Fire service administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Fire service administration - Essay Example They quickly alerted the teacher who was around who lined all students to vacate the building. As the teacher to make her way out of the class to access the avenue that led to the exit, the smoked was more intense and hence, she was forced to sit back in the class with the students to wait for help. The fire ignited fiercely and more time passed before the school alarm rang (McBride, 1979) At this time, a window was shattered at the staircase’s foot from the intense ignition providing the fire with oxygen. The heat also lit a roll of building paper that along with the oil based waxes triggered the oily, thick dark smoke that led to deaths from the smoke inhalation. The staircase made of wood also got ignited. Just around the same time the janitor noticed the fire and alerted the housekeepers to alert the department of fire. For 330 children and 6 teachers, the remaining outlet was jumping from the second floors or wait for the rescue team to arrive. Noticing the fix they were in, they teachers encouraged the students to sit at their lockers and pray. The intense flames, heat and smoke pushed them towards the windows. One of the teachers suggested that the students should stuff furniture at the door front that slowed the smoke till the rescue team arrived. Out of all the students, 8 got injured, and 2 died. One died out of roof collapse. The other died in the ho spital out of injuries (John K, 2008) What triggered the fire could not be established. A student of 5th grade during the time of ignition confessed to have set the place ablaze and then withdrew the confession. He feared telling this to the parents than to the authorities. He also said that he had been setting a series of fire in apartment buildings in the neighborhood. On that day, the boy had been excused to go the washrooms at 2pm. At this time is when the ignition started in the bin. Succeeding the incident, investigation established

Preliminary PDHPE Assignment Essay Example for Free

Preliminary PDHPE Assignment Essay 1) Recount the story of the individual in relation to how the adversity they faced as affected their health status. The individual who I decided to research is now well known for her job hosting the Biggest Loser, Hayley Lewis. At 15 years old Hayley Lewis had won 5 Gold medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. She weighed 58kg and never thought anything about her weight at the time as she was fit, healthy and muscular. A magazine came out saying that she was â€Å"a fit 15 year old but a bit heavy legged. † From then on she started to get bigger and bigger. A year later her weight had crept up to 65kg and by the 1992 Barcelona Olympics she weighed 73kg. Hayley was told by her coach to lose weight and the more and more she was told, the more she turned to food for comfort. By being told she was â€Å"heavy legged† from the media and being told to lose weight the more this impacted on her physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. By being overweight this cut short Hayley’s swimming career as she was embarrassed, suffered anxiety and hated being publicly scrutinised. Hayley Lewis also hated getting out of bed because she knew she had to put on her â€Å"togs†. She said that she was racing with girls 20kg lighter and you can’t hide anything when you’re in swimmers. She also said that she used to focus on her weight every time she jumped up on to the starting block instead of focusing on her race. By being judged because of her physical appearance made her quit her swimming career because she felt that she didn’t fit in anywhere. This affected both her mental and spiritual health. Because Hayley Lewis had a negative physical health status this impacted on her emotional health as all the dimensions of health are interdependent on one another and when one area of health is going downhill this can impact on all the other aspects of an individuals’ health status. Hayley Lewis had a low self-esteem and didn’t believe in herself. This was because she was bullied about her physical appearance and the media made her feel shameful about her weight. She didn’t enjoy the success of being a swimmer either because of the shame and guilt she felt about herself and her personal body image. Another factor that could have made an impact on Hayley’s health status is the death of her younger sister as this could have made her turn to food for comfort. Hayley Lewis had to face a 20 year weight battle from when she was 15 until she was 35 when she had her second child. During her pregnancy Hayley gained another 25kg. When she got a phone call from Jenny Craig to become an ambassador she finally realised how overweight she was and decided to do something about it. She lost 4kg in the first week and was finally getting back on track and gaining these precious years of her life back. Hayley Lewis is now the current host of the Biggest Loser and says she can relate to the contestants so well as she knows exactly what they have been through and what they are going through. She hopes to inspire them and become as good a role model as she can so they get to love themselves the way she does about herself now. Hayley Lewis has faced major adversity in her life and it has affected her health status physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. She has finally pulled through and is at a great point in her life, has overcome her weight battles and has made herself proud for where her body has gotten her today. a) Evaluate how the dimensions of health have interacted to construct the health status of the individual. Hayley Lewis’ physical, mental, social and spiritual health have interacted to construct Hayley’s current health status as all these dimensions are interdependent upon one another. If one aspect of health is positive then this will most likely have an impact on all the other aspects of an individual’s health. Hayley’s physical health when she was younger was fairly poor. When Jenny Craig came into the picture this made Hayley become aware and realise just how poor her physical health was. Because of this sudden realisation, this has constructed Hayley Lewis’ current health status in many ways because she finally did something about her poor health. She started to lose weight and the motivation of the Jenny Craig program helped her pull through. She was given meal and exercise plans but as a retired swimmer she was used to having the pre-organised eating and training schedule. She had overcome her previous body image demons and she realised that she had a new focus in life because of becoming a parent. She had to step up and become the best role model she could be for her children. She threw out all the old photos she had of herself as an overweight teenager and returned to the pool in 2000 with a renewed confidence. She still has â€Å"good days and bad days, like everyone† but has learnt to love, admire, appreciate and nurture her body with respect as you only get one. Her previous physical health has now constructed Hayley’s current health status as she is now a size 8-10, lost 20kg and has maintained her weight by eating nutritiously, planning her meals and exercising often. Hayley now has a positive physical health status and hopes to inspire others, such as the biggest loser contestants, with her own personal inspiring story. Hayley Lewis’ emotional health has had a major impact on the construction of her current health status. Mentally, Hayley never used to believe in herself and had a very low self-esteem and body image. Now that she has become aware of her poor health status and has lost 20kg she now has a positive headspace and a positive outlook on life. She has a renewed confidence but still has â€Å"bad days† like everyone. By relating to the current biggest loser contestants this has made her feel proud to where her body and mind has gotten her today and wants to help them out so they can feel how she feels about herself now. Hayley’s new and improved positive emotional health has had a major impact on all the other aspects of her health and has created an overall positive health and wellbeing for herself as the dimensions of health are all interdependent upon one another. When Hayley Lewis was younger her social health suffered because she was overweight physically and didn’t look positive on life because of her poor emotional health. She was bullied, compared to others and was always being judged, if not by the media, by her coach and family friends. She now has a very positive social health as she is now married to a very understanding and cooperative husband and has 2 children. Her confidence is now booming compared to when she was fighting her 20 year weight battle. Her confidence has allowed her to improve her relationships with family and friends and now she can also relate to the biggest loser contestants because they have become her friends. She is very inspirational towards these contestants and has also become very close to them and helping them renew their lives and start fresh. Spiritually, Hayley now feels a sense of belonging and worth compared to the adversity she faced because she has fought and finally won her weight battles. She is now fit and healthy, can relate to and feels apart of the biggest loser family and also has a special family of her own. She now has a very positive headspace and this has impacted on and changed her life in many ways. Hayley’s life changing experience of winning her 20 year weight battled has occurred because she finally became aware of how poor her health was. The 4 dimensions of health, physical, mental, social and spiritual, have all worked together with each other and have constructed Hayley Lewis’ current health status in a very positive way. Because she started losing weight she noticed that all her emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health have benefited her overall health. This is because all these dimensions are interdependent upon each other and construct the overall health status of an individual. b) Evaluate how the relative and dynamic nature of health has impacted upon the health status of the individual. Due to her own personal experiences Hayley Lewis would now rate her health as being optimal. She has battled with her weight for 20 years and has finally overcome that. As well as being at her goal weight by eating healthy, exercising and creating meal plans for herself she has to take into account how the relative and dynamic nature of health has impacted upon her own personal health status. Relative and dynamic nature of health refers to how health can vary from time to time and fluctuate all over the place. Illnesses, accidents, personal experiences, environmental factors or an individuals’ socioeconomic status can have an impact on an individual’s level of health at any point during their lives. These continual changes in a person’s health mean that health is dynamic. Judging where a person is along the health continuum at any point of time is highly subjective as people all over the world have different perceptions about what is optimal or â€Å"normal† health. By overcoming her 20 year weight battle, Hayley Lewis now has a better knowledge of what good health is. She perceives herself in a more positive way and the result of this is that the public and people all around her are perceiving her in a more positive way also. By believing in yourself can affect how others see you and believe that you have potential whereas if you don’t believe in yourself then others will think the same. This is one of the reasons that Hayley Lewis’ confidence has risen over time because now that her self-esteem has risen she realised that people were starting to perceive her, and her health, in different and a more positive way. By being the host of the biggest loser and becoming friends with the contestants has affected Hayley Lewis’ health status. She is now socioeconomically advantaged as she has a permanent job with a high income. This will impact her health status because it can affect her choices such as buying more, but nutritious food, and she now has more money to spend on fitness and recreational resources such as gyms and swimming pools. This can impact Hayley’s health physically, mentally, socially and spiritually as she now feels a sense of control and value over her life.

Seven Eleven Japan Supply Chain

Seven Eleven Japan Supply Chain Established in 1973, Seven-Eleven Japan open its first store in Koto-ku, Tokyo, in May 1974. In 2004 it was owned by the Ito-yokado group, which also managed a chain of super markets in japan and owned a majority share in southland, the company managing seven-eleven in the United States. Seven-Eleven Japan realized a phenomenal growth between the years of 1985 to 2003. The Competitive strategy of Seven Eleven Japan is to provide High-availability of a variety of reasonable products at reasonable prices. The total of the visits number per year for all the Japanese people is almost 35 times, that means each Japanese go on average 3 times a month to a Seven Eleven Outlet. When it started in Japan the new concept of this store was incredibly famous, everybody liked the concept of Seven Eleven. The convenience store supply chain can be responsive if they focus on what the customer wants. 7-eleven knows who is buying which product and at what time, it knows it because the system is really efficient. For each customer the cashier pushes a button with the approximate age, and the cash register the time and the kind of product that the client just bought. Now the system knows who, where and what is sold at any time of the day, the supply chain can be really responsive and offer the good where it is needed. The first online network was established in 1979, so it proves 7-eleven Japan was in front of all others about technologies and supply chain management. Of course they take some risks doing this, because the population can be bored or move. 7-eleven has to be careful about the needs every day, and has to react really quickly to all kind of problems they have to face up. In japan, 7 eleven adopts a strategic fit with the customers; they attempt to know what they need, where th ey need it and when they need it. Every single person is important in statistics for them; they really care on the demand. The main risk for them is the potentially high cost concerning the transportation. I think when you are a huge industry like 7-eleven in Japan, more than 12  000 retailers; you cant focus on every single person. Be the biggest company of outlet stores include that you cannot have a micro supply chain. The biggest risk is that you cant follow the demand, you will be able at the beginning, but after a few time in the market the demand will become huge. It is too much work and if you cant follow, the customers will go to another retailer. 7-eleven must be able to manage with uncertainty. In order to support its supply chain seven-eleven started to remodel the transportation in their supply chain. The number of trucks was really high, and they could use fewer trucks to do all the transportation work. They have different kind of trucks for different kind of goods ( frozen food, warm food †¦). The supply chain worked hard every day to find a way to optimize the facilities, and it worked. Now the store order in the morning and receive in the afternoon, everything is really flexible. The location of the store is based on where the demand is, so they are not looking to open an outlet everywhere, but where people need it and where they will sell more products. They want to optimize the space where they are located. In less than 10 years they did a lot of progress in technologies, and more in inventory management. Now everything can be controlled on computers, and they know what they need. They work with some companies in order to have the best infrastructure. All the stocks depend on local customer demand, each stores have a different stock. Seven-eleven does not allow direct store delivery in Japan but has all products flow through its distribution center. One distribution center works with 50 to 60 retailers, so each store doesnt have to kee p in a huge amount of goods that they dont sell. For some years they know what is sold in which store, so its easy for them to know which items each store needs. Direct store delivery is more appropriate when the store knows it will sell the product in a short period of time. It also is more appropriate when the store wants the good really quickly, because the customers dont want to wait too much when they really need something. Seven-eleven is known to sell and have almost everything you need, so it is better not to let shelves empty, it is also not good for the trade reputation if people can see empty space in the store. We can say that all these shelves crowded of stuffs show that the supply chain is really well manage. Seven eleven used the franchise system in Japan; of course it is much easier to franchise the store because if you have too many stores you cannot handle everything. This system counts over 68 percent of the revenue from operations. It supported Seven Eleven stores to have a high-density market presence. Using the franchise system, Seven Eleven got six advantages of the market dominance strategy. First, it boosted the distribution efficiency because they opened more retailers, so the distribution center could be closer from an important amount of stores. Second, Improved brand awareness, of course more store you have and more famous you will be, so people finding seven eleven stores everywhere thought it was secure and a good brand. Third, increased system efficiency, if we have a lot of people working on the system and using it, of course it increases the efficiency. Fourth, enhanced efficiency of franchise support services, in the market dominance the number of stores is really imp ortant, so more you are in and faster your support services increase. Fifth, Improvement of the advertising effectiveness, in Japan in some places we can find a lot of seven eleven, that means there is a lot of advertising because people are using them to buy anything. Sixth, Prevent competitors entrance into the dominant area, managers instead of opening their own retail store, they use the seven eleven franchise system because it is much easier to start and to be in the dominant area at the beginning. As we can see now the franchise system is really important for seven eleven Japan, the system is pretty simple. Both parts, the franchise owner and seven eleven Japan, have responsibilities. First the owners have to manage the store and the staff, make orders and maintain the store appearance. In another side Seven eleven Japan manages almost everything in developing the store, orders and accounting. Seven eleven also provide advertising and pay 80 percent of the utility cost. Seven eleven had more than 12  000 stores in Japan. In 2004 the size of the regular store increase from 125 to 150 square meters. The total size of all the seven eleven stores in Japan is about 1  530 square kilometers, it means almost 15 times the Paris size. It is huge for a country small like Japan. Seven Eleven Chain offers more and more services every year, besides products. They gradually added a variety of services that customers could obtain at its stores. They started offering other services in 1987; the system was offering you to have to possibility to pay your Tokyo Electric Power bills. Later the people could pay other bills, like gas, insurance, and telephone. This service attracted millions of additional customers every year. Another example that is in 1995 they started to accept payment for mail order purchases. Another huge service that they offer is to have an ATM in the shop; they started offering this in 2004. The ATM project was huge, because they started to instal l in 75 percent of the retailers, with the goal to achieve 100 percent ATM installation. The 7-dream concept arrives at the right time, because in 2000 the internet is starting to be well used by customers. In Japan people work a lot and really hard, so sometimes that understandable they like to shop on internet, choose what they want and pick it up at their convenience store. The 7-dream concept is really useful, but the delivery system is likely more successful in a country like the United States, where people love to have the product directly deliver at their homes. Seven eleven in the United States it is the second largest market in the world for seven eleven. Even if at the beginning several 7-eleven were shut down. The number of retail stores grown after 1998, because the distribution structure was completely different from the Japanese system. In fact in the USA we can see that DSD (direct store delivery) are pretty common, it was awkward to see that in Japan. The fresh products obliged 7-eleven to use CDCs (Combined distribution centers), because it was super important to be able to deliver real fresh products like sandwiches, bakery, and bread in time to the stores. At this time Seven Eleven tried to introduce a new concept in the convenience store system, they wanted to be different than a normal gas station.

Fear and Hope in Marigolds :: Literary Analysis, Eugenia Collier

Eugenia Collier’s â€Å"Marigolds† is a memoir of a colored girl living in the Great Depression. The story does not focus on the troubles society presents to the narrator (Elizabeth), but rather is focused on the conflict within her. Collier uses marigolds to show that the changes from childhood to adulthood cause fear in Elizabeth, which is the enemy of compassion and hope. â€Å"Marigolds† is about change. Collier chose a â€Å"fourteen-going-on-fifteen† (1) year old girl because the transition from childhood to adulthood adds layers of conflict to the story. The initially obvious conflict is that of the woman and child inside Elizabeth. She represents the child when she pulls up the marigolds: â€Å"The fresh smell of early morning and dew-soaked marigolds spurred me on as I went tearing and mangling and sobbing† (5). She (as the child) is struggling inwardly against being a woman. At the end of her rampage, she is â€Å"more woman than child† (1), and the child in her loses the battle. As a woman, she wins â€Å"a kind of reality which is hidden to childhood† (5). The second conflict is also symbolic. Elizabeth represents fear. She has the feeling that â€Å" something old and familiar [is] ending and something unknown and therefore terrifying [is] beginning† (1). The marigolds represent hope. The reason for her â€Å"great impulse towards destruction† (4) was a combination of fear for the future and bitterness towards the past. In this conflict, fear wins because Miss Lottie â€Å"never [plants] marigolds again† (5). The third conflict is the most important. It takes place inside of Elizabeth and is also between fear and hope. At the end of the story, fear may win symbolically, but hope wins inside of Elizabeth: â€Å"In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion† (5). Not only does Collier use age to create depth of conflict, but she also uses Elizabeth’s attitude. The first conflict (the transition from childhood to adulthood) could stand by itself. If Collier had created an optimistic character it would not have allowed Elizabeth to have a struggle between fear and hope. By creating a pessimistic character, Collier shows that she is bitter and fearful. That is evident in her statement that her â€Å"hatred of [poverty] was still the vague, undirected restlessness of a zoo bred flamingo who knows that nature created him to fly free† (1).

The State of Florida

The State of Florida has a professional body that implements the legislations that pertain to the practice of mental health counseling in the state. The Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy & Mental Health Counseling award licenses to mental health professionals who seek to practice in the state of Florida. The board determines whether the educational credentials, training and experience of the applicant pass the standards and requirements set by the board and the legislated regulation of mental health professionals. The board also has the authority to suspend and revoke licenses when the professional has been found to have committed actions which violates the ethical guidelines identified by the board. According to the State of Florida’s statute of clinical counseling and psychotherapy (State of Florida, 2007), the legislation of regulating and professions and occupations prevents the unqualified mental health professionals from practicing in Florida and protects the public from poorly trained professionals who may become threat to the health and well-being of the public. The state has recognized that the quality of life at present has been undergoing changes and that emotional and psychological health is directly related to physical health. It is presumed that the public needs qualified mental health professionals who could provide services to the public in order to maintain their mental health, thus qualified professionals should be given the recognition and authority to engage in legitimate practice. Becoming a duly licensed mental health professional would imply that the state recognizes one’s ability and skills and the public would be assured that they will be getting quality care. The state categorizes the mental health professionals according to clinical social work, marriage and family therapy and mental health counseling. The distinctions are made to clearly identify the area of specialization and clientele of the said professions, although a dual license is available for those who are qualified to practice in two of the three categories. The licensure requirements for mental health counseling are different for students who have undergone training in a Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited institutions and for non-CACREP institutions. Aside from the completion of a master’s degree in mental health related courses, the applicant must also have about 2 years of post-master’s experience in the field of counseling under a licensed supervisor. The non-CACREP graduate must satisfy the required hours and units to meet the required instruction and training on counseling theories and practice, human growth and development; diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology; human sexuality, group theories and practice, individual evaluation and assessment, career and lifestyle assessment, research and program evaluation, social and cultural foundations, counseling in community settings and substance abuse and in ethical, legal and professional standards (floridashealth.com). The requirements for licensing in social work and marriage and family therapy also specifies the hours and units of graduate work and courses in the specific field. An integral requirement is the completion of the internship hours under a certified supervisor in the said specialization. With this in mind, I found that the university curriculum matches the required training and education that the state licensing asks for and I was happy to note that the university is also CACREP accredited indicating that I just need to complete all the required courses and practicum and I can probably apply for the licensure. At present I have no plans of pursuing a doctoral degree in mental health counseling, I think I am more inclined to finish this master’s degree at the moment. I am 43 years old and I have 3 kids which mean that I do not have the energy to go through another 3 years for the doctoral degree. However, I am still open to the idea if after this degree I might change my mind and get that Ph.D. References Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy & Mental Health Counseling (2004). floridashealth.com Retrieved October 17, 2007 from http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/491/index.html 2007 Florida Statutes, Chapter 491 Clinical and Counseling and Psychotherapy Services, Retrieved October 17, 2007 from http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0491/SEC002.HTM&Title=-%3E2007-%3ECh0491-%3ESection%20002#0491.002 Â   Â   Â  

Topcoder Case Study

If you were a senior manager at TopCoder, what are the main capabilities you would need to develop to succeed at running the firm? Are these capabilities similar or unique from managing a more traditional firm In order to develop and execute the highly non-traditional business approach and vision of TopCoder, the senior management has to regularly challenge existing industry practices and innovate better methodologies to improve the quality of deliverables to the client. . Since the business model for TopCoder is highly reliant upon participation from the develop community they need to keep a continuous track of the activities in their forum and need to devise the competition in such a way that it attracts more and more better quality coders. To make this happen, the senior management has to develop high level of marketing skills so that they can promote their product and keep the coders interested. 2.The main challenge which company faces is that though the customers are getting hig h quality defect free products in a short span of time they are usually suspicious of the product quality since they do not have any relationships and in person/on call interaction with the developer community. Due to this suspicious outlook of the customers, the management needs to have high level of negotiation and convincing skills so that they can keep the customers. 3. Software product requires regular maintenance and updation after certain period of time and thus vendor selection for development is a long term investment.Now, the customer knows that the developer community of TopCoder is usually interested in complexity of the competition and intellectually challenging tasks and thus the top coders in the community might not take up such tasks. Thus, it becomes very important for TopCoder management to keep the clients interested. 4. The TopCoder community is innovation and competition driven, thus managing innovative and creative people who can be blunt and too direct to the customers may diminish and even destroy the reputation of company with he customer thus they need to be capable to handling not only the customer but the coders, who are primarily independent and can move out at any given time, given a better opportunity Most of the capabilities required by the senior management at TopCoder are rather similar to managers at a more traditional IT company, but the fact that they have to manage both the customer relationships, as well as the virtually located coder community, which can be challenging.Also, they have to additionally handle the feedback from both these communities and have to keep a balance between these two parties, which I not desired to such an extreme from a normal IT manager. What are barriers to entry in this type of a business? TopCoder is competing with in the tough and saturated space of IT Product development and Services. Gaining a market share in the high tech industry with already established and trusted brands along with re latively newer but technologically advanced businesses is a mammoth task. The entry barriers are the result of competitive behavior by existing businesses within the marketplace.TopCoder faces a variety of entry barriers that must be overcome or adapted to in order for its non-traditional business approach to create trust and standing with the customers and gaining a foothold within any given marketplace. According to the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the most common entry barriers are: 1. Established businesses attempt to prevent new competitors from entering their market because they could lose business and profits. 2. Absolute cost and capital advantages of existing business 4. An existing large company with high bench strength is more capable to cope ith new competitors by developing high complexity products at a lesser cost than a new company. 4. High entry barriers present a difficult challenge for new businesses to overcome to be profitable in the market. If t he barriers are too high, incumbent businesses in the market have a distinct advantage over any new entrant which can prevent the new business from being a significant threat to their market position 5. There can be many customers, who prefer contracts of multiple projects with an established brand which may prevent them to source their requirements to a relatively smaller new company, 6.Several times the processes and specialized business knowledge available with established companies are aligned with the processes and business needs of the customer and they prefer to work with each other. 7. Having worked in multiple projects together and knowing the quality of deliverables customers develop a preference to certain companies 8. Some customers, such as banks, have a lot of sensitive and secure data which they want to share with only already established and trusted IT firms 9. Usually high performing IT firms have a highly sophisticated infrastructure and quality control mechanism i n place.

Factor Analysis Essay Example

Factor Analysis Essay Example Factor Analysis Essay Factor Analysis Essay Factor Analysis Introduction Basic Concept of Factor Analysis Factor analysis is a statistical approach to reduce a large set of variables that are mostly correlated to each other to a small set of variables or factors. It is also used to explain the variables in the common underlying factors. (Hair et al, 1998) Malhotra, 2006 mentioned that factor analysis is also an interdependence technique that both dependent and independent variables are examined without making distinction between them Conducting Factor Analysis 1. Formulate the problem In this research, researcher’s objective is to determine the factors that influence customers’ satisfaction with their internet service provider in Malaysia such as Streamyx, Digi Broadband, Maxis Broadband, P1 and others (Malaysia Central, 2011). Mall intercept was used to interview a total of 30 respondents at Midvalley Megamall. Questionnaires were distributed and respondents are required to show their degree of agreement with the statements below whereby means very strongly disagree and means very strongly agrees: [pic] [pic] Figure 1. 1: Input in SPSS . Is the data appropriate? a) The correlation matrix Base on the data above, the correlation matrix was run to examine if the factor analysis is appropriate. Variables opt to be inter-related in order to be suitable to conduct a factor analysis. In other words, if all the variables have nothing in common, they can’t be analyzed into common factor. Hair et al, 1998 indicates that rule of thumb for factor analysi s is a considerable correlation of 0. 3. Field, 2009 has emphasized that if there is any value greater then 0. 9, the variables may be omitted. According to the result, V3 (quality support), V5 (sincere interest in problem solving), V6 (prompt service), V7 (willingness to help), V8 (politeness) and V9 (knowledgeable) have high correlations about more than 50% (as highlighted in yellow) All the 5 variables may be inter-related under the same factor. |Figure1. 2: Correlation Matrix | | | |Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. |. 55 | | | | | |Bartletts Test of Sphericity |Approx. Chi-Square |166. 649 | | |df |36 | | |Sig. |. 000 | 3. Method of Factor Analysis After examining the suitableness to apply factor analysis in these data, right method of factor analysis would be selected. There are two approaches are the principal components analysis and common factor analysis. Malhotra 2006 indicates that principal components analysis takes into account the total variation of the data to generate the factor. In this research, principal component analysis is employed as the objective is to identify least number of factors to explain a maximum variance. a) Communalities Figure 1. 4 below shows the table of communalities before and after extraction. The initial assumption of principal component analysis is that all variance is common. Hence, the communalities equal to 1 before extraction. (Field, 2009) The extraction explains the common variance of the data which show researcher the relationship of the variables with each others. So for example, 72. 3% of the variance related with V1 is common or shared. In this research, all 9 variables have accounted high value, hence, they fit well with the factor solution and none of them would be dropped from the analysis. Field 2009 mentioned that communalities after extraction to be of value above 0. 5. |Figure 1. 4: Communalities | |Initial |Extraction | |V1 |1. 000 |. 723 | |V2 |1. 000 |. 894 | |V3 |1. 000 |. 760 | |V4 |1. 000 |. 837 | |V5 |1. 000 |. 775 | |V6 |1. 000 |. 788 | |V7 |1. 000 |. 807 | |V8 |1. 000 |. 771 | |V9 |1. 000 |. 818 | |Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. | b) Eigenvalues In addition to the Principal Component Analysis, researcher would take into account the Eigenvalue which signify how much each factor explains towards total variance (Malhotra, 2009). At this stage, research would look into initial Eigenvalues. At the preliminary stage, the Eigenvalues will have 9 linear components which are as many factors as the variables. The results also display the percentage of variance explained, so for example factor 1 explains 48. 796 of the total variance. SPSS will then remove the eigenvalues less than 1 and only remain 3 factors which the column is labeled as ‘Extraction sums of Squared Loading’. Subsequently, SPSS generated the 3rd column which is rotated eigenvalue. Before rotation, factor 1 has explained greater variance. For the subsequent steps, researcher would look into several considerations of Eigenvalues in order to find out the numbers of factors that should be used in this analysis. |Figure 1. 5: Total Variance Explained | |Component |Initial Eigenvalues |Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings |Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings | | | . Determine the Number of Factors At this point, researcher would determine how many factors to explain the maximum variance. Malhotra, 2009 has specify 6 methods which are base on scree plot, eigenvalues, percentage of variance, significance test, split half reliability, and a prior determination. In this analysis, researcher has chosen 4 methods to determine the number of method. a) A Priori Determination This method is used when the researcher has prior knowledge of the number of factor that can be extracted beforehand. Hence, this ou tcome may be observed from the correlation matrix (Figure 1. ). There are possibilities that V3, V5, V6, V7, V8 and V9 will be one factor and hence, the remaining variables may be categorized another factor. Besides, researcher may denote the specific number of factors he or she wants. In this case, there are three factors is identified. b) Determination Based on Eigenvalues There is a criteria that researcher will to take into account when basing on Eigenvalues. Aaker et al, 2009 signify that factors with Eigenvalues that is lesser than 1. 0 will be ignored and excluded from the model. Hence, base on Figure 1. 5, only 3 factors is retained. Malhotra, 2009 adds on that the factors with Eigenvalues less than 1. 0 is as equal to single variable. c) Determination Based on Scree Plot A scree plot is plotted with Eigenvalues on the y-axis against the number of factors in x-axis. In general, the plot will show a distinct break with a steep slope or inflexion point on the curve due to the large Eigenvalues and the curve will tail off with the small Eigenvalues. The inflexion point represents the number of factors to be included according to experimental evidence (Malhotra, 2009). However, Malhotra (2009) notify that the scree plot may have more factors than the Eigenvalue criterion. As a result, Figure 1. 6 illustrates that three factors should be included in the model. [pic] Figure 1. 6: Scree Plot d) Determination based on Percentage of Variance In order to identify the number of the factors extracted, the cumulative percentage of variance extracted by factors should achieve a satisfactory level which is 60 percent. (Aaker et al, 2009). Therefore, referring to Figure 1. 5, the number of factors determined is two at 67. 476%. The satisfactory level (60%) falls in component 2 and confirms 2 factors. Figure 1. 7 is a summary of result of all the methods above. The result has shown that three factors would be a reasonable conclusion for factors to be included in the model. This is due to Eigenvalues result will be taken greater consideration than others determination even though determination base on cumulative percentage variance indicates 2 factors. |Method |Observation |Decision | |A Priori |Correlation matrix |3 factors | |Eigenvalue |Eigenvalue ; 1. |3 factors | |Scree Plot |Distinct break of scree |3 factors | |Cumulative percentage variance |Marginal % gain in variance |2 factors | Figure 1. 7: Summary of Numbers of Factor Determination 5. Factor Rotation Figure 1. 8 shows the component matrix which is also known as the unrotated factor matrix in factor analysis. The unrotated factor matrix denotes the relationship between the factors and individual variables. For example the factor loading V1 (Connection Speed) has large value of 0. 836 indicates that connection speed is closely related with the factors. As the factors are correlated with many variables, it is rarely that the results can be interpreted, even though the unrotated factor matrix shows the correlation between the factors and the variables. For instance, V2 and V4 are loading on two factors. So this makes researcher difficult to interpret the factors. Therefore, it is made easy for researcher to interpret the matrix generated if the factors are rotated. Figure 1. 9 shows the rotated component matrix. So what does it means by rotating the factors? The rotation is known as orthogonal rotation when the axes are retained at the correct angles (Malhotra, 2009). In this case, researcher has chosen the most commonly method which is the varimax procedure which boost interpretability by minimizing number of variables loading on a factor. Both unrotated and rotated component is set as not showing any loading lower than 0. 3 as it is insignificant for the model. The result of Figure 1. 9 shows three factors are extracted. It is clearly shown that V3, V5, V6, V7, V8 and V9 load highly on Factor 1. Although V3 and V5 load on more than one factor, it is significant that the loading value on Factor 1 is higher as compared. On the other hand, the loading for V1 may be uncertain. However, looking into various areas, V1 as connection speed seem to be related to V2 (Easy to connect). Hence, V1 with higher loading and V2 are correlated with Factor 2. In that case, V4 (Billing) only is loaded in Factor 3. |Figure 1. 9: Rotated Component Matrixa | | |Component | | |1 |2 |3 | |V1 | |. 648 |. 40 | |V2 | |. 942 | | |V3 |. 813 |. 308 | | |V4 | | |. 910 | |V5 |. 753 |-. 339 |. 307 | |V6 |. 872 | | | |V7 |. 898 | | | |V8 |. 873 | | | |V9 |. 898 | | | |Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. | |Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. |a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations. | | | |Figure 1. 8: Component Matrixa | | |Component | | |1 |2 |3 | |V1 | |. 836 | | |V2 | |. 799 |-. 493 | |V3 |. 800 | | | |V4 | |. 508 |. 757 | |V5 |. 768 | |. 416 | |V6 |. 869 | | | V7 |. 897 | | | | V8 |. 874 | | | |V9 |. 901 | | | |Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. | |a. 3 components extracted. | 6. Interpret Factors Interpretation can be done by identifying the variables which have high loadings on the same factor (Malhotra, 2009). From the Rotated Component Matrix, Factor 1 has high coefficient with V3 (quality support), V5 (sincere interest in solving problem), V6 (prompt service), V7 (wiliness to help), V8 (politeness) and V9 (knowledgeable). All this variables are related to customer service which is the supporting service element. Therefore, Factor 1 is labeled as the supporting service. On the other hand, Factor 2 has high coefficient with V1 (connection speed) and V2 (easy to connect). Both variables are the core service of an internet service provider (ISP). Thus, Factor 2 is labeled as Core Service. Lastly, Factor 3 only has high coefficient with V4 (billing) and thus the factor is labeled as Facilitating Service (Billing). (Referring to Figure 1. 10) Figure 1. 10: Factor Labeling Supporting Service |Core Service |Facilitating Service | | |V1 (connection speed) | | | |V2 (easy to connect) | | |V3 (quality support) | | | | | |V3 (billing) | |V5 (sincere interest in solving problem) | | | |V6 (prompt service) | | | |V7 (wiliness to help) | | |V8 (politeness | | | |V9 (knowledgeable) | | | 7. Determine the Model Fit The determination of the model fit is the last step of factor analysis. This can be done by examining the difference between the observed correlation and the reproduced correlation. The difference is known as residual (Malhotra, 2009). Therefore, Malhotra, 2009 indicated that if there are more than 50% of residuals exist, the factor model is a poor fitting model. Examining the upper triangle of residual in Figure 1. 11, there are 21 (58%) of non-redundant residuals with absolute values greater than 0. 05. As a result, the factor model provides poor fitting to the data. Reconsideration towards the model needs to be taken. This issues occurs in this case might be due to small sample size of 30 or respondent bias. Hence, the model can be enhanced by increasing the sample size. |Figure 1. 11: Reproduced Correlations | | | |a. Reproduced communalities | |b. Residuals are computed between observed and reproduced correlations. There are 21 (58. 0%) nonredundant residuals with absolute values greater than 0. 05. | Conclusion In conclusion, factor analysis has reduced the data and summarizes the variables into 3 factors which are supporting service, core service and facilitating service. The method used, principals components analysis has determine the minimum number of factors which is three factors and yet explain as much as possible towards the variance. Regression Analysis Introduction Regression analysis is a statistical technique to analyze the relationship between a metric dependent variable (criterion variable) and one or more independent variables (predictor variables) (Malhotra, 2009). The aim for this procedure is to build a regression model or equation in relation to the dependent variable to independent variable(s) (Lind et al, 2010). In this case, multiple regression analysis is used when there are more than one independent variables. With the factors that were developed in Factor analysis, now the relationship between the dependent variables, V10 (Customer satisfaction) and three independent variables (Core services, Supporting Service, and Facilitating Services) In general, a multiple regression equation for predicting Y can be expressed a follows: (Berger, 2003) [pic] Conducting multiple regression analysis 1. State the Objectives The objective of this analysis is to predict the customer satisfaction towards ISP (Y) with the respect to the following independent variables (Xs): i. Supporting Services ii. Core Services iii. Facilitating Service 2. Plot the Scatter Diagram (Linearity) The relationship between variables can be determined through scatter diagram. It is plots the dependent variable on x-axis against the independent variable on y-axis. Plotting a scatter diagram may bring attention to the researcher to a pattern in the data and identifying possible problems (Malhotra, 2009) [pic] Figure 2. 1: Scatter Plot (Customer Satisfaction against Supporting Services) Figure 2. 1 has shown mere relationship between customer satisfaction against supporting services as it is complex to draw proper linear on the plot. [pic] Figure 2. 2: Scatter Plot (Customer Satisfaction against Core Services) Figure 2. shows similar result as the previous relationship that it has little relationship between customer satisfaction and supporting services. The number of outliers seems to be more extreme in this case. [pic] Figure 2. 3: Scatter Plot (Customer Satisfaction against Facilitating Service) Figure 2. 3 shows rather better result than the previous relationship that researcher can draw a straight line relationship between customer satisfaction and facilitating services. Base on the 3 scatter plot of different variables, there isn’t clear relationship towards the customer satisfaction. However, the plot may not be able to show clear linear relationship between variables as the sample size taken is only 30. Different results may occur if another 30 respondents is examined. In addition, this issue may be due to the sample size is base on convenient sampling and bias respondents. Figure 2. 4 below study the relationship between the three variables on hand. For example, if there is any variable that is highly related with another variable, one of them may be removed to create a better result in regression. According to Pearson Correlation below, there are mere relationships between supporting service and core services which is only 0. 005. Likewise, supporting services has small negative relationship with facilitating service. Lastly, the core services is about 27% towards facilitating services which is still consider as slightly related. |Figure 2. Correlations | | | |Supporting_ |Core_ |Facilitating_ | | | |Services |Services |Service | |Supporting_Services |Pearson Correlation |1 |. 005 |-. 056 | | |Sig. (2-tailed) | |. 978 |. 69 | | |N |30 |30 |30 | |Core_Services |Pearson Correlation |. 005 |1 |. 273 | | |Sig. (2-tailed) |. 978 | |. 144 | | |N |30 | 30 |30 | |Facilitating_Service |Pearson Correlation |-. 056 |. 273 |1 | | |Sig. (2-tailed) |. 769 |. 44 | | | |N |30 |30 |30 | Figure 2. 5 is a method which researcher used to cross check the variables entered into SPSS system. Listed variables are the independent variables which would influence the dependent variables which is the customer satisfaction. Incorrect input in the independent variables and dependent variables may causes error in output and mistake interpretation. |Figure 2. 5 Variables Entered/Removed | |Model |Variables Entered |Variables Removed |Method | |1 |Facilitating_Service, Supporting_Services, |. Enter | | |Core_Servicesa | | | |a. All requested variables entered. | 3. Estimate the Regression Model At this point, stepwise regression which is a procedure that the independent variables entered or removed from the regression equation one at a time is used in this analysis. There are several methods that can be used which include forward inclusion, backward elimin ation and stepwise solution. Backward elimination will be employed as all independent variables are included in the equation and the variable is removed one at a time. (Malhotra, 2009) a) Overall Fit of the Model Figure 2. is a summary of model which R denotes the correlation coefficient between independent and dependent variables (Malhotra, 2009). The result shows that 66. 5% of the independent variables (Facilitating Service, Supporting Services, and Core Services) correlated to customer satisfaction. Subsequently, the R-square signify how much the independent variables explain the variation of the dependent variables. The value indicates 0. 443 which interpret that 44. 3% of the total variation of customer satisfaction is accounted by the variation of the predictors. The models points out predictors explain 37. 9% which means 62. 1% of the variation in customer satisfaction is not explained. Hence, there opt to be other variables that influence the satisfaction. This issue occurs might be due to the small sample size. By increasing the sample size, the value of ‘r’ may increased to at least 0. 6 |Figure 2. 6 Model Summaryb | |Model |R |R Square |Adjusted R Square |Std. Error of the Estimate | |1 |. 665a |. 443 |. 379 |. 83194 | |a. Predictors: (Constant), Facilitating_Service, Supporting_Services, Core_Services | |b. Dependent Variable: Customer_Satisfaction | b) ANOVA Table With the model on hand, researcher will use the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to check if the model considerably good degree of ‘best guess’ the outcomes (Field, 2008). Referring to the result of ANOVA has generated F at 6. 889 with the significant level of 0. 001. This shows that the model can predict the outcome of the customer satisfaction significantly well. |Figure 2. 7 ANOVAb | |Model | |b. Dependent Variable: Customer_Satisfaction | |Regression Coefficients | |Figure 2. Regression Coefficientsa | |Model | At this step of the analysis, Figure 2. 6 shows the details of the model parameters with the beta values and significance of each variable. (Field, 2009) Before building any equation model base on the regression coefficients, the significant value of each variable is first taken into considerations. The t-statistic tests the null hypothesis that the b is zero. If researcher fail to reject the hypothesis, it indicates that the independent variable contribute si gnificantly to the customer satisfaction. The variable, facilitating service is at significant level of 0. 30 which is less than 95% confident level. This has indicated that the facilitating service is not important towards the customer service. Hence, this variable would be removed and regression analysis is rerun. As a result, facilitating service is removed and only left two variables which are shown as below (Figure 2. 7) |Figure 2. 9: Variables Entered/Removed (with Facilitating Service Removed) | |Model |Variables Entered |Variables Removed |Method | |1 |Core_Services, Supporting_Servicesa |. |Enter | |a. All requested variables entered. After removing the facilitating service from the model, R results shows that 62. 5% of the core and supporting service is related to the customer satisfaction. Figure 2. 10 shows that there is a slight decrease of R and R-square as compared to before removing which may indicate that facilitating service explain not much towards customer satisf action. a. Overall fit of the model with Facilitating Service Removed |Figure 2. 10: Model Summary with Facilitating Service Removed | |Model |R |R Square |Adjusted R Square |Std. Error of the Estimate | |1 |. 625a |. 390 |. 345 |. 85401 | |a. Predictors: (Constant), Core_Services, Supporting_Services | |b. Dependent Variable: Customer_Satisfaction | b. ANOVA Table with Facilitating Service Removed Figure 2. 11 shows a similar result as before omitting the facilitating service. The model has a good prediction of the outcome of customer satisfaction. |Figure 2. 1: ANOVA with Facilitating Service Removed | |Model | |b. Dependent Variable: Customer_Satisfaction | c. Regression Coefficients with Facilitating Service Removed After deleting the facilitating service (Figure 2. 12), researcher can observe the relationship between customer satisfaction and independent variables (supporting services and core services) from the b value. Deleting the facilitating service has made changes towards the values of b as compared to the earlier result. Thus, the core service has a beta value of 0. 492 larger than the supporting service of 0. 366. This would indicate that the core service which is the connection related variables would have a greater impact on the customer satisfaction over the supporting service (customer service). In addition, both independent variables have positive relationship with the customer satisfaction as the b value is positive. Thus, when the supporting services or core services increases, the customer satisfaction would increase as well. Moreover, Collinearity Statistics column helps to identify multicollinearity. As a rule of thumb, if the value of tolerance is below 0. 20, multicollinearity is a problem. The higher the correlation between independent variables, the smaller the value of tolerance becomes. Field, 2009) On the other hand, variance inflation factor (VIF) value has always been greater than or equal to 1. If the value of VIF is high, there is high multicollinearity and instability of the b and beta coefficients (Field, 2009). After deleting the unwanted variables, the tolerance value and VIF value and improved. Hence in this case, there isn’t a problem for multicollinearity. |Figure 2. 12: Regression Coefficientsa with Facilitating Service Removed | |Model | d. Collinearity Diagnostics Figure 2. 13 also helps indicate if there is any problem with multicollinearity. There isn’t very low Eigenvalue and high condition index; hence, they might be no indication of problem with multicollinearity |Figure 2. 13 Collinearity Diagnosticsa | |Model |Dimension |Eigenvalue |Condition Index |Variance Proportions | | | 4. Interpret Regression Variate With the current result, both variables seem to be contributed significantly to the model. And so, linear relationship equation can be generated with two independent variables: Y = ? + ? 1X1 + ? 2X2 The appropriate model will show as below when the ? is substitute with the value in Figure 2. 12: Customer Satisfaction = 0. 652 + 0. 366 (Supporting Services) + 0. 492 (Core Services) Furthermore, the model explains that even there is no supporting services and core services, there will be a minor satisfaction level (0. 652) which is the constant ? value. 5. Validate the results In order to validate the results of regression analysis, the plot below is generated. The examination of residuals provides useful insights in determining the appropriateness of the underlying assumptions and the regression model fit. Figure 2. 14 show that the graph shows a quite clear linearity. Hence the results of regression may be valid [pic] Figure 2. 14 Conclusions Through the regression analysis, the model below is generated. Customer Satisfaction = 0. 652 + 0. 366 (Supporting Services) + 0. 492 (Core Services) In conclusion, base on the sample size of 30, it is clear that facilitating services (billing) is not significant towards the customer satisfaction. As a result, the supporting services and core services is important in influencing the variation of customer satisfaction of internet service provider. The model may not be generalized to the population as the sample size is small and data is collected base on convenient sampling.

British Petroleum History - Smart Custom Writing Samples

British Petroleum History - Smart Custom Writing Is Democracy The best Form of Government For All PeopleDemocracy is a widely acknowledged form of political government under which the power to govern is sourced from the people either by a conducting a direct referendum or through an election of various representatives. In the 5th century BC, the Greeks coined this system of government that vests all power to decide as to who shall rule squarely on the people. This system chiefly asserts on equality and freedom as its mainstream virtues. Therefore, citizens are viewed as having equal access to power and deemed as equal before the law. Therefore, every man is entitled to one vote with an equal weight. These rights and liberties practiced by the citizens within such a state are secured by a constitution. Although this system of government implies multiple freedoms to its citizens, it can end up failing and becoming cumbersome to the subjects if proper checks and balances are not put in place to constantly keep the leaders in track. Th erefore, an in-depth analysis of democracy has been carried out herein by evaluating the pros and cons of this system. (Strong, 1998) There are numerous merits as to why a democracy should be the system of choice in governance. First, smooth transitory changes can take place in government without violence. This is enabled through free and fair elections whereby the citizens determine the ruling authority by simple majority. Secondly, democracy prevents monopoly of any one ruling authority. This is since the incumbent government has to compete with other parties and personalities after expiration of its term. This therefore ensures that the ruling authority works for the people and towards their needs or leave office due to the failure to be re-elected. Thirdly, a democracy serves as motivational factor to the people. This is since the government is obligated towards its citizens. By carrying out of all its duties and goals set which are supported by the majority, the people feel appreciative and encouraged to work even harder towards attaining a better economic status. Finally, a democratic government makes the citizens have a feeling of participation and ‘ownership.’ They feel that the government has been legally elected by them and that it is theirs. They are able to express their freedom of choice and opinion through the ballot box or voting process. This has the capacity of enhancing nationalism. (Kukathas, 2004) Despite all these merits, there are various demerits and criticisms that have been put forward against democracies. These have been based on the irrational voters who are widely perceived that they are poorly informed on political, social and economic issues. First, democracies have been deemed to be politically unstable. Though the government is elected in by the majority, during its term, opponents and the media frequently challenge the ruling authority which could lead to a sudden change in the political support. This goes a long way in discouraging foreign investment and economic growth.   (Zorach, 2010) Secondly, democracies have been characterized by short terms. This is especially the case after elections and there is no clear winner leading to formation of coalitions due to the fact that democracies are not after the ideological match but the support of the majority. Any imbalance in the treatment of principal partners may lead to withdrawal from the coalition hence the collapse of the government leading to another election. Thirdly, the democratic governments are slow in responding to key issues in the society. This is because decisions are carried out through consensus rather than a unilateral system that would otherwise speed up decision making. Finally, governments elected into power during elections have been accused severally of vote buying and rigging. This is a way of appealing and influencing voters to vote for one particular party who might not be the most appropriate in ruling. A form of vote buying is the pork barrel whereby some political sectors are awarded specific special benefits whose costs are spread to all taxpayers. (Ratchasima, 2007) Despite multiple criticisms, democracies remain the most popular governments in the world. This is since they allow the citizens to openly express their views which are a vital need among humanity. Therefore, democratic governments can be viewed as the best form of governments.    References Kukathas, G. F. (2004). Handbook of Political Theory. Sage. Ratchasima, N. (2007, November 25). Democracy, and vote buying, returning to Thailand. The New York Times . Strong, M. H. (1998). Public Space and Democracy. University of Minnesota Press. Zorach, A. (2010, September 12). Democracy. Retrieved November 19, 2010

Depletion Of The Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Depletion Of The Environment - Essay Example The man has survived on this planet, even when the great dinosaurs had died out, become extinct. The instinct for survival is the strongest instinct in any living being. The man survived through the ages because of this and also using his superior intelligence and powers of adaptation. And now it is as if the man is bereft of his powers of reasoning, it’s as if he has suddenly succumbed to a death-wish. It’s as if, like the lemmings of the tundra, he is hell-bent on committing suicide en masse. If we go on in this crazy manner by the turn of the next century, mankind as species will have become extinct. If we take preventive action with immediate effect and a long-term perspective in view, we can arrest this problem now. But the tragic thing about it is the fact that there is only one group of people who can really help in this matter and those are the politicians. In a way, you cannot blame them. All their actions are governed by their tenure of five years sometimes ev en less in these times of political uncertainty. Their imagination refuses to stretch beyond this time limit, with the result that they cannot or are afraid to make any long-term decision. In the meantime, humanity suffers. In spite of the warnings of experts, these politicians refuse to see the problem that is facing all living beings, for what it is. And in collusion with some greedy, grabbing industrialists, they are hell bent on destroying life, the most fragile, the most divine of all things on earth.

Visiting a church Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visiting a church - Research Paper Example And the first time I bothered to read said â€Å"judgment must begin at the house of God,† apparently my good friend and neighbor is a staunch member of the church. We planned to visit the church but didn’t reveal any of my motives to him. We were to visit the church on a normal Sunday service on 20th April, 2012. This date was convenient in some way as it was â€Å"Easter Sunday† my neighborhood friend was going to provide me with all the information that I needed as he had a lot of faith in me and he perceived me as if I was going to join the church, and become part of the staunch congregation like him. Roman Catholic Church was located and planted as a traditional charismatic/evangelical congregation in the mid-1980s. By late 1990s the congregation had taken on what is commonly known as â€Å"seeker sensitive† model of doing church. I noticed that the demographic of Roman Catholic Church was primarily suburban, Caucasian, middle class individuals and families ranging in age from twenty to fifty year olds. Roman Catholic Church is part of the denomination that was birthed in the midst of the Church Growth Movement in the late 1970. I also observed that the church relates to the community in a good manner. The community at large felt affiliated so much to the church because as my neighbor friend told me, the church is a place of solution to human’s problem, and agency providing answers in specific contexts, not only spiritually, but politically, socially and otherwise. Roman Catholic Church has attracted all sort socio-economic classes. It was evident during my visit to the church that all form of classes is represented in the congregation from the upper, middle, and low class. Some sporty automobiles that were present at the parking lot were evident that there was upper class, and some of the congregation did not have any cars they either walked or used a public means to

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Drinking age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Drinking age - Essay Example It is stated in the act, along with other enforcements that the states should legislate or enforce the minimum legal drinking age to be twenty one years old. It is also stated under the Federal Aid Highway Act, that the state that fails to mandate or enforce the twenty one years old law of drinking age, is at risk of losing ten percent of the federal funding for highway appointments. There have been several controversies related to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. The law was effective in 1984, when President Reagan signed this law for implementation, many people are convinced that the most influential supporter for the act was Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) (Stefan, K, pp.25). Even if it is true or not, there is one thing very apparent that was the act was imposed as a law due to extraordinary support from the groups of special interests among which MADD was one of them. From a very long time, drinking has been considered as a government lack of control issue. Du ring the year 1919, a prohibition was effective which imposed a ban on everyone from drinking alcohol regardless of age group. It was considered as a criminal offense to manufacture, possess, sell or drink alcoholic beverages. The prohibition was lifted by the year 1933, and once again the consumption and possession alcoholic drink was legal. It was official prompted to many states, cities and municipalities that they control drinking by creating legislation. Through several studies, it is suggested that the brain of a youngster is not completely developed until the age of twenty one that is the reason why the brain of youngster is affected differently as compared to the effects on an adult. After several discussions it was settled that the age of twenty one was ideal for legal drinking age and an act was passed, it was required by the states to increase the age of legal drinking to twenty one otherwise their percentage of funding for highways will be reduced by ten percent. The tim e duration provided for implementation was two years. Some of the states enforced the law, some states did not but at present all the states have implemented the law. There are additional exceptions available in the Federal law, if youngsters want to pursue employment in a place where there is dealing of alcoholic beverages. An eighteen year old is eligible to work in a restaurant, bar and serve alcohol at a liquor store, the possession of alcohol in such case is legal, but they are not allowed to consume it. In some states the prohibition are more specifically defined as compared to others, whereas some municipalities have no legislation defined in this regard related to the legal age of drinking. To date there has been a lot of confusion raised with regards to what is allowed and what is not, as the implementation varied from state to state, but it is better to be precautious by being safe and not consuming or possessing alcohol beverages under the age of twenty one. United States of America has implemented highest age of legal drinking as compared to all other countries. Russia, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and England all these countries have the legal drinking age eighteen. Portugal, Greece, Germany, Italy and few other countries have allowed the young citizen to consume beer at a young age of sixteen, whereas some of the countries have no defined

Challenges Facing The Decision-Making Processes Among Leaders In Research Paper - 3

Challenges Facing The Decision-Making Processes Among Leaders In Learning Institutions - Research Paper Example The researcher states that leaders of educational institutions are therefore compelled to adopt and sustain their managerial and decision-making processes to be able to give guidance to their subordinates as well as to their student body in order to promote a successful school culture. In addition, the making of decisions in diverse learning institutions has to take place through delegation of roles to various groups of individuals in the teaching faculty and/or student body known as ‘task teams/groups’. Some of the leadership roles may be external such as exhibited by a ‘Board of Governors’. Internal task teams are such as the ‘student committees’. The challenges and problems existing in the use of committee models and task groups in decision making are what informs my research topic ‘Challenges Facing The Decision-Making Processes Among Leaders In Learning Institutions’. I will consider some of the challenges that one is likely to meet when dealing with groups, especially in learning institutions. My purpose in my research proposal will be to come up with modalities of management essential in leadership and to further make a design that will assist in the running of task groups in view of enabling effective delivery of all the processes of delegation especially in areas where routine and decision making tools are always required. I chose this research topic because it will assist my leadership project in achieving my career goals and also in view that not all of us can be leaders, not at the same time anyway.

Consumers are Passive Victims Manipulated Into Buying Commodities They Essay

Consumers are Passive Victims Manipulated Into Buying Commodities They Cannot Resist - Essay Example This essay discusses and investigates the topic on why the purchasing habits of the consumers are heavily dependent on certain market parameters. Consumer power in the current marketing system is always a controversial one. Majority of the consumers all over the world are passive elements rather than active elements as far market is concerned. In fashion industry, the passive nature of the consumers is more evident. This essay refers to several examples such as: people normally take inspirations from celebrities while they take purchasing decisions in fashion industry. Products endorsed by the celebrities are moving rapidly towards the market than the products which do not have any such backing. In other words, the researcher states that people are blindly trusting the words of the celebrities and product manufacturers and they are not bothering much to research more about the authenticity of the offers put forward by the advertisers and marketers. However, no two individuals are ali ke: either physically or mentally and therefore it is not necessary that a product suited to one person may be suited to another person. To conclude the research, the author suggests his opinion on the topic that modern customers are not ready to accept such claims and they try to boost their image with the help of expensive products that were successfully advertised by celebreties. Long story short, majority of the current consumers are passive in nature while they take their purchasing decisions.

Drinking age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Drinking age - Essay Example It is stated in the act, along with other enforcements that the states should legislate or enforce the minimum legal drinking age to be twenty one years old. It is also stated under the Federal Aid Highway Act, that the state that fails to mandate or enforce the twenty one years old law of drinking age, is at risk of losing ten percent of the federal funding for highway appointments. There have been several controversies related to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. The law was effective in 1984, when President Reagan signed this law for implementation, many people are convinced that the most influential supporter for the act was Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) (Stefan, K, pp.25). Even if it is true or not, there is one thing very apparent that was the act was imposed as a law due to extraordinary support from the groups of special interests among which MADD was one of them. From a very long time, drinking has been considered as a government lack of control issue. Du ring the year 1919, a prohibition was effective which imposed a ban on everyone from drinking alcohol regardless of age group. It was considered as a criminal offense to manufacture, possess, sell or drink alcoholic beverages. The prohibition was lifted by the year 1933, and once again the consumption and possession alcoholic drink was legal. It was official prompted to many states, cities and municipalities that they control drinking by creating legislation. Through several studies, it is suggested that the brain of a youngster is not completely developed until the age of twenty one that is the reason why the brain of youngster is affected differently as compared to the effects on an adult. After several discussions it was settled that the age of twenty one was ideal for legal drinking age and an act was passed, it was required by the states to increase the age of legal drinking to twenty one otherwise their percentage of funding for highways will be reduced by ten percent. The tim e duration provided for implementation was two years. Some of the states enforced the law, some states did not but at present all the states have implemented the law. There are additional exceptions available in the Federal law, if youngsters want to pursue employment in a place where there is dealing of alcoholic beverages. An eighteen year old is eligible to work in a restaurant, bar and serve alcohol at a liquor store, the possession of alcohol in such case is legal, but they are not allowed to consume it. In some states the prohibition are more specifically defined as compared to others, whereas some municipalities have no legislation defined in this regard related to the legal age of drinking. To date there has been a lot of confusion raised with regards to what is allowed and what is not, as the implementation varied from state to state, but it is better to be precautious by being safe and not consuming or possessing alcohol beverages under the age of twenty one. United States of America has implemented highest age of legal drinking as compared to all other countries. Russia, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and England all these countries have the legal drinking age eighteen. Portugal, Greece, Germany, Italy and few other countries have allowed the young citizen to consume beer at a young age of sixteen, whereas some of the countries have no defined

Consumers are Passive Victims Manipulated Into Buying Commodities They Essay

Consumers are Passive Victims Manipulated Into Buying Commodities They Cannot Resist - Essay Example This essay discusses and investigates the topic on why the purchasing habits of the consumers are heavily dependent on certain market parameters. Consumer power in the current marketing system is always a controversial one. Majority of the consumers all over the world are passive elements rather than active elements as far market is concerned. In fashion industry, the passive nature of the consumers is more evident. This essay refers to several examples such as: people normally take inspirations from celebrities while they take purchasing decisions in fashion industry. Products endorsed by the celebrities are moving rapidly towards the market than the products which do not have any such backing. In other words, the researcher states that people are blindly trusting the words of the celebrities and product manufacturers and they are not bothering much to research more about the authenticity of the offers put forward by the advertisers and marketers. However, no two individuals are ali ke: either physically or mentally and therefore it is not necessary that a product suited to one person may be suited to another person. To conclude the research, the author suggests his opinion on the topic that modern customers are not ready to accept such claims and they try to boost their image with the help of expensive products that were successfully advertised by celebreties. Long story short, majority of the current consumers are passive in nature while they take their purchasing decisions.

Dystopian Elements and Basic Characteristics Essay Example for Free

Dystopian Elements and Basic Characteristics Essay A dystopia is an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. Dystopian literature shows us a nightmarish image of what might happen to the world in the future. Usually, the main themes of dystopian works are rebellion, oppression, revolutions, wars, overpopulation, and disasters. George Orwell depicts a dystopian world its citizens are constantly brainwashed and live in constant fear. In 1984, propaganda and lies are used to brainwash the citizens and control them. There are many elements of criticisms in this book, but I will be focusing on the Marxist, feminist, and psychoanalytic criticisms. Marxism was developed by Karl Marx in 1848 during the Red Revolution. Marxism is about having social and economic power. In 1984, there are three social classes. The Inner Party, The Outer Party, and the Proles. The Inner Party is the upper class, they have a lot more freedom than the Outer Party and the Proles. They make up 2% of the population and are the elite class. They get better things such as food, coffee, and cigarettes. The Outer Party is the middle class; they live in bad neighborhoods, and barely get any food. They make up 13% of the population. They are constantly watched by telescreens and can’t turn theirs off like the Inner Party can. The Proles are the lower class they do all the manual labor work they aren’t as watched by the Party as the Outer Party because the government doesn’t see them as a threat and they make up 85% of the population. However, everyone in Oceania lives in fear because The Party terrorizes them. The Party has three principles that they follow and everyone in Oceania have been brainwashed into believing: WAR IS PEACE, IGNORANCE IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. This is a form of ideology. In Marxism, ideology is a belief system and belief systems are products of cultural conditioning. In this case, The Party conditioned the people of Oceania into thinking that those three principles are true. The people of Oceania have been programmed into believing those Principles and believing in whatever Big Brother tells them to believe. They are not allowed to think for themselves or have their own opinions, and if they do they will end up getting killed. Oceania is a capitalist, totalitarian society because depending on what party you are in, that’s how you get treated. This is an example of classism. Classism is an ideology where youre prejudiced or in favor of someone depending on what social cl ass you are in. If you are a prole, you’re not looked at in the same way as a person in the Inner Party would be looked at. You would be deemed untrustworthy and you wouldn’t be able to have items like Inner Party people would. One of the core principles of Marxism is, society shapes our consciousness and that’s true. Society tells us what’s hot in fashion, what’s beautiful and what’s not and that shapes how people view themselves and others. In 1984, the government shapes the people’s consciousness by coming up with new words. Words such as, â€Å"doublethink†, â€Å"newspeak†, â€Å"stop crime†, etc. The Thought Police, Youth League, and Big Brother are some of the ways used to keep the people of Oceania in constant fear and keep them in line. Because of this, the people of Oceania suffer from â€Å"groupthink† which is a psychological condition that’s fueled by the Inner Party’s social and economic conditions. â€Å"Groupthink† shapes the lower classes beliefs that the Inner Party is always right. Big Brother is used as a tactic to put fear and paranoia in the people of Oceania’s heads that Big Brother is always watching them. That’s how the government control the people and shape their consciousness. The government does this, so the people will never want to speak out and voice their opinion on Big Brother, because if they do they’ll be considered a criminal, and they will always have complete control and dominance over the people of Oceania. Feminist criticism is a literary form of criticism that gives the perspective of writing from a feminist perspective. It’s a political form of literature that analyzes the questions of how male and females relate to each other and the world and how women are portrayed in literature. History shows that men consider women as â€Å"inferior† and because of that, the stereotype that women are weaker than men was created. Society taught itself that masculinity is related to the weakness of females. (Csaszar, 40). In 1984, Orwell reversed this way of thinking. He made the main character a weak man whose main purpose in life was to obey Big Brother. Orwell also uses compelling, stereotypical, female characters which drives the man to act. Even though the women in the book have a lack of power, they’re the only characters that have a strong influence over Winston which makes the female characters an important part of this book. In the begin and end of 1984, fear controls the main character. Winston is shown as weak and passive-aggressive. He goes to work and rewrites history and he obeys Big Brother. His only purpose is to serve society until he denies conformity later in the book. Winston would’ve continued to obey the government without question as well as lack masculinity if it weren’t for the women in his life. Winston’s mom, ex-wife, and Julia each played a role in Winston’s search for freedom. Winston feels guilty for what happened to his mother, and this is where we first see how women influence Winston (Whitney). Him wishing he could’ve helped his mom causes him to have rebellious thoughts. His ex-wife, Katherine, believed everything that The Party said, and this influenced Winston’s choices he makes throughout the book. Julia is the one character that influenced Winston the most. Julia’s influence on him made him rebel against Big Brother. She also m ade him realize how unhappy he was under Big Brother’s watch and that is the reason he starts to rebel. These women are also described in different ways to show how different their personalities are and show the influence they had on Winston. His mom was the first person to have an impact on Winston. She couldn’t stand up for herself and this showcases the â€Å"women are weak† stereotype and she died because of it. Winston feels guilty and believes he’s responsible for her death and he lets this guilt take over his thoughts. His ex-wife, Katherine, conforms to the servant stereotype. She was a beautiful woman, however, Winston hated her because of her obedience. She was considered the model citizen of The Party. Her talk of their â€Å"duty to the party† encouraged Winston’s rebellious thoughts and his thought crimes increased. All of these women had a huge impact on Winston, but the woman who influenced Winston the most was Julia. She is the ultimate influence that led to Winston’s fall. Julia is the opposite of Winston. She’s fearless, rebellious, and free-spirited, traits Winston wished he had and eventually he gains the courage he lacks. Julia becomes the stereotypical temptress who turns Winston into this brave new person. Whenever he’s around Julia, he’s able to share his hatred for the party and he thinks for himself. Orwell ends the book with, â€Å"He loved Big Brother† (Orwell, 370). By doing that, Orwell shows defeat that ultimately destroyed Winston. When Winston is with Julia, he had a sense of freedom and he was brave, but without her, he goes back to being an obedient citizen because, in the end, Winston doesn’t have anybody else but Big Brother. Orwell’s portrayal of women who fit into these stereotypical roles causes Winston to find himself. His purpose of serving society and obeying Big Brother was greatly influenced by the women in his life. Society destroyed him while women helped shape him into the man he is. Through the guilt he felt when he mom died, Katherine’s lack of emotion, and Julia’s love for rebellion, Winston learned the nature of masculinity for himself. In psychoanalytic criticism, we look at a book from a psychological perspective. Sigmund Freud created the principles of psychoanalysis in 1896. He believes that people are motivated by powerful, unconscious drives and conflicts. When reading through a psychoanalytic lens, the citizens of Oceania are the victims psychological manipulation. The party believes that as long as a person’s perception of the truth can be externally verified, then even a lie can become the truth. For example, one of The Party’s methods of control is Newspeak. The party invented Newspeak to control the way people think. If anyone should think for themselves, then that person has committed thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is a thought that doesn’t fit into Big Brother’s ideologies. This controls the people directly through the citizen’s actual thoughts and it also dictates them physically through how Big Brother determines if a citizen is committing a thought crime. Big Brother determines a thought crime by using telescreens that are placed throughout Oceania and they examine the reactions on the face of the people and what they say to find out how they feel about what Big Brother is doing. This controls the people because it makes them not display any opposition to the government. By doing this, fear is instilled in the people and this takes a psychological toll on them. Citizens are constantly reminded that Big Brother is watching them, and that also takes a toll on the people psychologically because they live in fear and paranoia. Another example of Big Brother controlling the people was by the way that he had children brought up. The government brought the children into the organization called the â€Å"Junior Spies†. Once the children were in this organization, they were trained and taught to betray their parents by being additional eyes and ears for Big Brother. This form of control psychologically manipulates families not to talk a bout anything that would display individuality. Big Brother controls the citizens by taking away the passion and the enjoyment out of sex as well. In Oceania, Big Brother establishes sex as something that should only be used for the reproduction to help populate Oceania. Sex isn’t supposed to be enjoyed and can only be done by specified members of the dinner party. Sex expresses individualism and free thought, so by manipulating the people do not like sex, they’re taking away the citizens individualism. Big Brother takes the problems in the society and uses them to say that other parties and cultures are the reasons for their faults. This creates hatred in the people and stirs up emotional responses against the other parties and cultures. The government does this in a way that’s similar to the propaganda tactics used by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin in Communist Russia. The most obvious way Big Brother psychologically manipulates the citizens is observed through the posters that the government hangs up. Throughout Oceania, there are posters that say, â€Å"Big Brother Is Watching You† This is a scare tactic that the government uses to put fear in the citizens of Oceania. Big Brother uses fear by creating a place in which the citizens are constantly reminded that they are being watched for disloyalty and other crimes. By using psychological manipulation, the citizens of Oceania are trapped in a place where they can’t think for themselves nor can they question the government, because if they do, they will die.

The Role Of Teacher in Written Feedback

The Role Of Teacher in Written Feedback Teacher written feedback plays an essential role in a students writing process. It helps students identify their own strengths and weaknesses, which, in case of the latter, will make students know how to go about improving themselves and become effective writers (Penaflorida, 2002, p. 364). According to Ferris (2002), teacher feedback, if addressed effectively, can also contribute to students overall second language acquisition. Important as teacher written feedback is, there have been several studies comprehensively dealing with the issue. Even with those that do, there exists a lack of consensus over such matters as what aspects teacher feedback should focus on, which forms of feedback are preferable to students, etc. In the context of teaching writing in Vietnam, few studies have been conducted on feedback in general and teacher written feedback in particular. The same situation could be seen at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities-Vietnam National University, Hanoi. In reality, neither an investigation into the current feedback giving practice nor students preferences for teacher written feedback has been carried out at the college. It is, therefore, an open question whether or not current teacher written feedback is beneficial to students at the college. All the aforementioned reasons urge the author to carry out the research entitled A study on teacher written feedback on 1st-year students writings at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities-Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This study is an attempt to examine the real situation of teacher written feedback at the CSSH and to propose some suggestions for the betterment of the current practice. The yielded results is hoped to serve as a useful source of reference for those who concern about the subject matter. I.2. Aims of the study This study is carried out with the aims to: investigate the current practice of teacher written feedback on 1st year students writings at the CSSH-VNU propose some recommendations for the betterment of teacher written feedback at the CSSH. I.3. Research questions In order to achieve the abovementioned aims, the study will be conducted to answer two research questions: In what ways is teacher written feedback given to the 1st-year-students writings at the CSSH VNU? What do 1st-year students at CSSH expect from teacher written feedback to make it more effective? I.4. Scope of the study The research will work on the current situation of teacher written feedback on the 1st-year student writings at CSSH-VNU. The subjects selected for this study are the 1st-year students who are studying English at college. Moreover, the research examines only teacher written feedback but not other types of feedback such as teacher-student conference or teacher taped comments, since teacher written feedback is the main type of feedback at the college. Chapter II: Literature Review This chapter, which reviews the overall background concerning teacher written feedback, will serve as the foundations based on which the study is carried out. II.1. Concept of teacher feedback in writing Concerning the matter of teacher feedback (or respond/commentary), there exist a vast number of definitions given by researchers. Keh (1990) considers feedback as any input from a reader to a writer with the effect of providing information to the writer for revision (p. 294). In other words, it is the comments, questions, and suggestions a reader gives a writer with the view to enhancing his/her writing. The concept of feedback given by Joe (2006) is probably one of the most comprehensive one: Feedback is an inseparable and recursive component of both the teachers instruction and the writing process. It represents a sense of audience and purpose in forming the on-going writing process, while establishing a concept of collaborative reader-editor relationship between teacher and student. The feedback from the reader-editor appears as input for further reexamination and revision of the prior written work by providing optimum opportunities to develop and refine ideas, and may take various forms such as conference and interview. (p. 53) This concept is considered the most thorough one that covers almost aspects of teacher feedback, namely, the positions of feedback in writing instruction and writing process, the relation of student-teacher in process writing, the forms of feedback, and the role of feedback in a writing process. Its thought will, therefore, be used thorough this study. II. 2. Role of teacher written feedback As mentioned above, teacher feedback plays an essential role in a writing process. The importance of teacher feedback can be aptly summed by Straub (1996) It is how we receive and respond to student writing that speaks loudest in our teaching (p.246). In the absence of a face to face verbal writing conference, written response is the only way in which teacher can respond to the individual needs of students. It is via the comments on their writing that students can identify their own strengths and weaknesses, which, in the case of the latter, will make the students know how to go about improving themselves and become effective writers (Penaflorida, 2002, p. 346). Therefore, feedback is considered, first of all, a pedagogical tool that helps enhance students writing competence. Moreover, according to Ressor, teacher feedback is believed to provide students with not only the incentive to improve but also the guidance about how to improve (as cited in Vengadasamy, 2002). Feedback, in this sense, adopts another function; that is, stimulating and motivating student to write. II.3. Features of good teacher written feedback What constitutes good teacher written feedback is a complicated issue. There is little consensus among researchers over the matter as in reality, different individuals may prefer different types of feedback. While some people enjoy negative and direct feedback, other may feel discouraged by the same feedback. Therefore, it is normal to see different sets of criteria for good teacher written feedback. According to Coffin et al. (2003, p. 101), three vital elements of a good feedback are positive comment, criticism and suggestion for improvements. The coexistence of positive comment and criticism, according to Ferris Hedgcock (1998), will bring about the best effects (p. 128). While positive comments can motivate writers, negative ones can constructively show them where they have gone wrong and what action they should take in order to improve their paper. A suggestion is also needed as a guideline for students to make revision. Notably, the aforementioned set of criteria only mentions the elements constituting good teacher feedback. Researchers on teacher feedback also list a large number of other criteria, among which is the one given by Leki (1992). According to this researcher, feedback is only good when teachers concentrate on the content along with a limited amount of feedback on grammar, punctuation, and spelling. According to Baechle Lian (1990) and Mastropiery Scruggs (1994) (as cited in Konold Miller, 2004), high-quality feedback should be timely, accurate, constructive, outcome-focused, encouraging and positive. What is more, good feedback must necessarily avoid unknown abbreviations, codes, ambiguous and unobtainable suggestions for improvement. This set of criteria, in comparison with the two sets mentioned above, is more sufficient since it covers nearly all aspects of good feedback, that is, the elements of good teacher written feedback, the tone of teacher feedback (encouraging and positive) as well as the practicality of the feedback (obtainable suggestions). The existence of different ways to define the criteria of good teacher written feedback indicates that there is no standard type of teacher feedback. It is, therefore, necessary that each teaching and learning environment carry out research to find out the types of feedback that suit their students most. II.4. Major issues of teacher feedback on student writing Providing effective feedback to students has been a matter of concern among writing teachers as well as researchers. A great number of questions have been asked: What should teacher comment on?, To which extent should feedback be?, Which types of comment are most effective? and so on. However, it is the fact that researchers have not reached a consensus over the answers to such questions. Within a small scale study, an overview of the literature of the two main issues, namely content and types of teacher written feedback will be discussed in the following part. II.4.1. Content of teacher written feedback Teachers have been faced with a constant question of what to focus on when giving feedback to student writing. Fathman and Whalley (1990, p.178) notes: much of the conflict over teacher response to written work has been whether teacher feedback should focus on form or content of the writing. Content, in their opinion, refers to comments on organization, ideas and amount of detail, while form involves comments on grammar and mechanical errors. Traditionally, teachers were inclined to identifying and correcting all the surface-level errors; i.e., errors on form (Sommers, 1982). Kepner (1991) explains that teacher corrects errors out of the fear that the erroneous structures would become fossilized in the students. However, the mere focus on form correction would have detrimental impact on student writing. That students receive a corrected draft from a teacher with red-ink correction all over the page would only add to their anxiety when dealing with another writing task. Moreover, a large amount of error correction may draw the students attention to form only but not to the important matter of developing the content (Sommers, 1982). This is because when teacher feedback focuses on form (grammar, spelling, etc.), many students will revise their writing by correcting the surface mistakes and will make few or no other changes. The result is that the students rewriting becomes grammar exercises rather than challenges to clarify meaning. In some other research, there seems an agreement that attention must paid to both content and form for the fact grammatical inaccuracies can have negative effect on the overall quality of the student writing (Raimes, 1992, p. 308). In short, what to feedback on remains a complex issue. Though many studies have been carried out on the issue, a consensus over the matter has not been reached. This indicates that further studies are needed in order to find out the answer to the problem. II.4.2. Types of teacher written feedback This part will present some major types of feedback: positive feedback negative feedback, direct feedback indirect feedback, marginal feedback end feedback. These types of feedback are discussed and compared in pair in a way that the differences between them, i.e., the advantages and disadvantages of one type over the other, are highlighted. II.4.2.1. Positive feedback versus a negative feedback In their studies, Fathman Whalley (1990) suggests that positive comments give students motivation to improve their writings. When students are told they are doing right, they feel motivated to write more and to write better. However, only positive comment is not sufficient enough to motivate students to improve their writing. According to Hyland and Hyland (2001), negative comments are more useful for many students who want their problems to be highlighted. Too much negative feedback, however, may adversely affect students writing. As they re-read the writing with red marks all over the page, students may feel discouraged and stop trying to correct the mistakes. All things considered, it is advisable that teachers get a balance between praise and criticism, since the combination of both kinds will bring about the best effects (Ferris Hedgcock, 1998, p. 128). II.4.2.2. Direct versus indirect feedback Direct feedback is teachers explicit written corrections in response to students errors. With direct feedback, students are expected merely to transcribe the teachers suggested corrections into their texts. Indirect feedback, on the other hand, is when the teacher alerts students to error using general comments, but gives students the opportunity to fix errors themselves (Ferris, 2002). In his study, Ferris (2002) shows that indirect feedback is more helpful to student writers in most cases because it leads to greater cognitive engagement, reflection, and guided learning and problem-solving. Since teachers only point out the mistakes (or suggest the way to correct them), students have to figure out the way to correct the mistakes on their own. This, in the long run, helps promote students thinking as well as the ability to self-edit their own writings. Moreover, when having to correct the mistakes by themselves, students normally remember the mistakes better; therefore, they are more likely to be able to avoid them in the future. Beneficial as indirect feedback to students, for mistakes that are too complicated, direct feedback proves better than indirect one because it saves students from discouragement when they could not solve the problems on their own. All things considered, it would be the best way that teachers combine both direct and indirect feedback when they respond to student writings. II.4.2.3. Marginal versus end feedback Marginal feedback is a kind of feedback that is written in the margin or between sentence lines of the students paper. By contrast, end feedback refers to the summary feedback at the end of the paper. According to Ferris and Hedgecock (1998), there is no conclusive evidence that either marginal or end comments are preferable or more effective. In reality, each type of feedback is used with a certain aim. While marginal comments are more suitable to respond to specific sections of the text, end comments are usually saved for more global concerns affecting the entire composition. To sum up, as the above literature indicates, there is no consensus over what constitutes effective feedback. As a result, in order for teachers to make full use of feedback, they need to adjust the types of comments to the certain kinds of students. Chapter III: Methodology This chapter, which introduces the methodology of the study, covers the research approach, the methods of data collection, and the methods of data analysis. III.1. Research approach A combination of both quantitative and qualitative method was utilized in this study so as to achieve the desired aim. Quantitative method realized by means of a questionnaire to students, proved to be appropriate because it was adequate to find objective answers to such questions as How is feedback given to the 1st-year student writings and What do students expect from their teacher written feedback?. Moreover, thanks to the large number of participants in the study, that is, 80 1st-year students, the information acquired is reliable and generalisable (Nunan, 1989, p.4). In this study, qualitative was also needed since one end of the research was to find out how teachers respond to their student writings and why they respond in such ways. Qualitative study is based mainly on three basic data gathering techniques, that is, participant observation, interview and document or artifact analysis. III.2. Methods of data collection III.2.1. Questionnaire The first method aims at collecting statistical data from students to answers two research questions: (1) In what ways is teacher written feedback given to the 1st-year-students writings at the CSSH VNU? and (2) What do 1st-year students at CSSH expect from teachers written feedback to make it more effective? The data gained not only provided the researcher with an overall understanding about the students opinion about current situation of teacher written feedback given but also some pedagogical implications for the practice of giving feedback at CSSH. The questionnaire included two main parts, namely, the current situation of teacher written feedback and students expectations of teacher written feedback. The subjects selected for the study include 80 freshmen who are in the second semester of the academic year 2009-2010 at CSSH-VNU. The questionnaires were distributed to respondents with the researchers presence so that clarification and disambiguation could be made timely. (A copy of the questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix A). The steps of conducting and distributing questionnaire can be illustrated as follows: Studied available documents and chose the most appropriate data Designed questionnaire Piloted questionnaires Revised questionnaires in terms of language as well as instructions so as to make it clear and reader-friendly Distributed questionnaires to 1st-year students at CSSH Gathered findings from respondents, analyzed and interpreted the data. III.2.2. Student writing analysis Analyzing student writings already responded by teachers served two main functions. First, it gave the researcher an in-depth look at how teacher written feedback is given to the 1st-year student writings. In addition, it provided materials for the interviews with the teachers. Three groups of students were randomly selected. From the four groups, 15 newly-commented writing papers were borrowed and analyzed. The steps of analyzing students writings can be illustrated as follows: Borrowed the writing papers from students Read students writing papers with the teachers written feedback Analyzed the teachers comments in terms of feedback content and types. By this way, the distinctive features of a certain teachers style of giving written feedback could be discovered. III.2.3. Semi-structure interviews In this study, semi-structure interviews with the teachers were used with the views to double-checking the information gained in the questionnaire. The situation of teacher written feedback was, therefore, looked into from two different angles, both from teachers and students perspectives. Three teachers working at CSSH were invited to take part in the interviews. This number was reasonable because if it was greater, the qualitative data would be too enormous to manage. The interviews were carried out informally in the teachers native language so as to elicit the most information from the teachers involved. During the interview, audio recorder was utilized. All the data were then transcribed and translated into English for data analysis. (The content of interview questions and Transcription of the interviews can be seen in Appendix B) In short, the combination of qualitative and quantitative method was utilized so as to yield the most information needed. At the same time, the shortcomings that persisted in individual method would be overcome. III.3. Method of data analysis Since collected in both quantitative and qualitative method in this research, the data, therefore, needed to be processed in different ways so as to yield the most accurate results. As for the quantitative approach, the researcher followed the statistical procedure from coding questionnaire data to summarizing and reporting data in a reader-friendly way. As for the qualitative approach, the method of data analysis was to transcribe the recorded interviews and synthesize them. The recorded interviews were first transcribed in their original language and then translated into English. Only English would be used in the discussion of findings for convenience. CHAPTER 4: Discussion of results IV.1. Current situation of teacher written feedback from students perspective How teacher written feedback in writing skill is delivered at CSSH is reflected in the first part of the questionnaire to students. IV.1.1. Frequency of teacher written feedback The first question asked students how many times their teacher responded to each of their writing assignment in written form. As can be seen from Figure 1, nearly one forth of the respondents stated that their teachers gave feedback to their writing twice per one assignment. This means after getting teacher written comments, students were required to revise and hand in the next versions for further feedback and evaluation. This level of frequency was believed to be appropriate, since it could encourage students to revise and to enhance their writing performance. The majority of students (77%), however, received teacher written feedback only once per assignment. Since the teachers did not require students to revise and hand in the writing after they received teacher written feedback, it is likely that few students had enough motivation to revise their paper. This, in turn, might reduce the usefulness of teacher written feedback. IV.1.2. General evaluation of teacher written feedback It is clear from Figure 2 that the majority of students (75%) got fairly detailed feedback, that is, comments and suggestions/corrections to major mistakes. This way of giving feedback is supported by many researchers who claim that teachers should focus on some typical problems at a time (Ur, 1996; Sommer, 1982). The number of students stating that their teacher feedback was very general, e.g., feedback with only some words like excellent, good or bad was 8, accounting for 10% of all students. There was no student receiving NO written comments from their teachers at all, which means no teacher felt into the trap of being non-corrector. These numbers indicate that the practice of giving feedback at CSSH was fairly adequate. IV.1.3. Content of teacher written feedback Figure 3 shows different categories of teacher written feedback from the view of students. Strikingly, there were very few students who NEVER received teacher written feedback on these categories (except for that on format). The levels often accounted for the highest numbers of students, from the lowest 25 students to the highest of 45. These figures indicate that teachers at CSSH have paid attention to both form and content, though the levels of attention may vary from one teacher to another. Noticeably, the percentage of students who RARELY received feedback on ideas, organization of ideas and format was higher than that on grammar, vocabulary and mechanics. For the level ALWAYS, the highest number of students chose grammar, that is, 42 over 80 students and next-coming was expression, 31 over 80 students. This is predictable since mistakes of surface level (grammar, vocabulary and mechanics) are more identifiable than those of organization and ideas (Ur, 1996; Fathman Whalley, 1990). However, that teachers rarely gave feedback on content may, in the long run, have negative impacts on the students because writing is, in the final analysis, about communicating and presenting thoughts. In summary, two major features of teacher written feedback interpreted from this bar chart are: (1) teachers did pay attention to both the form and the content of students writings and (2) teachers were more likely to respond to surface-level mistakes. IV.1.4. Types of teacher written feedback Concerning types of teacher written feedback (Figure 4), the majority of teachers at CSSH used both positive feedback (i.e., praise) and negative one (i.e., criticism) when responding to students writings. The overall number of students who always, or often received teachers positive feedback far outnumbered that of negative one, that is, 91% to 59%. This reality was an indication that teachers at CSSH preferred giving feedback in an encouraging tone to negative one. Regarding marginal and end feedback, there still existed 16% of students who rarely received end feedback and the other 20% who rarely received marginal feedback. Though the numbers were not high, it was still an indication that some teachers still did not pay enough attention to these two must-have feedback. As can be seen from Figure 4, both direct and indirect feedback was used and the levels of frequency were nearly the same. It is inferable that teachers paid equal attention to both types. It can be concluded that teachers at CSSH employed a wide variety of types of feedback to respond to students writings. However, in order to have accurate judgment of the effectiveness of the types used, in-depth interviews with the teachers are needed. This will be discussed in later part of this study. IV.1.1.5. Comprehensibility of teacher written feedback The last question in the first part of the questionnaire asked about the comprehensibility of students of teacher written feedback. The majority of respondents, 90%, answered that generally, they did. However, there were still 10% (8 students) stating that they were not able to understand teacher feedback. The most common reasons for this were teachers too general feedback (6 respondents) and new words/structures in their feedback (6 respondents). Correction codes, which are initially aimed at systematizing and simplifying teacher written feedback, turned out to make it incomprehensible to understand to a number of students (4 respondents). IV.2. Current situation of teacher written feedback from teachers perspective Emphatically, this study aims at finding out how written feedback is delivered from different perspectives, both of teachers and students. This part will present information on firstly, the way teachers give feedback to students (via analyzing student writings with teacher feedback on them) and secondly, teachers reasoning for the way they give feedback to students (via interviews with the teachers). However, in order to make it easy to follow, the information will be discussed according to the frame of the interviews with the presentation of student writings analysis integrated in it. The following section will be discussed in two different categories, namely, aspects of teacher written feedback and types of teacher written feedback. 21The following table compares the two major aspects form content that have been responded by teachers. The dark columns present the number of mistakes identified by the researcher and then double-checked by a native speaker, and the other columns the numbers of mistakes pointed out, suggested or corrected by the teachers. The ratios of mistakes pointed out by teachers to those by the native speaker gives the researcher an overall assessment of the frequency level of teacher written feedback at CSSH. As can be seen from the table, all the teachers at CSSH paid attention to both content and form of student writing papers, though the level of attention may differ. In order to make the information easy to follow, it was then re-illustrated in the form of bar-chart as follows: While Teacher 1 (T1) seemingly put more focus on feedback on form, Teacher 2 (T2) and Teacher 3 (T3) paid fairly equal attention to both the content and form of the writings. The reason for their emphasis on both form and content was they are equally important (T3). In greater details, If I dont correct mistakes on form (like grammar, word choice, etc), students will be likely to repeat the mistakes, even the simple ones, in the future and they are used to the teaching and learning method at High school where a lot of emphasis is put on grammar that If I dont orient them towards the content of a writing paper, they will perhaps stop at language accuracy only (T3). Explaining her way of giving feedback, T1 responded that the possibility of students making mistakes on content was quite small since students normally get suggestions on idea organization either from the teacher or from the course-book within prewriting stage (T1). Noticeably, though T1 acknowledged the importance of content, she did not manage to treat it equal to form. Concerning the treatments of mistakes, it was notable while mistakes on form were usually corrected by teachers right away; those on content just received suggestions for revision from teachers. Reasoning this, T2 answered its difficult to correct the content directly on their papers and I dont want them to think thats the only way (when I give correction) to go about that. In the same line with this were feedbacks on content, as I said earlier, are suggestive only, theres no one correct way of organizing ideas (T3). In short, all the teachers participating in this study were well aware of the importance of content over form, which helped them avoid being mistake-hunters. However, how much teachers focus on either form or content vary. IV.2.2. Types of teacher written feedback Type of teacher written feedback was also a field marking the differences between the teachers participating in the study. In terms of marginal and end feedback, it was notable that while T1 preferred using marginal to end feedback, T2 tended to enjoy the other way round. T1 stated that her in-text comments were enough for students to revise their papers. Furthermore, the teacher normally did not feel content with her student writings: if I gave an overall comment to my students, that comment would be very negative and it may make them feel discouraged. T2, in contrast, used more end feedback as she wanted to comment on students overall performance. According to T2, the focus of the 2nd semester was free writing, which meant more personal feelings and less teacher intervention. Adopting both marginal and end feedback when responding to student writings, T3 explained they serve different purposes. Marginal feedbacks were handy and suitable with minor mistakes; while end feedbacks were given for general comments. As a consequence, the lack of either marginal or end feedback led to incomprehensive feedback. Relating to the use of negative and positive feedback, it was notable that except from T1, the other two teachers frequently resorted to both types of feedback when responding to student writings. According to these teachers, feedback should, apart from helping students aware of the mistakes they make, be able to motivate students. This idea agreed with what Coffin et al. (2003) listed as the features of good teacher written feedback, that is, positive comment, criticism and suggestion for improvement. T1, who seemed not in favor of the ideas, stated it very much depends on the quality of the writing to decide what to include in the feedback. According to T1, teachers should not just praise students so that they feel at ease when receiving feedback because that may do more harm than good: students may feel that Oh, the teacher says that my writing is good, so why should I revise it or they may feel hurt when the feedback is positive while the mark is actually low (T1). This idea, whi ch had some merits in itself, should be taken into consideration. The types of feedback used have, to a certain extent, reflected the tone to teacher written feedback. While T2 and T3 preferred giving feedback in a friendly, encouraging tone, T1 turned to more serious feedback which was, according to the teacher, more beneficial to students. In short, the data achieved from the interviews, which do conform to those from student que