Friday, August 30, 2019

Comparative Research on Cross-Cultural Families Essay

1. Reference or bibliographic entry of your selected article in APA style (see example in the first assignment guidelines): Toro-Morn, M., & Sprecher, S. (2003). A cross-cultural comparison of mate preferences among university students; the united states vs. the people’s republic of china (PRC). Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 34(2), 151-170. 2. What are the aims and/or research questions of the study? The research of the cross-cultural study aims their question at comparing mate preferences of young adults in the People’s Republic of China and those young adults of the United States. This study correlates to the research done in 1998 by Goodwin, which examine the political and economic structure in a particular culture and the effect it had on relationships, in particular mate preferences. 3. What concepts or ideas did the authors want to study? How were they defined in the study? Read through the literature background or the introduction part. The article states the researchers have three concepts they wish to obtain from the study. One, within each culture analyzes gender variation in mate preferences. Second, differentiate the two cultures in which they are satisfied with gender differences in mate preferences. Third, differentiate the two cultures of the significance of diverse partner characteristics. The concepts were outlined and explain through a questionnaire to 648 university students in the United States and 735 university students in the People’s Republic of China. The United States questionnaire contained 422 females, 219 males, and 7 did not specify their gender. The People’s Republic of China questionnaire contained 343 females, 352 males, and 40 did not specify their gender. The questionnaire contained a section called â€Å"Traits Desired in a Mate.† Through the results, researchers could determine which traits were least and most important. Also the differences and similarities within each culture, including the mate preferences of women versus males within each culture. 4. Describe the participants of the study. Since you are supposed to choose an article of a cross-cultural study on families, the participants for this study should have different cultural backgrounds. What are these cultural backgrounds? What are the demographics of the participants? This study contained two different participants, our very own young adults from the United States and young adults from the People’s Republic of China. In the late 1970s, The People’s Republic of China began having social and economic reforms. Not only did they began having reforms, but these reforms stimulated the growth of social science research. Which as a result, allowed researchers to research the mate preferences of young adults in the People’s Republic of China. The People’s Republic of China is recognize as the largest country in the world. Thus, having an immense population. These people live in a country were social and historical forces play an important role in their expectations of their potential partner. In addition they live in a country were government enforces family polices. This study contain people who were currently in a university; thus their age would range from eighteen to twenty three. 5. What is the authors’ methodology? How did the authors collect their data? What are the measurements or research tools that they used? The author’s methodology is based on a method, a procedure, measurements of the procedure, and results. The author collected their data by a questionnaire given to university students in the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The measurements the researchers used were in a section on the questionnaire called â€Å"Traits Desired in a Mate† which determine what characteristics they found important in a potential mate. 6. What kind of analytical procedures did the authors use? Describe each as to how they can answer the research questions or achieve the aims of the study. The author uses three types of analytical procedures. They first gather their research by determining which of the twenty-five traits were most and least favored overall. They put this data into a table, which  portrays the importance rating for the total sample. Secondly, they compared the similarities and differences within each culture. As a result, they are able compare each culture traits that hold high or low importance and see if any of them are the same. Third, they compare the mate preferences for women and men in each culture. 7. What are their general findings and conclusions? The study concluded that participants would rather have a mate who is honest, kind, healthy, and have an energetic personality. Researchers found that participants felt that intrinsic personality traits were more important then status characteristics. Males were more entranced with attractiveness as a role in finding their mate. Well women in both culture were looking for men with earning potential and wealth. The major difference between the United States and Chinese cultures was the importance of having children to both parties. As you could imagine, it was important to the American culture and was fairly unimportant to the Chinese counterparts. 8. After the findings and conclusions, what recommendations were made by the researchers? I don’t know if there were recommendations made as much as thoughts for the future. The researchers though that the past has shaped both countries enough that what they look for in a potential mate will stay true. These differences between the two countries should still hold true, disregarding the fact that the Untied States culture is widely accepted in China. If anything they came to the conclusion that China’s one-child policy has a major effect on how the Chinese look for a mate. 9. What learning did you gain from this assignment or from reading this kind of a paper? I definitely enjoyed reading this particular article because it compared the United States culture (which is the country I lived in) to another culture, the People’s Republic of China. Through the researchers questionnaire, I was able to see the comparisons between the two cultures in their mate  preferences. I felt it was interesting to see how important social and economic factors are in other cultures.

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