Paper Example. Effects of New Smoking Regulation in Italy

Gallus et al. (2005), article titled Effects of new smoking regulation in Italy is a summary of a multivariate study on the relationship between legislation and smoking in the country. There are various elements of research evident in the study, ranging from the use of hypothesis, dependent and independent variables, data collection, and analysis to conclude the hypothesis.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In the study, researchers hypothesized that the regulation of smoking leads to a decline in sales and consumption of cigarettes. Despite the hypothesis indicating two main variables, there were many other variables whose relationship with tobacco legislation was investigated. Because the study was a multivariate investigation, it involves studying the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable. In research, an independent variable is a variable or characteristic under investigation whose variation does not depend on another (Beins, 2017). Dependent variables, on the other hand, are a feature that dependents on other factors. Investigative studies are usually the cause of different results, while the latter are the effects of a particular phenomenon. In the study, the independent variable was the tobacco ban legislation (Iivari, 2018). The study investigated the impact of tobacco regulation that involved the ban on smoking in all indoor public facilities such as restaurants, cafes, airports, as well as all private and public workplaces. The dependent variables in the research were the effects of cigarette consumption regulation in the country. These dependent variables include the change in the amount of cigarettes sold and consumed; and the change in people’s attitude towards the smoking legislation after the ban.

The hypothesis of the research was tested using several different pieces of evidence. In examining the effects of the ban on the amount of cigarettes consumed, the data from official legal cigarette sales before and after the ban were compared for January to April. Since the ban took effect on 10th January 2005, the sales data for the years the same period in 2004 and 2005 were compared (Gallus et al., 2005). After the ban, the consumption of cigarettes was compared with results from a similar study conducted in March-April 2004. In determining the effect on the ban on people's attitudes, 3114 subjects were interviewed on their degree support and observation of the legislation (Gallus et al., 2005). The results of the compared to findings of a similar study conducted in 2001 before the ban to effect to investigate the degree of people’ support on the legislation for banning cigarette smoking in public places.

The results from the investigation showed that the consumption of cigarettes declined after the ban. In 2004, 31.1 million kilograms of cigarettes were sold in the period between January and April. In a similar period, in 2005, after the ban, 28.3 million kilograms were sold (Gallus et al., 2005). The difference between the two periods is an indication that the legislation led to the decline in the number of cigarettes sold in Italy that led to an 8.9% decline in cigarette sales (Gallus et al., 2005). In terms of cigarette consumption, there as a 7.6% decline after the ban, with the smoking prevalence declining by 2.3%, while the mean number of people smoking cigarettes per day decreased from 15.4 to 14.6, recording a 5.5% drop (Gallus et al., 2005). Among the young people between the age of 15 and 24 years, the fall in consumption was 23.0%, while for women, it was 10.5%(Gallus et al., 2005).

Findings on the change of people's attitude towards cigarette regulation before and after the ban indicate the policy led to an increase in the number of individuals in favor of tobacco legislations. The survey conducted showed that 86.8% of the respondent supported the total ban of smoking in private, public, and workplace areas, while 90.4% were in favor of legislation of smoke-free areas such as restaurants and cafes (Gallus et al., 2005). In 2001, 83.3% of the people favored the ban on cigarette smoking in public areas (Gallus et al., 2005). The variation between in these results between the 2001 and 2005 surveys indicates that the policy improved people's attitudes towards banning the consumption of cigarettes in public places, thus confirming that people's support for smoke-free policies increased when the policies are implemented. Approximately 70% of the respondents believed that smoking bans were observed in workplaces, while 90% thought the policy was followed in restaurants and bars (Gallus et al., 2005). After the implementation of the ban, 7.4% of respondents reported going less frequently, while 9.6% more regularly to restaurants and cafes (Gallus et al., 2005). These results confirm the hypothesis of the research that cigarette legislation leads to a decline in smoking.

The results of the study have significant impacts on policy development and applications. The results confirm findings from other studies suggesting that smoking regulation reduces cigarette consumption in the short run. The fact that many people support such legislation and continue to rise when the policies are implemented. Since the results from concurring with the previous studies on the same investigation from selected states in the United States of America and Ireland, it is evident that a similar strategy can work across all the population. Countries intending to reduce the prevalence of tobacco smoking can effectively achieve this goal by legislation tobacco regulation policies (Gallus et al., 2005). The fact that young people are greatly affected by these regulations makes the strategy the best tool to eradicate the consumption of cigarettes in the long run. Because the legislation has proved effective in reducing smoking, it is clear that legal regulations are effective in regulating people's behavior. Consequently, governments should increasingly rely on legislation to manage the occurrence of other harmful behaviors in society (Gallus et al., 2005). For example, to limit the use of guns in robbery and murder, the government should allow the public to own large firearms or weapons that cannot be concealed easily. Such policies will make it difficult for a criminal to buy small guns and used them for a crime. At the same time, it will respect people's rights to own firearms.

A multivariate paradigm has several strengths and weaknesses. The main strength is its ability to create a more realistic picture of looking at a phenomenon under study as opposed to using a single variable. It also allows researchers to determine relationships between different variables and to quantify them. The main weakness of multivariate research is that it uses complex statistical modeling output that is difficult to understand. Besides, for the paradigm to yield meaningful results, it should analyze a large sample of data (Beins, 2017). The process of generating a large amount of data is challenging as well as time-consuming. For example, in the study, 3114 people were interviewed, a large number of samples required many interviewers to conduct the job. The criticism of the research is that it only based on the change in the sale and consumption of cigarettes on legislation, yet, many other factors such as the economy of the county have an impact. As a result, the researchers should have used tested the sales of other things alongside cigarettes to determine if other factors affected the sales. If the sales of different products remain constant before and after the legislation, but the sales of cigarette change, then the relationship between the two variables can be validated. However, if the changes in sales are evident in all products, then it is possible that other factors apart from legislation affected the variation in cigarette sales and consumption.

Interpretive research is a paradigm based on the assumption that social reality is not objective or singular. Social contexts shape it and human experience and, therefore, should be investigated within its socio-historic context. As a result, the study should consider the social-historic context, such as previous Italians' response to legal policies (Iivari, 2018). Secondly, the economic background before and after the legislation plays a critical role in understanding the validity of the study's conclusion on the tested hypothesis. Besides, traditional research design enables the researchers to describe the changes by comparing previous studies to the current research.

From the above discussion, it is evident that legislation banning smoking in public places leads to a general decline in the sales and consumption of cigarettes—furthermore, people's attitudes towards the support of the ban increased after the implementation of the policies. From the study, it is clear that other countries can use the same legal legislations to limit smoking and other harmful behaviors.

References

Beins, B. C. (2017). Research method: A tool for life. Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fBs0DwAAQBAJ&oi

Iivari, N. (2018). Using member checking in interpretive research practice. Information Technology & People. 31(1), 45-60. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ITP-07-2016-0168/full/html

Gallus, S., Zuccaro, P., Colombo, P., Apolone, G., Pacifici, R., Garattini, S., & La Vecchia, C. (2005). Effects of new smoking regulations in Italy. Annals of Oncology, 17(1), 346-347. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdj070