Introduction
Some people may wonder why the minimum drinking age in the United States is slightly higher compared to other nations. This minimum drinking age of 21 years in the US was established in 1984 by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act (Edwards, 2019). But why did the senate pick 21 years as the legal minimum drinking age when a person becomes a legal adult at 18? Initially, during the 1930s, the legal drinking age was 21. The law was upheld until 1971, during the period when the minimum age one was allowed to participate in voting was reduced to 18 years (Edwards, 2019). A debate about dropping the minimum legal drinking age to 18 sparks. Amid 1970-1975, almost half the nations had reduced the legal drinking age to between 18-20 (Birch, 2016).
Research Questions
- Why was the minimum legal drinking age in the United States set at 21 years old?
- What benefits have been manifested by setting the legal drinking age at 21 years in the United States?
- Should the minimum legal drinking age in the US be dropped to 18 years?
Research questions have two variables; independent variable and the dependent variable. An independent variable is that which is not manipulated in the study and affects the dependent variable. The dependent variable is that which can be altered during the study. For the first research question, the independent variable is the age of 21 years, while the dependent variable is the reason for settling at the age. In the second question, the independent variable is age 21, while the dependent ones are the benefits. For the last question, the independent variable is 18 years, and the dependent one is if the age should be dropped.
Hypothesis
The minimum legal drinking age was set at 21 due to medical and psychological reasons
Setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 years has reduced road accidents, improved school attendance, and has resulted in a reduction in overall drinking habits.
The minimum legal drinking age in the US should be dropped to 18 years.
Quantitative data analysis would be the best for this research as it would provide more accurate data. Quantitative research can be replicated, thus its more reliable. Additionally, the kind of data collected can be directly analyzed in quantitative analysis making it more straightforward. Further quantitative research permits the use of a wider range of participants that enhances the generalization of outcomes (Devault, 2019). Unlike qualitative data analysis, quantitative data analysis beats bias since the researcher can stay away from participants. Qualitative analysis gives many details concerning the subject of the study, but it limits the volume of study participants, it has difficulty making comparisons or generalizing data and is prone to bias (Devault, 2019).
