Escaleras, Monica

In today’s society, different age groups seem to think and behave differently. Generational differences have influenced many controversial opinions discussed today. Not much research has been conducted on these differences, but in the studies which have been conducted, it has been concluded that there are substantial differences that exist between generations. In the limited amount of research that has been conducted, the sample was relatively small, making the survey incomprehensive. In order to understand these differences and where the opinions of generations differ, we developed an online survey about people’s opinions on controversial issues debated about in modern society. We found that there are statistically significant differences between age groups and their views on social issues such as religion, sex before marriage, same sex marriage, and abortion. Our results have shown that people are beginning to move away from the more traditional values and into more liberal viewpoints.

New software technologies are rapidly changing the economy. These changes have presented problems such as job displacement, high barrier to entry, and a gender gap in the engineering communities. In order to see the views of Americans regarding the challenges of software technologies, we conducted an online survey, gathering 500 responses. In recent news stories, it has been shown that there is a gender gap in the tech industry, but the women that participated in our survey are interested in learning software engineering as much as men. Additionally, our research found that younger people are not only required to use software tools more frequently but are the most interested in learning how to build them.  Finally, we found that a majority of people do not have any experience developing software. Our survey highlights some of the challenges of software technologies in the economy.

In 2012, the amount of reported concussions doubled in the past ten years to 3.8 million. Concussions and head-related injuries caused by contact sports can lead to long term traumatic brain injuries. With the increasing presence of these injuries, the National Football League and the National Hockey League have implemented extensive concussion protocols. This questions the underlying uncertainty of the future of contact sports. Our project addresses the question of hypothetically, if you had children, knowing what we know today about concussions/head related injuries, would you allow them to play contact sports. The decision to allow your child to play contact sports was motivated by the gender and age gap. The different levels of education had a statistically significant impact on the knowledge surrounding the current professional football and hockey concussion protocols.

Climate change is defined as the change of the global climate patterns which is caused by natural occurrences and human activities facilitated by the increased use of fossil fuels. Climate change is a prominent issue today, with people having conflicting viewpoints about it. Government intervention on the subject of climate change is widely debated. To understand the differing perspectives on climate change, we developed an online survey consisting of 12 questions. We gathered 500 responses from people all over the United States. Overall, our findings showed that people believe in climate change. However, there is a statistically significant difference on the views of climate change based on people’s party affiliation. Republicans were the highest group of all the political parties surveyed to say that the government should not have a concern for climate change. This survey depicts the conventional view that Republicans hold on the issue of climate change.

As the demand for food increases, food makers must increase production; however, there comes a point when one must consider what is sacrificed for such an increase in mass production of food. Food is now evolving, preferences are varying from natural tastes to unnatural alterations due to chemical additives. We felt more research is needed to understand what motivates consumers to purchase varying types of foods. To understand consumers’ views on food preferences, we developed an online survey with fifteen questions and collected responses from 498 people. Our findings show a statistically significant difference between people of different gender, age, and regions regarding motivations to purchase food and food labeling. With this knowledge, we may better understand what people of different demographics feel regarding the current state of food wellness, and why they might prefer certain actions over others due to their diverse backgrounds.

Although the United States seems to be progressing
more than ever in both culture and science, more
people are getting cancer than in prior history. Not
only are there more cancer patients, but the majority
of cancer patients in the U.S. rely on traditional treatments
such as Chemotherapy and Radiation. In eastern
societies, not only are there fewer cases overall,
but they tend to rely on eastern medicine treatments
such as herbs and different foods as treatment
options. Even though billions of dollars are being
raised to aid in cancer research in the U.S. alone, it
is not often you hear about new advancements that
change the landscape. This project explores people’s
attitudes towards cancer and its cure based on
demographics such as age.

The economic future of our country is uncertain after
the most recent presidential election, and many people
are wondering if they will have enough money
to retire. There are lots of people, even proficient
economists who were stunned by the economy’s
positive trend over the past few months. While there
is a strong growth in our country’s economy, there is
no clear way to see what the future has in store. The
purpose of my research is to see how people are
preparing financially towards their future. My goal
is to see if people started saving for retirement, and
how worried they are about the future. I am interested
to see how much people saved so far. What
I found is that many people did start to put money
away for retirement, but they are worried about the
future regardless of how much they have saved so
far.

Professional sports is a large industry that reaches
millions of Americans today. Those Americans are
called fans- the ones that support the teams, fill the
seats, and cheer them on from home. Occasionally
these professional sports teams decide to relocate
to another city, state, etc. Relocation has become
increasingly prevalent in the past few seasons. This
puts the dedicated fans in a difficult situation in
which they can remain loyal to the city or the specific
team itself. In order to analyze how someone would
react to their favorite professional sports team being
relocated, we developed a survey to addresses the
underlying question of would your favorite team
remain your favorite team even if they relocated.
Our results found that the decision to remain a fan or
switch to another team depends on gender and the
level of education.

Financial literacy is the backbone of the American financial
system. As cash begins to be used less, credit
is playing a larger role in our day to day activities
such as purchasing a home, car, or online shopping.
This change can create trouble for those who do not
have knowledge about their credit and finances. To
understand the financial education of Americans, we
developed an online survey about financial literacy
and collected responses from over 200 people. Our
findings show that there is a statistically significant
difference of financial literacy based on factors such
as income level and age group.