Research Methods (new research methods and paradigms) Essay

Research Methods (new research methods and paradigms) - Essay Example econometrics), laboratory experiments and several numerical methods (e.g. mathematical modelling) (Myers, 1997). Quantitative stance offers a variety of tools including standardized questionnaires and survey, experiments, etc (Wainer and Braun, 1998). The concepts of reliability and validity have traditionally been considered the cornerstones of quantitative approach. On the other hand, poor applicability to examination of poorly quantifiable issues is a serious shortcoming of quantitative methods and techniques. This effect is known as 'decontextualization' of study results: models built on the basis of quantitative results fail to cover certain essential variables that come into play in the real world context (Patton, 2002). By contrast, qualitative methodology seeks to explore phenomena in the "real world setting [where] the researcher does not attempt to manipulate the phenomenon of interest" (Patton, 2002: 39). Qualitative stance can be defined as follows: "any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification" (Strauss and Corbin, 1990: 17). Qualitative research reveals findings observed in the real world context where the phenomena being studied unfold naturally (Patton, 2002). As a result, qualitative perspective incorporates a different set of validation criteria than quantitative stance does (Kirk and Miller, 1986). For example, the replicability criterion can not be used to evaluate validity and legitimacy of a qualitative study. Instead, credibility, transferability and precision play very important role in determining validity of qualitative findings (Hoepfl, 1997). Some researchers argue that the concept of validity as it is defined within the quantitative paradigm is also not applicable to qualitative research (Creswell and Miller, 2000). Instead, they tend to develop their own concepts of validity or adopt other assessment criteria that depend upon each particular case. The examples of such criteria are quality, trustworthiness, rigor and some others (Dingwall et al, 1998). The distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are determined by the underlying philosophical principles. The choice of epistemology, which guides the research, is admittedly the most important of these principles (Hirschheim, 1992). Epistemology Over the last years many experts have expressed concerns regarding the use of positivist paradigm and methods associated with it in the area of business and organisational research. The underlying assumption of positivist perspective, which is existence of an objective world that can be measured and quantified through the use of traditional scientific methods of inquiry - has been vigorously attacked. A number of organisational theorists started to claim that the positivist approach "strips contexts from meanings in the process of developing quantified measures of phenomena" (Guba and Lincoln, 1994: 106). Other concerns about the applicability of quantitative methodologies to in-dept examination of complex social phenomena include taking the collected data out of the real-world setting, poor representativeness and generalisation of data, exclusion of discovery from the realm of scientific inquiry, etc The positivist perspe

The Role of the Manager in a Company Research Paper - 1

The Role of the Manager in a Company - Research Paper Example The managers are expected to be agile and adaptive and perform in a more involved manner. The functions of the managers are also extended to participation in the implementation of strategies rather than only formulating the strategies. To perform their functions effectively in the modern day businesses, managers have to achieve three main managerial skills which are communication and interpersonal skills, technical skills, decision making and conceptual skills. The managers are significant influencers of the macro environment within an organization. Therefore, they also actively influence the ethical environment within an organization. The managers in modern businesses have to be ethical leaders who would lead the employees in an ethically compliant and value adding manner. The thinking and behavior of a manager directly influences the work environment. An ethical manager helps to build ethically sensitive employees. On the other hand, a manager following unethical disciplines will create a workforce that would be insensitive to ethical factors. Demonstrating self-controlled decision making on the part of the mangers may lead to loss of trust and compliance among the employees and significantly impact the ethical environment. Managers need to have key competencies and skills in order to steer the organization in the right direction. Performing in an ethical manner is one of the pre requisites in the global business environment. The three r oles of managers which are interpersonal roles, decisional roles and informational roles should be performed in an ethical manner to ensure that an ethical environment is created within the organization. Strategic planning involves a set of processes that are devised to make key decisions regarding the long term strategies and goals of an organization.  

Science Fiction Films Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Science Fiction Films - Essay Example Whether the impact was positive or negative cannot be gauged by its box-office success since high grossing films are not always high-quality films, and vice versa. Either way, what can be anticipated in a heavily promoted science fiction film are its spectacular action scenes, distinctive special effects, alien creatures and advanced technological gadgets, among others. A lot of times the creators of sci-fi movies somehow get carried away with the gadgets, technology, and special effects that oftentimes they fail to see that the whole plot of their movie just crumbles to the ground. In effect, there is not much substance that the viewer absorbs but a mere recollection of chaotic data once the viewer leaves the theater. Science Fiction Defined Before proceeding, it would help to define the word science fiction. What does Science fiction really mean? It is said that the term â€Å"science fiction† is an oxymoron because â€Å"Science is the study and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena in an orderly way, but fiction is something that is created or imaginary.† (Bromiley, n.d.) Thus, being contradictory terms, science can play an essential role in creating the fictional work of art by giving it more rationality, and making the facts more believable, and therefore more realistic. In terms of film, science fiction films are often subjected to close scrutiny especially since movies in this genre are frequently popular, usually hyped-up, and are generally about contemporary topics of interest. Hence the movie 2012 was shown in November 2009 due to the popular topic then about the so called ‘End of the World’ prophecy on the Mayan calendar, the movie In Time was shown just recently linking man’s fixed lifespan to the population explosion and other related issues, and the film Source Code brings to fore the plausible reality of exploring and manipulating man’s mind for the government’s top secret operations. A lot of the ideas in these films are imaginary, but the future is vast and anything is possible with technology so either field—science and media—can pick up gems of thought from these film accomplishments. Tips to Find a Good Sci-Fi Movie Now, despite the sci-fi genius among most of the creators of these movies, in most cases, science fiction films are not always commendable. There have been classic science fiction films which are frequently cited for being realistic, credible and praiseworthy and Jurassic Park is one film which has achieved such stature. However, on the whole, there have been more misses than hits among the great sci-fi movies. Here are some principles to follow in checking if a sci-fi movie is great or not (What Makes for a Good Science Fiction Movie?, 2008): 1. The technology in the movie extrapolates from but does not violate known scientific principles. This of course is hard science fiction. 2. When known scientific principles are violated the movie explains why and how. 3. When known scientific principles are violated without explanation, the movie follows popular science fiction conventions. These principles are not fixed but they can give an individual a yardstick by which to gauge the kind of film one is dealing with. The Misplaced

Written statement about educational psychology (Human Development) Personal

Written about educational psychology (Human Development) - Personal Statement Example My interest in human psychology and educational background make me a suitable candidate to get admission in the University of Colorado’s master degree program. I believe that a master degree in this field will definitely help me achieve my personal and professional goals. One main reason for applying in this program is related to my professional life. I want to establish my career in the field of educational psychology, and that is only possible if I get an opportunity to get a master degree from a prestigious university. University of Colorado is known for its highly qualified faculty not only in field of educational psychology (human development) but also in all other courses being offered by the university. It is due to the well-experienced faculty of the University of Colorado, that I have taken my decision to do masters from this great university. I want to complete my education under the guidance of well-experienced faculty of the University of Colorado, as it will help me become a professional in the field of educational psychology. After completing my education, I want to use my knowledge and skills to ensure proper child development, to bring productive changes in the lives of children, and to make children come out of educational stress. I want to be skilled in using educational and psychological assessment techniques to help children who face difficulties in learning and social adjustment. I believe that a country can progress only if its citizens get high quality education from the top universities of the world. I have collected facts about the universities, which offer Master in Education Psychology (Human Development) program and after analyzing all facts and issues, I have made up my mind to pursue the master degree from the University of Colorado because it provides highest quality education in all fields of study. I believe that the

Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Review - Essay Example Recreating by gone–days accurately involves immense research work and to portray the time frame on screen with accurate dress, props and settings require a quality crew. If three films like John Adams, Looking for Lincoln and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton are taken into consideration, one will be easily able to weave the thread of similarity in all the three pieces. However, the presentation and the content of the films are so much different from each other that a comparative analysis of the works at a row can actually throw a comprehensive light on the treatment of the directors with the history, their nature of presentation and the motif and the theme, they have intended to present through these films. And all the three works, the mini TV series, John Adams, telecasted from the year 2008, the film Looking for Lincoln released in the year 2009 and the film Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton released in the year 2010 can be compared from a close contour as they have all come up before its audience within a very short span of time in a way making themselves as the contemporary films to one another. Thesis Statement The essay intends to draw a comparative study between the thematic representation of the films, John Adams, Looking for Lincoln and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton. ... In order to do that, he is always keen to focus on areas, events and aspects of the great man’s life re-appearing from the pages of history to unfold some unknown facts or hidden corners of his professional and personal life. Some facts which are not generally known or discussed, some controversies and some areas which are not known to many people find effective expression holding the hands of these directors in the movie. In 2008, American television witnessed profound phenomena of miniseries at Television that captivates life of America’s second president and founding father John Adams. The series focused on the political life of the historical figure mostly and his contribution in framing the United States as a nation. Tom Hooper directed the miniseries and Kirk Ellis was the writer of the screenplay which was inspired from the book, bearing the title â€Å"John Adams† by David McCullough. The biographical picture of John Adams was telecasted in the HBO channe l in between 16th March to 20th April 2008, divided into seven parts, the series captivated the story of the first fifty years on the United States and was critically acclaimed world-wide. The show stood as the most prestigious miniseries in the history of American television till date winning four Golden Globe and thirteen Emmy awards. The main theme of this film was to uphold the political life and career of the great leader John Adams and thereby displaying the time and other important events in the American history contemporary to his era. Though there are many inaccuracies with the actual historical event, yet the film more or less is able to evoke a compassion for the framing years and founder fathers of the great nation of the United States

Capitalism versus Socialism Essay Example for Free

Capitalism versus Socialism Essay Budget deficit is just one of the many factors that negatively affect the provision of most of the government projects in the society. Without the sufficient amount of government funds, building of infrastructures and other public goods would be delayed or underprovided. As we can remember, there are some goods and services that can only be provided efficiently if the government is the one who supply it instead of the private firms to protect the rights and welfare of the consumer group. If there exist under provision of these public goods, the societal welfare would negatively be affected. In this regard, there is a question on whether what should prevail in our economy, capitalism or socialism? One may say that this debate between capitalism and socialism is already a cliche, but we cannot set aside the arguments and points of each side which could give us guide us in understanding what is happening in the real world. Let me discuss first capitalism. Capitalism promotes the concentration of the government in the provision of security in the society and not to intervene in the business world. Some capitalists say that, with the intervention of the government, person who wants to establish a business enterprise is being deprived due to the policies that are being implemented by the government. For instance, legal monopoly that was given by the government to some companies hinders other people from starting their own water/electric company. This failure of other people to start their own utility business, as capitalists believe, is a violation to their freedom. Socialism, on the other hand, is extremely the opposite of the capitalists thinking. Here, government intervention is very much welcome and the society is recognizing the ability of the government to efficiently handle companies and to equally distribute whatever the goods or service that they produce to their citizens. One good example to this is the provision of government of medical services and education. Since not all individuals can afford the costs of schooling provided by private firms, what the government does is they establish public schools charging at a minimum amount. As for the medical services, the government establishes public hospitals and clinics that would provide its citizens cheaper medical services and medicines for less capable people. With this, the basic right of human, to have education and access to medical services, is being fulfilled by the government. The reason why government provides efficient goods and services is due to the fact that they are providing the said goods and services at a reasonable price unlike private firms, especially monopolists, that charges above what is socially acceptable price. Now, based from the points of these two ideologies, therefore, it depends on the situation if whether a certain government intervention is good to the society. If the government interferes in the market in order to protect the welfare of its citizens, then, there is no room for capitalists to say that they are being deprived by the government to put their own business. In addition to that, establishing another utility business, like electric company, would be very costly due to the high fixed costs that they must face. This is the reason why it would be efficient if only one would continue ‘monopolize’ the production of electricity in the country. In this regard, if there would be an under provision of public goods like education, electricity, medical services and security due to budget deficit of the government; societal welfare would surely be greatly devastated. More people would be deprived with their basic human rights and might suffer to private firm’s abusing power. Only during instances wherein the private firms abuses their power and charge high to their customer by providing inelastic goods the government initiate actions to regulate the situation. Good Economics versus Good Politics One could say that an act promotes good economics if it aims for the maximization of the satisfaction of the society or market (Sharma, 2007). On the other hand, one could say that an act promotes good politics if it is backed up by a good policy for the welfare of the majority. Most of the analysts say that good economics leads to good politics and vice versa. Others believe that it’s the other way around. The point of the latter is that, making policies that promotes the no personal interest would lead to good economics since promoting the interest of the majority is tantamount to saying that they are maximizing the satisfaction of the society or they are after for the optimal level of societal welfare (Gittins, 2004). In order for each of the said ideals to exists, it must ensure the survival of one another. It seems hard for the politicians to set aside their personal political interest for the public interest but it should be done in order to attain what is really best for the economy and for the country. One way to promote the public interest is to lessen the burdens being imposed to the public like- tax (Gruen, 2007). Minimizing the tax rate would require a long battle and endless debate but the thing is, if all of the politicians would set aside their personal interest everything is possible for the government and they could act efficiently for the betterment of the economy. In this regard, there is no point arguing what is the best for the society- good economics or good politics, since one is needed for the existence of the other. Invisible Hand Principle Advocated by Adam Smith, invisible hand supports capitalist’s view. According to Adam Smith, the government must not intervene in the market and focus only on providing security and justice system to the society. They also believe that government lessens the societal welfare with their imposition of taxes. Taxes just add up to the operational costs of the businesses that in turn being passed to the consumers. In short, the burden of the taxes that are being imposed by the government goes to the end consumers. Adam Smith believes that market systems has its own mechanism to ‘heal’ itself and move back again towards the equilibrium condition even without the intervention of the government. By satisfying the ‘selfish’ motives of producers and consumers, they are unconsciously helping each other. Therefore, increasing the taxes rate collection of the government to cover the budget deficit would be an unwise idea since it would only add up to the burden of the consumers or the public. Government intervention must have the right timing and, as much as possible, impose less burden to the consumers. As what have been cited a while ago, government intervention depends on the situation and the condition between the private firms and the consumer group. Government intervention would only be sufficient if it uplifts the welfare of the consumer group with less negative effects on the private firms. But as for the increasing tax rate scenario, it seems that, although unintentionally, the government negatively affects the welfare of the consumer group while leaving the private firms unharmed since they only pass the taxes to the consumers. In this case, it would be better if the government let the ‘invisible hand’ or the free market system to put back into order the economy. Production Possibilities Curve There are some instances wherein private firms are being restricted in passing the added costs of government intervention to their consumers. Like for instance, the imposition of tariff on importers, tariff is another income generating activities of the government aside from taxation. With the extra expenses of the importers on every unit of goods that they are importing to the country, they can now only afford to buy less of the said imported goods depending on their allotted budget. In this scenario, the business would be producing below its production possibilities curve or PPF. This means that with the existence of higher tariffs on imported goods needed by local industries, the companies could only buy fewer imported raw materials and, therefore, producing fewer number of finished products than with the optimal level of production. This situation is treated to be inefficient, but since tariff is a form of income generation of the government, the only thing that the government could do is to find the efficient level of tariff rate wherein businesses could still produce closely to their PPF. With this, the value of the efficiency that is lost from the private firms would be justified and would return to them in a form of infrastructures in a form of roads and bridges which could alleviate the efficiency of their operation. In reality, it is pretty hard to produce within the PPF due to the existence of various intervening variables and tariff is one of them. The least thing that businesses could do is to produce closer to their PPF or their optimal level of production based on their capacity and capability. Opportunity Costs With the possibility of under provision of important government services, the government cannot afford to make it happen due to the high opportunity costs involved in the case. The government might forego the value of the welfare of its citizens in exchange of the improvement of the welfare of the corporations. If the welfare of the corporations and consumer group is to be calculated, the welfare of the consumer group is surely larger than with the welfare of the corporations in the market; and in the first place, it is the duty of the government to protect and prioritize the safety and welfare of the majority- citizens of their country. Just imagine the number of students that might stop schooling with the cutting of the budget for education; the number of sick and less capable citizens that only relies on the help of the government for cheaper medical services and/or medicines from public hospitals and clinics. To make the situation worst, the government prioritizes the welfare of Iraqis than with its own citizen. It was aired in the news that the government raised the amount of budget for the ‘peace keeping role’ of the government to Iraqi people. It is not bad to help other people, but ‘think first about the welfare of your own people before the others’ since that is the right thing to do. The point here is that, the reason why the government suffers to budget deficit is due to their wrong priorities. The government must not set aside the welfare of its citizen since it would bail them higher opportunity costs.

Silkwood Essay Example for Free

Silkwood Essay Silkwood took a big risk when she decided to blow the whistle on Kerr-McGee in 1946 for health and safety violations. Silkwood was concerned about her and her coworkers’ health and safety as she witnessed various health and safety violation acts that management ignored. Whistle blowing can be very dangerous for the one that is blowing the whistle as witnessed by the mysterious death of Karen Silkwood on the night of November 13th. Up until her job with Kerr – McGee, Silkwood lived a normal life and didn’t do anything in her life to make her stand out. It wasn’t until her investigation began, that Silkwood was starting to become more noticeable. According to friends that were close to her, Silkwood became more and more involved in the investigation and wouldn’t let the investigation go until all evidence and facts had been reported. However, Silkwood’s evidence and findings never did make it to the appropriate people due to the mysterious car crash that led to her death. Officers and scene investigators never did find the manila envelope containing the evidence, but Silkwood’s death brought to light the seriousness of the investigation and eventually, the closing of the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plant where Silkwood was last employed. While there are many rewards to whistle blowing, there are also many risks to whistle blowing as well. One of the rewards of whistle blowing is that the laws or acts being violated will be corrected by the correct regulation agencies. Whistleblowers are even able to submit a confidential report online through National Whistleblowers Center website where attorneys review the information and give advice on the best ways to proceed with the investigation. There are also information and additional resources available for those who are thinking about blowing the whistle on their company. A risk of whistleblowing on the company can lead to alienation between the whistleblower and their employer, boss, and co-workers. Some may fear retaliation if seen helping those gain evidence against the company or organization practicing unethical practices. They may also lose their job by blowing the whistle and family and friends may also be affected by the act as well because of their relationship to the whistleblower. As employees, it is our responsibility to protect the company or organization values while at the same time, also following our own moral values as well. Every company and organization has their own morals and values that they established, but if an employee witnesses or comes across evidence that does not uphold those values, than the employee has a responsibility to report those unethical practices. Employees also have their own person moral values that they usually use as standards when finding a company or organization to work for. When dealing with unethical practices, an employee bases their decision to report the company against their own personal moral values. It is than the employee’s responsibility to make that tough decision on reporting their company’s unethical practices and risking everything or leaving it up to someone else to make that decision. References Karen Silkwood. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:47, Apr 28, 2013, from http://www. biography. com/people/karen-silkwood-9542402.