Assignment 1: LASA 2: Final Project: Final Research Paper

Introduction, Literature Review and Methods Section

Katie Lopez

Argosy University

Introduction, Literature Review and Methods Section

Introduction

In this study the researcher will seek to determine the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the productivity of labor at coffee farms in Kona District, Hawaii. To successfully undertake this study, the researcher will utilize the use of retrospective cohort design to analyze the attendance and productivity of individual workers in the coffee estates. This will include checking records to know the numbers of works in the tea estates who died or medically retired because of HIV/AIDS and other related causes between 2010 and 2014. It will also include using questionnaires to get information from some of the workers in the coffee estates. The research will also characterize the impacts of HIV/AIDS and ARVs treatment on both medium term and long-run productivity of labor in the coffee estates. This will be affected using data of workers absenteeism in the coffee estates and the information from an HIV/AIDS treatment program.

The researcher will present a concise empirical and theoretical review on the problems related with the impact of HIV/AIDS on the productivity of human labor in labor intensive activities. This information will majorly be extracted from what other researchers have written. Other additional information will be from journals, magazines, textbooks, local newspapers and reports. The information from all these sources will be presented by the researcher and show whether each of these support or does not support the development of the hypothesis in question. This will also be based of the relevance of the information to the success of the study.

Literature review

In literature review both the theoretical and the empirical literature will be presented and these literatures will aid the research in developing this study by finding the crucial supporting information from facts and studies developed earlier by other researchers.

Theoretical literature

The emergence and spread of HIV/AIDS has been attributed to slow growth of economy in the nations that are most affected. This is because the workers and employees that suffers from the disease workers less hours or in a week because of going for medical attention within the working days and thus this scenario reduces the availability of labor. In addition the this, the these workers will also require additional medical care to be offered by the organization they are working with and thus increases the cost of medical insurance. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in a region has led to high mortality rate and this mainly affect the productive age bracket of between 15 to 64 years and thus reducing the skilled and productive population and labor force in a region. If the productive population is wept out the remaining will be the young, unskilled and inexperienced populations that will lead to a reduced productivity and eventually results in a regressive economic growth in a nation.

The united nations development program (UNDP), the united nations (UN) and the World health organization (WHO) have documented the existence of a correlation between the decreasing life expectancy and the growth of gross domestic products (GDP) in countries that have a HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 10 percent and more. Indeed in 1972, the prediction that the high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS will lower the economic growth rate in these countries was published. The macroeconomic effects of the existence of HIV/AIDS in these countries are very substantial and there are many policies that have been used to deal with the situations though some are controversial. One is that whether or not the costly AVR drugs should only be targeted at the economically productive groups of people in a nation.

Empirical literature

According to ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (2006), besides human costs, HIV/AID has profound impacts on the economic development and productive employment in many countries all over the world. Therefore, these countries should speedily develop and implement policies that will help manage and control the pandemic before it affects the whole economic processes.

Jenkins, C. L. et al (2003) established that the spread of HIV/AIDS is aided by the existence of discrimination and stigma on the people infected. This has helped keep the disease underground and prevent people for gong and get tested for the disease or seek medical treatment from hospitals. The number of people who have been tested for the disease is relatively low and that around 90 percent of those who have the disease are not aware of their health status.

Haacker, M, & IMF (2004) asserted that despite the biting magnitude of the problem in question, little empirical research exist on the micro effects of HIV/AIDS on productivity of labor on firm’s and industry’s levels have been developed. The unpublished cases in various countries showed some varied impacts of the disease of the general productivity and economic growth of a country.

MacFarlan, M et al. (2001) noted that it is particularly important to explore the correlation of HIV/AIDS and labor productivity in the context where zero-status is not known by the researcher and is also unlikely known to the respondent.

Methods Section

Methods sections will include the participants, the instruments, the procedures and also the ethical issues that will be considered and how these ethical issues will be handled.

The Participants

The participants in this research are also called the human subjects, trial or experiment in a research. These participants will include the researcher and the respondents. The researcher is one who carries out the study and thus will be the facilitator in the interviews and distribution of questionnaires. The respondents are the human subjects from where the information will be collected through interviewing them or using questionnaires to get information from them. The respondents in this study will be the 800 workers in the coffee estates in Kona district, Hawaii. 550 of which are infected with HIV/AIDS who will be the cases and 250 who are not infected and thus will be the controls.

The instruments

A research instrument is a test, survey, questionnaire, scale or a tool that has been designed to measure the variables, information of interest, characteristics and a psychological or a behavioral characteristic of a study. In this particular study, questionnaire will be utilized as a research instrument to conduct the study. This is because of the nature of the respondents. Both the cases and the controls will fill the questionnaires by providing information needed. These will also including using the workers’ attendance records in some of the estates in Kona district, Hawaii.

The research procedure

In this the following procedure will be followed in carrying out the research:

1. Giving a statement of the general objectives of the research.

2. Stating the specific questions of the research.

3. Determining the necessary data for each of the specific questions.

4. Identify the research design and the corresponding analysis of data that are appropriate for each research question and objective.

5. Taking an appropriate data for a specified analysis.

6. Analyzing the data using a computer or other means.

7. Representing the analyzed data in form or graphs and charts.

8. Drawing logical interpretations and conclusions from the analyzed data.

9. Reporting the findings of the study

10. Providing recommendations and conclusion.

The ethical issues considered

According to Thurston, R. W., et al. (2013), there are some potential ethical issues since the research revolves around a very sensitive matter that touches the confidential part of a person’s life. The researcher therefore would not write names of those workers who are infected with HIV/AIDS during the research and this will afford possible stigmatization. Therefore, giving this information to the public is not ethical. The research will only be interested with figures of those infected with the disease within the given age bracket. These ethical issues can be address by keeping the privacy and confidentiality of the information collected.

References

Haacker, M., & IMF. (2004). The macroeconomics of HIV/AIDS. Washington, D.C: International Monetary Fund.

ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. (2006). HIV/AIDS and work: Global estimates, impact on children and youth, and response. Geneva: ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.

Jenkins, C. L., Robalino, D. A., World Bank., World Health Organization., & Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. (2003). HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa: The costs of inaction. Washington, DC: World Bank.

MacFarlan, M., Sgherri, S., International Monetary Fund., & International Monetary Fund. (2001). The macroeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, Research Dept. and African Dept.

Thurston, R. W., Morris, J., & Steiman, S. (2013). Coffee: A comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry.