Section
Friendship
Academic Honesty Statement
This research activity is fully my individual output except occasions where I have explicitly acknowledged sources within the text and indicated those academic sources towards the end of my work. This assignment meets all the requirements as outlined in the task requirements. I have never submitted this assignment before and, therefore, ready for any oral examination concerning my submission.
Mind map
The below mid map gives a highlight of what my proposal will focus on while showing some of the existing connections and aspects covered by my research topic.
Introduction
Human beings are purely social creatures. They cannot live alone or by themselves. Those with same dispositions are attracted to each other by nature and with time, intimacy develops between them. Then they start to trust one another. This relationship is what is referred to as ‘friendship’. In a nutshell, friendship can be defined as the mutual relationship of trust, affection, support and cooperation among two or more people. We always feel comfortable while in the company of our friends. Friendship is essential to living life to its best as we can have delightful periods with friends. Good friends are regarded as a real blessing from God. Everyone on this planet requires someone with whom they can share their feelings and emotions. In this assignment, I shall present background overview of the primary reasons why friends are important in our lives and a highlight of real and false friends. It will give a broader view of friendship other than the narrow perspective that people have accorded this topic in the past. For the purpose of this work, I will conduct primary research on students’ views on benefits from friends and why they feel it is necessary to have friends in various scopes of life using qualitative data and information gathering methods such as interviews and surveys.
Background Research
Definition of Terms
Friendship: Friendship directly implies the state of existing as friends, that is, the conduct or emotions of friends
A friend: A friend is that person who is known by someone and with whom they both have a connection with mutual trust and affection, fundamentally exclusive of family or sexual relationships.
An acquaintance: An acquaintance is a person who someone knows slightly with whom they are not close friends, such as an ally, associate or colleague.
A buddy: A buddy is someone who is a close friend.
Sympathy: Sympathy is the feeling of sorrow and pity someone portrays for the misfortune of someone else
Empathy: Empathy is the ability that people show in understanding and sharing the feelings of others
Honesty: Honesty is primarily the quality of an individual to being upright or honorable.
Research Questions:
How important do students value friendships?
What do students know about friendship other than companion and fun?
What do students know about types of friends?
What knowledge do students have in selecting friends?
What ideas do students have in the genesis of classmates’ friendship?
How do students distinguish false and true friends?
Literature Review
Importance of having friends
Friends are the creatures with whom we might not share any blood drop with, yet they hold closest spots within our hearts (listaka.com). They seem to be the crazy bunch of fools who shamelessly laugh to our faces when we face embarrassing situations but strengthen us in tough moments .Friends may refer to us as fat and ugly throughout our lives but become angry when others show disrespect to us. They are those individual who are trusted by our parents even more than us. They may just be identified as “Siblings from the other mother” They are those family members outside our home walls or fences. They play parts in making us the people we are today (www.bustle.com). The importance of friends in life is just indescribable. Below are some points restating facts that make friends important and extraordinary.
Share secrets: Only friends can reserve our secrets about dates, family challenges, embarrassments, and everything confidential that we undertake or come across in life (www.extension.umn.edu).
Self-confidence boosters: Friends always don’t doubt our abilities and decisions while at times we doubt our choices and capabilities especially at the most life wreaking situations (www.webmd.com).
Comfort zone: Friends never care about our ugliest situations and appearances in life, and end up sticking by ourselves (listaka.com). We always feel comfortable around our friends, and they cure us of loneliness which offers sad feelings.
Crime partners: They have always pushed us to break certain rules however much we try to be sincere. They have also shared our troubles with fun and responsibility with the power of turning sad times into memorable and hilarious ones (www.extension.umn.edu).
Friendship that exist between age-mates
Friendship grows and develops between those of same disposition and age. They possess similar sentiments, emotions, and passions (www.scholastic.com).
Friendship that exist between classmates
When student friend meets in classrooms, they find themselves with similar objectives and visions for life. The existence of shared vision and mission towards realizing their goals and objectives draws them closer and thus help each other (psycnet.apa.org).
True and false friends
There is a scarcity of real friends. Many people surround influential leaders and hide to serve just their self-interests but end up in the umbrella of friendship (www.lifehack.org). They keep such friends so long as they satisfy their personal needs. When such power and pelf diminish or ends, they too terminate such friendship. Selfish friends are all over today, and they are more dangerous than even our enemies. We need to be too cautious of them. A true friend, on the other hand, assists his/her friend in need. They stand together in times of adversity (www.bustle.com). “A friend in need is a friend in need.”
Caution while doing friend selection
People really need to be very cautious while choosing their friends. We need to cultivate friendship with people of character, to avoid split-ups when such friendships advance sufficiently (www.forbes.com). It will be sad and bitter to delink connection later in life, on grounds of bad blood. Real friends last forever, till death and never vary with time or seasons. A person with bad trait needs to be avoided at whatever cost.
Data Collection Procedures:
Research Methodology Type:
In this research assignment, the qualitative method of data collection was employed since it gives detailed and particular information. This method offers the opportunity to ask to follow up concerns or questions. There was no hypothesis in this research activity, so quantitative data collection method was avoided.
Sample and Ethical Procedures:
The sample for this research exercise was the students of DMC Engineering. The reason for this sample choice was due to availability thus providing significant data. Again, the fact that friendship exists in all works of life, data extraction from this example offered wider and complete perspective since these students have different backgrounds, cultures and ways of thinking. The correct procedure to be observed by this research proposal is to assume anonymity for all those who participated by totally hiding their contact information, expect to my Research Methodology teacher.
How will this Research help me?
This research will, of course, advance my knowledge and take on friendship. I will be able to note and observe the ideas from fellow students concerning the subject topic. Also, this research exercise will improve my research skills through applying the qualitative research methodology. Finally, the exercise will improve both my communication and interaction abilities with my peers.
References
Ages & Stages: How Children Build Friendships. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3747174
Top 15 Reasons why Friends are Important - Listaka. (2015). Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://listaka.com/top-15-reasons-why-friends-are-important-part-of-your-life/
Feature, T. V. (n.d.). Health Benefits of Good Friends. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/good-friends-are-good-for-you
Bustle. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.bustle.com/articles/72963-7-books-about-friendship-that-prove-this-relationship-is-the-most-important-one-youll-have-in
Helping Friends in Trouble: Stress, Depression, and Suicide. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.extension.umn.edu/youth/mn4-H/projects/healthy-living/health/helping-friends-in-trouble-stress-depression-and-suicide/
11 Differences Between Real Friends and Fake Friends. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/11-differences-between-real-friends-and-fake-friends.html
5 Scientific Reasons You Should Choose Your Friends Carefully. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2014/10/17/5-scientific-reasons-you-should-choose-your-friends-carefully/#571c682e38d1
Berndt, T. J., Laychak, A. E., & Park, K. (1990). Friends' influence on adolescents' academic achievement motivation: An experimental study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 664-670. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/82/4/664/
