The Chi Square Test Health And Social Care Essay

1.a. The statistical trial that would be run to look into whether the difference in attending rates between the different classs of patients was statistically important is the Chi-square trial. Chi-square is appropriate because it assumes the homogeneousness of informations distribution between categorical variables, and where differences in such distributions arise, it tests the significance. Chi-square assumes that variables are independent ( its nothing hypothesis ) , and that informations are indiscriminately collated instead than being assigned from a fixed population as in this instance. The appreciably big sample size is besides a warrant for the truth of Chi-square trial. 1.b. At the clip of directing the invitations, the GPs had expected equal figure of patients to go to for each of the classs, therefore taking to the void hypothesis ( premise of independency ) that there is no important difference in the rate of attending for each of the groups represented in the survey. However, the observations were tested between the 2678 invited patients, who were grouped based on their Sexual activity ( Males and Females ) , Age ( 35-44 old ages, 45-54 old ages, and 55-64 old ages ) , Smoking position ( Smokers and Non-smokers ) , Body weight ( Obesed and Not obesed ) , and Diet Scores ( 1,2,3, and 4 for Best, Good, Bad, Worst scores severally ) . The consequences are shown on the affiliated PASW end product ( Tables 1.1-1.5, and Fig. 1.1-1.5 ) . Table 1.1a shows the crosstabulation end product of the attending in males and females. Harmonizing to the tabular array, males ( 987 ) were less likely to go to than females ( 1218 ) , and were every bit good more likely non to go to ( 262 ) , than the females ( 211 ) . Chi-square trial ( Table 1.1b ) confirm that there is a important ( X2=17.68, df=1, Fisher ‘s P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) . In Table 1.2a, attending tend to change between the age groups in the order of 812, 732, and 661 for those with 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 old ages groups. However, there is no association ( X2=2.074, df=2, P & A ; gt ; 0.05 ) between such variableness in attending to the age differences. Table 1.3a-b shows the response of tobacco users and non-smokers to invitation. More non-smokers ( 1583 ) than expected were in attending, while lesser figure of tobacco users ( 622 ) attended. On the other manus, more tobacco users ( 208 ) were likely non to go to than non-smokers ( 265 ) , giving the standardized residuary value of 5.1 and -3.4 severally. A significantly higher ( X2=45.263, df=1, P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) attending rate was observed for the non-smokers compared the tobacco users. This is consequence is besides supported by really high likeliness and linear-by-linear association as shown in Table 1.3b. Table 1.4a-b is the crosstabulation of the association of attending with organic structure weight. The consequence shows that organic structure weight determined that rate of attending of the patients. Therefore, the obesed patients were less ( X2=10.2, df=1, P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) probably to go to ( 197 ) compared with the ‘not obesed ‘ patients ( 2008 ) . Table 1.5a-b compared the attending rate of patients holding different dietetic tonss. The result revealed a likeliness of attending in the order of 1 ( 632 ) & A ; gt ; 3 ( 564 ) & A ; gt ; 2 ( 541 ) , and 4 ( 468 ) . This order of attending by patients of different dietetic mark was found to be important ( X2=38.259, df=3, P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) . 1.c. Sexual activity, smoking position, organic structure weight and diet mark affect the rate of attending of patients in response to invitation by GPs in Manchester. Thus, on the footing of sex, more females are likely to react to an invitation than males. Besides, more non-smokers and ‘not obesed ‘ are likely to go to than tobacco users and obesed severally. On the footing of diet tonss, patients with diet mark of 1 were more likely to go to than those of mark 3, who were every bit good more likely to go to than those on 2. the latter group are more likely to go to than those on 4. A critical expression of the result of this survey could uncover some implicit in grounds for the important consequences. It could be that males, tobacco users, and obesed were afraid of returning to the infirmary as they think a wellness cheque could uncover some upseting medical conditions or that they were non satisfied with the quality of wellness attention services they had received. For those who attended, it might be that they are funny about cognizing to what extent their conditions would hold improved. The ascertained differences in the rates of attending between the age groups were statistically non important. This is to state that the GPs expected the figure of patients who attended for each age group to go to, while besides being cognizant that the figure of patients who did non go to, would besides non hold attended. Therefore, whether or non patients responded to the invitation is independent ( non influenced ) by their age groups. In drumhead, these findings could pave manner for farther probes into unknoting some of the grounds why those who attended did so and frailty versa. 1.d. My reading of the informations will be that the void hypothesis ( premise of independency ) merely holds true if the age groups of the patients is to be considered when ask foring them, otherwise, the rate of attending or response to invitation is mostly associated with the sex, smoking position, organic structure weight, and diet mark of the patients. 1.e. The consequence of this survey will assist the GPs in Manchester in planning ; given them an penetration on which of the classs of the patient ‘s population that should have more attending during subsequent invitations. For case, since the patient ‘s response to invitation is independent on the age groups, the GPs may make up one's mind non to see that class in subsequent invitation since there is non likely to do any difference. On the other manus, if an invitation is to be sent based on their sex, organic structure weight, smoke, and diet mark differences, the GPs would hold to take excess steps, including reexamining their services and stepping up enlightenment, if they are to guarantee that every bit many as are invited would go to.ANSWER TO QUESTION 2One-way analysis of discrepancy ( ANOVA ) will be most suited for finding whether increased nanotube concentration causes increased tensile strength, This is because, ANOVA tests for the grade of variableness between the mean of quantitative informations ( herein represented by the Tensile strength ) that were independently and indiscriminately sampled from group variables ( samples treated with 5 % , 10 % , 15 % , and 20 % nanotube concentrations ) . The premise is that there is homogeneousness of discrepancies and that increasing nanotube concentration does non ( void hypothesis ) have any consequence on tensile strength. Some steps ( see attached PASW Output Tables 2.1-2 ) have been taken to guarantee that these informations do conform with the premises of ANOVA, hence its suitableness. Normality: appraisal of the symmetricalness ( lopsidedness ) and its bunch around the mean ( kurtosis ) was done foremost by utilizing the values in the descriptive end product. As a regulation of the pollex, divergence from normalcy can be assumed if the lopsidedness is by far larger than its standard mistake. Here both of the lopsidedness ( -0.223 ) and kurtosis ( -0.476 ) , though negative, are good near to zero and rather smaller than their standard mistake of 0.472 and 0.918 severally. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk trials ( Table 2.3 ) both uphold the premise that the informations are usually distributed, and are supported by the mentality of the histogram, Normal Q-Q secret plans, and box secret plans. The premise of homogeneousness of the discrepancies was every bit good confirmed utilizing the Levene statistics, which accepts the void hypothesis that the discrepancies are equal ( P & A ; gt ; 0.05 ) . Looking at the standard divergence and standard mistake for the several group, it could be seen that there is an overall lessening of fluctuation in tensile strength as the nanotube concentration increased. This is besides supported by the mean secret plan ( Fig. 2.4 ) . Finally, to look into farther for this suggested influence ( see Fig. 2.4 ) , the F-test on the ANOVA tabular array is used. The consequence shows that there is a important ( P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) difference between the mean tensile strength of the different samples treated at different nanotube concentrations. This implies that the obtained F-test is higher than the critical value in F-distribution tabular array Because ANOVA can merely place differences in sample mean between groups without foregrounding where precisely the differences lie, it is imperative that the Post-hoc trial ( e.g. Least important difference as in this survey ) be used to observe which of the group means differ. The Post-hoc LSD was discretionarily chosen and it revealed that though the average difference between samples treated with 10 % and 15 % nanotube concentrations were non important ( P & A ; gt ; 005 ) , other group means differed ( P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) between each other and even with 10 % and 15 % samples. Decision: Increasing nanotube concentration gives a important addition in tensile strength.ANSWER TO QUESTION 3The hypothesis tested here is that the drug Captopril has a important consequence ( may be higher or lower ) on the systolic and diastolic force per unit area in the reasonably hypertensive topics. The corresponding void hypothesis is that Captopril does non hold any consequence on the systolic or diastolic blood force per unit area degree. Therefore, the void hypothesis suggests that the average difference of the ‘before ‘ and ‘after ‘ intervention systolic and diastolic blood force per unit area will be severally zero. The ideal statistical method here is paired T-test. Paired T-test enables the comparing of differences ( if any ) in population agencies of observations made for each instance both before and after they are being subjected to a trial. The trial aims to understate, and if possible eliminate external mistakes or interventions that could take to false positive ( type I error ) or false negative ( type II mistake ) consequences.PremisesIndependence: This survey involves two wholly separate groups ( systolic and diastolic blood force per unit area group ) . It is worthy to foreground that both groups are non in any manner related to each other, therefore alterations in any one of them is non expected to act upon the other. Besides, the premise of independency is supported by the fact that there is no interaction between the before and after agencies as the latter is merely expected to be due to the consequence of the drug. Normal distribution: Premise of normal distribution and equal discrepancy is confirmed in the descriptive statistics, every bit good as the box secret plans. All instances of ‘before ‘ and ‘after ‘ intervention for the two classs, have really little lopsidedness and kurtosis, with the latter falling a spot outside -1 for the ‘before ‘ systolic diastolic ( see Table 3.1 ) . However, the Normal Q-Q secret plans for each of the instance shows some normal distribution, which is besides supported by the box secret plans. The two outliers on the opposite sides of the ‘after -treatment ‘ diastolic blood force per unit area has been ignored, giving that the lopsidedness ( 0.191 ) and kurtosis ( -0.341 ) are within acceptable scopes ( See Table 3.2 ) , and that Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk are both continuing that the instances in the before and after groups are usually distributed. It is worthy to advert that attending is non given to pr ove for homogeneousness of discrepancy as Paired t-test is non really rigorous on equality and non-equality of discrepancies.Testing for the consequence of Capoten on blood force per unit areasThe result of trial is attached as PASW end product ( Tables 3.4-3.6 ) . Table 3.4 displays the mean, standard divergence, and standard mistake for each of the classs. Ocular analysis shows that intervention with Capoten caused a bead in systolic blood force per unit area to 158.20+20 mmHg from 176.93+20.57 mmHg, while diastolic blood force per unit area besides reduced to 103.07+12.55 mmHg from 112.33+10.47 mmHg. However, it remains unknown, if this bead is statistically meaningful or non. The mated sample trial ( Table 3.5 ) shows that non merely did the systolic and diastolic force per unit areas bead by 18.93 mmHg, and 9.26 mmHg severally, the autumn was really important ( P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) . It besides shows that merely a standard divergence of up to 9.02 mmHg and 8.61 mmHg, every bit good as the assurance intervals of 13.93-23.93 mmHg and 4.5-14.04 mmHg for the average difference in systolic and diastolic severally. It is merely within this limits that subsequent trial consequences to be assumed to be accurate. Finally, a correlativity ( see Table 3.6 ) of the mated agencies revealed an about absolutely consistent and unvarying autumn in both systolic ( r=0.901, P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) and diastolic ( r=0.734, P & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) blood force per unit area, after the topics were treated with Capoten. Decision: The consequence of this survey solidly rejects the void hypothesis ( statement of no consequence ) , and accepts the alternate hypothesis which states that Capoten affects blood force per unit area. In these braces, the consequence is a important decrease in systolic and diastolic blood force per unit area after disposal of Capoten.ANSWER TO QUESTION 4Having noted the qualitative variable ( sexual activity ) that should move as an account for response variable ( longevity/lifespan ) , a one-way ANOVA was used to research the extent of association between the two variables. Sexual activity was used to group the males ( n=125 ) into 25 per group of those life: entirely 1 receptive female ( RF ) 8 receptive females 1 non-receptive female ( NRF ) 8 non-receptive females.a, vitamin D, and vitamin E are controls.Normality of length of service distribution was assumed, given the visual aspect of the histogram, and supported by the lopsidedness and kurtosis as shown in Table 4a. II. Levene trial for homogeneousness of discrepancies confirmed the premise of equal discrepancy. The consequence from ANOVA shows that there is important difference ( p & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) in the average length of service of the males as grouped. The mean secret plan shows a diminution in the lifetime of males who live with either 1 or 8 receptive females. Therefore, a multiple comparing was made to happen out whether the ascertained diminution was important. The result revealed that the lifetime of the controls ( 63.56, 64.80, and 63.36 yearss for males populating entirely, with 1 NRF, and 8 NRF severally ) , were significantly higher ( p & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) than that of those populating with either 1 ( 56.76 yearss ) or 8 ( 38.72 yearss ) receptive females. There was besides an ascertained difference ( p & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) between the length of service of males populating with 1 receptor and those populating with 8 receptors. The findings in this survey suggest that the sexual activities of male fruitflies has impact on their length of service, such that the more receptive females they live with, the lesser their lifetime. 4b. To hold a broader position of whether sleep and/or organic structure size have impacts on lifetime, multiple linear ( enter ) arrested development was used. Normality of the distribution was confirmed utilizing histogram and Normal P-P secret plans of Regression Standardized residuary, while the spread secret plan showed that the distribution is random. Furthermore, matrix spread diagram appears to propose a additive association, particularly with length of thorax ) implying that a additive relationship exist between any of the variables and length of service. The theoretical account has a singular correlativity ( R=0.638 ) with a little criterion mistake of estimation ( 13.641 ) , and the F ( 41.787 ) for the arrested development is important ( p & A ; lt ; 0.05 ) , therefore corroborating that the theoretical account is tolerably additive. The coefficient of correlativity shows that there is important correlativity ( r=0.636, P & A ; lt ; 0.01 between the lifetime and length of thorax, while no important correlativity exist between lifetimes and yearss spent kiping. In decision, lessening in length of service is associated with addition in the figure of receptive female life with a male fruitfly. On the other manus, length of service of male fruitflies increases with an addition in their thorax length, but is non affected by the figure of yearss they spend kiping.

Effective Change Leader and Facilitator Essay

To prepare myself now for being an effective change leader and facilitator I can educate myself on the process of change initiatives and how other companies have successfully implemented radical change initiatives. It is important to have an understanding of change in business and one way of obtaining that understanding may be through higher education such and college or training. I would also try to read books and articles about strategic management. Radical change is typically when a business or organization is changing a lot like a merger with another company or changing the way they do business. Jackson (2009) said that â€Å"radical change is relatively infrequent and generally takes a long time to complete. It touches everyone and everything in the organization†. (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2008) I think that I would more often be expected to lead and facilitate Incremental change which is â€Å"an ongoing process of evolution over time, during which many small changes occur routinely. The cumulative effect of many small changes may be to transform the organization totally†. (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2008) It is important to be well informed about the organization and the environment in which the organization does business. Once the objectives and reasons for change are addressed, then a plan for change should be made. Before fully implementing change it is important to have an understanding of how the change will affect the organization. Employees should also be informed of the importance of the change, how it will affect them, and how it will occur. Through learning about other organizations that have implemented similar changes lessons can be learned to not make similar mistakes. Working with consultants that have gone through the change process with other companies could also be very beneficial because they have experience. There are many authors that have written about strategic change and how to effectively implement radical change. Reading about change before the process starts could make me more prepared for leading others through change. I have also taken a few classes about strategic management and organizational development and how changes can be facilitated. I think that the more educated about change and the more experience gained through participating in change the more comfortable I would be with leading and facilitating change. References Jackson , S., Schuler, R., & Werner, S. (2008).Managing human resources. (10 ed., pp. 27-31). Australia: Cengage Learning.

Monstrous Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Monstrous Mythology - Essay Example A monster when defined through literal terms comes from a Latin word 'Monstrum' which means an indication of what is yet to come, however, the Romans usually used this word to describe a series of unusual occurrences. It is very important for us to acknowledge the apparent relationship between the mythological notion of monstrous and the representation of it in the contemporary culture. The contemporary culture has adopted the mythological existence of monsters mostly through visualization or imagery which serves as a possibility inside human minds regarding the existence of these creatures. Mythology has well preserved the concept of monstrous which holds two attributes for their identification, one of which is that they are not human beings and the other saying that they are an evil force with their distinct objectives to kill humans. (Monster mythology, Carl Sargent, Pg 12-15) Classical mythology has a deep significance in the representation of what really a monster is with all the description that has something or the other constituting an animalistic nature. It is believed that the monsters in classical mythology usually existed either in the form of humans with unnatural attributes or absurd creatures that are part human and part animal. According to classical mythology, monsters were the creatures that violated the cultural values and norms and had their own inhumane and cruel motives. Myth makers and fiction writers have created many monsters but we cannot look through the deep-rooted significance of myth making itself and how it describes the appearance of the monster and the extent of its cruelty, for instance the people in New Guinea promoted a myth that involves monster traits such as shape transformation, inhumane union, thirst for blood and human flesh and other forms of cannibalism. Moreover, Greek Mythology has many relevant monstrous illustrations which prominently include the Stymphalian and evil birds in the Hercules period. (Classical mythology, Helen Morales, Pg 110-116) Monsters according to a culture can be the evil force that has all the wrong and manipulative objectives and perhaps this is why people following distinct cultural and moral values consider people who end up doing or even start believing in evil/malicious paths as the monsters or demons regardless of how a typical horror monster may look like. Classical mythology has preserved monsters time and time again such as the Cerberus, Centaurs, Chimaera, Medusa, Cyclopes, hydra etc. Below is an image of a monstrous creature in Norse mythology which was in the form of a savage wolf named 'Fenrir'. All these monsters were either humans or with a body or skull of an animal which depicts brutality and a hunger for blood gushing inside human bodies. Mythology as an explanation to monstrous creatures that once existed suggests that these creatures were perhaps a translation as to what fear is inside human minds or more like the image of fear and horror. Moving ahead it is extremely notable to understand the human psychology and how they perceive the monsters that they see on television screens or read and imagine about, it is believed that monsters are

Aspect of the law and engineering Research Paper

Aspect of the law and engineering - Research Paper Example In civil engineering, there are frequent cases where injuries are borne by the employees (being the workers) due to industrial accidents and other such hazards related to the construction of various projects2. Prior to worker’s compensation, an employer was held to several narrowly defined duties of care for the protection of his employees (Mitchelle, 1976). The employers seldom received their due after having borne the injuries mainly because of the unfortunate prevalence of the doctrine of contributory negligence, the fellow-servant rule and voluntary assumption of the risk in the common law countries. In order to tackle this discriminatory issue of industrial liability in case of injured employees, the concept of Workmen’s Compensation was introduced. It is now popular in many countries namely the United States of America, Brazil, Germany, India, UK etc. In the United States of America, the Workmen’s Compensation laws are created differently by various states however the fundamentals of all the acts remain the same. There are a number of characteristic properties that are common in all the laws of Workmen’s Compensation – (a) automatic entitlement of the employer to compensation in case of personal injury borne due to an industrial accident (b) Employee’s contributory negligence or employer’s freedom from the fault does not lessen the former’s rights (c) Only employees are covered and not independent contractors (d) Cash benefits, Medical expenses etc. are provided and benefits for dependents are counted in case of death of the employee (however maximum and minimum are imposed) (e) the employee or his dependents forfeit the right to personally sue the employer for the loss (f) Right to sue third persons in case of negligence on their part prevails (subject to conditions) (g) administration is in the hands of administrative commissions (h) the employer is required to secure his liability through private insurance etc. so that the liability of compensation passes to the consumer in the price of the product (Larson, 1952). Initially a few problems were recognized in the U.S. regarding the Worker’s Compensation as apparently it disregarded the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition against taking of property without due process of law and deprived both parties of the freedom of contract. This problem was resolved by the New York Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 after the famous case of New York Central Railroad Company v White3. The specific laws which deal with construction safety hazards in the U.S. are administered by governing regulatory body called Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)4. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the employers have the responsibility to provide a safe workplace to their employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 has defined certain responsibilities for the employers and also has defin ed penalties in case of violation of the duties5. In order to start a construction or even before entering a contract, an engineer has to keep in mind all the legal aspects of workmen’s compensation. Even though the Engineer may cover up his costs by ultimately shifting it to the customer in form of price of the product, he has to initially formalize the insurance for his employees. In case the engineer

Modernism to Postmodernism in Fashion and Design Essay

Modernism to Postmodernism in Fashion and Design - Essay Example The essay "Modernism to Postmodernism in Fashion and Design" states modernism, postmodernism and its relation to fashion and design. In the 1930s, a great deal of the art being produced throughout Western Europe was typically classified as Modern art, although it was then further divided into several different subcategories such as Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Surrealism and Abstract art. The characteristic feature of most of these art forms was that they sought to pursue the ideas behind the art rather than seeking to portray a life-like rendition of the subject matter. They also broke the rules of art, which had, until this time period, conformed to specific rules of creation and was always created within a studio where all elements could be controlled. The movement began with Impressionism, which focused on the effect of light on objects and typically portrayed scenes such as landscapes and daily life. Recognizable works from this genre include tho se of Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Pierre Auguste Renoir. Manet’s painting, Dejeuner sur l'herbe, created in 1863, is roughly considered to be the start of the Impressionist, and therefore the Modern, movement. Fauvism represented a wilder side of Impressionism in its use of strong, vivid colors and simplified designs in expressive, meaningful ways. Artists in this movement were Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Maurice de Vlaminch. The Expressionist movement, existing as the step-sister to Fauvism.

To what degree is Evolutionary Psychology successful in providing Essay

To what degree is Evolutionary Psychology successful in providing reductive explanations of human behaviour - Essay Example Jealous rages, for instance can easily be justified as a means to protect reproductive access and ensure that your own resources only go to your own offspring; protecting your own investment. (Buss, 2000), (Downes, 2001) Many anti-social behaviors can be justified in the interest of mere individial prosperity in a world of nature 'red in tooth and claw' as it were. Base survival for one organism is not sufficient for long-term evolutionary success. Those that most influence future generations genetically would then exhibit behavioral mechanisms that encourage efficient transmission of their genes, and maximize survival of offspring; which often means, in a context of limited resources hostility against one's own kind.Extremes of this behavior can be found in species ranging from polar bears to mice, where death of newborns at the hands of competing males is instinctual, so that one's own offspring have priority access to the resources of survival. (Derocher, et al. 1999) But in contr ast, any discussion of evolutionary psychology and its reductionary behavioral 2 implications would of course be incomplete without a discussion concerning altruism. Altruistic behaviors can find many justifications for communal species, including herd/flock animals and social insects. Assisting in the survival of the group will help one's fellows to survive; should that trait become established in the population it will foster a social structure that permits the survival of more members. Should multiple instances of a social-altruist trait become extant in the population, each instance should create a compounded likelihood of preserving itself. But that is the difficulty; getting multiple instances of that trait at the same time. In the long-run, the premise of advantage via co-survival appears supportable. But one must ask the question, if a wildebeast evolves with a strong instinct to protect others of its herd, that trait might not become extant in the population because such an organism would logically protect other members regardless of whether they share his altrusitic feelings; thereby a gene that triggers that behavior could also be beneficial to organisms which lack that gene. Which would seem to work against its own self-perpetuation. In large populations that lack altruism that outcome seems much more probable, that the lonely, good-samaritan organism must help his uncaring fellows, while at the same time still competing with them for food and mates. It may benefit the herd, but will be a detriment to that individual. It is easy then, to understand herd-animals that do not necessarily respond with any altrusitic tendencies that would put themselves at risk. Yes, swimming in a school makes it more difficult for a shark to focus on a single fish; but no member of that school will put itself at risk to try and coax a fellow out of a hazard, or confront a predator. When the lion approaches, all gazelles will run, although, if they were each to attack i n mass, it is probable they could kill a single lion; yet there would be no individual advantage for the gazelle that first manifests genes encouraging that trait. He would most likely become the one that was eaten before he could reproductively spread his valor to the rest of the population. What is needed then, in that case is a

Lawrence Heights Youth Gun Violence Research Paper

Lawrence Heights Youth Gun Violence - Research Paper Example The theme of both the essays deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of soldiers involved in war and both try to emphasize on the grueling effects that war could bring upon the soldiers. Apart from the theme, there are quite a few similarities in the ideas discussed in these two essays and they are detailed below. An account of The Things They Carried O’Brien, the author of this essay, tries to bring out the emotional burden that the soldiers carry during war, through the space of opportunities created by the explanation of physical things carried by these soldiers. The mirage of fantasy that confounds their consciousness by feeding them misconceptions of reality is clearly described by the author through the character of Jimmy Cross. Cross accuses himself for the death of his team member Lavender, because, he was the person who failed to protect him in that grave hour. At that time, Cross was completely swept off from his feet by fantasy thoughts about his love, Mar tha and his doubts over whether she is virgin or not. If this story is considered to be a description of war between love and war, then the death of Lavender clearly signifies the victory of war over love. (O’Brien, 2009) O’Brien brings out the cynical nature of war through the depressive attitude shown by Cross after Lavender’s death. Through the description of those thoughts, the author also tries to indicate the fact that most of the people who were involved in war were young and youthful – people who should have experienced the joyous life of college, in their age. Instead, the emotional guilt and coward thought haunts them in every second of their life. However, the author ends up the essay on a positive intent by elucidating the thoughts of Cross who tries to erase the memories of his girlfriend by burning her pictures and decides to believe that, to lead is better than to love. Overall, O’Brien effectively persuades the reader to think deep and relate directly to the effects felt by the burden these soldiers carried day in and day out. (O’Brien, 2009) The Ecstasy of War and its Similarities Barbara Ehrenreich tries to distinguish the two needs of war – the material advantages and psychological dominance through this essay. Although she excludes discussing about the former need, she presents a critical thought and analysis of how the psychological impact presides itself in every human’s mind. The first similarity between the two essays is how the two authors present the emotional struggle that every person faces while going to war. Barbara here presents those points with the description of how people go to the level of committing suicide to avoid the struggles they have to face in war. The second similarity is in how Barbara expresses the experiences that a youthful person could have in leading a normal life rather than fighting in war. According to her, boys become men ready to face society only th rough their experiences with social interactions but the soldiers who are completely devoid of such experiences are bound to fear and feel emotionally stressed. Third similarity comes in the idea of inhumanness in approaching. As Cross chooses to lead leaving his love, Barbara also emphasizes on people leaving out all kinds of common human emotions and fight in the war like an animal, confronting everyone with

Strategic Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Strategic Planning - Essay Example This creates a need for the capital projects to be well analysed and all details to be well understood to be able to evaluate the effects on the overall value of the firm. As seen in the definition, the capital projects help develop and increase the fixed assets of a company. This in turn helps the company earn higher levels of profits. The assets when fully utilised can be helpful in improving the overall productivity and output of the firm as well (Constantini, 2006). The main aim or objective of any capital project that is undertaken by a firm is to help the company’s assets to either be renewed or even to help replace the assets, to allow better performance and output. The affects of the capital decisions and investments have a two fold affect. Firstly they affect the operations of the firm. Secondly they have a great impact on the share prices of the firm as well. The decisions made have a strong impact and can make the stock prices rise or fall to a great extent. Hence the capital projects require to be very carefully considered and implemented as the affects of this can lead to very high profits while an error in this can be catastrophic for the company as well. It is also essential that the plans and investments that are made are in line with the strategic plans of the firms. For a business to invest in a capital project, it is essential to consider the project as a new business start up and the work on this very carefully as it involves, increasing the capacity of the firm, operations scales and also the investments on assets. As explained earlier, the capital projects lead to an increase in the fixed assets of the firm, which in turn has an impact on the scale of operations which thereby leads to increased operating profits for the firm. This complete process has an affect on the overall value of the firm. Hence this proves that the capital projects have a very

The Meaning of Life Essay Example for Free

The Meaning of Life Essay The meaning of life, defined by Victor E. Frankl, is the will to find your meaning in life. It is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a persons life at a given moment. He believes that if you are approached with the question of what is the meaning of my life or in this case, life is meaningless, then you should reverse the question to that person asking the question. For example: What are you bringing to me? What are you as an individual contributing to this life? This forces the person in question to take a look at themselves and to ultimately be responsible. Frankl says that if you are a responsible member of society than the meaning of life transcends from yourself rather from your own psyche. He also says that if we for some reason cannot find meaning within ourselves it has to be from some outside source. This is referred to as service. And an example of this is love. Victor Frankl describes three ways in which we can discover the meaning of life; Creating work-doing a deed, experiencing something-someone, and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. There are several reasons why a person could be feeling that their life is meaningless or has no meaning. According to Victor Frankl these reasons could be existential frustration, existential vacuum, and the meaning of suffering. Frankl breaks down the meaning of existential frustration as so, it can be referred to as existence itself ? the specifically mode of being, the meaning of existence, and striving to find concrete meaning in personal existence, which is the will to meaning. Existence itself, in simpler terms is just existing and the human mode itself. The meaning of existence is the question in which we often ask ourselves; Why are we here? When we strive to find concrete meaning in personal existence, we are looking for the personal meaning for existence. Basically what Frankl is saying is that when we are dealing wit the existential frustration we are looking for given meaning that isnt there. (There is no meaning). On the other hand there is the existential vacuum, which is when you cannot find meaning in your life. Frankl says that the existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in the state of boredom. Its when you feel that you have no structure in your life, no one telling you what to do, your not learning anything, and basically your not doing anything with your life. Because of this youre going to become a conformist or a totalitarian, which is either doing what everyone else does or doing what people tell you to do. Youre not thinking for yourself. Youre also going to become bored. In the state of boredom the person can start to see life as meaningless, esp. the person questioning the meaning of their life. They start to question themselves and wonder what their purpose and meaning of their life is. This boredom can be a result of condition called Sunday Neurosis. Sunday Neurosis takes place when a person has worked hard all week long or for many days on end. (We know this as a result of tension; its what drives us and keeps us going. It promotes meaning and gives us goals. It is not the same as stress, because stress is an overabundance of tension. ) Then a day comes along when you have nothing planned, nothing going on and you dont know what to do with yourself. Therefore boredom results and when there is boredom there is no meaning. And when there is no meaning we fill that emptiness with negative things, like money, power, and pleasure, basically we get into trouble. The meaning of suffering is another reason why a person might be questioning the meaning of their life. Frankl says that one of the basic aspects of logotherapy that mans main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain, but to see the meaning of his life. This is why man is willing to suffer in order to find a meaning for his life. But he also says that suffering is not necessary to find meaning in life. Although suffering is inevitably unavoidable, and if it was it would be meaningful to remove it, because it wouldnt make much sense not to do so. Another aspect about suffering is that it stops being suffering the moment we find meaning in it. Now that possible reasons for why a person may be feeling that their life has no meaning has been addressed, here are some possible solutions that Frankl might suggest. Once the person has discovered why their life is meaningless they need to rediscover their meaning that they lost. They could ask themselves a question like, what was I born with and what is the greater meaning in that? Because it is believed that youre born with a meaning that every single person on this Earth is born with a meaning. Life doesnt owe you anything. Basically youre the responsible one for all the stuff you put out into the world during your life. Another thing that he might talk about is what the person does everyday. If they arent doing anything with their life he might suggest them getting involved with something to help create tension. Since tension drives us and pushes us to reach our goals, it helps give us meaning. Frankl also sees responsible-ness as the essence of human existence. He says that everyman has a specific, unique job in life that he is too fulfill an that no one else can do this or replace this one person in the same way. As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Each man is questioned by life and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; he can only respond be being responsible. Frankl also says, Live as if were living already for the second time, and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you were about to act now! If it was me taking this person, sitting them down, after analyzing what could have caused this sense of unmeaning in their life, I would look at the options of how to find meaning. I agree with Frankl when he talks about meaning as tension and responsibility. I also agree with him when he discusses his views on how everyone is born with meaning and that everyone has a set occupation or vocation on life. I believe that everyone is unique in his or her own way. Therefore why should everyones lives be the same and have the same meaning. They dont. We are born with meaning and we have to find that meaning through our actions and our drive to live life and our interactions with the people and the things around us. Usually when I am presented with material in school I tend to form my opinion by looking at both sides if an issue, because there are usually two sides to every story. But by looking at Frankl and examining what he has to say about the meaning of life, suffering, love, frustration, boredom, tension, etc, I have rally gained a lot of knowledge that almost is common sense. If you sit and take the time to read the material through thoroughly you can see exactly where he is coming from. Hell take a difficult situation, such as suffering, and turn it completely around. As far as suffering goes I try to do the same thing, in a way. When Mark Felice died last October it crushed me. But I tried to look at the positive side and say well, his suffering is over and he was here to teach us how to live to be stronger and better people. Through our suffering, over the loss of his life, we ended his suffering. This is kind of what Frankl does, he turns things around and makes you view things from a different perspective. I like his way of thinking because its not always something that I would think of off the top of my head. Overall, I enjoyed the book although it was difficult at times to read, but I think I gained knowledge from it and see different ways to look at things now.

The Play the Crucible is set in New England Essay Example for Free

The Play the Crucible is set in New England Essay A Crucible is a melting pot in which metals are melted together to form a pure metal. Millers characters represent these impure metals from Danforths eyes, as he came to determine Abigails accusations. Miller allows the reader to see how it was believed that the Bible should be interpreted in one way. This belief made sure that if you interpreted the bible wrongly, you would then have to undergo a thorough investigation. But the investigation Danforth underwent, interpreting if Abigails accusations were true or false was not thorough enough as his misinterpretation led to innocent deaths. In the beginning of the play we can already see that the characters are already being put to the test. Betty, Parriss daughter, is not waking up, will you wake, will you open your eyes? Paris saw the girls dancing naked in the woods. This line is significant as it allows Miller to get into the readers mind and makes them think a million thoughts at once. The reader knows that Paris saw the girls dancing, but now he/she is thinking could the dancing have anything to do with her not waking up, is Paris blaming himself for this because he saw what was going on and didnt stop it before the spell was cast on Elizabeth, which is not known at this point of the novel. Miller not only creates a scene but he builds tension with each and every single line. In this scene tension builds as more and more characters get to know that Betty is not waking up. John Proctor, a father of two boys, a farmer in his middle 30s and a man who made a fool feel foolish in his presence, in this case the fool of the novel was Reverend Samuel Parris. Well Proctors character gets toyed around with and tested in act 2 by Elizabeth Proctor his wife. She has never lied but she loves her husband so much that she will lie for him, when she is asked by Danforth if Proctor has ever committed the crime of lechery (adultery), she tells a lie and says no, sir. This tests Elizabeths character by making her do something she has never done (tell a lie). This test proves to the reader that she loves her husband so much that she will go to the extent of do anything for him, even something she has never done before. Why, then, it is not as you told me, Elizabeth proctor toys around with Proctor in the beginning of Act 2, slowly making him admit to her, that he committed lechery (but he doesnt say he does). The toying around with Proctor that Elizabeth did is an excellent test that shows the reader Proctors limits. We know Proctors limit has been reached as he bursts out and tells her she shouldnt judge him I must have mistaken you for God Let you look for the goodness in me, and judge me not. The questioning of Proctor by Hale in Act 2 is a moment in the reader gets proof of Proctor s deep regret for the sin he had committed. You have said that twice, sir, Proctors failure to complete the reciting of the ten commandments is key as it lets the readers imagination loose. This could be interpreted in many ways but it made me think that he was really ashamed of what he had done, as he knew the commandment but didnt want to say it because he was ashamed of it. The questioning of Proctor during this Act allows the reader to get to grips on Proctors character. So in the contrary Miller constantly put his characters through the process of trying to purify them and make them become perfect in Danforths eyes but had a massive turn around in the end of it all and resulted in death, take his shame away, we have seen how much proctor didnt want his name to be spoilt for his children, what more proof is needed to show the reader that this is a man who loved others more than himself and . He refused to sign away his name and decided to die a man with a good name. Nothing could have changed his mind he had decided on keeping his name. Miller may have formed his pure metal but his crucible had a hole in it and this hole allowed some metals to escape so I guess it wasnt fully a pure metal.

Analysing Negative Attitudes Towards Mental Illness

Analysing Negative Attitudes Towards Mental Illness This chapter will examine the term stigma and discuss the negative attitudes that the public hold towards mental health and mental illness and suggest why they may have adopted these views and attitudes. It will also address the medias role in portraying these views and sustaining these attitudes towards mental illness. An enormous number of individuals are affected by mental illness worldwide: the World Health Organization (WHO) (2001) has estimated that 1 in 5 persons will suffer from a mental illness each year. A question that could be asked if mental illness is a dominant and prevalent issue within society today why do people still hold these negative views and attitudes within society? Finally the chapter will conclude by making some recommendations for practice, ways that stigma can be reduced and how mental health and mental illness can be portrayed in a more positive light. To fully appreciate the views and attitudes towards mental illness it is important to understand the concept of stigma. Stigma is derived from the Greek for a mark branded on a slave or criminal (White, 1998). Goffmans (1963) seminal work on stigmatization has, over the years, stimulated a great variety of educational discussion on the nature, sources, and effects of stigma (Link and Phelan, 2001). According to Goffman (1963) stigma is a physical or psychological mark of disgrace that makes an individual stand out from society. Three types of stigmatizing marks identified by Goffman include, Abominations of the body, tribal stigma, and blemishes of individual character (Goffman, 1963, pg 14). People who encompass these physical or psychological marks are often devalued and dehumanised which consequently leads to their position within society being corrupted by the distressing effects of stigmatization (Goffman, 1963). A definition that can be seen to encompass all aspects alongside Goffman is offered by Miles (1981) cited in Brunton (1997) who says, Societal reaction which singles out certain attributes evaluates them as an undesirable and devalues the persons who possess them. (p. 892) The suffering and loss of opportunities that seems to always come hand in hand with a diagnosis of mental illness can be seen to be connected to the psychiatric symptoms that can be observed e.g. talking to voices, the decrease in daily functioning, and the dip in a persons social functioning in society (Corrigan and Wassel, 2008). However, the loss of opportunities and the person with a mental illness devaluing their own self worth take place for the reason of the stigma that surrounds mental illness (Corrigan and Kleinlein, 2005). For the purposes of this dissertation negative attitudes refers to discriminatory attitudes that are based on prejudice, stereotypes or inaccurate information. Stereotypes are firmly set judgements that are learnt throughout life and held firmly in our mind (Stier and Hinshaw, 2007). They are discriminating views or images related to members of particular groups (Corrigan and Wassel, 2008). Prejudice effects individuals in an emotional manner (Stier and Hinshaw, 2007) and occurs when people within society have the same opinion about a particular stereotype and affix this to a group of people making negative connotations towards that particular group (Corrigan and Wassel, 2008). Then again, Corrigan and Wassel (2008) state that discriminative behaviour can be seen as a direct result of prejudice. This involves a specific group being treated in a dissimilar way leading to that group not being able to access opportunities available to them or their rights being restricted (Stier and Hin shaw, 2007). Negative attitudes towards people with mental distress may be manifested by physical and verbal abuse, problems in the workplace or discrimination from people who provide services to people with a mental illness (Mind, 2010). Negative attitudes are partly constructed in the language we use to describe mental illness. People with mental distress are often being described in derogatory terms. For example, perpetrators of acts of violence are often described as Lunatics, mad person (Tudor, 1996), schizos, nutters, psychos, fiends, monsters and maniacs (Twomley, 2007). This makes a clear link between violence and mental distress, it must be acknowledged though that not everyone who is violent necessarily has a mental illness. Angermeyer and Schulze (2001) suggest the general public view people with mental illness as bizarre, fear-provoking, impulsive, violent and lack self-discipline. From this, therefore, it could be suggested that people who have a mental illness are deviants or have deviant behaviour. Becker (1963) defines deviance as any trait or behaviour that was abnormal when compared to the average population (pg. ). If mental illness is classed as deviant then how bad does someone have to act or behave to be classed as deviant. This demonstrates that social rules that are made allow people to judge others as different or in this case deviant (Becker, 1963). This is further supported by Baumann (2007) who suggest that the individuals picture of the world is created by comparatively constant norms, principles and expectations. Angermeyer and Matschinger (2005) suggests a diagnosis of schizophrenia has, particularly, been found to be stigmatizing and linked with negative stereotypes such as violence and dangerousness. This shows that by mental health being medicalised it is profoundly unhelpful due to the diagnostic terms such as psychosis which can shackle people to the mental health system (Watkins, 2007). In contrast Shepherd et al (2008) describe the recovery model as taking ownership and responsibility for an illness and what can and cant be done, focusing on the strengths and issues rather than a diagnosis. This is a reliable source provided by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. The recovery model will be discussed more in-depth in chapter three. There is no doubt that the media plays a part in reinforcing the attitudes towards mental health and mental illness. In everyday life the public come into contact with the media by newspapers, TV and radio on a daily basis. The way people with a mental illness are viewed as dangerous can be seen to be fuelled by tabloid media publicity about psycho-killers (Tudor, 1996). Examples of this are included in the appendix. The report, Screening for madness, by Byrne (2009) reveals that films representations of people with experience of mental health problems have become more harmful, he suggests that, Mental health stereotypes have not changed over a century of cinema. If anything, the comedy is crueler and the deranged psycho killer even more demonic. (pg. 4) One flew over the Cuckoos Nest can be seen as the film most remembered for depicting someone with a mental illness acting strangely or violently (reference). Even though this was released 35 years ago it shows the influence of movie stereotypes on attitudes and how these can last generations. This is also demonstrated with the recent film Batman-the Dark Knight depicting mental illness with violence which more or less is based around the mental illness schizophrenia (Byrne, 2009). This would suggest that ignorance and lack of understanding of mental illness are still very prominent in society today. It must be acknowledged there are some exceptions to this, of more recent films that have portrayed a less sensational and more insightful picture of mental illness. For instance, A Beautiful Mind, in 2002, depicted the true story of a maths genius who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, while Shine, in 1996, was the story of a brilliant pianist who had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, the more positive portrayals can represent mental distress as exotic, dramatic or romantic in ways that bear little resemblance to real-life experiences (Lott, 2006). Likewise, media portrayals of mental health have been far from flattering and largely sensationalized. A survey undertaken in 2000 by MIND found that 73% of people with mental health problems felt that the reporting of mental health issues were unjust, biased and pessimistic (MIND, 2000 cited in Rethink, 2006). In addition a study by Chopra and Doody (1997) looked at 98 newspaper articles and found there was no significant difference in the portrayal of schizophrenia. They did find overall that 36.1% of articles were negative in tone, 56.7% were neutral and 7.2% were positive. The word schizophrenic is often used in tabloid stories in conjunction with violent events, somehow suggesting that the diagnosis can justify why the violence happened in the first place (Twomey, 2007). In reality, the person who happens to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia may have acted in such a way due to taking illegal drugs or may have a violent personality, we need to look at all aspect of what led to a violent situation happening and not just that someone was mentally ill. The media can often be seen to be responsible for stigmatizing stereotypes of mental illness (Byrne, 1997),however, if the media was used to its potential it can challenge prejudice, enlighten and instigate discussions, helping to reduce the stigma that is so often experienced by people with a mental illness (Salter and Byrne, 2000). It is still evident through reporting on mental health that a diagnosis of a mental illness is linked to violence. There is however, some evidence of positive change where The Sun newspaper was made to remove a headline of Bonkers Bruno locked up which was reporting on the sectioning of the boxer frank Bruno under the Mental Health Act (MIND, 2010). In 2006, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) published a code of practice, which banned the use of stigmatising language around mental illness which reduced the use of the terms such as schizo and nutter (PCC, 2006). This gives an example of just how much the media has moved on over the years and that there are some strategies to prevent harm being done to people with mental health problems. Becker (1963) concludes that people who are mentally ill are blamed for things that happen in society therefore you would think they would be punished or persecuted. It must be acknowledged that there are extensive resources devoted to the benevolent care and support of those with an enduring mental illness. Even though this is an old source it is relevant even today and apparent how services are developing for people with mental health problems. Nevertheless, people suffering from a mental illness are still feared and excluded from society (Becker, 1963 and Watkins, 2007). When people have acute mental health problems they can appear to the public to be frightening and exhibit odd behaviours which can often lead to police involvement (Taylor, 2008). At such times they can commit criminal acts, often escaping prosecution due to their mental illness at the time (Bowers, 1998; Taylor, 2008). Therefore, it could be argued that the public hold these views due to such examples where peopl e are excused from their actions on the basis of some supposed illness. It could be suggested that they should be held accountable for their actions as anyone else would be (Bowers, 1998). It can be argued that these attitudes towards mental illness can be seen in a direct parallel to racism (Bowers, 1998). So why do people continue showing negative attitudes and views towards mental health as much work has been done in helping to combat racism, can the same not be done for people with mental illness. Negative attitudes towards individuals with mental illness is widespread and can be capable of creating a significant barrier to treatment (Piner and Kahle, 1984). It has been established that negative attitudes can be individually the most significant obstruction to integration of people with a mental illness in to society (Piner and Kahle, 1984). Negative attitudes towards mental health can influence the path and result of their mental illness (Bowers, 1998). This can also lead to self-stigma which occurs when an individual with a mental health illness internalizes the stigma and believes they are of less value (Halter, 2004; Corrigan, 2007). This may result in low self-worth, loss of dignity, and lead to feelings of hopelessness (Campbell and Deacon, 2006). People who experience a mental illness often see no potential for them to undertake full time employment due to internalizing these negative attitudes that are held about the psychiatric system (Watkins, 2007). If we dont help people recover from mental illnesses it is inevitable that it may become an enduring illness. An analogy given compares it to having a broken leg; if you dont rest it then it wont heal properly, the same could be said for the mind. Maybe if people were more positive towards mental health and mental illness then people with mental health problems would be encouraged to flourish in the community and not be seen as deviant. This is supported by Sayce (2000) who suggests that being part of the social foundations of the community is necessary for our psychological well being. Generally most people would like to think they are compassionate and have inclusive attitudes towards people who experience a breakdown in their mental health (Ross and Read, 2004). Except, discrimination is still communicated in everyday social situations in subtly distancing, condescending exchanges, flippant outlooks or obvious hostility leaving people feeling socially isolated (Watkins, 2007). This could be due to the fact that mental illness shows how fragile human nature is therefore peoples/societies anxieties and fears about mental health may be due to seeing the potential that any one of us could develop a mental health disorder (Becker, 1963). From my practice to date the following example really brought home to me the level of stigma and negative attitudes people have towards mental illness. When listening to an account from a service user it made me realise how public attitudes towards people with mental health difficulties is still a big issue and a real challenge for health care professionals. Mary explained that when taking a taxi to give a talk to students about living with mental illness she got talking to the taxi driver. At first he thought she was a lecturer but when she explained what she was going to do he became very quiet and stopped conversation with her. She found this a very ignorant and closed way of dealing with the situation and became quite upset about it. Having examined the concepts of stigma, discussed the negative attitudes that the public hold towards mental health and mental illness, suggested why they may have adopted these views and attitudes and addressed the medias role in portraying these views and sustaining these attitudes towards mental illness. It is now important to draw some recommendations and challenges that can help reduce the stigma of mental illness and promote a more positive picture to members of the public. These recommendations include education and public contact. Firstly, education of the public both at school and after (Murphy et al 1993; Penn et al 1994) about mental health and its prevalence among every one of us is really important. Education is widely approved for influencing prejudice and discrimination (Corrigan and Wassel, 2008). Corrigan and Wassel (2008) ask the important question, If people had the correct knowledge or effective problem solving skills, would they be able to give up public stigma and handle associated concerns more directly? (pg. 45) Education can generate small effects on attitudes; unfortunately, this kind of change in attitude is seen to not be maintained over time (Corrigan et al, 2001). This demonstrates the need to continually re-educate people to reinforce the message. Challenging the public is most effective when it targets people who frequently interact with individuals with mental illness: landlords, employers, GPs, police officers etc (Corrigan and Wassel, 2008). Secondly, most importantly the media needs to comply with their code of practice (2006). If something does appear in the media that appears stigmatising people should protest against it not accept it and reiterate that it wont be tolerated. As nurses we need to encourage that positive things surrounding mental health of mental health are promoted in the media. Lastly, the public need more contact with people who are experiencing mental health difficulties. This type of contact can provide the most healthy and positive findings toward changing public stigma (Penn et al,1994; Pettigrew and Tropp, 2000). It can be something as small as someone speaking about their mental illness in a group situation to co-workers learning of someone coping with a mental illness. The effectiveness of utilising contact can be improved when the person with a mental illness is seen by society as in the same social class as them (Gaertner et al, 1996). In Link and Cullens (1986) study they found people who had contact with someone who had a mental illness showed much lower anxiety around danger compared to those who had no contact. Murphy et als (1993) study contradicted this as they found having contact with someone with a mental illness did not impact on their attitude. However, they did establish that people who spoke of having knowledge of mental illness showe d a reduced anxiety and fear of mental illness. Finally, the prevalence of mental illness in society cannot be underestimated. As previously alluded to with 1 in 5 people suffering from a mental illness (WHO, 2001) we cannot afford to ignore the impact of stigma, all health care professionals especially nurses need to advocate for clients and work with others to promote and protect the health and wellbeing of those in their care, their families and carers, and the wider community (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008). Having discussed the views and attitudes that the public hold towards mental illness and those experiencing mental health difficulties it is now important, in the next chapter, to examine the views and attitudes of general nurses. Many will come into contact with people with mental health problems particularly in accident and emergency (a and e) and a medical setting.

A Deeper Insight of “The Cask of Amontillado” Essays -- essays researc

A Deeper Insight of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is Edgar Allan Poe’s intense use of symbolism and irony throughout â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† that establishes the short story as a candidate worthy of analysis. The skillful use of these devices are utilized by the author to create this horrific and suspenseful short story. Irony and symbolism in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† greatly effect the outcome of Fortunato’s well being.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Cask of Amontillado† should be regarded as a slice of a horror story, which revolves around the theme of revenge and pride† (Levine 90). â€Å"Poe’s story is a case of premeditated murder. The reader becomes quickly aware of the fact that Montressor is not a reliable narrator, and that he has a tendency to hold grudges and exaggerate terribly, as he refers to the thousand of injuries that he has suffered at the hands of Fortunato† (Womack NP). The story relates a horrible revenge made even more horrible by the fact that the vengeance is being taken when no real offense had been given. Montressor is â€Å"one who will stop at nothing to get the revenge that he deems himself and his family worthy of, and another who's pride will ultimately be the catalyst for his death† (Benton 215).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Irony is a manner of expression through which words or events convey a reality different from and even opposite to appearance or expectation† (Juvante NP). The use of such devices in this sto...

The Use of Digital Cameras :: Expository Essays Research Papers

The Use of Digital Cameras Digital cameras allow computer users to take pictures and store the photographed images digitally instead of on traditional film. With some digital cameras, a user downloads the stored pictures from the digital camera using special software included with the camera. With others, the camera stores the pictures on a floppy disk or on a PC Card. A user then copies the pictures to a computer by inserting the floppy disk into a disk drive or the PC Card into a PC Card slot (Chambers and Norton 134). Once stored on a computer, the pictures can be edited with photo-editing software, printed, faxed, sent via electronic mail, included in another document, or, posted to a Web site for everyone to see. Three basic types of digital cameras are studio cameras, field cameras, and point-and-shoot cameras (Shelly Cashman Series ® Microsoft Word 2000 Project 2). The most expensive and highest quality of the three, a studio camera, is a stationary camera used for professional studio work. Photojournalists frequently use field cameras because they are portable and have a variety of lenses and other attachments. As with the studio camera, a field camera can be quite expensive. Reliable and lightweight, the point-and-shoot camera provides acceptable quality photographic images for the home or small business user. A point-and-shoot camera enables the users to add pictures to personalized greeting cards, a computerized photo album, a family newsletter, certificates, awards, or a personal Web site. Because of its functionality, it is ideal camera for mobile users such as a real estate agents, insurance agents, and general contractors. The image quality produced by a digital camera is measured by the number of bits it stores in a dot and the resolution, or number of dots per inch. The higher each number, the better the quality, but the more expensive the camera. Most of today’s point-and-shoot cameras are at least 24-bit with a resolution ranging from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 960 (Walker 57-89).

Four Types Of Financial Statements Essay

Financial Statements come in four basic types; income statement, retained earnings, the statement of cash flow and the balance sheet. These statements are used both internally and externally to calculate the profitability and liabilities of a company. The financial statements of a company are the window for managers, investors, and creditors into the stability of a company. The details of a financial statement differ from the type of the statement and are used by different entities to determine if they want to invest in the company, lend to the company or by managers to determine if the company is operating and the needed level to continue growing. The income statement is a snapshot for a defined time that lists revenues and expenses to equal the net income of the company. Revenues are broken down into sales and other sales. Expenses are items such as cost of goods sold, selling marketing administrative costs, and total income tax. The income statement reports on the success or failure of the company’s operations by reporting its revenues and expenses. If the company’s revenues exceed its expenses, it will report net income; otherwise it will report a net loss (Kimmel & Kieso, 2009). The income statement reports of the company’s operations are profitable or not. The income statements reports how successful the company is at generating a profit at sales. Retained earnings statements are statements of shareholders in dividends and earnings paid to owners. This statement shows the earnings kept by the owners to ensure future growth. High-growth companies generally do not pay dividends and reinvest into the company. This statement shows amounts and cause of change during a period in time. The beginning of the statement shows retained earnings and adds net income and deductions for dividends. The balance sheet is the third type of financial statement that show claims  to assets over a certain period of time. The balance sheet brakes down the short -term and long- term assets of the company. The balance sheets groups similar assets with similar liabilities. Current assets are listed first, long-term investments nets and fixed assets, along with intangible assets like patents. Current liabilities payable in less than a year such as notes payable, accounts payable, salaries payable, unearned revenue, and interest payable are listed first. These are followed by mortgage notes due in more than one year and other notes due in more than a year. Last listed are stockholders equities such as common stock, and retained earnings. Companies list assets in order for which they expect to convert to cash (Kimmel & Kieso, 2009). The last type of basic financial statement is the statement of cash flow. This statement discloses cash receipts and cash payments made to the company for a specific period of time. The statement of cash flow reports the operating, investing, and financial activities of the company. This statement will answer questions such as where did the money come from, how as the money used, and what was the change that happened? Negative numbers are reflected with brackets (). Additionally, these statements report the net increase or decrease in cash during a period in time and the amount of cash at the end of said time. Many entities use financial statement, both inside, and outside the company. Managers can use the balance sheet to determine if the cash on hand is sufficient for immediate cash needs. They can also use these statements to look at the relationship between debts and stockholders’ equity to determine if the company has satisfactory proportion of debt and common stock financing (Kimmel & Kieso, 2009). Creditors can use the financial statements to determine the likely hood of being repaid. The statements will tell the creditors if there are sufficient assets to sell to repay a debt. Using ratio analysis, revenues- expenses= net income, the creditor can measure the success of a company for a given period. Long- term investors and creditors look at the solvency of a company; that is the measurement of long- term survival of the company. Investors use financial statements to determine if they should invest in the company or cash out the stocks they hold, because  of losses in the c ompany. Publicly traded companies must release annual reports, including financial statements, manager’s discussion and analysis, notes to the financial statements and an independent auditors report. Investors use all of these items to ensure they are making a sound investment. References Kimmel, P. D., Weygandt, J. J., & Kieso, D. E. (2009). Financial accounting: Tools for business decision making (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Family Planning Methods

TOPIC: COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF MODERN FAMILY PLANNING AMONG HAUSA, YORUBA, AND IGBO IN AGEGE COMMUNITY, LAGOS STATE. ABSTRACT The study will be carry out to get a comparative study on the acceptance of modern family planning among Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo’s in Agege community, lagos. 150 respondents will be needed for the study, 50 respondents from each settlement. The target group for this research will be women of child bearing age. Data will be collated, analyse, by using descriptive statistics and Chi square to test for the hypothesesCHAPTER ONE 1. 0 INTRODUCTION 1. 1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Right from creation, multiplication of man had been as a result of reproduction. However giving birth to young ones is the term associated to this and this is for posterity being the desire of everyone. Through scientific reproductive research over the years, man has evolved knowledge of putting consideration and calculation to population by means of family planning becaus e if this is not in place, man may end up in killing and eating each other as a result of over population in the absence of sufficient resources.Family planning is the process of having children by choice and not by chance that is determining when to have children and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other stechniques commonly used include sexual education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, preconception, counselling and management. (Etuk S. K and EKanem D. , 2003). Family planning sometimes used as a synonym for the use of birth control, most usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have and or to control the timing of pregnancy.Family planning services are defined as educational, comprehensive medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors to determine freely the number, spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achiev ed (Royce R. A, 2006) There is no doubting the fact that in today’s reality, raising quality children requires significant amount of resources: time, social, financial and environmental planning can help assure that resources are available else, it would be another potential additional threat to the parent and society at large.This is the essence of family planning (Paine et al, 2001) Experts have always insisted that waiting until the mother is at least 18years old before trying to have children improves maternal and child health. Also, if additional children are desired after a child is born; it is healthier for the mother and the child to wait at least 2years after the previous birth before attempting to conceive (but not more than 5years).After a miscarriage or abortion, it is healthier to wait for at least 6 months (Delano G. 1990). Osakue S. O (2010) highlighted that Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa with more than 140 million people also has a high annu al rate of population growth (3. 5%) And a high total fertility rate of 6. 0 live births per women. Additionally, the country has relatively high levels of infant mortality of 104 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

The Effect Of Cryotherapy Health And Social Care Essay

This chapter summarizes the major findings, restrictions, deductions in the field of nursing instruction, nursing pattern, nursing research and recommendations for farther research. The survey was conducted with the aims to place the effectivity of cryotherapy prior to passive stretching on the degree of spasticity and manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis in Families for kids, Coimbatore. A quasi experimental, pretest post-test with control group design was adopted for the survey. Purposive sampling technique was used to choose the samples for the survey. Entire figure of samples selected for the survey was 30. The selected samples were indiscriminately assigned to experimental and command group instead. Initially the degree of spasticity and manus map was measured utilizing Ashworth graduated table and Zancolli categorization manus map graduated table before intercession. For experimental group, cryotherapy was given for 20 proceedingss prior to passive stretching on the flexor compartment of the forearm and no intercession given to command group. The degree of spasticity and manus map were reassessed after 10 yearss. ‘t ‘ trial for depe ndant and independent samples was used to happen out the consequence of cryotherapy prior to passive stretching on the degree of spasticity and manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis. The findings from the survey concluded that, cryotherapy prior to passive stretching was effectual in cut downing the spasticity and betterment in manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis.6. 1. Major FINDINGS OF THE STUDYCryotherapy prior to passive stretching was found to be effectual in cut downing the degree of spasticity and betterment of manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis The consequence shows that, there is a important decrease in degree of spasticity in experimental group when compared to the control group among kids with intellectual paralysis. The consequence shows that, there is a important betterment of manus map in experimental group when compared to command group among kids with intellectual paralysis.6. 2. RECOMMENDATIONSCryotherapy prior to passive stretching can be used as a everyday intercession among kids with intellectual paralysis. A survey can be conducted utilizing ice application prior to passive stretching on spasticity and reduced scope of gesture in lower limbs in kids with intellectual paralysis6. 3. Nursing DeductionThe wellness professionals particularly paediatric nurses have a major function in supplying compassionate attention to kids. The nurses have the duty in assisting kids for monitoring and pull offing the attention for the kids with disablements like intellectual paralysis. Cryotherapy is one of the cost effectual method to cut down spasticity and bettering manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis prior to passive stretching. Consequences of this survey have deductions in nursing instruction, nursing pattern, nursing disposal and nursing research.6. 3. 1. Nursing EducationChildren with spasticity receive assorted methods of intervention like physical therapy. To pull off the symptoms efficaciously there are many alternate therapies like hydropathy, cold therapy and other exercisings. Among these therapies cryotherapy is one of the alternate intervention. In the field of nursing instruction, disposal of cryotherapy prior to passive stretching exercisings is concerned with holistic attention of patients. Therefore, it is appropriate to integrate alternate therapies like cryotherapy into nursing course of study.6. 3. 2. Nursing PracticeNursing consists of a organic structure of cognition that is ever altering with new inventions. Integration of inventions into nursing pattern improves the quality of attention provided to paediatric population. Ice application facilitates the decrease of spasticity and helps in betterment of manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis. The intercession of ice application enhances the accomplishment and attempt of paediatric nurses in cut downing spasticity and bettering manus map during the process. Hence, ice application can be adopted as a everyday pattern before inactive stretching exercisings in kids with intellectual paral ysis.6. 3. 3. Nursing AdministrationWhen non-pharmacological therapy progresss, the decision maker has the duty of supplying paediatric nurses with significant go oning instruction chances and enabling them to update their cognition with current research findings. The nurse decision makers must pull written policies sing the benefits of cryotherapy for cut downing spasticity and bettering manus map prior to passive stretching in kids with intellectual paralysis6.3.4. Nursing ResearchNursing research must concentrate more on the grounds based and holistic pattern by understanding the assorted techniques that can convey about important positive and psychological results for kids. The alternate therapy like ice application as one of the nursing intercession for kids with spasticity and decreased manus map which is an low-cost and effectual manner can be practiced based on research findings. The findings of the present survey can be utilized by the nurse research worker to lend to new cognition sing spasticity direction. The consequences from the present survey will assist the paediatric nurses in pull offing intellectual kids with spasticity.6. 4. DecisionCryotherapy is a non-pharmacological therapy used in the present survey to measure the degree of spasticity and manus map among kids with intellectual paralysis. The findings revealed that, cryotherapy was effectual in cut downing spasticity and bettering manus map. The therapy is besides cost effectual. Hence, the research worker concluded that, all paediatric nurses should follow this intercession in their clinical pattern to cut down spasticity and bettering manus map among kids with spastic intellectual p aralysis.

Internship Report Marketing Research

Critical Assessment of the Research Methodology used in SRG Bangladesh Limited Critical Assessment of the Research Methodology used in SRG Bangladesh Limited Submitted to Professor Golam Mohammed Chowdhury Chairman, Internship & Placement Program Supervised by Dr. M Z Mamun Professor and Director Submitted by Noman Ahmed Khan Roll No. 16 MBA 41 (D) Internship Period: 23rd March to 14th June Institute Of Business Administration (IBA) University Of Dhaka Date of Submission: July 11, 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all I must thank Dr. M Z Mamun, Professor & Director, IBA for his insisting on the brevity of the report.He helped me determine the objective of the report and guided me through to get to the end. He made me grateful with his valuable suggestions from time to time during my internship. I can never forget his fatherly guidance and his utmost friendly and sincere attention toward me. The second person to acknowledge will surely be my supervisor at SRGB: Mr. M Saidul Haq, Managing Director of SRG Bangladesh Limited. He has been a great support from the choice of the topic, learning of different part of research and understanding the difference between theory and practice.Special thank goes to Mr. Ziauddin Kamal, Senior Research Executive and Mr Emrul Kayes, Manager, HR for providing me every kind of information related to my study. I really should thank every other employee of SRGB, whom I found during different phases of my internship. Most of them have been very open and friendly with me and provided me with the answers I needed from them. Lastly I would like to thank my classmates working in OrgQuest and the Nielsen Company Bangladesh Limited for providing me with brief but useful information about the practices in their organization.July 11, 2009 Chairperson Internship and Placement Institute of Business Administration University of Dhaka Dhaka – 1000 Subject: Submission of Internship report on Critical Assessment of the Research Methodology used in SRG Bangladesh Limited Dear Sir: As a part of the internship program, I have prepared this report on the topic â€Å"Critical Assessment of the Research Methodology used in SRG Bangladesh Limited†. The report contains a detailed study and analysis on the qualitative and quantitative methodology used by SRG Bangladesh Limited.I judged the matter through the projects in which I had to work as an internee. I have tried my best to utilize the opportunity of working as an internee in an established marketing research company like SRGB. This report is based on information acquired from the project Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in Bangladesh, conducted by SRGB. Here I have tried to compare the methodology used in that study with the thery we have been taught in the classroom and probable reason of difference with the theory if any.I have maintained the internship learning as per the instructions I have got from my supervisor Dr M Z Mamun. I enjoyed preparing this report because it provides an opportunity for me to increase my understanding of the real life marketing research practices. I thank you for such an opportunity. I will be available for any clarification at your convenience. Sincerely yours Noman Ahemd Khan Roll # 16 Batch – 41(D) Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARYvii 1. 0 INTRODUCTION1 1. 1 Origin of the Report1 1. 2 Objective1 1. 3 Methodology2 1. 4 Scope2 1. 5 Limitations2 . 0 Industry Overview3 2. 1. Research and Consultancy Industry around the World3 2. 1. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Market segments3 2. 1. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Player groups5 2. 2 Research and Consultancy Industry in Bangladesh7 2. 2. 1 ORG-Quest Research Ltd (OrQuest)7 2. 2. 2 Sirius Marketing and Social Research Ltd. 7 2. 2. 3 The Nielsen Company8 3. 0 Company Overview9 3. 1 Background and History of SRG Bangladesh Limited9 3. 2 Organization Chart10 3. 3 Services Offered11 3. 4 Qualitative Research12 3. 5 Quantitative R esearch12 3. 6 Recent Projects13 3. 7 Key Clients14 3. Key Person of SRG Bangladesh Limited18 4. 0 Jobs Performed During Internship20 4. 1 Duties and Responsibilities20 4. 2 Completion of the Assignments20 4. 2. 1 Awareness and acceptance of UK Qualification20 4. 2. 2 Assessment of Grameen Kalyan Clinics21 4. 2. 3 Global Opinion Poll on Social, Economic and Political Issues 2009, Project Green, Wave 921 4. 2. 4 Mystery Shopping on Banking Products and Service21 4. 3 Benefits of the Program21 5. 0 Critical Assessment of the Methodology of the Project â€Å"Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in Bangladesh†22 5. Background of the study22 5. 1. 1 Definition of the Business Problem22 5. 1. 2 Research Objectives22 5. 2 Methodology23 5. 2. 1 Criticism on Selection and Implementation of Quantitative Study23 5. 2. 2 Criticism on Selection and Implementation of Qualitative Study (KII and IDI)25 5. 2. 3 Criticism on FGD26 5. 2. 4 A Mixed-Methodology Approach to the Study27 6. 0 Conclusion and Recommendation28 Bibliography29 Annexure I: Questionnaire of Key Informant Interview (KII)30 Annexure II: Questionnaire for In-Depth Interview (IDI)35 List of FiguresFigure 1: Revenues of Research and Consultancy Firms by Services4 Figure 2: Growth Rate of Research and Consultancy Firms by Services4 Figure 3: Groups of Research and Consultancy Players by Size and Origin5 Figure 4. Percentage of Market Share Depending on Size of Businesses6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report has been written with a focused ultimate goal of identifying the gaps between theory and practice of research in SRG Bangladesh Limited. It has been found that the effectiveness of a research firm SRGB in preparing research works fairly supported by theory practitioners.Difference between theory and practice is a very old phenomenon which we can see here too. But it can be concluded easily that though the practice is not perfectly similar with the suggestions from theory, the practice will work effec tively to bring out the result, which is the goal of all research works. Market research and consultancy is an old art which is becoming more important in Bangladesh day by day. The activities of market research include defining marketing opportunities and problems, generating and evaluating marketing ideas, monitoring performance, and understanding the marketing process.At the same time management consultancy refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement. Organizations hire the services of management consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external (and presumably objective) advice, access to the consultants' specialized expertise, or simply as extra temporary help during a one-time project, where the hiring of more permanent employees is not required.Internship opportunity in a market research and management co nsultancy house can be considered a great opportunity for a student to learn some most important and effective skills. Bangladesh is comparatively new in Market Research and Management Consultancy sector. We can find very few big players and a number of small players here. But the industry is expanding day by day. The total revenue is also increasing every year. Mainly four companies can be considered the topmost players in this industry. One of them SRG Bangladesh Limited is the company where the author completed his internship.The Survey Research Group of Bangladesh [SRGB] was initiated in October 1987 as a Management and Industrial Consulting house. Since the early 90s, SRGB ventured into providing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Services. Since then SRGB has successfully conducted hundreds of studies ranging from broad based sectoral studies to micro level case studies for domestic and international clients. SRGB maintains a countrywide panel of more than 800 male and fema le Field Investigators, who are recruited locally resulting in substantial cost efficiency.Moreover, local investigators ensure operational efficiency and accuracy in collecting relevant information. In terms of organizational philosophy, to remain updated with the rapid changes in the global survey research scenario and to benefit from the hard-earned experience of developed economies, SRGB remains in constant touch with a number of overseas firms engaged in research and consulting. Most of the assignments handled in SRGB were long-term projects that had already been started. Some were in the beginning phase and some were in their final stages.Some of them are also a type of continuous research with several waves. The discussed research study that was used to prepare this report is Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in Bangladesh. It was an ongoing project. It therefore made sense to continue doing what the rest of the team was doing (taking interviews of different types and writing those down). It required all three interns from IBA to take interviews of different people. At the very beginning tough job of taking face to face interviews was assigned.Some visits to a private university (BRAC University for this author) and a multinational (Novartis Bangladesh Limited) helped the job done. Then the qualitative part commenced. A 7 day tour to Chittagong was made to take the KII of a number of Deans and department heads. The tour was successful with nice opportunities to learn interview and communication skills. Then again a 5 day tour to Rajshahi, the land of heat and mango. It was also a very successful tour with acquiring of huge experiences.Finally different top management personnels from different organizations and universities like University of Dhaka, International Islamic University Chittagong Dhaka Campus, Square, Grameenphone, Dhaka Bank, BMET, UGC etc. were interviewed. 1. 0 INTRODUCTION Market research and consultancy is an old art which i s becoming more important in Bangladesh day by day. The activities of market research include defining marketing opportunities and problems, generating and evaluating marketing ideas, monitoring performance, and understanding the marketing process.At the same time management consultancy refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement. Organizations hire the services of management consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external (and presumably objective) advice, access to the consultants' specialized expertise, or simply as extra temporary help during a one-time project, where the hiring of more permanent employees is not required.Internship opportunity in a market research and management consultancy house can be considered a great opportunity for a student to learn some most important and effective skills. 1. 1 Or igin of the Report As a compulsory part of Internship program, this particular report is being prepared by the author on the proposed topic â€Å"Critical Assessment of the Research Methodology used in SRG Bangladesh Limited†. The intention was to give an opportunity to the students to gain some real world experience by working in a practical environment. The internship supervisor was Mr.M Saidul Haq, Managing Director, SRG Bangladesh Limited and the faculty advisor was Dr. M Z Mamun, Professor & Director of Institute of Business Administration. 1. 2 Objective The Primary Objective of this report is: †¢ To measure the gap between theory and practice for the selection of the methodology. Secondary objectives are: †¢ To study the methodology used in the project under study in SRGB. †¢ To observe the implementation of the methods. †¢ To measure the gap between selection and implementation of the methods. †¢ Search for the justifications behind the gaps. . 3 Methodology The research will be composed of literature review for theories and qualitative research mainly. An extensive study of the research methodology literature will be the base. Then the practical experiences and observations from the project worked for during internship will be compared with the literature. Finally qualitative in-depth interviews and key informant interviews will lead us to our answers. 1. 4 Scope SRGB selects and follows different kinds of methodology for different projects. It changes with the change of projects.Here only the study project in which the author worked- ‘Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in Bangladesh’ will come under consideration. The author will try to reveal the theoretical requirements to selection of methodology for this particular study project and the practical happenings in this project only. The other two studies which were taking place at SRGB at the time of internship will not be considered though the author worked for those in some few instances. 1. 5 Limitations Some limiting factors were faced while conducting the research and preparing the report.These could be summarized as follows: †¢ No secondary information was found, such as, any report or research papers on this particular issue. †¢ For finding out reasons behind gap between theory and practice, enough number of projects could not be studied due to shortage of time and scope. †¢ Only internal specialists were interviewed. 2. 0 Industry Overview Before starting description of the main parts of the internship report, some light on the industry of the worked for company should be addressed. A short story about the industry will help the reader understand the situation with more depth. . 1. Research and Consultancy Industry around the World The management consultancy industry shows a very fragmented picture with various segments and player groups. This first part of the industry analysis starts with an analys is of the market segments and player groups. Afterwards it will elaborate on the competitive situation. The second part of this analysis – Future Prospects – discusses driving forces and possible futures for the industry. Due to availability of data here the focus is on the German market, for which it provides figures and statistics.All statements about trends, competition, drivers and possible future developments, however, can easily be transferred to management consultancies in all major markets. 2. 1. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Market segments In Germany there are 14700 management consultancies and sole practitioners. They employ 68000 consultants. The market for management consultancy in Germany has shown rapid growth throughout the last years. Total revenues rose from 16. 4 bn DM in 1997 to 18. 8 bn in 1998, 21. 3 bn in 1999, and 23. 8 bn DM in 2000. Although the annual growth rate declined from 14. 6 % in 1998 to 11. % in 2000, it is still significa ntly above the growth rate of the German GDP, being below 3 %. However, growth is not equally spread across the market segments. Today management consultancy is much more than the traditional strategy consulting. The Bundesverband Deutscher Unternehmensberater e. V. (BDU, Association of German Management Consultants) distinguishes between consulting for strategy, organisation, IT and human resources. Analysis of these segments reveals their different contributions to overall revenue and growth: Figure 1: Revenues of Research and Consultancy Firms by Services pic] Figure 2: Growth Rate of Research and Consultancy Firms by Services [pic] These figures indicate that IT- and organisational consulting fuelled growth in 1999. This was driven by the current developments in the IT-sector. The BDU names year 2000 solutions, Euro-implementations, SAP implementations and e-business activities. These changes in the customers' environment change their industries more or less and hence create eno rmous needs for consulting. Without the impact of Y2K and Euro-implementation, the growth of IT consulting slowed down in 2000.However, this sector remains the most important field of consulting with 43. 4% of total consulting revenues in 2000. The BDU predicts, that the proportion of consulting projects that include at least partly some e-commerce consulting, will grow from 38% in 2000 to about 50% in 2001. All in all the whole industry shows a dynamic growth. Besides the influence of IT this is driven by globalisation, technological change and the deregulation of markets. 2. 1. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Player groups In recent years the industry has seen the entry of many non-traditional consultants into the market.Barriers to entry are considerably low with little investments into fixed assets needed. In addition – on the contrary to the auditing business – there are no legal regulations limiting the entry to this profession. Many former employees of large consultancy firms or senior managers from other businesses start up as sole practitioners or small consulting firms. On the other hand, many companies from outside the consulting industry enter this market. These are mainly IT-companies as IBM or Cap Gemini, but also designers, technologists, marketing agencies, employment agencies and others.Figure 3: Groups of Research and Consultancy Players by Size and Origin [pic] Rassam (1998) distinguishes as follows: In Germany there are 14700 consulting businesses employing 68500 consultants. The BDU distinguishes small, medium and large consultancies. Not surprisingly, the large consultancies, being smallest in numbers make nearly a third of the total industries revenues: Figure 4. Percentage of Market Share Depending on Size of Businesses [pic] This is an ongoing trend. By 2000 the market share of large consultancies has risen to 47%, share of medium sized firms fell to 36% and share of small firms fell to 17%.This is because large firms show by far the highest growth rates with an average of 18% in 2000. Medium and small firms grew by an average of 9% and 2. 5% only. With this small number of large dominant players the market can be characterised as an oligopoly. Competition is especially strong within the market segments and within the player groups. Due to the limited growth rates in some segments and the entry of new players there is also a rising competition across the segments and player groups. Smaller specialised consultants start to serve customers of all sizes.The large consultants discover small and start-up enterprises as customers, seeing them as future clients for further consulting and auditing activities. According to this competition consultancies have developed different strategies. The large consultancies establish themselves as generalist. They offer their clients a one-stop-shop service for all the consulting needs they might have. Thus their focus is on long-lasting customer relationships and cross-selling opportunities. Many smaller and medium sized consultancies have specialised in certain areas of expertise like IT, HR or business recovery.A number of them operate only in their home area. An important area of competition in consulting business is the supply-side. Consultancies compete heavily to attract highly qualified people. Demand for these people is rising due to the growth aspirations of the large consulting firms. The German member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers created more than 1000 additional jobs during its first year after the merger and still continues to grow at high rates. On the other hand, many graduates from universities and business schools choose to join start-ups in the â€Å"new economy† in 2000. . 2 Research and Consultancy Industry in Bangladesh Bangladesh is comparatively new in Market Research and Management Consultancy sector. We can find very few big players and a number of small players here. But the industry is expanding day b y day. The total revenue is also increasing every year. Mainly four companies can be considered the topmost players in this industry. One of them SRG Bangladesh Limited is the company where the author completed his internship, description of that company is coming latter. Here we find short description of other three firms. 2. 2. ORG-Quest Research Ltd (OrQuest) ORG-QUEST RESEARCH LTD. (OrQuest) is a joint venture company with ORG India (pvt) Ltd. It has been founded in 2003, though serving from 1994. Number of employees is 40 and interviewers is 300. We are a research & consulting firm with strong survey research and analytical skills that bring to bear a blend of insights and Pan-Asian experience of a highly competent team of professionals. We have been providing research services to our valued clients including MNCs, UN agencies, development partners (World Bank, ADB, IFC-SEDF, Swisscontact, etc. , local conglomerates, international research agencies, etc. in the country since 19 94, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Our qualitative wing owns a viewing facility with one way mirror in Dhaka. With a dedicated team of researchers, having client and agency side experience and multi country exposures, we offer high standard market, social and opinion research services in the areas mentioned under the fields of operation later. 2. 2. 2 Sirius Marketing and Social Research Ltd.Sirius is a full service research organization and offers the entire spectrum of consumer and media research, social research, syndicated Media and Panel research services and business-to-business research conforming to international standards. It has been founded in 1995 and it has 60 employees and 350 interviewers presently. The company is an associate of IMRB International and has full access to IMRB's expertise. Today, Sirius is one of the leading research agencies and the clientele includes multinationals based in Bangladesh, bilateral agencies and international compani es.The company has conducted large scale national level studies (all Bangladesh) and has field offices in the 6 Divisional headquarters of Bangladesh. The company pioneered syndicated media research in the country that includes TV audience measurement, National Media Study (covering all media), TV Ad tracking,and has in place a national level household consumer panel since 2005. 2. 2. 3 The Nielsen Company The Nielsen Company, offering services in over 100 countries, is the world's leading provider of market research, information, and analysis.By delivering unrivalled combinations of insights, advanced analytical tools and integrated marketing solutions, Nielsen provides complete views of consumers and their markets. Nielsen Consumer Research helps clients address the issues of brand health, shopper loyalty and behavior, marketing mix management and consumer motivations. By integrating proprietary research applications with in-market understanding from our retail and consumer panel services we don’t conduct consumer research in a vacuum, and are uniquely positioned to deliver business solutions in their market context.BASES, a service of The Nielsen Company and a world leader in STM’s, uses industry-leading forecasting models, rich databases, and proprietary analytical techniques to consult on a range of business issues, including innovation strategy, concept and marketing plan optimization, and initiative commercialization. BASES is widely known for expertise in the CPG sector, but tools have been adapted to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, alcohol, quick-serve restaurants, and more. 3. 0 Company Overview The company selected for internship was Survey Research Group of Bangladesh (SRGB).It is one of the leading Research and Consultancy firm of the country. A short description of the company will complement the story. 3. 1 Background and History of SRG Bangladesh Limited The Survey Research Group of Bangladesh [SRGB] was initiated in October 1987 as a Management and Industrial Consulting house. Its professional integrity and service excellence rapidly gained a lasting reputation for delivering result-oriented consultancy services. Subsequently, activities were diversified to provide development consultancy, continuing professional development programs, data processing & analysis and event management services.Since the early 90s, SRGB ventured into providing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Services. Since then SRGB has successfully conducted hundreds of studies ranging from broad based sectoral studies to micro level case studies for domestic and international clients. SRGB's studies are carried out under the leadership of highly competent and experienced team members who are well acknowledged experts in their respective fields, appropriately drawn from SRGB's panel with their consent and total commitment.Logistically, SRGB is more than well equipped with all necessary and state of the art office facilities including c omputers, printers, photocopier, scanner, continuous power generator, etc. A team of highly experienced staff remains dedicated to carry out survey research activities. Moreover, SRGB maintains a countrywide panel of more than 800 male and female Field Investigators, who are recruited locally resulting in substantial cost efficiency. Moreover, local investigators ensure operational efficiency and accuracy in collecting relevant information.In terms of organizational philosophy, to remain updated with the rapid changes in the global survey research scenario and to benefit from the hard-earned experience of developed economies, SRGB remains in constant touch with a number of overseas firms engaged in research and consulting. These close associations have proved mutually rewarding and SRGB maintain an open-end policy in acquiring further overseas strategic alliances. Moreover, SRGB's consultants are well practiced in looking objectively at the challenges that a business or an intervent ion faces and developing appropriate, workable and cost effective solutions.SRGB's role as a consultancy house is to provide expert, independent, practical and pragmatic decisions. With the truest partnership spirit, SRGB works â€Å"alongside† with the clients instead of working â€Å"for† them. SRGB's approach is based on hard-earned experience, rather than on textbook solutions. The hard-core professionalism, undaunted integrity and uncompromising excellence of service of SRGB have duly earned high level of customer satisfaction and reliability.The total range of services from SRGB is delivered through three distinct operating divisions: [pic]  Centre for Research & Management Consulting [pic]Centre for Continuing Professional Development [pic]Centre for Data Processing & Analysis All three centres have both intellectual and logistical resource-base that is unmatched in the country. Each of the centres is highly professional, unparalleled in functional efficiency and strategically organized to provide ample scope for future expandability and relentless enhancement of service quality.The Centre for Research & Management Consulting concentrates on providing consolidated business management and development research solutions, while the Centre for Continuing Professional Development offers wide range of skill development programs for practicing and prospective business professionals to enhance their experience and functional capability. Finally, the Centre for Data Processing & Analysis offer a spectrum of digitization services, which covers almost every document conversion process including data, text, PDF, illustrator and XML/SGML conversion services. . 2 Organization Chart The organization is headed by the CEO or President. It has an organogram which is slim but centralized. Here a diagram of the organization chart has been shown in the next page. [pic] 3. 3 Services Offered The services offered are modern and useful. They are as follows: â⠂¬ ¢ Social & Environmental Research †¢ Business Communication Service †¢ Automotive Research †¢ Agricultural Research †¢ Business to Business Research †¢ HR Management Service †¢ Media Research †¢ Mystery Shopping †¢ Qualitative Research †¢ Quantitative Research †¢ Retail Study Healthcare Research †¢ Sales Force Effectiveness Practice Among the available services here we only highlight the qualitative and quantitative research. 3. 4 Qualitative Research SRGB has a specialist qualitative research division. This division forms a core part of the overall business. This division has a team with an experience base of over 15 years. Keeping in mind the need to bring in different perspectives in understanding human behavior, this team has been selected from diverse backgrounds such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, marketing, economics and so on.The qualitative division also has its own specialized field structure that handles a ll aspects of the field operations. No fieldwork is sub-contracted. In addition to our own team of highly experienced and motivated researchers, the qualitative division draws into the expertise of international consultants in the fields of qualitative research and communication. This allows us access to global perspective as well. The qualitative division has handled hundreds of studies spanning categories as diverse as FMCG products, financial products, durables, automobiles, media, telecommunication and so on.It has considerable experience in handling the following types of research studies: †¢ Usage and attitude studies †¢ Brand equity studies †¢ Segmentation studies †¢ Positioning research †¢ Communication development and evaluation †¢ Packaging evaluation studies †¢ New product development studies The experience pool also includes studies among a wide variety of target groups ranging from housewives, chief wage earners, children, teenagers, y oung adults, different socio-economic groups including high net worth individuals; specialist groups such as corporate, specific professions, etc.The qualitative research division boasts of having a large number of specialized techniques such as: †¢ Conflict Groups †¢ Peer Interactions †¢ Triads †¢ Paired Interviews †¢ Slice of life †¢ Semiotics †¢ Extended creativity groups †¢ Hybrid Approaches †¢ Benefit Inhibitor chains †¢ Thematic Apperception Tests †¢ Mind Mapping †¢ Value Equation †¢ World views †¢ Bring your Homework etc. 3. 5 Quantitative ResearchThe quantitative research division is a specialized research with a combined experience of over 18 years in handling quantitative research in a wide range of areas – such as FMCGs, personal grooming products, automobiles, durables, telecom, IT media, pharmaceutical products, cigarettes, retail, financial products and web research. The team, of over 15 quant itative researchers is adept at handling all aspects of the research right from problem definition, to the analysis and data interpretation, to providing implementable solutions to the clients needs.The use of a wide array of tools and techniques, such as multivariate techniques adds value and helps provide meaningful insights to the client. A team of experienced programmers ensure a quick and efficient data summarization and interpretation, which ensure a quicker turnaround time for the project. At any point of time, there are 800+ investigators for collecting data and they are spread across the country.High quality in data collection is ensured through a systemized and stringent data collection procedure-training sessions, mock calls, pilot interviews, back-checks by the company staff ensure that data collected adheres to the quality standards laid down by the company. Specialized teams of experts in various fields with in-depth knowledge of the global market add value to the proj ect. We have consultants with a global experience of at least 20 years in the following areas. Customer satisfaction †¢ Mystery shopping †¢ Product testing †¢ Retailing sector †¢ Modeling and data mining †¢ Insurance sector †¢ Banking sector 3. 6 Recent Projects There were twelve ongoing projects during internship of the author. Among them three were bigger and more important. The author worked in various jobs of four projects, project number 4, 5, 6 and 7. Table 1: Recent Projects by SRGB |Sl No. Project Name |Client |Period of Study | |1 |Monitoring and Evaluation Consulting: |CPTU, IMED |June 2009 to | | |Public Procurement Reform Project–II |Ministry of Planning |June 2013 | | |(PPRP-II) [A World Bank funded Project] |Govt. f Bangladesh |[Ongoing Study] | |2 |Employee Preference Survey for |British America Tobacco (through Engage |June to July 2009 | | |Bangladesh |HR, Pakistan) |[Ongoing Study] | |3 |Monitoring and Evaluation of Cross Bord er Communication – South Asia|AED, USA |April to | | |(Multi-country study involving Bangladesh, Nepal & India) |[USAID funded |June 2009 | | | |AI. COMM Project] |[Ongoing Study] | |4 |Global Opinion Poll on Social, Economic and Political Issues 2009, |Princeton Survey Research Associates |April to | | |Project Green, Wave 9 |International (PSRAI), Washington, USA |June 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |5 |Grameen Kalyan Clinics Needs Assessment |Pfizer Inc. March to October 2009 | | | |USA |[Ongoing Study] | |6 |Market Research on Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in |British Council |January to | | |Bangladesh |Dhaka |July 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |7 |Mystery Shopping on Banking Products |HSBC Bangladesh |August 2008 to | | |and Services |Dhaka |December 2009 | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |8 |Social Impact Assessment |The World Bank |May 2008 to | | |For Bangladesh Railway DPL Project |Dhaka, Bangladesh |June 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |9 |Surroga te Value Research on Fish, 2009 |Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, |January to | | | |Silverman & Klestadt LLP |December 2009 | | | |USA |[Ongoing Study] | |10 |Mystery Shopping on Cisco Certified |Pearson VUE/AQ Services |January to | | |Examination Centre Performance |International, Singapore |December 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |11 |Mystery Shopping on GMAT Registration & |Pearson VUE/AQ Services |January to | | |Scheduling Procedures |International, Singapore |December 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |12 |Mystery Shopping – CompTIA |Pearson VUE through |January to | | | |AQ Services, Singapore |December 2009 | | | | |[Ongoing Study] | |13 |Police Perception Survey in Chittagong, |US Embassy |October 2008 to | | |Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari |Dhaka, Bangladesh |March 2009 | | |Districts | | | 3. 7 Key Clients SRGB has a huge number of different category clients. They have been listed below: A: International Clients †¢ Cisco, USA †¢ HSBC, Hong Kong †¢ Telenor, Norway †¢ Nokia, Hong Kong †¢ Microsoft, USA Hewlett-Packard (HP) Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Singapore †¢ ARD Inc, USA †¢ BHP-Engineering, Australia †¢ BHP-Laysaght (SEA) Pte Ltd, Singapore †¢ Nomura Research Institute, Japan †¢ International Executive Service Corps (IESC), USA †¢ Carana Corporation, USA †¢ International Trade Centre (ITC), Switzerland †¢ SKF Distribution Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore †¢ ECI Telecom Inc, USA †¢ Dacom Corporation, Korea †¢ Korea Telecom, Korea †¢ Tata Steel, India †¢ Bare Associates International, USA †¢ Bharat Starch Industries Ltd, India †¢ Tessival SPA, Italy †¢ G P Group of Companies, Thailand †¢ Singer Worldwide, USA †¢ Overseas Projects Corporation of Victoria (OPCV), Australia †¢ Carana Corporation, USA TOTAL FINA ELF, France †¢ Princeton Survey Research Associates (PSRA), USA †¢ Tianjin Machinery Import Export Group, China †¢ Quantum Market Research, India †¢ BAIGlobal Inc (A Market Facts Company), USA †¢ Pew Research Centre, USA †¢ Mitsubishi Corporation, Singapore †¢ Kuraray Specialties Pte Ltd, Singapore †¢ Thai Wah Public Co. Ltd, Thailand †¢ Horizon Research, Singapore †¢ Tashi Group of Companies, Bhutan †¢ Kalasha Woolen Industry (Pvt) Ltd, Nepal †¢ Ecotech Pty Ltd, Australia †¢ Habib Bank Ltd, Pakistan †¢ Asia Market Intelligence (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, Malaysia †¢ Syngenta, Hong Kong †¢ Arthur D. Little, Singapore/Malaysia †¢ Sungwon Corporation, Korea Kong Ma Engineering Co Ltd, Taiwan †¢ Fullway Enterprises Co Ltd, Taiwan †¢ Quest International, UK †¢ Veraz Telecom, USA †¢ Canadian High Commission, Dhaka †¢ Rhone Poulence Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Australia †¢ China Resources Ltd, Hong Kong †¢ BlueScope Steel, Australia †¢ International Business Linkages, Inc. (IBL), USA †¢ World Fish Centre, Malaysia †¢ Redma Consultants Ltd, Canada †¢ Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants, Hong Kong †¢ Synovate, Hong Kong †¢ Cairn Energy Bangladesh †¢ AQ Services International, Singapore †¢ Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc, USA †¢ Columbia University, USA B: International Development Agencies/NGOs Clients †¢ The World Bank United Nations Development Program (UNDP) †¢ United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) †¢ UNICEF Bangladesh †¢ Asian Development Bank (ADB) †¢ International Finance Corporation (IFC) †¢ Commonwealth Secretariat, UK †¢ Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) †¢ Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) †¢ United States Agency For International Development (USAID) †¢ Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI), Japan †¢ Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) †¢ International Jute Organization (IJO) †¢ CARE Banglades h †¢ SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) †¢ Swisscontact-Katalyst †¢ World Vision of Bangladesh †¢ JOBS [A USAID Project] †¢ OXFAM Bangladesh Concern Bangladesh †¢ German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Bangladesh †¢ DFID Bangladesh C: Domestic Clients †¢ Unilever Bangladesh †¢ British America Tobacco †¢ Syngenta (Bangladesh) Ltd †¢ Social Marketing Company (SMC) †¢ Olympic Industries †¢ Bengal Group of Industries †¢ A K Khan Group †¢ Bashundhara Group of Companies †¢ Mutual Group †¢ Baraka Group †¢ SQ Group †¢ Rangs Electronics Ltd †¢ Alfa Tobacco Group †¢ Micro Industries Development Assistance Society (MIDAS) †¢ Sea Resources Group (Rangs Group) †¢ Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) †¢ M M Ispahani Ltd (Ispahani Group) †¢ Givenchy Group †¢ Grameen Bank †¢ Alfa Tobacco Group †¢ Toka Ink (BD) Ltd (A Bangladesh Japan Joint Venture) BASIC Bank Ltd †¢ Grameen Uddog †¢ Holycrescent Hospital Ltd †¢ McDonald Bangladesh Ltd †¢ Grameen Shamogree †¢ Tripti Industries †¢ Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of Bangladesh †¢ Ministry of Jute, Govt of Bangladesh †¢ Industrial Development Leasing Company of Bangladesh Ltd (IDLC) †¢ Brothers Group †¢ Syngenta †¢ Giant Group †¢ Bell Corporation †¢ Anlima Group †¢ Grameen Telecom †¢ Grameen Phone †¢ Pacific Telecom Ltd (City Cell) †¢ Bangladesh Telegraph & Telephone Board (BTTB) †¢ Department of Environment, Govt of Bangladesh †¢ Ministry of Environment, Govt of Bangladesh †¢ Modern Erection, Dhaka †¢ BRAC Bank Bangladesh 3. 8 Key Person of SRG Bangladesh LimitedM Saidul Haq, MBA, CMC (Australia), FCIM (UK), FIMC, is the Founder President of SRG Bangladesh Limited [SRGB]. He is an entrepreneurship/business development specialist. He did his MBA from Institute of Business Admini stration, University of Dhaka in its 14th batch. He has unparallel combination of multivariate qualifications and achievements. Some are highlighted below: †¢ CMC (Certified Management Consultant) from Institute of Management Consultants, Australia †¢ FCIM (Fellow Member) of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK – the top marketing professionals’ organization of the world. †¢ More than twenty(20) years experience in Management Consulting and Market/Social Research (qualitative and quantitative) †¢ Conducted hundreds of research and consulting projects as Project Director/Team Leader †¢ Organized and conducted hundreds of training programs, workshop, seminar, technical †¢ presentation on various management and business promotion issues. †¢ Extensive experience in trade & business development, promotions, investment and joint venture match-making. †¢ Extensive experience in private sector and SME enterprises development, entrepr eneurship development. †¢ National Consultant, International Trade Centre, WTO/UNCTAD, Geneva †¢ Retainer consultant/adviser of about a dozen leading business houses in Bangladesh Experience with many international organizations including World Bank, ADB, International Labor Organization (ILO), USAID, CIDA, UNDP, UNIDO, UNICEF, UNEP, SDC, commonwealth Secretariat, etc. †¢ Worked for about five years as the Consultant/National Monitor for Industrial Commodity Program, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Canadian High Commission, Dhaka. †¢ Registered Consultant of Asian Development Bank (ADB), The World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, etc. †¢ Served as Member of the Advisory Board of GERIAP, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. Founder President of the Institute of Management Consultants Bangladesh [IMCB], the †¢ national for um for the consultants of Bangladesh. †¢ Trustee of The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes [ICMCI], the apex body of the consulting institutes worldwide. †¢ ICMCI representative to ECOSOC, United Nations (UN) for Geneva/Vienna and Asia-Pacific region. †¢ Immediate past National Representative for Bangladesh and Member of European Society for Opinion and Market Research [ESOMAR]. †¢ Member of the American Marketing Association [AMA] †¢ Widely traveled person and visited more than hundred countries/cities of the world. 4. 0 Jobs Performed During InternshipWhile the work performed during this period was particularly glamorous and equally thrilling, true is that this internship period exposed the author to experiences which have significantly altered the perception of marketing research and management related issues towards a more real and global holistic model. 4. 1 Duties and Responsibilities The internship program was started on 23rd Ma rch, 2009. The internship was to last for twelve (12) weeks to three (3) months and as a result my internship came to an end on 14th June, 2009. In somewhat more concrete terms, SRGB provides the country and the world with timely, scientifically credible, policy-relevant research answers for decision-making and action planning for development.While with SRGB, it was involved in a range of different tasks and smaller explorations that extensively helped learning of the methods of marketing research. The central themes around which most of the works at SRGB was organized is presented here. 4. 2 Completion of the Assignments Most of the assignments handled were long-term projects that had already been started. Some were in the beginning phase and some were in their final stages. Some of them are also a type of continuous research with several waves. The four research studies that were been participated are described here. 4. 2. 1 Awareness and acceptance of UK Qualification It was an o ngoing project.It therefore made sense to continue doing what the rest of the team was doing (taking interviews of different types and writing those down). It required all three interns from IBA to take interviews of different people. At the very beginning tough job of taking face to face interviews was assigned. Some visits to a private university (BRAC University for this author) and a multinational (Novartis Bangladesh Limited) helped the job done. Then the qualitative part commenced. A 7 day tour to Chittagong was made to take the KII of a number of Deans and department heads. The tour was successful with nice opportunities to learn interview and communication skills. Then again a 5 day tour to Rajshahi, the land of heat and mango.It was also a very successful tour with acquiring of huge experiences. Finally different top management personnels from different organizations and universities like University of Dhaka, International Islamic University Chittagong Dhaka Campus, Square, Grameenphone, Dhaka Bank, BMET, UGC etc. were interviewed. 4. 2. 2 Assessment of Grameen Kalyan Clinics This was a new project altogether. The preparation and translating of questionnaires were taking place. Tough job of doing most effective translation to Bangla of the English questionnaires were done effectively. 4. 2. 3 Global Opinion Poll on Social, Economic and Political Issues 2009, Project Green, Wave 9This is a regular project taken by SRGB every year. The author participated in a three day internal training session to see how the field coordinators trained and assigned their jobs. It is a survey that takes place throughout Bangladesh. The real world way of survey was learned here. 4. 2. 4 Mystery Shopping on Banking Products and Service It was done for HSBC Bank. The author visited GEC and Agrabad branch in Chittagong where he observed the customer care quality of the branches and wrote a report with assigning points. 4. 3 Benefits of the Program Benefit from the internshi p programme was more than what was expected in a number of ways: Having a rare opportunity to use the knowledge and skills that had been acquired back at the institute to provide critical real world research method information. Career-wise, the internship programme undoubtedly enriched my curriculum vitae (CV). Also, having gotten a chance to interact with most staff, it gave an insight on how to shape the career towards a research job in the near future. The internship programme gave me a chance not only to work with SRGB but also a chance to learn from the research experts and consultants. Working with people from different parts of the world was a rare chance that you can’t easily get from any other organization in Kenya. Therefore to me this was another opportunity to make friends and share ideas. To conclude, the internship at SRGB was a rewarding experience and provided with some new perspectives that was not came across during studies back at the institute. 5. 0 Cri tical Assessment of the Methodology of the Project â€Å"Awareness and Acceptance of UK Qualifications in Bangladesh† This is the main focus of this report. Methodology is one of the most important part of any research study. Literally methodology is the way in which the data are collected for the research project. Methodology  can be defined as: ? â€Å"the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline† ? â€Å"the systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a discipline†Ã‚  or ? â€Å"a particular procedure or set of procedures. â€Å"Selection of methodology mainly depends on the objective of the research, but in real life the objective comes with different factors and dimensions unlike pure independent research. Here it will be shown what the methodology for this project was, probable mistakes both in crafting and executing of the methodology and finally the justification for it. 5. 1 Background of the study This study was taken for British Council, the United Kingdom’s cultural relation’s organization. Here some important parts of the research will be shown. These will help us understand the requirements and the goal of this study. 5. 1. 1 Definition of the Business ProblemThe business was defined as – â€Å"Although UK qualifications are popular and growing, recognition and acceptance by employers, government and higher education providers is variable. We need to be able to: 1. Identify where recognition and acceptance are weak but critical 2. Identify new sectors for growth 3. Review our product portfolio so that it meets market requirements. 5. 1. 2 Research Objectives †¢ To ascertain the current level of awareness and acceptance of UK qualifications (school levels and professional) among the leading Bangladeshi private and public sector employers and the higher education institutions (both public and private). †¢ To identify t he main reasons for the variable levels of awareness and acceptance. Assess the impact of the growth of the private sector and the continued policy of privatizing of state run assets by the government. In order to achieve this we would require research to be carried out with: 1. Top 6 public universities. 2. Top 5 private universities. 3. Professional associations 4. Government 5. Private sector Suggested areas of research: †¢ Which foreign qualifications are known †¢ Which foreign qualifications are accepted †¢ Apart from subject knowledge what skills are essential and how are they currently assessed †¢ Reasons for acceptance/non-acceptance †¢ Number of students from English medium schools applying for places- at private universities (plus which ones) at public universities and overseas. Profile of students following professional/vocational exams – school medium attended (English/Bangla), reason for doing this rather university course. 5. 2 Methodolo gy After turning the idea into a research question and reviewing any necessary literature, the method of research must be considered. The methodology selected should be the one that will be the most effective to collect the data needed to answer the research question or to test the hypothesis. Research studies may be either quantitative or qualitative, although it is possible to use both approaches in the same research project and this has been used in this project on UK qualifications. The choice of research design must be appropriate to the subject under investigation (Patton,  1987).So it should be investigated that whether a research on education really admits the opportunity of blending two methodologies. 5. 2. 1 Criticism on Selection and Implementation of Quantitative Study In quantitative research the data collected takes the form of measurements or counts which can be statistically analysed. The process of quantitative research follows standard procedures, methods, forms of analysis and reporting the results of the research undertaken. This standardisation maximises objectivity. Quantitative methods can be used for comparison of subgroups and analysis is generally conducted through statistics. The method is based on meanings derived from numbers and results are numerical and standardised data.Quantitative methods use numbers and statistics. General sequence is as follows: 1. Observe/present questionnaire/ask questions with fixed answers 2. Tabulate 3. Summarise data 4. Analyse data 5. Draw conclusions Quantitative research designs are characterised by the assumption that human behaviour can be explained by what may be termed â€Å"social facts†, which can be investigated by methodologies that utilise â€Å"the deductive logic of the natural sciences† (Horna,  1994, p. 121). Quantitative investigations look for â€Å"distinguishing characteristics, elemental properties and empirical boundaries† (p. 121) and tend to measure â₠¬Å"how much†, or â€Å"how often† (Nau,  1995).They are appropriate to examine the behavioural component, such as attendance at class. So, it can be seen that quantitative methodologies do have strengths for becoming appropriate for educational research like this project on UK qualifications. These may be summarised as follows: †¢ Quantitative methodologies are appropriate to measure overt behaviour. †¢ They are also strong in measuring descriptive aspects, such as the composition of the students. †¢ Quantitative methodologies allow comparison and replication. †¢ Reliability and validity may be determined more objectively than qualitative techniques. These strengths however, are not the sole prerogative of quantitative designs.Indeed, many of the arguments for the use of quantitative research, especially in an academic climate where resources are limited, have pragmatic origins in terms of allowing large scale data collection and analysis at reason able cost and effort, as well as providing statistical â€Å"proof†. So this problem of large scale data collection could also be proved unwise in this situation. So this shows a negative opinion about the choice of quantitative methodology for this study. A further weakness of quantitative approaches lies in their tendencies to take a â€Å"snapshot† of a situation, that is to measure variables at a specific moment in time. Acceptance of UK may be affected by temporal changes, such as the current image of the country, or the quality of opposition (like USA, Australia), which cannot always be identified within a single quantitative study.According to Colon, Taylor, and Willis (2000) qualitative research emphasizes â€Å"participant observation† whereas quantitative methods rely on the â€Å"research instrument through which measurements are made† (p. 2). Weiler (2001) adds that if teachers want â€Å"deeper understandings of their students and their lear ning,† they will not be able to achieve this through quantitative research–they will need to be â€Å"intimately involved† in the process (p. 415). Qualitative research would provide this opportunity. As Labuschagne (2003) says, â€Å"qualitative data provide depth and detail through direct quotation and careful description of situations, events, interactions and observed behaviours† (p. 1) or what Jones (1997) describes as â€Å"empathetic understanding† (p. 3). Winter (2000) concurs that while â€Å"quantitative esearch limits itself to what can be measured or quantified,† qualitative research â€Å"attempts to ‘pick up the pieces’ of the unquantifiable, personal, in depth, descriptive and social aspects of the world† (p. 8). So now it looks like the decision for this project should be more inclined toward qualitative approach. 5. 2. 2 Criticism on Selection and Implementation of Qualitative Study (KII and IDI) Qualitati ve research offers insights and understandings of participants, which is unobtainable by quantitative research, but is more than just non-numerical research. It aims to study the subject in their natural surroundings and to collect naturally occurring, non-biased data. It describes in words, rather than numbers, the qualities of the subject through observation.Methods of qualitative research include structured and unstructured interviews, group interviews and focus groups. Qualitative methods can highlight key themes or patterns emerging in the project, are used to comprehend and manage data and used to develop and test hypotheses. Qualitative methods use descriptions and categories. General sequence here is as follows: 1. Observe/ask questions with open-ended answers 2. Record what is said and/or done 3. Interpret 4. Return to observe/ask more questions 5. (recurring cycles of 2-4 iteration) 6. Theorising 7. Draw conclusions Qualitative research designs are associated with interpre tative approaches, from the informants' emic point of view, rather than etically measuring discrete, observable behaviour.Qualitative methodologies are strong in those areas that have been identified as potential weaknesses within the quantitative approach, e. g. the use of interviews and observations to provide a deep, rather than broad, set of knowledge about a particular phenomenon, and the appropriateness to investigate cognitive and affective aspects of students. This depth allows the researcher to achieve â€Å"Verstehen†, or empathetic â€Å"understanding†. The concept of Verstehen is the basis for a critique of quantitative research designs, and their empiricist emphasis. The argument used is that quantitative methods measure human behaviour â€Å"from outside†, without accessing the meanings that individuals give to their measurable behaviour.If, as many authors have suggested, behavior of students contains psychological, as well as sociological dimensi ons, then the emphasis should rather be upon gaining an understanding of how the subjects themselves view their own particular situations. A qualitative research design allows these understandings to be investigated from the informant’s point of view. So the choice of qualitative research is very appropriate here. Both KII and IDI seem appropriate. The only problem that could be marked is the number of qualitative interviews for this particular study; it is about around 200, which is practically most difficult to make possible with effectiveness. Again accumulating such a high number of interview results to make a summary is also so difficult.But answer could be found on the real world practice to satisfy customer needs. 5. 2. 3 Criticism on FGD By focus group discussions, we refer to a group of 4-12 people brought together to participate in the discussion of an area of interest. Trained moderators run the discussions, and records are made of the course of the discussions. Fo cus groups, of course, are a popular (some even think too popular) method in marketing research (Nancarrow, Vir, & Barker, 2005), but they have had a role in serious social science research since the seminal work of R. K. Merton and P. Lazarsfeld (Hollander, 2004; Morgan, 1988). During the past decades, they have established their role in sociology and communications research.In recent years, they have also become increasingly popular in applied fields such as nursing research, urban and community studies, development studies, and educational research (e. g. , Barbour & Kitzinger, 2001; Gibbs, 1997). A distinctive feature of focus groups is that they create research data by generating social interaction. This is done by assembling a group of participants to discuss a specific topic and then observe how the ensuing discussion evolves (Boddy, 2005). The underlying assumption is that meaning is created in social interaction (e. g. , Wilkinson, 2001). Organized and focused group discuss ions provide a context for participants to articulate the meaning of their experiences and elaborate on them in a collective sensemaking process.Of course, focus groups are also used to obtain individual viewpoints; it is typical to instruct discussants that the aim is not to reach consensus, but to explore the different viewpoints that emerge. The method is popular in marketing research because it is a quick and easy way to gain a wealth of perspectives on a novel or relatively unexplored topic (Threlfall, 1999). By observing, recording, and analyzing the interaction in the group, researchers can also gain an understanding of how the participants approach the topic and what kind of language they use to frame the issues. Interaction also allows participants to pose questions to each other and to redefine their own views as the discussion evolves. The result of FGD depends sometimes largely on the skill of the moderator, which is a variable thing.In this study on awareness and accept ance of UK qualifications it may suffer to this problem due to time and budget constraints. 5. 2. 4 A Mixed-Methodology Approach to the Study Although the use of a single methodology has been advocated by a number of authors, many of the supporting arguments are decidedly pragmatic, such as time constraints, the need to limit the scope of a study, and the difficulty of publishing the findings (Creswell,  1994). Here in this study, only time constraint is the factor which could have been considered for a single methodology approach. Denzin and Lincoln (1994) write that â€Å"objective reality can never be captured† (p. 2).To assume that even with binocular vision one can â€Å"have† all the information, or even â€Å"know† what is true is a dangerous positivistic position. The rub between the two methodologies comes when we analyze the assumptions behind each one. These are clearly spelled out in detail by Denzin and Lincoln (1994, pp. 4-6) and can be summarize d as follows. The differences between quantitative and qualitative research is that the first is positivist, limiting, unable to capture the subjects' perspective, abstract, and based on flat descriptions. Qualitative research, the critics claim, tends to be unscientific and based on slipshod methodologies. It's proponents claim that it offers a