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A Tale of Two Vices

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A Tale of Two Vices The purpose of this paper is to provide a written critique of a research article written by John Rolfe entitled “A Tale of Two Vices: An Applied Economic Analysis of Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption.” In this paper I will offer a detailed analysis of the dependent and independent variables used in the study and I will offer an objective viewpoint on the effectiveness of the sampling methods used and the reliability of the study. The author begins his article by describing and defining his purpose for the research project. As a college student he moved from the Netherlands to the United States to study at the University of New Hampshire. The differences in tobacco and alcohol use from Europe to America surprised Rolfe. In beginning his research he found a statistic indicating that “Europe is the heaviest alcohol consumer region worldwide, with alcohol consumption per person over twice the average” (Alcohol Statistics in Europe, 2007 para 6). Europe ranks number one with the amount of alcohol consumed (Alcohol Statistics in Europe, 2007 para 6). The author decided to design a study to investigate the factors that influence alcohol and tobacco consumption across many countries. For the experiment, he used data from 63 different countries. To have accurate results the researcher should have separated the countries and compared them. The author began by conducting base research in academic journals. He learned that, “a country’s unemployment rate, average years of schooling, labor participation rate, unhealthy life expectancy, prevalence of health insurance, strict government regulation, and a country’s economic dependency on alcohol and/or tobacco production” are factors. The factors are accepted as possessing an impact on the amount of average tobacco and alcohol consumption in a given country. The legal drinking age in Europe is 18 and in America the age is 21. However, this factor was not given consideration in his research study. According to “About.com Psychology,” (2011) the dependent variable is what is measured in an experiment (para. 1). The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. Establish first the dependent variable when beginning a research project. In the article, John Rolfe selected “household expenditure on alcohol and tobacco consumed at home during the year 2007” (Rolfe, 2011, para. 8). Rolfe is interested in what caused the households to drink in 2007. The data gathered by Rolfe was from 63 different countries. The sampled countries included both developing countries and advanced countries. Rolfe collected data from 63 countries but fails to tell how the collection of data occurred. According to “About.com Psychology,” (2011) the independent variable is the characteristic of an experiment (para 1). The variable manipulates or changes. The independent variable affects the dependent variable. An unemployment rate of a country, education length, life expectancy, labor participation rate, the degree of health insurance a person has, government regulations, and the economic dependency on alcohol and tobacco production influence the dependent variable. The choices of independent variables are endless. The smallest change can influence the dependent variable and alter the results of the experiment. The researcher in this scenario should have mailed survey to individuals in the 63 countries. Only closed ended questions are on the survey. The first question would be if the person drinks or uses tobacco. If the answer is no these surveys can be set aside. This is an example of a nominal measurement. Additional basic questions would include time of consumption, is alcohol used alone or with tobacco and vice versa. The amount of consumption, time the consumption occurs, where the consumption takes place, does that person consume alone or with friends or both. The age, gender, and economic standing of the person drinking would also be necessary. The amount of alcohol purchased may affect the amount of consumption. The number of questions will increase the amount of data collected. Ordinal measurement system sorts the data into classification and order. This allows the data to be sorted and compiled revealing the factors with the greatest influence on the dependent variable. The conclusions provided by Rolfe state the following had the greatest influence on the consumption of tobacco or alcohol: “total unemployment, total health expenditures, a mandated health warning covering 30% of the tobacco packaging, and countries located in the countries of Asia, Africa and South America” (Rolfe, 2011, para. 13). This was in contrast to his hypothesis in which he predicted that increased health warnings would contribute to a lower reported tobacco and alcohol consumption rate. The reliability of the answers is questionable. The survey is self-administered. Anyone could be completing the survey. The time of day and mood of the participant taking the survey will influence the answers. The length of time the participants had to complete the survey is another factor. Additional influences would include unexpected celebrations, birthdays, or birth of a new baby. Validity refers to the accuracy of something. Internal validity refers to the conduction and the attention given to the decisions concerning what independent variables were selected. The experiments time frame is 2007. The time frame of the study is unclear. The experiment may have used January 1st to December 31st. or a business fiscal year. The idea behind the experiment was a respectable topic. The execution of the study was not reliable. The selection of the participants will affect the results. The participants selected should be from the same economic background and ability to purchase alcohol. The 63 countries do not have the same resources. In a developing country a consumer may not be able to obtain alcohol easily as someone in an advanced country; this would affect the alcohol consumption rate. The validity of the study was compromised by lack of personal research and also because the author failed to acknowledge many additional influencing factors, including the difference in legal drinking/tobacco consumption ages in the respective countries studied. The author attempted to sample too large of a population to produce reliable results and his method of sampling, survey, lent itself to a large degree of unpredictability and inaccuracy.

Reference

Alcohol Statistics in Europe. (2007). Retrieved from http://alcohol-statistics-in- europe.own69.com/alcohol_statistics_in_europe/
About.com Psychology. (2011). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/dindex/g/dependvar.htm
Rolfe, J. (2011, spring). A tale of two vices: An applied economic analysis of alcohol and tobacco consumption. Inquiry Journal Undergraduate Research Journal, 2(), Retrieved from http://www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal/11/articles/rolfe.html

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