Android :: Passing Variable String To Create Arrays (Android)

I am a newb to Android and Java and want to write a funtion that will display a list based on a varable that I pass to the function. The function is below and the code below creates an array out of a string called type, but what I want to do is pass it a variable string and have it build a list based on that string. So if I wanted the type list I would say list_it("type")But if I try something like getResources().getStringArray (R.array.thelist); it doesn't work.Can someone point me in the right direction? public void list_it(String thelist){String[] types = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.type); ArrayAdapter<String> mAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.list_item1, types);
setListAdapter(mAdapter);
ListView lv = getListView();
lv.setTextFilterEnabled(true);