Type of Inquiry

My research question is essentially: Does climate change and decreasing crop yield have an effect on educational attainment in Sub Saharan Africa? This is an evaluative inquiry as I am seeking to discover or explain a relationship between two factors– climate change and educational attainment. Such an evaluative inquiry involves a causal puzzle to discover how one factor can influence another factor. Especially because the connection in the current literature between the two factors I am investigating are tangentially, not directly connected, my research question involves the evaluation of a couple factors in order to draw a conclusion. Furthermore, The ultimate solution to my question would be discovered through the incorporation of climate change and educational attainments into one study. Currently, I am creating a relationship based on childhood nutrition as a uniting factor. Therefore, I am essentially conducting an evaluative inquiry between three factors, until methods to measure the impact of climate change and education are presented together. My current central research explores the causal relationship between climate change and nutrition then the causal relationship between nutrition and educational attainment. In order to excise the mediating factor, two sub research questions would be: do areas with decreasing crop yields as a result of the changing climate have lower literacy rates than areas of comparable socioeconomic status but relatively stable crop yields? And similarly, do areas with decreasing crop yields as a result of the changing climate have more economic activity than areas of comparable socioeconomic status but relatively stable crop yields? There is a clear connection between literacy rates and education and there is evidence that those who are less educated contribute less to the economy than individuals who achieved a higher level of education. Consequently, both of these measurements could quantifiably reveal levels of education attainment. In fact, I have discovered a research method for two of the three things I am hoping to study. There is one method used to study crop yields based on climatic data and another relating road density to economic growth. Both of these methods can be combined to compare crop yields and economic activity. Another method or form of survey would be required to collect the literacy data for the first question, but it would be doable. If there was a correlation, or lack thereof, between both literacy and economic activity and climate change, it would be reasonable to draw a conclusion based on my central research question.