Read the Commentary (9/29/16): “An Intriguing Link Between Police Shootings and Black Voter Registration”. This is an example of an ecological study. For your post, identify: what question is the study being discussed examining? What is the outcome and define how it is measured? What exposures are being examined (there are a few)? What did the study demonstrate? What are your reactions to this study? Please post one original post and one reaction to your peer for full credit.
here is classmate post: ”This ecological study examines how Black Americans are impacted by police shootings in the United States by state, and why some states have higher rates than others. The study found that there is an “over-representation” ratio for fatal police shootings of Black Americans. This was measured by comparing the percentage of Black Americans killed by the police to the overall Black population in an area. In just a few examples throughout the country, there was a disproportionately high number of Black Americans killed by the police compared to the general Black population. The exposures examined are: eligible Black Americans registered to vote, the black-to-white incarceration ratio, median household income, income inequality according to the Gini index, and rates of those college-educated. Data was collected for each indicator regarding the specific area being studied. The study demonstrated that higher voter registration rates among Black Americans go hand in hand with a lowered over-representation ratio in the area. Voter registration ranked #1 as a determinant of fatal police shootings of Black Americans in this study. Though voting came first, income inequality and higher education are also shown to be important factors as well. The findings of this study are quite surprising for me, as I did not think voter registration impacts much when it comes to police violence and fatalities for Black Americans. I think this information could be useful in advocating for more funding to increase voter registration for those eligible in communities with a large Black population. This could also be a call to those looking to change the high incidents of police violence locally and register to vote. A lot more research should be done on this topic, as well as a lot more advocacy could be put into fighting efforts of voter suppression by the government because voting effects a lot more than just who ends up in office.”
