Adamson,+J


 * __ D __****__ A __****__ T __****__ A __****__ C U L M I N A T I N G T A S K  __**

** Unemployment Rate VS Amount of Food Donated **

BRAINSTORMING Our family has been donating a lot of food as well as clothes, toys, and books to shelters. This made me interested to see how much other people (specifically in Hamilton) donate to the poor. The information I found was directed towards food donations specifically so I decided to do it on that. This being said, there has been a lot of food drives going on for Halloween time. Christmas time is also coming up therefore there will be more need for this food for others. I am interested to see if there is a relationship between the unemployment rate and how much food people donate to Hamilton food banks. I kept this study in Hamilton because it is the city which we live in therefore makes it all that more interesting to see how we as a town are doing.



BACKGROUND INFO:

RECESSION

In December 2008, an article had been published in the Canadian Press called “It’s Official: We’re in a Recession”. The Bank of Canada warned our country, for the first time, of a "deteriorating global economy". During the recession, the unemployment rate had risen. The unemployment rate represents the fraction of the labour force that is unemployed. As people lost their jobs, it became harder for them to support themselves and their families. Job losses and overall economic decline forced many to turn to food banks, leaving the food banks under tremendous pressure.



FOOD BANKS

A food bank is a non-profit organization that provides immediate hunger relief to individuals and families who are unable to afford food and do not receive adequate government financial assistance. The first food bank started in 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona. This concept has now spread worldwide. Though food banks help many people, one in five food bank locations does not have enough food to meet the needs of those they serve. This shortage is demonstrated in my data collected from Neighbour to Neighbour. Food banks receive their food from companies or supermarkets with unsalable stock, and also from donations from the general public, typically non-perishable goods.



NEIGHBOUR TO NEIGHBOUR

 This organization provides emergency food once a month for an average of 1,000 families on the Hamilton Mountain and surrounding areas. When you review my data, please keep in mind that it takes 100,000 pounds of food a month to run their food bank. Neighbour to Neighbour Centre has **100 volunteers! **

QUESTION Does Hamilton's monthly uneployment rate determine the amount of food donated to a Hamilton food bank in 2009?

HYPOTHESIS Hamilton's unemployment rate has an impact on the amount of food donated to local food banks. The more people who are unemployed, the less support the food bank will get because those who are without jobs want to support themselves before others. We are on an economic downfall right now so people may not have enough money to donate to another cause. **//I predict there will be a strong negative relationship.//**

VARIABLES **// Independent //**** - ** Unemployment Rate of people in the Hamiltion region in 2009 **// Dependant //**** - ** Amount of food donated in poundage at Neighbour to Neighbour (Hamilton) in 2009

ONE VARIABLE DATA- GRAPHS





TWO VARIABLE DATA- GRAPHS // Hamilton VS Montreal //

Equation of the Line= 4590.3x + 11171 r= 0.41 ...Therefore, there is a **//moderate positive correlation.//**

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

The “Labour Force Survey” uses a //voluntary response survey// of 53,000 representative households across Canada. This is a voluntary response survey for a few reasons. The first is, the entire population is not surveyed. Secondly, a response from those doing the survey is not mandatory. Lastly, the estimates given are subject to a sampling error.

 I collected the amount of food donated to Neighbour to Neighbour through the actual food bank itself  The data is the total pounds in per month  Does not take into account the wastage (Dented, rusted, past due, spoiled food)

BIAS

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">I could not find the information I needed on statistics Canada on Hamilton’s food donations so I took the matter into my own hands. I emailed neighbour to neighbour to get the numbers I needed in order to complete my project. I got an email back from a staff member at the food bank and achieved my goal. Since I asked this lady non- anonymously and may have put her on the spot, **//response bias//** could have resulted from this.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Response bias **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">- this occurs when participants deliberately give false or misleading answers. Respondents may want to influence results or they may be afraid/ embarrassed to answer questions honestly.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The lady could have felt embarrassed to tell me the truth about the numbers of neighbour to neighbour because maybe they were really low or maybe they were really high. She also knew my intentions of getting the information from her so she may have lied because she did not want to make the company look bad and have the blame on her. What could I have done to prevent possible bias? I could have mailed a letter to neighbour to neighbour with my questions and ask them to respond to a post office box. This may have resulted in more accurate data due to the fact that they could have answered anonymously.

CONCLUSION

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">My hypothesis has been proven incorrect. I originally stated the outcome of Hamilton’s monthly unemployment rate and the amount of food donated to Neighbour to Neighbour would have a strong negative relationship. However, it is in fact a moderate positive correlation because the r value was 0.41, which came as a shock to me. As the unemployment rate increased, the amount of food donated also increased. Perhaps people became more aware of the needs of others as the economy turned downward.

RAW DATA


 * ** Place ** ||  ** Date (2009) **  ||  ** Percentage of those unemployed **  ||
 * Hamilton || Jan 11-Feb 7 {JAN.} || 6.9 ||
 * Hamilton || Feb 8-March 14 {FEB.} || 8.0 ||
 * Hamilton || March 15-April 11 {MAR.} || 8.4 ||
 * Hamilton || April 12-May 9 {APRIL} || 8.8 ||
 * Hamilton || May 10-June 6 {MAY} || 7.9 ||
 * Hamilton || June 7-July 11 {JUNE} || 7.4 ||
 * Hamilton || July 12-Aug 8 {JULY} || 7.1 ||
 * Hamilton || Aug 9-Sept 5 {AUG.} || 8.2 ||
 * Hamilton || Sept 6-Oct 10 {SEPT.} || 8.7 ||
 * Hamilton || Oct 11-Nov 7 {OCT.} || 9.1 ||

POUNDAGE OF FOOD AT NEIGHBOUR TO NEIGHBOUR/ MONTH IN 2009


 * ** Month ** || ** Poundage ** ||
 * January || 43469 ||
 * February || 47674 ||
 * March || 40000 ||
 * April || 47143 ||
 * May || 44403 ||
 * June || 55903 ||
 * July || 39579 ||
 * August || 52912 ||
 * September || 43646 ||
 * October || 66497 ||

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Labour Force Information: Data quality, concepts and methodology: Data quality. (n.d.). **//Statistics Canada: Canada's national statistical agency / Statistique Canada : Organisme statistique national du Canada//**. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from []

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Labour Force Information (n.d.). In //KnightCite Citation Service//. Retrieved November 12, 2010,from []

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">**// Report: Ontario’s food banks hit hard by recession. Call for action this fall //**. (2009, October 13). Retrieved November 12, 2010, from []