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A Comparison of Government Control in South America & Southeast Asia

Abbey Little | Sutton School of Social Sciences | Ouachita Baptist University

Hypotheses, Reality Tests, and Summary of Findings: Introduction:


Hypothesis #1: As government control increases, education levels will decrease. Last spring, I studied abroad in Australia. I lived with someone from Singapore, traveled to
Indonesia, and heard stories about several other Southeast Asian countries and their people
Based on the results from the Crosstabulations procedure using Gamma as my measure of association, a confidence level of .028 showed from my friends. While reflecting on all of this, I realized the people all had extremely different
that there was statistical significance between the level of government control and the educational level attained within each country. personalities and ways of life. This inspired my original research project, Government Control in
Out of the 24 countries in South America and Southeast Asia, 4 countries with High Government Control had most citizens with Less Than Southeast Asia, completed for Philosophy and Methods in the fall. However, my results were
a High School education, while only 1 country with High Government Control had citizens with a College Degree or More. It was the exact inconclusive because of a shortage of data. Therefore, I added the countries that make up South
opposite for countries with Low Government Control. 4 countries had citizens with an educational attainment level of a College Degree America because of my interest in learning about these places, as well as a relatively equal status
or More, while only 1 country had citizens with Less Than a High School Degree. Furthermore, when looking at the data for each region, to Southeast Asia in the developing world. This project, A Comparison of Government Control in
the 4 countries with High Government Control receiving Less Than a High School degree are in Southeast Asia. Therefore, this data South America and Southeast Asia, seeks to find whether the level of control a government has
supports my hypothesis that governments who control their people more have citizens with lower education levels. on its people influences education, religion, economy, and crime. It also seeks to discover if
military has any influence over education.
Hypothesis #2: As government control increases, crime threats will decrease.
Methodology:
Based on the results from the Crosstabulations procedure, a confidence level of .012 showed a statistical significance between the level The statistical data for this research was found using four main sources. From the first source, CIA
of government control and the crime threats present in a country. There were 8 countries listed in the Low Government Control category World Factbook, I gathered what type of government each country had, the dominant religion of
with 5 of them listed as a Critical Crime Threat. The remaining 3 were listed as High Crime Threats. There were no countries listed under each country, the economic growth based on the GDP, the educational attainment average for
both Low Government Control and Low Crime Threats, thus supporting my thoughts that less control potentially equates to more crime males and females, how and if elections were conducted, and if military involvement was based
and more control potentially equates to less crime. on a conscription or voluntary basis. The second source, A to Z World Culture, provided
information on human rights issues and religious freedom. Religious freedom was discussed in
Hypothesis #3: As government control increases, religious freedom decreases. the context of the constitution, as well as how it was carried out through practice. My third
Based on the results from the Crosstabulations procedure using Chi Square as the measure of association, a confidence level of .002 was source, Freedom House, provided freedom scores for each country, scoring them on a scale from
found, showing a significant relationship between government control and religious freedom. Each category of government control 0- Not Free to 100- Free. These scores were based on political and civil liberties within each
consists of 8 countries. For Low Government Control, all 8 countries have religious freedom. The only countries listed as having no country. My fourth and final source was the United States Department of State Bureau of
religious freedom also have High Government Control. 5 countries fell into that category. 3 countries with High Government Control still Diplomatic Security. This provided crime threat ratings as Low, Medium High, or Critical, as well
offered religious freedom. Additionally, when looking at the regional Crosstabulation results, the only countries restricting religious as crime issues and concerns within
freedom are in Southeast Asia. These countries were Laos, Myanmar/Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, all of which are either
predominantly of the Islamic or Buddhist faith. The countries with religious freedom were for the most part Roman Catholic. This data
supports my hypothesis that if government control levels are high, freedom of religion is not common.
Conclusions:
Based on my results, four out of five hypotheses showed statistical significance. As I was looking
through research to classify each country’s level of government control, it was interesting to see
Hypothesis #4: As government control decreases, the economy will increase. the rights given to people in the constitution versus what rights the people had through
Based on the results from the Crosstabulations procedure, a confidence level of .005 was found, showing a significant relationship governmental practice. Since this project was based on the exploration of factors influencing
between government control and economic growth. However, the relationship was not in favor of my hypothesis. In fact, it was developing countries, it was eye opening to see the conditions people around the world are
completely opposite. There are 5 countries with Low Government Control and Low Economic Growth, while there are 0 countries with living in. When I began this project, my goal was to understand how the government affected
Low Government Control and High Economic Growth. To further the point, there are 5 countries with High Government Control and High various ways of life in these regions of the world. From my research and my results, I am able to
Economic Growth, all of which are Southeast Asian countries. There are 5 countries with Low Government Control and Low Economic conclude that the government’s level of control can highly influence the way of life for a
Growth, all of which are South American countries. I can speculate that this relationship could signify that when a government of a population, specifically their educational attainment level, the threat and presence of crime, and
developing country has more control over the people and the economy, they can utilize that control to narrow their focus on areas they how much or how little an economy can grow.
see have potential for economic growth. For example, a specific trading of a raw material. A capitalistic country with a stable economy
can utilize entrepreneurs who freely invest, to build the economy up. Developing countries, like those in South America and Southeast Weaknesses:
Asia typically do not have stable economies so letting people freely invest could potentially derail the entire economy. Therefore, this
data, while statistically significant does not support my hypothesis. I see two major weaknesses in my research design. One, is that the statistics found for each
variable were only from the last 3-4 years. This means that changes over time within a society
were not considered. In order to receive completely thorough results, statistics over the last
Hypothesis #5: If military conscription is present, education levels will decrease. 10-20 years would be beneficial to understand changes made within governing bodies and
Based on the results from the Crosstabulation procedure, a confidence level of .302 shows no statistical significance between Military how these influenced the rights of the people over time. Another weakness is that when
Conscription or Voluntary Service and education levels. In total, there were 6 countries with educational levels at Less Than High School, 4 determining the level of government control, four factors were researched and compiled
of which were Military Conscription and 2 with Voluntary Service. In addition, there were 5 countries with educational levels at College together. These included the type of government, how and if elections for officials were
Degree or More, 1 of which was Military Conscription and 4 were Voluntary Service. From this data, I would think that Military Conscription conducted, freedom scores, and any human rights issues that have risen within society. Thus,
would’ve influenced education. However, from the category of Some College, a tie breaker emerged. There were 13 countries listed under the compilation of aggregate data could potentially not be completely accurate.
this category, 6 with Military Conscription and 7 with Voluntary Service, showing the relatively equal data does not support my hypothesis.
When looking at the actual numbers for each country’s school life expectancy, the numbers stay within the same range, around a high
school level of education. There are a few outliers both lower and higher. An explanation for this could possibly be that people in these Acknowledgements:
countries simply do not commonly gain an education after their high school degree. Although not the main influencer, military conscription I would like to express great appreciation to Dr. Doug Reed for his help and support throughout
grouped with many other factors such, could potentially be a reason. this research project. This independent study is allowing me to graduate with a double major in
Mass Communications and Political Science.

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