Household Budget Research

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Please see response attached (also presented below), as well as relevant and supporting article. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

1. Describe a research issue, opportunity, or problem.

This question is open to all kinds of possibilities, since it does not specify any specific area to focus on in the business world of opportunities. It is not clear by the way the question is written if it is an issue that you plan to actually research or if you are asking for general information about research opportunities in the world of business. I have decided to provide several examples of business research issues for your consideration.

EXAMPLE 1: Chinas rural and urban household survey

ISSUE: To research rural and urban consumption behavior, savings and investment behaviors, and China's food projections

Since reform and open-door policies were implemented in the late 1970s, China has become a more important player in international markets. Increasing numbers of researchers are exploring Chinas agriculture. The data from Chinas rural and urban household survey are some of the most important data for researchers both inside and outside China. These data sets have been widely used to analyze rural and urban consumption behavior, savings and investment behaviors, and China's food projections. Researchers, however, still encounter a number of difficulties in using the household survey data. Problems of accuracy and availability have seriously limited its use, made the analysis inexact and the research results difficult to interpret. As a result, consumption parameters estimated in various studies widely different. Incomplete reported meat consumption data has caused difficulty in estimating Chinas meat output and feed grain demand. Thus, to help explain Chinas household data (this in used in USA and Canada and other countries as well), one research opportunity is to collect data through rural and urban household surveys. The authors (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:MDKmAgEqlEIJ:www.card.iastate.edu/publications/DBS/PDFFiles/98wp202.pdf+basic&hl=en) provide an overview of the history of household surveys in China and the sampling methods. Then they describe the content of the household survey, the main changes in recent years, the issue of data availability, and identify problems in data collection and use.

EXAMPLE 2: USA Household Budget Survey

ISSUE: To research consumption rates in USA

ANKARA - According to the initial results of 2004 Household Budget Survey carried out by State Institute of Statistics (SIS), in 2004 the expenditures on housing and/or rent has the highest share in total expenditures with 27 percent, whereas the lowest share belongs to educational services with only 2.1 percent. In 2004, the monthly average consumption expenditure per household in Turkey is estimated as 889 YTL (one dollar equals 1.32 YTL) in general, whereas 1,017 YTL for urban areas and 663 YTL for ...