TOPIC: The Impact of immigration on unemployment and wages in the United StatesFor this research proposal, you will need to do research on the topic of, “The Impact of immigration on unemployment and wages in the United States.” to find relevant data, statistical evidence and research designs and whether they are negatively or positively correlated. The proposal should be within 5-8 pages and the proposal should include the following elements: Abstract, Research question and motivation for this topic, Research Methodology(more details below), Practical research designs, Data sources, Potential threat to the validity of the research design and how you would address them (References). There should be references at the end and should be written out as shown in the example attached below. *I HAVE ALSO ATTACHED AN EXAMPLE RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR STRUCTURE, GUIDANCE AND REFERENCE.CONTENTS:•Abstract•Motivation•Method: – Identification strategy such as Ordinary Least Squares(OLS) with controls, Randomized Control Trial(RCT), Instrumental Variables(IV), Regression Discontinuity(RD), Differences-in-differences(DID)- Include a formal regression model and be clear about which parameter is your interest- Discuss the potential threats to your model and Include any possible tests to show the validity of your identification strategy- Discuss data availability•References•Length: (5-8pages)
research_proposal_econ_300.docx
research_proposal_econ_300.docx
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Note: This is a sample writing from a student in my previous class. You should
not use/distribute this document outside of the class. In the reference section,
ideally, you will write out each reference.
Impact of Participating in Football While
in High School on over-all Grade Point
Average
Abstract: There has been a significant amount of research done on whether after school
activities positively or negatively affect high school grade point averages. Most of the data
shows there is a positive correlation between after school extracurricular activities and
academic success1. This study will narrow the research topic to specifically focus on if
participation in the after school football program administered by the corresponding high
school will have a positive effect on student’s grade point average. The experiment will center
on high school juniors who played football their freshman and sophomore years and plan to
continue playing through graduation.
Motivation: While research has been done to analyze the effects of participating in high school
sports relative to grade point average success, there has been no direct research on how high
school football directly impacts grade point average. More high school males around the United
States participate in after school football than any other sport. This naturally begs the question
of whether or not participation positively or negatively affects the student’s corresponding
grade point average over the course of their high school career.
Sports are an integral part of American culture. Males are exposed to sports and are almost
surrounded by them at a very young age, whether it’s from the television at home to social
media on their mobile devices to talk and chatter and pep-rallies at their schools. This is the key
motivation for the research proposal, to find out the true effect of participating in high school
football because it will affect so many American youth males early on in their lives. If the data
reveals a statistically insignificant effect then then it will progress future thinking about how to
develop the sports environment into one that positively affects their grade point average. If the
1
Little, Wimer, and Weiss, SEDL Letter Volume XX, Number 2, August 2008, Afterschool, Family, and Community
data shows a statistically significant positive affect of participation in football on high school
grade point average then it will allow further research to be conducted as to why these affects
takes place and how to emphasize them in the future. If the data shows a statistically
significant negative affect of participation in football on high school grade point average then it
will allow for proper attention to be brought to the topic. It will also allow parents to help
influence their children into participating in a sport that does not have as much of a negative
effect on their grade point average or rather a sport that actually has a positive effect on their
grade point average.
There are two main factors that come to mind when thinking about football affecting a
student’s high school grade point average: time spent participating in the activity instead of
time spent working specifically on homework or studying, and the impact of being included in a
team environment where they are surrounded by others who want to see them succeed. Based
on the results of the research, we will either be able to come to the conclusion that one of the
factors stated above has a larger impact than the other or that the results are statistically
insignificant and the two factors cancel one another out or have no affect at all.
Methodology: For the proposal at hand I will be using a Regression Discontinuity experiment.
The experiment will encompass the 10 largest schools in Illinois all with a minimum necessity of
a 2.0 grade point average to participate in after school activities. The running variable will
therefore be grade point average at the end of sophomore year and the cut-off will be a 2.0
grade point average. Because of the assumption surrounding Regression Discontinuity, students
with grade point averages between 1.8 and 2.2 are extremely similar in nature, that is to say
treatment is randomly assigned around the cut-off, or the experiment will mimic
randomization.
The treatment group for the experiment will include student athletes participating in after
school football with a grade point average between 2.0 and 2.2. The control group for the
experiment will be students not participating in after school football but may include students
participating in other after school activities with a grade point average between 1.8 and 2.2.
The reason for allowing students in other after school activities to be included in the control
group is to address the issue of the identification assumption. At first glance is may seem as
though the identification assumption will not hold due to the fact that omitted variables come
in to play such as degree of motivation to receive better grades. However, the underlying
assumption that can be accepted here is that at some level, all students are motivated to
succeed. Whether this motivation stems from the ability to continue in after school activities or
the desire to attend a prestigious university or even the necessity to graduate high school, all
students are motivated to some degree and therefore eliminates the possibility of the control
and treatment groups being anything other than randomized.
I will also use two tests to be confident that randomization is actually occurring. First, a
histogram test will be used. This will be done by drawing a histogram showing the distribution
of observations and checking to make sure it is fairly smooth, this will confirm that there is no
manipulation of the data. The second test will be a covariates test. In this test I will use
covariates such as ethnicity, family income, and parent’s education to test for smoothness
around the discontinuity. If there is smoothness for all covariates then we can imply
unobservables variables are smooth as well. If either of the test’s fail, then then we will worry
about manipulation.
There are approximately 1100 students in each graduating class and approximately 200 male
athletes on the football team who are juniors in high school from each of the 10 largest high
schools in Illinois. This allows for an applicable size of participants to be included in both the
control and treatment group. Grade point averages for the treatment and control groups for
each student in the experiment will be calculated at their graduation and then compared to
their original grade point averages. The mean of these differences will be calculated for both
control and treatment group and then compared to one another for analysis of results. The
regression used for the experiment will be
Y = α + δAbove + γS + η(S * Above) + ε
For the equation, the variable “Above” will defined as Above =1 if S ≥2.0, Above =0 if S<2.0. The
variable S will be defined as S = 2.0. My prediction is that the differences between the increase
or decrease in grade point averages for control and treatment groups will be statistically
different from 0, allowing for the conclusion to be made that participating in football at the
high school level will have a positive impact on over-all grade point average and over-all
success in high school. A significant amount of data will be collected for this experiment. Grade
point averages of the male students of each school throughout the duration of their high school
career and the covariates for each student would be needed. This would not necessarily be easy
to collect but through the right process and appropriate channels it is very possible.
References
2
3
4
5
2
After-School Programs and Academic Impact: A Study of Chicago's After School Matters, Robert M. Goerge,
Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Miriam Wasserman, Robert Matthew Gladden, 2007
3
Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Students, Wilson, Nikki, 2009
How Does Football Success Affect Student Performance? Brad Wolverton, 2012
5
The Effect of Sports Participation on GPAs: A Conditional Quantile Regression Analysis, Andreas Santucci, 2012
4
Note: This is a sample writing from a student in my previous class. You should
not use/distribute this document outside of the class. In the reference section,
ideally, you will write out each reference.
Impact of Participating in Football While
in High School on over-all Grade Point
Average
Abstract: There has been a significant amount of research done on whether after school
activities positively or negatively affect high school grade point averages. Most of the data
shows there is a positive correlation between after school extracurricular activities and
academic success1. This study will narrow the research topic to specifically focus on if
participation in the after school football program administered by the corresponding high
school will have a positive effect on student’s grade point average. The experiment will center
on high school juniors who played football their freshman and sophomore years and plan to
continue playing through graduation.
Motivation: While research has been done to analyze the effects of participating in high school
sports relative to grade point average success, there has been no direct research on how high
school football directly impacts grade point average. More high school males around the United
States participate in after school football than any other sport. This naturally begs the question
of whether or not participation positively or negatively affects the student’s corresponding
grade point average over the course of their high school career.
Sports are an integral part of American culture. Males are exposed to sports and are almost
surrounded by them at a very young age, whether it’s from the television at home to social
media on their mobile devices to talk and chatter and pep-rallies at their schools. This is the key
motivation for the research proposal, to find out the true effect of participating in high school
football because it will affect so many American youth males early on in their lives. If the data
reveals a statistically insignificant effect then then it will progress future thinking about how to
develop the sports environment into one that positively affects their grade point average. If the
1
Little, Wimer, and Weiss, SEDL Letter Volume XX, Number 2, August 2008, Afterschool, Family, and Community
data shows a statistically significant positive affect of participation in football on high school
grade point average then it will allow further research to be conducted as to why these affects
takes place and how to emphasize them in the future. If the data shows a statistically
significant negative affect of participation in football on high school grade point average then it
will allow for proper attention to be brought to the topic. It will also allow parents to help
influence their children into participating in a sport that does not have as much of a negative
effect on their grade point average or rather a sport that actually has a positive effect on their
grade point average.
There are two main factors that come to mind when thinking about football affecting a
student’s high school grade point average: time spent participating in the activity instead of
time spent working specifically on homework or studying, and the impact of being included in a
team environment where they are surrounded by others who want to see them succeed. Based
on the results of the research, we will either be able to come to the conclusion that one of the
factors stated above has a larger impact than the other or that the results are statistically
insignificant and the two factors cancel one another out or have no affect at all.
Methodology: For the proposal at hand I will be using a Regression Discontinuity experiment.
The experiment will encompass the 10 largest schools in Illinois all with a minimum necessity of
a 2.0 grade point average to participate in after school activities. The running variable will
therefore be grade point average at the end of sophomore year and the cut-off will be a 2.0
grade point average. Because of the assumption surrounding Regression Discontinuity, students
with grade point averages between 1.8 and 2.2 are extremely similar in nature, that is to say
treatment is randomly assigned around the cut-off, or the experiment will mimic
randomization.
The treatment group for the experiment will include student athletes participating in after
school football with a grade point average between 2.0 and 2.2. The control group for the
experiment will be students not participating in after school football but may include students
participating in other after school activities with a grade point average between 1.8 and 2.2.
The reason for allowing students in other after school activities to be included in the control
group is to address the issue of the identification assumption. At first glance is may seem as
though the identification assumption will not hold due to the fact that omitted variables come
in to play such as degree of motivation to receive better grades. However, the underlying
assumption that can be accepted here is that at some level, all students are motivated to
succeed. Whether this motivation stems from the ability to continue in after school activities or
the desire to attend a prestigious university or even the necessity to graduate high school, all
students are motivated to some degree and therefore eliminates the possibility of the control
and treatment groups being anything other than randomized.
I will also use two tests to be confident that randomization is actually occurring. First, a
histogram test will be used. This will be done by drawing a histogram showing the distribution
of observations and checking to make sure it is fairly smooth, this will confirm that there is no
manipulation of the data. The second test will be a covariates test. In this test I will use
covariates such as ethnicity, family income, and parent’s education to test for smoothness
around the discontinuity. If there is smoothness for all covariates then we can imply
unobservables variables are smooth as well. If either of the test’s fail, then then we will worry
about manipulation.
There are approximately 1100 students in each graduating class and approximately 200 male
athletes on the football team who are juniors in high school from each of the 10 largest high
schools in Illinois. This allows for an applicable size of participants to be included in both the
control and treatment group. Grade point averages for the treatment and control groups for
each student in the experiment will be calculated at their graduation and then compared to
their original grade point averages. The mean of these differences will be calculated for both
control and treatment group and then compared to one another for analysis of results. The
regression used for the experiment will be
Y = α + δAbove + γS + η(S * Above) + ε
For the equation, the variable “Above” will defined as Above =1 if S ≥2.0, Above =0 if S<2.0. The
variable S will be defined as S = 2.0. My prediction is that the differences between the increase
or decrease in grade point averages for control and treatment groups will be statistically
different from 0, allowing for the conclusion to be made that participating in football at the
high school level will have a positive impact on over-all grade point average and over-all
success in high school. A significant amount of data will be collected for this experiment. Grade
point averages of the male students of each school throughout the duration of their high school
career and the covariates for each student would be needed. This would not necessarily be easy
to collect but through the right process and appropriate channels it is very possible.
References
2
3
4
5
2
After-School Programs and Academic Impact: A Study of Chicago's After School Matters, Robert M. Goerge,
Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Miriam Wasserman, Robert Matthew Gladden, 2007
3
Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Students, Wilson, Nikki, 2009
How Does Football Success Affect Student Performance? Brad Wolverton, 2012
5
The Effect of Sports Participation on GPAs: A Conditional Quantile Regression Analysis, Andreas Santucci, 2012
4
...
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