INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY STUDIES 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 members All 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 rate  Divorce rate  Marriage rate Then you will choose a demographic characteristic for comparison: Blacks vs. Asians H.S. degree vs. college degree Men vs. women Under 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, 2005 You will need to find this rate for the total U.S. population AND for the two comparison groups

Family Research Project Summary Choose a topic Find data on-line for three different years (i.e. 1995, 2000, 2005) and two categories (i.e. black vs. white) Review the literature State a testable hypothesis Graph the data in excel Describe the relationship between the two variables Support or reject your hypothesis Describe 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 explanations 2) Association – two variables are associated if they occur together in a patterned way or appear to act together For 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 ON your 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 the  divorce rate  teen birth rate  Poverty rate  Cesarean 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 excel Make an excel chart Your 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, 2007 Data on Infant Mortality Rates by Race _06.pdf _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

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 Scroll down to section on “Special Topics” Click “Statistical Abstract” Statistical Abstract has data for many years on many family- related topics: 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 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.

Data on births are part of the Vital Statistics collection program line.htm line.htm In the search box try: Trend Teen Birth Rates Click on NCHS 2007 Press release irth.htm irth.htm Click on pdf version for report Table 3: Data for four years by race and Hispanic origin Data from National Center for Health Statistics

Other on-line data sources Alan Guttmacher Institute AGI was formerly the research institute for Planned Parenthood Data on teen childbearing and abortion rates You 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 General Type in keywords related to your topic For example: teenage childbearing and race

APA Style APA: American Psychological Society formatting of references Every field uses a particular style In Family Studies we use APA

References National Center for Health Statistics, (2007). Health, United States, Table 19. Retrieved on March 3, 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 tips Try typing “marriage by race” Nothing is found That is because the census refers to this as Living Arrangements “Living arrangements race” Scroll to bottom Click on The 2008 Statistical Abstract, Marital Status and Living Arangements 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: 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 same Race 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 address that you use – preferably your MSU account on first page of presentation Many of the hotmail and Yahoo account see MSU mail as SPAM I will you back your graded assignment with comments and grades page inserted on the second page of your PowerPoint

Family Research Project Summary Choose a topic Find data on-line for four different years and two categories (i.e. black vs. white) Review the literature State a testable hypothesis Graph the data in excel Describe the relationship between the two variables Support or reject your hypothesis Describe your findings and how they fit or do not fit with your original hypotheses