The Politics of the Unemployment Rate

RESEARCH DESIGN

In order to find an answer to this research question and to prove the validity of the hypotheses, a quantitative approach will be taken. Since there have not been many studies completed in this area of research I will use an observational study involving uncontrolled mean comparisons to explain the relationship between different independent variables to the dependent variable of the unemployment rate. I am just looking to see if there is a relationship at this time. Further research in the future could involve using controlled mean comparisons to see if an outside variable that can be controlled is the actually cause of a relationship with the unemployment rate. I am only going to be testing for a relationship to see if my hypotheses are valid, which then I could move on to this further research. A Quantitative approach works the best because I am dealing with measureable variables to see if a relationship actually exists between the dependent and independent variable or if it is caused by something else. A mean comparison analysis is the best tool for my research design because these types of comparisons “condense relationships to a single, easy-to-interpret measure of central tendency.” A mean comparison is also the correct tool to use because I am dealing with ordinal level independent variables and an interval level dependent variable of unemployment. The independent variables that I will use in my research will be: the amount of acres that can be used for oil drilling, standardized testing scores for different countries in math, reading, and science, amount in dollars of tax breaks for multinational corporations, and the amount of endangered species in a given area.

VARIABLES

Each of these proposed var...

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