interplay between

human imagination and culture. Recent findings in comparative anthropology show that apes,

like humans, make innovative discoveries by exploring their surroundings and create societies

with common behaviors through processes of imitation and conformity (Whiten et al., 2007).

The capacity of humans to replicate and acquire cultural information is what distinguishes

human and ape societies. Simply stated, human culture is self-sustaining, while ape culture is

not. Some orangutans in Kutei, Borneo, for example, learned to create a cover for their nest in

bright sunlight but did not pass this experience on to the next generation. Orangutans should

not accumulate changes to their invention over time so future generations will have to

rediscover it. This helps to understand why providing shade from the sun has remained a

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity
primitive activity for millions of years (Tomasello, 2001). Human society, on the other hand,

is built up over time. When humans develop a new piece of information, other humans use it

as a starting point and build on it. The wheel was invented once in human cultures, and

subsequent generations did not have to invent it again. Rather, they built on it, inventing the

carriage and then the automobile. Ratcheting is a distinctly human phenomenon that serves as

the engine for human cultures. Ratcheting leads to cultural complexity, advanced cultural

understanding and complex cultural traditions develop over time as a result of ratcheting

(Tomasello, 2001).

Creativity is a process of knowledge development and accumulation that allows

complex human cultures to shape and evolve. This process entails active negotiation between

information developers and target consumer groups over what constitutes new knowledge. A

novel concept is one that is novel in comparison to what is already known. A novel idea must

compete in the marketplace of ideas and be chosen for cultural dissemination in order to

become part of culture. That is, information developers must generate new ideas and sell them

to the intended audience. Culture, according to this definition, is information that was novel at

the time of creation, has worked (at least in the past), and has been chosen for social

transmission and reproduction.

Creativity and intercultural contacts

Culture is linked with all three stages of creativity, while the nature of its impact differs

between them. Existing cultural knowledge, for example, is a significant source of inspiration

and a point of comparison for judging the originality or uniqueness of new ideas throughout

the concept authoring stage. Culture, on the other hand, might obstruct generation in some

cases. Authorship and culture. Culture can have a direct or indirect impact on the production

of ideas in stage one. What's new is measured in terms of what's already known. Hempel and

Sue-Chan (2010) illustrate this point vividly with the example of the Ang Lee film Crouching

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Because the film has style advances that are more original to Western

audiences than to Chinese ones, Western film critics rated the film's stylistic innovations higher

than their Chinese counterparts. In creativity research, the originality of ideas is often measured

in relation to what ideas are common in the creators' culture (Ward, Patterson, Sifonis, Dodds,

& Saunders, 2002). To knowledge creators, the existing stock of knowledge in their culture is

an invaluable source of material and inspiration. Many commercial innovations in Asia (e.g.,

Shanghai Tang fashion) succeed by appropriating ideas from traditional Asian designs for new

purposes. Some innovative products marketed in China are created by combining elements of

Chinese culture with those of foreign cultures (e.g., Häagen-Dazs & Chiu, 2007). Combining

diverse concepts from different cultures is an effective technique to generate new ideas (Wan

& Chiu, 2002). People are taught to think in culturally accepted ways. Cultures establish

perceptual and conceptual frames that limit one's quest for solutions to problems in this way.

Authorship of novel ideas, on the other hand, necessitates a new perspective on problems, a

questioning of current assumptions, and a step back from the problem.

According to previous research, people are more able to break out from their culture's

constraining perceptual and mental frameworks the more they interact with people from other

cultures (Leung & Chiu, 2008). Furthermore, beyond the level of a single person, the social

process of combining traditional ideas from various cultures can broaden the conceptual

boundaries of existing knowledge in a culture and aid in the development of cognitive skills

(e.g., creative re-appropriation of ideas and creative synthesis across disparate categories) that

support the generation of novel ideas (Leung & Chiu, forthcoming). In line with this notion,

Simonton and Ting (2010) claim that exposure to cultural diversity is beneficial to the

development of creativity.

In the past, for example, political restructuring that reduced the dominant ideology's

hegemony in society encouraged creativity, whereas political adjustments that stabilised

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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cultural hegemony discouraged it. For example, in Western history, political fragmentation has

been linked to decreased cultural homogeneity and the hegemonic influence of Roman

Catholicism, whereas in China, after the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE), political fragmentation

has not been linked to a weakening of Confucianism's hegemonic influence. This may explain

why within Western civilization, the level of creativity in a generation is positively related to

the number of sovereign states in the previous generation. In contrast, in China, there is no

correlation between scientific and technological creativity in a generation and the level of

political fragmentation in the previous generation. The lagged intergenerational relationship

between political fragmentation and literary creativity is actually negative rather than positive.

Laboratory research has provided sample evidence for the creative benefits of

submersion in culturally mixed environments (Leung & Chiu 2009). A recent field study has

extended the relevance of multicultural experience to organizational innovation. In this study

(Dunlap & Mudambi, 2010), the investigators coded Food and Drug administration new

applications (n= 1,699) From 1992 to 2002, there were 98 companies. They distinguished

between breakthrough innovations, which kick off a new cycle of technical advancement, and

incremental innovations, which are new features, expansions, varieties, or complements to an

existing product line. The findings demonstrated that companies who had a history of generic

incremental innovations prior to 1992 had lower levels of breakthrough innovations later on,

meaning that companies with an incremental innovation culture are less likely to create

breakthrough inventions. This discovery reveals how established culture can inhibit the

introduction of new ideas. More importantly, items developed as a result of joint ventures or

partnerships are more likely to be game-changers. This discovery "highlights the benefits

associated with harnessing knowledge from international centres of excellence," according to

the study's researchers (Dunlap-Hinkler et al, 2010).

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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Surprisingly, engagement in innovation processes by foreign subsidiaries was not

associated to the likelihood of breakthroughs, a finding that coincides with a recent study that

indicated passive exposure to (rather than active immersion in) foreign culture offers minimal

creative benefits (Leung & Chiu, 2009). Nonetheless, the creative benefits of cultural diversity

have their limits. To begin with, what is new is measured against what is already known. As a

result, once a new foreign notion has gotten ingrained in the culture, it loses its freshness. As a

result, the novelty of foreign ideas will fade with time (Hempel & Sue-Chan, 2010).

Second, individuals are sometimes inclined to follow cultural norms while rejecting

foreign cultural ideas. Through its shared nature, culture bestows crucial psychological

functions on individuals. The essential ideas of a culture are broadly shared among its

members, and the defining ideas of a culture are passed down from generation to generation

(Chiu, Leung, 2010). Culture produces a common reality for its members by virtue of its

sharedness (Wan, Torelli, & Chiu, 2010).

Individuals who require strong and widely recognised solutions are more likely to

adhere to cultural norms and shun 'confusing' alien ideas while solving difficulties (Chiu,

Morris, Hong & Hong, 2007). Cultures, which serve as shared symbolic conceptions of reality

that exist beyond any individual's physical existence, provide a forum for not just giving

meaning and order to existence, but also for spreading and perpetuating oneself in a broader

beyond (Pyszczynski, & Koole, 2004). That is, societies that are aware of the possibility of

death being overcome, either literally or metaphorically. 'Through affiliation with social

organisations, individuals can project themselves in space and time, beyond their personal

death,' as (Castano, Yzerbyt, 2002) put it.

They participate in an entity that is not subject to the mortal fate that characterizes them

as human beings'. Every culture, for example, has its own heroes in terms of national, religious,

and aesthetic achievement. These heroes, especially those who represent the culture's essential

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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ideals and so reach iconic status, might act as a protective shield against existential distress.

According to (Kesebir, 2010), the masses' belief in cultural heroes' immortality provides them

with existential stamina, allowing them to experience immortality-by-proxy. Experiments have

demonstrated that persons who are induced to experience existential fear are more likely to

adhere to cultural norms and reject counter-normative notions, which supports this theory

(Burke, Martens, & Faucher, 2010). Existential angst, on the other hand, could be a potent

catalyst for amazing creativity and game-changing breakthroughs. Another strategy to alleviate

existential problems is to achieve symbolic immortality by becoming a cultural hero. 'Creating

visible testaments to one's existence in the form of great works of art or science, impressive

buildings or monuments' (Solomon, Greenberg, Schimel, Arndt, & Pyszczynski, 2004) can all

help individuals overcome the agonising sense of transience by 'leaving their footprints'

(Solomon, Greenberg, Schimel, Arndt, & Pyszczynski, 2004).

On the sands of time' is a phrase that means "on the dunes of (Schmitt & Leonard,

1986). In creation, the artist seeks to immortalise his mortal life,' as Rank put it.

Cultural understanding serves as a point of reference for evaluating the originality or novelty

of new ideas, as well as a source of inspiration. Proven cultural awareness, on the other hand,

can build perceptual and mental sets, as well as intellectual blind spots. Breaking sets and inv

iting artistic fusions of cultural ideas are aided by inspirations from other cultures.

Multicultural climate of a modern creativity

Situationally, motivated adherence to local cultural norms can limit multicultural

experiences' potential creative benefits. Via certain intervening factors, culture has an indirect

impact on idea authoring fluency. The relationship between cultural experiences and ideational

fluency can also be moderated by these intervening variables. Some social psychological

factors that affect fluency in generating novel ideas have been established in previous research.

When people are motivated by rewards, for example, they have more ideational fluency (vs.

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity
aversion of loss; Friedman & Forster, Lam & Chiu, 2002), when they are open-minded vs.

closed-minded, and when they are inspired to benefit from cultural interactions (Leung & Chiu,

2008) (Maddux, & Galinksy, 2010). Furthermore, there are systematic cultural differences in

these qualities; for example, Americans score higher than Chinese on optimism and open-

mindedness (Ip, & Wan, 2006).

Individuals with these motivating attributes or intelligent temperaments are often more

likely to benefit from multicultural interactions (Leung & Chiu, 2010). According to (Zhou and

Su, 2010), leadership style, supervisor input, peer creativity expectations, role models, and

social network configuration all influence creative success. Zhou and Su have also suggested

several scenarios in which culture can moderate both the direction and strength of associations

between these variables and creative performance. Knowledge creators will estimate the

preferences of the audience and the public utility of their ideas based on the prevailing cultural

consensus on what constitutes creativity or lay theories of creativity. Having a nuanced

understanding of the prevailing cultural norms can facilitate audience design when selecting,

editing, and selling a creative idea (Chiu & Hong, 2005). Information creators who are aware

of external expectations have the option of modifying their ideas in the direction of the

expectations or defying the pressure to conform. Furthermore, cultural and contextual

influences may have an effect on conformity expectations. For example, knowledge creators

who are answerable to a certain external audience would feel a heightened pressure to conform

to the assumed preferences of the external audience (Brimley & Realo, 1999). A cultural

emphasis on collectivist values, salience of ingrotip cultural identity, need for firm answer, and

anxious expectation to find meaning in life would also increase conformity pressure (Chao, &

Kesebir, 2010).

Chinese people are enculturated since childhood to be concerned with the opinions of

others, particularly by family members or clan,' as (Simonton and Ting, 2010) explain. It's

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
Between Multicultural Climate in the University and Students' Creativity
difficult to imagine a Chinese version of Erza Pound, John Cage, or Jackson Pollock, three

American artists who are perfectly able to create works that even their own mothers would not

be proud of. The way ideas are edited can also be influenced by cultural factors. People are

more likely to expand on the utility of a creative concept in cultures that value collectivism,

power distance, and ambiguity avoidance, according to (Erez and Nouri, 2010). This is

especially true when they work in front of their boss or colleagues, or on tasks with specific

task expectations. Acceptance of ideas and culture Acceptance decisions are made by

gatekeepers and end-users. Although knowledge creators can increase the chances of their ideas

being accepted, they have little control over their innovative ideas' fate in the marketplace.

When a creative concept is accepted, the knowledge creator may embark on a new creative

cycle. Some knowledge creators might end a project if a creative concept was rejected, however

they would start new ones later.

Some knowledge makers would change their original concept in response to outside

critique. Because there is a bias in the marketplace of ideas toward choosing ideas that are the

least counter-intuitive (Noren, 2006), An accommodating reaction to non-acceptance would

almost certainly result in the incorporation of innovative ideas into existing knowledge,

resulting in incremental innovations. Finally, some knowledge makers would reject external

assessment and even radicalise their original views in response to it. If accepted, radical

changes of the original concepts could lead to revolutionary breakthroughs. The preferred

method of responding to non-acceptance varies by culture. People who are driven by avoiding

losses, for example, are more tenacious in the face of non-acceptance (Lam & Chiu, 2002).

This could explain why societies with a strong preservation focus (e.g., Japan) are more

inclined to stick with incremental advancements rather than defying the crowd and creating

game-changing discoveries (Morris & Leung, 2010).

Current studies

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In the sense of intercultural interactions, the study object is the creativity of Chinese

students as a host community. The relationship between intercultural interactions, cross-

cultural competence, and creativity among Chinese students is the focus of this study.

Hypotheses:

In the framework of this study, the following hypotheses were formulated:

Hypothesis 1: Studying in culturally large groups stimulates creativity of Chinese students.

Hypothesis 2: Chinese students' creativity is stimulated by their participation in a learning

course activity on cultural interactions.

Hypothesis 3: Chinese students' creativity is linked positively to their intercultural interactions

at university.

Chapter 2. Methodological grounds of Studying the Relationship Between Multicultural

Climate and Creativity among University Students

2.1 Sample

Sample of the research will include Chinese students of various local universities, both

male and female majoring in different fields of study. Such a diverse structure of the sample

will help us to overcome the limitations in the generalization of results.

Based on the statistical analysis in G*Power (Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007)

expected sample size should be not less than 153 (linear multiple regression, fixed model, R2

increase; medium effect size around 0.15, alpha error probability of 0.05, 7 tested predictors

including sub-scales of multicultural climate, 12 predictors including control variables). Data

collection will be done using convenient sampling with snowball approach.

2.2 Design and variables

The study will have a cross-sectional quantitative design. In accordance with the

hypotheses of the study, multicultural climate of the university is an independent variable;

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intensity of friendly contacts with representatives of other cultures is mediator; while creativity

is a dependent variable. Age, gender, year of study, language proficiency and previous

experience of being abroad will be control variables.

2.3 Procedure

The questionnaire will be placed online and distributed among Chinese students of

different local universities via email and social networks. Each participant will be tested

individually, without time limits or direct contact with the researcher. As for the sequence of

parts on the questionnaire, first, the respondents will read and sign a consent form. Next, they

will answer the questions regarding multicultural climate of their university and their friendly

contacts with representatives of other cultures. After that, they will fill in and instrument

assessing their creativity. Finally, socio-demographic characteristics of respondents will be

addressed: gender, age, university, major, year of study, English proficiency and previous

experience of being abroad. The expected time needed to fill in the questionnaire is about 20

minutes.

2.4 Instruments

In addition to a set of questions about socio-demographic characteristics of respondents,

the full questionnaire of this study will include 3 instruments. All these instrument will be

translated to Chinese and adapted during a pre-test.

Multicultural climate will be measured using Multicultural Assessment of Campus

Programming (MAC-P) Questionnaire (McClellan et al., 1996). It covers main conditions from

intergroup contact theory in relation to a university campus. MAC-P is a Likert-type scale with

answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) which aims to access perceived

acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity in different spheres of students’ life in a

campus. MAC-P consists of 42 items which form 6 subscales. These subscales are

“Institutional Responsiveness” – responsiveness to multicultural issues on campus (11 items),

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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Student Relations – the relationship between majority and minority students (7 items),

“Cultural Integration” – acceptance and recognition of culturally diverse individuals (9 items),

“Cultural Accessibility” – accessibility of campus activities and organizations (7 items),

“Cultural Sensitivity” – attentiveness to minority students’ needs (4 items), “Diversity

Recognition” – recognition of minority traditions and achievements on campus (4 items).

Sample items on this scale are the following: “You were provided a new student orientation

that adequately addressed cultural diversity” and “Professors address multicultural issues in the

classroom”. The structure of MACP was supported on American sample; and internal

consistency indicators for MACP and all the sub-scales were greater than 0.6 (Simmons et al.,

2010).

The intensity of intercultural friendly contacts will be assessed via MIRIPS scale

measuring the intensity of friendly contacts with representatives if other cultures (Berry, 2014).

The scale will be modified for the university context as it was done in previous studies

(Bultseva & Lebedeva, 2021). The respondents will need to indicate, first, how many close

friends they had among international students of their university (options ranging from “none”

– 1 to “many” – 5); and, second, how often they communicate with these close friends (options

ranging from “never” – 1 to “daily” – 5).

Creativity will be assessed using the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (Runco et al.,

2013). The scale is intended to measure everyday creativity in terms of idea creation (Runco et

al., 2001) and helps to access mini-c aspect of creativity that is important for future nurturing

of students’ creativity (Kaufman, and Beghetto, 2009). The scale consists of 23 self-reporting

items indicating the frequency of being involved in different activities related with idea usage,

idea appreciation and idea generation in real life. The scale is a Likert-type one with answers

ranging from 1 - “never” to 5 - “very often.” The scale was translated in several languages and

validated in different countries, Majority of previous studies identified two sub-scales inside it

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Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying the Relationship
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(Tep et al., 2021) called lately “divergent thinking subscale” and “scatterbrained subscale”

(Rojas & Tyler, 2018). Internal consistency was always high: alpha was greater than 0.8 for

the scale and subscales (Runco et al., 2001; Lopez-Fernandes et al., 2019; Kālis & Roķe, 2011).

The scale was also translated and adapted in Chinese (Tsai, 2015). However, there is no

Chinese version of a scale in an open access. So, translation and adaptation needed for the aims

of this study.

2.5 Data analysis

Statistical analysis will be performed using the SPSS 22.0 software. Data processing

will begin with an analysis of filling errors and missing responses. After excluding poorly

completed questionnaires, the internal consistency and structure of the tools will be analyzed

using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis (Cronbach's alpha

test). Further, an analysis of descriptive statistics will be done for the studied variables. In order

to test the hypothesis of the study, SEM analysis (using a bootstrapping approach) will be

performed: the model will be build in AMOS; direct and indirect relationship (mediation)

between variables will be assessed.

2.6 Pre-test

The aim of the pre-test within this study is to translate and adapt for Chinese students

such instruments as Multicultural Assessment of Campus Programming (MAC-P)

Questionnaire (McClellan et al., 1996), modified version (Bultseva & Lebedeva, 2021) of a

MIRIPS scale measuring the intensity of friendly contacts with representatives if other cultures

(Berry, 2014) and using the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (Runco et al., 2013). All three

instruments will be translated into Chinese and after that back-translated by another person

possessing high level of both Chinese and English language. Next, two English versions will

be compared, and differences will be discussed in order to choose the most appropriate

formulations in Chinese. In addition, several cognitive interviews will be conducted with

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Chinese students in order to check how respondents perceive instructions and items. Next,

small pilot-study will be conducted to check preliminary results on instruments internal

consistency. However, further validation of instruments factor structure and test of internal

consistency will be done at the beginning of the main phase of the study as the big number of

respondents needed.

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