Forgiveness among Married Adults - Book Report/Review Example

? Forgiveness: A Perception And Motivation Study Among Married Adults Jose Orathinkal, Alfons Vansteenwegen & Roger Burggraeve A Critique of the Article (Name of Student) (Name of University) Summary Orathinkal, Vansteenwegen and Burggraeve (2008) studied married adults’ understanding of the perception and motivation of forgiveness. 785 married adults of whom 424 were first married and 363 were remarried were asked to fill up 2 questionnaires namely the The Forgiveness Motivation and Perception Checklist (FMPC) which measured perception and motivation of forgiveness, and the Enright Forgiveness Inventory (Enright, Rique & Coyle, 2000) which measured forgiveness. These participants were recruited by regular college students who used the snowball sampling technique in selecting prospective participants. These students passed on questionnaires to married adults who they think are qualified to participate in the study. The questionnaires were analyzed by comparing the results of the first married adults with the remarried ones as well as compared the results by gender. The descriptive analysis showed that the participants have a generally positive perception of forgiveness and that it is integral in marriage. Findings also showed significant difference between the positive perception of forgiveness of first-married adults with remarried adults. However, there was no difference in both positive and negative scales between males and females. The study concluded that general forgiveness is strongly and positively correlated with the perception of forgiveness. Critique of Title and Introduction Title The title is reasonably concise and interesting enough for readers to read on. However, the tagline of “perception and motivation study” was confusing if it referred to “forgiveness” or if it was another aspect of the paper. It may have been more clear to the readers if the title was “Perception and Motivation of Forgiveness Among Married Adults”. The title identified the participants in the study as married adults. The researchers did not give any hint of the results of the study in the title. Abstract The abstract mentioned that it was a cross-sectional study about the perception and motivation of forgiveness among 785 heterosexually married adults in Belgium. It also gave the readers an idea of the results of the study. The researcher did not mention any reference to future research as recommendation from the results of the study. Literature review In the literature review, the researchers discussed how the concept of forgiveness has expanded from a religious one to more of a relationship construct in Psychology and Theology. The researchers illustrated how important it was to study the topic at hand, as it not only concerns participants in the study but everyone within intimate relationships such as in marriage and families. They show just how powerful the impact of forgiveness is in restoring damaged relationships and achievement of closure to regain the status quo. This sets the tone for the significance of forgiveness as a therapeutic tool in counseling and relationship therapy. Although the researchers did not discuss any underlying theory, they were generous in providing definitions of concepts. These concepts may be confusing to readers due to the overlap in meanings. That is why the researchers defined the concepts of justification, excuse, mercy, exoneration, reconciliation. They also gave definitions and distinctions between perception of forgiveness and actual forgiveness. This was to clarify the terms in therapeutic uses so therapist and client are working on the same page when they talk about such concepts related to forgiveness. Research questions The goals and research questions for the study were integrated and it was stated clearly what the study wanted to find out. First was to understand the nature of forgiveness, how it is understood by the participants of the study and what motivates forgiveness and if they knew the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. The other goal is to see if there is a link between the perception of forgiveness and the actual forgiveness itself. It also wanted to explore if there were differences between first-married and remarried adults in terms of their perception of forgiveness and if there were also gender differences in such perception. Critique of Methodology Population and Sampling Sampling method used was the snowball sampling technique which required initia respondents to pass on questionnaires to other prospective respondents. However, it gave the basic demographics of marital status (first-married or remarried), mean age of the respondents and mean age they were married and the number of children they had (mean number). Rate of participation was reasonably high. Out of 988 questionnaires distributed, 785 (80%)were completed for one kind of questionnaire (FMPC)and 735 (74%) were completed for the other kind (EFI). Responses of 4 participants were eliminated due scoring disqualifications, so 731 were left for the final analysis for the EFI test. Since the number of participants was relatively high, there was no problem of compensating for low participation. Procedures Two groups of participants were identified, the first-married and the remarried group. The number of participants in each group was not equal (424 first married and 363 were remarried) however percentages of their responses were computed to make the comparison equitable. The treatments were clearly explained. The participants completed the questionnaires and their responses were compared as to their grouping (first-married or remarried) and gender. It also identified some grouped items as to what these items measured. Measurement The negatively-formulated and positively-formulated items in the questionnaires were mixed in so that respondents are not guided to lean on a particular direction while answering the questionnaire. The EFI instrument was originally worded in English, translated by a bilingual individual to Dutch and the Dutch version was translated back to English by another individual to ensure that there was inter-observer reliability. The final Dutch version was approved by the creator of the instrument himself, Dr. R. Enright. The instrument was thoroughly studied and designed well so that there is adequate internal consistency. Critique of Results & Discussion     Results evaluation Although some uses of percentages had its corresponding raw numbers that the percentages represented, this was not consistently practiced all throughout the reporting of the results. Means were taken for all items so it makes it easier to compare the responses garnered by each of the items. The researchers meticulously reported all the results even those that had small differences. Discussion Evaluation The researchers devoted a portion of the paper to report the limitations of the study which included the instrumentation having been created by research and needed psychometric properties to make it more valid and reliable. Sampling was also identified to have potential flaws as the researchers did not have control of the choices of participants the students selected for the study and these choices may not be representative of the views of married people in general. It was also noted that asking respondents to recall events to illustrate forgiveness made the parameters open to their own interpretation which lost the study points in standardization of circumstances to illustrate forgiveness such as infidelity or partner betrayal which were severe examples that necessitate forgiveness in marriage. Generally, the results were consistent and related to the points covered in the literature review and introduction. In the end, the researchers pointed out to the possibility of conducting cross-cultural research on forgiveness as well as using qualitative research methodology to probe into interpersonal views on forgiveness. Evaluation of Entire Article Putting it all together The research problem was chosen well because it is a very relevant topic to interpersonal and intimate relationships. Although the study was written quite objectively, the researchers were reflective enough to insert possible reasons for some results which could not have been drawn from merely studying the numbers derived from completing the questionnaires. Due to the unfamiliarity of the researchers to the participants recruited by the students, there is a likely possibility that they may not give truthful answers considering it was a task that did not pay them for their efforts as well as their identities were kept confidential. Some malicious respondents may have inappropriate motivations to participate in the study. Follow-up research improvement plan A follow-up study for this research may involve long-time married couples who have been together for 25 years and beyond and engaged couples who are to be married in the next couple of years. The study would explore the differences between the idealistic perceptions of engaged couples on forgiveness in their future married lives and the true realizations about forgiveness of long-time married couples with concrete evidences of their experiences with it. The study may be a qualitative focus group discussion with getting the views of the engaged couples first and then the views of the married couples next and a free flowing discussion to follow. This focus group discussion shall be facilitated by the researcher with a set of guide questions to elicit participation among the respondents. Reference Orathinkal, J., Vansteenwegen, A. & Burggraeve, R. (2008) Forgiveness: A Perception And Motivation Study Among Married Adults, Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 49, 155–160 Read More