Limitations and Implications for Future Research
Several limitations of this study should be noted. First, the sample size was somewhat small, particularly with respect to analyses pertaining to communication and effort. Although this is understandable given the difficulty of securing cooperation from only Cypress students only, it would be helpful if investigators attempted to obtain larger sample sizes in future studies, and especially more diverse samples that include non students. Larger and more diverse samples would provide an opportunity to conduct more sensitive tests of how well the investment model predicts measure levels of commitment, communication, and intimacy in two groups of participants; those who are single and those who are in a relationship.
Second, because our results are correlational and data were gathered at only one point in time, we cannot make attributions of causality with the two groups of participants; who are single and those that are in a relationship, if the levels of commitment, communication, and intimacy perspectives change over due course of time. Researchers in future studies of commitment and satisfaction in a romantic relationship use the longitudinal designs to follow the two groups of participants to observe developmental changes, thus controlling for cohort effects. Also, in future research, it would be helpful to obtain external corroboration of later levels of commitment and satisfaction of participants through a third person as well. For example, a research study done by Sacher and Fine (1996) used the investment model to predict relationship status and satisfaction among a sample of heterosexual dating couples. Participated couples completed measures of commitment, relationship satisfaction, alternative quality (i.e., perceptions of how easy it would be to do better in another relationship than in the present one),