. A total of 143 families agreed to participate in the study. Of these 82 of the families were living in the U.A.E. and 61 were living in the U.S.A. When subjects were contacted, arrangements were made for them to complete the survey instruments.
At these prearranged times, one of the parents was required to complete The Parent Questionnaire and children were required to complete The Child Questionnaire. Each child was also required to provide the name of his/her teacher which was written on the child's completed test instrument. All teachers were then contacted by the researcher and asked to complete the Teacher's Survey. Questionnaires were administered by the researcher who translated items into Arabic for all families that needed it.
All survey instruments were researcher-designed. In this regard, questionnaire items were developed using the existing research on the academic and social experiences of immigrant children. In an effort to boost the validity of the research instruments, first drafts of all test instruments were given to a panel of experts (educators who were knowledgeable about the school experiences of immigrant children).
Panel members were asked to make recommendations for improving the validity of these instruments. Where possible, these recommendations were used to develop second drafts of the questionnaires. These second drafts served as the final instruments used in the study.
The study sought the answer to the following specific research questions:
(1) Do children, parents, and teachers view' of the child's school experiences differ depending upon whether the child is attending school in a culture that is similar or dissimilar to the family's native culture?;
(2) Does the degree of fear, unhappiness, or regret experienced by parents and children differ depending upon whether families moved to a culture that is similar or dissimilar to their native culture?;
(3) Do children an...