Drinking Age Survey

1. Introduction

Do you drink alcohol? If so, when did you start drinking? Do you think the government should lower the drinking age? What is your opinion? Today, scientists know an appropriate amount of alcohol is good for our health. However, too much alcohol may cause some serious diseases such as liver disease, neuritis, and mentalillness. Although most people know these facts, people still drink too much alcohol at once. This is a serious problem in the society because drinking has bad effects on not only drinkers but on those around them. When they are drunk, of course they will be bothered with a hangover on the next day; in addition, their minds may lose control; that means some people try to fight with someone, some may cause car accidents, and some may commit a crime. In “The wasted years” the author mentioned “Alcohol abuse hurts academics, according to the Center for College Health and Safety (www2.edc.org/cchs). At least 60 percent of students report trouble steeping or studying because of the distraction caused by on-campus partying.” (2004, para.3) As a result, their health and life are endangered by drinking. Therefore, some people say lowering drinking age may solve these problems.

2. Purpose

Our group, EAP1-A, decided to find out how both drinkers and non-drinkers think about the drinking age in Carbondale. I wanted to examine the relationship between gender and when people start drinking. Also, I wanted to know the relationship between gender and how much alcohol they drink at one time. Moreover, I wanted to examine the relationship between gender and lowering the drinking age.

3. Hypotheses

I had three hypotheses about the drinking age. First, I felt that males would say they started drinking earlier than females. Next, males would say they drink much more alcohol than females. Last, I believed that younger age people are more likely to want to lower the drinking age than adults. I felt that younger people will be more likely to agree to lower the drinking age.

4. Methods and Procedures

Each member of our group asked six people who are different gender, age, and nationality; actually we are concentrating on Americans in Carbondale to get a different opinion. In addition, we decided to ask both drinkers and non-drinkers because the drinking age is related to non-drinkers too. Also, we wanted to know how drinkers thought about drinking. We prepared a survey that had nine questions. Those questions were almost all asking age or yes or no questions, so it was easy for respondents to answer the questions.

5. Data

Connect here http://eap1.blogspot.com/2008/02/practice-survey-results_27.html


6. Result

Actually, most of the people we talked to said that they drink. 8 out of 12 (67%) 18-20 year olds said they drink. 32 out of 36 (88.8%) people who are over 20 said that they drink. 22 of 25 males (88%) drink and 19 of 24 (79%) females drink. 3 of 25 (12%) males and 4 of 24 (17%) females started drinking when they were 13-15 years old. 9 of 25 (36%) males and 11 of 24 (46%) females started drinking when they were 16-18. 11 of 25 (44%) males and 6 of 24 (25%) females started drinking when they were 19-20. 4 of 12 (33%) people who are 18-20 years old and 11 of 36 (31%) people who are over 21 said that they should lower the drinking age, so most people of all affected ages don’t think the drinking age should be lower.

7. Conclusion and Discussion

I believe that men started to drink earlier than women. However, it was not true because our survey showed that about 63% females started drinking before 18 year old while only 48% of males started drinking before 18 year old. I was surprised at that facts because I thought boys were more curious and more interested in drinking than girls. Also, I was surprised that almost same number of 18-20 year old people and over 21-year-old people said that they should lowered the drinking age. I thought of course under 21 year old people would want to lowered the drinking age, because they can drink legally if drinking age becomes lowered.

If I can do this survey next time, I would like to ask a lot of older people because most respondents were 18 to 25 year-old people. Also, if I ask older people, I will be able to get different opinions from younger people’s opinion about drinking. Some of our survey’s result couldn’t be used because some respondents checked none of the alternatives. Therefore, next time I would like to tell them to please check on one choice for each question, before giving the paper to respondents.

8. Reference

The wasted years: college presidents say that changing the culture of drinking on campus has been their gravest challenge, Whether they are up to the task is another question altogether. (2004, June). BENT.com. Retrieved February 1, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LSH/is_6_7/ai_n6054435/print

9. Appendix

Copy of Survey http://eap1.blogspot.com/2008/02/practice-survey-results.html