Introduction to Human Geography - Lab 1
Lab 1: Mapping Religion in the United States - Sample Hypothesis
Below is a sample of how you should go about conceiving, writing, testing and explaining a hypothesis.
1. Conceiving the hypothesis.
In my hometown, there used to be lots and lots of beer drinking establishments that we called "bars". My grandma said there were lots of bars because there were lots of Germans in our hometown and that Germans liked to drink beer. I have since learned that a lot of these Germans were also Lutheran, so I'm curious about the relationship between Lutheranism and beer consumption.
2. Writing a hypothesis.
I hypothesize that there will be a strong statistical correlation between the percent of Lutherans (Rate of Adherence - Missouri Synod ) in a state and the Gallons of Beer Consumed per person 21 and over.
3. Testing the hypothesis.
I made the two maps and took a look at the correlation coefficient.
4. Interpreting the results (the hard part).
The correlation coefficient was .203, which means that about twenty percent of the time when the percent of Lutherans goes up, so does the amount of beer consumed in a state. It's lower than I thought it would be.
When I looked at the map, I could see why the correlation coefficient wasn't higher. Clearly a state like Wisconsin, which has lots of Lutherans and drinks a lot of beer fits the pattern as I predicted, but there are lots of states with lots of beer drinking going on that appear to have few Lutherans. For example, Nevada, New Hampshire, Louisiana and New Mexico all rank very high on the beer list, but relatively low on the Lutheran list. New Mexico and Louisiana have lots of Catholics, who also do not condemn beer consumption and it's hot in both places, so beer may be popular there. Nevada and New Orleans in Louisiana also attract a lot of "partying" tourists, who no doubt drink a lot of beer and drive up the per capita consumption of beer. New Hampshire (I wouldn't expect students to know this) has very low taxes on lots of things like beer, and so many people from other nearby states come there to buy and drink beer.
So, even though Lutherans do appear to drink their share of beer, people from other religions (Catholics) also seem to like beer just as much; and things like tourism and taxes also affect the pattern of beer consumption.
