There are so many hidden patterns in our world that may not be obvious at first glance but have the potential to have a noticeable impact on society. Among these, of great research interest is the idea of a link between an individual’s smoking and his or her income level. The hypothesis is that people who smoke cigarettes daily tend to earn more than others: this is a personal observation that requires careful experimental testing. Thus, this project will be characterized by several research questions. First, is there a relationship between smoking and income among individuals? Second, if a relationship is found, is it accurate to say that wealthier people smoke more often than less wealthy people? Third, is high dependence on smoking a predictor of an individual’s affluence?
For this project, the general population will be represented by many adults in my environment. I will ask each of the adults over the age of thirty if they smoke and their average annual salary range. Understandably, not everyone I know will agree to participate, but the people who send in answers will form the final sample. Since the number of adults I can contact is roughly over three hundred, it seems that at least thirty people will not be hard to recruit for the sample.
The sample will be generated by a convenient mechanism that saves time in a meaningful way. So, with calls, e-mails, and social media, I will contact the entire general population — it is not limited in number, but once thirty sample members are assembled, the enumeration stops — directly. Not every individual has the same chance of getting into the population, which means the sample is nonprobability. A convenience sample may not always be representative and does not minimize systematic error, which means that additional research into the reliability of the results will be necessary.