HW #58 Parenting 102

Part 3:

From interviewing the parents, Mrs. Plaza and Mr. Marks, it had seem that they want to raise their child with their babies inner personalities/identities develop and having their children become their own selves. However, they still apply rules and certain "dream" and ideas of theirs onto their children. I always wonder why do parents always put their dreams and ideas onto their children? And then the children would feel pressure and things will change, either rebel against it or etc. When Mr. Marks said he is picking for the conservation cultivation, which is to "coach them how to interact" and to gain different reasoning abilities, I thought that was cool. However, one thing that Mr. Marks said about that I did not think of was that to treat the babies as "science project[s]". We can do research about it and find all the equations into guessing what the babies needs are during that single moment, but because all babies are quite different, many of the results are still unknown. Therefore, doing research can only help us this far into parenting and that we must be prepare with tests and stuff, like what Mr. Marks and his wife did and the depression period after birth might do to the parents. After hearing about his and his wife's experience, and remembering from last year's birth unit, we cannot really say that birth is a good thing until we pass all the obstacles in getting the baby out into the world.

Questions that classmates ask about parenting is what sort of parenting helps a kid become a differentiated self? And I think during the interviews, Mrs. Plaza and Mr. Marks answered the questions in their own ways and their thoughts during their research on their kids. Mrs. Plaza is a person that lets her child learn on their own, and not to be constantly corrected and walk away to let the child cry all she wants. (By the way, both of their kids are girls ^-~) Additionally, she's one of those parents who mind their own business because during the interview, she said, she interact with other parents by "their house, their rules" and "I don't critique their style [of parenting] unless abusive [blah blah blah]". But how do parents create these rules and why they mind their own business when parents go research on other parents' styles of things? Is it more helpful that way for parents to understand but once the child is out, and growing, the parents begins to experienced more of what it is like to be a parent, and create their own rules by their standards. Or is it by how they were raised and and how their parents treat them, does how the parents were parented affect how they parent?

Part 4:

Through the parenting mini unit, I learned that we do not know what it is like to be a parent or how to do the parenting until we become parents. It is difficult to become one and those who are still being parented would not be able to understand what parents go through until we fully become parents. Even with all the research we do to provide a good care to our babies, we are probably still fifty percent unsure whether it will work the way we want because babies are all different and it is not easy for the first or second or third time to succeed. That is why parents are becoming scientists in a way, to view like their babies similar to "science projects" (Mr. Marks). It is helpful to think that way because it is to improve the parents observance on their babies closer than researching. By observing our babies closer, us parents can discover more sides to our babies and the parent-child relationship would be closer and balance as well. We might become slaves to our children's needs but then when the children begin to grow up, they would be partially slaves to our hopes and needs. Additionally, it is not about the ways that we do can make the babies feel better but it is how much feelings we put into the ways and our love for our babies that can make the babies feel happy. Then in return, we feel happy than frustrated.

Listening from the parents and other classmates' ideas on their parenting styles, I started thinking about how much can I provide to my child that can let the child grow up their own ways without too much of my interference. But I wonder how little interference can I do that would not make my child feel lonely and not feel stressed. Of course, I have hopes for my child but listening to Mr. Marks and Mrs. Plaza that they would optimize their children's strengths and let them learn what they are going through, it is possible that differentiated children would grow more from their children. And that is what is an insight that I want and hope that it will work once I have a child. Besides that, influences would occur as children begin to grow and change them but it will be helpful for myself to remind myself that I should keep telling my child to be his/her self. This also help me teach myself to learn to give more comfort and patience because it is not easy for the children to go through all by themselves. Another insight that I found is that having a child is like splitting from the mother, or from both the parent and so, the parents have to care for their child like they care for themselves. They may act badly sometimes to their children but it is a way to tell or reflect on how they are taking care of their children. If both the parents and the child can live happily together without judging whether each of them are doing something bad, but listen and understand each other more through both of their own inner selves and for both of them to have more conversation can lead to a closer, more trustworthy and lighter load on the intertwining relationship of parent and child.

HW #57 Parenting 101

I am not sure how kids should be parented because I think it is hard to be parented and parent someone. Everybody has different ways and I do not have a clue to what is the best way to take care of a child. But one thing that I would let my kid do is do what she/he wants, and I will provide the support as best as I could and set some standards for myself for both of us to be equal. I think the first guiding principle in parenting is love because if a parent do not love the child, what is the point of having one? There may be circumstances that led to having a child even though the parent do not want one but then, I think there needs to be love between the parent and child. I think once the parent provides enough love to the child, as the child grow up, the relationship between the parent and the child would balance. Once the love is constructed, then the rest of the parenting road will become easy, I think... Like the child would listen or obey the parent better and it would become both child-centered and parent-centered. Because a parent is once a kid and parents do act like kids once in a while and the kid would act like an adult once in a while so both have to put up with each other and help each other. I think co-sleeping is an important thing that parents have to do with their child because it would make the child feel that his/her parents are there if something happens at night, like the child having a nightmare. Another thought that I had was that the child like to sleep near the stomach because he/she was in the mother's womb and I think the child would feel closer to the mom or dad like the child had when he/she was in the mother's womb. Additionally, I think there are more warmth, which all the children need from their parents.

If I am put in the situation of parenting someone, I would be having a hard time and think how my parents had parent my sister and I. I think many children think that their parents do not care about them if they neglect them long or yell at them for a little thing they had done but I believe that parents have their reasons for yelling or neglecting them. They had their frustration time taking care of us when we were little and still taking care of us when we get old. But sometimes the kids get yelled at for no reason and I think that needs to be changed. If I parent, I would listen to my child more carefully and hold my temper down even if they did something outrageous because it is the parent's responsibility to protect their child and tried to make the child see whether he/she did something wrong or that it is not his/her fault. But anyhow, I think it all depends how well the relationship is between the child and I. Sometimes, the relationship will flow and sometimes it would go badly and then I would feel that I am not suited for parenting, which I think everybody would feel like that once they become a parent.

I do not think parenting will "come naturally" for many of us but we would research on multiply perspectives or talk about it with our family members. I think it is a nervous situation at first when thinking of having a child but it is a joy to think about having a child and the parents would begin planning all these events that they would put in their child's life. I think it is better to talk to someone who had a child than reading books because I think we would get the feelings more looking at the parent and her/his child. I find that informal research such as talking with family members or other parents with children are better as it could create better experiences in talking out with them, expressing the feelings inside of us and they could give suggestions, maybe better. Research formally might help but it would only provide a few answers as to what we really want to know and its rather concrete, and we can follow it, but I rather create my own ways. (Hope you understand what I mean...)

I think babies should be treated like puppies because they are cute and fragile. And I do not think they would understand adult words and neither would we understand them with their baby languages. So, I think we should go by the baby languages instead of the adult languages.

When I finished reading "Diana Baumrind & Parenting Styles", I thought that all the parents have some of the 3 of the parenting styles, permissive, authoritarian and authoritative but they would like to be the authoritative parents the most because they would want their children to become "lively and happy disposition", "self-confident about ability to master tasks", "well developed emotion regulation" and etc. I would want to be an authoritative parent after reading about the child qualities but I think that creates many of responsibilities on me and on the child. I would try to be an authoritative parent but also creating a good relationship with my child but my child would grow up the way he/she is and also setting some rules in the house for both of us to follow, or mostly for the child so I guess, to help her learn some manners and for her own responsibilities when she grew up. I do not just want to be an authoritative parent but I also want to be a friend of my child and "authoritative" sounds like the parents are on the top of the child instead of both at the same level. I would try to create that kind of parenting as best as I could and to have myself to cope with my child because it was my responsibility that I had the child and so, I had to respect my child. I do not want her to feel that she is here not loved or to have her be my subordinate. I am here for her to use as well as I use her and that I am here to support her anyway that I could is what I would imagine my parenting to be like.

In the Attachment Parenting, I thought that connects to what I had said in my thoughts, that it is better to do informal research than formal research. It is better to do research on our own babies than go online or as experts because they are not the experts of our babies. We have to be observant if we want to attach ourselves better with our babies and understand our babies more. The first thing on attachment parenting is birth bonding and that is similar to showing love to the babies by being near them more and coming together of the parent and the child. It is all about closeness that lets the parent and child understand and feel each other more. But I wonder when does this attachment ends? How would the baby or as he begins to grow up begins to drift away from the attachment and would he feel really sad during the period he drifts away or is it different with genders?

HW #56 Interviews and Survey Questions

Interview Questions (May 13, 2010):

1) What do you think change a friend to a best friend? Do there need to be a big experience for that to happen?

2) What are the important qualities that you seek in a best friend?

3) What things that you would tell your best friend that you would not tell to a normal friend? How comfortable do you feel telling those things?

4) How do you think you act differently in front of your best friend than when you were just a friend with that person? What actions/things would you not do to a best friend compare to a normal friend?

5) How do you know whether you can be best friend with that friend/acquaintance/just first met person? And what do you do to make a best-friend-connection with that person or how do you develop that best-friend-connection?

6) Would you treat yourself the same as you treat your best friend?

Person #1

1) "I am not too sure what change a friend to a best friend. I don't believe that big experience is needed. However, communications and learning more about each other is what change a friend to become a best friend."

2) The initial question is what are qualities or need that you have for/in a best friend, but then I changed it to the question now. She answered, "I look for cheerful personality, they respect everybody and could be very supportive to one another is what I look for as a friend". Then I asked her if good listener is one and she said, "Yes, definitely, a good audience".

3) "I would tell very personal feelings to my best friend than a normal friend such as personal crush, family events that happened, or just anything that I feel that I want to express". Then I asked her about how comfortable she would be and she said, "I am very comfortable to tell those personal stuff to my best friend because I know that she will be a great listener and would support me in any way she can".

4) "I don't think I would act that much different, maybe just the topic of the conversation would be different. I wouldn't say that much personal stuff to a friend."

5) "I am not too sure if I can answer that correctly, but I believed to develop best friend connection, lots of communication is needed and tolerance as well, you never know who is your best friend until you met that person and have a very good conversation with them". Since she said she wasn't too sure, I asked her what percentage does she think you have to connect with that friend to turn them into a best friend? She answered that she "share common interests around 50-75% in order to "turn" them into a best friend".

6) This question got her thinking since she said, "uh...hm... I think I would treat my friend better meaning that I would sacrifice what I can for my friend". Then I asked her how big her sacrifice would be but she said she's "not that sure, depends on the situation" and she gave an example that she will "sacrifice [her] time for this friend".

Edit on Question (May 14, 2010): Does having a best friend help reduce loneliness?

New Interview Questions:

1) Do you have a best friend? If not, why?

2) On a scale of 1-10, how lonely do you feel not having a best friend and on a scale of 1-10, how happier do you feel when your best friend is around?

3) Why do you think many of us need a best or close friend?

4) Why do you think you feel happier than lonely when talking with your best friend?

5) How does it feel expressing your problems to your best friend and do you feel better after talking especially when that person is your best friend?

6) What makes your loneliness go down when you have a best friend?

Person #2

"I feel like if you just have 1 friend, then you can call that person your best friend but if you have a little group, then you can have 'favorites' so no best friend."

1) No, she does not have a best friend. She said it is "because I tend to hang out in groups of four and if I did, other people would get offended". So I asked her why do you think they would get offended and she answered it was "because they are not the ones getting special treatment and the ones who do not have that special connection". I was like okay...

---And so the next few questions, I had her feel or guess what it is like, at least that can be a predictable answer for a person who don't want to create a best friend-relation

2) Loneliness: 5, Happiness: 10, but she said for the loneliness it is if she has friends so I told her to elaborate and she said, if I have friends, it would be 5, but if I am a loner, then it is 3.

3) "Hm.... To feel special". And then I asked if she want to feel special. She replied, "I do, I used to have a special with each person in the group"

4) "Because.... you're with someone you know who cares about you and every human being needs to feel loved..."

5) "Eh, I guess I would... because you know that the person genuinely cares so you know that whatever you tell that person is between the you two."

6) "Hm, having someone to share your experiences with you and someone to be there when you need someone."

Person #3

1) Yes, more than one

2) Loneliness: 8, Happiness: 9 when with friends

3) "Because they can feel less lonely" and since I needed more answer, I asked him why do you think they would feel less lonely? He answered that "they have someone to talk too". I told him that he seems to the extroverted type, where he likes to talk with others but he said, "sometimes because it goes both ways. I mostly help myself and others but if they want to help me, I don't mind".

4) "You are happier because you are with your friend and there is someone to talk too".

5) "It will make me feel better if I told my friend what is happening but sometimes I don't want to get them involved if there is a situation like that" and I asked him what kind of situations and he said, "something that is going to involve them in".

6) "Just having someone around you will make you feel less lonely."

Person #4

1) "Yes I do have a best friend."

2) "Lonely 10, happy 10." o.o... I thought he is a nice person to feel like that and when I said "you're nice", he replied, "I am".

3) "We all need someone for support because that person understands you better than most".

4) "The fact that he or she is your friend" because "It's like having a family member you trust with everything" and "I trust them with everything, no secrets".

5) "Expressing my problems are difficult but helpful."

6) "Just their presence and seeing them happy." A very cheerful guy~

Analyzing

I thought many of their answers are similar and that having best friend(s), or even friends help reduce the loneliness because there is someone to talk to, which for best friends are more trustworthy, have a special connection with the best friend and his/her support when something happens. I think that is the general patterns in which deeper relationships work so I did not really ask for elaboration on many of the questions unless needed because it just seems natural that like those questions and I think others as well, we almost only have one answer. It is different for people who do not create a best-friend connection, and so person #2 has more to say, and I think, more thoughts into why having best friend might distant other friendships. And seeing the second question where it is the 1-10 scale of loneliness and happiness, all of them answer they are happier when there best friends are around and lonelier when they are not. Reasons that reduce the loneliness is the large and deep connection with another person that we can share our most, or at least deeper than the surface of our thoughts/feelings to others. When we have that deep link, like a bright lit light bulb, we feel happier but then when our link is quite on the surface, the light is not that bright. I am not sure about those who have no best friends but think that all their friends are equal, whether they would feel lonelier or so, or that they are okay with not having best friends.

Extra thought: I wonder if I can find deeper reasons into why connections with each other, especially in the best-friend connection, help reduce loneliness but are there more loneliness when there is a fight? .... I think I will research more on that.

Website sources on loneliness:

http://overcomeloneliness.com/blog/

http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/fear_of_intimacy

http://www.relationshipmatters.com/index.php?/archives/2931-How-to-deal-with-loneliness.html

Survey Question:

Having the presence of your best friend in anytime and greater in worst situations/circumstances help you reduce your loneliness?

HW #55 Research Question/Topic

I have a few research questions/topics that I would like to focus in on in the friendship domain. The first question that I have is what kind of aspects/personalities/things that we see in people to call them our friends? The closer-er aspect after I get somewhat of an answer for the friend stage is the best friend. How is that friends are promote to best friends; what requires for one to change into a best friend, what responsibilities or changes? How does one feel to be a best friend and how many boundaries does one need to cross to be that best friends?

And that is what I am mainly focusing on... Please help me fix or change it to a complete question or so... or which one should I focus on?

Fixed question (thank yous to Maggie and Rachel): On what requirements and boundaries does a friend have to cross in order to promote to a best friend?

Part 2

Rachel,

I like your topic as it connects with what we were doing it class and similar to the personality tests, how much can they accurately predict about relationships. Are you also comparing if the relationship becomes lasting, how do the couples live with each other? Or if not that lasting, how accurate are the online dating and compatibility matches? (lol, I am not that sure on what I am saying either...I'm sorry)

I think your question can be rephrased as: How accurate are the online dating and compatibility matches in creating a lasting relationship?

Maggie:

I think your question is good... I think you can choose either social or emotional need to focus on because once you start talking about them, I think they are both the same and connect to each other. I think you can also narrow the emotional category down too, like attention needs, talking needs so we won't become too introverted or so, and connection needs and etc... Nicely chosen mAggIE!~ and thank you for your comment =D

Part 3

"Latest Survey Results: Best Friend Tell All Summary."SmartGirl (1996-2000): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2010. http://www.smartgirl.org/reports/4059796.html .

It is a survey result about who has best friend(s) and how do best friends treat each other and etc. There were many girls who have taken the survey and only a number of boys and looking at the answers, that should be in their own opinions, I believe the results are quite reliable and useful. There are many questions in the survey that tells about the relationship between the best friends and there are graphs representing the answers of those who took the surveys. The survey and results post both side of the faces of best friends, whether they are nice or they are mean to each other but doesn't that show more love and closer relationship to each other?

Spen, Katie. "How to Be the Best Friend." EHow (2008): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2010. http://www.ehow.com/how_2220827_be-best-friend.html.

EHow website has articles of how to do this and suggests advices to the readers. In "How to Be the Best Friend", Katie Spen gives five advices in how we should be the best friend because as she said, "Our relationships are what make us the kind of people we are" and it is "important to truly cultivate these relationships and be a good friend in return". Two of the five advices she gives are exercising the give and take strategy, to treat each other equally and not just one sided and to be a good listener, which all of us needs one. I think her suggestions are reliable as I read it, I yearn for friends who would have the preferences she had given. And it relates to my topic to understand the process and necessaries jobs that friends have to do to become a best friend/close friend.

Mikrut, Sharon . "Top Eight Characteristics of True Friends." Ezine Articles (2010): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2010. http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Eight-Characteristics-of-True-Friends&id=3947119.

Sharon Mikrut gives eight characteristics in how to become true friends that she theorized as she had gotten older. The characteristics that she gave comprises of friends conversing and give and take for the friends to be balance and happy. In many of the characteristics, she has the theme of that friends do not look down on each other but feel for each others' needs and happiness. I think her characteristics are reliable because it only suggests that to become a "true" friend takes a lot of work and she observed for many years that to have a true friend is hard, and I think these characteristics are what we all desire to have a true friend and achieved to be a true friend. It can even be more than the eight characteristics in the page but to have real relationships, almost all the characteristics have to be fulfill.

Anonymous, et. al.. "How to Be a Great Best Friend."wikiHow (2010): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2010. http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Great-Best-Friend.

Number of people come to edit this article and there are steps, tips and warnings on how to be a great best friend. The first step, which I believe is good and reliable is that we have to become our own best friend first to understand and respect ourselves. If we know what boundaries we want, we can respect those boundaries. As many people edited this page, I believe it is reliable because best friends are not something that are one answer type but many types. Therefore, it is reliable to understand them as I understand that is how everybody thinks about becoming and getting a "great best friend". In the article, it even said that having a best friend can be hard but if the two friends can be open and honest with each other, it won't be hard. Many of the steps, tips and warnings are useful but it is hard to accomplish all them as we are not perfect but I think if we are able to complete some, the friendship would be great. I like the article because it gives an explanation in all the steps and the suggestions are accurate in how I want to be treated or how to treat others, like my own thinking in how best friends should be.

Other Articles:

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=6342 -> Friends vs. Best Friends

http://www.helium.com/items/175150-best-girlfriends-unwritten-rules-of-friendship -> Know what to do and know what not to do in order to keep a balance best friend.

HW #54 Surveys

Similar Minds - Jung Test Results:

Type: INFJ

ntroverted (I) 63.33% Extroverted (E) 36.67%
Intuitive (N) 53.85% Sensing (S) 46.15%
Feeling (F) 51.61% Thinking (T) 48.39%
Judging (J) 56.67% Perceiving (P) 43.33%

INFJ - "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1.5% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

I kind of feel special and proud to be in the 1.5% but somehow like a outsider. Is that a bad or a good preference? .... I find it funny.

Big Five Test Result:

Extroversion	||||||	24%
Orderliness	||||||||||||||	55%
Emotional Stability	||||||||||||	47%
Accommodation	||||||||||	38%
Inquisitiveness	||||||||||||||	55%

Big Five Word Test Results

Extroversion (24%) low which suggests you are very reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive. Accommodation (38%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly selfish, uncooperative, and difficult at the expense of the well being of others. Orderliness (55%) medium which suggests you are moderately organized, structured, and self controlled while still remaining flexible, varied, and fun. Emotional Stability (47%) medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Inquisitiveness (55%) medium which suggests you are moderately intellectual, curious, and imaginative.

Take Free Big Five Word Choice Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Your Global5/SLOAN type is RLOEI
Your Primary type is Organized

The reliability and usefulness of the two tests are pretty accurate and now that I know about what letters I was, I would agree that INFJ is pretty much my preference. Though my conclusion would be about these personality tests is that the answers given by the tests are the major preference for everybody, but not the complete preference for everybody. We can change our answers because we grow and get new ideas. Like Andy S.'s relative said, "we are all different" but we all have as many values and importance as any other people so I think that is how we have similarities and differences. Looking at the different letter combinations at class today, there are many different kinds of preferences/personalities that we have but I find that there is more. When reading the answers and the descriptions for those answers, they were pretty funny because I didn't think about some of the descriptions in there. I had to stop and think about whether I do this, react like that and feel like that. One thing that I noticed is that for the similar minds test, the result details are quite positive and does not explain much unless I pressed the INFJ explanation. However, for the Big Five test, the results, for me, was quite depressing though I agree with many of the preferences in the answer.

Learning about the E, I, S, N, T, F, J, and P, I think when I look at someone, I can be pretty sure which one they are starting at E, but once I get into the J and P, that might be harder. I thought it was fun guessing what people are and it is interesting when I got it right or not because it shows how much care or understanding we feel towards each other. I think we feel more connected with each other when we got it correct so to think we know who everybody is, but once we got it incorrect, it feels distant and embarrassed.

HW #53 Survey Analysis

Part 1

Took the survey....

Part 2

I felt awkward taking the survey as it involves my personal life and even though I do not have to put the actual answer, it made me realize things about the world and relationships and I tried to put the answer as much s possible. I thought the survey has given a lot of views about different categories of relationship but I find that the questions are personal in a way that people might know the answer but might not know the answer. There are questions put in the survey that involves a bigger topic yet complete answers are not available to answer fully as to why these relationships occur and thus the questions are created in the survey. But I wonder if we can achieve to the understanding of those questions and relationships.

Questions that made me stop and think was the friendship and parent categories because out of the categories in the survey, those two are the biggest relationships in my life right now. There were some questions that I know the answer to but when I want to answer it in the survey, I wasn't sure what to pick because some answers were in the middle between the choices. There were some questions that was common with each other but phrased differently but even though it is phrased differently, I still had to think about it before answering or how awkwardly I felt in thinking about the questions. Some questions I felt it was useless because I would not do it or in my life but then I thought how it is important in other people's lives as it affects them more than it would to me. The short answer questions was hard to answer because it involves more answering and it was general, big topic questions that made me think about in how to phrase them. Overall, the survey was interesting and I thought differently about the relationships in my life and how it affected me in ways I did and did not think about.

Part 3

I am surprised that there are answer for all the choices and I thought that was nice, thinking that everybody is answering honestly (hoping they are honest but in a way, intruding in other people's privacies). One thing that I noticed was that the most "not applicable" answers were in the partnering - romance - sexuality category and the sex questions were quite surprising because even though we took health class, not many use protections. Another interesting pattern that I noticed is that with questions that involve trust, value and acceptance in family, it mostly yes answer choices but with questions that involve cut off family members, its always near the no answer choices. In the friendship categories, none of the popular answers were in the no answer choices but always within the yes-very much to neutral.

I think I feel similar to many people in the friendship categories with the popular answers but as for the other categories, it is different because if I think about it deeply, it is always near the middle or to the no (mostly towards family and self, politics, etc.), not as optimistic as the popular answers said. I believe the other differences are from the way we live, the environment we are raised in, how we are treated and how we think about the views would be different. There are some urges that we have that made us act the way and thus we chose that answer choice but the relationships that we have can oppressed or free us in a way that we either lose or gain urges so the outcome of the whole survey becomes like what we have. Everybody's minds are different in a way but when looking at it generally, there is always a category that we can be in that makes everybody look like they have one view. I say look like because it is not always the answer choice that we chose in the survey but it was the best answer that we can find to answer that question. I think in relationships, it is hard to explain something is what I found out because I can feel one way about this question but feel another way. I may have a complete answer for this question but I find that it can be the other answer depending on how I stand in my view. So it is confusing and we can not really say a 100% of what we feel in these relationships. I guess feelings do not always equal to words.

Part 4

I should say that I like the survey that we did better because it is easier to see what people answered in a table/chart way and to see how many people have taken the survey. In the professional surveys, they have percentages for their surveys too but cannot really tell how many people have taken it but since they are professional surveys, and perhaps more accurate, it is more easily use to show the larger population of what the survey is asking about. There are more explanations on the professional one, especially the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey Overview because it explains all the percentages of what the answers are, and it provides bar graphs to show about the genders. I thought it was interesting but at the same time, there was a lot of information going on that my head was spinning with the results of the survey. Although the other one was easier because it had less information but is not as detailed as the 2007 one.

I think surveys are useful to tell the relationships and connections between what people think about in the form of different answer choices but it just says that it is a very complicated thinking and even one issue is already a complicated webbing of different questions and then another webbing of complicated answers. I think surveys are there to make the answers easier even though there can be other answers. But I always have the question as to whether the results are accurate or not because not everyone can be honest about answers, maybe a bit more comfortable in a survey as it is anonymous but still, a relationship with a survey is not that close. Another question that I have is whether we are more close to anonymous relationships or closer relationships/revealing relationships? Does it depend on how good the link/connection between the two people are or how much one can accept the other (because even if the connection is good does not mean they might accept each other)?