Thursday, April 8, 2010

US Birth Rate Below Replacement Level

Assignment #1:

1. The study was conducted by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

2. Because the CDC is run by the government, the study was government-funded.

3. The CDC, I assume, would not have any interest in a particular result. Also, due to the simplicity and official nature of the study, I think it is safe to assume that the report contains very little bias.

4. Although not noted in the article, information on methodology is included in the official report. The study is based on 99.9% of the births in 2008. That data is then compared to "independent control counts of all births received in state vital statistics offices in 2008."

5. The results are communicated in a very straightforward manner. I would even go so far as to say that the article is a little too heavily weighted toward clear statistical data and does not embellish on the data enough.

6. The article does not use any graphs, although they would have been very useful in the presentation of this data.

Source:
Patrick B. Craine, "U.S. Birth Rate Drops Below Replacement Level", Life Site News, April 7, 2010
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10040802.html

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