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To ensure a tight validation of the results and to form a cross-verification of the findings, a methodological triangulation was implemented in this research. The conclusions have, therefore, been based not only on the quantitative data but also on qualitative research. In-depth interviews have been held with 30 Israelis who have performed significant patriotic acts. The interviewees were located through official information sources such as military authorities, the Jewish Agency, and governmental bureaus, as well as through snowball techniques. Together with the statistical t-tests and ANOVA (analysis of variance) and alongside the measurements of the Pearson correlation coefficients, the relationship of each of the independent variables with patriotism was examined through a thorough reading of the testimonies of the interviewees. Thus, the influence of the social factors on patriotism was studied by means of statistical analyses of quantitative data as well as by an attempt to figure out, through qualitative research, the reasons for each of the results. Relevant extracts have been quoted from the interviewees’ testaments throughout the research chapters, using fictional names to preserve the respondents’ anonymity.
Finally, the major goal of this research was to identify not only the factors that were predictors of patriotism but also the hierarchy of their importance. Given that in real life, none of the factors acts in isolation, the resulting question was to find out which were dominant and which was ineffective. To accomplish this, a set of general linear models (GLMs) of multivariate analyses was implemented. The results of these analyses indicated vertical trust toward the military establishment to be the most successful social factor. Additional qualitative findings reinforced this conclusion, pointing out that trust in security institutions proves not only to be effective when it occurs in high levels but also extremely destructive for patriotism when its levels are low.
In a nutshell, this research is a systematic inquiry into patriotism and its social and political causes. Beyond the conclusions based on the quantitative and qualitative data, the study also presents an integrative perspective of patriotism by putting together the pieces of this most unique social phenomenon.