Preferences for Friends and Close Relationships Partners - Article Example

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE The article under the “Preferences for Friends and Close Relationships Partners: A Cross-Cultural Comparison” has beenwritten by Goodwin & Tang. It reveals the very fact that researchers and psychologists have been interested for nearly five decades in discovering the characteristics individuals seek in lovers and friends as well. Buss has measured such attributes with reference to cross-cultural differences in his research in 1989. Bond has made his research on the subject by a comparative analysis of two different nations based on the questionnaire prepared by British and Chinese students identifying attributes both for lovers and friends. The research based on two parts of questionnaire i.e. preference type and factor analysis and consequent statistical findings, with the help of facts and figures, reveal that both the nations maintain look for different characteristics in lovers and friends in almost all areas of interest. Moreover the findings show nationality diversification in both romantic partners and platonic friends on the basis of ethnicity. The research is highly supportive in estimating the liking and priorities among the people of belonging to various cultures, civilizations and socioeconomic as well as ethnic groups. In addition, it opens new dimensions of knowledge in respect of assessing and analyzing the desires of the individuals in the selection of companions and partners from different corners of the world. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MAIN POINTS The authors submit to point out that cultural traits, social norms and environmental effects regulate the preferences and liking of individuals while setting their minds in choosing mates and friends in life. They are of the view that people belonging to different cultures as well as ethnic groups contain different characteristics while entering into a relationship as well as in making associates and companions. Goodwin and Tang describe the very fact that though many psychological researches had been conducted to measure the inclination of individuals in entering into romantic relationship and making friendships with other members of society with reference to cross-cultural dissimilarities and cross-nation disparities, yet no research can be declared as successful one in getting accurate outcomes before that conducted by Buss in 1986. They seem to be of the opinion that only organized and systematic researches can attain exact and comprehensive results. Taking the idea from the psychological research conducted by Bond in 1986, the researchers in the present study have divided the questionnaire in two parts to calculate cross-cultural differences with reference to mate selection. Bipolar scale has been applied in the questionnaire for the respondents. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tables have been applied to have a comparative analysis of the respondents belonging to two different nations. The authors have estimated how the respondents reply to some specific question. In addition, they have shown methodology to study and investigate the outcomes of a sociological research. PROS AND CONS OF THE ARTICLE STAGE ONE CHOOSING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND STATING THE HYPOTHESIS Choosing the research problem is the first stage in a research process. The topic must be valid, socially significant and imperative as well as related to the discipline under study. Stating of the hypothesis is made on the foundations of the topic selected for this purpose. In the present study, attributes of mates and friends selection are the part of topic of the research. The study aims at assessing and estimating the variation in the students of various nationalities and communities. Stage Two---Research Design Research design is the second stage in the whole research process after choosing the research problem and stating the hypothesis. It also elaborates which population should be selected for the research and how would the data be collected from the population. Furthermore, it clearly states the tool applied for the collection of data. As the topic under study is cross-cultural differences in mates and friends selection, the hypothesis may be as: “The different the ethnic groups in a society, the different the patterns of behavior in choosing partners and friends.” Research design discusses the target population selected for the research purpose by stating independent and dependent variables. In research design, the researcher must decide how to measure the two variables in his or her hypothesis and on what group of people to test the hypothesis. This involves deciding not only how many people will be used as subjects but what their particular characteristics should be and under what circumstances the data will be gathered. (Bailey, 1987: 17) The population in the present research consists of the students belonging to England and Hong Kong. The sample consisted of eighty eight respondents where forty respondents were British students while forty eight were Hong Kong Chinese students. Questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection and the researchers themselves got the questionnaire filled from the university students. The researchers used questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part contained fifteen questions, which were prepared keeping in view the attributes people desired in a love mate on the one hand and the characteristics for preferring a platonic friend on the other. STAGE THREE--GATHERING THE DATA Third stage in a research process is related to gathering of the data from the specific field or universe called target population. The researchers in the present study has divided the population into two categories, where the first part of questionnaire was applied on the half number of both British and Chinese students, and the remaining questions in part two were also asked by the remaining forty four students of both the nations. Bipolar scales have been used in this research to estimate the strength of liking and liking regarding some particular attribute. The strength level has been divided from 1 to 10 on the scale designed for this purpose. The coding has been made in Ordinal qualitative form. Nationality of Respondents No. of Students British 40 Hong Kong Chinese 48 No. of Questions Part I Part II 45 15 30 Independent Variables Dependent Variables Different Ethnic Groups/Nationals Different the attributes in mates and friends selection STAGE FOUR—CODING AND ANALYSING THE DATA Coding and analyzing the data is one of the most important stages in the whole research process. Organized and systematic coding and proper analysis of the findings in a tabular and graphic presentation make the whole process valid, reliable, precise and comprehensive. The respondents and their responses are properly categorized and given codes so that it could be supportive in the interpretations of results. The present study does not mention any coding, though it has displayed categories exercised for the interpretations of research findings. STAGE FIVE—INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS OF THE DATA The researchers apply statistical formulae and tests in order to note the difference of variance and accept or reject the hypothesis. Students’t test, Chi square, ANOVA and other statistical methods are applied in this regard. The researchers in the present study have applied ANOVA tables to find out the cross-cultural differences while estimating the attributes in selection of love partners and friends. They have categorized the whole findings in columns and rows to present in ANOVA tabular form, where comparative analyses of the replies of both the British and Chinese students have been mentioned. According to these findings, the British students look for honest and caring love partners, while the Chinese prefer financially stable individuals as their ideal love mates. In the same way, the sensitivity and sense of humor is welcomed as the stronger attributes by the British students, while Chinese students seek creativity in romantic partners. It clearly indicates the norms, values and perception prevailing in both the two various cultures. These variations in the responses of the students have been presented as a comparative analysis in percentages and ratios, which is a reliable way of interpretations of findings of the research process. VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY Validity and reliability are essential parts particularly in a qualitative research process. In scientific usage a measurement of a given phenomenon is viewed as a valid measure if it successfully measures the phenomenon. (Philips, 1971:197) In other words, validity aims at assessing whether a research is measuring the facts on the bases of the research design which it has intended to measure. Looking into the research conducted by Goodwin & Tang, it becomes evident that they are successful in finding out the responses they intended to measure. The outcomes of the cross-cultural differences maintain the very fact that hypothesis has come out to be true and valid one. In the same way, reliability has also been significant in the preset research. Reliability discusses the extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability. (Joppe, 2000:1) In simple words, reliability lays stress on the fact that a research contains reliability if it gives almost the same results if another research is conducted on the same topic on the same population and there should be no great differences in the results. Taking the example of the current research, it becomes evident that the present research proves the outcomes of the previous researches conducted by Neely, Monane, Buss, Bond and others time to time on the same topic. RECOMMENDATION Though the present research conducted by Goodwin & Tang rectifies the facts and proves the hypothesis, yet there are some suggestions necessary for a more expert and valid research process. These suggestions are as under: A competent research focuses on the topic under study with the help of relevant literature as well as previously conducted works. Thus, the researchers need to be very specific while citing the works of the others. In the present research, the citations raise some ambiguities and lack cohesion. A valid research work usually randomly selects the units of analysis i.e. population on equal basis and the same number to make a comparative analysis of two different groups. Here the researchers have got 40 respondents from British nationals and 48 from Chinese, which may create ambiguity to some extent. The researchers have filled the first part of the questionnaire from half of the respondents and the remaining part from the remaining students. If the whole of questionnaire was filled by all the respondents, it might have produced different results. REFERENCES Bailey, Kenneth D. (1987) Methods of Social Research. 3rd Edition. The Free Press. McMillan Publishing Company New York Goodwin, Robin & Tang, Daniel. (1991) Preferences for Friends and Close Relationships Partners: A Cross-Cultural Comparison. Department of Psychology, University of Keele, England. Joppe, M. (2000) The Research Process. Retrieved in 1998 (Quoted in www.ryerson.ca/~mjoppe.rp.htm) Philips, Bernard S. (1971) Social Research: Strategy and Tactics. 2nd Edition. New York: McMillan Read More