This paper describes the ways in which participation in the“Social Business Internship Program”conducted by ETIC. (Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities), supported by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, changed the participants’ perception of the internship. This study used the Free Association Method with“internship”as the stimulus word. Samples were taken in a questionnaire format. The study was conducted with a pre- survey given the day that the Program began, and a post-survey given on the final day (202 respondents for the pre- and post-surveys, 6 weeks training program for 1st and 2nd grade university students in JFY 2010-2011). The questionnaire asked respondents to list up to 5 words associated with the stimulus word“internship”(associated words). The sample data collected was used to compare the frequency of the words in the pre- and post-surveys (comparison of total number of associated words, comparison of the number of each type of associated words), and the structure of perceptions of the“internship”ascertained by analyzing clusters based on sample scores obtained by analysis with quantification method III. The author calculated the distance between associated words through cluster analysis using Euclidean distance to calculate the distance for the original data, and used Ward’s method to calculate the distance for the consolidated data. Associated words were classified in three categories for the frequency calculations: (1) learning, (2) working and (3) living. As a result,
the perception of“internship”was integrated into one after the Program, in other words, three categories, i.e. (1) learning, (2) working and (3) living, were deeply connected in the perception of“internship”. The author stresses the importance of the provision of“situated learning”for youth, e.g. Social Business Internship Program, for the integration of three categories as mentioned above, which are recognized as different issues, i.e. (1) education, (2) employment and (3) social affairs, in daily life.
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