What does this say about the validity of the PPE cycle?

To accurately test a hypothesis we must be able to measure the relationship we are testing. This requires assigning numerical values to “poverty”, “population”, and “environmental degradation.” In addition, if we are going to test for the presence of something, we need to know what the situation looks like when that phenomenon is missing. (Known as the “control” in an experiment.)
For example, what exactly is “poverty”? What would be the daily wage of an impoverished individual? One dollar? Two dollars? To know what poverty is, one needs to know how a society would appear in the absence of poverty. To make a valid comparison, we will compare the United States, where the PPE phenomena does not exist (or does it?), to a less-developed country (LDC). Examples of such nations are Sierra Leone, and Haiti.
To begin, download the Lab Worksheet attached in the link. Complete the lab worksheet using the instructions below and submit it using the assignment link.
Module Three Laboratory Instructions – The PPE Cycle
Part One
Step 1
Choose a less-developed country (LDC), that you will examine for the effects of the PPE cycle.
A list of LDCs can be found here: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category/ldcs-at-a-glance.html (Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)
Step 2
Complete Table 1 in the worksheet for both the nation you are investigating and the United States using the following sources for your measurements:
Poverty: The CIA’s Factbook has a wealth of information in an easily accessible format. Go to the website below, then choose the nation from the menu and find the value for “percent below poverty.”
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/population-below-poverty-line/ (Links to an external site.)
Population: Rather than the absolute number in the population, the more important value is population density. Click on the link below:
https://population.un.org/wpp/ (Links to an external site.)
Click on interactive data.
Click on population density.
Select your two nations (U.S. and an LDC) in the menu. You will have to click on a box next to the continent and again for the correct region to find your countries.
Click on Next at the bottom of the page.
Click on 2018 for the year and then click Next at the bottom of the page. Your population density values will then show up on this page.
Environmental Degradation: This is perhaps the most difficult to measure, because it is actually a factor of many variables. Fortunately, such a measurement has already been created and is called Environmental Performance Index. Find the Index for your nation using the following website:
http://epi.yale.edu/ (Links to an external site.)
Step 3
Post Table 1 to the Module 3 Lab Data Bank discussion forum.
Step 4
A basic tenet of good scientific analysis is replicating your experiment to confirm your results.
Do this by going to the Module 3 Lab Data Bank and combine your data with that of at least 4 other students’ data, who have chosen different nations than yours, for a total of 5 replications. (Note: If time permits, combine the data for all members of the class for a stronger analysis.) Take the average of these values for poverty, population density and environmental degradation and complete Table 2 in the worksheet.
Step 5
Derive conclusions from your results in Table 2 and answer these questions in the worksheet within 100-200 words:
Is there a large difference between the United States and the developing nations for all of these variables?
What does this say about the validity of the PPE cycle?
Grading
Table 1 and Table 2 are worth 30 points each. Step 3 is worth 5 points. Answer to the Step 5 Question is worth 35 points and is based on completeness and correctness (5 points for each of the 3 variables of percent below poverty line, population density, and environmental performance index and 20 points for your answer to how this relates to the validity of the PPE cycle).
Be sure to use APA guidelines for any referenced work.