Immigration and the Median in Boston, Essay Example

Data and Methods

The statistical data for this research was obtained from the American Community Survey Research results of 2014. This data source was selected for its extensive details in the population data it contains. Furthermore, this survey has extensively covered all states within the United States of America. The data from this database has descriptive characteristics such as age, race, housing, employment, marital status, education and country of origin. The most important parameters that will be employed in the study include the, financial, job (employment), housing and education status of specific population groups within the city of Boston. Furthermore, the trends in the flow of population in and out of the city will also be monitored.

The hypothesis will be tested by developing and adopting a number of variables to test the data. The percentage of the population of Boston that is not native to city will be obtained. This will be the base variable for measuring other variables. The percentage of median income for native and non-native populations will be measured against the median income for the city of Boston. The median household income will be obtains from the ACS database. The percentage of total income and total income growth for each population set will be determined. The status of housing for both population sets will also be determined. The general employment status of both population sets will also be determined.

The relationships between the obtained variables will be determined through the use of graphical tools. A scatterplot depicting the variables will be used to analyze the existence and significance of relationships between the set variables. I hypothesize that immigration has raised the median income of Boston while not affecting the median incomes of native households.

Works Cited

American Community Survey. “American Community Survey.” 15 January 2015. United States Census Bureau. Internet Source. 26 April 2015. <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/data_easy_stats/>.

Camarota, Steven A. Immigrants in the United States: A Profile of America’s Foreign-Born Population. Washington: Center for Immigration Studies, 2012.

Eibner, Christine. “Immigration and the Median Voter’s Incentive to Redistribute Income in the United States.” American Economic Review 90 (2000): 96-129.

Kandel, William A. The U.S. Foreign-Born Population: Trends and Selected Characteristics. Library of Congress. Washington: Congressional Research Service, 2011. 13 April 2015. <http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41592.pdf>.