Human trafficking in the United States - Research Paper Example

The objective of the proposed research is to establish a relationship between poverty and human trafficking in the US.
Purpose of Study
This research sets out to explore a variety of areas related to human trafficking and the intensity of poverty as an alleviating cause of human trafficking. The purpose of the research is to identify factors of poverty and their relationship with human trafficking in the US. These factors include income levels of individuals in their origin countries, their age and sex. The proposed research will incorporate past research and statistics on human trafficking in the US caused by poverty and poor economic conditions in other countries. Moreover, the research will form quantitative research that will assess the association of the identified three variables with an increased level of human trafficking in the US. The proposed research will be useful as it would allow its users to understand what economic conditions and demographic factors are involved and how they contribute to the major problem of human trafficking in the US.
Research Questions
1. What is the impact of lower-income levels in other countries on a higher level of human trafficking in the US?
2. What age group living under poverty is more likely to be victims of human trafficking?
3. How does gender differentiate the levels of human trafficking amongst those living under poverty?
Primary Hypotheses
H1: Poverty is a prominent push factor for human trafficking in the United States.
Data Collection, Tabulation, and Analysis
Based on the nature of our research it is proposed that an exploratory approach is used for this research. Exploratory research provides insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation (Gettys, 1980). In view of the proposed study, the selected research methodology will be based upon quantitative research that will involve the collection of data that is numerical and non-descriptive. The data will be tabulated according to the responses regarding each poverty variable collected through the survey questionnaire. A survey questionnaire to be designed for the research and tools for analyzing responses are discussed in another section of this proposal.
Secondary Data
The secondary data is gathered from numerous resources. This comprises academic sources. The use of this secondary multiple source data helps the researcher with a chance to formulate an objective and logical study. Also evidence from the human trafficking database namely IOM, a major cross-national foundation of primary data on recognized victims of trafficking, will be included. Previous studies in respect to poverty and factors related to this phenomenon including income levels, gender and age that actually lead to a higher level of human trafficking will also be examined and presented.
Primary Data
A survey questionnaire will be employed with the aim to collect a large number of responses based on the identified variables. The survey questionnaire will only comprise of 6 questions that are all of demographic nature. The purpose of these questions would be simply to gather responses regarding individuals’ name, country of origin, the status of their stay in the US (legal/illegal) and those related to the identified three variables income, age and gender that would help in exploring the association of poverty with human trafficking.
Sample and Subject Selection
For the proposed survey 450 respondents will be randomly selected from the area of STUDENT CITY. The selection process is informal and information related to respondents will be sought from the local work agencies. Respondents will be approached either through personal visits or via email where possible.
Statistical Evaluation Techniques
The data collected will be analyzed through regression analysis using SPSS. The relationship between the identified variables and human trafficking will be tested for its existence and validity.
Analysis Outcome Required for Hypothesis Support
The questionnaire to be developed for this research will allow testing of the validity of the hypothesis by providing data that will be subject to statistical modeling to identify the relationship between the poverty variables and human trafficking in the US. To accept or reject the hypothesis, it is necessary to take into consideration assessment variables identified for poverty. Read More