Qualitative Analysis on Friendship: Importance, Activities, and Gender Differences

Qualitative analysis on Friendship
Contents
Qualitative analysis on Friendship...............................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Participants and procedure..........................................................................................................2
1.3 Results.........................................................................................................................................2
1.3.1 Friendship (Theme 1)...........................................................................................................2
1.3.2 Activitieswith friends (theme 2)...........................................................................................3
1.3.3 Importance of friendship (theme -3)...................................................................................3
1.3.4 Friendship with opposite gender (theme -4).......................................................................5
1.4 Discussion....................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Introduction
The current research is aimed to conduct the qualitative analysis about friendship based on the
two interviews conducted. The interviews were extracted from the study space and the interviews
watched repeatedly before writing the analysis. The first interview was of Mr Alexander who is
male studying in United Kingdom. Similarly the second interview Ms Louise who was also
studying in UK. Open end questionnaire was used to collect the data and the similar types of
questions were asked to both the respondents so that the different views on the friendship can be
analyzed. The male and the female combination of the respondents were taken for the analysis so
that the different perspective of both the gender can be analyzed. Both the interview was taken
separately by the same interviewer so that there is no bias in the data collection process. After
analyzing the interviews closely some themes has been developed which has been explained in
detail below. For the analysis purpose the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which
focus mainly on the response of different person in different context and situation.

1.2 Participants and procedure
In this research interview of the two respondents have been taken into consideration. The first
one is Alexander, who was born in Austria and now studying in UK. Second participant is
Louise, who is also staying in Liverpool and studying. The open ended questionnaire was used
for the analysis
1.3 Results
1.3.1 Friendship (Theme 1)
The first theme to analyze the friendship is to analyze the first step of friendship i.e how the two
friends met for the first time and where. In the current research the meeting point about their
close friend was asked. The first respondents Alexander said that he met his close friend at the
history class. In the initial period they do not have much interaction, however with time they
became friends and after some time close friends. Alexander was very excited when he mention
his friend which shows that he is very happy to have such a close friend in his life. Since
Alexander have rough childhood as his parents separated when he was still a kid, a close friend
was very helpful for him. On the basis of this analysis it can be said that the importance of friend
on someone’s life also depends on his childhood and family. Another key takeaway from
Alexander response was that the meeting point for most of the friends are in the academic
institution be it school, high school of college(Adams & Berzonsky, 2002; Demetriou, Goalen, &
Rudduck, 2000).
On the other hand when the interviewer asked Louise about the meeting point with her close
friend, she respond that the kitchen of her new apartment was their meeting point. There were
five members in the house who share the same kitchen. She also said that in the initial stage it
was just the normal conversation. However with time they get along and became good friends.
They share some common interest which also help them to make close friends. Furthermore
when asked about the male friends, and the starting point of friendship with them, Louise said
that the college halls was the starting point. However Alexander do not talk much about his
female friends and their starting point.
This shows that the most common staring point of friendship were common place such as the
classroom, college hall of the common Kitchen. It also shows that the no one became close
friend at first meeting. With some regular conversation, common interest the normal friends are
converted to the close friend.

Another important observation from the interview is that the girls make more friends as compare
to the boys. In other words girls make close friends whenever they go, be it at school, high
school, or college. They have different friends at different places. On the other hand boys stick to
their friends from childhood and avoid making new close ones.
1.3.1.1 Real vs virtual friends (sub-theme)
Another important theme in the research is about the virtual and the real friends. With increasing
use of various social media platform, it is possible to become friends without meeting the person
in reality. In this cases both the respondents said that most of their friends on social media are the
same friends whom they have met. Alexander said that he has joined some forum and blog while
he was traveling to USA and there he became friends with some people. Later he met those
friends in USA. Similarly for Louise also most of the friends are same and there are only few
friends whom she does not know personally or have not met yet. Another interesting point raised
by the Alexander about the friends is that initially the group of friend is quite big. In his case, at
college there were 15 friends in his group. However over the period of time the group keep
breaking and max 2-3 members are in each group. This also depends on the common interest
and understanding among each other.
1.3.2 Activitieswith friends (theme 2)
The second theme in the current research is based on the activities one do when they are with
friends. Interviewer asked both the respondents what they do, when they are with friends.
Alexander said that he goes out with his friends and visit different place or else just stay in the
room and discuss about different topics. He seems to enjoy his time with friends and he was very
happy explaining these things. On the other hand when same question was asked to Louise, she
said that she watch television or just gossip when she is with her close friend. On the basis of
these responses it can be concluded that irrespective of the gender and the type of the person,
people seems enjoy spending time with their friends.
1.3.3 Importance of friendship (theme -3)
One of the main motive of those interviews was to analyze the importance of friendship in a
person’s life. With the same motive the interviewer asked the importance of friendship to both
the respondents.
Alexander respond that friends are very important in his life. He says that friends are like family
and they play very important role in his life. According to Alex “ Friends are the most