Comparison Relationship Paper - Essay Example

Scrutinizing Research Methods Used in Previous Studies My research topic on heterosexual romantic relationships has been richly explored in the literature with a number of studies dedicated to demystify romance. My collection of research studies shows a variety of research designs, both experimental and descriptive. Since my topic revolves around a number of research questions on the effects of romantic relationships on individuals, my own study will rely on these previous studies to guide me in my pursuit of answers since they have yielded a lot of conclusive reports. The study itself will be descriptive as it will make use of interviews of couples who are involved in romantic relationships. Such interviews will be done in the hopes of validating what previous studies have already established. Experimental Studies on Physiological/ Physical Effects of Romance My annotated bibliography is peppered with experimental studies on human relationships. In terms of physiological responses to romance, Kahn (2004) & Slater (2006) discussed the experimental studies of Dr. Marazziti, a psychiatry professor and Helen Fisher, an anthropologist who show how their manipulation of variables proved that hormonal and biochemical changes occur as manifestations of behaviors related to triggering responses related to romance. Their studies conclude that levels of some hormones, like serotonin and oxytocin gets altered in the early phases of a romance, but eventually goes back to normal after some time when the relationship gets more stable. Their studies necessitated the use of special apparatus to measure such physiological responses. Fisher has done experiments on people “in love” by putting them in MRI machines and studying how their brain works when shown a photograph of their beloved ones. It was found out that the effect is stimulating the part of the brain associated with reward and pleasure and stimulates the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for creating intense energy, exhilaration, focused attention, and motivation to win rewards. Non-Experimental Studies on Romantic Relationships The rest of the studies used a non-experimental design, mostly interviews, questionnaires, self-reports and behavioral observations. Preferences/ Choices for Romantic Partners In some of the studies, participants’ self-reports provided definitions or descriptions of some constructs. An example is Feiring’s study on the “Concepts of Romance in 15-year old Adolescents” From Heiman’s teachings on Research methodology (2002), Feiring’s study seems to have skipped the step on the creation of a hypothetical construct on purpose because that is the meat of her study – to determine how adolescents conceptualize romance and share what they find attractive in prospective partners. Levine et al (2006) used the constructs on love styles theorized by Lee (1977) as the backdrop of their study. The perspective they adopted was that individuals had tendencies towards a particular love style and this influenced their preferences in potential mates as well as how they initiated and intensified their romantic liaisons. Their research included three studies that explored the possibilities of intertwining the variables of love styles, preferences and communication styles in initiating and intensifying relationships. Their research was likewise descriptive and the data was volunteered by the participants instead of being the result of manipulating the variables. Further research on the identification and more accurate interpretation of one’s love styles should be done to ward off validity issues. Family Influence on Romantic Interactions A longitudinal study using observation methods was done in the study of Conger et al (2000). Again, this study was descriptive. Participants were observed with their families when they were children, and some seven years later were observed with their romantic partners to see if there is a relationship between the participants’ family dynamics with how they relate to their romantic partners as young adults. The study claimed credibility of findings because it was prospective and longitudinal, it was based on observed interactional processes instead of perceived behaviors; it included evaluations of a number of different family variables allowing the simultaneous testing of the multiple hypotheses related to family influences and that it included a direct measure of interpersonal competence in romantic relationships as a possible way of transmitting family influences. However, according to Cozby’s (2007) concept of confounding variables, a lot may have had affected the participants’ romantic behaviors over the seven years or so that transpired and may be difficult to directly link it to the family dynamics he or she grew up with. Seven years is a long time to accommodate changes in one’s lifestyle and culture. Media is one confounding variable that may effect great influence on how a person may relate with others, especially in the area of romantic relationships, as movies, and television shows may highlight strong qualities that the youth may emulate in their relationships. Another confounding variable may be the changing values of the times. Where one was exposed to a nurturant relationship between his or her parents, such value of nurturance may be further emphasized as a value over time, so modeling it from parents’ example may not directly be the cause of an individual’s nurturant interaction with a romantic partner. Psycho-emotional Effects of Romance Giordano et al (2006) is another descriptive study built around interviews of adolescent boys’ perceptions of romantic relationships. It explored how their early romances trigger strong emotions in them. Culling from sociological methods, it used a symbolic interactionist perspective in examining experiences of young boys and girls involved in romantic relationships. Another variable that was discovered in the course of this non-experimental study was the interviewee’s audience. The researchers realized that boys expressed themselves differently with peers when it comes to telling “tall” tales about their romantic conquests, often not revealing how deeply they are affected by the romance. In private, with the researchers themselves, they were more open and honest in admitting how their emotions are affected by their love interest. It is interesting to note that discoveries like this happen even in the best-designed studies. Effects of Romance on Self-Esteem and Psychological Health Self-reports are the most sensible methods of research when it comes to studying about self-esteem or self-discrepancy. One assumption of my research is that romantic relationships have direct effects on an individual’s self-esteem. The research by Green et al (2007) investigated this with four studies on self-discrepancy reports due to negative past romantic experiences. Results of the studies imply that negative experiences in romance cause an increase of self-discrepancy of the affected individual. The danger of self-reports is memory failure or the tendency to make-up, exaggerate or understate situations related to perceived negative experiences which may affect the validity of the research. Decreased self-esteem from rejections in relationships affects psychological health. Cramer & Donachie (1999) studied the effects of closeness of a relationship on a person’s psychological health using questionnaires. Using questionnaires with a predesigned scale makes it easier for researchers to measure the variables since responses may be quantified. The question is how honestly and how seriously one answers the questionnaire as this should reflect the truth. Leone & Hawkins’ (2006) study on self-monitoring patterns of people in close relationships such as friendships, romantic relationships and marriage is an example of a very descriptive design which is rich in information from the review of literature. I envision my own dissertation to be somewhat like this, covering a lot of discussion on a variety of topics on romance culled from previous studies. It may not be experimental, but the way it was presented had all the makings of a scholarly, well-researched paper. Initiation and Intensification of Romantic Relationships Tolhuizen’s study (1989) on communication strategies in intensifying dating relationships was used in Levine et al’s research. It discussed the development of courtship into a romantic relationship to progress into a more committed relationship such as marriage or a decision for a joint future together. It conducted two studies that actively engaged the participation of subjects in identifying and clustering intensification strategies. It attempted to fulfill two goals: two goals. One is to identify the communication strategies used to intensify dating relationships, and the other is to investigate the underlying multidimensional structure of intensification strategies. It is impressive in a way that it becomes a collaborative effort to come up with the findings. It is also a study often cited in the literature due to its rich content. Romantic Relationships Developing into Deeper Commitments Sakalli-Ugurlu (2003) made use of questionnaires to determine how romantic relationship satisfaction, gender stereotypes and gender relate to future time orientation in romantic relationships. Satisfaction in romantic relationships may be associated with commitment, rewards, costs, relationship stability, perceived relationship alternatives and time spent together, power and future time orientation. It suggests that those who are satisfied with their relationships tend to be more future-oriented. This study was successful in coming up with clear constructs to work with so it was easy for the researcher to gather the necessary data. Assad et al (2007) interviewed couples and asked to separately fill out questionnaires regarding their relationships. It hypothesized that dispositional optimism serves as an enduring resource for romantic relationships and that it was positively associated with relationship satisfaction. In conducting studies on sensitive topics using interviews and questionnaires, one should be careful to follow ethical principles prescribed in such a method as there may be confidentiality issues I have to contend with. Internal and External Validity Issues Reading the chapters on research methodology helped me gain clearer insights on the direction I would want to take in my dissertation. Since my preference is a qualitative study with a descriptive design, I know it would be more difficult to steer since there is more available guidance on experimental studies, as presented in the chapters. However, the nature of my topic calls for more descriptive data from selected participants’ reported experiences. Perhaps that in itself may turn against the objectivity and random sampling called for in experimental designs. As evidenced in previous studies on romantic relationships, a research design like the one I envision for my dissertation may still be valuable in coming up with a scholarly paper. I just have to keep in mind the criticisms against those studies to prevent mistakes that would result in shabby research. Since I do not have control over the variables as it is with experimental studies, I have to maintain my objectivity to garner internal and external validity. My limitations will be the small number of interviewees in this study and their responses may be subjective, however, good probing and the wealth of available literature will justify such limitations. I am looking forward to the wisdom that will be dispensed by my future interviewees on their take on romance in answering my research questions. Hopefully, I shall be able to use such wisdom well in ably doing the research and reporting credible information to my target audience. References Assad, K. K., Donnellan, M.B. & Conger, R.D., (2007) “Optimism: An Enduring Resource for Romantic Relationships”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 93, No. 2, 285–297 Cone, J.D. (1998) Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish: Psychology and Related Fields, American Psychological Association Conger, R.D., Cui, M., Bryant, C.M. & Elder, Jr., G.H. (2000) “Competence in Early Adult Romantic Relationships: A Developmental Perspective on Family Influences”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000, Vol. 79, No. 2, 224-237 Cozby, P.C. (2007) Methods in Behavioral Research, 9th edition, McGraw Hill Cramer, D. & Donachie, M., (1999) “Psychological Health and Change in Closeness in Platonic & Romantic Relationships”, The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 139, No. 6, pp. 762-767 Feiring, C. (1996) “Concepts of Romance in 15-Year-Old Adolescents”, Journal Of Research On Adolescence, 6(2), 181-200 Giordano, P. C. , Longmore, M.A. & Manning, W.D. (2006) “Gender and the Meanings of Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A Focus on Boys”, American Sociological Review, 2006, VOL. 71 Green, J.D., Campbell, W.K., Davis, J.L. (2007) “Ghosts From the Past: An Examination of Romantic Relationships and Self-Discrepancy”, The Journal of Social Psychology, 2007, 147(3), 243–264 Heiman, G.W. (2002), Research Methods in Psychology, third edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. Kahn, J. (2004), “A Matter of Chemistry”, Health, October, 2004 Leone, C. and Hawkins, L.B.,(2006) “Self-Monitoring and Close Relationships”, Journal of Personality 74:3 Levine, T.R., Aune, K. S. & Park, H.S., (2006) “Love Styles and Communication In Relationships: Partner Preferences, Initiation, and Intensification”, Communication Quarterly Vol. 54, No. 4, November 2006, pp. 465–486 Moss, B.F., & Schwebel, A.I., (2001) “Defining Intimacy in Romantic Relationships”, Family Relations, 1993, 42, 31-37. Slater, L (2006) “Love”, Geographic, Feb2006, Vol. 209, Issue 2 Sakalli-Ugurlu, N., (2003) “How Do Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, Gender Stereotypes and Gender Relate to Future Time Orientation in Romantic Relationships?”, The Journal of Psychology, 137(3), 294- 303 Tolhuizen, J. H. (1989). Communication strategies for intensifying dating relationships: Identification, use and structure. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6, 413–434. Read More