Research Question: Immigration and Crime
Chunk 3: Survey/Data
Independent Variable: The cause variable, the variable that you think affects some outcome.
Dependent Variable: The outcome variable, things caused in part by the independent variable.
Confounding Variables: Anywhere from 2-5 variables, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, education, income.
In this study, the independent variable is people's perceptions about immigration, specifically regarding illegal immigration and whether it should be easier or more difficult for immigrants to come to the US legally. These responses will be collected by 3 questions on the survey and analyzed based on the confounding variables.
The dependent variable is how people think about crime in society and in general. Respondents were asked about the importance of addressing crime, their perceptions of crime, and how to prevent crimes in the first place. These responses will be collected by several questions regarding crime in society. The responses will provide enough data to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the sample size of the survey.
There are many confounding variables that can affect the outcome of the survey. Some of these variables include race, gender, educational attainment, age of the respondents, and their political party affiliation. Respondents were categorized by race (white, black, Hispanic, and Asian), gender (male and female), educational attainment (no college, high school, and bachelor's degree), and political party affiliation (Democrat, Republican, and Independent). All respondents were at least 18 years of age.
Respondents will be analyzed based on differing demographics, including race, gender, political party affiliation, age, and education level.