12
on filial piety, it seems useful to include financial support in further research. The items in essence
made it difficult to distinguish between perceived filial piety and actual filial piety – the filial piety as
practiced by society and experienced by Singaporean women or the filial piety as practiced by
Singaporean women. At last, the use of an existing dataset threatens the utility of the data, because
the survey was not intended to measure any specifics of the present study.
DATA AND ANALYSIS
In summary, the expected relationships between the variables under investigation are
presented in a figure below. The hypotheses were formulated for each relationship based on previous
research. In this section, the statistical analyses will be presented, followed by a discussion of the
results and a conclusion.
Filial piety index
The composition of the index of Filial piety was based on the theoretical relevance of the items.
The items that were deemed most important in previous research, were assumed best fit for the
present study. For each dimension of filial piety matching question(s) were sought in the dataset of
the World Values Survey, wave 2010-2014. There was a preference for questions that could identify
the behaviour and personality of the respondents. The following questions were selected for each
dimension:
1.
Willingness to take care of parents. The selected question for this dimension was V74 B -
Schwartz: It is important to help people living nearby, to care for their needs. The question
was answered on a 6-point answer scale, varying from ‘’very much like me’’ to ‘’not at all like
me’’. The respondent will indicate a level of compassion for people living close by and a
willingness to care for them, which is a strong indicator of filial piety. As an indicator of filial
piety, the willingness to care for others reflects upon their sense of moral duty (Fan, 2007).
Filial
piety
Age
Employment
status
Education
level
13
2.
Respect for parents. The best available question for this dimension was V165 - Older people
are not much respected these days (reversed). The question was answered on a 4-point
answer scale, varying from ‘’strongly agree’’ to ‘’strongly disagree’’. The way this question was
posed, makes it difficult to assess whether it is the personal opinion of the respondent or
whether it is a perception of society. The inclusion of this item could lead to an
unrepresentative outcome for filial piety, so it will be left out for the present study.
3.
Maintain contact with parents. The selected question for this dimension was V250 - Do you
live with your parents? The question was answered on a 2-point answer scale with a choice
between yes or no. The importance of cohabitating with parents as an indicator of filial piety
was stressed by several scholars (Fan, 2007; Ng, Philips, & Lee, 2002), but the dichotomous
scale offers no significant insights into the quality or frequency of the contact. The outcomes
of a scale score would not provide useful information about the contact, so this item will not
be included for the index of filial piety either.
4.
Obey parents at all times. The selected question for this dimension was V77 - Schwartz: It is
important to this person to always behave properly; to avoid doing anything people would say
is wrong. The question was answered on a 6-point answer scale, varying from ‘’very much like
me’’ to ‘’not at all like me’’. Obedience is expressed in subordination of oneself, both towards
one’s parents and in society. Even under circumstances of disagreement, the child should
always obey. Proper behaviour is highly valued, so this is an important indicator of filial piety
(Fan, 2007; Ng, Philips, & Lee, 2002).
5.
Please parents. The selected question for this dimension was V75 - Schwartz: Being very
successful is important to this person; to have people recognize one’s achievements. The
question was answered on a 6-point answer scale, varying from ‘’very much like me’’ to ‘’not
at all like me’’. In the Asian tradition, the best way to please one’s parents and keep the family
honor high is with success and achievement, which makes this item very relevant in the
measurement of filial piety. Success and achievement are highly valued next to proper
behaviour (Ng, Philips, & Lee, 2002).
6.
Importance of tradition. The selected question for this dimension was V79 - Schwartz: Tradition
is important to this person; to follow the customs handed down by one’s religion or family.
The question was answered on a 6-point answer scale, varying from ‘’very much like me’’ to
‘’not at all like me’’. In response to this question, a high score would indicate that the
respondent is more likely to comply with filial responsibilities in line with traditional
expectations.
14
In conclusion, four items – questions 1, 4, 5, and 6 - were selected for the composition of a
filial piety index. Each of the four items were measured on the same scale, so the respondents’ scores
on filial piety were calculated using the average of the items combined. The respondents’ scores on
the new dependent variable filial piety (M = 2.84, SD = 0.78) ranged 1.00 – 6.00, 1.00 meaning that the
respondent does not at all comply with indicators of filial piety and 6.00 meaning that the respondent
complies with indicators of filial piety very much. All items were intended to meet the same construct,
so a reliability analysis was performed to assess the reliability of the index. The filial piety index was
found sufficiently reliable with a Cronbach’s α of .61 (see Table 1 and 2 in the Appendix).
Bivariate relationships
This section will focus on the bivariate relationships between the dependent variable Filial
piety and each of the independent variables age, education level and employment status. Considering
the extensive answer possibilities for each independent variable, it would be difficult to interpret the
results. Therefore, it made sense to combine data into new categories, so that the groups could be
compared in their score on filial piety. Firstly, the data for age was grouped in three categories: (1) 18-
37 years; (2) 38-57 years; and (3) 58+ years. A generation generally exists within a time span of about
20 years, therefore this selection method is used to identify the age range of the groups. The three
categories will enable a comparison between the generations in the sample. Secondly, the data for
education level was grouped in three categories: (1) No/primary education; (2) Secondary education;
and (3) University level education. The ordinal grouping of the levels enables a comparison between
higher and lower educated respondents. Thirdly, employment status was divided among three groups
as well: (1) Employed; (2) Occupied; (3) Unemployed. The categories were roughly combined into
groups with respondents who have an actual job, those who had, work at home or work towards a job,
and those who are unemployed or have unknown occupancies. The One-way ANOVA test was
considered most appropriate here, because it would offer insights into the differences between the
means of each group (e.g. whether participants in the higher education levels had higher mean scores
on filial piety compared to those in lower education levels).
ASSUMPTIONS
There are three main assumptions that have to be met to perform a One-way ANOVA test: the
assumptions of normality, homogeneity of variances and independence of observations. Each
assumption with regard to the variables under investigation will be discussed hereafter.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |