The Smoking - Essay Example

Research Proposal Table of Contents Introduction 3 Research Proposal (Purpose of the study) 3 Literature Review 4 Theoretical Framework 5 Data Collection and Methodology 6 Data Analysis 6 Conclusion 7 References 7 Introduction Smoking is one of the most hazardous of all addictions – often nick-named as the ‘silent killer’, since it causes an internal decay to our body, which often goes unnoticed until the process turns fatal for our lives. There has been a recent increase in the intensity of awareness campaigns all over the world to quit smoking. But these campaigns are fruitless unless people are educated enough to know the message that they are trying to impart. Research Proposal (Purpose of the study) Need for education for increasing awareness? - Education is important to help people become aware of themselves, of the society where they are living and of all the future generations to arrive. There must be avenues to invoke inspiration in the minds of people to quit a bad habit like smoking. Education helps to clarify those avenues and help man in leading a better life and ensuring the same for the society. To quit smoking is almost synonymous with ensuring a greener earth to our society, a healthy life for the future generations and a much more peaceful and trouble-free life for the smokers. It has often been found that people smoke out of frustration or a number of other concocted reasons. But the truth is that the addiction increases our vulnerability to all those factors – it exposes us to health as well as mental illness. In fact, it is not only the active smokers who are susceptible to the harms, but the passive smokers too, especially the children who have relatively a much lower immunity power. Smoking seems to be worth quitting from a political aspect as well. Most domestic governments have levy heavy duties on tobacco products. People, who find smoking irresistible, often ignore these facts, when the truth is that they could actually save a lumpsum amount of their money through getting rid of the habit – on the other hand, tobacco tax is considered to be one of the most important sources of government revenues. What are the probable ways through which education might be of help in eradicating the vice from the heart of the society? Literature Review Dr. Damien De Walque in 2004 found that education had a great impact among the educated youth of the American society about their smoking behaviours. He statistically tested the hypothesis about the effect that education had on the smoking habits of people, on the basis of sample data collected since 1950 and found that the effect to be statistically significant (De Walque, 2004).1 Layte and Whelan in 2006 found that the people belonging to the lower strata of the society, viz., the blue-collar class in North America, were found to be more prone to smoking habits than those belonging to the professional or managerial class. One of the reasons cited behind this behaviour was the impact of education.2 Keeler and Hu in 1998 also found out that formal education had a statistically significant impact on the awareness of the people towards quitting their smoking habits. In fact, it was revealed that as the level of formal education increased, the number of people attempting to quit the habit increased as well, compared to those who completely ignored any attempts. On the other hand, when characteristics of people who had been through college were compared with those who just had a high-school education, the former category displayed more people as successful quitters of the habit.3 Tracy and Hosken in a study conducted in 1997 concerning the smoking habit among the Australian population, found that most of the people belonging to a sample collected from the lower strata of the society, who were much more prone to smoking habits previously, changed their older practice and quitted smoking altogether, soon after they were subjected to a smoking education. It was revealed from the study, that of all those who used to smoke initially, 55% were found to renounce it later. These people did not undertake a formal education, but a mere smoking education, telling about the general vices of the habit, was sufficient for the people to refrain themselves from the same. Theoretical Framework Theoretically it seems that education indeed plays a pivotal role in helping to quit smoking, since education increases awareness among people as well as their sense of responsibility to their surroundings. Moreover, education helps people understand the message that a variety of organisations try to impart. People also become more aware about their future as well as that of their children, on account of education. They come to know of all the health and mental hazards they would be susceptible to due to smoking, only if they are educated enough to understand. Data Collection and Methodology In order to find empirical evidence regarding the research proposal, sample data has been collected upon the level of education among the people, their smoking habits and other factors like the societal influence, etc. from the archives of the National Health Interview Survey database of 2005. Though the subject matter is to explore only the influence of education on the smoking habits of the people, it is wise to include some other variables too, since that will only help in enhancing the statistical significance of the model in question. The model to be framed is of the following form, Smoking habit = Level of Education + Social Influence + … Data Analysis The dependent variable is a dummy in nature, defined as, D = 1, if the individual smokes and = 0, otherwise. The ideal model in this case will be a probit model that is used to run regression in case the dependent variable is qualitative in nature. Since probit regression is an example of a log-linear model, so, the estimated coefficients have to be tested with the help of Z-test and the significance of the model has to be tested using chi-square tests. Conclusion References De Walque, D. (2004) ‘Education, Information, and Smoking Decisions: Evidence from Smoking Histories, 1940-2000’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3362: Abstract Marciniak, M., Keeler, T. E. & Hu, T. (1998) ‘Schooling and smoking cessation: giving it the "college try"’, Book on Association for Health Services Research. Meeting, 15: 281. Layte, R. & Whelan, C. T. (2009) ‘Explaining Social Class Inequalities in Smoking: The Role of Education, Self-Efficacy, and Deprivation’, European Sociological Review 2009 25(4):399-410. Read More