Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Economy and Divorce Rates

Today when checking facebook, National Public Radio (NPR) posted a question for its followers. "New research says the U.S. divorce rate falls as unemployment rises. Is this because (A) unemployment increases marital stress, but people stay married because they can’t afford to split up or (B) unemployment causes couples to turn toward each other, growing closer and happier? What do you think?" Within an hour the post had 1,387 comments, 458 "Likes", and had been shared 305 times. This is a direct example of the material covered and discussed in class applied to the real world. A majority of the responders voted "A" which is similar to the discussion in class. One problem with a question like this is that their are only two options. What are some other variables that the question failed to acknowledge?

1 comment:

  1. I think that another variable that the article failed to recognize is that if couples stay together then maybe there are more single income households which would increase the amount of unemployment and also decrease the amount of divorce. I also understand that to try and get a mass amount of opinion it is better to make a two-option survey but I think maybe putting a couple more scenarios would help to show less of a survey bias type situation

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