Reasons for Companion Animal Guardianship from Two Populations - Article Example

Topic:  Critically Analysis of a Scientific Paper Summary of the Journal Article The journal article “Reasons for Companion Animal Guardianship (PetOwnership) from Two Populations” is a study to analyze the health benefits and effect of pet ownership on young people and middle aged population. Here the authors have put forward the survey from two classes of people to understand the effect of the ownership of two types of pets on them. The two types of pet used for the study are cats and dogs. Pets have been companion of human since centuries; however this pattern has changed with the modernization of society. Nowadays, people find less time to own a pet as their life got hectic and busy. Nevertheless, people still keep pets for companionship and basic human needs. The survey here was conducted by means of questionnaire method, where two different groups participated mainly; young college students and middle aged community dwellers. The first group of college students were 241 in number and was from a mid western commuter campus. Among them 88 were men and 146 were women with an average age of 21.12 years. The group two consisted of 103 participants who were community dwellers .Among them 40 were male and 60 were female with an average age of 48.86 years. All were submitted with a questionnaire which enquired about the reason and health giving benefits of pets. The contribution of the pet to their health in past, present and future where enquired in the questionnaire. The responses on belief system were numbered from 1 to 4, where 1 = no, 2 = yes, 3 = somewhat and 4 = definitely. Apart from this, there was an option of “never around pets” provided for the participants to respond. They were also given seven alternatives for responding for the reason for keeping pets. Additionally, an open ended question to assess the advantage of owning a pet was made available. The answered questionnaires from the participants were returned in sealed envelopes and all students had access on the survey results. The result revealed that seventy four participants owned other type of pet and ninety eights of them owned dogs, forty two owned cats and ninety seven owned both dog and cat. According to the survey the most common reason for owning a pet was loneliness. A large percentage of students also responded that pets enabled them to get through hard times. On the gender basis, women kept a pet to avoid loneliness whereas men kept them to remain active. When it comes to advantage of owning pet, the main thing was that pet avoided loneliness, followed by emotional attachment and entertainment deliverance. Most participants responded that the pet contributed to their health in present and would do in future too. Among all participants, despite of age, sex and marital status, the main reason to own pets was to avoid loneliness. This could be related to the theory of anthromorphism where human characteristics are related to non human animals. From the study conclusion can be made that human regardless of age and sex, find dogs and cats has best companions to relieve from isolation. Strengths of this Scientific Article The article has produced a well informative introduction where the reader can get a complete knowledge about the subject matter and what can be anticipated further. The subject is of significant interest to people as pets are part of the many people lives. This article gives a glimpse to readers about the intention of pet owners in keeping pets .The article precisely states the objectivity of the study and the method used for the study. The information about the participants and their statistics is clearly mentioned which enables the readers to grasp the information readily. The nature of participants and their details are mentioned accurately which is a highlight of the article. The pet group chosen is ideal as dogs and cats are the most common pets owned by people. The participants chosen are of the right category as young people and middle aged people more often keep pets. The method selected for the study is questionnaire which is an effective method to collect information from people. The questions are closed ended which enables the respondents to answer precisely and accurately. Only one open ended question is allowed which helps the researchers to understand the advantages of keeping pets. The accurate analysis of the study was readable due to the results being delivered in elaborate details in numerical data. Tables on summaries of gender and pet ownership provided a better insight into the number of females and males owned pets. The study covered all the basic reasons possible for the ownership of pets. This made the study successful as complete information as to the health benefits of pet ownership can be assessed. The graph and charts has been highly helpful in giving a proper insight in to the reasons for pet ownership and its contribution in health giving to people. The study concluded that the loneliness is the reason for the people to keep pets which seems to be a well developed result. The article is structured well in to different sections which represent a professional written scientific journal. Weaknesses of this Scientific Article The article is concentrating on two pets; it would have been helpful if an option is provided for an additional pet. Today people are not limiting their pet option to cats and dogs. Many people have variety of other pets, so the study is limited in regard to the classes of pets. The participants selected is also from a small demographical area, as more areas need to be included to get a more precise result on pet ownership and its health benefits. It would have been more beneficial if the article enquired the participants about the type of pet which delivered them more companionship and health benefits. It is usually found that dogs are more bonding than cats and being specific about type of pet that gives companionship could have enhanced the result of the study. In the alternatives for reasons for keeping pet, the first alternative of valuable piece of property depicts irrelevance. A pet is not a property as such, as people give more value to it, it could have been some other reason which is more compatible with pet ownership. The article does indicate throughout that avoidance of loneliness is the main reason for keeping pets by people in general. But when it is the question of health benefits, the participants are not provided with many options to detail their comments. The questionnaire is not focusing on any specific mental and physical benefit the pet owner achieves out of owning pets. Since the topic of the article is also about the health benefits of pet ownership less result is being derived regarding this specific subject. The study should have included question to analyze the health benefits derived from pets instead of just enquiring participants about their general health. At many points it can be noted that article is getting alienated from the concept of health benefits of pet owning. Even though the abstract mentions about the objective of the study to reveal health benefits of pet owning, less survey is done on the same. Even the article is little overloaded with statistical information, which reader may not grasp completely. The article repeatedly informs that loneliness is the reason for pet ownership and this seems to be slightly repetitive information. Ultimately the only main information the article provide is that loneliness is the reason for pet ownership which makes the article less commendable. Conclusion The article has been focused on a significantly informative subject and to an extend it provides information about the relationship of pets with human beings. Dogs and cats have been companion for human since ages and even in our modern society they have major importance in people’ lives. The article has attempted to reveal the reason for pet ownership among people and deliver results through survey and statistical diagrams. This is a credible piece of scientific work as the authors are related to psychological field and are experts in the area. The article is well structured and has reasons for pet ownership among various age groups of people. But the article is slightly statistically overloaded as common men could encounter difficulty in comprehending facts. However, the article depicts the effect of pet like dogs and cats on pet owners and widely assessed their influence on men and women who own them. The article has also looked in to the matter like age variation and affect of it on the pet owners. Nevertheless, the article is demographically less exploring as the participants were selected from a selective area. But the graphs and tables informs the reader about the precision of survey conducted and to what extent it was successful. The article has simultaneously explained the effect of pets on psychology of a person which is appreciated. In conclusion, this specific scientific article is informative, scientifically researched, professionally presented and has detailed generously on the reasons for owning pets. Read More