Tongan Field Study: Project Proposal

A Descriptive Study Examining Family Relationships

& Power Balance in Tongan Families

A Field Study Proposal

Statement of Intent

The main goal of this Field Study is to gain insight into, and understanding of, the Tongan family. Specifically, I will study marriage, child discipline, and power balance in the family. Although there are several domains to examine here, by asking a few specific questions about each of these topics, I will be able to get an idea of what family norms are like in Tonga.

This project is perfect for a Field Study because it will allow me to dive deeper into the Tongan family by being a part of their communities, and in some cases, even their families. I will be able to ask questions, not just through planned interviews, but during everyday interactions as the topic of family arises. Participating first hand in the community will help me to gain a better understanding of the family because I will be able to see what actually happens and how they interact with one another in their normal environments.

This experience will give me a much greater understanding of not only Tongan families, but of families in general. As a Human Development major, I think this research could be very applicable to my future educational and career goals. Being able to conduct research and understand results is a crucial skill for students in the social sciences and all students hoping to pursue a master’s degree. The opportunity to conduct this research myself, and to decide how best to go about finding the information I need, is a great skill that will help me in many aspects of my educational career by helping to be even more self-driven and flexible.

Spending three months in Tonga will also be an amazing opportunity for me, personally. I plan on having a career in Social Work, and a vital part of that is sensitivity and listening skills. Conducting the research on families will help me to develop these skills and to be better prepared for my career. I think this project will also give me a whole new insight into the Tongan culture and help me to view the Tongan people in a clearer light. After this experience, I will be better equipped to work with families of other cultures by having a better knowledge of the skills necessary to enter into another culture, as well as to be more open-minded about other people and cultures unfamiliar to me.

As Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I strongly believe that living in another culture, especially a more financially humble culture, will be able to help cure my egocentrism and allow me to experience another culture firsthand. For me, a Field Study is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will be something that influences how I view people, culture, and life in general for years to come.

Background

As the family has changed throughout history, so has the research that has been conducted on families. Not only have the methods changed, but also the aspects of family life that are studied. From the days when children were thought of as “tabula rosa” or a blank state, introduced by John Locke, to more recent studies that are conducted on non-traditional families today, such as transgendered and homosexual families. The research on the family is always changing and expanding to include more definitions of families, types of families, and families in different cultures. There are a few areas of family life that affect the families individually and as a part of society more so than others, such as power balance and marriage. These are the facets of the family that I will focus my research in Tonga on. This research project studying families is perfect for Tonga for several reasons, including the historical and cultural contexts of Tonga and the lack of recent research that has been done on families in Tonga. This section of the proposal will address these topics as well as other reasons that make Tonga the perfect fit for my project and why this project needs to be done.

Significance of studying families:

Power balance can be described as the stable potential influence in a dyadic relationship between two people (Hallenbeck, 1996). Although there are different types of power that exist in the family, usually the power is based on the relationship between the husband and wife. Historically, men have had more power in the relationship, mostly due to the traditional gender roles of men and women. However, overtime those gender roles have shifted in many cultures which have made the balance of power in the relationship more equal in most relationships. Because of the influence that the holders (or holder) of power has on the family, this topic needs to be studied in order to grasp an understanding of the family dynamics in Tonga.

Recent research conducted in Germany found that instead of power balance being fixed, the balance of power between husband and wife is malleable. Although in most relationships, men initially have more decision making power, women actually are the ones that ultimately implement the joint decisions and gain more power over the course of the decision making (de Palma, Picard, & Ziegelmeyer, 2011). These results are similar to findings in other studies, especially of relationships in the U.S. Some of these studies also show that when the power in the relationship is relatively equal, the couples are happier and the marriage relationship is stronger (Sprecher & Felmelee, 1997). This information has led me to study how power is balanced in the Tongan family and how that influences the family dynamics, as well.

The methods that I will be using to study this topic have been used in several studies prior to this project as well. Russell, et al. (1999) studied gender issues by asking men and women about their personal ideas of what role each sex should play in the home. I will be using similar methods, of asking people about their roles in the home and how women and men are viewed, to gain an understanding of how power is balanced in Tongan families.

Another crucial topic that influences how families are formed and structured is marriage. From the beginning of courtship through the wedding ceremony itself, the future family dynamics are being created every step of the way. Marriage is a topic that has been studied from several different aspects, some example of which are, what makes a happy marriage (Glasser, W. & Glasser, C., 2007), impact of working mothers on marriage (James, W., 2010), and reasons for marital conflict (Obradović, J., Bush, N. R., & Boyce, W., 2011). The aspect that I will be focusing my project on is a general understanding of how couples get together and who plays which roles with in the marriage.

The method of studying marriage by interviewing people about their marriages has been used in several studies (Rowell, C. H. & Jones, M. D., 2004). This method provides people opportunities to tell about their individual experiences without being limited to the answers on a survey or questionnaire. Since every person’s experience during their courtship and marriage is different, this method has been used in studies to provide openness and freedom for the subjects and is best suited for my project.

Marriage is a very important topic to study when looking at the family, because most families begin with a marriage. Despite the rising divorce rates today, marriage still has a great impact on society. The role that marriage plays in societies and in families is so significant that policies are still being made today about marriage and the effect that it has on communities at large. Because of the impact and significance marriage continues to have in the world, I am interested to see how marriage is viewed by the Tongan people and how people form marriages.

Importance of studying families in Tonga

Tonga is a great place to conduct research on families for several reasons, one of which is the historical background of the country. Tonga is one of the few surviving monarchs in the world today (Young, 2007) which is very unique and I believe that this will have an impact on the family dynamics in the country. Because of this, I am interested to see if the family values and norms are reflective of this form of government. The following list is an example of some of the things that I anticipate might be different because of the monarchy: placing a high value on respect for older people and people of higher class/nobles, emphasizing loyalty as a family value, and placing patriotism and respect for the country as a priority for families. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how the monarchy and recent movements towards democracy affects the family in Tonga.

Researching family is also important because there has been a somewhat recent change in the family in the South Pacific islands due to immigration and western influences (Hezel & Francis 2001), which, most likely, has had an impact on the makeup of the family. The number of families migrating from Tonga has continuously increased for the last several years and has had many implications on the families (Small, 1997). As children and families migrate away from Tonga, they often leave many members of their extended (and even nuclear) family behind which is likely to have an impact on the families that are left there. Research cannot show how Tongan families as a whole are impacted by migration, because there are so many different ways the family can react. However, we do know that many Tongan families maintain very strong relationships. The largest income for Tongan people is remittances, which means that people who migrate from Tonga to work in other countries are sending back a portion of their earnings to their families still in the country. Although we know that relationships are maintained after people leave the country, more research needs to be done to see what effects this is having on families left in the country and my project will give me an idea of how families feel about migration and how they maintain relationships with families who have left the country.

There is also a cultural aspect of Tonga that will make families a great topic to do research on there. In Tonga there is great respect given to sisters. The concept of a “fahu” is unique to Tonga and is very interesting. The reason for providing reverence and respect to the oldest sister in the family is answered very vaguely by the people and is not really understood by people outside of the Tongan culture (Helu, 1995). However, this idea is very interesting to me and is something that I would love to learn more about while I’m in Tonga. Although this area is not the focus of my project, it will provide a unique addition to understanding Tongan families and is not found anywhere else.

Beyond the historical and cultural aspects of Tonga that make studying family a great project for the area, I also have a strong personal desire to study in Tonga. The more that I have researched, learned about, and a participated in the Tongan community, the more that I want to study there. I think that families could be studied in almost any country across the world in a number of different ways, but my sincere interest and love for the Tongan community will help make this experience and research perfect to do in Tonga.

Appropriateness to Tonga

Most research that has been done on the islands is older, outdated, and not as relevant today because it doesn’t address all of the changes that have come recently (Roopnarine, J. L., & Gielen, U. P, 2005). Leu (1996), along with several other researchers, all provided accounts of change in the past years. Because of the lack of recent research about the recent Tongan families, the research project that I am proposing could be very beneficial to following researchers and will help us to see how the Tongan family has changed in the recent years. This study will provide information about families in Tonga that will help other researchers to do more research on different facets of families in the South Pacific.

Despite the lack of recent research, Tonga is still known for its strong family ties. This has been made apparent to me in two of my classes this semester. In a social work class I am taking, we learned about how there is little need for a foster care system in Tonga, because if a child were to ever need to be removed from their home for any reason, the extended family or neighbors almost always step up and take the child into their home. This was reiterated to me in the Tongan Culture class I am taking as well when one of the Tongan students said, “we don’t have orphans in Tonga because someone always takes them.” These relationships, and almost obligations, are stronger than any other culture that I have ever learned about and are definitely much stronger than in the U.S. I think that because of the strength and power that lies in the family in Tonga, I will not only be able to learn about their relationships but also be able to learn from them.

The last reason that I think this project is perfect for Tonga is because very few field studies have been done in Tonga. A project like this may help make Tongan people more open to future students by showing them that we are interested in learning about them as a people and culture. This project should help build and add to the foundation of positive relationships that have been created between the Tongan people and BYU students. This is not the sole purpose of this study, but will definitely add to the reasons that my project is appropriate for Tonga. It is difficult to anticipate what sensitivities this project may hold for the people in Tonga, but I have thought of a few. First, Tongan people often perceive Americans as being very wealthy and this may influence the kind of things Tongan’s let me do with them and the answers they give in the interviews. Second, some topics that I am unaware of may be sensitive to the people. Third, people may be embarrassed to let me into their homes because they think that I am rich and will think badly of them. It’s impossible to know if any of these potential problems will actually happen, and there is very little research that has been done on these topics specifically, but I believe that in this proposal I have adequately addressed how I will attempt to avoid these problems and deal with them if they arise.

Overall, we can see that there is an actual need for this research in Tonga. First of all, the topic of families is one that seriously affects people’s lives and the culture as a whole. Second, the history and culture in Tonga makes studying their families very appropriate and relevant to the culture. And lastly, the lack of research on recent families in Tonga necessitates that more research be done, like my project. Given all of this information, there is little doubt that this project is perfect for Tonga.

Procedures

The purpose of this descriptive study is for me to be immersed into the Tongan culture and to gain a general understanding of the Tongan family. Through unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and participant observations, I will learn general values, ideas, and norms of Tongan families. I will observe and interview 10 to 12 families while I am in Tonga and look for general ideas and norms that appear in all of the families.

In the Field Study Prep-course, we have learned how to enter the community appropriately and respectfully and arrangements are made for us to have families to stay with. In my opinion, an integral part of having a successful field study is getting involved and meeting people in the community. From the first day I arrive in Tonga, I will start building rapport and a good relationship with my host family. By getting to know the family that I’m staying with, I will be able to build a strong rapport by working with them on their daily chores, cooking, cleaning, gathering food, weaving, and participating in as many of their activities and routines as possible. It’s impossible to say what exact activities I will do to get integrated with the family, but I anticipate that I will be able to do things like helping with dinner, going to the market, and playing with the kids. Ultimately, I will do whatever activities the family is doing (as long as they are fine with that) and follow in their lead. As they get to know me, they will hopefully be able to see my genuine care and the sincerity I have in wanting to learn about them and their culture. Since I will be interviewing and observing several different families, I will have to build these relationships with each of these families. I expect that after I have built rapport with my host family, they will be able to “put a good word in for me” to the other families which will help me to have more opportunities to work and talk with the family than I would have on my own. Once again, with each of these families, I will show them that I have a desire to learn from them, that I am interested in their culture, and that I am willing to work with them and that I am grateful for any help they can give me. I expect that my host family will act as gate keepers, and by getting to know them I will be able to enter the community more easily and start building relationships with other community members, including their extended family.

When I first enter the community, I will stand out with my white skin and blonde hair, so my basic ascriptive characteristics might hold me back from getting as deep of answers immediately as I would if I were Tongan. There is a stigma often associated with Americans as being rich and very educated that will likely affect how people in Tonga view me. I do not believe there is any way to really get rid of this stigma, and I know there is nothing I can do to change my white skin and blonde hair, but as I build relationships with people, I believe they will be more willing to open up to me and to let me in to their homes and families. There is no formula that works with every family or person that will make them trust me or open up to me, but overall I think that if I show them who I am and my genuine interest in their culture, I will be able to build relationships with them. One way that I might be able to build relationships with them is by showing them things I already know about their culture and asking them to tell me more about those things. For example, by asking an older Tongan person about Queen Salote and what they remember about her, they might see that I have studied some Tongan history and am interested in learning more. Another example could be going to the weaving houses with the women and asking them to show me how they make tapa cloths or when making dinner with the family, telling them about my experience making Tongan food at an umu and asking them questions about how to cook certain foods. Overall, there is no way to ensure that I will be accepted into the community, but by being open with the people and showing them that I want to learn from them, I think that several families will be willing to let me in to their homes.

I will primarily be using convenience and snowball samples to find people to interview. Since the goal of this project is to learn about families, and because I am a female, I will be working primarily with mothers. I assume that many of my days will be spent with the women in the village, working and weaving and participating in daily activities (as mentioned in the above paragraph). Therefore, I will use those opportunities to ask the women about their families and to observe their interactions. For the most part I will interview people that I come in contact with in my interactions with community members. I will begin by asking my host family, and then ask any references they give me, to allow me to interview them about their families. The only criterion that I have for the people that I want to interview is that they must be Tongan and be a part of a family. However, I would like to get a broader sample size than just the families that are in my village. If I relied solely on snowball snow-ball sampling I would likely be interviewing families that were all of the same SES status, religion, and probably all related to one another. For this reason, I will be going outside of my village to try and find people that are of different statuses to get a more collective idea of the family. I will begin by going to public activities, such as rugby games, and trying to meet people. A lot of what I will be doing will just be talking to people on the streets, in the stores, or at community events, and trying to build some small connection with them that will lead to me being able to observe and/or interview them. As I get outside of my host families village, and the LDS faith, I will be able to get a better understanding of what the Tongan family is like for different people, and see what differences and similarities there are across multiple different families and statuses.

Much of what I learn about the Tongan family, will be discovered in a participant observation setting. I will take notes in a journal about everything I see that could be related to the family. These observations could happen anywhere, from the home to the market, or even just outside on the road. For example, if I’m at the market and see a child and parent arguing about what to buy, I’ll take note of that. Or if I am eating dinner at someone’s house, I’ll take note of when the children eat and what their responsibilities are in preparation and clean-up. These are just a couple of examples of the kinds of things I will be looking for and taking notes on to establish a general picture of how the family members interact with each other. I will be observing and noting as much information as possible, such as how close people stand to one another, who assumes authority at gatherings, who initiates conversations, what topics are discussed frequently (and which are never discussed), and many other details relating to family relationships.

The main idea of this research project is to enter the community as a visitor, but to eventually establish relationships with community members. By being immersed in the community, I will make contacts that will feel comfortable enough to be interviewed and tell me openly about their families. I would like to interview at least ten to twelve women about their families while I am in Tonga. These interviews will be either unstructured or semi-structured and should take between one and two hours, total. The interviews may take place in three or four small sessions, rather than a single interview lasting two hours. The length of the interview will be determined by the person that I am interviewing and the amount of time that their schedule allows. The interviews might be scheduled and take place in someone’s home, or they might come up in conversation at the weaving house or while we are making dinner, for example. I will have a list of questions that address each domain of the family that I’m researching and will ask these questions to most of the people I interview, but not each question must be asked and if the interview is unstructured then I will ask questions as the conversation permits. Whenever possible, I will use an audio-recorder so that I can listen to all of the answers without being distracted and then take notes on the interview later. For the most part, I will ask the same questions to every person, adjusting them when appropriate depending on time, previous answers, and sensitivity.

The following is an example of questions that I might ask:

1. How did you meet your husband?

2. What was your courtship like? What did you do for dates? How long was it?

3. What role did your family members play in your dating and deciding to get married?

4. Did you seek their approval? What if they would have not approved?

5. How long have you been married?

6. Can you tell me a little bit about the wedding itself? What was it like, what roles did everyone play, etc.?

7. How many children-if any-do you have?

8. Can you tell me a little bit about the pregnancy itself? Did it alter what you did or how much you worked? Did your husband and other family members try to relieve any of your responsibilities?

9. Where did you have the baby? Was your husband there?

10. What role did your families play in the child birth and in helping after the birth?

11. What would you say your main family values are?

12. How are children viewed in your family? Assets? Liabilities? (Of origin and procreation)

13. How do you discipline your children?

14. What types of things do you punish your children for?

15. Do you feel like your children respond to the types of punishments they receive?

16. How are men and women viewed in society?

17. What are the main roles of women and men in society?

18. Is there equality in how they are treated and in their responsibilities?

19. What would you say the ideal Tongan family is like? And what advice would you give on how to achieve this?

These questions will address the question of what the Tongan family is like by getting opinions on several different domains of family. By asking these questions to multiple different families, I will be able to find differences and similarities, and to find consistencies between all of the families. Although I have spent four months trying to make this project solid, there are still some barriers I might face. One of them is the language barrier; I feel like some of the questions might need further explanation in simpler terms. A translator should be able to fix this problem and help me to make sure that all of the questions are clear. Also, there are so many questions that time might be an issue. I’m going to have to make sure that the people I am interviewing have plenty of time to spend with me or are willing to meet with me again at another time. If, after interviewing several people, I feel that the interviews are taking too long I will redraft the questions and alter them to fit into a smaller amount of time. The last significant barrier I am concerned with is my ability to find people to interview. There is no real way to guarantee that I will find people that want to interview with me, but I will make sure that I am talking to as many people as I can in my daily activities and at different community events, which should provide me with enough families to interview. If for some reason, I can never find anyone to interview, I will alter my project to fit the experiences that I am having in Tonga.

Ethics

Confidentiality will be provided to the subjects all throughout the study. I will not share the information provided in the interviews with anyone besides my primary mentor, and all notes and recordings will be stored in a locked case while not being used. After the data has all been coded, the recordings and notes will be destroyed, while the summary of the results will be kept and used for a conference presentation and class discussion for SFL 354. The digital recordings will only be used so that I don’t have to take notes while interviewing and so that I can summarize the interviews later. They will be deleted after this is done. Dr. Randall Day, the faculty-mentor on this project, and I will be the only people to have access to these records.

Consent will be obtained at the beginning of my contact with the family. As soon as I start talking to the family about my project, I will explain that over the next few months I will be observing their interactions, asking them questions, and possibly interviewing them. If they agree to this, I will have them sign the informed consent document. The informed consent document is attached in the appendix of this document, and includes the purpose of my research, procedures, risks/discomforts, and other information, including confidentiality and participation.

Participation in this project is completely voluntary and I will not be bribing or coercing anyone to interview with me. Furthermore, no compensation will be offered to those that interview with me, aside from appropriate reciprocity. This could include working with the family on daily chores, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, weaving, etc. Although I will not be giving the participants money or gifts, I will be doing as much service as possible for them throughout the duration of my stay.

This project seems to provide minimal risk. To control for these risks, everything will be kept very confidential and interviews done one on one. In order to control for this, I will make sure that I am being very sensitive to those answering questions. I do not anticipate that any of these questions will upset any one, but if this is the case I will make sure that they know that was not my intention and that they do not have to answer the question. I will continue to treat the person the same way as before the interview and not bring up the topic again. This research should benefit society by helping us to gain a better understanding of the Tongan family. Hopefully this research will help us to have a better understanding about the current Tongan family, and contribute to future research by providing researchers with an idea of what the current state of the family is now so that more research can be done.

Preliminary Plans for Post-field Application

One of the goals for this project is that we will be able to use this information to create a lecture on the Tongan Family for a Cross-Cultural Families and Human Development class. All of the information obtained will be used to teach about the family. I also think this information will help me to be a better applicant for graduate schools for social work and to ultimately be better at working with families. The interview process will help me to be better at interviewing people in the future and be more competent at conducting research.

Personal Qualifications and Limitations

Most of my qualifications come from my educational experiences at Brigham Young University. Currently, I am enrolled in the Field Study Preparation Course that is preparing me to be prepared for cultural interaction, research issues, and helping me to prepare a research project that will be successful and non-offensive to the Tongan culture. I have also taken several research courses that have prepared me for the research process. In the field of Human Development, I have taken multiple classes on families, parenting, and child-development that will be a great asset to my research. I think these classes have helped me to identify several developmental outcomes and this will help me when talking with families. Finally, one of the most helpful classes that I have taken is Cross-cultural families and Human Development. This class helped me to be sensitive to other cultures, aware of my own personal prejudices, and to help me understand the importance of not using your experiences and culture as the standard for all other cultures. I think my greatest limitations will be the language barriers and lack of experience conducting research. A translator should be able to control for most of the language barrier problems and the majority of Tongans speak some English as well. As for my lack of experience, there is no better way to learn than doing something firsthand! So hopefully, as I begin the research process, I’ll learn how to make my project and methods better. I have also practiced my methods, both interviewing and observing, several times during the prep-course, which has helped me to gain a little more insight as to what I will need to do in Tonga to make the interview comfortable and notes descriptive. But most importantly, my faculty mentor is a great resource for me. Through Dr. Day’s help, I should be able to solve many problems that arise concerning my project. Dr. Day has conducted a large number of research projects and his great experience will help counteract my deficits.

Qualifications of Faculty Advisor

Dr. Randal Day is the Camilla Kimball Research Chair in the School of Family Life. He also serves as the director of BYU’s Family Studies Center. Family Processes are a large part of his research interests. He teaches courses about families in crisis, family systems, families in a cross-cultural context and family research. He is also a fellow of the National Council on Family Relations and has served as a section chair and board member for that organization. Dr. Day has a great understanding of how to conduct a successful research project, seeing as how he has authored or co-authored over 75 publications and books. Currently, Dr. Day is conducting an extensive, longitudinal study called "Flourishing Families," that looks at family processes in Provo and Seattle. Dr. Day has also done research in other cultures, which will make him a great resource for helping me with my research project in Tonga.

Justification of In-field coursework and Faculty

I will be taking ten credit hours while in the Field. One credit hour is a course that I’ll take directly with the ISP instructor, Ashley Tolman, to relay what is going on in the field. This is an important course to take because it relates direct to my project and will help to keep me on track while I am in the Field, as well as to let Ashley know what I’m doing.

I will also be taking a SFL Special Topics (399R) course with Dr. Day. The course relates directly to my project as well. The course basically consists of interviewing people and making observations of family interactions. I will also be writing summaries of those interviews, then compiling all of the interviews to create a 20 page report on my findings about the Tongan family as a whole. This is perfect for a Field Study because the whole point of this class is to do interviews when I can and just to be immersed in the culture and getting to know families in the community.

The other 6 credits will come from an internship experience that I will also be doing in the Field. I will be volunteering in a primary school in Vava’u for the three months that I’m there. This will count for my capstone experience for my SFL major (SFL 399R) and will also count as internship credit for my Psychology minor (Psych 399R). This experience will also help me to get involved in the community and to meet more people. I expect that this experience will be very beneficial to me because I will be able to get to know families in the community and that will help me with my project.

Schedule

This schedule is very flexible and is only a basic outline of goals I will set to help keep me on track.

Weeks 1 and 2: Get to know host family, participate in a community event, introduce myself to as many families as I come in contact with.

Weeks 3-6: Continue to get to know families in the community, interview one person a week, and participate in community events as much as possible. Keep good notes and begin working on summarizing interviews.

Weeks 7-9: Continue to interview one person a week, taking notes, and participating in the community. Start working on paper about summaries of interviews and observations.

Weeks 10-14: Finish book for internship credit and work on compiling and accurately coding all notes. Interview as many families as I can before I go.

Budget

Tuition- $2140- paid for through scholarship

Air Fare- $1205- paid for from savings

Living Expenses- $600, savings

In country travel- $500, savings

Visa- $150, savings

Communication-$30, savings

References

Glasser, W., & Glasser, C. (2007). Eight lessons for a happier marriage. New York, NY US: Harper Paperbacks.

Hallenbeck, P. N. (1996). An analysis of power dynamics in marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family. 28 (2). 200-203.

Helu, F. (1995). Brother/sister and gender relations in ancient and modern Tonga. Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes,100 (101), 191-200.

Hezel, S. J. & Francis, X. (2001).The new shape of old island cultures. United States of America: University of Hawai’i Press.

James, W. (2010). Perspectives of executive women: Life choices and balancing career with marriage and children. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A, 71 (3), 1118.

Leu, R. W. (1996). Surviving people and cultural change in the Marquesas Island—A historical geographical case study of Fatuiva. Paper presented at the Third Conference of the European Society for Oceanists: Pacific People in the Pacific Century: Society, Culture, Nature. Copenhagen, Denmark, 13-15 December 1996.

Obradović, J., Bush, N. R., & Boyce, W. (2011). The interactive effect of marital conflict and stress reactivity on externalizing and internalizing symptoms: The role of laboratory stressors. Development and Psychopathology, 23(1), 101-114.

de Palma, A., Picard, N., & Ziegelmeyer, A. (2011). Individual and couple decision behavior under risk: Evidence on the dynamics of power balance. Theory and Decision, 70(1), 45-64.

Roopnarine,J.L, & Gielen, U. P. (2005). Families in global perspectives. Pearson Education,Inc.

Rowell, C. H. & Jones, M. D. (2004). Marriage. Callaloo, 27(1), 66-70.

Russell, H. Friends in low places: Gender, unemployment, and sociability. Work Employment & Society. 13 (2), 205-22

Small, C. A. (1997). Voyages. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.

Sprecher, S., & Felmlee, D. (1997). The balance of power in romantic heterosexual couples over time from 'his' and 'her' perspectives. Sex Roles, 37(5-6), 361-379.

Young, H. E. (2007). Tonga. The Contemporary Pacific 19 (1), 262-27.

First draft of Proposal:

What is the Tongan Family?

Field Study Proposal

Statement of Intent

The main goal of this Field Study is to discover new information about the Tongan family. Specifically, I will conduct research on courtship, pregnancy, socialization, discipline, and gender roles. Although the topic may seem broad, asking specific questions about all of these topics will help me to gain an idea about the Tongan family in general as compared to just one aspect. Although there are several domains to test here, by asking a few questions about each of these topics we will be able to get an idea of what family norms are like in Tonga.

Obviously, this experience will give me a much greater understanding of not only Tongan families, but of families in general. As a Human Development major, I think this research could be very applicable to my future educational and career goals. Being able to conduct research and understand results is a crucial skill for students in the social sciences. The opportunity to conduct this research myself and to decide how best to go about finding the information I need is a great skill that will help me in many aspects of my educational career.

Spending three months in Tonga will also be an amazing opportunity for me, personally. I think this will give me a whole new insight into the Tongan culture and help me to view the Tongan people in a new light. As Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I strongly believe that living in another culture, especially a more financially humble culture, will be able to help cure my egocentrism and allow me to experience another culture firsthand. For me, a Field Study is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will be something that influences how I view people, culture, and life in general for years to come.

Background

Procedures

Most of the methods of entry come from the IAS Field Study prep-course. We learn how to enter the community appropriately and respectfully, arrangements are made for us to have families to stay with, and basic arrangements of which villages we will be staying in are made. Arrangements are being made with Vava’u locals, where I will be doing volunteer work in a local hospital or primary school.

Since the goal of this project is to learn about families, I will be working primarily with mothers and children. I would like to interview a few fathers to gain the male perspective, but since it may be viewed as inappropriate to speak with a male alone, it may not be possible for me to get a father’s perspective. As far as recruitment is concerned, I think for the most part I will interview people that I come in contact with in my interaction with community members. I will ask ward members, my host family, and any references they give me to allow me to interview them about their families.

The goal of this project is to find out as much information about Tongan Families. Much of this will be discovered in a natural observation setting. I will take notes in a journal about everything I see that could be related to the family. For example, if I’m at the market and see a child and parent arguing about what to buy, I’ll take note of that. Or if I am eating dinner at someone’s house, I’ll take note of when the children eat and what their responsibilities are in preparation and clean-up. These are just a couple of examples of the kinds of things I will be looking for and taking notes on to establish a general picture of how the Tongan Family relates to each other.

The main idea of this research project is to enter the community as a visitor, but to make contact with and establish relationships with community members. By being immersed in the community, I will hopefully make contacts that will feel comfortable enough to have me interview them and tell me openly about their families. I would like to interview at least 40 people while I am there, with at least 15 being children/youth and five being fathers or grandfathers. These interviews will be semi-structured and should take between one and two hours. I will have a set list of questions that address each domain of the family that I’m researching and will ask these questions to each of the people I interview. The interview will only be semi-structured though because I will allow the interviewees to stray off topic in order to see what else they might be able to tell me about the family. I will use a tape-recorder so that I can listen to all of the answers without being distracted and then taking notes on it later. For the most part, I will ask the same questions to every person, adjusting them for whether they are male, female, parent, or child.

The following is an example of questions that I might ask:

1. How did you meet your husband?

2. What was your courtship like? What did you do for dates? How long was it?

3. What role did your family members play in your dating and deciding to get married?

4. Did you seek their approval? What if they would have not approved?

5. How long have you been married?

6. Can you tell me a little bit about the wedding itself? What was it like, what roles did everyone play, etc.?

7. How many children-if any-do you have?

8. How long were you married before you got pregnant?

9. Can you tell me a little bit about the pregnancy itself? Did it alter what you did or how much you worked? Did your husband and other family members try to relieve any of your responsibilities?

10. Where did you have the baby? Was your husband there?

11. Did you breast-feed or bottle-feed? How long did you breast feed for?

12. After the baby was born, did you assume the same roles you did before or did your husband help out with those roles while you recovered?

13. What role did your families play in the child birth and in helping after the birth?

14. What would you say your main family values are?

15. How are children viewed in your family? Assets? Liabilities? (Of origin and procreation)

16. How do you discipline your children?

17. What types of things do you punish your children for?

18. Do you feel like your children respond to the types of punishments they receive?

19. How are men and women viewed in society?

20. What are the main roles of women and men in society?

21. Is there equality in how they are treated and in their responsibilities?

22. What would you say the ideal Tongan family is like? And what advice would you give on how to achieve this?

Ethics

I will maintain confidentiality by keeping my notes and tape recorder in a safe place so that no one could pick up and start reading. I will make sure that I don’t share the things people tell me in interviews with anyone else. Consent will be obtained at the beginning of interviews or when I am making an appointment to interview with someone. I will not be bribing or coercing anyone to interview, no compensation will be offered to those that interview with me. I can’t think of any risks that could be associated with these interviews besides the people being offended. In order to control for this, I will make sure that I am being very sensitive to those answering questions. If someone seems to be getting upset about questions I am asking I will skip any questions that might upset them further, or end the interview early. The benefits are that we will be able to gain a better understanding of the Tongan family and share this information with other students and people who are unaware.

Preliminary Plans for Post-field Application

One of the goals for this project is that we will be able to use this information to create a lecture on the Tongan Family for a Cross-Cultural Families and Human Development class. All of the information obtained will be used to teach about the family. I also think this information will help me to be a better applicant for Graduate Schools for Social Work and to ultimately be better at working with families. The interview process will help me to be better at interviewing people in the future and be more competent at conducting research.

Personal Qualifications and Limitations

Qualifications of Faculty Advisor

Randal Day will be my Faculty Advisor and his qualifications are numerous. He has done extensive research with families and teaches the Cross-cultural families and Human Development class. (Need to add more here.)

Justification of In-field coursework and Faculty

(Need to figure this out. Hopefully a special topics course in SFL and in Psychology for 6 credits. Already have a capstone class approved for 3 credits.)

Schedule

(Not sure what the plans will be like. Need to speak with Dallin about this.)

Budget

(Still not sure about this or how I will be paying for everything!)