Data and Information

DATA| INFORMATION| 123424331911| Your winning lottery ticket number| 140593| Your date of birth| Aaabbbccd| The grades you want in your GCSEs| Data and information Data, information & knowledge Data Data consist of raw facts and figures – it does not have any meaning until it is processed and turned into something useful. It comes in many forms, the main ones being letters, numbers, images, symbols and sound. It is essential that data is available because it is the first step in creating meaningful information.Ex; 123424331911; 140593; aaabbbccd, might not mean anything by themselves, but if it is processed and turned into (the chart below) they turn into something useful. Information Information is data that has been  processed  in such a way as to be  meaningful  to the person who receives it. INFORMATION = DATA + CONTEXT + MEANING INFORMATION = DATA + CONTEXT + MEANING Example of information DATA| 21041926| This has no meaning or context| CONTEXT| It is a British da te| This allows us to register it as 21st April 1926.It still has no meaning and is therefore not information| MEANING| The Birth date of Queen Elizabeth II| This gives usa ll the elements required dor it to be called ‘information’| Knowledge Knowledge is the ability of understanding the relationship between pieces of information and what to actually do with the information. Consider this scenario:  Person puts a finger into very hot water. Data gathered: Finger nerves sends pain data to the brain. Processing:  Brain considers the data and comes up with†¦ Information: Painful finger means it is not in a good place.Action: Brain tells finger to remove itself from hot water. Knowledge: Sticking finger in hot water is a bad idea. Knowledge is having an understanding of the ‘rules’ Types of data Data can be stored in many different formats called ‘data types’. When setting up a database or spreadsheet, it is important that the correct data type is selected for each field. This is because the data type will determine what can be done with the data held in that field e. g. sorting, searching, calculations etc. It also can determine the format in which data is displayed e. g. date/time data type will allow you to pick the format of your choice, 14/05/08, 14 May 2008, 14th May 2008 etc. Finally, some data types are able to automatically validate the data being entered. e. g. : When you use a date/time data type then each date will be automatically checked to ensure that it can actually exist. For example, you would not be able to enter the date 31/02/2008 – it would automatically be rejected or return an error message. Types of data: * Text * Number * Boolean * Date/Time * Image Text A text data type can hold any letter, number, symbol or punctuation mark.It is sometimes referred to as ‘alphanumeric' or ‘string'. The data can be pure text or a combination of text, numbers and symbols. * Name Joe Bloggs * Address 101, Any Street That Town TR34 9RT * Telephone Number 01234 567890 * Car Registration EA05 NXR * Car ColourBlue Telephone numbers need to be stored as a text/string data type because they often begin with a 0 and if they were stored as an integer then the leading zero would be discounted. You are never likely to want to add or multiply telephone numbers so there is no reason to store it as an integer data type. Number A number data type contains numbers.Example: * Weight in Kg12. 25, 19. 99, 199. 99 * Room measurement in metres14. 5 * Temperature (degrees Celsius)37. 5 Types of numbers: * Integers An integer stores whole numbers, either positive or negative. Integers however cannot store numbers with decimal places. * Real Your numerical data might need to be formatted with decimal places. This means it cannot be stored as an integer number. Instead it is known as a  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœreal'  number. You can specify the number of decimal places that you need. * Currency When you choose to format numerical data as currency then it will automatically be given two decimal places.However, you can choose to format currency with 0 dp because in some circumstances it would not be appropriate to display the pence. Think of an estate agent, they might sell a house for ? 295,000. It would look daft displayed as ? 295,000. 00. The currency data type also allows you to display the correct currency symbol such as ? or $. Boolean Boolean data holds one of two values, for example: * Yes/no * True/false * 0/1 A Boolean data type is used to answer questions where there are exactly two options, three options would mean it was no longer boolean data.Examples of questions where the responses would be stored as boolean data: * Has the heating been turned on? | Yes / No| * Are you employed? | Yes / No| Data / Time A date / time data type is used to store any data that is related to date or time. The tricky thing about date / time is that there are so many ways of showing it. And some countries have a different way of representing a date. For example * 9/4/94 in the USA means 4th Sept 94 * 9/4/94 in the UK means 9th April 94 By using a date /time data type, you can choose the format for how you want your data to be automatically displayed.For example: 14/05/08, 14 May 2008, 14th May 2008 etc. Another reason to use a date /time data type is that it can provide some basic validation on the data being entered. For example, you would not be able to enter the date 31/02/2008 – it would automatically be rejected or return an error message. Image Databases allow graphical images such as photographs to be stored as a data type. Images are binary files rather than text or numbers which is why a specific data type is required. Different file types such as . bmp, . jpg, . tiff can be storedQuality of information Things that affect the quality of information Accuracy If the data that you have collected is inaccurate then the information it will produce will inev itably also be inaccurate. Examples of how innacurate data occurs: Questionnaries and surveys * questions might be poorly worded so that users misunderstand them * there may not have been enough people interviewed for any conclusions to be reliable. For example, asking just two people is not likely to be enough Human mistakes * if people are collecting the data manually e. g. ecording answers to questionnaires, writing down instrument measurements, they might make a mistake. Calibration of instruments * if data is being collected automatically by sensors or other instruments then the results could be inaccurate if the instruments were not correctly calibrated at the start of the data collection period Examples of information which would be of little use if it was inaccurate: Weather forecasts Many people check the weather forecast each day so that they can get an idea of what to wear. People have to have faith that the forecast will be reasonably accurate in order to make decisions. Supermarket prices When you go to a shop you probably know how much money you have to spend. You chek the prices of things you are buying on the shelves and will have an idea of how much it will cost by the time you have reached the till. If the peson entering the price details into the system has accidentally overpriced a couple of items, then this could mean that you don’t have enough money to pay for shopping and have to put something back. Businesses Businesses have to keep accurate records of all the money coming in and all of the money being paid out.If the accountants make a mistake and dont accurately entera ll of the money received then it could look like the company has not made as much profit that year. Or they havent recorded all the bills so it seems that the company is making more money tan it really is Relevance In order for information to be useful it must be relevant to you. School You have a great deal of information to learn for each of your exams. Each tim e you go to lessons you probably take a lot of notes and perhaps are given handouts by your teachers to read.What about if your teachers decided to spend a few weeks teaching you about things that particularly interested them? What they had taught you might have been very interesting to both them and you but it isn't relevant to what you needed at the time. You would find that you had spent a few very precious weeks learning about things that you didn't need to know in order to pass your exam. Weather forecasts Whilst it might be interesting to find out what the weather is like in Florida or Melbourne today, it isn't really relevant to your everyday life.It won't help you decide whether you need to take an umbrella with you before you leave home in the UK. Doctor’s appointments You might be feeling unwell and want to make an appointment to see your doctor. You phone up the local surgery to find out when the doctor has a spare appointment time. It wouldn't be very useful or re levant to you if the receptionist told you how many appointment times were available to see the nurse. House prices Perhaps your parents might be thinking of moving house. The first thing they would do would be to speak to an estate agent to find out how much their house was worth.It wouldn't be useful or relevant if the estate agent were to tell them how a similar house in a different part of the country might be worth. Up to date information In order to be useful, information needs to be up to date. In many cases information changes over time and so old or out of date information can be misleading or five you the wrong picture of what is happening. Exams As part of your revision, you have a go at practicing lots of exam questions before the big day and you work your way through the practice papers and model answers that your teacher has given you.However, some of the papers are over five years old. How useful are the model answers for questions such as ‘which storage device would you recommend? ‘ and ‘what is the average size of a hard disk? ‘ It is well known that things move very quickly in the world of ICT and hardware and software changes rapidly. What was a top-notch computer just three years ago is now probably a very low-spec machine. So the model answers are likely to be out-of-date. Holidays Choosing a holiday can be great fun. And you would probably go to the travel agent to get the latest brochures. Why?Well, because if you used last year's brochures the holiday may not even be available any more. And certainly the prices would be different. So you need up-to-date information House prices Your parents are still thinking of selling their house. They need an idea of how much their house is worth right now. It would be no use to them being told by the estate agent how much their house was worth five years ago. Completeness In order for information to be useful it needs to be complete. If part of the information is missing then you will not be able to make use of it or make accurate decisions.Exams Remember those exam papers that you were doing for revision during your study leave? Your teacher wanted you to work your way through them and check your answers against the model answers. What if you were only given the second half of the model answer and the first half was missing? How useful would it be to you? Weather forecast You still want to plan the family picnic for tomorrow. However when you check the weather forecast you are only told what the weather in the morning will be like. There is nothing about the afternoon.You can't really make a decision just based upon what the morning weather is likely to be. Doctor’s appointment Imagine you are feeling ill and you need to make an appointment to see your doctor. How useful would it be if the receptionist just told you that you could have an appointment at quarter past two? Does she mean today, tomorrow or next week? The information in incomplete. Quality of presentation Information which is presented in a disorganised way or in a manner that is hard to understand will be less useful to you Business dataIf you were asked to present some information in a business meeting. It is often better to present it graphically. People find it very hard to spot patterns in a table of data, but the same information presented as a graph makes it very easy. Buying a house Your parents want to buy a new house. It is much easier to pick a house if a photograph was available. Your parents can see instantly if the house would appeal to them and whether they would be interested in finding out more. Once they have decided they like the look of the house they would then want more detailed written information.However, giving them the written information first with no idea of what the house looks like would make it difficult for them to get an idea as to whether they would like it. Too mucho or too litle detail For information to be useful you need t he right amout of detail. There is a risk of having too much detail which makes the information overwhelming and difficult to extract the bits that you want to know about. Or there might not be enough detail in which case you wont understand the full picture. Example: baking a cake Too much detail| Not enough detail|Ingredients Not only telling you that you need fluor, but telling you all of the different brands of fluor and how the choice of each one would affect the rising of your cake| Ingredients Telling you that you need fluor but not the quantity you will need to weigh ouy| MethodTelling you exactly how many times you need to beat the eggs and for exatly how many seconds you need to fold in the fluor| MethodTelling you to mix the ingredients together but not informing you of the correct order in which to combine them| CookingTelling you the exact amount of minutes that the cake should be baked for every type of oven that is currently for sale| CookingTelling you the temperatur a to cook the cake but not how long to leave it in the oven for| Coding of data When you are designing a database system to hold data, one of the first decisions that you will need to make is about how the data will be collected and stored. You already know the term GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out).If you collect data and enter it into the system without careful consideration at the planning stage then the output from your system will be of little use. One of the things that you can consider is to code some or all of your data in order to improve the efficiency of your system. What is coding of data? Any system will need to have data collected, entered and stored. One method of storing data is to assign codes to it. This usually means shortening the original data in an agreed manner. The agreement is between the users of the system. This coding scheme could be part of the training of how to use the system, and it could also be documented within the system for new users.If the coding is completely obvious then there is no such need for formal documentation. For example if a field called ‘Gender' has only two values ‘M' and ‘F'. It should be obvious from the field name that this refers to Male and Female. Example 1 Original data: Monday; Tuesday; Wednesday; Thursday; Friday Coded data: Mon; Tues; Wed; Thurs; Fri Example 2 Original data: Xtra Large; Large; Medium; Small Coded data: XL; L; M; S Example 3 The above codes are fairly easy for anyone to recognise and understand. Some codes however are more complicated. What do you think the following codes might represent? RG935LR CV183TP The above examples could be postcodes.They represent a street name, a particular part of the street and the town where the street is located. Example 4 How about: SK12BN TR14GN These might be a little bit more difficult because the code is made up from different representative parts. Let's have a closer look. The first part represents a piece of clothing, so ‘SK' represented ‘Skirt' and ‘TR' represented ‘Trousers' The middle part of the code was the dress size. The final part of the code represented a colour, so ‘BN' represented ‘Brown' and ‘GN' represented ‘Green'. You should be able to see from that information that the first code is a size 12 brown skirt. What piece of clothing would the second code represent? Why might we want to code data?Much of the data that we collected and enter into our systems has some degree of repetition. Speeding up data entry Let's take the example of collecting data about a person's gender. People can be either ‘Male' or ‘Female'. Whilst these two options are easily understood by all, imagine having to enter the word ‘Male' and ‘Female' into a system many hundreds of times instead. It is a waste of time and effort because no extra information is contained in the full words compared to a single letter. Increase accuracy of data entry The other issue is that no matter how accurate a person is at data entry, at some stage they are likely to make a mistake and might spell ‘Male' as ‘Mail' or ‘Female' as ‘Femal'.This type of mistake will make any results from your database queries unreliable. Instead of entering ‘Male' or ‘Female' you could code the data and instead enter it as ‘M' or ‘F'. Simply having to enter one letter instead of a possible six will speed up data entry. It will also cut down on the risk of mistakes being made with spelling. Use of validation In our example, the words ‘Male' or ‘Female' have been coded so that they become ‘M' or ‘F'. When data has been coded it makes it easier to use validation to check if the data entered is sensible. With the example above, the person entering the data could still make a mistake and enter ‘S' instead of ‘M' or ‘F'.But if you set up validation so that the field will only accept the l etters ‘M' or ‘F' and absolutely nothing else then that should further cut down on possible mistakes. Note that validation can only check if the data is sensible and within reasonable limits, it cannot check whether the data is accurate. Somebody could still enter ‘F' instead of ‘M'. Less storage space required Every letter that you store in your database system will take at least one byte of storage. If you store ‘Female' as ‘F' then you will save five bytes of storage space. If the system belongs to a large organisation, there might be many thousands or millions of records stored – simply by coding one field, a huge amount of hard disk storage can be saved. Faster searching for dataIt stands to reason that the smaller the size of your database, the faster it will be to search and produce results. Thus by coding data and keeping the size of the system to a minimum the more time you can save in the long run when running queries. Coding exam ples In our everyday lives we come across many examples of how coding is used to represent data. Here are just a few more ideas: Country names The name of a country can be represented by two letters. For example: Great Britain – GB France – FR Canada – CA Problems caused by coding data Whilst coding data can bring many benefits it can also lead to some problems. Coarsening of data This means that during the coding process some of the subtle details in the data are lost. Look at the image below:

Causes of Corruption Essay

Many officials are motivated to participate in corrupt behavior because of the inherently selfish desire to have an unfair advantage over their peers. Through bribery, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and other means, corruption can help dishonest people get ahead while the public pays the price. A corrupted politician may seek to sway a person’s opinions, actions, or decisions, reduce fees collected, speed up government grants, or change outcomes of legal processes. Through corruption, people seeking an unfair advantage may pay courts to vote in their favor or, as with police, customs units, and tax collectors, to disregard a penalty. Bribery may be paid to allow for otherwise unacceptable building and zoning permits, to sway school exam results or allow acceptance by an unqualified student into a school system. People in the private sector may pay off politicians so that they dismiss rules and regulations to protect employees in the workforce. Corruption motivated by an   unfair advantage may also occur in immigration, passport and visa offices in which unqualified individuals may be allowed an unfair advantage to obtain these important documents, at the expense of others. In order to obtain an unfair advantage, governments and government officials may apply any number of methods to abuse their power over the citizens. First, a politician may apply diplomatic, political, or financial pressure, for example trade embargoes. However such pressures may also work to effectively bully vulnerable citizens. Also, many countries are the recipients of development aid, which might cause politicians who seek an unfair advantage to earmark this funding towards their particular cause. The threat of reduced foreign aid, defense ties, arm deals, and gifts may help politicians to obtain an unfair advantage through corruption. Lack of Punitive Measures Thomas Hobbes, the great political philosopher, once said, â€Å"A man’s conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.† This idea that individuals cannot always rely on a working inner moral compass alone to guide them to virtue is at the heart of the next motivating factor for participating in corrupt behavior. When the legal agencies do not impose sanctions on parliamentarians and other government officials who have violated their public duties there is a lack of punitive measure for corrupt behavior. This is the case, for example when judges are in the pay of the ruling party or there are too few police officers to enforce the law. When there are not punitive measures to assure transparency, monitoring, and accountability through a working justice system, some people will participate in corrupt behavior simply because they can get away with it. Politicians and other individuals require a legal, monitoring system to assure that corruption will not occur in the planning and execution of public sector budgets. Social and internal control mechanisms are required for civil society and autonomous state auditing agencies. Without them or with only weak enforcement measures, people in power are more  likely to embezzle money from the national budget, sway votes or participate in other actions that will result in personal gain at the public’s expense. Lack of Transparency Transparency describes when there is free access by citizens to public information. When the rules, procedures, and objectives of the government are not available to the public, there is not budgetary and administrative oversight to balance the power of government officials, transparency is lacking and corruption can be bred. Without oversight and transparency of budget and rules, national resources may be plundered and power may be abused in favor of the corrupt official only. Further, when there are not public sector mechanisms that channel social preferences and specific complaints of the population to the agencies involved in those complaints, people of power will not serve their purpose of representing the populace, but have free reign to do as they please in the public sector. Lack of transparency creates opportunities for public officials to abuse their office for private gain. This closely relates to accountability, and weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption. Where there is a lack of transparency and accountability corruption will flourish. Once corrupt bureaucrats realize that they can take advantage of regulations, they will produce more regulations and run the risk of becoming less transparent. Poor Incentive Structures Bad incentives, such as clerks not earning a living wage or not having job security might also encourage corrupt behavior such as supplementing income with bribes. Some people who do not have an incentive to perform their official duties, but actually pay for their jobs with the understanding that they will make money through bribes. A lack of incentive also results when positions of power are granted as a result of favoritism and nepotism (See unit 1). Making people resist hard work. Incentives also come into the picture when salaries are so low that people cannot meet the basic living standards for food  and housing. As a result, people will often  take other jobs that cause absenteeism of  public officials, and often increase the  demand by government officials for bribes  and other paybacks in order to supply the  public  services. Problems with the law: Lawless and Over Regulated Governments Corruption can also be caused when there is excessive control and a sort of monopoly of power. In these circumstances, there again is not a level playing field, and decisions will always be made at the advantage of the group or person who dominates political control. As a result, ordinary citizen rights are lost and public resources are often plundered for the personal gain of the public officials. Poverty or scarcity of goods may also push people to live outside the law. Finally, corruption occurs when government officials resist government policies and programs. Introducing policies that allow for greater oversight would help to assure that power were balanced and no one person would be making all of the political decisions. When politicians resist this change they prevent political and cultural progress for their country, prohibit civic interests from being met, and allow the pattern of corruption to flourish. Dysfunctional Systems as a Cause for Corruption Instability in government may also catapult a nation and its leaders towards corruption. Among them, war, ethnic or religious conflict, economic hardship, and social inequalities may instigate corruption. Any circumstance that threatens a nation or its people either through identity or establishment may diminish the good governance practices of a nation. Even in less difficult times, the institutions and policies of government may undermine how well the government carries out its work. When institutions and policies are weak, individuals tend to take advantage of them. Therefore, poor governments are a product of sick institutions, or institutions that function poorly because of inadequate resources or bad  policies and procedures. As stated earlier, good governance refers to the provision of services that are responsive to citizen needs. When government services are not provided to citizens, either because they were deemed unnecessary, services providers demanded bribes or were lazy, or the services are provided in theory but are not readily available in practice without a bribe, people will aim to have their needs met illegally or unofficially. Likewise, when financial systems are outdated, they are more corruptible. System-Wide Allowances for Corrupt Behavior: Government may allow system wide corruption to spread by not institutionalizing and enforcing prevention mechanisms. For example: Overly complex procedures for obtaining public services allow government to covet the services to only the well-informed or well-connected elite, and not allowing the system to work for the poor. Lack of internal systems to assure relative transparency, monitoring and accountability in the design and execution of public policies. Lack of social control mechanisms aimed at preventing grand corruption schemes usually seen when the state’s policies are captured by vested interests. Lack of employee participation in and knowledge of the public institution’s decisionmaking criteria. Absence of results based management in public service delivery. An ineffective judicial sector (police, prosecutors, officers, and the judiciary.) Conclusion Problems in governance occur when a government is not only corrupt, but also when it is inefficient, unresponsive, or secretive. Essentially, when a government is ineffectual, it is considered to be corrupt. As this unit explained, corruption is fundamentally caused by low wages, poor incentive structures and inefficient systems. In addition, it is also caused by the desire for an unfair advantage, and the knowledge that one will not be caught or punished for corrupt behavior. Corruption is not just about ethics. It is also about how the government is set up and managed. Parliament and parliamentarians improve the way government works so that corrupt behavior is punishable and opportunities for corruption are limited through the laws. In order to fully rectify corruption in a society, it must first be thoroughly diagnosed. Unit three shows methods for diagnosing, measuring, and interpreting data on corruption. As the units thereafter will explain, this step will help to make focused and measurable changes and improvements to corruption when those mechanisms are enacted.

Cause and effect: gambling Essay

Throughout life we take chances with many different things. We take chances for ourselves, and we take chances for others close to us. Chances are things which will give you so much good in your life if you go for the right things and succeed when taking the chance. As is everything in this life taking chances are all and only good within moderation. When you take yourself to an abusive level with anything it becomes dangerous for you and all who surround you. An unsuccessful gambler may carry the same attributes of a very greedy person. A greedy person is someone who always wants more, and in essence a person gambling is looking to get more then they have. Gambling is considered to be addictive for many people, and depending on the degree of your addiction it can affect your life in more places then just your wallet. People engage in gambling through its ever-present incentive. The incentive in gambling is most commonly a financial reward, but it may also be many other different things. The mind of a person is hopefully set to learn from mistakes, and this is the mindset of many gamblers, these are successful gamblers. The reason they are successful is because they are able to establish what the problem was in their loss. After establishing their problem they learn to not repeat their fault. Next, when the mind set of a person is not gauged to learn from their mistakes, but only learn through extreme measures is when gambling becomes a larger problem. A gambler can be successful and not greedy, but a bad gambler is made through greed. If the gambler does not want to lose anymore or accepts his winnings they become unsuccessful. Greed is one of the seven deadliest sins, andn it is so fitting indeed. When a good gambler suffers from losing he or she turns around and puts their loss aside and does not let it intertwine with any aspect of their life other then gambling. When an inexperienced or unsuccessful gambler loses, the loss effects more then just the gambling aspect of their life. The unsuccessful gambler will turn to things of more negativity. The reason the gambler turns to these things is to ease their mind and hide their feelings. This way of coping with losing could ultimately result into hurting financially, as well as emotionally, and even physically. The first problem the gambler will face will be financial loss. The first thing to go in gambling is your wallet, and unfortunately one of the most commonly related problems to depression is debt. Losing money will affect the mindset of the gambler causing possible depression. This is when the problem reaches the emotional aspect it may take. The chain of events continues from depression on ward to abuse among substances, most commonly drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol are substances made to relax the mind and take them away from the reality of things. The reality of the situation is that all drugs and alcohol will do is further affect the gambler financially as well as emotionally, and physically. When abuse of alcohol and drugs is brought to the home life of someone all it brings is deceit and ultimately pain. If the gambler has a family life the habits of drugs and alcohol will be tried to be concealed by the user to not hurt anyone else, and ultimately the truth surfaces taking an even bigger toll on the gambler. The abuse of alcohol and drugs is also closely related to physical abuse. Being intoxicated on drugs and alcohol can in fact lead to abusing close friends or family. It is most likely never said, but gambling can lead a person to rehabilitation. It is somewhat ironic that a hobby usually carried by wealthy, or well off people with strong mentalities can lead to complete collapse and weakness. This chain of events the gambler goes through can have almost a ruining effect on their life. Gambling is caused by the mentality of a risk taker or someone who enjoys taking chances wanting more then they have. Taking chances is not a bad thing by any means. It only becomes bad when it is abused. The effects of abusing gambling are never ending. Abusing gambling can lead to many extremes of negativity. It is up to the mind of the gambler to know when it is time to stop, or if it is not risking too much by continuing on.

Where's My Hand and The Weak Leg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Where's My Hand and The Weak Leg - Essay Example The doctors settled on gluco-corticoids to ease inflammation and edema. Robert never got an administration of tPA because the treatment worsens hemorrhage. This revealed that Robert’s CVA stemmed from his hypertension disorder, whereby it weakened blood arteries that later ruptured and culminated to a hemorrhage (Monks, 2003). The first CVA encounter interfered with Robert’s left-brain, evidenced by an inability to speak. In addition, the hemorrhage also impaired adjacent motor neurons present in the right side, thereby causing left flaccidity. Flaccidity meant that his left side lacked turgidity, thereby appearing saggy or demonstrating a deficit in muscle tone. However, this flaccidity usually never stays for long but rather vanishes within sometime despite having mobility problems. The immediate efforts accompanying Robert’s medication would be engaging him in rehabilitation. The team in the rehabilitation would entail the motive of evading inactivity that triggers muscle contractures and fixation inabilities or paralysis in acute conditions (A.D.A.M., 2011). A physical therapist would aid in regaining motion abilities that constitute of balancing and coordination among others. The physical therapist will aid prevent contractures in Robert via such activities like stretching alongside splinting. Secondly, he will help him regain alignment by engaging him in using such appliances as braces meant for support in the arms together with tennis shoes to evade foot drops. Thirdly, he may also engage Robert in sitting exercises to strengthen muscles in the trunk. An occupational therapist serves obligatory in ascertaining that Robert gains independence. For instance, he would assist in things like hygiene together with easy motion practices. A speech pathologis t ascertains that he regains his talking achieved through tongue strengthening (A.D.A.M., 2011). He would also aid Robert in restoring any cognitive disorders experienced, which include

Compare Financial alternatives for major purchases Speech or Presentation

Compare Financial alternatives for major purchases - Speech or Presentation Example the currently commercially available technologies (Americanrivers, 2011).The construction of dams also allow for the creation of many opportunities for water sports, the construction of campsites, hiking and biking trails as well as hotels, lodges, and many other businesses around the lakeshore. The increase in tourism in the area along with all the improvements in infrastructure around the area will help develop the local economy and benefit all surrounding communities. The subject of dam construction has been a hotly debated issue especially since the 1960’s when the environmental impact of dam construction started to be considered and analyzed. To start with constructing a new dam is an incredibly expensive and complex undertaking, usually with total project costs running into the billions and taking numerous years to complete (Pottinger, 1996). When a dam is constructed in a river system the whole balance of the ecosystem upstream and downstream of the newly constructed dam will be negatively affected or even completely destroyed as a direct consequence of disrupting the natural seasonal flow of the river system. Prior to the construction of the dam, the river has a natural flow that responds to the seasonal changes and brings a constant flow of debris and sedimentation that helps bring food and nutrients for all the natural wildlife living in the river system. After a dam is constructed the flow of the water is artificially limited and c ontrolled so the flow is usually constant and very restricted and only increased to decrease water levels or increase power production and does not correlate natural seasonal fluctuations. Furthermore all the sedimentation and the necessary food and nutrients carried with it will now be deposited in the impoundment upstream of the dam, destroying the ecosystem and killing most of the natural wildlife downstream. The evaporation rate of the river system will be significantly higher because of the vastly greater surface area

Chicano studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Chicano studies - Essay Example It is because political power is gained by having good number of followers. In addition, the voting pattern in the USA was more along the tribal lines thus making the Chicano people unlucky when it comes to national resource allocation. Having a political representative would have helped the Chicanos to develop within their area. Illiteracy was also another factor that significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of the Chicano people in Mexico. It is because they did not have the skills and experience on how to foster their individual development ideas that would help them to prosper to be in par with other communities. Moreover, they suffered because of discrimination from other communities who did not give them room to share or exchange ideas. Lack of adequate resources to the Chicano people made them remain behind in development sector. Lack of technological empowerment is also another area that contributed to the underdevelopment of the Chicanos. At the heart issues, dealing with presentation is the human urge to put things into category things, even other humans. One needed to be black or white, male or female, being an American or a citizen from whichever the country, to able to receive fair treatment in the society. The US racial groups were made up of black, white, indigenous, Asian and other. This meant that there was nowhere the Chicanos could fit in these races. The Us government termed them as Hispanics but was not well received by Latinos since it was not inclusive of everybody and they felt it was just top down ethnic identity. The Chicanos did not want to be identified by these dualisms, which was their biggest problem. In turn, the way that Chicanos represent themselves in a daily life did not correspond to the experience of other groups. Thus, it often results to portrayals that are inaccurate when that particular group does not have control of the way that exhibit those

New American Vision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

New American Vision - Essay Example For many modern day individuals, those of whom will have grown accustomed to the present state of the market and the working world, it can become quite easy to forget the earlier days of how things such as cars and utilitarian items, would have been produced. A classic example of the evolution of production, would have been the assembly line perfected by automaker Henry Ford. Due to his creative thinking, American consumers were able to possess the opportunity to have an automobile at the fraction of the time it would have taken prior. In this case, "The Industrial Revolution was a transformation of human life circumstances that occurred in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (roughly 1760 to 1840) in Britain, the United States, and Western Europe due in large measure to advances in the technologies of industry," ("Industrial Revolution", p.1). It would be this revolution, that would lead to changes in production measures that would result in a shift in the modern work force. Where previously the workforce had been predominately individuals themselves, it would now become a scenario in which machines would be able to alleviate a level of the strain, so that it would be a mixture of man and machine. American families would be impacted by such changes in the workforce. Mainly in such areas as, the ability for the heads of the household to be at home more, rather than spending the vast majority of their time at work. This would give way to the stronger sense of the modern American family. The family that would be able to eat meals together and also interact with each other on levels previously not had, had it not been for the adjustments made to the workplace in conjunction with the boom of the technological advancement age. From a business standpoint, it would enable business owners to lower wage costs by having fewer employees on the floor at the same time. Such cost savings would in turn, be able to be transferred to the customers of their products, in the form of decreases in the cost of products purchased. Further assessing the automotive aspect of the revolution, "For American automobile workers, one relatively constant feature of their daily factory lives was this simplified, monotonous, and degraded work. Although work tasks, work situations, and work routines varied considerably from automobile firm to automobile firm and from one shop or department to another, the work tasks of assembly line workers were the simplest, most boring, and most degrading," (Meyer, p.1). For those individuals that sought to achieve the basic needs of life as they saw them, the advancements in the production line, courtesy of the increases in industrialization, would seem as a saving graces of sorts. The opportunity to have work environments that were simple. Many who were a part of the workforce, worked in factories that resided in their respective towns. " As in Britain, the United States originally used water power to run its factories, with the consequence that industrialization was essentially limited to New England and the rest of the Northeastern United States, where fast-moving rivers were located," ("Industrial Revolution", p.19). With such limited presence in the modern world, the ability of transferring created goods to a broader grouping of people, would prove to be quite difficult. The vision of a modern America, would be hindered in that, at this point, only a

Forensics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Forensics - Essay Example From a humble beginning during the 19th Century without much data support to prove its credibility and usefulness, it has now evolved as an empirical and objective science on its own merits and rights. Over the years, it was discovered, perhaps by accident, way back in 1868, by a Swiss biologist called Friedrich Meischer when he was differentiating nucleus properties in pus cells. Since then, DNA profiling has come a long way and has been used to provide due judicial process of justice in many criminal and non criminal cases. Alec Jeffreys and colleagues researching DNA fingerprinting at the University of Leicester arrived at certain startling facts (at that period of history) regarding the fact that â€Å"individual differences in based on repeat sequences in DNA.† Do occur that could help in criminal investigation. (Johnson & Williams, 2006). Further it was also seen that â€Å"The possibility of deriving DNA from the ‘abandoned property’ of criminal suspects left at crime scene generated huge interest amongst police investigators.† and could even assist result in cracking major criminal cases, where the perpetrators could remain at large due to lack of incriminating evidence against them. (Johnson & Williams, 2006, para.18). Since then, there have been many improvements in determining the speed, efficacy and conclusiveness of DNA profiling and its impact upon society as a composite and complete science. Over time dedicated DNA Scientific Research Centers have also been operationalised to aid and abet solving of social and criminal issues through the deployment of DNA profiling. These efforts have also met with a reasonable degree of success such that DNA fingerprinting has now come to represent a major scientific and anti-criminal breakthrough in recent times. DNA tests have also proved conclusive evidence in absolving innocent suspects who were languishing in jail accused on

Case study - Complex fluid and electrolyte balance Essay

Case study - Complex fluid and electrolyte balance - Essay Example The symptoms vary from one person to another depending with the underlying cause and they include; fatigue, edema, fluid accumulation, nausea, loss of appetite and weight, abdominal pain, etc. There are several other conditions that are associated with congestive heart failure (Jeffrey & Barry, 2007). Congestive heart failure is diagnosed clinically based on the patients’ medical history. This is important because it could disclose the existence of some of the symptoms or even associated diseases. A physical examination on breath sounds, swelling of the legs or neck is done to determine the presence of excessive body fluid, pulse rate and heart size are also recommended physical exams (Sosin, Bhatia, Lip, & Davies, 2006). Diagnostic tests such as areechocardiogramam (used to show the heart image), and chest X-rays electrocardiogram aare done so as to detect any previous attacks, arrhythmia to show fluid accumulation and heart enlargement (Plantz & Adler, 2002). This condition can be treated through the use of analgesics, inotropic, nitrates, and diuretics. These medications are used to alleviate the symptoms associated with the disease. The ultimate treatment could be a heart transplant which is very risky or a surgery depending on the underlying cause. (Yancy & Firth, 198 8) This is a viral or bacterial airway infection that affects the lungs. Its main symptoms include a hefty cough that comes with, difficulty in breathing, pain in the chest, and thick mucus. Mr. B has all these symptoms and his chest has to be monitored because it could lead to a heart attack. The shortness of breath is brought about by fluid accumulation in the lungs and its surroundings. Chest infections can be life threatening or mild, it is worse when one has a congestive heart failure disease (Choi, Ryter, & Levine, 2013). Mr. B is suffering from sleep apnoea-hypopnoea (snore) as indicated by the breath sounds. It is a disorder mostly associated with

Communication issues Essay Example for Free

Communication issues Essay There are a number of brands that offered good products but they failed miserably because they were not able to sell enough of their products or services. Too often we see that so many promising airlines close because they wer not able to sell enough tickets and control costs and so on. The thing is that marketing and indeed branding is dependent on the way customers perceive a particular product. It is therefore critical for companies to ensure firstly that the right message is sent to the customers and secondly at the end of it all the message does reach without too much noise and disturbances. There are hundreds of thousands of brands that are being advertised on television and print media and therefore it is so important that companies are precise with their message such that the message is across to the customers and they retain it from an option of virtually an infinite list of brands. This is precisely why we have stressed the need to brand products in such a way that only one main distinguishing factor is higlighted in the promotional campaign. This is extremely crucial because it allows customers to easily understand and retain the message of the company’s brand. Another thing that is related to this concept is the use of appropriate media while sending the message to the customers. Certain time slots in the television medium are expensive compared to others because of the viewership and other factors; these are the things that campaign managers must identify and address. Target audience must be the ones who should watch the adverts atleast otherwise the whole cost could go to waste. What we have discussed in the communication issues heading is that firms need to address certain brand specific issues to avoid mal-function of the whole advertising campaign. Without enough ammunition that is directed at the right target market firms will end up with a disadvantaged cost benefit analysis. Advertisement campaigns must fulfill their key goal that is getting the desired message to the right audience group. Conclusion It is of critical importance that the right message is first identified and then send to the customer using which ever media that best suits the audiences. It might sound a difficult task but many small and large companies have been able to establish powerful brand names across the globe. Some of the most important things that we think are crucial to success of a brand campaign include adequate market research; without adequate market research and analysis it is very difficult to know what the customers think and which places do they look at when they want to buy new clothing lines. Another important factor is the way the brand distinguishes itself from other similar brands; this can be done through originality of the thought process and getting the basic original idea of the product to the customers. Secondly the pricing and packaging of the product must be according to the image that has been portrayed through advertisements and other campaigns. There is also a case for companies to target market costumers through placing the product just at the right place. This not only increases credibility but it also strenghtens the market position of the brand and the company. We must also understand that sometimes its important to factor in the initial response of the crowd about the product this attitude of constant improvement can help the company keep its brands healthy and robust. It is of critical importance for firms to avoid disturbances that might impede the message that they want their customers to receive. An important step is to first clean out and simplify the message and secondly look to develop a platform which attracts attention. For instance television adverts of Vodafone are so well choreographed that they attract the customers attention and then they tell the message in stories and other forms. This is a very good strategy to avoid any noise and disturbance from other advertisements that might be playing side by side. The Vodafone television advertisement campaign is a prime example of how firms can make an impression in the minds of the consumer for a long lasting time. Ultimately it’s the costumer base that will determine the result of the branding drive and whether it would be successful or not. The brand must be focused on a particular strength and acceptable demand of the costumers. Bibliography: Bud, Richard, 2003. Interdisciplinary approaches to human communication. Transaction Publishers. OPCUK, n. d. Examples of internal communication approaches, viewed February 6, 2010 http://www. opcuk. com/downloads/examples_of_internal_communication_approaches. pdf Branding Strategy Insider, 2010. Why a Branding Strategy Blog? Viewed February 9, 2010 http://www. brandingstrategyinsider. com/ Brand Identity Guru, n. d. Brand Strategy, viewed February 8, 2010 http://www. brandidentityguru. com/brand_strategy.htm About. com, 2010. Developing Your Brand Strategy, viewed February 8, 2010 http://marketing. about. com/od/brandstrategy/tp/brandstrategydev. htm Gelder, Sicco, 2005. Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential Across Countries, Cultures and Markets. Kogan PageLimited Keller, Lewi, Keller, 2008 Strategic brand management: building, measuring and managing. Mission Statements. com, n. d. Fortune 500, viewed February 7, 2010 http://www. missionstatements. com/fortune_500_mission_statements. html.

New and Social Media for Public Relations Strategies

New and Social Media for Public Relations Strategies INTRODUCTION The topic of the dissertation deals with the research into the use of progressively emerging technology of new media, as a tool, by the public relation practitioners. The focus is mainly on the adoption of various new media tools, by practitioners, for practicing public relation activities. There’s a huge market for new media and, if used properly, it can be a great tool to maintain effective relations by the organization and in projecting a very positive image of the organization. New media not only allows public relations practitioners to reach out to and engage their publics in conversation, but also provides an avenue to strengthen media relations..New Media is emerging as an important public relations tool and empowers two way symmetrical communications with publics and stakeholders. PR professionals are confronted with the swift rise of social media that forces practitioners to pay due and timely attention. They are not only excited about utilizing these tools together w ith conventional media, but are also excited about speaking directly to their publics and stakeholders without the involvement of any intermediaries. The current study examines the use of new media as a tool for public relation practitioners. With the advent of improved and fast way of accessing information, people have changed their ways to get information. Observing this changing trend, PR professionals have also started using New Media to play their role effectively. It has reduced the need of third party influencer, like media, to communicate with the public. New Media facilitates PR professionals to interact directly with their organization’s public, specifically consumers. The focus of study is to know about the new media tools being used by practitioners and their opinion about its use, whether they blend the new media tools with traditional tools to perform various activities of public relations, the advantages and challenges they are facing using New Media for Public Relations in chandigarh. This is a cross sectional descriptive survey done by interviewing Public Relation practitioners working in chandigarh. PUBLIC RELATIONS: In the early 1900s, Ivy Lee  and  Edward Louis Bernays  came up with the first definition of PR: a management function, which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures, and interests of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. Dr. Rej F Harlow, a PR scholar and practitioner, undertook the task of compiling published PR definitions. Analyzing 472 definitions ,he put forward a working definition, that says : â€Å"Public Relation is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics ; involves the management of problems or issues ; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion ; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest ; helps management keep abreast of effectively utilizing change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication as its principal tools.† PUBLIC RELATION ACTIVITIES: Publicity: It involves disseminating information through selected media with the motive of gaining public attention, without paying to the media. Promotion: It attempts to gain the support for a person, product, organization or an idea. It helps consumers know about the product, the price, or the place. Issues/Crisis management: It has a proactive nature of identifying issues that can likely concern to an organization and, thus, involves development of a response mechanism to manage such unanticipated situations. Community relations: By maintaining good relationships with members of the community, more customers can be attracted through word-of-mouth and also generates customer loyalty. Media relations: It involves circulating messages through media and to keep a watch on how the product / organization’s image is being portrayed by the media. Developing good relationships with media persons is an important activity in the PR process. Event management: It involves planning activities or events which will attract media attention to a person, product, organization or an idea. Employee relations: It involves building work culture and team relationships among the employees by sharing information, promoting involvement and inculcating a sense of pride in business achievement. It helps in improving teamwork, staff retention and productivity. Advertising It is a paid form of presentation and communication from an identified sponsor. Businesses use advertising to promote their product, while non-profit organizations use ads to raise awareness or encourage a change in behavior. Lobbying: It involves a professional attempt to bring about a change to a government policy, corporate policy, or public opinion that is favorable towards the organization, cause or group. During political campaigns, in order to affect public opinion, parties may engage PR firms as lobbyists. TRADITIONAL TOOLS USED IN PUBLIC RELATIONS: Publicity Media: Press: A Public relation person acts as the voice of the organization and provides information about the activities of the organization, its policies and programmers to the public through the press. Various ways in which information can be provided to the press are: Press Releases: It is written information of timely nature, about the policies and activities of an organization that is sent to all news media by an organization. Editorials/Articles /Features: A public relations person, have to maintain good relationship with the media and should have effective persuasive skills, in order to provide background material to suggest subjects for editorials. Television: Due to great scope of television as a publicity medium, it is a highly effective tool for Public Relations. Radio: Radio can be effectively used in Public Relation as it covers more than 90% of the Indian population. Films/Videos/Documentaries: It can be used for both the internal or external public to train and motivate employees and educate consumers. Oral Communication: It is majorly use for internal public, such as employees, to provide them training or information about the organization’s policies. Various ways to perform Oral Communication are: Meetings: It is a formally arranged gathering of two or more persons, to serve some purpose. Speeches: Formal speeches are the fastest way of conveying information.The public relations department is involved in research, speech writing and training of speakers. Other ways for oral communication can be telephones calls, public address system, panel discussion, counseling etc. Printed Literature: Publicity literature helps organization to promote its products, services or activities.These can take various forms. House Journal: It is an organization’s publication that caters its internal public and external ‘public’. Its objective is to create an environment for exchange of thoughts on various issues concerning an organization and its employees. Annual Reports: It can serve as prestige publication to attract prospective investors. Brochures: It usually covers information on a specific subject and is used for various purposes such as explaining a new programme, to ask for donations.’Take home or mail-out brochures make consumers cognitively connected to the organization and its products and services. Other forms of Printed Literature can be catalogues, booklets, leaflets. Miscellaneous Communication Tools: Stickers, posters, labels, Racks or bins, window display, Packaging, gifts like calendars, diaries, pens, key chains. Direct mail: (Newsletters.): Regular newsletters providing relevant information about the organization or/and its products/services can fortify relations with customers. Advertorials: Advertisements in the form of news stories allow to associate advertising with the credibility of the newspaper. Press Conferences: It involves calling media representatives together at a place to disseminate newsworthy information regarding the organization. Media Previews: When introducing a new product or organizing new plants and facilities ,the day before the official public showing, the media is given a preview ; company officials welcome media persons and answer their queries. PressTours: It involves transporting a press party a long distance. Press officials are invited individually to witness a landmark achievement, the commissioning of a project or a crisis situation .The Public relation officer briefs them time to time and give background information during press tour. Media-Management Luncheons: Luncheons are arranged in which media representatives have an opportunity to meet management, to hear about new corporate developments and to inspect facilities. Clip Sheets: News stories and illustrations are reproduced in newspaper format to show news editors how stories and pictures will appear in print, are distributed by PR department to editors of daily and weekly newspapers. Press kits: It contains mimeographed news releases, photographs, biographies, and background material that are prepared by PR departments and distributed to the media at special events. Publicity Distribution Services: It provides production and low cost distribution of news and pictures to editors and news writers of business magazines, newspapers and radio and television stations. Exhibitions: It helps to get the instant feedback of the consumers so that their doubts can be clarified and, thus, build customer’s confidence. Special Events: Its aim is to publicize about the organization and its products in such a way that it attracts the attention of media so that it gets the best coverage possible. Outdoor Media: PR professionals use it for disseminating information about their organization’s policies and programmes. Attendance at public events: Presence at Public Events is valuable promotional opportunities. It gives an added advantage over competitors. It gives the opportunity to directly reach the public. NEW MEDIA: The term ‘New Media’ originated in 21stCentury. It accounts for everything related to digital communication technologies, that is, related to computer or any mobile device connected to internet is the necessary requirement for new media. Its key feature is Interactivity. In context of Public Relations, the term ‘new media can be aptly called as Social media as being social is all about building and maintaining relationships. But considering the larger context social media is a subset of new media. Still sometimes these two terms are used interchangeably. In terms of Public Relations, New media tools can help in following ways: Connectpeople with information and services. Collaboratewith internal and external Createnew content, services, and channels of communication that help you deliver information and services. DEFINITIONS OF NEW MEDIA: According to Oxford dictionary: New Media is a means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the Internet. As defined by Webopedia, new media is: A generic term for the many different forms of electronic communication that are made possible through the use of computer technology. The term is in relation to old media forms, such as print newspapers and magazines that are static representations of text and graphics. DIFFERENT FORMS OF NEW MEDIA: Web sites: A location on the World Wide Web that contains a home page and is owned and managed by an individual, company or organization. Online Newsroom: An  online newsroom  (also known as a  press room,  media room,  press center  or  media center) is a website that contains information about a corporation or organization. The online newsroom was initially created for corporate communicators and  public relations  firms to target traditional  media  outlets, fundamentally newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television stations. Electronic mail: Most commonly referred to asemailore-mailsinceca.1993,it is used for exchanging digital messages. Online communities: Group of people with similar goals or interests connect and exchange information using web tools. Virtual Reality Worlds: A three-dimensional environment is simulated on the computers monitor screen. It allows and its users to interact via graphical avatar representations of themselves. Video sharing: Allow you to upload and share online videos Webcasts: Internet-based communication tools used to broadcast live or recorded audio and/or video over the internet so that information could be delivered to a broad audience and, in this case, audiences are also connected with each other. It can be either one-way presentation or an interactive session Webinars: Internet-based typically one way communication tool that can be understood as a specific type of web conference. It involves online polling and question -answer sessions. It can be recorded in order to benefit those who were not able to attend the scheduled time. Web conferences: Internet-based communication tools used to conduct live meetings or presentations over the internet. Widgets: A web widget is a small application that you can embed in a social network site, blog, or website to share content. RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds: To receive updates without browsing sites for the latest information, RSS feeds are used. These can be used to share information from the organization to the readers. It gets the user subscribed to a particular website. Video and computer games: It provides high level involvement to the user. These could be single or multi player games .They may or may not be online. Podcasting: Podcasts are free audio or video files that can be listened to or watched on the computer or mobile device. It can be an easy and inexpensive way to provide information to your target audience(s). Blogs Vlogs: A website with periodical updates (posts) that include text, graphics, videos and hyperlinks. Usually informal in style, blogs allows their readers to leave comments. Wiki: An online resource that covers information on almost all the general topics. Web advertising: Internet advertising, such as banners, pay-per-click ads, pay-per-call ads and pop-ups, provides a way of reaching people who use the internet for shopping or to gather information. Instant Messaging (IM): Due to its simplicity, ease in usage and relatively high level of synchronicity, IM is now widely used internet based communication tool at the workplaces. Chat Rooms: A part of an online service that provides virtual world human interaction in real time. Social Networking: A website that helps in getting connected to one’s family and friends and share information. Cell Phones: These facilitate consumers to get handy with the latest information and provide instant updates in their inboxes when something happens.

The merits and shortcomings of quantitative and qualitative research

The merits and shortcomings of quantitative and qualitative research Research methods are technique(s) for gathering data (Harding, 1986) and are generally dichotomized into being either quantitative or qualitative. It has been argued that methodology has been gendered (Oakley, 1998), with quantitative methods traditionally being associated with words such as positivism, scientific, objectivity, statistics and masculinity. In contrast, qualitative methods have generally been associated with interpretive, non-scientific, subjectivity and femininity. Quantitative Research Techniques and Procedures Qualitative analysis is a process that is often the precursor to quantitative, statistical work; a process to make the tacit underpinnings of an issue explicit; a process you can use to deepen your understanding of complex social and human factors that cannot be understood with numbers; a process that helps you figure out what to count and what to measure (Kerlin, 1999, p. 1). A common way of conducting quantitative research is using a survey. Surveys usually involve filling in a questionnaire. There are, of course, many different kinds of quantitative research besides the survey. Observational research involves watching or observing various behaviors and patterns. More complicated forms of quantitative research are experimental research or mathematical modelling research (Peter J.P. Donnelly J.H, 2000). In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Quantitative research is used widely in social sciences such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science. Research in mathematical sciences such as physics is also quantitative by definition, though this use of the term differs in context. In the social sciences, the term relates to empirical methods, originating in both philosophical positivism and the history of statistics, which contrast qualitative research methods. Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods can be used to verify, which of such hypotheses are true. Qualitative Research Techniques and Procedures Qualitative research is a generic term for investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research. It emphasizes the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found. Interaction between variables is important. Detailed data is gathered through open ended questions that provide direct quotations. The interviewer is an integral part of the investigation (Jacob, 1988). This differs from quantitative research which attempts to gather data by objective methods to provide information about relations, comparisons, and predictions and attempts to remove the investigator from the investigation (Smith, 1983). According to Andrew (2007), qualitative research is a method of inquiry appropriated in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large samples. According to Andrew (2007), qualitative research is used to denote approaches which are supported by a set of hypotheses concerning the way the social world functions. It deduces many of its basic principles from the perspective that there are fundamental differences between the science of human world and science of natural world and consequently needs to use distinctive methods. Here, attention is focused upon looking at the world through the eyes of studied objects and upon evolving concepts and theories which are grounded in the collecting data. So, qualitative research connected with own accounts of the individuals of their attitudes and behavior. The significance of qualitative research consists in setting stress on describing, understanding complex phenomena. It investigates, for instance, the relationships and patterns among factors or the context in which the activity happens. It is concentrated on understanding the full many-dimensional picture of the subject of investigatio n. Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses (informative guesses). The aim of qualitative research is to deepen our understanding about something, and usually this means going beyond the numbers and the statistics. Qualitative research helps us to give reasons why the numbers tell us what they do. It is often contrasted to quantitative research and they are very often used together to get the bigger picture of what we are trying to find out. Qualitative research helps us flesh out the story. Face-to-Face Interviews and Focus Groups The most common forms of qualitative research are face-to-face interviews and focus groups. Face-to-face interviews are just that: Meeting someone in person and discussing various issues. The informant or person you are interviewing may be an expert in a particular field (e.g. the editor of a newspaper) or they may be someone who is affected by the issues you are researching (e.g. someone who is HIV positive or who reads the media). Focus groups involve discussions with two or more participants. While questions for focus groups need to be prepared to guide and focus the discussions, the responses are often free-ranging, as the participants are encouraged to explore the issues at hand in an in-depth way. While focus groups and interviews will help you develop explanations for quantitative data, sometimes they can provide you with quantitative data themselves Basic Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Research Techniques Quantitative and qualitative research methods differ primarily in: their analytical objectives the types of questions they pose the types of data collection instruments they use the forms of data they produce the degree of flexibility built into study design The key difference between quantitative and qualitative methods is their flexibility. Generally, quantitative methods are fairly inflexible. With quantitative methods such as surveys and questionnaires, for example, researchers ask all participants identical questions in the same order. The response categories from which participants may choose are closed-ended or fixed. The advantage of this inflexibility is that it allows for meaningful comparison of responses across participants and study sites. However, it requires a thorough understanding of the important questions to ask, the best way to ask them, and the range of possible responses. Qualitative methods are typically more flexible that is, they allow greater spontaneity and adaptation of the interaction between the researcher and the study participant. For example, qualitative methods ask mostly open-ended questions that are not necessarily worded in exactly the same way with each participant. With open-ended questions, participants are free to respond in their own words, and these responses tend to be more complex than simply yes or no. In addition, with qualitative methods, the relationship between the researcher and the participant is often less formal than in quantitative research. Participants have the opportunity to respond more elaborately and in greater detail than is typically the case with quantitative methods. In turn, researchers have the opportunity to respond immediately to what participants say by tailoring subsequent questions to information the participant has provided. Merriam (1988) provided a basis for differentiating qualitative and quantitative research techniques based on their characteristics. Characteristics of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Point of Comparisons Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Focus of research Quality (nature, essence) Quantity (how much, how many) Philosophical roots Phenomenology, symbolic interaction Positivism, logical empiricism Associated phrases Fieldwork, ethnographic, naturalistic, grounded, subjective Experimental, empirical, statistical Goal of investigation Understanding, description, discovery, hypothesis generating Prediction, control, description, confirmation, hypothesis testing Design characteristics Flexible, evolving, emergent Predetermined, structured Setting Natural, familiar Unfamiliar, artificial Sample Small, non-random, theoretical Large, random, representative Data collection Researcher as primary instrument, interviews, observations Inanimate instruments (scales, tests, surveys, questionnaires, computers) Mode of analysis Inductive (by researcher) Deductive (by statistical methods) Findings Comprehensive, holistic, expansive Precise, narrow, reductionist However, there is a range of flexibility among methods used in both quantitative and qualitative research and that flexibility is not an indication of how scientifically rigorous a method is. Rather, the degree of flexibility reflects the kind of understanding of the problem that is being pursued using the method. Merits of Quantitative Analysis The use of surveys permit a researcher to study more variables at one time than is typically possible in laboratory or field experiments, whilst data can be collected about real world environments. The usefulness of a survey is that the information you get is standardized because each respondent the person who fills out the questionnaire is answering the exact same questions. Once you have enough responses to your questionnaire, you can then put the data together and analyze it in a way that answers your research question or what it is you want to know. Since case studies follow a structured format, different situations can be compared or analyzed comparatively. Case studies are typically short (often no more than 5 pages long) and usually only contain the essential information needed to present a situation and, if necessary, to describe and properly analyze a problem. Quantitative data can determine when students have achieved or failed a task, and they can provide national ranking, percentiles, and allow researchers to conduct comparison analyses. Nevertheless, they cannot provide the total picture of why a particular student has either succeeded or failed (Burnaford et al., 2001; Gall et al., 1996 and Mc Bride Schostak, 2000). In quantitative research, the researcher neither participates in nor influences what is being studied; thus, he/she examines the circumstances objectively. In some qualitative research, the researcher may play a more subjective role and participate by being immersed in his/her research. That is, the observer may be the teacher or the facilitator. This role is often the case with when action research, case studies, and focus groups are used in educational research. Advantages of surveys Good for comparative analysis. Can get lots of data in a relatively short space of time. Can be cost-effective (if you use the Internet, for example). Can take less time for respondents to complete (compared to an interview or focus group) Specific concrete example; Can help with problem solving; Are often interesting to read. Demerits of Quantitative Analysis A key weakness of quantitative analysis is that it is very difficult to realise insights relating to the causes of or processes involved in the phenomena measured. There are, in addition, several sources of bias such as the possibly self-selecting nature of respondents, the point in time when the survey is conducted and in the researcher him/herself through the design of the survey itself. It could be argued that the quantitative researcher is more precise, but the response would be that with people it is not possible to be so precise, people change and the social situation is too complex for numerical description. Quantitative research has a tendency to clarify where clarification is not appropriate. (Mc Bride Schostak, 2000, pp. 1-2) Disadvantages of Surveys Responses may not be specific. Questions may be misinterpreted. May not get as many responses as you need. Dont get full story. Can take time to develop; Depending on format, may need some level of good writing skills; Do not usually give broad overview of issue at hand. Merits of Qualitative Techniques The approaches of the qualitative research differ from the methods of the quantitative research. Quantitative methods have their aim in dividing into clearly defined parts, or variables. When we research an issue which we know how to quantify, for example, what can be quantified for sure, we may leave out the factors which are crucial to the real understanding of the phenomena under study (Andrew, 2007). Qualitative methods are helpful not only in giving rich explanations of complex phenomena, but in creating or evolving theories or conceptual bases, and in proposing hypotheses to clarify the phenomena. Besides, value of the qualitative research consists in validity of the information received; people are minutely interviewed so as the obtained data would be taken as correct and believable reports of their opinions and experiences. Its major disadvantage is that small group of interviewed individuals can not be taken as representative (Andrew, 2007). Case studies involve an attempt to describe relationships that exist in reality, very often in a single organization. Case studies may be positivist or interpretivist in nature, depending on the approach of the researcher, the data collected and the analytical techniques employed. Reality can be captured in greater detail by an observer-researcher, with the analysis of more variables than is typically possible in experimental and survey research. Another type of qualitative analysis is site visits. Site visits help you understand your research better; site visits (e.g. when you visit an organization, a manufacturing plant, a clinic or a housing project) are very useful and sometimes even necessary ways of gaining additional insight and making your theoretical information concrete in your mind. They allow you to observe what is going on, and to ask questions you may not have thought about. Qualitative research has a phenomenological focus that can provide an enriched and detailed description of the participants actions and/or viewpoints (Veronesi, 1997). Advantages of Face-to-Face Interviews Can allow for in-depth knowledge sharing; Helps to develop the bigger picture; Helps with analysis of results; Good for networking (e.g. you may be referred to other people to interview). Advantages of Focus Groups Good for community participation (grassroots input); Helpful in developing ideas and sharing latent, or hidden, knowledge spontaneously; Enables you to get information from a number of individuals simultaneously. Advantages of Site Visits and Observation Demerits of Qualitative Analysis Case studies can be considered weak as they are typically restricted to a single organization and it is difficult to generalize findings since it is hard to find similar cases with similar data that can be analyzed in a statistically meaningful way. Disadvantages of Face-to-Face Interviews Can be time consuming; May be difficult to arrange an interview time; Can be difficult to compare and analyze information. Disadvantages of Focus Groups Can be difficult to set up; Participants may need to be paid; Need to be sensitive to who the facilitator is; May need a translator; Sometimes difficult to organize and analyze information. Disadvantages of Site Visits and Observation Take time; Can be expensive (depending how far you need to travel); With observation in particular, you need to be careful how you interpret what you see. With site visits, you may want to make sure you have a guide so that you can ask questions However, the disadvantage of the quantitative as well as qualitative research is that they do not always underpin understanding of multi-dimensional pictures (Andrew, 2007).

Loyalty in Julius Caesar :: Julius Caesar Essays

A Question of Loyalty in Julius Caesar Loyalty defined means faithfulness to one's friends, country, ideals, etc. What should one do when these loyalties conflict with one another? One would have to choose. A choice that can make or break a man, which I believe broke many men in the play Julius Caesar. One did not know who was friend or foe. One's dearest friends actually your foes? Not possible, is it? Yes, it is. That is the story of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar, a great, noble man. A man for his country. A man loved by many and respected by all. Even respected by the men that cursed him with death. Why would men that loved and respected one kill them? Loyalty is the answer. A feeling of loyalty for your country that surpassed the loyalty of righteous virtues. Perhaps if loyalty had not been involved, the country of Rome would not have been torn apart. Or perhaps if loyalty to all and everything had been involved a great ruler named Caesar would have reigned for years. If the people of Rome would have remained loyal to Caesar perhaps a war would not have occurred, in fact, it most certainly would not have. After the death, the angry mob should have put the conspirators to death, not let them toy with their minds as they would a five year old. The mob, like a great many people, believe what is easiest to hear. In the mob of people did loyalty exist? Doubtful, little if any. What coexisted in the crowd with that little loyalty was ignorance, and much of it. I believe that Brutus showed the greatest amount of loyalty to his country. He just went about showing it in a corrupt manner. He sacrificed a great friend for what he thought would better Rome. Perhaps Brutus was one of the most noble in the play, but he was also the most misled. He was noble for assassinating not for selfish needs, but for the needs of the country. However, I believe he was weak. Weak for believing that Caesar was "ambitious". Brutus believed the one side of things that he heard, and that was from Cassius. Brutus is a prime example of people believing what

The Media Distorting Information on Illnesses :: Health Medical Essays

The Media Distorting Information on Illnesses Make sure you always use a condom or you might catch AIDS, a disease which will most likely kill us all anyway. Oh, and get your flu shot because this is going to be the worst flu season ever! And do not even think about eating that hamburger or you might put yourself at risk for Mad Cow Disease! Don’t be so quick to open up your mail, or you might get infected with Anthrax! Did you dump all the water out of the pool in the backyard? If not, mosquitoes infected with the West Nile Virus may kill you and your whole family! We better call our friends and tell them about all of this. Wait! Does sunscreen increase your risk of getting skin cancer? Are we all doomed to die from any of these threats? As members of the information age, people grow even more dependent on the information that we get from television, newspapers, and the internet. Constantly on the move, no one has time to fact check every single headline story. As a result, we are putting our faith in sources that crank out sensational headlines to boost ratings and newspaper memberships. So should we all be living in bubbles for the rest of our lives to avoid the many diseases that are competing to take our lives? Or do we use logic to help us wade thru the myths and misinformation? We all know about the flu shots being offered for the past two years, and every year the virus is supposedly getting worse. Therefore, you see long lines at grocery stores with elderly people along with young children to get their flu shot taken care of immediately. And as every year, the hospitals run into a shortage, then the hype of people who really need it not getting it jumps up. Yet no one asks the question â€Å"Do the flu vaccines work?† We see the word vaccine and assume that it will completely prevent us from getting sick. If someone was ask risk of dying from the flu, would the immunization that they received save their life? Or would the flu affect them as badly as if they didn’t get the shot? Kristine M. Severyn R.Ph., Ph.D. says, â€Å"Although influenza is associated with more disease, hospitalization, and death in â€Å"at risk† populations, no adequate controlled studies exist which proves that the influenza vaccine reduces the incidence of inf luenza in these groups†(Vaccine Risk Awareness Network).

Motif Essay Essay

In a narrative, such as a novel, motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the pieces major theme. The Serial Garden is a short story written by Joan Aiken. The Serial Garden is about Mark Armitage, a boy who dwells in and out of magical worlds. In The Serial Garden Aiken uses various motifs to promote and instruct the books proposition. A motif is an element that appears numerous times in a literary work. The motif of reluctance is portrayed trough the fussy behavior of Aikens characters. For example, when Marks mother, Mrs. Armitage asks him if he wants cold rice and pudding for breakfast. Mark answers with rebuttal. Mark is reluctant to eat rice and pudding for breakfast since it is not from the larbor and rather chilly looking. Therefore, his mother sends him to run down to Miss Pride to get a small packet of cereal. In addition, reluctance is illustrated when Mark finds Rudi, the princess’s long lost love and the princess is reluctant to go to his house. Since she insists it is not proper etiquette. The princess concludes because she is royal it would not be an act of dignity. Look more:  irony in huck finn essay Furthermore, hesitancy is depicted when Rudi is reluctant to proceed to see the princess, until he feeds his dogs first. Rudi is reluctant since he believes the dogs may not be hungry and that they were visitors and they must be taken care of. The motif of reluctance is presented various times throughout The Serial Garden. As well as the motif of reluctance the motif of imprisonment is illustrated. For example, when Mr. Armitage locks himself in the larder. Mr Armitage’s imprisonment is a result of him trying to find out the location the mouse uses to get into the larder. Mr. Armitage shuts himself in so that no member of the family can disturb his vigil. As a result the spring attached to the door jammed therefore, locking himself in. Another example is when the princess falls in love with Rudi and decides to marry him. The princess’s father disapproves of the marriage since Rudi was a common person. Therefore, her father keeps strict guard to halt the princess from escaping. As a result, the Princess slips in-between the pages of the book to escape her father. Then, when she and  Rudy decide to marry, the princess has her maid to bring the book to him. Although, the maid fails to get the book to Rudi therefore, locking the princess in the garden for fifty years. The concept of a character being constrained is displayed several times in The Serial Garden. In addition, the motif of excitement through the anxious behavior of Aiken’s characters is depicted. For example, when mark goes to Miss Pride asking her if she were to have sections one two four and five of breakfast brikks. Miss Pride answers with dismay almost sure she does not carry them. Although, as she was looking in her tattered and cluttered cellar where she is most likely not to find it; to her excitement Miss Pride found a little cache of breakfast brikks, which turned out to be the remaining sections, six, one and two. Another example is Mark asks Mr. Johansen if he is able to identify a tune he is about to whistle. As mark comes to the end of the tune, Mark is surprised to see Mr. Johansen’s eyes fill with tears. Mr. Johansen’s lament is a result of his emotion towards the tune because of it reminding him how happy he was when he wrote it. Then, when Mr.Johansen states that he wrote the tune Mark reacts with excitement. Furthermore excitement is depicted, when mark tells he Princess, Lota belongs to Rudolf Johansen. The princess’s excitement is a result of identifying her long lost love, Rudi. The motif of emotion is portrayed numerous times in the Serial Garden. Beneath the magical surface of a fairytale lies a reservoir of timeless symbolic forms and images. Several motifs are reluctance, entrapment, and excitement. Excluding the use of literary motifs most novels would not be worth reading. Motifs are an indispensable element of literature in The Serial Garden written by Joan Aiken.

Introduction of American Essay

This paper is dedicated to the history of American Revolution and the War for Independence. The primary purpose of the survey given here is to carry out an analysis of the events of the late 18th century in the British colonies in North America on the basis of vast historical material published in the United States. The process that took place before and during the 1776-1783 period when 13 British colonies’ aspiration for independence broke out into the so-called War for Independence is very remarkable for it’s many unique features, on the one hand, and for many historical parallels that took place a century later when the world-wide spreaded colonial system began to collapse. John Adams, second President of the United States, declared that the history of the American Revolution began as far back as 1620. â€Å"The Revolution,† he said, â€Å"was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. † The principles and passions that led the Americans to rebel ought, he added, â€Å"to be traced back for two hundred years and sought in the history of the country from the first plantation in America. † As a practical matter, however, the overt parting of the ways between England and America began in 1763, more than a century and a half after the first permanent settlement had been founded at Jamestown, Virginia. The colonies had grown vastly in economic strength and cultural attainment, and virtually all had long years of self-government behind them. Their combined population now exceeded 1,500,000-a six-fold increase since 1700. The implications of the physical growth of the colonies were far greater than mere numerical increase would indicate. The 18th century brought a steady expansion from the influx of immigrants from Europe, and since the best land near the seacoast had already been occupied, new settlers had to push inland beyond the fall line of the rivers. Traders explored the back country, brought back tales of rich valleys, and induced farmers to take their families into the wilderness. Although their hardships were enormous, restless settlers kept coming, and by the 1730s frontiersmen had already begun to pour into the Shenandoah Valley. Down to 1763, Great Britain had formulated no consistent policy for her colonial possessions. The guiding principle was the confirmed mercantilist view that colonies should supply the mother country with raw materials and not compete in manufacturing. But policy was poorly enforced, and the colonies had never thought of themselves as subservient. Rather, they considered themselves chiefly as commonwealths or states, much like England herself, having only a loose association with authorities in London. At infrequent intervals, sentiment in England was aroused and efforts were made by Parliament or the Crown to subordinate the economic activities and governments of the colonies to England’s will and interest – efforts to which the majority of the colonists were opposed. The remoteness afforded by a vast ocean allayed fears of reprisal the colonies might otherwise have had. Added to this remoteness was the character of life itself in early America. From countries limited in space and dotted with populous towns, the settlers had come to a land of seemingly unending reach. On such a continent natural conditions stressed the importance of the individual. 1. Frontier situation The colonists-inheritors of the traditions of the Englishman’s long struggle for political liberty-incorporated concepts of freedom into Virginia’s first charter. This provided that English colonists were to exercise all liberties, franchises, and immunities â€Å"as if they had been abiding and born within this our Realm of England. They were, then, to enjoy the benefits of the Magna Charta and the common law. In the early days, the colonies were able to hold fast to their heritage of rights because of the King’s arbitrary assumption that they were not subject to parliamentary control. In addition, for years afterward, the kings of England were too preoccupied with a great struggle in England itself – a struggle which culminated in the Puritan Revolution – to enforce their will. Before Parliament could bring its attention to the task of molding the American colonies to an imperial policy, they had grown strong and prosperous in their own right. From the first year after they had set foot upon the new continent, the colonists had functioned according to the English law and constitution – with legislative assemblies, a representative system of government, and a recognition of the common-law guarantees of personal liberty. But increasingly legislation became American in point of view, and less and less attention was paid to English practices and precedents. Nevertheless, colonial freedom from effective English control was not achieved without conflict, and colonial history abounds in struggles between the assemblies elected by the people and the governors appointed by the King. Still, the colonists were often able to render the royal governors powerless, for, as a rule, governors had â€Å"no subsistence but from the Assembly†. Governors were sometimes instructed to give profitable offices and land grants to influential colonists to secure their support for royal projects but, as often as not, the colonial officials, once they had secured these emoluments, espoused the popular cause as strongly as ever. The recurring clashes between governor and assembly worked increasingly to awaken the colonists to the divergence between American and English interests. Gradually, the assemblies took over the functions of the governors and their councils, which were made up of colonists selected for their docile support of royal power, and the center of colonial administration shifted from London to the provincial capitals. Early in the 1770s, following the final expulsion of the French from the North American continent, an attempt was made to bring about a drastic change in the relationship between the colonies and the mother country.

People are not born as a criminal Essay

People are not born as a criminal. In fact, they are born neutral but then learn criminal behavior as they get older. Why is that? They are born as neutral human beings, but what events cause deviance action? How do they learn? Individuals learn criminal behavior through outside influences or the events that happen in their past. Causes such as nature and the environment in which the person is brought up in are key factors to criminal behavior. The upbringing of an individual primarily shapes the future personality of said person. This is done through family or societal influences, imitation of one’s role models, being surrounded by criminal people or through media influences such as video games and violent movies. It is theorized that a strong link exists between negative experiences from the past and criminal offenses that people do, since childhood is the basis for the growth of personality and forming the pathways that individuals take as adults. When an individual is going through a rough childhood, anger or frustration is created within the person who further increases their chances of taking the wrong path towards deviant behavior. Or when an individual lives in a society or family where abuse or drug use is normal, the chances of the individual following the same path is very high. Studies have revealed that out of 200 serious juvenile offenders that were asked, over 90% of them had serious childhood trauma. 74% were physically or sexually abused and 30% suffered the disturbance of losing a significant person sometime during their life. Criminals such as Robert Thomson, John Venables, Jesse Pomeroy, Cheryl Pierson and Peter Dinsdale (otherwise known as Bruce Lee), have suffered severe problems in terms of their family relations, whether it is through abuse or an immoral influential figure. So according to this, individuals have a much higher chance of leading a criminal life based off their childhood trauma and the way in which they were influenced. In this essay, the question of why people commit crime will be explored through the psychology and learning theory lens. The cases of John Venables, Jesse Pomeroy and Sergeant Robert Bulges will also be discussed. The Social Learning Theory suggests that learning occurs when an individual (the learner) observes the copier (the model). The learner’s criminal behavior is reinforced from the model and they learn beliefs that are favorable to  crime. The theorist argues that people are not born as a criminal. They learn to think and act violently as a result of their day to day experiences. These experiences can include observing the behaviors of friends, family, and media. There are four factors that can increase violence; a stressful event like a threat, challenge or assault that can heighten anger, aggressive skills or techniques learned through observing others, a belief that aggression or violence will be socially rewarded (for example, reducing frustration, enhancing self-esteem, providing material goods or earning the praise of other people) and finally, a value system that tolerates violent acts within certain social contexts. A child’s mind is undeveloped fully and is innocent. They learn from observing their surrounding environment, whether it is a good or bad thing since they do not have a sense of right and wrong. If an individual is surrounded by a bad environment, they have a higher chance of doing the same t hing. A significant influence on a child’s mind is their family. Family, in general, are groups of related individuals living under the same roof. As human beings, we learn learn everything from family first, because those are the people we spend the most time with. So family reflects of what we do, who we are and is also a reflection of how we are brought up. The family is divided in three groups; parents, siblings and relatives. If a child is brought up in an abusive environment, this will affect him negatively and the chances of him/her continuing this path will be much greater. The effects of sibling can also lead to criminal life. The elder siblings are the role models so an individual who has siblings that follow a criminal life will be a bad influence on the individual. For example, if that sibling is involved with the drug use or dealing with drugs, he would also teach his younger sibling to do the same. And if that sibling learns it and sees that is an easy way to obtain mo ney, he would continue doing that in their future. The media also plays a major role on a society. An individual who plays or watches a lot of violent video games and movies tend to do the same thing. There have been several tragedies due to the influence of games. The biggest example is the Columbine High School massacre by Klebold and Harris and is said that to have been hugely influenced by the video games. They essentially have criminal models that they associate with. As a consequence, these individuals come to view crime as something that is desirable. The  psychology theory explains criminal behavior as a consequence of individual factors, such as negative early childhood experiences, and poor socialization which results in criminal thinking patterns. Criminals and deviants are seen as suffering from personality deficiencies. Thus, crimes result from abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes within the personality of the individual. These defective or abnormal mental processes could be caused from a variety of things, including a diseased mind, inappropriate learning, improper conditioning, and the absence of appropriate role models or the strong presence of inappropriate role models. Psychoanalytic theory, developed by Sigmund Freud, explores the idea of teen or adult behavior being impacted by early childhood experiences. For Freud, aggression was a basic human impulse, that is blocked in well-adjusted people who have experienced a normal childhood. However, if the aggressive impulse is not controlled, or is repressed, it could leak out of the unconscious and a person can engage in random acts of violence. A child who has had a rough childhood has a hard time controlling their anger and when the anger is uncontrollable, it can lead them to follow a deviant behavior. Individuals who had a negative childhood, such as being picked on at school, having abusive parents, losing a significant other or being neglected can affect their mind (depression) and create feelings of anger or frustration. Researchers suggest that some serious violent offenders may have a serious personality defect commonly known as psychopathy. These psychopaths are not born as a psychopath. They become psychopath because of a number of early childhood factors. These factors include having an emotionally unstable parent, parental rejection, lack of love during childhood and inconsistent discipline.  ­ Psychopaths are impulsive, have low levels of guilt and frequently violate the rights of others. It had been estimated that approximately 30 percent of all prison inmates in the United States are psychopaths. There are several cases in which an individual has divorced parents, which in some instances creates an unstable environment where he/she is moving from house to house. Not having a permanent home or a sense of belonging can negatively affect the individual, which could create anger or frustration. Through divorced parents it is theorized that the serious defenders come from â€Å"broken home†. For instance, in James Burgler case, both Robert Thompson and John Veneables originated from the families  where the parents were divorced. Siblings also have an effect which is through the idea they can trigger neglect and attention seeking. Families with large number of children often mean that siblings receive little individual attention from parents and that can affect an individual mind in a bad way. This can often lead to a child acting outside the law in a cry for attention from their families. The child may view getting into trouble with the police to be the only method of capturing individual consideration from their parents. Criminals Robert Thompson and John Vneables both came from large families, suggesting that their actions have been, in part, to seek attention. The boys were jealous of their siblings, as John’s brother and sister received extra attention from their mother and while Robert viewed his mother caring for her new baby in a way that he couldn’t remember being cared for. So the imbalance in a family can cause the child with less attention to become a criminal. Such a person with this kind of imbalance in their life along with abusive parents can start to have an urge to feel superior . Because a child is sick and tired of being treated poorly, they commit crimes since (in their mind) it’s the only way that they can get attention. He will start attacking the victims that are weak in order to be in control and to feel in power. According to the psychology theory, an individual who has had a multitude of bad experience builds up the anger and eventually it bursts, causing a person to go insane. And that behavior will continue until the trauma that triggered it is fully addresses and overcome. Like a person with overdeveloped superegos feels guilt for no reason, and wishes to be punished in order to be relieve this guilt that are feeling. Committing crimes is a method of obtaining such desired punishment and relieving guilt. According to psychology theory a deviant behavior can be explained by psychological trauma in one’s past. This is a psychological condition in which a traumatic incident in one’s past causes an individual to have abnormal reaction which can also be committing crime. PTD is usually invoked in cases of child abuse. The case of Jesse Pomeroy in the late 19th century is a prime example of abuse during childhood being a key criminogenic factor. Jesse was born in Boston, USA and from a very early age, he suffered abuse from his alcoholic father, elder brother and occasionally his mother. When a child is consistently hurt in this way he naturally seeks revenge. Therefore in a desperate attempt to become the victimizer rather than the victim, he turned to victims that were unable to fight back, showing the traits of serial killer. By age 15, Jesse was guilty of two murders and 8 torture victims. In the case of Sergeant Robert Bales, an American soldier who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was accused of getting drunk and going into a town in Afghanistan and murdering 16 Afghanis without provocation. Experts are already speculating that the psychological trauma of multiple deployments contributed to sergeant Bale’s alleged deviance. Sometimes psychology and learning overlap each other. Sometimes learning is influenced by the psychological factors. For an example, individuals for the most part do not learn until they have motivation, which comes from experiences and situations in their lifetime. Parents who choose to be very strict with their child, therefore allowing only limited freedom, can cause the child to rebel against the authority of the parents, often in an extreme way and can go against all moral values. The child learns to go against the parents. And if the society doesn’t give an individual something that he deserves, it will create the feeling of frustration that they will learn to get what they desire in an illegal manner. Psychology and Learning theory proves that a person is not born as criminal, they are made criminal. They are born neutral; they learn to become a criminal because of the society and environment they are surrounded by. There are always factors that converts innocent mind to a criminal mind. There are always motivations that make an individual learn how to act in a deviant behavior. Even if one’s parents are criminals or lead a wrong lifestyle, one isn’t born a criminal – it is a learned trait. Outside factors such as siblings and societal influences also contribute to criminal behavior. Citation Dechant, Arista B. â€Å"COASTLINE JOURNAL.† COASTLINE JOURNAL. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. â€Å"Psychological Theories of Deviance.† Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. â€Å"Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Literature Reviews.† Chapter 2: Psychological Theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Crossman, Ashley. â€Å"Social Learning Theory.† About.com Sociology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. â€Å"Labeling Theory.† Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Samenow, Stanton E. â€Å"Inside The criminal mind.† Psychology Today. Stanton E Samehow, 4 March. 2013. Web 21 March, 2013 Bryant, lee. â€Å"Why Do People Commit Crime?†. Why do People Commit Crime? Lee Bryant, n.d. Web 21 March. 2013 â€Å"How People Become Criminal.† Hubpages. N.p, n.d. Web 21 March, 2013. Robinson, Annie. â€Å"To What Extent Does Nurture Cause a Child to Grow up to Be a Criminal?† New Political Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. â€Å"Cocktailtime – Childhood Experiences and Their Impact on Criminal Behaviour.†Cocktailtime – Childhood Experiences and Their Impact on Criminal Behaviour. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.