A Research done to determine the opinions held by the students on the subject of Psychology. Abstract

A Research done to determine the opinions held by the students on the subject of Psychology. Abstract This is a small research done by us (second year psychology special students) associating randomly selected second year 42 students (20 girls and 22 boys) of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya to know the opinions or ideas held by them on the subject of Psychology. In this small research, we have used both open and closed format questionnaires to get necessary information as those two types of formats are very important for our research and for this small research we hope to take only a month, Introduction Actually, in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya there are many students who follow a large number of subjects. Mostly, when students select the subjects their interest plays a major role. A student never follows a subject that he or she does not like (except special in take students and FND subjects). Students have various opinions and ideas about subjects. Psychology is a world famous and a very broad field and it has attracted the attention of almost all world famous scholars. As it is a very broad field Psychology has many branches. When we refer the history of Psychology we can see gradual development of that subject. The psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) is believed as the father of modern Psychology. Though Psychology is very famous among foreign countries, really it is a new subject to Sri Lanka. The subject of Psychology was introduced to Sri Lanka by the University of Peradeniya before two decades earlier. Since then it has attracted the attention of educated people in Sri Lanka. As it has elapsed a long period from the introduction of Psychology to the educational field of Sri Lanka, various ideas and opinions has been added to it. So we wanted to know how university students look at the subject of Psychology. Actually, during the rag season senior students give the junior students a description of every and each subject that can be followed in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya. Though there are other ways and methods, mainly, junior students who are strangers to subjects like, archeology philosophy, psychology etc (as those subjects are not thought in schools) get information through senior students. So in such occasions the junior students may get various interpretations about those subjects. For an instance Psychology is called “Pissu Vidyava, Mole Amaruwa” by some university students. So we wanted to know what opinions or ideas held by the second year students about the subject of Psychology. The thing that we led to do this small research is that most of the students in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya hold various ideas and opinions about the subject of Psychology. Certainly, this subject has attracted the attention of almost all the students who study in the Faculty of Arts. It may be due to the nature of the subject. However, most of the students who study in the Faculty of Arts have both positive and negative ideas about the subject of Psychology. So, we wanted to examine what are the opinions or ideas they hold on the subject of psychology. Here, we mainly focused on the second year students (both general and special degree followers) because they are the students who decide what subject that he or she follow as a special subject.(except the students who follow general degrees). Objectives of the research. The main objective of the our research is to know what are the opinions and ideas held by the second year students about the subject of Psychology who follow other subjects. Methodology Here we have used the experimental method to collect data. Techniques of gathering data. Here, we have selected both open and closed questionnaire formats as both of those formats are very important to gather information for our research. Actually, we used closed format questions as it is to restrict the answer set and it is very easy to calculate the percentage and other hard statistical data. In the same way, here we used the open format questionnaire as it is unable to get necessary information using only the closed format questionnaire. And also, the opinions and ideas may differ to person to person. So actually, the open format questionnaire is also very important. Students who study in the faculty of arts of the University of Peradeniya always might engage in various tasks. Some students may engage in political work and some in personal needed activities and other may engage in their educational works. For an example, if we use the observation method to get accurate data, we have to follow them always when they are engaging in their works and it may be very difficult to us to observe and in the same way, it may be a disturbance to our participants. So both these open and closed format questionnaires are very important for our research. Procedure of Collecting Data. After having completed the structuring questionnaire, the questionnaire will be administered by our group members in the sense of collecting data and we will follow our time schedule too. The procedure will be followed step by step as listed following and the place is where the data is collected will be the faculty of arts of the University of Peradeniya. *First we introduce ourselves to our participants and the purpose of our study. *Get the permission of participants and give them the questionnaire to fill as they like. *We give our telephone numbers to contact us if they are not aware or not clear of any question. *Finally, we express our gratitude to them. Sample Size of sample:- 40 Participants from second year.(20 females and 22 males) Findings and analysis of data The following two charts show number of our participants, their gender, course of study, permanent residence. In the same way, they show what subjects that they have mentioned as practical subjects in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya. When our participants answered to the question whether psychology is a popular field in the contemporary Sri Lankan society, our most of the participants have mentioned “Yes.” But only few participants have mentioned “No” regarding the second question. When we refer the ‘yes’ answer givers, they all have mentioned that psychology is a very popular and practical subject. In the same way, according to them with the modern technological and scientific development people have to face with lot of mental problems. So, Psychology is very helpful and impotent to such people. Some have mentioned that psychology is a world famous subject and in the same way, it is a good profession also. According to some of our participants that Psychology can be helpful to victims who faced to the war which existed during thirty years in Sri Lanka. When comparing all the ideas of our participants who have mentioned that psychology is popular fields have seen the good side of the Psychology. When we study the participants who have mentioned that the psychology is not a popular field in the contemporary Sri Lankan society, they have clearly pointed out that psychology is popular only among educated people. According to their view, only a few people know about psychology. They have clearly pointed out that the government also does not take any action to make popular the field of Psychology and they propose that necessary actions should be taken to make popular Psychology. Actually, when we refer the answers given to us about the third question that to mention our participants’ opinion about the subject of Psychology they all have mentioned that the subject of Psychology is very helpful to maintain a good and balanced human life. In the same way, they have mentioned that the subject of Psychology is very practical and it really helps to control our mind and behavior. The following chart shows number of our participants which led them to express the opinon on Psychology as a subject. 1 Reading 21 2 Senior students 14 3 Electronic media 15 4 Other 6 Regarding the fourth part of the fourth question most of our participants have mentioned lot of various ideas how they have got their knowledge about Psychology as a subject. Some have mentioned that have got knowledge from their friend while others have mentioned that they have got knowledge about psychology from their personal experiences and personal feelings. In the same way, some have listened to psychology lectures. When we asked from our participants whether they have got some information about the subject of Psychology during the rag season and whether the information they got positive or negative the following answers were given to us. Yes 20 answers No 12 answers Positive 15 answers Negative 5 answers Some have mentioned nothing about that question and the participants who have mentioned that they got negative information from seniors. According to them, senior students have told them that Psychology is a very difficult subject and only a few students are selected by the department of Philosophy and psychology to do a Psychology special degree When the question is answered by our participants whether is there any special incident or situation which led them to be interested in Psychology most of our participants have mentioned that they have gained knowledge from reading. In the same way, some have mentioned they have followed Psychology in the last year. One of our participants has mentioned that he had a terrible psychological disorder and psychiatrist has helped to cure it. So, according to him that incident has led him to be interested in psychology. When our participants answered to the question whether they have heard about counseling surprisingly all our participants have mentioned that counseling is somewhat curing mental disorders and it shapes a person’s personality. According to all the participants it is a soothing balm for a weeping heart. When our participants answering the question whether they consider Psychology as a professional qualification most of our participants have mentioned that as psychology can be used to solve day today problems it is a good professional qualification. In the same way, according to our participants psychology has now spread in various organizations. Some of our participants have mentioned that mere studying psychology would not be useful. Psychology should be applied to work and our day today activities according to those participants. The question number nine we presented to our participants is how our participants advise to first year student about the subject of Psychology. Most of our participants have mentioned that he or she will explain the value and ability and importance of the subject of Psychology. They all have mentioned that they will explain how Psychology can be applied to their day today problems. But one of our participants has mentioned that he or she would say to the first year student to go to the department of Philosophy and Psychology and ask from that department the importance of the subject of psychology. Our participants have mentioned various ideas about this questionnaire. According to them these questionnaires help to know various ideas of people about the subject of Psychology. They propose that Psychology should be made famous among Sri Lankans. Limitations and Delimitations The limitations and delimitations of our study are listed as the follows. *Being unable to spend much more time and money than what we supposed to do. *Doing research with university students (participants) of Faculty of Arts of University of Peradeniya. *Using only two questionnaires which are closed format and open to collect the data, and using books, internet, and computer for analyzing the data. *The participants may not include correct data when filling the questionnaire Ethical consideration. Our research was conducted according to well-recognized ethics that acknowledged by everyone. Before, giving the questionnaire we have explained how to fill it and tell them not be afraid of and subjective in filling the questionnaire. In the clear sense, we did not insist them or forcibly make them uncomfortable and deceive them in filling. Likewise, did not not say anything that affects their personality and mentality. In selecting sample we were not subjective, unfair discriminated and biased to select our participant and we followed the method as mentioned above. In occasions of collecting data and communicating the results, we have protected personal and private information of our participants. We took our best effort to maintain the confidentiality and privacy during the data being collected, analyzed and after result issued. Especially, in analyzing data, we w encoded the ideas of intellectuals as theirs. Time schedule 1. Preparing questionnaire Third week of November. 2. Selecting sample Third week of November 3. Collecting data Fourth week of November 4. Analyzing the data First week of December 5. Writing and complete research report Second week of December 6. Submitting research report Third week of December Conclusion Certainly, It is a very difficult task to do a conclusion on our research. It is true that each and every participant who gave answers to our questionnaire have different and various opinions and ideas on the subject of Psychology. When we compare the ideas of our participants we can see that they have both positive and negative ideas. Within the past twenty years actually, psychology has played a major role according to the opinions of our participants. Really, there is a much positive thinking has been emerged among the students of the Faculty of Arts of The University of Peradeniya. Actually, when we were finding our data one notable thing we saw is that there is some kind of reputation towards the students who do psychology special degree and in the same way, according to our research there is a negative side also among the university students on the subject of Psychology. But, mostly among the university students there is satisfactory, favorable and positive thinking is spreading among the students of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya. References Anastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (2002). Psychological testing (7th ed.). New Delhi: Pearson Education. Higugard, E. R., .(1993).Introduction to psychology.(3rd ed.) London: Rupert- Hart-Daugis. McBurney, D. H. & White, T. L.(2004).Research methods. Belmont: Wadsworth/ Thomson learning. Psychology. (2009, June 18). Retrieved December 10,2010,from PsychWiki: http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/ Psychology. Rathus, S. A., Psychology: Concepts and connections (7th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth and Thomson Learning. Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E., A history of modern psychology. (8th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth and Thomson Learning. Stenvenson, A., (2001). Studying psychology. New York: Palgrave. Trochim, W.M.K., Research methods.(2007). New Delhi: Biztantra.