University of Perpetual Help System Dalta - Las Piñas

PEER PRESSURE: INFLUENCES OF PEERS TO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENTS’ DECISION-MAKING

Mickaella Marie V. Alarcon

Ma. Suzaine M. Babiano
Joanna R. Batigulao
Jhester L. Dionela
Bridgette D. Garcia

A Research Proposal Presented to the

Senior High School Department of
University of Perpetual Help System DALTA
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for Research 1

11-STEM3

Las Pinas City

March 2018
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction 3
Objectives of the Study 5
Statement of the Problem 6
Significance of the Study 6
Scope and Delimitations 8
Theoretical Framework 9
Conceptual Framework 10
Definition of Terms 11
II. Review of Related Literature 14
Foreign Literature 14
Local Literature 18
Synthesis 20
III. Research Methodology 23
Research Design 23
Sampling Technique 23
Data Collection Tool and Procedure 24
Data Analysis Plan 26
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Chapter 1

PROBLEMS AND ITS SETTING

In today's world, it is very hard to fit in to the standards of the modern education.

Sometimes in our lives, we are tempted to follow others in order for us to fit in to their standards.

Adolescence is the time when peers play an active role in life. We cannot deny the impact of

peers to the students because they are the most significant figure during this time. But the effect

of the peers to the development of a student’s decision-making can be really seen with the way

they act on a given circumstance. Peers can also be one of the factors that cause changes not just

in their social status but also to their personality such as attitude and values. According to South

China Morning Post(2017), a Hong Kong English-language newspaper, in a recent study of

University of Pennsylvania, they acknowledged that being a teenager will most likely result to

being susceptible to peer influence and concluded that teens from collectivistic cultures has the

tendency to be more swayed than those in individualistic cultures. Additionally, they also added

that having a friend who smokes doubles the risk that youngsters between 10 and 19 will pick up

the habit. The said influence is evidently, more powerful in societies where relationships

between people play a central role in a person’s identity. It shows that teenagers, being in

adolescence stage, are most likely prone to adapt influences from the peers or groups they

belong.

Moreover, a number of factors affect a teen’s ability to stay away from undesirable

influences such as: feeling loved and nurtured, self-confidence, academic achievement in school,

developing a conscience, parental monitoring, having an intact family unit, positive role models,
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appropriate social skills, and peer acceptance. Parents have the unique capacity to arm their

children with good instincts to listen to their gut feelings, say “no” at the right times, and choose

friends who will make them feel good about themselves. Adolescents in modern society spend

remarkable amount of time with their peers. Peers can also be very influential to the lives of

every student especially on how they decide. They can bring positive impact by encouraging

them to study more but it can also lead up to many problems like being involved in many issues

such as drug intake, crimes, addiction, failing grades and many more. As what Aldanese (2010)

had said, adolescents are susceptible to different decision-making and prone to risks and still

learning to resist the influence of others unto them. Meanwhile, a recent study stated that peer

pressure started earlier than we thought.

According to the recent study conducted by the University of Maryland (2013), the group

dynamics of childhood imply that conflicts between “group loyalty and fairness” begin in grade

school. Kids encounter peer pressure on almost daily basis in school, as early as age 9. These

findings make it crucial to recognize that peer influences do not begin in adolescence, and the

costs and consequences of resisting peer pressure are felt by very young children. The teen years

just make it more complicated.

According to Casey (2008), from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, teens

are very quick and accurate in making judgments and decisions on their own and in situations

where they have time to think. However, when they have to make decisions in the heat of the

moment or in social situations, their decisions are often influenced by external factors like peers.

In addition to that, an article written by Witmer (2018) stated that, if a teen makes healthy

choices in the friends they choose, those peers may inspire them to try new things or they may
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encourage them to do their best. But, if an adolescent started hanging around with the wrong

crowd, like peers who skip school, do drugs, and break the law, they are most likely to influence

their behavior in an unhealthy way. Witmer also emphasized that engaging in positive activities

does not necessarily mean that an individual is experiencing positive peer pressure. If their

friends pressure them into playing soccer because "it's the cool thing to do," a teenager might

join the team. But if she/he doesn't want to play, being on the team may have a negative effect on

them. This is what Soliven (2015) had written in her article where she stated that teenagers are

not anymore like young children who listen to their parents. Their way of thinking is controlled

by their eagerness to be recognized as independent adults and by external factors like peers. Due

to this, it can be said that peer pressure has both negative and positive influences on how

adolescents decide which the researchers will focus in their study — to know how these can

affect not only themselves, but also their social environment such as their family.

Objectives of the Study

The researchers’ goals are to promote awareness among adolescents about the positive

and negative influences of their peers that might affect their decision-making, which later on can

be evident in their actions. They also aspire to discover how they adopted it and how peers

influence the decision-making of students to inform parents and guardians on how they can

handle their children. Moreover, in this study, the researchers want to show in what way can

peers’ influences on decision-making affects not only the students but also their social

environment that involves their family.

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Statement of the Problem

This qualitative phenomenological study focuses on discovering the positive and negative

influences of peers to students’ decision-making. At this stage in the research, peer pressure will

be generally defined as the influence of peers to your actions and how you deal with something.

The research general question is then:

In what way can these influences on decision-making can affect the students and their

social environment like their family and people in their surrounding?

Associated to this general research question, the following areas of interest will be also explored:

1. What are the positive and negative influences of peers to the decision-making of the students?

2. How did the students develop these influences from peers and how did it change them?

3. How do peers influence the decision-making of the students?

Significance of the Study

This research deals with discovering the positive and negative influences of interacting with

peers to how adolescents make and come up of a decision. Due to this, researchers will be able to

inform and promote awareness on how to handle them for adolescence stage is where teenagers

are still developing and prone to different decision-making resulting to impulsive actions.
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Students

This research aims to promote awareness among students about the positive and negative

influences of their peers to them, especially to their decision-making where their choice and

actions depend. Adolescence is the stage where they find the comfort and sense of belongingness

to their peers and where reckless decisions are made. Students can benefit from this research for

it teaches them to be cautious and careful on how they decide and they must learn to control the

influence of their friends for even though it has a positive effect, there always comes a negative

one. It also makes them aware of the people who they will go along with and spend most of their

time.

Parents

This study informs the parents of the involved students about the influences of peers to

their children’s decision-making. Through this, they are able to know if their child is getting

wrong decisions being with friends and for them to be able to preserve the values they’ve taught

to them. However, knowing that there are positive influences of peers to the decisions of their

children can lighten the burden they are carrying and assure them that their children are safe. It

also strengthens the bond they have at home for the students were given the attention they need

as they grow and develop.

Teachers and Administrators

This research provides information to teachers on how peers can affect the decisions of the

students they are handling. This information can serve as their guide in teaching their students

about proper decision-making and how to handle properly the things they’ve been learning and

adapting from their friends.

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Future Researchers

The future researchers may use the information indicated in this research as their reference

data for them to be able to make and conduct new researches related to this topic. They could

also use this to testify effectiveness of related decision to their findings. This could also be used

to provide them notation and directions that will give them backgrounds.

Scope and Delimitations

This research will focus on the positive and negative influences of socializing with peers

to the decision-making of Grade 11 STEM students in Senior High of University of Perpetual

Help System DALTA, school year 2017 to 2018. This can be attained through conducting a

survey by giving out questionnaires, asking about the kind of circle of friends they have, the

difficult decisions they’ve encountered with them, the reasons for choosing it and the way they

come up in a decision, either recklessly or thoughtfully. The things they’ve learned will also be

included such as alcohol consumption and getting good grades where it will be asked if they

have done it; however, confidential and personal matters beyond them will not be tackled

anymore to respect the privacy of the respondents. In this study, peer pressure will be clearly

defined and how does this positively and negatively affect the decisions of students. Moreover,

the researchers will discover how the students develop these influences, how it changed them

and how these can affect their social environment especially their family and the people in the

community.
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Theoretical Framework

Social Influence theory proposed by Kelman (1958) states that a person’s behavior, belief

and attitude are influenced by three processes: compliance, identification and internalization.

Compliance refers to an individual’s acceptance of influence in order to get a reward in return or

avoid punishment. The second process, identification, refers to the adoption of influence in order

to conform and belong to a certain group of people. Meanwhile, internalization is accepting the

influence of others for it is congruent to the value they have.

In relation to the study to be conducted by the researchers, adolescents tend to accept

influence from their peers for different reasons which can eventually affect their decisions. One

of these reasons is for conformity where they don’t listen anymore to their parents. They are

conditioned by their environment, especially their friends, pushing them to do reckless decisions

for they want to please them. These reckless decisions can result to immoral acts that can affect

the people in their surrounding like their families. Another reason for accepting influences from

others is to benefit from it. Students who think they can pass through studying accept influence

from their peers who encourage them to do so. This act manifests that peers can also have

positive influence in adolescents’ decision-making where they choose to study in order to pass.

Due to this, the researchers choose this Social Influence theory to support their study.
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Conceptual Framework

 Senior High School Grade 11STEM students of

University of Perpetual Help System DALTA

Input

 Availability Sampling
 Open ended survey questionnaires
 Phenomenological: Asking students’
Process experiences with their peers

 To identify the positive and negative influences

of peers to the decision-making of the students
 To discover how the students adopted it and
how peers influence the decision-making of
Output students
 To know in what way these influences in
decision-making of students affect their social
environment involving their families

.
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Definition of Terms

Adolescence- According to UNICEF (2016), adolescence is a phase separate from both early

childhood and adulthood. It is a transitional period that requires special attention and protection.

Physically, children go through a number of transitions while they mature. The brain undergoes

quite substantial developments in early adolescence, which affect emotional skills as well as

physical and mental abilities. Adolescence is also when gender norms are solidified, rejected or

transformed. As adolescent girls and boys grow, they take on additional responsibilities,

experiment with new ways of doing things and push for independence. It is the time in which

values and skills are developed that have great impact on well-being. In this study, the

researchers define adolescence as the period of life when a child develops in an adult. There will

be development during adolescence stage through cognitive, social and emotional development.

In relation to our study, they used adolescence to know where peer pressure starts in a person.

Decision-Making-. According to Robbins (n.d), decision-making is the selection of a preferred

course of action from two or more alternatives. It is a process of selecting the best among the

different alternatives and the act of making a choice. It is the process of deciding about

something important, especially in a group of people or in an organization. Meanwhile, the

researchers define decision-making as the way teenagers decide and come up of a choice from a

variety of options while in a particular situation. In relation to their study, they will discover how

peer pressure affects the way teenagers select and make a decision.

Influence- Solis (2010) define influence as the ability to cause desirable and measurable actions

and outcomes. It is the power to change or affect someone or something. In this study, the
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researchers define influence as the power to cause changes without directly forcing to happen.

Once you are influenced by someone, you will adapt how they talk, think, how they dress, what

music they listen to, and how they act or behave. In relation to their study, they use influence to

explain the possibilities that will happen once you are influenced by your peers or the people

around you, where peer pressure will come up.

Peer- According to Casey (2008), from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University teens

are very quick and accurate in making judgments and decisions on their own and in situations

where they have time to think. However, when they have to make decisions in the heat of the

moment or in social situations, their decisions are often influenced by external factors like peers.

Peers are people who are your age, like your classmates, are called peers. Peers are people who

are part of the same social group, so the term "peer pressure" means the influence that peers can

have on each other. Meanwhile, the researchers define peer as an individual who belongs to a

specific societal group, sharing distinct characteristics with this group. These are the people

whom you called your “friends” whom they feel understood and with whom they share values,

attitudes and interests, in fact these are the people who has the same vibes as you do. When a

child is in adolescence stage, a lot of their free time is spent in companionship with their peers.

Peer relationships have the potential to foster positive or negative health behaviors and

development in a way that an adult would not be able to, depending on the behavior and the roles

modelled by the fellow peers. The researchers used the word “peer” in their study to explain

what will be the positive and negative effects or result when you are with your peers if they

influence you in a positive or negative way.

Peer Pressure- According to Hartney (2017), the term "peer pressure" means the influence that

peers can have on each other. the term "pressure" implies that the process influences people to do
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things that may be resistant to, or might not otherwise choose to do. So usually the term "peer

pressure" is used when people are talking about behaviors that are not considered socially

acceptable or desirable, such as experimentation with alcohol and drug use. These are groups that

are usually cliques of friends who are about the same age. This peer pressure can influence how

children dress, what kind of music they listen to, and what types of behavior they engage in,

including risky behaviors such as using drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol, and engaging in sex. Peer

pressure is the influence of a social group on an individual. Peer pressure is usually applied to

younger people, especially teenagers. Moreover, the researchers define peer pressure as wanting

to feel part of something or in a group to feel accepted and satisfied. It is doing something you

don’t normally and usually do, or not doing something you’d like to do, simply so that you’ll be

accepted by the people you hang out with, you’re suffering from peer pressure. Peer pressure is

their main topic, so most of the words they used focus on peer pressure. They will explain what

will be the effects when you feel peer pressure or when you are being peer pressured.

Social Environment- According to Barnett PhD and Casper PhD (n.d.), social environments

encompass the immediate physical surroundings, social relationships, and cultural milieus within

which defined groups of people function and interact. In this study, the researchers define social

environment as the condition that surround someone or something. These are the people,

conditions and influences that affect the growth, health, progress of someone or something such

as their family, friends and other people in the community. In relation to their study, they will

prove that the influences of peers on the decision of the students can affect not only the students

themselves, but also their social environment.

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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Peer pressure is defined by Hartney, Phd.(2017) as the influence of peers to each other.

As teenagers grow, they develop and seek for attention. They want to feel sense of belongingness

which they found in their peer group for adolescence stage is where they have intimate

relationship with their friends. Due to this, influences were inevitable to adapt because they

spend remarkable amount of time with them. These influences can affect their decision-making

either positively or negatively, which later on can be evident in their actions. The following are

the local and foreign literature and studies related to the researchers’ topic:

Foreign Literature and Studies

Being Prone of Adolescents to Peer Influence

The University of Pennsylvania (2017) conducted a new study stating that teens from

collectivistic cultures – like Chinese cultures – are more prone to peer influence and most likely

be influenced by cliques. An example given here is having a friend who smoke doubles the

vulnerability of youth, ages 10-19, to the risk of inhabiting this influence. This explains that the

influence of peers to an individual may also vary from country to country. Normal adolescent

development in European-American cultures involves a gradual movement from the importance

of relationships with family towards those with peers for socialization, self-definition, friendship,
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and support. Adolescents’ peer groups function more than children's peer groups, with less

guidance or control provided by adults. In middle school, individuals begin to form small groups

of friends based on mutual attraction, called cliques, which can help bolster self-confidence and

provide a sense of identity or belonging. In adolescence, these smaller peer groups associated

with childhood expand to recognize larger peer collectives referred to as crowds.

Moreover, according to a study conducted by the University of Michigan, the pressure of

a best friend or a smaller group has more personal and forceful effect to an adolescent.

Compared to a larger or peer group, having a small circle of friend means having a strong bond

and relationship with each other. The example given was a girl with a best friend asking her to

smoke. Due to her fear of losing her friend, she finds it hard to refuse, inhabiting smoking.

Influences of Peers to Adolescents

According to The Daily Mail (2004), a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper,

one-fifth of teenagers said that their friends pretend to take drugs to look "cool". The teenagers

said that their friends were pressured into faking drug-taking in order to fit in with their peers.

The report by confidential drugs helpline FRANK, showed that almost half of the youngsters

questioned said the need to fit in with their group dictated their friends' behavior.

According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2012), an

association in the United States dedicated in facilitating psychiatric care for children and

adolescents, stated that peers do play a large role in the social and emotional development of

children and adolescents. Their influence begins at an early age and increases through the

teenage years. It is natural, healthy and important for children to have and rely on friends as they

grow and mature. Peers can be positive and supportive. They can help each other develop new
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skills, or stimulate interest in books, music or extracurricular activities. However, peers can also

have a negative influence. They can encourage each other to skip classes, steal, cheat, use drugs

or alcohol, or become involve in other risky behaviors. The majority of teens with substance

abuse problems began using drugs or alcohol as a result of peer pressure.

Situations that Leads to an Individual into Making a Poor Decision Skills

McCue (2018), a lecturer in Psychology and Criminology at Edith Cowan University,

found out that a teenager has the tendency to make poor decisions when they feel pressured,

stressed or are seeking attention. He also stated the difference between what teenagers know and

what they choose to be using the “cold” and “hot” situations. The difference between what

teenagers know and what they choose can be explained in terms of “cold” and “hot” situations.

Cold situations are made during the times of low emotional arousal. During these situations,

teenagers are able to make well-reasoned and rational decisions while hot decisions are being

referred to choices during high emotional arousal like feeling excited, anxious, or upset.

Adolescents’ Reckless Decision-Making

According to Laurence Steinberg (2008), there are 2 main features that make a teenager

different with adults in terms of decision-making. He stated that during early adolescence stage,

teenagers tend to be drawn to immediate rewards of potential choice and not attentive to possible

risks. Secondly most teenagers are still learning to control their impulses, to think ahead and

lastly, to resist pressure coming from others.

Moreover, according to Carr-Gregg (2017), a known adolescent psychologist, agrees that

teens all over the world are prone to behaving recklessly. Based on his and Elly Robinson’s

book, which is entitled as Prince Boofhead Syndrome: Surviving Adolescent Boys, it is stated
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that one of the unique characteristics of a teenager is the inability to predict the consequences of

their actions. This is because their brains are not yet fully developed until they are in their mid-

twenties. They are heavily influenced by their peers and easily encouraged to take risks. By way

of example he refers to the story of an 18-year-old Lee de Paauw, who was dared to leap into a

crocodile infested river and did. He sustained limb threatening injuries when a crocodile,

surprise, mauled him.

Positive Effects of Peer Pressure to an Individual’s Habit in Life

In contrary, according to Secure Teen (2013), positive peer pressure can also lead an

individual to adopt good habits in life. Their peers may teach them some good things about life

and encourage them to follow them. For instance, if an individual see their peers doing

something for a noble cause, they may also most likely adopt this certain habit. This will help

them to change for the better. Adopting good habits of their peers can in fact bring positive

change not only in their life but also in their way of thinking. Peer pressure can leave a positive

impact on their life if they carefully pick certain good habits from their peers. Since there is a

huge diversity in human behavior, exposure to peer pressure will give them a good opportunity

to analyze the likes and viewpoint of different people. This will result in getting a chance to

choose the best from what the masses have to offer. Peers might even inspire them in some way

or the other or even persuade an individual to bring about a constructive change in their life.

Therefore, peer pressure can also have a positive impact on their lives and can actually lead them

to make the right choices for themselves.

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Effects of Positive Peer Influence to an Individuals’ Decision-Making and Brain

Development

Furthermore, in the article Teens and Decision Making: What Brain Science Reveals

(2008), stated that peer influence can lead teens to engage in new activities that can help build

strong pathways in the brain. Neural connections that are weak or seldom used are removed

during adolescence through a process called synaptic pruning, allowing the brain to redirect

precious resources toward more active connections. This means that teens have the potential,

through their choices and the behaviors they engage in, to shape their own brain development.

Therefore, skill-building activities—such as those physical, learning, and creative endeavors that

teens are often encouraged to try through positive peer influence—not only provide stimulating

challenges, but can simultaneously build strong pathways in the brain. A teen has the tendency

to join a volunteer project because all of his or her friends are doing it, or get good grades

because the social group he or she belongs thinks getting good grades is important. In fact,

friends often encourage each other to study, try out for sports, or follow new artistic interests.

Local Literature and Studies

Influences of Peers to Adolescents’ Academic Performance

In a news article written by Chua (2013) in Manila Standard Times, a broadsheet

newspaper, she narrates her experience while she was speaking in front of a room jam-packed by

high school freshmen about peer pressure. One child told her experience after being negatively

influenced by his peers. He became distracted in academics and became uncommunicative with
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his family because he was pressured by his friends to do things he doesn’t usually does. He was

forced by his friends which is unusual because peer pressure is mostly adapted to delight their

friends and fit in a certain peer group.

Moreover, according to the research survey conducted in Rizal Science High School

(2009), one of the factors that affect the study of the teenagers is their peers. The researchers

then asked the respondents on how their friend affects them. Some says that they were affected

in negative ways like being involved in minor crimes and vices like smoking, cutting of classes,

and doing this that they shouldn’t be doing. This results to the gradual decrease on their grades,

that leads to being uninterested in school and much worst case.

Peers’ Influence on Adolescents’ Decision-making and Relationship with their Family

According to a news article written by Soliven (2015) in The Philippine Star, teenagers are

different from younger children for they don’t listen much to their parents anymore. The

environment they are currently moving has a big impact on their way of thinking. They listen

more to their peers whom they spend most their time with. In addition to this, their aspiration to

be recognized as independent adults in a young age affects to how they think and act.

Moreover, according to Ahead Tutorial and Review (2017), an online platform designed to

help learners work through everyday academic concerns, the parents and guardians of

adolescents are constantly worried about the ways on how their kids pick their friends – and for

good reasons. Teens are effortlessly affected by their peers. An examination which considered an

adolescent’s cerebrum response when confronting a hazardous circumstance found that those

who typically not go out on a limb when alone are significantly more prone to go for broke when

their companions are viewing. This clarifies why adolescents frequently yield to peer pressure.
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Additionally, parents do not have the full control over their child when they go to class. At a

certain point in their secondary school life, adolescents will run into negative peer pressure

frequently impacts adolescents to play hooky, smoke, drink or spook different adolescents.

Difficulties Encountered by Adolescents in Decision-making

Moreover, according to Aldanese (2010) in his article in The Philippine Star, a print and

digital newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the PhilStar Media Group, states

that teenagers are prone to different decision-making during adolescence stage where possible

risks are present. Adolescents are not aware of the possible harm the consequences of their

decisions might bring. They are still learning to control their impulsiveness and the way they are

handling a given situation. Their development takes time for them to be able to evaluate their

choices and resist influences from the people surrounding them.

Synthesis

The study conducted by University of Pennsylvania (2017) and University of

Michigan(n.d.) both portray that adolescents when exposed to peers, either in a large or small

group, have the ability to adopt influences from them. Written in The Daily Mail (2004),

teenagers are pressured to involve in faking drug intake to fit in and conform to their group.

Aside from it, according to Chua(2013), one of the high school freshmen told her that he was

negatively influenced by his peers resulting to poor academic performance and loss of

communication to his family.

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In contrast to these negative influences, according to Secure Teen(2013), positive

influences from peers can adopt good habits in adolescents’ life. It may bring positive changes

especially to their way of thinking where they would be able to carefully choose good actions to

be done. It is also stated in here that peers can motivate them to make right choices for

themselves. Furthermore, the article Teens and Decision Making: What Brain Science Reveals

(2008) states that influences from peers can pave teenagers to take new activities that builds

strong pathways in the brain. It is explained here that inactive neural connections are removed

and redirected by active ones, giving the adolescents the chance to develop their own brain.

Influences from peers affect the actions done by teenagers; therefore, it also affects their

decision-making. According to McCue(2018), teenagers tend to make poor decisions when they

are pressured, stressed and seeking for attention. This explains the previous wrong acts made by

teenagers stated by Chua(2013) and The Daily Mail(2004) where teenagers tend to have poor

academic performance under peer pressure and fake drug intake just to conform in a group.

According to Laurence Steinberg (2008), adolescents are not attentive of the possible

risks that might affect them. Being in adolescent stage, they are impulsive and still developing

which takes a lot of time. This is supported by Carr-Gregg(2017) in his book where he wrote that

one of the characteristics of a teenager is the inability to predict consequences of their actions

which results to easy adoption of influences from their peers. Same goes by to Aldanese(2010),

according to him, teenagers are prone to different decision-making and risks. They are still

learning to control their impulsiveness where its development takes time to evaluate a choice and

resist pressure from people around them.

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Due to these reckless decisions, adolescents are not the only affected ones, but also their

social environment especially their families. According to Soliven(2015), adolescents are grown-

ups already; they don’t listen to their parents anymore for their environment, especially their

peers, control them now. Their eagerness to be recognized as independent adults also contributes

to this. Moreover, according to Ahead Tutorial and Review (2017), parents of adolescents,

together with their guardians, are worried on the people whom they spend their time with. They

are effortlessly influenced by peers which makes them out of their parents’ control.

No doubt, peers influence the decision-making of adolescents both positively and

negatively. As what American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2012) had said,

peers play an important and large role in the emotional and social development of adolescents.

They can stimulate interests and help develop each other; however, negative influences can also

exist like skipping classes. Like what McCue(2018) had said, these positive and negative acts

vary on their state, whether they are stressed, seeking for belongingness and pressured, while

deciding.
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Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This qualitative research falls under phenomenological because it tackles about

experiences of the Senior High School students with their peers wherein these will be used for

data collection and analysis. In here, the survey to be conducted will be done through giving out

questionnaires, asking about their experiences like how their friends influence their decision-

making. Additionally, this study also falls under the subject, psychology. Phenomenology was

chosen because the researchers would like to provide deeper and clearer understanding about

how peer influence affects the way teenagers decide by making use of the experiences they had

with them, where their decision-making reflects. These experiences will also help the researchers

to distinguish whether the influence is positive or negative. Falling under this kind of qualitative

research, the researchers will be non-directive, giving the respondents the freedom to freely

describe their experience or answer the following given questions.

Sampling Technique

In this study, the researchers will discover how peers influence students’ decision-making.

The research will circulate in its target population, the Senior High School students of University

of Perpetual Help System DALTA since they are still under adolescence stage where the study of

peer pressure focuses. Given that Senior High School is a large population, they limited it
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through focusing in students of STEM strand for this will be more convenient to the researchers

who also belong to the same strand. They will be conducting the study with a sample size of 15

Grade 11 STEM students since the research is a phenomenological one which only requires at

least 10 respondents; therefore, it is more than enough.

Falling under qualitative research, the study will use non-probability sampling, specifically

availability sampling. Availability sampling is the method of selecting respondents where their

convenience is the primary concern of the researchers. The survey will be conducted through

using their break, remedial and dismissal time to select STEM students who are available and

free along the second floor corridor occupied by Grade 11 STEM strand. In order to prevent

wrong selection of students, the researchers will ask first their selected students if they are in

Grade 11 belonging to STEM strand. Once they agreed to it, they will ask their permission if

they can be their respondents to their study where they have the right to withdraw and refuse to

it. They will also be informed of the purpose of the study. The selected 15 students will now be

considered as the respondents. Once the researchers accomplished this, the data gathered will be

analyzed.

Data Collection Tool and Procedure

The survey to be conducted by the researchers will use open ended questionnaires where

the respondents are given the right to freely express their ideas. No more observation and further

face-to-face interview will be done because compared to survey questionnaires, the latter has the

highest possibility to get accurate and precise responses which were written instead of those

stated orally which needs a lot of recalling and jotting down while the respondents are speaking
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or moving. The usage of survey questionnaires also lessen the burden of the respondents for they

have the ability to choose what time they can answer it, knowing they are students after all who

undergo a lot of works to do. In using open ended questionnaires, the researchers will be non-

directive, giving the respondents the freedom to freely describe and answer the following

questions as what phenomenological must be. Therefore, the answers are from their own

honesty, willingness and description on how experiences from peers affect their decisions.

Moreover, one survey questionnaire will be given to the respondents from each section.

In order to collect data, the researchers will follow a series of procedures. First, they will

provide a letter of approval stating that the research master allows them already to conduct their

data collection which will be presented to the respondents. It will be given first to the research

master to sign it up before conducting the survey. Next, once the research master approved of it,

the researchers will find time to perform the survey, it can be during their break time, dismissal

or they can also ask the permission of their adviser to use their remedial time. Once they’ve

thought and agreed upon the time of conducting, they can already perform the survey. Before the

respondents answer the questionnaire, the researchers will first explain their purpose of

conducting it and inform them that the information they will be sharing will be used for the

effectiveness and reliability of the study. Moreover, they will also be notified that they have the

right to withdraw in case they can’t answer the following questions. In order to protect their

anonymity, they have the choice if they want to write their name or not. The researchers will also

respect their privacy through giving them the right to refuse some of the questions which might

be too personal for them. The respondents will also be informed that due to their help in the

accomplishment of the research, they will be acknowledged by the researchers in their research
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paper. The respondents will be given enough time to think and answer the following questions.

After submitting it to the researchers, the data will be gathered and analyzed.

Data Analysis Plan

The data gathered will be analyzed and interpreted by the researchers in order to find its

result. To perform its analysis, the researchers will gather the results and list the answers of the

respondents in verbatim corresponding to the question given. Since they used an open ended

questionnaire, the responses will be analyzed through examining which has the same thought;

these will be the one used for the interpretation of data. After this, the researchers will get the

gist or theme of the answers through scrutinizing its commonality. In here, they will examine the

common idea conveyed by the considered responses. Next, they will interpret the gist in order to

get the results. In its interpretation, they will analyze which are the positive and negative

influences of peers to the decision-making of the students. They will also interpret how these

influences are adapted and how these affect their social environment such as their family and the

people in their surroundings based from the data gathered.