INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY STUDIES Family Trend Research Project.
-
Upload
alisha-wilkerson -
Category
Documents
-
view
214 -
download
0
Transcript of INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY STUDIES Family Trend Research Project.
INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY STUDIES
Family Trend Research Project
Family Trend Research Project
FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS carefully!!!!Print out and READ the directions USE the group pages on the wiki to
communicate with your group membersAll materials under the Project Folder on wiki
Project Directions in Word Sample Line chart in Excel Sample graded project Evaluation forms
Group Project on Family Trend
For this group project – you will choose a family-related rate such as
Teen pregnancy rateDivorce rateMarriage rateThen you will choose a demographic characteristic
for comparison:Blacks vs. AsiansH.S. degree vs. college degreeMen vs. womenUnder age 20 vs. over age 20
Group Project on Family Trend
Next you will find data for three years for the rate:
i.e. 1995, 2000, 2005You will need to find this rate for the total
U.S. population ANDfor the two comparison groups
Family Research Project
SummaryChoose a topicFind data on-line for three different years (i.e. 1995, 2000,
2005)and two categories (i.e. black vs. white)Review the literatureState a testable hypothesisGraph the data in excelDescribe the relationship between the two variablesSupport or reject your hypothesisDescribe your findings and how they fit or do not fit with your
original hypotheses
Doing Family Research
Family researchers ask: Q: How do we do family research? A: We use the scientific method.
Q. What is the goal of family research? A. Validity: to conduct research that
leads to valid conclusions about families and the social world they live in.
Social Research
Family researchers ask:
1) How and why do families operate and how do family trends change over time or vary by a demographic characteristic? (race, age, education level)
2) Are the conclusions we reach correct?
Many researchers seek to understand what causes factors a family or social trend
Social Research
What separates social research from other ways of knowing is that it uses the scientific approach
Research uses the scientific method to transform ideas hunches and questions –sometimes called hypotheses – into scientific knowledge
Steps in the research process
1) Select a topic – i.e. a general area of study – fertility and race
Narrow or focus your topic - i.e. does your race have an effect on the whether or not you will have a teen birth?
2) Conduct a literature review what research has been done previously? what were the findings?
Steps in the research process
3a) Develop a theory Specify an answerable research question The clearer your question, the clearer the answer
3b) State a CLEAR hypothesis:Clear: I expect that African Americans will have
higher rates of teen childbearing than Whites
Unclear: I expect race to be associated with teen childbearing
Steps in the research process
4) Design the study – i.e. what method will you use to answer your research question- for this project you will use survey data found on-line
5) Analyze the data – manipulate your data, look for patterns, use statistical analysis
Steps in the research process
7) Interpret the findings – what do the findings mean and are they similar or different from the proposed hypothesis?
7) Inform others – write a research report or book describing the entire process and findings
For this project you will create a PowerPoint presentation
Steps in the research process
Develop a hypothesis
A hypothesis proposes a relationship between one or more concepts
AND
Hypotheses describe the form of that relationship
For example:African American teens have a higher rate of
teen births than White teens in the U.S.
Steps in the research process
Developing a hypothesis
Hypotheses are causal explanations When a researcher empirically tests a
relationship between two VARIABLES it is called a hypothesis
VARIABLES in this project are a rate like marriage, divorce teen pregnancy rate and a demographic category like race, age. Sex.
After many researchers carefully test a hypothesis, and confirm it, THEN the scientific community begins to develop confidence that the idea is true
Steps in the research process
Causal explanations are used to establish whether one variable:
RACE causes another variable:
TEEN PREGNANCY
For one variable to “cause” another, it must be established before the other
For example: In the case of teen births and race:
your race is set before you give birth
Steps in the research process
Causal explanations2) Association – two variables are associated
if they occur together in a patterned way or appear to act togetherFor ex. African American teens have higher rates of teen pregnancy than white teens
Survey research
Family researchers often use survey data to study the social world
Analysis of survey data often focuses on: the relationship between two or more
variables (divorce rate and race) and testing a hypotheses about this
relationships
Survey Research
Second, we may want to look at the association between two or more variables
A simple method that shows this association is a by graphing it an excel chart
For the paper you will choose one dependent variable and one independent variable
Survey Research
You will choose a dependent variable or an outcome variable that interests you, such as:
1) teen birth rate
2) divorce rate
3) poverty rate
4) abortion rate
Survey Research
Next, you will choose an independent variable also called a predictor variable
In this project: your independent variable – should be a demographic variable such as sex, race/ethnicity, education level, income etc.
Again!
Your independent variable needs to occur before your dependent variable
Think of your independent variable as the cause and the dependent variable as the effect
Survey Research
Your family trend or dependent variable depends on your race, education, gender etc.
Your likelihood of having a teen birth DEPENDS ONyour race
Having a teen birth could not cause your race
So remember that your independent variable needs to occur before your dependent variable
Using excel to show a family trend over time
First: Choose a family trend that interests you such as thedivorce rate teen birth ratePoverty rateCesarean rate
Second: Choose a demographic variable and think about how you think the rate varies by this demographic characteristic
Find trend data on the internet (for three different years, most recent 2000 or later)
Enter data in excelMake an excel chartYour chart must be a line graph!!!
You must have three lines on your chart!!!
Finding Family Trend Data On-line
National Center for Health Statistics Health, United States, 2007Data on Infant Mortality Rates by Racehttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59
_06.pdf Table B (page 4). Infant, neonatal, and postneonatal
mortality rates, by detailed race and Hispanic origin of mother: United States, selected years 1995–2007
Don’t copy a chart that is already been created
Graph
Present the graph as the first or second slide of your Results section
Label the graph and put the source of data used in graph at bottom of slide
02468
101214161820
1985 1995 2004
Dea
th p
er 1
,000
Infant Mortality by Race, 1985 to 2004
All Races
White
Black
YearSource : National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States , 2007
Tips on making your excel chart
See the example excel worksheet and chart on the wiki in the PROJECT folder.
Make sure to choose the line chart example that is in the second row of choices and on the far left
When you highlight it, it should say: line with markers displayed at each data value
Make sure your raw data matches with your line graph data
Finding Data on Families on the Census
www.census.govScroll down to section on “Special Topics”Click “Statistical Abstract”Statistical Abstract has data for many years on many family-
related topics:
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Scroll down to “Population” link on left panel
Choose “Marital Status and Living Arrangements” from menu
Click on top link to pdf.:
“56: Marital Status and Living Arrangements”
Finding Data on Families on the Census
www.census.gov
Statistical Abstract:Table 56. Marital Status of the Population by
Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1990 to 2008
Scroll down to rates of marriage, divorce etc.
Data are available by race and for several years.
www.cdc.gov/nchsData on births are part of the Vital Statistics
collection programhttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/VitalSta
tsOnline.htmIn the search box try: Trend Teen Birth RatesClick on NCHS 2007 Press releasehttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/teen
birth.htmClick on pdf version for reportTable 3: Data for four years by race and Hispanic origin
Data from National Center for Health Statistics
Other on-line data sources
Alan Guttmacher Institutewww.guttmacher.orgAGI was formerly the research institute for Planned
ParenthoodData on teen childbearing and abortion ratesYou could compare teen pregnancy rates or abortions by
race for three different years
Cite your Source
Make sure to put the source of your data on the chart AND provide full citation on last slide (see last slide of this presentation for examples)
On chart:Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2007
Reviewing the Literature
Arguments are always stronger when existing literature is cited to support your own hypotheses and conclusions.
You must locate two scholarly sources and one MUST be from an article from a scholarly journal
You MUST cite the two sources within your presentation.
AND you MUST provide a full reference for each source at the end of the presentation
Using the Library
From the MSU home page, click on the library link on the left side panel
Click on “Articles & More”Click “Psychology/Sociology”Try “Sociological Abstracts” or “Pschinfo”Try GeneralType in keywords related to your topicFor example: teenage childbearing and race
APA Style
APA: American Psychological Society formatting of references
Every field uses a particular styleIn Family Studies we use APA
References
National Center for Health Statistics, (2007). Health, United States, Table 19. Retrieved on March 3, 2009.
Luker, K. (1996). Dubious Conceptions: The Politics of Teenage Motherhood. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Colen, C.G., Geronimus, A., & Phipps, M. G. (2006). Getting a piece of the pie: The economic boom of the 1990s and declining teen birth rates in the United States. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 1531–1545.
Searching on the U.S. Census Bureau homepage
You can search -- but you need a few tipsTry typing “marriage by race”Nothing is foundThat is because the census refers to this as Living
Arrangements“Living arrangements race”Scroll to bottomClick on The 2008 Statistical Abstract, Marital Status and
Living Arangementshttp://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/
08s0055.pdf
Writing this project
A large deduction will be taken off if you do not use a family, sociology, or psychology journal peer-reviewed article – this is a part of the assignment!
Cite using APA format: http://apastyle.apa.org/
Cite two sources within the presentation (Smith, 2005)
Provide full reference to scholarly sources and data sources on last slide of presentation in APA format.
Helpful Suggestions
Pregnancy and birth rates are not the sameRace and ethnicity are not the same. Make sure to be consistent in use, and make sure the data
matches your topic, etc.The word "data" is plural
PROOF READ - DON’T JUST SPELLCHECK!!!
A Census of the population is not the same as a national survey:
A Census attempts to collect data from EVERY person in the country, a survey is base don a sample of the population that is representative of that population.
Submitting the Project & Grading
Submit presentations through the ASSIGNMENT feature on Blackboard
BE SURE to include an e-mail address that you use – preferably your MSU e-mail account on first page of presentation
Many of the hotmail and Yahoo account see MSU mail as SPAM
I will e-mail you back your graded assignment with comments and grades page inserted on the second page of your PowerPoint
Family Research Project
SummaryChoose a topicFind data on-line for four different years and two categories
(i.e. black vs. white)Review the literatureState a testable hypothesisGraph the data in excelDescribe the relationship between the two variablesSupport or reject your hypothesisDescribe your findings and how they fit or do not fit with
your original hypotheses