Research methods on poverty report

Solution Preview

See the attached file.

Suggested Outline

1. Introduction
2. Philosophy & research design
3. Hypothesis, sampling, measures & data collection
4. Pilot testing & data analysis
5. Validity & reliability
6. Ethics & logistics
7. Conclusion

As you can see, this has been made to be as concise as possible - this is because this is a structure, not the research itself. I believe this is what you will use as your guide and framework if you are going to go forward with undertaking the research.
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Research Proposal: Infant Mortality Rate & Poverty

Introduction

I come from Memphis, Tennessee. My city is a multicultural hub with a population of around 1.3 million for 'Metro Memphis' (Charlier, 2011). Racially, 63% of our populace is made up of African Americans, 30% White, 5% Hispanic while Asian and some other races make up the last 2%. The city's heritage makes it one of America's most interesting cities where politics, culture and revolution amalgamate. It is where Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of his most profound speeches and it is where he was also assassinated. It is home to one of America's most distinct music scenes where talents like Johnny Cash, BB King & Elvis Presley first found their voice. Economically, the city is thriving primarily due to its central location being the city where 2 interstate highways, 7 major U.S. highways, several railroads and a busy international airport converge, 9 of America's top companies hold their HQs in the city including FedEx, GTx Pharmacy and Mueller Industries. Memphis is ranked 37 (Business week, 2012) among the US' top 40 strongest metro economies. With such a background, it is therefore rather shocking to know that the city also has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, ranking #1 in 2005. A prosperous city such as Memphis should not have an infant die every 43 hours (Edmondson, 2005). In 2002, 202 infants died 'on record' in the city with the statistics remaining at about that level a decade on. I would like to investigate the causes for infant mortality rate in Memphis - why it is so high. Being a resident, I am quite familiar with the economic conditions in the city although a report by Charlier (2011) confirmed my suspicions - he writes that 19.1% or 246,265 Memphians live in poverty, making it the #1 metro in America in terms of poverty rate with New Orleans a close second at 17.4%. It is my belief that conditions of poverty influence infant mortality rate and I propose investigating the relationship between these 2 social issues ...