Enactment of virtue ethics: collaboration between nurse academics and international students in questionnaire design

Increased enrolment of international nursing students in undergraduate and postgraduate programs is predicted as Australian universities compete for students in the globalised university market. This study explored issues impacting on the ability of international nursing students to achieve their study goals at an Australian university (n=29). However, this paper principally describes the design of the instrument by two nursing lecturers and international nursing students (n=10) in a collaborative process, characterised by a pluralistic world view and the enactment of virtue ethics. The myth of the term 'ESL' is critiqued, and challenged. In designing the instrument, we argued it was essential to be cognisant of the conceptual attributes and embedded meanings of language for the unique study population, to ensure face and content validity.