2- 100-150 word responses

Discussion Question 1: Uber is facing a large number of lawsuits, among them, a change of technology theft from Google, installation of software that blanks out the availability of Uber rides near government buildings or when government-employed riders call, discrimination in the workplace, etc. Choose one particular charge against Uber (one of those mentioned or otherwise). Using an Internet search on this topic, design a study to determine the effect on ridership of the charge you examined.

Discussion Question 2: When studying household income, why do researchers often use the median rather than mean as a representation of central tendency? Do you agree with this approach?

RESPOND TO THE REPONSES BELOW THAT DICUSS THE QUESTIONS ABOVE: 100-150 WORDS FOR EACH RESPONSE TOTAL ASSIGNMENT SHOULD BE 200-300 WORDS

RESPONSES A.B. (100-150 WORDS)

Question 1

Technological advances triggered the creation and exponential growth of the gig economy over the past 10 years. "The gig economy refers to labour markets that are categorized by independent contracting that happens through, via, and on digital platforms” (Woodcock et.al., 2019, p. 10). Uber and other gig companies initiated litigation in the State of California to object Assembly Bill (AB 5), which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The statute required companies to reclassify all independent contractors as employees, adhere to federal minimum wage requirements, and provide benefits. AB 5 was written to benefit “gig workers” by increasing wages but did not account for the response of other independent contractors in other fields. Uber and other companies took their issue to court to delay the implementation of the bill along with other entities such as the California Trucking Association and California Teachers Association. Many companies including Uber threatened to end contracts with independent contractors living in California. Gig workers pushing for the measure were not prepared for the backlash faced from Uber riders. Many rely on the transportation service due to the expensive housing market and flooded freeways. Many surveys reported that the majority of constituents agreed that gig-economy drivers should not be considered employees (because they do not work a set schedule), were not required to be paid minimum wage, and should not be entitled to employee-based benefits. These opinions were confirmed in November 2020 when California overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22, a legislative initiative backed by Uber, Lyft, etc. that legally designates app based drivers as independent contractors, overriding AB 5.

Question 2

I agree with researchers methodology to use median as a representation of central tendency. The mean (average) is greatly impacted by outliers such as extremely high or low figures. The median searches the data to calculate the figure that is directly in the middle with even numbers above and below.. For example, if a hypothetical calculation shows that he mean for household incomes is $150,000 but the median is $80,000, researchers would immediately understand that the “average” household income is tremendously impacted by a number of significantly high figures that are not a true representation of the population. Additionally, because the median is not impacted by outliers, shifts in the figure would denote significant changes in household incomes. If the median income shifts to the left over a five-year period, economist can loosely determine that a higher number of households lost wages during that period of time causing the downward shift. From a socio-economic perspective and study, the median has greater use to depict concepts such as income inequality and identification of impoverished communities or populations.

RESPONE CK (100- 150 WORDS )

Question 1

When it comes to any type of software that many different people use rather it be a ride share software, a social media software such as Snapchat, or a banking software such as Venmo, etc. there are always going to be concerns. The reason these types of software continue to succeed is the ease of use. Venmo is a quick and easy way to send friends money all it requires is that both people have the app. Uber is also a quick and easy software to use because you just have to have to app to request a ride. However, as Uber’s popularity grew so did the public’s concerns. One of the largest concerns that is publicly known with Uber is the discrimination against women using the services. The study I have created focuses on the discrimination against women.

Research Questions:

Do the people that use the app have any concerns about the discrimination toward women?

With all of the allegations of discrimination towards women, will people continue to use the app?

Hypothesis:

The number of people that use the app will decrease due to the allegations of discrimination toward women.

Research Design:

To gain the information needed to complete the study a wide range of demographic questions and survey questions would be formed. A few examples would be, what is your age, what is your gender, how often do you use the app, where did you find out about the allegations, to you what is the worst type of discrimination, how do you view uber as a brand all together, what state do you live in, rate your experiences with uber, what is your ethnicity, etc.

Question 2

A mean of a group of numbers is the average of all the numbers. Using the mean of a group of numbers is very common; however, it does not locate the center of the group of numbers. Any changes whether they are big or small will affect the mean. If the group of numbers has a large range with larger and smaller numbers, it will cause the data to be unsymmetrical and not be considered the central tendency.

The median is the central tendency that divides the group of numbers and is known as the middle value. When determining the median the numbers are arranged in a line and the median rest right in the middle of the line. Half of the values are on one side and the other half are on the other side.

The median of a group of numbers will always stay at the same place even when some values are changed, whereas the mean of the group of numbers is based on all values and changes with any changes in the values.

When studying household income the values tend to be within a large range some low and some high. Since the values aren’t very consistent it makes more sense for researchers to use the median rather than the mean. This is because the mean will be thrown out of balance with a large range of data. As stated above the median is the central tendency for a group of numbers and does not change like the mean does; therefore, it makes more sense for researchers to use the median in situations like these rather than the mean.