Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
The Food Stamp Program was enacted in the 1960s as part of the War on Poverty. You have been asked to design a research study that evaluates the impacts on this program. Focus your discussion on the following:
What 5 possible impacts would you choose?
What criterion makes each impact important? Why?
What choice of language; descriptive, normative, and cause-and-effect would work best when framing your research questions? Why?
Solution
The Food Stamp Program
The Food Stamp Program in the United States is one of the social welfare programs meant to protect Americans from the effect of poverty and food insecurity. The program advances food-purchasing help for low- and no-income individuals in the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers the Food Stamp Program under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Although it is has been controversial, the project has a considerable impact on the lives of qualifying Americans.
The Food Stamp Program in the United States has numerous impacts on individuals and society in general. The current discussion focuses on five of the benefits. First, the program supports the economic wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities with low- and no-income. Secondly, the program affects the health and wellbeing of such populations in the United States by ensuring that they have adequate food. For example, Children’s HealthWatch brief revealed significant improvement in the health of individuals from low- and no-income families who benefit from the Food Stamp Program. Thirdly, the project has a food security impact in the country. A recent study, titled “Long-Term Benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” revealed it has led to significant reduction in food insecurity situation in the country (Executive Office of the President of the United States, 2015). Mabli and Ohls (2015) revealed that households that benefitted from the program were more food secure after receiving the food stamps than before its integration. Fourthly, the Food Stamp Program has led to the benefit reduction of crime. In contrast, a ban on the program increases recidivism in society. Finally, food stamp minimizes the level of poverty in the community through income maintenance. Therefore, it is a crucial program that supports low-income families and assists with their sustenance.
Various criteria inform the importance of each impact of the Food Staff Program in the United States. First, the criterion for the economic impact is the extent to which the program improves the economic performance of the benefiting families. The second one is the number of units benefiting from the program that seeks health care services for nutrition-related medical issues. Thirdly, the project has extensively reduced the number of households experiencing food insecurity. The fourth condition is the rate of reduction in recidivism among recipients of food stamps. The final principle is the extent to which the level of poverty and unemployment has reduced due to the program. Therefore, the standards should be used to determine the impact of the program.
When framing the research question, the best language to use is cause-and-effect. The research question will be framed from the perspective of the cause and effect relationship between two variables. The researcher will have to prove that one phenomenon or variable is directly affects the other. As a result, it can be proven from correlation analysis between two variables (Fiss, 2011). Notably, the relationship can be negative or positive, depending on the impact. For example, one must prove that the Food Stamp Program is the cause of improved economic wellbeing among recipients. Subsequently, the researcher will provide either single or multiple research questions for each of the five impacts. The Food Stamp Program in the U.S. remains one of the most effective methods of protecting Americans from the impact of poverty and food insecurity. However, to test the hypothesis, a researcher should frame a research question and collect data to answer it. A cause-and-effect approach is the most effective in framing the research question.
References
Executive Office of the President of the United States (2015). Long-term benefits of the supplemental nutrition assistance program. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/documents/SNAP_report_final_nonembargo.pdf
Fiss, P. C. (2011). Building better causal theories: A fuzzy set approach to typologies in organization research. Academy of Management Journal, 54(2), 393-420. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.60263120
Mabli, J., & Ohls, J. (2015). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation is associated with an increase in household food security in a national evaluation. The Journal of Nutrition, 145(2), 344-351. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.114.198697
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