A Study of Life Strategies and Information Behaviors of New Female Vietnamese Immigrants : Cases of New Immigrants Services Agencies Participants in Wanhua District, Taipei
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Chen, Hui-Li
Abstract
According to the NIA, the number of foreign spouses in Taiwan reached 486,703 by the end of 2013. These foreign spouses, so-called “new immigrant women,” are mostly from Mainland China and South-East Asia. Among them, the Vietnamese are numbered second, only less than Mainland Chinese. These immigrants face difficulties in language, convention and culture. Based on D''Elia’s conceptual model of public library user behavior, he pointed out that those who participate more in cultural, community and educational activities are more likely to become library users. Generally speaking, if there are more immigrants in the city, the municipal divisions should be able to provide more activities for new immigrants. The amount new immigrants in Wanhua district of Taipei City ranks first in all districts in Taipei. In Wanhua district, the Vietnamese immigrants participate in related activities provided for the new immigrants, second to Mainland Chinese immigrants.
Therefore this study chose new female Vietnamese immigrants (the term “Vietnamese immigrants” is used interchangeably here) who participated in activities related to new immigrant services in Wanhua district as research participants, in order to explore their information behaviors. The purpose of this study focuses on their lifestyle, life strategies, information needs, information sources, information channels, and the way of using information, from the perspective of everyday life information behaviors.
This study used qualitative research methods, including in-depth interview and field observation. The researcher implemented semi-structured interviews with fifteen interviewees, aged from 27 to 47. The interviewees have married to Taiwan and lived in Taipei for the average of 11 years. The result indicated that the daily lives of these Vietnamese immigrants fell in three dimensions: everyday activity, consumption model and life attitude. The study identified four types of information needs for the Vietnamese immigrants: information for survivals, information for the required roles, information for practical purposes, and the information for special needs. There were seven types of information channels among Vietnamese immigrants: interpersonal networks, service agencies, mass media, internet, telephone, accidental information encountering, and other information channels. There were five types of information sources for the Vietnamese immigrant: oral information, print information, audio-visual information, internet information, and personal experience. Information helped them in daily life such as problem solving, learning empowerment, self-help and being helpful for others, homesickness reducing, and social welfare acquiring. Vietnamese immigrants’ information behaviors were characterized by the followings:
1. Depending on the length of their living in Taiwan, the life styles of Vietnamese immigrants changed;
2. Depending on the length of their living in Taiwan, the information needs of Vietnamese immigrants changed;
3. Vietnamese immigrants needed information for survivals, for the required role, for special needs and for practical purposes;
4. The Vietnamese immigrants searched information through diverse channels, and the primary channel is interpersonal networks;
5. The information behaviors of the Vietnamese immigrants were influenced by personal characteristics, information types, problem-types, and time and space;
6. The Vietnamese immigrants preferred oral information;
7. The Vietnamese immigrants needed information with multiple functions;
8. The more Vietnamese immigrants became to know, the more extended their social networks and information behaviors would be.
Based on the results above, this study makes a few suggestions to new immigrants service providers: 1. To design services carefully in order to assist new immigrants interact with information resources; 2. To equip them with technology skills to solve life problems; 3. To enhance their information literacy for life.
Subjects
越南籍新移民女性
日常生活
生活對策
資訊行
日常生活資訊行為
Type
thesis
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