csec social studies sba

What are the factor that influence voter in the community of Bushy Park to vote

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

“What are the factors that influence residents in the community of Bushy Park, to vote for a particular candidate in general elections?”

Research Questions

1. What are the factors that influence the residents of Bushy Park to vote in elections?

2. What are the factors that hinder voter participation?

3. What characteristics do residents looks for in candidates?

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REASON FOR SELECTING THE AREA OF RESEARCH

The researcher has chosen to research the factors that influence voters in Bushy Park to vote for

a particular candidate as Member of Parliament. Everald Warmington has kept his seat for 12

years and she would like to figure out the reason behind this. She hopes to find out why the

members of the community consistently vote for Mr.Warmington and the reason for their

decision to vote. The researcher also hopes to discover the factors that influences and hinders

voters in Bushy Park and the effects of voting on the household. The research will be conducted

in the researcher’s community of Bushy Park located in south west St. Catherine. Bushy Park

consists of approximately 150 household and has a population of approximately 250 persons.

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METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

The method of investigation chosen is a questionnaire. This is a research instrument consisting

of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from

respondents. It will allow the researcher to collect a large amount of data from a wide range of

respondents in a short time period. The questionnaire also presents data in an organized form

which allows ease in analysing and interpreting the data collected.

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DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

Lot 260 Vineyard Estate,Bushy Park P.O

St. Catherine,Jamaica.

August 2, 2014

Dear Respondent,

I am Sashara Eccleston, a fifth form student at Wolmers Trust High School for Girls. The Caribbean Examination Council (C.X.C) Social Studies syllabus requires me to complete a School Based Assessment on a topic of my choice. The topic I have chosen is “What are the factors that influence residence in the community of Bushy Park to vote for a particular candidate in a general election?” I am asking kindly for your assistance in providing data via a questionnaire to enable me to complete my School Based Assessment. All information provided by you will be kept strictly confidential hence, I ask for all questions to be answered honestly.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours truly,

____________________________Sashara Eccleston

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QUESTIONNAIRE

“What are the factor that influence voter in the community of Bushy Park to vote”

This questionnaire is to identify the different factors that influence voters in the community of Bushy Park to vote for a particular candidate. Please tick the response that best applies to you.

1. To which age group do you belong?

18-25 26-40 41-over

2. What is you gender?

Female Male

3. In which vicinity of Bushy Park do you live?

Vineyard Estate Old Vineyard Government Land

4. How many year/s have you lived in Bushy Park?

Less than a year 1-5 years 6-10 years over ten years

5. How many times have you participated in general election since living in Bushy Park?

None 1-3 4-6 7 and over

6. Of the list of candidates who ran in the last general election, which do you find the most favourable?

Carlos Wauls Betty Ann Blaine

Ras Astor Black Christopher Irons

Everald Warmington

7. What is the reason for your choice of candidate?

The candidate’s characteristics Family Tradition

The Benefits that the candidate grants

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Popularity Candidate Values and Ethics All of the above

8. What are the characteristics you look for in candidates?

Charisma Experience Morals Wealth

Other___________________________________

9. How would you rate the current Member of Parliament’s performance?

Good Satisfactory Need Improvement Bad

10. Why do you choose to participate in general elections?

To receive benefits To participate in decision making To ensure the most capable candidate is elected To support a particular party

To uphold family tradition Other Reasons, state _____________________________

11. To what extent do you agree with the statement made by Everald Warmington; "If you don't vote, you don't count, and you can't ask for government benefits when you refuse to participate in the governance of your country.”?

Fully Partially Not at all

12. Express you views to the statement in 11 above?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. What are the factors that you think hinders voter participation?

Choice of candidateLack of proper representationLack of confidence in the electoral processNon-performance of candidates

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Other __________________________________

13. Does your choice of candidate cause conflict in your household? Very often Not Often Never

14. How does your choice of candidate cause conflict?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Which of the following political parties do you prefer?

People's National Party (PNP) Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) National Democratic Movement Jerusalem Bread Foundation New Nation Coalition

16. What is the reason for your preference of that party?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17. How would you rate Jamaica’s Electoral system?

Good Satisfactory Need Improvement Bad

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PROCEDURES FOR DATA COLLECTION

The community of Bushy Park has approximately 150 households. A sample size of 20% was

deemed necessary to ensure the sample was a fair representation of the population. The sample

consisted of both male and female over the age of eighteen years who lives in the community

and are registered voters. (20% of 150 = 30)

Forty questionnaires were prepared for distribution to the residence with instruction on how to

complete them. It was estimated that at least thirty of the amount distributed would be returned.

The constituency office was visited on July 30, 2014 at which time the voters list was viewed

and forty names and addresses were randomly selected. After the selection process was

completed the homes were visited on August 2, 2104 and the questionnaires handed out. The

respondents were advised to complete them for collection in two days.

A total of forty (40) questionnaires were distributed to the residence, out of which thirty (30)

were returned. Of these respondents, 50% were male and 50% were female. The data was

tabulated and analysed and the necessary conclusion drawn.

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PRESENTATION OF DATA

Forty of the questionnaires which were distributed and thirty were completed and returned. The

respondents were equally divided, 15 males and 15 females.

The Data collected is being presented using various statistical representations such as a Pie Chart, a Histogram, Table, and a Bar graph.

Figure 1: Bar graph showing residents reasons for voting.Source: Field Work, 2014

Figure 1 shows the reason for voting. It can be seen that the most popular reasons is to support a particular party (10), to receive benefit was next with eight (8) while to ensure the most capable candidate is elected and to play a part in decision making was third and fourth with seven (7) and four (4) respectively. Only one (1) person had other reasons for voting.

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To play apart in descion making

Ensure the most capible candidate is elected

To receive benefits

To Support a particular party

Other reasons

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

Bar graph showing Residents reasons for voting

41-over26-4018-25

Number of Respondents

Reas

ons f

or V

oting


Figure 2: Pie chart showing Preferred Candidate Choice of Residents

17%

27%

3%13%

40%

Pie Chart Showing Preferred Candidate Choice of Residents

Carlos WaulBetty Ann BlaineRas Astor black Christopher IronsEverald Warmington

Source: Field Work, 2014

The pie chart indicates that Everald Warmington (40%) is the most preferred candidate; Betty Ann Blaine was next with 27%, followed by Carlos Waul and Christopher Irons with 17% and 13% respectively while Ras Astor Black was fifth with 3%.

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Figure 3: Bar graph showing the reasons for voting for a particular candidate

The candidates C

haracteris

tics

Family Tradition

The Benefits that t

he candidate grants

you

Popularity (

campaign st

rategies)

Candidate Values and Ethics

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

REASONS FOR VOTING FOR A PARTICULAR CANDIDATE

MaleFemale

Reasons for preference

Num

ber o

f res

pond

ents


The bar graph shows that female values a candidate’s ethics (6) above all other reasons when voting. Most male looks at the candidate’s characteristics (4) and popularity (4) while family tradition ranks next with female (4) and the benefit that the candidate grants (3) with male.

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Table 1: Table showing the characteristics voters look for in a candidate

CHARACTERISTICS LOOKED FOR IN CANDIDATES

Characteristics Number of Respondents

Charisma 4

Experience 15

Morals 5

Wealth 6


It was agreed by all the respondents that they look for certain characteristics in candidates. The table above indicates where most voters placed emphasis. Fifty percent of the respondents (15) look for experience when voting for candidate, while six (6) looked for wealth, five (5) morals and four (4) charisma.

Figure 4: Pie Chart showing the factors that hinders voter participation in the electoral process

Choice of Candidate10%

Lack of Proper represen-tation20%

Lack of confidence in the electoral process

33%

Non Per-formance of candi-

dates27%

Other10%

FACTORS THAT HINDERS VOTER PARTICIPATION


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Figure 6 illustrates that 33% of respondents lack confidence in the electoral process, 27% cited non-performance whereas 20% stayed away because of lack of proper representation, and equally 10% stated choice of candidate and other reasons.

Figure 5: Bar graph showing the rating of the Member of Parliament’s performance.

Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement Bad0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Rating of the Current Member of Parliament Performance

FemaleMale

Rating given

Num

ber o

f res

pond

ents


The bar graph shows that an equal amount of males (9) and females (9) are of the opinion that the current Member of Parliament performance is bad. More males (4) than females (3) think that it needs improvement while both genders (2) are of the same opinion that the performance is satisfactory. Only one (1) male consider the performance to be good.

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ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

In today’s society good governance is the key to a stable society and economy. Most of

the persons who were given the questionnaire to complete responded that they vote to support a

particular party as can be seen in figure 1. The information showed that most person participate

in elections just to ensure that their party wins. Only three (3) persons responded that they vote

to play a part in the decision making process and seven (7) responded that they voted to elect the

most capable candidate also seen in figure 1. The data that was collect indicated that most of the

residence in the community of Bushy Park vote for candidates based on the party they represent

ten (10) followed by the benefits they receive eight (8). This illustrates that elections are not fair

but are merely based on party preference.

From the data collected it can be concluded that there are several factors that hinders

voter participation. Figure 4 reveals that 33% of respondents lack confidence in the electoral

process, 27% cited non-performance whereas 20% stayed away because of lack of proper

representation, equally 10% stated choice of candidate and other reasons. Though there are

factors which hinders voter participation those that actually vote have their preferred candidate.

Figure 2 illustrates that the majority of respondents preferred Everald Warmington in comparison

to Betty Ann Blaine 27%, Carlos Waul 17%, Christopher Irons 13% and Ras Astor Black a mere

3%.

Since majority of the respondents preferred that Everald Warmington as their candidate,

seen in figure 2, it is logical to assume that there must be certain characteristics that they look.

Table 1 show that an overwhelming majority (15) of the respondent placed emphasis on the

experience of the candidate thus validating why he was chosen as the preferred candidate.

Whereas six (6) of the respondent looked for wealth, five (5) moral and four (4) charisma.

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Interestingly, though Everald Warmington was the preferred candidate, and has many

years of experience as Member of Parliament Figure 5 shows that an equal amount of male (9)

and female (9) rate his performance as bad. While seven (7) thinks he needs improvement, four

(4) are of the opinion he is performing satisfactorily and one (1) thinks that his performance is

good.

Also, the researcher has learnt that participating in general elections may sometimes

cause conflict in households. In some communities, not in Bushy Park particularly there is

violence because of disagreement with who is the best candidate to be elected. People hardly

consider the candidate’s morals, values or manifestos but are simply electing candidates based on

the party they represent.

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STATEMENT OF FINDINGS

The survey has revealed that there are a number of factors that influence the residents of Bushy

Park to vote for a particular candidate in general election. These include:

1. The majority of residences in Bushy Park are influence to vote based on their party

preference and the benefits they receive from candidates as illustrated by figure 1.

2. Most voters lack confidence in the electoral process and as such do not exercise their right to vote as seen in figure 4.

3. The residents in Bushy Park desire a candidate who is experience as seen in table 1.

4. Candidates who belong to the two major parties are normally the ones to win in general

elections as residence vote base on popularity of candidates and party and not

performance as shown in figure 3.

5. Females (6) will vote for a particular candidate on the basis of their values and morals;

unlike males (0) as seen in figure 3.

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RECOMMENDATION AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

The survey has revealed that persons in the community need to be more aware of the importance

of the electoral process. The importance of a good electoral system cannot be overemphasized.

The researcher has made the following recommendation based on the findings:

1. In order to maintain good governance and to have free and fair elections the researcher

believes that benefits should not just be given to person who vote for a particular

candidate but to all who need it.

2. She also believes that persons should be educated on the importance of the electoral

process as to ensure that they make educated decision when voting and not just vote

based on which party each candidate belongs, but what the candidate represents.

3. Candidates should present manifestos to their constituent to indicate what they will be

bringing to the table so better decision can be made. There also needs to be a concerted

effort to bring back voter confidence in the electoral process.

Implementations

The researcher believes that the government should put in place measures to prevent

candidates from giving gifts as a means of soliciting votes.

The Electoral Office should put on a campaign in the media to educate the electorate on

the importance of taking part in the electoral process.

Candidates should be required to present their manifestos at town hall meetings.

Measures should be put in place to bring back voter confidence in the electoral process so

that voter turnout at the polls can be improved.

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CONCLUSION

The researcher gather majority of the data presented in this project through the means of a

questionnaire. From the data provided the researcher has discovered that the major factor that

influences voters in Bushy Park to vote for particular candidates is the party the candidate

belongs to and the benefits they receive. The researcher also discovered that majority of the

person who complete the questionnaire chose Member of Parliament Everald Warmington as

candidate of choice and also that person choice of candidate sometimes cause conflict in the

household.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ramsawak, R. Umraw, R. (2001)Modules in Social Studies with S.B.A guide of CXC Questions.

La Romain: Caribbean Educational Publishers Limited.

Lunt, Pat. (2013).Social Studies for CSEC. United Kingdom: Nelson Thrones Limited.

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