Example Of Research Proposal On The Effect Of Family Income On Grade Point Averages (GPA)

Problem Statement

Children from the poor background are associated with a high cost from society in order to cater for their health, education resources among other essential needs. Therefore, the more the child is poor, the more government is strained to apply for the economic aid in order to cover the gap between the poor and the rich child. Poor children also have low chances of succeeding in the academic arena, and this pushes them to minimal chances of acquiring sustainable employment. Such children are also likely to have prolonged life in the colleges and university subsequent to various challenges facing their family. Consequently, this calls for more funds and economic aids in order to support such children throughout the prolonged time in school. This tendency passes the poverty into the next generation, making the poor children the poor parents. For instance, a study conducted by Kinzie et al (14) indicated that students from the family earning below income bracket of $30,000 or below are likely to score a GPA of 10 points lower than the student from family earning $80,000 or more.
Education is considered as the background of the future economy and governments are constantly willing to facilitate it for the sake of the better tomorrow. For this reason, the government and the policy makers are concerned on how to reduce the cost and enhance efficiency not only in schools but also the economy at large. As a result, it would be possible to reduce or break the poverty cycle. Therefore in order to end this poverty cycle, it is significant to determine why children from the poor background perform worse than their counterpart (Mayer 12). The policymakers, therefore, need to know how they can balance the performance gap between the children from poor families and their counterparts. This can be done by determining the real impact of the household income to the students’ academic performance.
The research is also significant because it can be applied as a stepping stone to change the performance of the children from the poor background. Every child aims to success because research shows that success is connected to the positive outcome that each and every person values. Such values include stable employment, more employment opportunities, high salaries, less dependent on social assistance, high health insurance, and less likely to be involved in criminal activities. All these value are the ‘enemies’ of poverty and giving a child a chance to achieve them will benefit not only themselves but also the society as a whole. Therefore, it is important to determine how parental income affects the performance of the children and subsequently determine the policies and recommendations to be undertaken to mitigate the situation.

Research Questions

What is the relationship between parental income and the outcome of the children?
How strong and secure parent-student relationship does affect the school behavior and the performance of the children?
What is the relationship between the student performance and the poverty in the society?
Literature Review
Researchers have examined the effect of family income on Grade Point Averages (GPA). Poverty levels affect the welfare of a child as the child life chances are deteriorated. The researchers have come up with several reasons that explain how family income affects academic performance of students. Household income has a direct impact on the development of a child. The families that live below the poverty line are exposed to increased heights of parental stress, poor health conditions and depression. The deterioration of the emotional and psychological status adversely affects the academic performance of students from such families. Poverty status disables the capability of a parent to nurture their children in the preferred manner. A study conducted by Dahl and Locher (p.1931) indicated that 27% of children living in poverty were exposed to high risks of depression likened to 14% of other kindergarteners. Moreover, the study illustrated how low-income paternities are frustrated with their progenies, and this denies their offspring’s a positive verbal development. Because of the frustration and aggression of their parents, the students become more hostile and lack the concentration that leads to a better academic performance in school.
According to Milligan and Stabile (2011), income transfer programs boosts the emotional well-being of a family. As a result, the maternal mental health of a child improves and the welfare in classroom activities progresses in the right trend. A family that is financially stable has an opportunity to use its resources to purchase the necessary academic materials like textbooks and research materials, and this increases the chances of the student to score a high GPA. Students that come from a family with a poor background are denied necessary privileges like quality daycare and health care that directly affects the academic performance of institutions of learning. These students are at a disadvantage since they cannot afford the basic requirements in their studies. The availability and access to academic materials help students to perform better in the classroom making it difficult for students from low-income families to perform.
Families with high income develop strong and secure relationships with their children. For this reason, their children develop the appropriate behavior that helps them attain social skills in life. A child whose upbringing comes from secure relationships achieves the suitable emotional responses in their day to day activities. Sadly, children from low-income families find it difficult to learn the appropriate emotional responses, and this works at a disadvantage to their academic performance. For instance, scholars with emotional dysfunction give up easily, and they are not patient enough to achieve success in challenging situations. In addition, they lack the social skills that interfere with the ability to interact with other students in doing group work and other assignments. Because of their poor social skills, their self-esteem is affected, and they feel that their fellow students are excluding them in school activities. Also, there are teachers who fail to understand the poor emotional and the social shortfall associated with children from low-income families and punishes them for lack of respect and behaviors. There is the need to understand these students and help them to improve their emotional and psychological status.
A study conducted by Christiana (2009 p.34) illustrated the relationship between motivation and academic performance. It was realized that families with a tendency to encourage, support and accept their children increased the chances of the students to perform better. High-income families are motivated to ensure that their children attain high grades by ensuring that the students enjoy a better academic environment at home. Contrariwise, low-income families are not concerned with the performance of their children, and they rarely motivate them to aim for the best. The study indicated that 99% of the students agreed that motivation was an important factor that contributed towards their GPA. Motivation improves the academic pursuit and student’s works hard to achieve their goals. The aspect of motivation is also determined by the structure of the family. The research concluded that families with higher sources of income fully support their youngsters, and they craft a favorable academic environment for them. The academic motivation of a student is influenced by the family and home environment. Therefore, it is necessary to motivate students as this directly impacts on their Grade Point Averages. For improved GPAs, students must be fully motivated by their parents and teachers. Motivation includes intrinsic and extrinsic ways, and both must be applied since they are equally important. Families have a great role to play in inspiring students, and those that fail to do so must expect the academic performance of their children to be affected.

Research Design

The fundamental aim of this research is to identify the relationship between the specific independent variables such as parental income and the dependent variable, which is academic performance measured by Grade Point Average. Other independent variables include the student-parent relationship, motivation and peer influence. In addition, empirical data will be collected from various studies to support the research questions. For instance, evidence showing the relationship between the parental income and children outcome from the peer-reviewed articles. This is a correlational study and aims to seek the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The data obtained from the study will be tabulated, and then various methods of analysis such as regression analysis will be used.

Model specification

The correlation analysis estimation type will be used to determine the correlation between the children academic performance and the parental income among other independent variables. In this study, our main concern is how the parental income affects the academic performance of the children. Therefore, the conceptual framework of this model is as follows;-
E=f(X1,X2,X3, X4,)
Hence, E= α+β1X1+β2X2+ β3X3+β4X4+ε

Where:

E is the academic performance measured by Grade Points Average (GPA)
X1 is the parental income (annual average income in $)
X2 is the parent-student relationship
X3 Motivation
X3 Peer pressure
ε is the error term
Research instruments
The most appropriate instrument to be used is a semi-structured questionnaire. The semi-structured questionnaire is effective because it will allow proper recording of data and handling of multiple respondents at the same time during the research period. In addition, this type of research is easier to use and cost effective in terms of time and cost. Data will also be collected through the telephone interviews, government reports, published journals and the relevant existing literature.

Pilot study

In order to ensure that the study provides reliable, effective and valid results, a pilot study must be undertaken. The pilot study will be applied to further development of the study through testing validity of tools, estimation of questionnaires, and estimation of outcome variables. The benefit of the pilot study to this research is because it will allow the researcher to identify the possible setbacks in the course of the study and rectify necessary amendments prior to the main study. A randomly selected sample of two public colleges/universities will be supplied with the questionnaires to help the researcher identify unclear or indistinct questions before carrying out the study. Significantly, the correlational analysis will be applied to maximize the realism in this study.

Works Cited

Christiana, O. "Influence of motivation on students’ academic performance."The Social Sciences 4.1 (2009): 30-36.
Dahl, Gordon B., and Lance Lochner. "The impact of family income on child achievement: Evidence from the earned income tax credit." The American Economic Review 102.5 (2012): 1927-1956.
Jensen, Eric. Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. ASCD, 2009.
Kinzie, Jillian, et al. Connecting the dots: Multi-faceted analyses of the relationships between student engagement results from the NSSE, and the institutional practices and conditions that foster student success. Indiana University, Center for Postsecondary Research, 2006
Mayer, Susan E. The influence of parental income on children's outcomes. Wellington,, New Zealand: Knowledge Management Group, Ministry of Social Development, 2002.