Housing Market in Several U.S. Cities Continues to Descend into 2012

1. The Standard & Poor/ Case-Shiller (The Case-Shiller index “measures prices for roughly half of all U.S. homes,” (Associated Press.) committee—headed by Chairman David M. Blitzer—conducted the survey through data revealed by the indexes.
2. This article did not disclose who sponsored this study.
3. There could be several benefits from this study, including but not limited to predicting future housing patterns in the U.S. economy; likely home mortgages rates and loans needed; and discovering which cities and regions have been—and may continue to be—hit the hardest in terms of the housing market. This study affects a plethora of people, including homeowners—both current and potential— real estate companies; construction companies; economists; and members of the government, especially those in city councils and those working on solutions to the rather depleted housing market.
4. Twenty cities throughout the United States were used in this study, obviously a sample of all American cities. The article, however, did not state how the cities were chosen for the study, nor did it reveal all twenty cities involved.
5. The results of the study were revealed in a somewhat clear manner; however, the article did not actually reveal the findings for all of the cities involved in the study, nor did it list all twenty cities included. The statement that “The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday showed prices dropped in October from September in 19 of the 20 cities tracked,” (Associated Press) does reveal the overall outcome of the study, which is quite unfortunate for the housing market. “Still, home prices have fallen roughly 32 percent nationwide since the housing bubble burst five years ago and are back to 2003 levels, according to the index,” (Associated Press).
   
   
6. There were no graphs used in this article to provide a clear illustration of the data.

Associated Press. “Survey: Home prices down in most major US cities.” FoxNews.com. Dec. 27, 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/27/survey-home-prices-down-in-most-major-us-cities/#ixzz1iqEPgHkr

Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal

This study was conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. The research was sponsored by Georgetown University. It appears as though Georgetown University would not have an interest in finding a particular result but would have a vested interest in acting on the information produced by the study. Georgetown could decide to offer more programs in those majors that the study finds correlate with lower unemployment rates, such as health and education. This study relied primarily on data from the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Census Bureau American Community Survey. No other information concerning methodology is included in the article. The results are communicated clearly, and the article also compares unemployment levels between those with college majors to those without them. A detailed graph is included in the article that clearly illustrates the disparities between the different majors. The graph also highlights the difference a graduate degree or experience in the workforce can have on unemployment across the different majors.

Source: Whoriskey, Peter. “New study shows architecture, arts degrees yield highest unemployment.” The Washington Post, 4 January 2012.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-study-shows-architecture-arts-degrees-yield-highest-unemployment/2012/01/03/gIQAwpaXZP_story.html

The First Signs of Decline in Brain Function

In the Time Magazine article "Study: Cognitive Decline Sets In as Early as Age 45," a group of researchers from France and England used the data from the Whitehall II Cohort, a study of 10,308 British civil servants medically and socially since 1985, to identify the beginning of loss in cognitive skills. This study was started by Professor Sir Michael Marmot and sponsored by a variety of organizations including the Medical Research Council, the National Institute of Aging, and the MacArthur Foundation in order to research social and occupational influences on health and illness. These sponsors were interested in contributing funds to the study because it was developed as a wide-ranging study that included information on all aspects of the participants' lives along with medical exams. By contributing, the sponsors stood to gain any new knowledge that could lead to breakthroughs in the medical and psychology fields. The study was conducted between five age groups: 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, and 65-70. This was done to monitor the progression or regression of any skills as the participants grew older. As a result of this control group, the results are communicated well and are understandable due to the conclusion. This is further supported by the easily readable graphs, which show the decline of cognitive skills for both men and women as they grow older.

Blue, Laura. "Study: Cognitive Decline Sets In as Early as Age 45", Time Magazine, Time Healthland, January 8, 2012. http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/06/study-cognitive-decline-sets-in-as-early-as-age-45/

British Medical Journal
http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.d7622

Whitehall II Cohort
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/whitehallII/history

Young, Obese and in Surgery (Effects of Bariatric Surgery)

Hartocollis, A. (2012). Young, Obese and in Surgery. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/health/young-obese-and-getting-weight-loss-surgery.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
1. A study was done by William Encinosa, senior economist at the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on bariatric surgeries and their effectiveness.

2. The study was funded by the federal agency where William Encinosa works.

3. The agency had interest in the particular result, because it wanted to see the risks involved with bariatric surgeries. Therefore, they can determine whether or not giving the surgery to younger patients is advisable.

4. The methodology of Mr. Encinosa's study, according to an Allergan (makers of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding) spokeswoman, was a small sample size- 161,000 surgical records for 2009.

5. The results that were given were clear and informative with statistics like 1 in 2,000 gastric banding patients or 1 in 900 gastric patients dying during or immediately after surgery.

6. There were no graphs given with the article.

How Healthy Are You?

The study for the article was the US National library of medicine. The sponsor of the research is undisclosed for the article. Even though the sponsor for the study on obesity in the US was undisclosed, i believe that the sponsor was looking for a particular result, such as how the US has had an increase in obesity in recent years and that it increases every year. As far as methodology goes, a sample size was used because they used the male and female population of the US. The results from the study are communicated in a clear way, it tell what has changed over a period of time. There were no graphs in the article from the study.

Sources: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2011/02/04/obesity-has-nearly-doubled-worldwide-since-1980-report

The author name was not in the article,

publication date: Feb 4th 2011

title:

Obesity Has Nearly Doubled Worldwide Since 1980: Report

Despite rising weights, some nations keeping blood pressure, cholesterol under control, study finds

Student Loan Debt on the Rise

This past year has reached a record level of student debt, according to a recent article from CNN. The news outlet acquired its information from the Institute for College Access & Success' Project on Student Debt, which reports that the average debt from student loans has risen to over $25,000 for the first time. This is attributed to the skyrocketing cost of tuition and the terrible economy forcing students to find more financial assistance. To add to the dilemma, 2010 college graduates had an unemployment rate of 9.1% - higher than the national average and the highest number on record.

The Institute for College Access & Success' Project on Student Debt is particularly interested in finding this result, as it shows the difficulty of getting a post-secondary education. Methodology was not included in the article, other than comparing the unemployment of college graduates to the unemployment of those without a college degree (20.4%). The results are well articulated, but a lack of graphs and visual aids makes the message a bit harder to understand. If the article had some type of visual aid, it would be easier for readers to access the information it is trying to portray.

Source:

Ellis, Blake. “Average student loan debt tops $25,000.” CNN Money. November 3 2011. <http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/pf/student_loan_debt/index.htm>

Good Teachers Have Lifelong Impacts

The study was done by Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman of Harvard and Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia. The sponsor is undisclosed in this article. Since the study portrays the importance of quality teachers, the sponsor could be looking for evidence that school districts should use value-added measures in teacher evaluations. Some information regarding methodology is included; 2.5 million students were tracked over 20 years. The results are clear and show the economic benefits of replacing poor teachers with better ones. There are also three scatter plots included in the article; the graphs are easy to read with clear results. The graphs show that students having quality grade-school teachers is positively correlated with the likelihood to attend college and future salary, while negatively correlated with teenage pregnancies.

Lowrey, Annie. "Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain." New York Times, 6 January 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/education/big-study-links-good-teachers-to-lasting-gain.html?scp=3&sq=study&st=cse