CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

What is relationship? Relationship is not about changing your partner but loving

your helpmate. It all about understands how different your spouse is from you and

accepting him or her that way. There are a few types of relationship in this world. Such as

relationship between you and your mother, father, friends, roommate and so on.

Based on Wikipedia, a roommate is a person who shares a living facility such as an

apartment or dormitory. Similar terms include suitemate, housemate, flatmate ("flat": the

usual term in British English for an apartment), or share mate (shared living spaces are often

called share homes in Australia. In the UK, the term "roommate" means a person living in

the same bedroom, whereas in the United States and Canada, "roommate" and

"housemate" are used interchangeably regardless whether a bedroom is shared. This article

uses the term "roommate" in the US sense of a person one share a residence with who is

not a relative or significant other. The informal term for roommate is roomie, which is

commonly used by university students.

Do you know what it means by good relationship and bad relationship between you

and your roommate? So, later we will look at this with further.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In this college, Labuan Matriculation College there are a lot of student from Sabah,

Sarawak and Labuan itself. Although the student came from different state so we can see

different kind of behaviour that can influence the relationship among LMC student with

their roommate.

From our observation, there are good and bad relationship between roommate.

There are a few problems like the student didn’t interact with their roommate or some of

them want to move to another room because of do not comfortable with their own

roommate .Besides, fighting between the roommates also the common problem that

student will face if they not aligned with their roommate.

Meanwhile, some of the student also can achieve a success in their study cause

having a good relationship between their roommates because they can study and helping

each other.

Therefore, from our observation a good or bad relationship between roommates will

affect our self especially the result of exam. While the student come to LMC want to study

and get a good result , they also want to create a good memories in LMC, but if they have a

problem with their roommate so it difficult for them to achieve it.

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

1- To know how far roommate affect emotionally.

2- To find whether the roommate share something in common.

3- To know whether student comfortable with roommate.

4- To know how far student can trust their roommate.

5- To know whether the student knows their roommate well.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1: Definition of Good and Bad Relationship between Roommate

Sharing a room with a family member or a friend can be tough, but it becomes

especially difficult when you're sharing it with someone you barely know. A lot of people,

however, have very little choice when it comes to this matter. As much as they want to have

the room all to themselves, they are forced to give up half their space, if only to save on rent

or to fulfill college rules. If you find yourself in a similar situation, do not despair. There are

things you can do to help you cope with having a roommate, no matter who it may be.

That’s why there are two types of relationship. Either good or bad. First of all, you

have to remember that you get what you give. If you are nice to others, then others will be

nice to you as well but if you not nice with other, they sure will treat you like you treat

them.

As we all know good relationship between roommate means you can spend time and

get along with your roommate and your will find having a roommate to be an enjoyable and

positive experience. If you have a good relationship with your roommate, surely you can

share your basic cultural background. There are benefits to finding a roommate from a

different background. For example, if your roommate is a great cook of recipes from his or

her home country, then between the two of you, you can cook up two entirely different

cuisines at you home. If your roommate's second language is your primary language, then

you have the opportunity to learn a second language from a native speaker. If you can do all

this with your roommate, maybe its means that you already achieve a very good

relationship between you and your roommate.

How about bad relationship between roommate? Bad relationship between

roommates we can define it as you cannot pair up with a roommate so that you always and

only found his/her weaknesses and vice versa. You and your roommate both will not get any

benefit from this relationship. You only get under one roof, but cannot get along as a half

family. For example, you cannot respect, communication, understanding each other with

sincerity, cannot share your things, opinion, always fought, and most important cannot

keep trust each other. All this will cause your happy life will bounce away.

2.2 : EFFECTS OF BAD AND GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH ROOMMATE

IN OUR LIFE

Bad Effects

Living with a crappy dorm roommate could drag down your GPA as well as your mood.There

is no shortage of research to prove roommate relations factor heavily into a student's

overall sanity."Roommate peer effects are important influences in freshman year GPA and

in decisions to join social organizations, Bruce Sacerdote, Professor of Economics at

Dartmouth College, wrote in "Peer Effects With Random Assignment: Results For Dartmouth

Roommates."Another study out of the University of North Carolina found problems with

roommates as one of the biggest stressors.

eCampus News reports:

Conflict with roommates has consistently ranked among the top five reasons students drop

out of college. Schools that have used self-selecting online services have reported a 65-

percent reduction in roommate conflicts, while 48 percent of residence hall staffers said

conflicts were “less severe” after adopting the service.

Instead of trying to implement their own process to find incoming freshmen their best

match’s, colleges are outsourcing the task to websites that approach the process similar to

online dating.In other hand, bad relationship with your roommate can cause unhappy life in

your college life. This will affect when you have a job. That’s because you’re not enjoy or use

that time or opportunity to get many memories with your roommate or with your college

friends.Other, it can cause you to get stress and will effects your healthy as well.

Good effects

Living with a good roommate or roommate that has same characters with you can make you

feel happy and almost no worries at all. They’re also can help you in your study as well as

can make you increase and maintain your good grade as well. This can make you have a

happy life in college and you can build many memories so that all the memories that not

happy can erase. Thus, this situation will not make you regrets or no regrets at all.

Furthermore, having a good relationship with roommate you can share many things

together. For example, your secret, problem and you also can ask for good advice. If you

having any problem, they will notice and ask you. So, don’t wait anymore, just tell and

probably you two can try to solve and faces the obstacle together. That’s what a good

relationship mean. In addition, a quote about relationship tell…“a good relationship is when

you can tell and share your problem with your partner, no secrets at all”

2.3 : REASON TO HAVE A BAD RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROOMMATES

There are advantages to having a roommate, including company and shared expenses. But,

argument, misunderstanding or not feel comfortable with your roommate is the common

problem that you will face especially when this is the first time you live in the hostel with

someone else.

There are several reason why you have a bad relationship between your roommate.

Firstly, lack of communication. Sometimes people avoid direct communication because they

do not want to hurt a roommate's feelings or are afraid of rejection. Little issues can

escalate, causing big problems. If issues are not discussed immediately, angry feelings

develop and roommates will not get along.

Secondly, poor boundaries. Violating a roommate's boundaries leads to disagreements.

Using his possessions without asking, eating his food and going into his room when he isn't

home are examples of common boundary violations with roommates. The failure of one or

both roommates to be clear about personal boundaries leads to problems. If a boundary is

broken and the issue is not discussed openly, the situation can quickly become volatile.

Furthermore, grocery arguments .A common area of arguments for roommates involves

groceries. Someone can harbour bad feelings if a roommate eats her food, does not

replenish shared supplies or lets food spoil. It's best to work out a system of who buys what

and when to avoid these arguments.

Next, cleanliness .One roommate's idea of clean might not match another's.

Common areas can become dirty and lead to stress if roommates have different

expectations of who cleans, how thorough cleaning should be and when cleaning should be

done. Lastly, noise problem. One person's noise is another person's music. Roommates can

argue if one is playing music at 3 a.m. while the other wants to sleep. If your music drives

your roommate crazy, it will get on her nerves and cause a fight. Not agreeing on an

acceptable volume level, failure to wear headphones and invading your roommate's

emotional space with music she does not like are common sources of disagreements

between roommates.

2.4: WAYS TO OVERCOME BAD RELATIONSHIP

As we are living in this challenge world, we all faced a very busy life to make a better life.

With or without realize, we actually involve with many different kind of relationship. We

have friendship, family ties, romances, work and school-related connections and more of it.

“Relationship colouring and make our life even better”. Just like a normal desire where all

people want a better life than it now. Marriage and family therapist Mitch Temple, author of

The Marriage Turnaround, once wrote that “in spite of the fact every relationship has its ups

and downs, successful couples have learned how to manage them and keep their love life

going”. In other hand, in order to have better and happy life we have to avoid a bad

relationship among us.

Elaine Fantle Shimberg, author of Blending Families, says that we can’t communicate when

we are checking our blackberry and watching TV. Just think of it, isn’t that true? People

nowadays lack of communication skills. For instance, teenage busy with their free world by

social network. and the older busy with their job to make a better life until they have no

time to communicate with each other. It will lower the understanding between people.

When it is roommate, they have their own life that maybe cannot be intruded by other

especially by the people they just know. It can be conclude that all relationship problems

stem from poor communication skills.

To avoid the entire relationship problem, we can work at it by always communicate with

each other in a good way. we may Talk about what we like and do not like, for example by

asking them about their self and their hobbies, then try to make a happy surrounding

between us, moreover tell them when we have a guest so that we know that we are respect

to each other, other than that, Loyola University Maryland website in the article "Managing

Roommate Conflict." Suggest that we have to tell our roommate when something is

bothering us than bottling it up. More important, Support our roommate if they is dealing

with a personal issue, like a death in the family or stress of their study and ask if they need

someone to confide them. Lastly, if the problem still cannot be resolve we have to seek for

professional help.

2.5: WAY TO MAINTAIN A GOOD RELATIONSHIP

In LMC, the student will live in the hostel with four person per room. Usually in the room

there will be a student from Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan as well. As a student they will not

has a power to choose their roommate .So, it will be a problem for the some student that

can’t cooperate with their new roommate. Meanwhile, some of the student may have

grown up with lot of sibling or the first time share a room with someone else. This may

cause a problem for the student that are first time live in the hostel to get a good

relationship with their roommate.

Therefore, there are several way to maintain a good relationship with your roommate.

Firstly, be open to the new thing. Your roommate may be from someplace . They may have

a religion or lifestyle that is completely different from your own. Be open to new ideas and

experiences, especially as it to relates to what your roommate brings into your life.

Secondly, be friendly without expecting to be best friend . Don't go into your roommate

relationship thinking that you are going to be best friends for the time you're at school. It

may happen, but expecting it sets both of you up for trouble. You should be friendly with

your roommate but also make sure you have your own social circles. Thirdly, respect your

roommate’s stuff. This may seem simple, but it's probably one of the biggest reasons why

roommates experience conflict. Don't think he'll mind if you borrow his cleats for a quick

soccer game? For all you know, you just stepped over an uncross able line. Don't borrow,

use, or take anything without getting permission first.

Beside that, make sure keep common area clean because it’s each roommate’s

responsibility to keep common areas tidy so everyone can enjoy them all the same .At the

same time, don’t eat your roommate food. If you and your roommates keep separate food,

you know how annoying it is when someone else eats yours. You don’t particularly mind it

when you have a full bag or box of something I know how to share but I get rather angry

when I have a craving for something you bought only to find out that it’s gone when you go

to grab it. Roommates shouldn’t have to keep food under lock and key. If you generally keep

your hands off buying your own food helps in this context.

Furthermore, invite your roommate out with you. At least try to engage in an activity

that you both enjoy. For instance, go shopping together or watching movie. This gave you

ample time to talk (sometimes about things going on around the house) and to learn more

about each other, both of which enhanced the roommate dynamic. Next, give your

roommate space. Not all roommates like each other, so even if you’re living under the same

roof, you don’t have to be beasties. If your roommate isn’t particularly fond of you, don’t

push the boundaries in hopes that they’ll learn to like you; doing so will only make you seem

like a psycho. On the other hand, if you have a roommate who is smothering you, let them

know that you need a little privacy now and then. Maybe you can do like the boss does and

open the bedroom door when you’re available and close it when you want to be alone.

On the other hand, be careful of who you bring into your room and how often. You

may love having your study group into your room. But your roommate may not. Be mindful

of how often you bring people over. If your roommate studies best in the quiet, and you

study best in a group, can you alternate who hits the library and who gets the room?.Then,

talk about problems before they get out of hand . If there is a problem in your dorm it is

important to voice your opinion. While communal living is about compromise, if you have a

concern you need to speak up before the problem escalates further. Letting something

fester for too long can lead to serious problems down the road. Lastly, Let quiet time be

quiet .This is probably the most important piece of advice to keep in mind when sharing a

space with another person. Be considerate of the fact that you and your roommate

probably don't have the same sleep schedule. If your roommate goes to bed early, show

some respect by keeping quiet while they are in bed. The more respectful you are of your

roommate's habits, the more likely your early rising roommate is to respect your habit of

sleeping in late. Quiet time also includes reading , studying or time your roommate needs or

wants to themselves.

CHAPTER 3 : METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Sample

The research we do is to find the relationship between student and roommate

among Labuan Matriculation College. The respondent we choose is from LMC student

which required different module. 10 student from module 1, module 2, module 3, and

accountancy respectively. Each of this module consist 5 male(boys) and 5 female(girl). This

student is 19 years old and from Sabah and Sarawak plus, there are from different ethnicity

such as Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Dusun, Sino-rungus, Sino-dusun, Bajau-bugis, Suluk, and Lun

Bawang. The total student we picked for the research is 40 people.

3.1 Research Instrument

We used questionnaire to do this research. We distribute the surveys to each

different module stated above. For question 1, we want to knows whether the student

knows their roommate base on objective stated at number 5. Then, for the question 2,

question 3, question 4, question 5 and question8 we want to knows how far student trust

their roommate based on our objective stated at number 4 . Question 6 and question 7 is to

find whether the student roommate affect their emotionally based on objective stated at

number 1. As for question 9 and question 10, we want to find if the student feel

comfortable or not with their roommate as stated at objectives at number 3. Objective

stated at number 2 we asks at the question 11.

3.2 Research Procedure

We distribute the questionnaire about a month ago at Labuan Matriculation College

with the help of our friend from different module.

CHAPTER 4 :FINDINGS

Analysis and Result

Question I :

Figure 1

The figure above shows the number of respondents’ based on their gender and courses. A

total number of 10 student came from all module; Module 1, Module 2, Module 3, and

Accountancy. They’re 5 Boys and 5 Girl from each module. Thus, the total respondents’ are

40 students.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Accountancy

Girls

Boys

Number of Student based on their Gender and Courses

Question ii :

Figure 2

Based on the figure above shows the number of respondent’s based on their ethnicity. We

can conclude that the number of student Malay as respondents’ is the higest which is 9.

Follow by Iban 7 student , Suluk and Dusun 5 student, Lun Bawang 4 student, Bajau-Bugis

and Bidayuh 3 student, while Sino-dusun and Sino-rungus shows 3 student.

9

4

7

5 5

3 3

2 2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Number of student based on their Ethnicity

Number of student

Question iii :

Figure 3

The pie chart above shows the number of student based on their hometown. Most of

student are from Sabah with 22 of student, while student from Sarawak only 18 student.

22

18 Sabah

Sarawak

Number of Student Based on their Hometown

Based on Question 1 on Questionnaire, the question asks whether student know their

roommate background. The student is among Labuan Matriculation College. The figure

below shows the data that have been collected.

Figure 4

From the data, it shows the percentage of respondent’s answer on whether their knows

their roommate background. 67.50% of respondent’s shows positive answer while another

32.50% shows the negative answer.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

No Yes

32.50%

67.50%

Do you know your roommate background?

Percentage

Based on questionnaire, Question 2 asks whether the student ever fought with their

roommate. Based on questionnaire, this is data that have been collected.

Figure 5

From the data collected, we can see the percentage of student in LMC have fought with

their roommate. With 17.50%, the student answer that they have fought with their

roommate, but another 82.50%, student choose to answer that they never fought with their

roommate.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Yes No

17.50%

82.50%

Do you ever fought with your roommate?

Percentage

Based on Question 3 on the Questionnaire distribute to respondents’ which are student

LMC, the question asks whether they want to give something that their roommate want to

borrow from them.

Figure 6

From the results that have been collected above (whether the respondents’ would give their

stuff that their roommate want to borrow), we can see most of student would give

something that their roommate want to borrow with the number of percentage occur is

75%. Another 25% is the student that did not want their roommate borrow their stuff.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Yes No

75%

25%

Would you mind give something that your roommate want to borrow?

Percentage

Based on Question 4 on the Questionnaire, it ask which of the respondents’ stuff that they

not mind if their roommate use.

Figure 7

The data above shows the number of student that not mind if their roommate want to use

or borrow based on their stuff. For this question they are given seven optional that is laptop,

iron, reference books, handphone, water heater, cloths, and others. For the others stuff the

respondents’ specify it as stationary. The respondents’ may choose at least 2 answer. 17

student choose laptop, 26 choose iron and the highest number of student is 28 which is on

reference books. Handphone obtain 10 student, 23 student choose water heater, while 6

student choose cloths and ohers stuff obtain 2 student respectively.

17

26

28

10

23

6 2

No of student give their roommate use(borrow) their stuff

Laptop

Iron

Reference books

Handphone

Water Heater

Cloths

Others

Based on Question 5 in the Questionnaire, it asks about whether the student or

respondents’ tell their roommate or not their password if their handphone or laptop have

password.

Figure 8

From the results above, it shows that whether respondents’ would tell their password of

handphone and laptop to their roommate. Most of the student choose no with percentage

obtain is 65%, while the student choose yes is 35%.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Yes No

35%

65%

Would you tell your password?

Percentage

Based on Question 6 in the Questionnaire asks respondent’s whether their roommate affect

their emotionally.

Figure 9

From the data above, it shows whether the roommate affected respondents ’emotionally.

The percentage of roommate not affected the respondents’ emotionally is highest value

obtain with 60%. The other 40% choose the answer that their roommate affected the

respondents’ emotionally.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Yes No

40%

60%

Did your roommate affect your emotionally?

Percentage

For Question 7 in the Questionnaire, the respondents’ need to explain why their roommate

affect the respondents’ emotionally.

The answer that the respondents’ give have negative and positive answer. For the positive

answer, the LMC student state they’re sad if their roommate sad. In addition, if they’re in

problem they’re will share with their roommate and their roommate will give advice and

make them relief. Some student said that she/he love their roommate because their

roommate is nice and a good person.

However, we also have negative answer. Some student write that they’re rarely

communicate with each other. Furthermore, some student cannot beer to see their

roommate too stress. Then, sometimes their roommate too noisy and sometimes too busy

body.

From the above data, we knows that the roommate have affected the respondents’

emotionally.

Based on Question 8 in the Questionnaire, asks respondents’ whether they sharing their

problem with their roommate.

Figure 10

From the data given above, it shows the percentage of LMC student share their problem

with their roommate. The data obtain that 62.50% of student which is highest number of

student choose that they share their problem with their roommate. Only 37.50% of the

student choose not to share the problem with their roommate.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Yes No

62.50%

37.50%

Do you share your problem with your roommate?

Percentage

Based on the Questionnaire distribute to respondents’, Question 9 asks whether the

respondent feel comfortable with their roommate.

Figure 11

From the data shows above is about whether the LMC student feel comfortable with their

roommate. Most of student choose that they feel comfortable with their roommate with

50% percentage obtain. 12.50% student choose that they not feel comfortable with their

roommate, while another 37.50% of student choose it depend on their roommate.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Yes No Depends

50%

12.50%

37.50%

Do you feel comfortable with your roommate?

Percentage

Based on Question 10 in Questionnaire, we want to know why the respondents’ feel

comfortable or not comfortable with their roommate.

For the answer of why the respondents’ feel comfortable with their roommate because of

their roommate are understanding and good person. In addition they said their roommate

are trustable, sporting and they’re share many things in common. Furthermore, their

roommate offer helps whenever their have problem.

As for the answer of student that said they’re not comfortable, the reasons is the student

problem that she/he too shy with their roommate. Some student said their roommate is too

busy body that make their feel uncomfortable.

Some student have answer depend which they said sometimes, they want to keep

something in private and sometimes their roommate act make them uncomfortable.

Sometimes it just the respondents’ mood keep changing.

We can knows why student feel comfortable and uncomfortable with their roommate based

on results obtain above.

Based on Question 11 in the Questionnaire that asks the respondent whether the student

have share many things in common with their roommates.

Figure 12

The figure above shows the data obtain from the respondents’. For this question they’re

given seven optional that is song, interested, movies, admire, artist, games, and others. As

for the others the respondent’s specify it as fashion .They’re can choose more than one

answer. The highest number of student shows is at movie. Then, song obtain 25 of student,

10 student choose interested, 4 of student choose admire, 8 students choose for artist,

while 19 student choose games and for others 3 student have choose.

25

10

26

4

8

19

3

No of student that shre many things in common with roommate

Song

Interested

Movie

Admire

Artist

Games

Others

CHAPTER 5 : CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of Findings

Based on objectives to knows how far the student roommate affect their

emotionally, we find that some student is not affected but some student do affect. This we

can see from the data from figure 9 that shows 60% student not affect but another 40% do

affect. This is due to how the student communicate with their roommate.

For objective to find whether the roommate share something in common, we can

see it from the data shows in Figure 12. There are many things that the student share in

common with their roommate based on optional that we given in the questionnaire.

Next for the objectives to know whether the student comfortable with their

roommate, the data collected can be see at figure 11. From the data we knows that half of

the student feel comfortable with their roommate. With 12.50%, the student answer that

they feel uncomfortable with their roommate and another 37.50% choose it depend on

their roommate act.

Then, as for objective that to knows how far the student trust their roommate we

can see from the data shows in figure 6, figure 8 and figure 10. From the data shows we can

conclude that not all student trust their roommate.

The last objective state how far the student know their roommate we can see the

data from the figure 4. Most of the student do know their roommate based on the

percentage shows 67.50% of them answer yes on question 1, while 32.50% of them answer

no which that mean they do not know their roommate well.

5.2 Research Limitation

Student that choose for this research only in Labuan Matriculation College as they’re

from many courses or module, difference ethnicity and only from Sabah and Sarawak.

Difference module or courses shows difference in results. There some student state

that she/he from same places and same ethnicity with roommate, this shows us ethnicity

influence the data collected.

Difference gender also give us difference results as the male shows they share in

common in roommate many than female does.

As for conclusion, difference in criteria we use to do in this research give difference

result.

5.3 Recommendation for future research

We like to do surveys on the highest number of student so we can make more

details result. Moreover, we might see difference the way of thinking of these student. We

also want to do on the student in others origin since we have done with student from Sabah

and Sarawak.

REFERENCES

Roommates – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. This page was last modified on 2

January 2013 at 03:05. Retrieve 5 February, 2013.

Help Me Understand Relationships - Letter Writing By Peter Harris – Ezine @rticle.

Submitted On October 31, 2009. This article was taken from

http://ezinearticle.com/helpmeunderstandrelationship Retrieve on 5 February,

2013.

How to Have a Good Relationship - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Relationships

By Carole Merritt – Ezine @rticle. Submitted On July 12, 2009. This article was taken

from http://ezinearticle.com/howtohaveagoodrelationship Retrieve on 5 February,

2013.

The Benefits Of Living With A Roommate By Adam Masterson – Ezine @rticle.

Submitted On February 24, 2011. This article was taken from

http://ezinearticle.com/helpmeunderstandrelationship Retrieve on 5 February,

2013.

What are Some Common Problems with Roommates? Written By: Devon Pryor.

Edited By: O. Wallace. Copyright Protected: 2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation. This

article was taken from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-common-

problems-with-roommates.htm

Cause and effect relationship in personal, public, or campus. Taken from Layak Singh

’s Blog. Retrieve on 5 February, 2013.

Heading Out on Your Own — Day 8: Living With Roommates by BRETT & KATE

MCKAY on AUGUST 8, 2012. Copyright © 2010 Customized by Eric Granata. This

article was http://artofmanliness.com/tag/heading-out-on-your-

own/livingwithroommates.