A study of phenomenon of students waiting for their friends at the MRT station before attending classes in Singapore Polytechnic.

GROUP : MONKEY BUSINESS I

Title : A study of phenomenon of students waiting for their friends at the MRT station before attending classes in Singapore Polytechnic.


Date : 9th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Tsang Xian Jun Timothy (P0710563, DARE/FT/1A/21)
Teo shun bin louis (p0611367, DASE/FT/2B/21)
Seah Yang Ling (p0717218, DBA/1B/09)
Boon Le Wei (p0628192, DEEE/2A/23)
Darren Foong (p0731766, DISM/1B/02)
Alicia Low Su Ru (p0745767, DTRM/1B/05)
Asyikin (p0651844)
Xing Fang (p0758147)

AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do students gather in dispersed groups at the MRT control station to wait for their friends before attending classes?

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS

This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a polytechnic in the western part of Singapore. The research takes a total of six weeks to complete. The research stretches from 13th July 2007 to 1st September 2007.

FINDINGS (use diagrams or tables to supplement your report when needed)
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) How long are they willing to wait? (5 minutes before lessons start? or until friends come?)

From the survey we did, we realized that most people will wait till their friends arrived. We calculated that the average waiting time is 30 to 50 minutes. All of the replies we got showed that they would wait for their friends for at least 15 minutes. From the replies, we concluded that some people fear to be alone as they will try to wait for their friends so that they can walk to school together without having the said fear.

b) Who are they waiting for? (classmates, boyfriend/girlfriend...)

From the survey we did, we realised that most of the students at MRT stations are waiting for their friends. There are also cases where they wait for their cliques, club friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, secondary school friends, gems friends and friends. From the survey, we assumed that students wait for the classmates so that they can go for lessons together.

c) How big is the group usually?

From the quantitative data we have attained, the most common number of people that forms a group is made up of four. Upon further analysis, it is discovered that even figures such as duet, quartet and six people form a waiting group easily more than odd figures. In general, the number of people formed in waiting groups is in even numbers.

d) What are they doing while they are waiting?

From the survey, we realised that most of the people do simple things like listening to music and chit-chat. We assume that they do things that do not require much thought and are just done to simply pass time.

e) Why they can’t be more independent – going lessons on their own?

Through the interview of several people who are usually seen waiting for people at the MRT stations, we found out that there are several attributions to their willingness to wait for their friends. Firstly, they feel that since their friends waited for them when they were late, they should reciprocate by waiting for late friends. Some of them find the company of their friends much coveted. Several of them feel that they can afford to be late since the lessons usually do not start at the stipulated time. Hence, we can deduce that peer influence is the underlying reason as to why these people cannot be only independent. They desire a strong sense of belonging to their cliques and feel that it is a daunting task to go to lessons on their own.

f) Why risk being late? (if they are going to wait till their friends come, regardless of whether they would be late)

Based on the survey conducted, results have shown that students do not show much concern for their academic work, often putting “Friendship” as a more pressing and important issue. Students think that the polytechnic do not enforce strict policies on attendance and as such took advantage of that knowledge.

g) What are they thinking while waiting?

We have noted that most students would think of what time their friends would arrive, possibly due to annoyance of having to wait. Others would think of lunch later that day whereas a small minority would just daydream or think of nothing. Another minority would think of what to do when they get home.

h) What are their emotions and behaviour while waiting?

Based on the results of our survey, we found that most of them are not exactly fond of having to wait for their friends. Some were even frustrated, but they still wait anyway. This shows how much humans, especially teenagers, yearn for company. They may also be reluctant to wait, but do not have the courage to voice out their unhappiness for fear of being viewed by others as being selfish and impatient.

DISCUSSION
Through the findings, we can see that students tend to feel the need to develop friendship with their cliques (need for affiliation). They think that they should reciprocate the kindness of their friends by waiting for each other before going to lessons together (group norms). They feel that there is a need to wait for each other as none of them initiate the idea to proceed on to lessons without waiting for their friends who are late. (conformity). The last reason why students are willing to wait for their friends who will be late is peer pressure. They feel the need to form into groups as they feel more at ease in their usual hangout groups (cohesiveness).

CONCLUSION
Thus, from this study, we are able to find out the underlying reasons why students are willing to wait for one another at the MRT stations. Students are generally dependant upon their friends and they feel the need to ingratiate with them. The ubiquitous peer influence has inevitably created the fallacy that they should wait for each other to improve their friendship. Generally, most of them feel that being late for lessons is a trivial matter. They place friendship at a higher priority than being punctual for lessons. This is probably due to their huge desire to forge a strong sense of belonging to a group in which they feel comfortable in. They do not wish to be alone and yearn for company. Thus, we can infer that peer pressure and a deep desire to integrate into a group are the reasons which will explain the phenomenon apparent in the Dover MRT station.