What is my survey?
For this project I created and sent out a survey to the students at Lutheran High School. The survey was about family interaction and family connectivity. This page contains the results of the survey, along with inferences about the data.
The Basics
In total I surveyed 229 students from my school. That is about half of the current amount of students that go there. This survey was completely anonymous and free from bias. A total of 16 questions were asked on this survey.
Data
This question asked how many times that the students ate dinner with their whole family.
Eating dinner together as a family can be a very good way to bond with your family and spend time with them. If you don't eat dinner with your family it could be because of time, you not wanting to be with your family, or even because of friends or sports. Eating dinner with your family can seem very simple but it has a large impact. Dinner time is a time where everybody is basically doing the same thing; eating. And when you don't eat with your family it takes that bonding time away. If you don't want to or don't have enough time to eat with your family then you probably won't have time or you won't care to be around your family at other times during the day. |
This question asked whether or not students made an effort to connect with their family. Spending time with your family is good, but sometimes that doesn't happen unless you step up and attempt to make that connection yourself. Almost 20% of students don't try to make a connection or to spend time with their family. That's a pretty big number.
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have good connections with their families, it just means that there are quite a few people out there that either don't think of it or don't make the effort to be with or to connect with their families. |
This question asked the big question of "Do you feel like you are connected with your family?" A whopping 12.5% of students answered that, no they don't feel like they are connected with their family. This is a glaring problem, so many students being, or feeling, disconnected from their family. This doesn't mean that they are disconnected though, as they could be connected without realizing it; but, most likely there are an even greater number of people disconnected from their families and they just don't realize it.
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This question asked if they (the students) were lonely around their family. This could be that when they are with their family they don't feel like anyone that they can trust is their, or that they don't feel like they can open up to anyone around them. This feeling is a form of being "friend-sick" and it usually comes from having different personalities, or acting differently, when you are with your family, than when you are with your friends.
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18% of students don't want to spend time with their family. This could be because of wanting to leave the house, a general dislike of siblings, or because they want to be independent, or that they want to spend time with their friends instead of their family. The feeling of wanting to be around friends and not around your family is not a good way of thinking. Your family should be your friends, your best friends at that, and you should be able to have a good time with them. You should want to spend time with your family, you shouldn't be forced to be with your kin, and you should have a good time and have fun when you are with your family.
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Connection Activities
In my survey I asked about what activities the students did with their families to connect, and what activities they thought that should be used to connect with families.
In my survey I should have clarified this question a bit. I should have asked what activities they do on a weekly basis to connect with their families, many responses that I got were activities that you don't do weekly, and I also got a lot of responses that just said "anything" and "family time".
Sports
Many students answered that they play sports with their family. Sports are a good way to connect with your family, it offers physical exercise, and it offers good bonding time.
Games
Playing games offers a great way to connect and bond with your family. Whether it is video games or board games, playing them with your family offers family bonding and it helps with mental acuity and you get a better picture of what your family is like.
Travelling
Travelling is a good way to connect with your family, but you don't go on vacations every week. You usually go on vacations and large trips once or twice a year. Many students put vacation down as their response to what they do with their family. This probably means that they don't do much else to connect with their family. And, if the only family time you get is on vacations, then you aren't getting a very good family experience.
Watching tv/movies
Watching tv or movies with your family is a great way to be with and connect with your family. You don't have to have as much direct interaction as you do with sports or playing games. Watching movies or television is a more passive way of connecting with your family.
Church
Going to church with your family helps you bond with both your earthly family and with your heavenly family. Worshiping with the family of God is rejuvenating and calming, and it helps you build connections with your family.