Research Method
Research Design. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Instruments include self-report measures and personal narratives of 91 native Hindu married couples (182 participants) from three types of living arrangements that I have mentioned earlier. The qualitative part on the other hand was utilized via personal narratives of the participants (ibid, p.82).
Research Instruments. For the quantitative part, marital happiness was assessed using the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test. The questionnaire also includes a demographic survey portion which was based on the National Health and Social Life Survey. Quantitative questions on intimacy and conflict can also be found in the questionnaire. For the qualitative part, the instrument devised explored 12 dimensions of the participant's lives: their expectations about their partner, career, self, well-being, intimacy, marital relationship, family living arrangements, in-laws, parents, their conflict history, good times they had shared, and the cultural norms guiding marriage (ibid, p.83).
Sampling. Two sampling methods were used in this study both are non-probabilistic in nature: 40% was convenience sampling where the research "obtained a convenience sample by selecting whatever sampling units are conveniently available" (Nachmias & Nachmias, 1996, p.184). In this study, participants where recruited from universities, parks, and shopping malls. Snowballing technique, on the other hand, accounted for 60% of the samples. The networks used for this technique are the researcher's network of friends and couples previously interviewed.
III. Interpretation and Analysis
Although the modal category score of respondents reported that they are "very" or "perfectly" happy, a difficulty/contesting result is posed by 38% of respondents who reported that they "sometimes" or "often" wished they had not married. As such, Sandhya (2009, p. 89) surmises to the fact that a higher proportion...
The limitation may spring from the fact that the device was devised by Western authors and as such, may not be able to account for cultural nuances in India.
On the other hand, Sandhya made use of very appropriate statistical tools in order to answer the research problems she stated at the beginning of the journal article. For example, she made use of ANOVA to be able to determine any significant demographic variable in the area of intimacy. ANOVA was also used to see which particular family arrangements are the happiest. Apart from these, Sandhya also used correlation tools to see strongest correlates of happiness. Simply stated, Sandhya was able to fully optimize many different statistical tools in exploring the many dimensions and correlations of the variable marital happiness.
Overall, I thought the research was clearly stated, executed, and analyzed in many different ways using different tools. But just like any other research works, this study has its own limitations by which I hope future marital scholars can address and build upon.
References
City University of Hong Kong Website. (n.d.) Chapter Three: Research Methodology.
Retrieved from http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/staff/isrobert/phd/ch3.pdf on Sept. 16, 2009.
Kroelinger, M. (2002). The Research Problem. Retrieved from http://www.public.asu.edu/~kroel/www500/the%20Research%20Problem.pdf on Sept. 16, 2009.
Nachmias C.F. & Nachmias, D. (1996). Research Methods in the Social Sciences.
London: St. Martin's Press, Inc.
Sandhya, S. (2009). The Social Context of Marital Happiness in Urban Indian Couples:
Interplay of Intimacy and Conflict. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 35 (1),
pp. 74-96.
