Qualitative research design and methods

How qualitative and qualitative research approaches compare Qualitative research differs from quantitative research because participants exist in their natural setting. Unlike quantitative research where an investigator manipulates variables or recreates the natural setting in the lab, qualitative research aims at assessing behaviours in it’s undisturbed from.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Qualitative research design and methods specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The investigator’s role also makes these research strategies quite divergent. In quantitative studies, examiners rely on external instruments, like questionnaires, as data collection instruments. However, in qualitative research, the researcher is the main instrument as he observes behaviour, conducts interviews and analyses documents. Both research methods are similar because they may involve data collection from multiple sources. Data ana lysis in quantitative research is deductive in that it starts with hypotheses, then data collection, which are then analysed statistically. However, qualitative researchers conduct inductive data analysis by starting with the data and then working backwards to develop themes (Creswell, 2008). This may involve continual interactions with the participants. Quantitative researchers often prescribe their research design and use it as a guide to determine how they will conduct their investigation. Conversely, qualitative research adheres to emergent design since phases and processes alter as the research progresses. Both research approaches rely on theoretical lenses. Qualitative researchers use these lenses to view their subjects while quantitative researchers base their research questions on the same. Finally quantitative research involves giving a holistic account of a problem. Multiples factors and perspectives are involved. On the contrary, quantitative researchers usually narrow th eir areas of inquiry to one or two issues. Research questions that suit qualitative inquiry Qualitative research is appropriate for questions that lack effective models. They often start with why. For instance, â€Å"Why is the quasi market model unpopular in eastern local councils?†. Conversely, questions that start with what may also fall in this category if framed in a certain way. For instance if someone asks â€Å"What does public participation in health service provision mean to residents of Markenshire?†. This question starts with what but it entails determining the personal experiences of people in this location. It raises a series of sub questions that are typical of qualitative research. Questions that start with how are appropriate for qualitative research.Advertising Looking for essay on math statistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They entail complex descriptions of findings, which are suitable for qualitative analyses. When questions do not involve subjective experiences and they commence with what, who or when, then quantitative methods are suitable. Popularity of qualitative methods in public administration Qualitative methods are limited in practical public administration research. It is likely that this limited popularity stems from the lack of research standards to guide these studies. Additionally, the methods of learning and practice are yet to be streamlined. Furthermore, some scholars simply classify all non quantitative studies as qualitative yet they could be non positivistic or interpretive. Additionally, scholars stay away from this method because of questions of generalisability. It is likely that the discipline is more inclined towards objective analysis than subjective ones. While public administration falls in the field of humanities, it is largely managerial and also legalistic. Therefore, a reverence for objective work exists. This implies that issues s uch as cost benefit analyses, and structures dominate practical research (Samier, 2005). Nonetheless, qualitative research in academic research still has its place. The human experience is an indispensable part of administrative work, so this holistic approach is tenable. Furthermore, more researchers are finding new ways of addressing generalisability issues in case studies. Therefore, the mode of research holds a lot of promise in the future. References Creswell, J. (2008). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches. NY: Sage. Samier, E. (2005). Toward public administration as a humanities discipline: A humanistic manifesto. Halduskultuur, 6(3), 6-59.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Qualitative research design and methods specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This essay on Qualitative research design and methods was written and submitted by user Helen Lamb to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Crucible - Witch Trials Essays - Salem Witch Trials, Free Essays

The Crucible - Witch Trials Essays - Salem Witch Trials, Free Essays The Crucible - Witch Trials In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. There are many theories as to why the witch trials came about, the most popular of which is the girls' suppressed childhoods. However, there were other factors as well, such as Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor, the secret grudges that neighbors held against each other, and the physical and economic differences between the citizens of Salem Village. From a historical viewpoint, it is known that young girls in colonial Massachusetts were given little or no freedom to act like children. They were expected to walk straight, arms by their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their mouths were to be shut unless otherwise asked to speak. It is not surprising that the girls would find this type of lifestyle very constricting. To rebel against it, they played pranks, such as dancing in the woods, listening to slaves' magic stories and pretending that other villagers were bewitching them. The Crucible starts after the girls in the village have been caught dancing in the woods. As one of them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there is witchcraft going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched. Once the girls talk to each other, they become more and more frightened of being accused as witches, so Abigail starts accusing others of practicing witchcraft. The other girls all join in so that the blame will not be placed on them. In The Crucible, Abigail starts the accusations by saying, "I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" Another girl, Betty, continues the cry with, "I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!" >From here on, the accusations grow and grow until the jails overflow with accused witches. It must have given them an incredible sense of power when the whole town of Salem listened to their words and believed each and every accusation. After all, children were to be seen and not heard in Puritan society, and the newfound attention was probably overwhelming. In Act Three of The Crucible, the girls were called before the judges to defend themselves against the claims that they were only acting. To prove their innocence, Abigail led the other girls in a chilling scene. Abby acted as if Mary Warren sent her spirit up to the rafters and began to talk to the spirit. "Oh Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do." The other girls all stared at the rafters in horror and began to repeat everything they heard. Finally, the girls' hysterics caused Mary Warren to accuse John Proctor of witchcraft. Once the scam started, it was too late to stop, and the snowballing effect of wild accusations soon resulted in the hanging of many innocents. After the wave of accusations began, grudges began to surface in the community. Small slights were made out to be witchcraft, and bad business deals were blamed on witchery. Two characters in The Crucible, Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam, argue early on about a plot of land. Corey claims that he bought it from Goody Nurse but Putnam says he owns it, and Goody Nurse had no right to sell it. Later, when Putnam's daughter accuses George Jacobs of witchery, Corey claims that Putnam only wants Jacobs' land. Giles says, "If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property - that's law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!" Others also had hidden motives for accusing their neighbors. Once the accusations began, everyone had a reason to accuse someone else which is why the hangings got so out of hand. The wave of accusations can be likened to mass hysteria, in which the people involved are so caught up that they start having delusions of neighbors out to do them harm. One of the main

8 Tips for Effective Revision

8 Tips for Effective Revision 8 Tips for Effective Revision If youve got exams coming up, youll probably be hard at work revising. But how can you ensure that your time spent revising is worthwhile? Weve prepared our top 8 revision tips to help you get in shape for those tests! 1. Start with Good Notes Ok, so this might not help you now, but its definitely something you can do going forwards. Make sure you take clear, legible notes in class so that when you come back to them they make sense! Try highlighting them with a color-coding system as part of your revision. It really helps you to make sense of them. 2. Make a Revision Timetable If youve got several tests to revise for, it might be helpful to make a timetable so that you can make sure you are spending enough time on each subject. Stick it up on your wall and try to follow it. 3. Take a Break When making your timetable, make sure you add in breaks. Ideally, you should have a 5-minute break once every half hour. Get up, stretch, have a cup of coffee, or go for a walk outside. Taking regular breaks will help your brain to function more effectively. 4. Sort Out your Revision Space The first thing you should do before revising is to tidy your revision space. If it is clear and uncluttered, you will find it much easier to work. 5. Dont Memorize, Summarize! Dont just re-read your notes, try making a summary of them in your own words. This will help you to remember them as you will have to process the words rather than simply reading them. Its surprising how much you can read whilst daydreaming! 6. Use Past Papers Your course tutor will probably be able to provide you with some past papers if you ask. There might even be some available on the Internet. Make sure you time yourself and use proper exam conditions. 7. Use Visual Aids If you have a visual brain, you might find it helpful to create charts or infographics. Doodling the main facts out can be a great way of making summaries of your notes. The funnier these are, the more you should remember the information! 8. Eat, Sleep, Run! Dont forget that your body needs fuel, rest, and exercise for your brain to function well. Dont be tempted to cram all night before a test. Plan out your revision for a few weeks before the test and dont do any revision at all the day before. Instead, go for a swim, eat well and go to bed early. Have a banana and plenty of water for breakfast and your brain will be on top form!

A critical review of Kosovo Is Not Serbia Assignment

A critical review of Kosovo Is Not Serbia - Assignment Example However, the author fails to explain why Kosovo people are not allowed in America. Additionally he presents a picture of Americans discriminating Kosovo people. What he fails to address is what kind of life do the American live in Kosovo. In his discussion of soap operas that are managed by women, the author fails to explain the role of men in the same films. Furthermore, the article seems to criticize the films more and provide their transformations without giving the positive aspects of the soap opera. In discussing the situation in Serbia, the author provides the current status of Serbia. The article demonstrates that The Serbian language is no longer widely spoken. The county has been taken up by English men. The article notes that with almost every Serb ethnically cleansed, there's nobody left to speak it. The author further notes that Serbia lies in ruins. There are just empty Orthodox churches turned into tourist attractions while the town abounds with pizza and burger joints with English-language menus. Serbia too faces her challenges including traffic jam. However, the author seems to be biased in the discussion of the two countries. The article speaks much better of Kosovo than Serbia. For instance, the author blames Serbia for Kosovo’s problems. The author speaks of â€Å"the war crimes committed by Serbian military forces against the Albanian population, which led to the bombings by NATO in 1999† (Tesanovic Pg. 1, 2014). He did give any instance when Kosovo did something negative or inhumane.

Pablo Picassos Sculptures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pablo Picassos Sculptures - Essay Example The essay "Pablo Picasso’s Sculptures" will describe the figure of Pablo Picasso not only as a painter but as a sculptor. There will be discussed "Head of a Woman", one of the first works of the artist. The bronze figure is indeed a masterpiece not because it just represents the surface, more than that it demonstrates the essence and the structure of a woman’s face. Solidity of the sculpture shows that Picasso intended not only to see the beauty of the world, but also to feel it by means of touching physically. The fractured texture of her face, gorge, and hair draws the parallel with human nature; it represents a metaphor for the way people usually experience other human beings. To my mind, the sculpture is about unsolved mystery of being close to a different person. I like the way the sculpture is transformed every time I move my own head, circle it, look closer at the head, or move away from it. I also like the contrast between the clearly showing up soft touches of the master and the sharp lines and contours of the woman’s face. It helps to create the illusion that the artist intends to look beneath the skin of the sculpture. However, it does not seem violent the way he does it. It is a well-known fact the sculpture Head of a Woman helped Pablo Picasso to see the essence of things in a new perspective and served as the basis of the development of Cubism. In fact, one can see with half an eye the connection with the earliest stage of this style of abstract art – Analytical Cubism.

Water Management in Jordan Essay -- Environmental Management Science

Water shortage is a global problem and the consequences of water deficit can be a future crisis. According to Hasan Ali (2002, 1-3) the world large water deficient region is the Middle East. Jordan is one of the water-scarce countries in this area, Jordan is similarly in the top of ten water-deficient countries. The reasons of this problem are the features of nature such as semi-arid climate, few water sources and low precipitation. Because of that, the country has the lowest per head basis of water in the world. The other reasons are social effects namely rising population, resulting from a high degree of urbanization, gain of engineering systems and economic development (Akawwic et al. 2009, 197-198). The aim of this essay is to suggest the most effective solutions to avoid the future crisis in Jordan. Four solutions will be analysed in this essay: firstly, adoption of irrigation systems; secondly, water harvesting; thirdly, desalination; fourthly, water management. Initially, the largest customer of water resources is the agriculture sector. It is a really danger for Jordan because the statistics show that water consumption of agriculture is about 80 % of all water. Therefore, firstly, the suitable solution is to reduce water consumption of agriculture (Akawwic et al 2010, 201). It could be realized with using effective irrigation methods such as drip or micro irrigation (ibid.,202). The irrigation methods, in particular, â€Å"furrow and basin irrigation†, which were often used in past, required large quantities of water. Therefore, these approaches were substituted by micro irrigation, in order to economize water resources (Abbasi et al 2010, 337). Generally, micro irrigation is the favourable and effective method, but there is in... ...October 24, 2010 ) Beithou. N. 2006. Proposed water management and control device for water losses problem in Jordan. J.Environ. Eng. Sci. 5:443-446. EBSCOhost http://www.search.ebscohost.com / (accessed November 5, 2010) Hasan Ali, B. 2002. Modern and Traditional Irrigation Technologies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Water-demand management in the Mediterranean. 2nd ed. Ottawa, ON, CAN: IDRC Books. Ebrary http://site.ebrary.com/lib/astana/ (accessed ) Hassan,Y, F. Molle and J-P. Venot. 2008. Irrigation in the Jordan Valley: Are water pricing overly optimistic? Agricultural Water Management. 95:427-438. Science Direct http://www.sciencedirect.com/ (accessed October 24, 2010 ) Mohsen. S. 2007. Water strtegies and potential of desalination in Jordan. Desalination. 203: 27-46. Science Direct http://www.sciencedirect.com/ (accessed November 5, 2010 )

How Macroeconomics affects business Essay

Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that explores trends in the national economy as a whole considering the study of the sum of individual economic factors. Macroeconomics considers the larger picture, and an understanding of how do business operates is crucial to understand macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is intertwined with business because business is affected by the factors that constitute macroeconomics. Circular-flow diagram: a visual model of the economy that shows how dollars flow through markets among households and firms. Using this diagram it can be clearly observed how some factors can influence business operations.. Business is affected by many economic activities. These activities are: Interest rate increase, taxes increase, unemployment rate increase, Inflation. Interest Rate. Interest rate is a rate which is charged or paid for the use of money. Increase of interest rate has a great affect on several consumption opportunities. 1. As it can be observed from the graph, if interest rate increases the consumption expenditures of households will decrease, which means that company’s profit will decrease. In future it will lead to decrease in production output. In order to be competitive companies will need to cut wages or even fire somebody from the personnel, which will again lead to decrease in consumption opportunities. 2. Affect on cost of borrowing. Many companies around the world make their business by loaning money from the bank. If interest rate increases, the interest payments on credit and loans become more expensive. Therefore this discourages companies from borrowing and widening its business. Companies who already have loans will have less disposable income because they spend more on interest payments. 3. Increase in mortgage interest payments. In majority of cases companies borrow mortgages to buy already existed place  for operations or to build a new building. And if the mortgage interest will increase even by very little percent, it will have significant impact on businesses disposable income. That’s why it will be more profitable for them to rent an apartment rather that to buy a new one. 4. Reduced Confidence. Interest rates have an effect on business confidence. A rise in interest rates discourages investment; it makes firms less willing to take out risky investments and purchases Taxes A fee charged by a government on a product, income, or activity. Here are some effects of taxes on business operations. 1. Taxes lower overall gains. There is a statement in accounting which calls income statement. In income statement all revenues and expenses are written. After subtractions of all expenses out of revenues there is a column which name is Earnings before interest and taxes. Results of â€Å"before tax† and â€Å"after tax† business cases can look quite different. Where the business case shows gains or net cash inflows, taxes operate to lower overall gains because operating income and capital gains are normally taxed. 2. Low wages Multiple governments levy so many taxes on businesses that â€Å"taxes† is the highest budget items on the ledger sheets of most businesses. These taxes take away some of the money otherwise used to pay wages. That’s why employers can’t pay good wages. 3. High prices In many countries governments put many taxes on businesses that â€Å"taxes† is the highest budget items on the ledger sheets of most businesses. Businesses have to raise prices to get money to pay these taxes. So product prices go up. This leads to inflation. Unemployment. Unemployment is an economic condition marked by the fact that individuals actively seeking jobs remain unhired. There are several reasons of unemployment in a country. They are: 1. Worldwide financial crisis Companies do not have enough money to hire new staff to the company and to increase their outcome. 2. Population increase When, for example, baby boomers reach the age of 18, they start to search for a job, but the number of work places did not increase. That’s why many of them become unemployed. 3. Low qualification The majority of companies nowadays try to employ more qualified workers, and people that are less qualified fail to find a better job 4. Replacement of workers by technologies In todays world technological progress is very visible. In many factories people force is replaced by machine. And if 10 years ago in order to produce one detail you need 10 people, today you need only one or two persons who will watch after this process of production Unemployment has a direct impact on all business. People buy products and services and if they do not have a job they will buy less products and services. That is why increasing unemployment often results in many businesses reducing inventories because they expect to sell less. Another reason is that many companies in order to develop and reach the new level of production need more qualified personnel. But if there is a shortage of qualified people, company can not develop at all and should whether stay at the same level of find other ways to improve. The third reason is that during the recessions and crisis companies should cut their expenses, that’s why in order to be competitive and do not decrease the level of production they should fire some workers Inflation Inflation is an increase in the price of a basket of goods and services that is representative of the economy as a whole. Effects of inflation on business. 1. People try to get rid of cash before it is devalued, by saving food and  other commodities creating shortages of the saved objects. That’s why in a specific period of time, for example, one week, people will consume a lot of goods, but one week later they will not consume at all. 2. Increased risk – Higher uncertainties. Uncertainties in business always exist, but with inflation risks are very high, because of the instability of prices. 3. Existing credit companies will be hurt, because the value of the money they will receive from their borrowers later will be lower than the money they gave before. 4. Fixed income recipients will be hurt, because while inflation increases, their income doesn’t increase, and therefore their income will have less value over time. 5. Companies will think they were making profits while in reality they’re losing money if they don’t take into consideration the inflation rate when calculating profits. 6. Many companies will have to go out of business because of the losses they incurred from inflation and its effects. 7. Rising prices of imports if the currency is debased, then it’s purchasing power in the international market is lower.For the same amount of money companies will be able to buy less. 8. Competition. If there is a lot of competition in a market, businesses try harder to keep prices low to keep buyers. It means that companies will have less and less profit. Sometimes they will need to cut the wages. But staff do not like when the wages are cut. And if they will not find something else in order to cover their costs, they will soon become a bankrupt. In conclusion it can be said that Macroeconomics has a very big impact on the business operations. Economics intersect with business in almost everything. And whatever changes will occur in economics it will for sure display in business.