Twitter and Dog Adoption: An Examination of Factors to Predict Successful Dog Placement vs Euthanasia in New York City Animal Care Centers
Date
2019-05
Authors
Bell, Kristen
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Abstract
The aim of this study is to identify the main phenotypic factors that contributed to the successful placement of 90 dogs housed at the publicly funded New York City Animal Care Centers by examining Twitter profiles of At-Risk dogs. These dogs were placed on the At-Risk list due to space, illness, injury, behavioral problems or excessive fear. After an extensive review of relevant literature, a conceptual framework of hypotheses development was selected to determine the nature of the relationship of the independent variables to the dichotomous dependent variable of rescued or euthanized. The hypotheses were formed around the variables of coat color, sex, age, and Twitter engagement.
The unit of analysis for this research were individual dogs housed at NYCACCs. Twitter profiles of the dogs chosen for this study were examined to collect data on coat color, age, sex and social media engagement. The dogs in the study spent time a varying amount of time at one of the 5 NYCACCs between January of 2019 and the end of March of 2019. Inferential statistics were performed to determine the presence or absence of a correlation between the variables.
The findings of the study found no relationship between the variables tested. Therefore, Twitter users had no bias when promoting a dog’s profile. This research concludes with a discussion of other factors that may have contributed to a dog being rescued or euthanized.
Description
An Applied Research Project Submitted to the Department of Political Science, Texas State University, in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Administration, Spring 2019.
Keywords
dogs, adoption, euthanasia, color, sex, Twitter, age, rescue, Public Administration
Citation
Bell, K. (2019). Twitter and dog adoption: An examination of factors to predict successful dog placement vs euthanasia in New York City animal care centers. Masters of Public Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.