GEOGRAPGICAL & POLITICAL AWARENESS Which population is more politically and geographically aware: Berliners or Wisconsinites? Jenna Mehre

Introduction  Americans are constantly criticized for being self-absorbed in our own issues and knowing next to nothing about issues in other countries. My project dealt with these issues. To find out how politically and geographically aware Americans are compared to citizens of other countries, Berliners and Wisconsinites were asked similar political and geographical questions and the results were compared.  Berliners were asked the following questions:  Who is the President of the United States?  What countries border the United States?  What is the capital city of the United States?  Wisconsinites were asked these questions:  Who is the Chancellor of Germany?  Can you name four of the nine countries that border Germany?  What is the capital city of Germany?

Research Question & Hypothesis  Question: Which population is more politically and geographically aware: Berliners or Wisconsinites?  Hypothesis: Berliners will score higher in all areas of research compared to Wisconsinites.

Pre-Tour Research  Before going on tour, pre-tour work was completed.  Research Tutorial and Quiz: Six videos on research and citing were watched and a quiz was completed.  Research Summary of Germany: Using the WeShare “Explore” section, ten areas of Berlin life were studied and summarized, including country life, politics, and government.  Research Topic and Question Approval: Professor Brown of Eastern Oregon University and I were in contact discussing my question which later led to the approval of the question.  Annotated Bibliography: A two-page paper was written on my topic of research (German Politics). Accompanying this paper was an annotated bibliography with ten sources.  Project Proposal: A project proposal was submitted to Professor Brown for approval.

Data Gathering on Tour  Research subjects were chosen at random in public places such as train stations, plazas, and cafes.  Ten subjects from each country were chosen: five males and five females.  Ages ranged from teens (17 years of age) to senior citizens (80 years of age).  Data was recorded in a notebook on pre- constructed charts similar to the ones on the following slides.

Data Collected From Berliners  Who is the President of the United States?  What countries border the United States?  What is the capital city of the United States? Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer IIIII IIII (9)I (1) Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer IIIII III (8)II (2) Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer IIIII III (8)II (2)

Data Collected from Wisconsinites  Who is the Chancellor of Germany?  Can you name four of the nine countries that border Germany?  What is the capital city of Germany? Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer II (2)IIIII III (8) Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer IIII (4)IIIII I (6) Correct AnswerIncorrect Answer IIIII III (8)II (2)

Analysis These bar graphs reorganize the data so that the two populations and their correct and incorrect answers are more easily comparable. Analysis of the data shows that Berliners beat Wisconsinites in the “Political Leader” and “Bordering Countries” questions but the populations are tied in their knowledge of the capital cities. The largest gap is in “Political Leader” where Berliners beat the Wisconsinites by 70 percentage points.

Data Evaluation  Data collected from on-tour and off-tour research was adequate to answer the research question.  To more completely answer this question, more research subjects could have been interviewed.  For on-tour research, knowing how to ask the questions in German would have been helpful and also would have opened up the interview pool to all Berliners not just those who spoke English.

Summary  Based off the data collected and the analysis of that data, Berliners are more politically and geographically aware than Wisconsinites.  Berliners are significantly better than Wisconsinites in the political sphere, where Berliners beat Wisconsinites by 70 percentage points.  In the “Bordering Countries” category, Wisconsinites did better, only losing by 40 percentage points.  The two populations tied in “Capital City” suggesting that Wisconsinites are more geographically aware than politically aware.

Global Implications  This project has proven that Americans, specifically Wisconsinites in this instance, are behind Germans in our knowledge of global and political issues.  This information is discouraging, considering how involved America is in other countries.  Without having a functional knowledge of global issues, we as Americans are unable to make educated decisions when it comes to world issues.  The uneducated are significantly easier to manipulate. If we don’t want to be taken advantage of by other countries, then we need to educate ourselves.

Reflection  This research question has made me realize that I need to learn more about other countries.  Before pre-tour research, I didn’t know what countries bordered Germany or who the chancellor was.  On tour, I realized how important speaking another language is. Communication is key to every person to person transaction and without being able to speak German, research was difficult at times.

Danke Schoen!