Department of Psychology

The Course Leader: HMPYC80

University of South Africa

2013-05-30

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Research proposal: Why do People Volunteer Work.

I am currently associated with UNISA where I am an honours student in Psychology. I have special interest in why do people volunteer work due to some volunteer work I am doing with a home called Botshabelo and an organisation called Stop Hunger SA. I have attached a proposal for further research in this field.

The reasons for approaching you is because I will need funding which I will use to carry out study and for ethical approval for my study.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Rudzani Mashau

47742941

Table
The religion function is distinct from the 10 functions identified in the literature as it encapsulates motivations flowing solely from a strong belief in God and adherence to religious obligations of service to others. The motivations, in order of pervasiveness, were: values, community, career, protective, understanding, enhancement, reciprocity, religion, recognition, reactivity and social. With the exception of religion and education discussed later, there was no particular pattern to the responses about motivation with regard to other demographic factors. Given that there were only two males in the sample, it was impossible to establish a pattern among male volunteers. Nonetheless, it emerged that both were volunteering to satisfy similar motive functions: values, career, protective, understanding and recognition. Additionally, not only were motivations relating to values and community functions the most commonly mentioned, they were also often the first to be mentioned. Only a handful of participants distinguished the primary motive for volunteering