A phenomenological study of intercultural and cross-cultural interpersonal communication experience: Uncertainty reduction as perceived by Saudi Arabian students in the United States of America

This study deals with the intercultural and cross-cultural interpersonal communication experience as perceived by Saudi Arabian students in the United States of America. Chapter I introduces the purpose as well as the significance of this study. Chapter II provides some guidance into the definition as well as a theory of intercultural/cross-cultural communication expression and perception like Jakobson's theory of message and code, in order to know the effectiveness of intercultural/cross-cultural communication experience. In any intercultural/cross-cultural communication, the uncertainty reduction plays an important role in the nature of human communication. Therefore, the axioms that are important for uncertainty reduction in the egocentric type of culture (U.S.A.) and the sociocentric type of culture (Saudi Arabia) are explained. The research methodology is then introduced in Chapter IV using the Merleau-Ponty's three-step methodological model. Ten interviews with Saudi Arabian students constitute the capta that is described and analyzed. Chapter V describes the perceptions of the respondents toward the American (U.S.A.) culture. A thematic reduction follows the description to summarize the main themes in each description of the respondent co-researchers. Chapter VI attempts to provide a thorough interpretation of Chapter V by analyzing the main themes discussed by the co-researchers and by testing such empirical themes against existing theory, such as the axioms of uncertainty reduction given in Chapter III. Finally, Chapter VII is composed of a summary and a conclusion of the study.