Mason Knight
4/10/2015
Mr. Paudel
Alcohol Ideology and
Actuality in the U.S.
Abstract
Does the public believe underage
consumption/purchase of alcohol can be stopped and feels that is should be, or
is it felt that it would be better just to legalize it because it happens
anyway. A short survey was created using ten basic questions that address how
the public feels about underage consumption/purchase of alcohol, and if it is
something that they feel can truly be stopped altogether. Also addressing the issue
that race and cultural could play a critical role in how a participant answers
the questions.
NEED BULLET 3 AND 4!
Introduction
The topic of underage drinking is a large and
varied issue in the U.S., forming due to the age related legality differences among
the different major countries across the world. It is ‘widely’ believed in the
U.S. that the minimum age for purchase and consumption of alcohol being set at
21 is a good marker for young adults, the term widely here is used jokingly
because it is not actually the truth. All government funded sites and
organizations will say that it is ‘widely’ believed that this age should be
raised, however this is not only not the case but it is the complete opposite.
Only referring to those who have served or are currently serving in any branch
of the military, it is a commonly held belief that is you can fight and die for
your country than you should be able to drink in it. So there is a clear gap in
credibility to what the rest of the population believes, and this report is
designed to attempt to fill some of the gap.
Methods
A questionnaire with questions relating to age,
religion, and personal thoughts about underage purchase and consumption of
alcohol has been create. Age and religion are included in the questionnaire
because they could play a major role in why a participant believes in what they
do, and this research wishes to show that as well. However, this survey mainly
address if the population feels that underage consumption and purchase is a
true problem and if it can really be stopped.
Participants
The survey was created and
emailed out to multiple people ranging from 12 years of age to 80 years of age.
As well as all cultures, races, religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
Including these the survey was also posted on multiple social media websites
including: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The survey itself is anonymous
about names to protect the true identity of the participants, but it does
require you to complete the: age, race, religion, and ethnicity questions to
project the data gathered. However, the survey is ongoing and will remain open
so the number of participants will continue to increase. The participant count
for this report will be based off of the number of completed surveys when the
information is collected for this report.
Procedures
Participants simply complete the
survey, and the results are gathered.
Data
Analysis
Data will be analyzed and
weighted based on the participant’s answers to a selected number of important
questions, the other questions are designed to be used as proof that this
survey is not target a specific group of people. Previous surveys of this type
have had a targeted audience, with the audience having the same general idea
creating a type of faked result. A few
comment boxes are available under some questions to help gain a better
understanding of where an individual belongs as far as culture and religion.
Results
For the sake of this Rough Draft, I would like to leave my
survey open longer to get more participants than I currently have. If this is
not acceptable please email me at mtknig03.louisville.edu so I may post the
current results and resubmit.
Discussion
I feel like the discussion section is to talk about what my
results mean and how they apply to the problem at hand. Since I have stated
that the survey is to prove that most people are actually favoring changing the
current drinking age, I need to wait until I post the results in this paper to
have a discussion over it. Therefore, the discussion section should remain
blank until I have completely evaluated my results.
