Monday, January 27, 2020

Non Experimental Research Design Psychology Essay

Non Experimental Research Design Psychology Essay This chapter details the methodology that will be used to conduct this study. Methodology is an approach, or method used to conduct a research. The aspects that will be discussed in this chapter include the researchs design, approach, sample, instrument, procedure, and also data collection and analysis. 3.2 Researchs Approach and Design 3.2.1 Researchs Approach There are two types of approaches used in research, which are quantitative approach and qualitative approach. According to Blaxter, Hughes and Tight (as cited in Hughes, 2006) Quantitative research is a study that concerned with the collection and analysis of data in numeric form. It emphasizes relatively large-scale and representative sets of data, and is often presented or perceived as being about the gathering of `facts. Qualitative research is concerned with collecting and analysing information in as many forms as possible, mainly non-numerical form. It focuses on exploring smaller numbers of instances or examples which are seen as being interesting or illuminating, and aims to achieve `depth rather than `breadth. In this study, the data collected by researcher will be in numerical form, which obtained from the questionnaires. Thus, the approach used in this study is quantitative research. 3.2.2 Researchs Design According to Chua Yan Piaw (2006), there are three main designs in research, namely true experimental design, non-experimental design, and quasi-experimental design. True experimental design studies the relation between the independent variables and manipulated variables, manipulates the independent variables and observes the changes on manipulated variables. Non-experimental design is used when the treatment is not possible as the independent variables naturally exist, and the respondents will be randomly distributed into every group. This design studies the relation between independent variables and manipulated variables without manipulate the independent variables. Besides that, quasi-experimental design normally used to evaluate the effectiveness of certain program when then the randomly distribution of the respondents in the study is not possible. It studies the relation between independent variables and manipulated variables (Chua, 2006). Non-experimental research design According to Chua Yan Piaw (2006), there are a lot of non-experimental designs, including survey, field research, case study, action research, ethnography, and so on. Survey is one of the most widely used non-experimental research design, which used in different form of media, such as magazine, newspapers, and television to collect data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions regarding to certain issue, or to survey the effectiveness of a product or plan. Normally interview or quetionnaires will be used in collecting data. Field research refers to gathering primary data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment or a survey, where the researcher must be willing to step into new environments and observe, participate, or experience those worlds by themselves. Case study is an in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual, where the researcher examines existing sources like documents and archival records, conducts in terviews, engages in direct observation, and even participant observation, to collect the information in depth regarding to individual behaviours and social conditions. Action research refers to the research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solvin lef by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a community of practice to improve the way they address and solve problems. Survey 3.3 Sampling According to Gay and Airasian (2003), sampling is the process of selecting a number of participants for a study in such a way that they represent the larger group from which they were selected (p. 101). Selecting a sample is a very important step in conducting a research study, particularly for quantitative research. The goodness of the sample determines the meaningfulness and generalizability of the research results (Gay Asian, 2003, p. 103). 3.3.1 Population The first step in sampling is to define the population. A sample comprises the individuals, items, or events selected from a larger group referred to as a population. The population is the group of interest to the researcher, the group to which the results of the study will ideally generalize (Gay Airasian, 2003, p. 102). The location of this study is Sabah, and the populations of this study are all the upper form students in secondary schools in Sabah, who are 16 to 17 years old. Initially, the researcher will obtains the information about the upper form students from all the secondary schools in Sabah, and then determine the samples which are involved in this study. The researcher will get the information about the total number of upper form students in each of the schools, because it might influences the outcomes of the study. 3.3.2 Sampling Method According to Chua Yan Piaw (2006), there are two main sampling methods, which are probability sampling and non-probability sampling (p. 189). According to Gay and Airasian (2003), probability sampling, which also known as random sampling, methods are possible for the researcher to specify the probability, or chance, that each member of a defined population will be selected for the sample, and these sampling are all based on randomness in the selection of the sample (p. 103). Non-probability sampling, which is also known as non-random sampling, methods do not have random sampling at any stage of sample selection, it is used when the random sampling is not possible, such as teachers or administrators select students or classes as the samples (p. 114). In this study, random sampling method will be used to select the sample. Gay and Airasian (2003) states that there are four basic random sampling techniques or procedures, namely simple random sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling, and systematic sampling, which are also referred to as probability sampling (p. 103). Simple random sampling is the process of selecting a sample in such a way that all individuals in the selected population have an equal and independent chance to be selected for the sample, where the randomness in sampling takes the selection of the sample completely out of the researchers control by letting a random, or chance, procedure select the sample (p. 103). Stratified sampling is the process of selecting a sample in such a way that identified sub-groups in the population are represented in the sample in the same proportion that they exist in the population (p. 106). Besides that, cluster sampling randomly selects groups, not individuals; all the members selected groups have similar characterisics, and it is most useful when the population is very large or spread out over a wide geographic area (p. 108). Lastly, systematic sampling is the sampling technique in which individuals are selected from a list taking every Kth name (p. 110). Although the instrument of students national identity is designed to be applicable to all students in Malaysia, the secondary school students will be selected to test the instrument in this study. The rationale of choosing upper form students as the target population to test the instrument is they might be more mature if compared to the lower form students who are only 13 to 15 years old. They might have a better understanding on the items stated in the questions, and perhaps they will give their response seriously. So, the outcomes which obtained from the upper form students might be more reliable and trustworthy if compared to lower form students. All upper form students from the secondary school in Sabah are over sampled. Two random samples of 200 students and 2500 students will be purchased for the two survey studies by using cluster sampling method. A number of schools will be randomly selected from each of the districts in Sabah as the representatives of those districts. The secondary school students in Sabah are eligible to receive the mailed survey. In the first survey study, the questionnaire will be initially sent to the random sample of 200 students to examine test-retest reliability of the instrument and its subscale. Then, a repeat mailing survey will be sent to the respondents from the initial mailing again. The test-retest reliability of the instrument will be examined using the data from the remaining surveys returned from both the initial and repeat mailings. In the second survey study, the sample needed to be large in order to conduct factor analysis to test the construct validity of the instrument. There is a general agreement among measurement methodologists that large sample sizes are required for the stability of results of factor analysis, the use of larger sample sizes in applications of factors analysis tends to provide results such that sample factor loadings are more precise estimates of population loadings and are also more stable, or less variable, across repeated sampling. The researcher will send the refined questionnaire to the second random sample of 2500 students in order to perform factor analysis, and then to test construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the instrument. 3.4 Researchs Procedures This study will be conducted in two stages. Stage one is the instrument development, and stage two is the instrument testing and refining. Stage one consists of three steps and stage two consists of five steps. Each of these steps is described in the following section. 3.4.1 Stage One: Instrument Development The instrument development stage has three steps: (1) developing conceptual and operational definitions of the construct of students national identity, (2) generating item pool, and (3) determining the format for measurement (or selecting a scaling technique for the measurement). All the three steps in this stage involved determination of content validity of the instrument of students national identity. a. Step 1: Developing Conceptual and Operational Definitions of the Construct. The first step in developing this instrument is to determine clearly what the concept of students national identity is. The definition of the construct, students national identity, is based onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (need more information from chapter 2) b. Step 2: Generating an Item Pool for the Instrument The focus of second step is to generate a large pool of items for all the dimensions of the construct of students national identity. In the beginning stage, it is better to generate more items. Thus a 60 items scale might be evolve from an item pool over a hundred items. The instrument of students national identity is designed to measure the degree to which a student à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wording of the items is very important and should reflect this goal of the instrument. Appropriate wording can accurately capture the essence of the construct. The items are evaluative in nature and can reflect respondents views about the desirability of something. Moreover, the researcher developed several negatively worded items with careful wording that examine students à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ besides developing positively worded items that measure students national identity. The purpose of constructing several negatively worded items is to detect respondents with acquiescence bias by their response pattern if there is any. Those respondents will not be included in the data analysis to avoid or minimize the influence caused by acquiescence bias. The issues related to acquiescence bias were discussed in detail in Chapter 2. After a large pool of items that measures students national identity is established, the dissertation committee will be first critique all the items before sending the item pool to the expert panel for content validity review. The researcher will revises the item pool based on comments of the dissertation committee. The items which are repetitive, inappropriate or poorly worded, confusing, or irrelevant to the construct will be eliminated or revised. After this revision, 84 items were retained in the instrument. c. Step 3: Determining the Format for the Instrument The researcher considers the format simultaneously with the generation of items so that the two are compatible. The Likert scales with five responses options is chosen to develop the instrument measuring the students national identity. Each item is presented as a declaration sentence, followed by the response options that indicate varying degrees of agreement with the statement. The five response options are: (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) either agree or disagree, (4) agree, and (5) strongly agree. These five points Likert scales are ordinal scale level. Each item in the instrument is classified as two broad categories, which are favourable (positive) or unfavourable (negative). Scoting is reversed for negatively worded items such that disagreement with a negatively worded resulted in high score. At this step, the development stage is completed. Then, the researcher will moves on to the next stage, which is instrument testing and refining. 3.4.2 Stage 2: Instument Testing and Refining The instrument testing and refining stage includes give steps: (1) establishing content validity of the instrument, (2) developing directions for responding, (3) preparing a revised draft of the questionnaire, (4) examining test-retest reliability and pretesting internal consistency reliability, dan (5) testing construct validity and internal consistency reliability. All steps in this stage involve refining the instrument and testing the psychometric properties of the instrument. a. Step 1: Establishing Content Validity of the Instrument Determining the number of experts needed has always been somewhat arbitrary in content validity determination. According to Lynn (1986) (as cited in Wynd, Schmidt, Schaefer, 2003), a minimum of five experts (rates, observers, or judges) and a larger number of categories for data assignment yield greater absolute agreement and increase the risk of chance agreement. The use of more experts may therefore contribute directly to chance agreement (pg 511). The use of only two judges is not only statistically unjustifiable, but also it places the instrument developer at great risk of an erroneous conclusion that content validity has been achieved when it actually has not (Bu, 2005, pg 73). In this study, five experts who either have conducted research related to students national identity or have interest in students national identity will be asked to review the instrument as the content experts. A delineation of the full content dimentions of the construct of students national identity with specific instructions pertaining to the content relevance of each item are provided to the experts by mail or email for review. The five will be asked to return the instrument and their comments within four to five weeks. This review serves multiple purposes related to determining and maximizing the content validity of the instrument. First, having experts review the item pool, confirm or invalidate the definition of the phenomenon of students national identity and the content validity of the instrument is quantified. The experts will be asked to rate how relevant they think each item is related to what the researcher intends to measure. The instrument of students national identity includes three subscales. The general objective of the subscale of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is to measure the degree to which the studentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Under the broad objective, more specific objectives that are assumed to measure relevant items will provided as well. The intensity of students national identity can fluctuate over time but they are considered stable during a certain period of time, typically three to four weeks. These objectives will be sent to experts along with the instrument. The experts will be asked to rate the content relevance of each item to its general objective and its more specific objective. Content validity index (CVI)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. In addition, the experts will be asked to clarify reasons and provide suggestions if they disagree with some items included in the instrument. Second, the experts will be asked to evaluate the items clarity and conciseness. Sometimes, the content of an item may be relevant to the construct but its wording may be problematic. This yields problems on item reliability because an ambiguous or otherwise unclear item, to a greater degree than a clear item, may reflect factors extraneous to the latent variable. Third, in addition to judging each item, the experts will be asked to identify phenomena that were omitted from the instrument as a part of the content validity assessment. Thus, by asking experts to review the instrument in a variety of ways the researcher could capture the phenomenon of interest, and the expert reviewers help the researcher maximize the content validity of the instrument. The researcher will be paid careful attention to all suggestions from these content experts then made an informed decision about how to use their advice. The instrument will be revised to enhance content validity with the consensus of the dissertation committee. b. Step 2: Developing Directions for Responding The procedures for responding to the statements, as well as the meaning of the anchor points on the continuum, will be carefully develop and then reviewed by the dissertation committee chair and colleagues to avoid confusing respondents. Dillman (1978) (as cited in Bu, 2005) proposed some ideas about providing directions to subjects on how to answer questionnaires. He states that the encirclement process results in fewer ambiguous markings and should be encouraged. It is important that the same marking procedure be used throughout the questionnaire. Lower case letters are preferred for directions because of their greater readability (pg 76). The researcher will apply these suggestions when developing directions for responding. c. Step 3: Preparing a Draft of the Questionnaire. This step involves constructing a draft of the questionnaire and assessing the questionnaire. Three activities will be completed in this step. First, a section of questions for gathering demographic information from participants will be designed and included in the survey along with the instrument of students national identity. The purpose of developing this section of questions is to gather information that would be used to describe characteristics of the participants. Second is the issue of ordering the questions in the questionnaire. In this study, items that are measuring the same dimension will be grouped together. The questions that request demographic information are put at the end of the questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of two parts. Part one is composed of a series of items pertaining to students national identity. Items represented à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.dimensionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. The form of the instrument of students national identity looks like the following sample. Item Strongly disagree (1) Disagree (2) Either disagree or agree (3) Agree (4) Strongly agree (5) Item 1 1 2 3 4 5 Item 2 1 2 3 4 5 Item 3 1 2 3 4 5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Part two of the questionnaire consists of the demographic questions and includes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as well as characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, geographic location. Third, the questionnaire is distributed to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. For the review of clarity of directions, ease of responding and time needed to fill out the questionnaire. d. Step 4: Examining Test-Retest Reliability and Pretesting Internal Consistency Reliability After questionnaire is produced, the researcher conducts two survey studies to gather data to examine construct validity and reliability of the instrument. Step 4 is to examine test-retest reliability of the instrument, preliminarily test internal consistency reliability of the instrument, and perform item analysis. It is assumed that the construct of students national identity does not change in subjects within two to three weeks. The researcher initially mailed the questionnaire to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. In two to three weeks, a repeat survey will be mailed to the respondents from the initial mailing. The test-retest reliability of the instrument of students national identity and its à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..subscales are examined among the subjects responding both the initial and the repeat mailings. Cronbachs alpha of the instrument and its à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Subscales is calculated using the data from the questionnaires returned from the initial mailing to pretest internal consistency reliability of the instrument and itsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.subscales. In addition, an item analysis for each subscale will be performed using the data from the returned questionnnaires from the initial mailing for the purpose of refining the instrument. An item needed to meet Likerts criterion of internal consistency in order to be retained in the scale. A given item whose score significantly correlated with the relevant scale score, which is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 0.3 is considered to meet the criterion of internal consistency and is retained in the instrument. An item whose score does not significantly related to the scale score, which is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0.3, is rechecked and determined for retainment, elimination or revision depending on theory, content of the item, function of the item in the instrument. e. Step 5: Testing Construct Validity and Internal Consistency Reliability In this step, the refined survey will be sent to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. to collect data in order to examine the construct validity of the instrument using factor analysis and the internal consistency reliability of the instrument using Cronbachs alpha. Factor analysis is performed using data from the returned questionnaires. Factor analysis is used to determine construct validity of the instrument of students national identity and select items for inclusion in the instrument. Factor analysis is a broad category of approaches to determine the structure of relations among measures (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). Factor analysis can be used to determine: (1) grouping variables, (2) which variables belong to which factor and how strong their relationship, (30 how many dimensions are needed to explain the relations among the variables, and (4) a frame of reference to describe the relation among the variables more conveniently. There are two major approaches to factor analysis: exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. In exploratory factor analysis, one seeks to summarize data by grouping together variables that are intercorrelated. The variables themselves may or may not have been chosen with potential underlying structure in mind. Exploratory factors are defined to achieve a mathematical objective such as maximizing the variance accounted for. In confirmatory factor analysis, factors are defined directly, which incorporate the properties such as the number of factors and content (or variables) of each factor that have been hypothesized and then determine how well these fit the data (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). According to Tabachnick Fidell (1983), exploratory factor analysis is usually performed in the early stages of research to consolidate variables and generate hypotheses about relationships in a reduced data set. Confirmatory factor analysis generally occurs later in the researc h process, when a theory about structure is to be tested or when hypothesized differences in structure between groups of research units are tested. Variables are specifically chosen to reveal underlying structural processes. Data used in confirmatory factor analysis, then, might be different from those used in exploratory factor analysis. Cronbachs alpha will be calculated in this large sample to determine the internal consistency reliability of the instrument of attitudes toward patient advocacy and its three subscales. Up to this step, the instrument of students national identity will be established. 3.5 Data Collection Schedule and Procedures There are some differences between the data collection schedule and procedures for the test-retest study and the construct validity study. For the test-retest reliability study, surveys with the cover letters will be mailed to the 200 randomly selected subjects. A stamped returning envelope will be included in the mail for return of the survey. A code number will be attached to the 200 subjects, and those respondents from the initial mailing survey will be identified and sent a repeat survey within two to three weeks after the initial mailing in order to examine test-retest reliability. Thus, anonymity of respondents is not ensured in the test-retest reliability study for the purpose of the repeat mailing to those who returned the survey. Considering budget limitation for the dissertation, the researcher will makes only one contact with the 2500 randomly selected subjects. In this contact, a mailing that included the survey, a detailed cover letter explaining the nature of the study and asking for response and a business reply envelope will be sent to the 2500 subjects. Since only one contact was made to the 2500 students, anonymity of respondents is ensured in the study. A codebook for data entry will be developed and reviewed. A data entry program will be set up to facilitate inputting data. Data will be entered as responses to the questionnaire are returned. Entered data will be verified to check for errors in data input by going over 25% of the returned and entered questionnaires and running frequencies of each item of the questionnaire. Any differences between original data entry and verification required checking the raw data and correcting the entered data. Data analysis will begins after completion of data entry and involved statistical consultation with the dissertation committee members. 3.6 Data Analysis and Interpretation Three types of data analyses will be conducted in this study, which are analysis related to reliability, analysis related to validity, and descriptive statistics. First, the content validity of the instrument will be determined by CVI. The CVI was the proportion of items given a rating of 3 (relevant and needs a little revision) or 4 (very relevant) to the objectives of a measure based on 4-point ordinal scale by at least six out of the seven experts (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥86% agreement) in this study. Second, data from the respondents returned from the initial mailing in the test-retest study will be used for the analysis of Cronbachs alpha to pretest the internal consistency reliability of the instrument. Data from the questionnaires that are returned from both the initial and the repeat mailings will be used for examining the test-retest reliability. A total score for each of the subscales and the whole instrument will be obtained with the initial mailing, and a second total score for each of the subscales and the whole instrument will be obtained with the second mailing. The test-retest reliability coefficient of the instrument and its subscales will be obtained by correlating the initial mailing scores with the second mailing scores using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. High correlation coefficient indicates high stability or test-retest reliability of the instrument. This reliability coefficient above .70 is considered satisfactory. Third, item analysis will be performed using data from the questionnaires returned from the initial mailing. Correlations among items within each subscale and between each item with the total subscale score will be examined. Items with low correlations with the relevant subscale score ( Fourth, factor analysis will be performed using data from the questionnaires to determine the construct validity of the instrument of students nationasl identity. Factor analysis is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦() In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approaches will be used to examine the construct validity of the instrument. Exploratory factor analysis will be first performed to extract factors from the instrument of students national identity and determine the items to be included in the instrument. If evidence for construct validity exists, the number of factors resulting from the analysis should approximate the number of dimensions assessed by the instrument, and the items with the highest factor loadings defining each factor should correspond to the items designed to measure each of the dimensions of the instrument (Waltz et al., 1991). Exploratory factor analysis consists of two stages: extract factors and rotating extracted factors (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). The analysis first condenses the variables (items) into the smallest number of factors that explain the most variance. Principal component analysis (PCA) and principal axis analysis (PAF) are two most popular ways to condense data. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Then, three most common statistical rules were used to determine the number of factors. First, the Kaiser-Guttman rule retains factors with absolute eigenvalues of 1.0 or greater. However, this rule tends to suggest too many factors. The second rule is scree test that uses relative changes in these eigenvaluesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Since the unrotated factors are usually difficult to interpret, the second stage of exploratory factor analysis is to rotate these factors to make them more meaningful or more interpretableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Orthogonal and oblique rotations Results of the exploratory factor analysis will also be used for identification and selection of indicators (items) for the instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In confirmatory factor analysis, the researcher specifies which items load on each factor according to preconceived theory to test the theory. The result of this analysis indicates how well the empirical data actually conform to these specifications, that is, whether the items actually form the theorized constructs. In order to test the fit of the model to the data, multiple fit indices that reflect somewhat different facets of model fit are suggested à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) Comparative Fit Index (CFI) Adjusted Goodness-of Fit Index (AGFI) Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) Finally, Cronbachs alpha will be calculated using the data from the returned surveys to determine the internal consistency reliability of the instrument and its subscales. High Cronbachs alpha indicates that the instrument has high internal consistency. Nunnally and Bernstein suggest that, for the newly developed instrument, the Cronbachs alpha with .70 is acceptable. Also, descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, and standard deviation will be used to describe the characteristics of the sample in both the test-retest reliability study and the construct validity study. Test-retest reliability, item analysis, descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and Cronbachs alpha will be performed using SPSS version 20.0.0 for Windows. AMOS 5.0 for

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Huck Finn Should Not Be Banned Essay

High Schools in the United States should not ban The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This book is one of the most important components of American literature in our libraries today, it throws the reader into a time when slavery was lawful and accepted, and gives the reader a new perspective on slavery in general. Until civil rights groups can come up with a better argument than the word â€Å"nigger† creating a â€Å"hostile work environment†(Zwick) it should not be taken off the required reading list of any High School in the country. Every one hundred years dialects change and what is considered â€Å"politically correct†, or socially acceptable, changes. â€Å"David Bradley argues that ‘if we’d eradicated the problem of racism in our society, Huckleberry Finn would be the easiest book in the world to teach’† (Zwick, Jim. â€Å"Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned?†). If we, as a nation, make it a point to rule out all books that could possibly offend students, then every hundred years or so our library of American Literature will be completely different. Even today, modern day authors use vulgar language, lurid sexual content, and racial slurs to get their point across. If The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is taken off of required reading lists across the country, then that could create a never-ending cycle of books being taken off of school shelves every time words and ideas become unacceptable. If this is the way that American society is turning then something must be don e, and the Superintendents, Deans, and Principals of every High School around the country must take it upon themselves to do it because the students will not. The people who are trying to ban The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are only trying to block out a part of American history that they would just as soon be forgotten, but every part of American history needs to be dealt with and accepted by everyone at a young age. Trying to shield students from any important part of history is a crime within itself. Hannibal, Missouri is a prime example of this type of crime. Every year they have a citywide celebration of Mark Twain, but they do not celebrate The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson nor do they teach it in their schools. Best stated by Shelly Fisher Fishkin, the theater company in Hannibal â€Å"was upholding a long American tradition of making slavery and its legacy and blacks themselves invisible†(Zwick, Jim. â€Å"Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned?†). This just shows how foolish many parts of America can be; they embrace him and call him a genius in one aspect, but they convenien tly don’t seem to notice his genius in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because they are too distracted by the language and actions of Huckleberry Finn himself. Just because a book has some offensive content is not enough of a reason to ban a book, the general value of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn greatly overshadows any offensive language it may contain. It shows how the American public thought back then, their morals, and their way of life. It was simply they way they were brought up. In Chapter 32 of Huckleberry Finn Aunt Sally asks if anyone was hurt in a steamboat accident, Huck replies, â€Å"No’m. Killed a nigger†(Twain 167). The subject is then closed because no â€Å"people† were harmed, and in their minds, nobody was. That is something that cannot be expressed in a textbook or a teacher with the same degree of authenticity. The book immerses the student in a time where slavery was accepted. Teachers taught it, pastors preached it, mayors practiced it, and children saw absolutely nothing wrong with it because that is how they had been brought up. Huckleberry, however, was not raised â€Å"proper† an d so had an almost completely clean head about the subject â€Å"The Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time† (Twain 1). He saw Jim as a person and was even willing to go to hell to protect him. Just his use of the word â€Å"nigger† did not make him a bad person; it was exactly the way people talked back in that period of time. The book tries to show that black people were just as human as white people and was probably the most blatant anti-slavery book of the time, â€Å"many scholars consider it a staunchly antiracist novel†(Zwick, Jim. â€Å"Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned?†). If only that idea was appreciated today, the book would come across as a classic instead of a source of debate. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an avid anti-slavery novel, and despite flawed criticism from close-minded individuals, is one of the finest windows into a dark period of history that we all must deal with. One will not completely understand the way of life when slavery was accepted until they have read an entirely unbiased and uncensored book written during that time and dealing with the topic of slavery.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Reflection in Nursing Essay

This assignment is a reflective account of events that arose for a nursing student during their first clinical placement in a community hospital. A brief definition of reflection will be given, with emphasis placed on communication. This reflection has been chosen to highlight the need for nurses to have therapeutic communication skills, to provide holistic care for those diagnosed with dysphasia or speech loss and the scope of learning opportunities it has provided to improve practice in this area. All names in this text have been changed, to respect the confidentiality of the patient and other healthcare professionals (NMC 2002). Reflection, in this instance, is a way of analysing past incidents to promote learning and improve safety, in the delivery of health care in practice. The Gibbs reflective cycle has been chosen as a framework for reflection (see appendix 1). Mr. Comer was admitted to his local community hospital for respite care. He has suffered multiple, acute strokes in the past, which has left him with severe disabilities. These include paralysis rendering him immobile, aphasia (speech loss) and dysphagia (swallowing difficulties). He relies on carers for all normal activities required for daily living (Roper et al 1996) and is advised to have a pureed diet and thickened fluids. My mentor asked me to observe her feeding Mr Comer. She had prepared my learning the week previously by providing literature on the subject of feeding elderly patients and discussion on safe practice for feeding patients with dysphagia. I was alarmed and unprepared for the physical sight of this patient, who was coughing noisily and laboriously and a thick, green stream of mucus was exuding from his mouth. I observed Mr. Comer being fed and noticed he was coughing more than normal during his meal, but was informed that this was quite normal for him. I was asked to feed him the next day. When I uncovered Mr Comer’s meal he started to cough in the same manner that I had witnessed before, but this time he evaded all eye contact. I was feeling extremely anxious, but proceeded to load a spoon with his meal. His coughing increased in intensity accompanied by rapid eye blinking, turning his head away from me and throaty groans that I can only describe as distressed vocal growling. I was terrified at this point and called for assistance, thinking Mr. Comer was having some kind of seizure. I discovered very quickly from another health carer who knew Mr. Comer well, that he was protesting profusely about the pureed dinner I was going to give him which he dislikes immensely. On the previous day, he had received an ordinary meal, mashed to a smooth consistency, which is what his carers provided for him at home. This experience left me feeling very uncomfortable and inadequate in my role. I tried to understand why he reacted so alarmingly by putting myself in his position. I felt anger and frustration, but more importantly the feeling of helplessness. Not being able to voice my dislike to the meal offered exacerbated the urgency of hunger or thirst. Although this experience was very frightening for me and frustrating for the patient, it has highlighted the need for me to improve my communication skills. NMC (2002) outlines that we must not add extra stress or discomfort to a patient by our actions and we must use our professional skills to identify patient’s â€Å"preferences regarding care†¦and the goals of the therapeutic relationshipâ€Å". Severtseen (1990) cited by Duxbury (2000) applies the term ‘therapeutic communication’ as the dialogue between nurse and patient to achieve goals tailored exclusively to the patients needs. In this case dialogue is used by Mr. Comer in the form of body language and noise to communicate his needs because of speech loss. Nelson-Jones (1990) states that facial expressions are an intrinsic way to express emotions and eye contact is one way to show interest. The avoidance in eye contact displayed by Mr. Comer showed his distinct lack of interest. Compounding these factors was his facial paralysis, which made it especially difficult for me to ascertain the exact nature of his feelings. The nurse must be the sender and more importantly the receiver of clear information. Patients with speech impairment or loss have a more difficult task sending the messages they want and are sometimes unsuccessful in making themselves understood. (Arnold & Boggs 1995). It appeared to me that Mr. Comer’s cough was not only a physiological disorder caused by his condition, but a way for him to communicate, in this case, his displeasure. Critical analysis of this experience has pointed to the fact that I have inadequacies in my skills, to identify covert and overt clues provided by Mr. Comer to his needs. I had focussed too much on the presenting task to feed him, with my mind occupied on his safety due to the nature of his swallowing problems. I had not considered his other needs like his wishes or desires and I had not gathered enough personal information about him beforehand to know this (Davis & Fallowfield 1991). I had been unsure about what to say or do to alleviate Mr. Comer’s apparent anxieties and had adopted what Watson & Wilkinson (2001) describe as the blocking technique. By continuing my actions to carry on with the meal, I was cutting short the patients need to communicate a problem. I was influenced in this decision because I felt obliged to be seen to reduce his anxieties, knowing my actions would be judged by an audience of other care workers and patients on the ward. I did not respond efficiently to reduce his distress and this pressure led me to deal with the situation inadequately and for that I felt guilty (Nichols 1993). I should have allowed more time to understand what Mr. Comer was thinking and feeling by putting words to his vocal sounds and actions. I could have shown more empathy in the form of my own body language to promote active listening (Egan 2002) and not worried about other peoples views on my decisions and beliefs to act in a way I felt comfortable with and thought was best for my patient. Gould (1990) cited by Chauhan & Long (2000) have suggested that â€Å"many of the non verbal behaviours we use to reassure patients, such as close proximity, prolonged eye contact, clarification, validation, touch, a calm and soothing voice, the effective use of questions, paraphrasing and reflecting thoughts and feelings and summarising are all sub skills with the totality of empathy†. There is an abundance of information about communication, especially for nurses because it is considered by many as the core component to all nursing actions and interventions. Lack of effective communication is a problem that still exists because the learning process that leads to a skilled level of ability may take years of experience to develop (Watson and Wilkinson 2001). It has been quite difficult for me to admit my inadequacies in communication, but Rowe (1999) explains that a person must identify their weaknesses as an initiative for becoming self-aware. Only with acceptance of ones self, can a person begin to acknowledge another persons uniqueness and build upon this to provide holistic care.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Structure Of Financial System Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2357 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The financial system is the backbone of every country and is a symbol of economic strength of that country. The financial system acts as a transformer of present into to better future. A better future of the economy can be secured only by a sound and effective financial system. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Structure Of Financial System Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Financial system in simple terms can be defined as a set of all activities related to financial institutions, financial markets, financial services and financial instruments (see figure 1.1. The main function of financial system is to facilitate the allocation of financial resources. This allocation is supported by increasing household savings which will result in increase in the investments in the corporate sector, by transferring of funds from one firm to another, by increasing consumption of households etc. Figure 1.1: Structure of Financial System Source: Bhole, L.M. (2010). Financial Institution Market, Structure, Growth Innovation. Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Co Ltd., New Delhi In the financial system, the financial markets play a very important role in resource mobilization. A financial market facilitates the sale and purchase of financial securities (shares, debentures etc.), commodities (metals, agriculture products) and other items. It can further be classified into two parts Capital Market and Money Market. Money market facilitates the short term fund requirement (one year or less) of the firms through various instruments like Treasury Bills, Commercial Papers, Repurchase Agreements, whereas the capital market is for long term instruments (more than one year). The capital market has a larger role in the development of every economy as it not only encourages savings but at the same time also boost direct investment in the Industry. Capital market deals in the long term sources to be raised through bonds, debentu res and stocks. The capital market can further be split into primary market and secondary market. Primary market is the one where new securities are bought and sold for the first time and the funds with the companies actually increase whereas in secondary market the shares which are already listed are dealt in and there is no additional resource mobilization for the companies. The secondary market provides easy liquidity, transferability and continuous price formation of securities and facilitates investors to buy and sell the shares with ease (Fortune India, 1990). INDIAN CAPITAL MARKET Indian capital market is one of the oldest capital markets of Asia. The history of Indian Capital Market dates back to the British rule period, when the shares of East India Company were traded in India. There were only two stock exchanges in Bombay and Calcutta till the end of 19th century. There has been a huge transformation since then. With the history of socialistic pattern and strict control over private participation in economy since independence till 1990, the Indian capital market has witnessed a major shift in the focus after 1990. The growth of Indian Capital Market started in 1990s with the major reforms that were carried in the Indian Economy. Indian Capital Market started its transformation from a young market to a comparatively mature and advanced market with the major changes in the way it was being governed and regulated. The writing on the wall started in 1980s but it was during the 1990s that the process actually picked the pace. The reforms in the financial s ector capital market started with the abolition of the Controller of Capital Issues Act in 1992 and introduction of SEBI Act has given the momentum with which IPO market has been growing. DEVELOPMENTS AND GROWTH IN INDIAN PRIMARY MARKET The most preferred source of raising funds for every corporate in India is the primary market. In primary market, the funds can be raised through Shares, Debentures, Bonds etc. A direct link is established between the companies and the investor whenever the funds are raised through primary market, which is beneficial to both the parties in terms of confidence in each other and the returns that both the parties get. This is the reason that the funds mobilization from the primary market has been increasing since 1993-94 with few exceptions (refer table 1.1). Table 1.1 shows the growth that the Primary market in India has witnessed since 1993-94. The growth is clearly visible in the initial years and the trend continued till 1994-95. However, beginning with 1995 there was a fall in the fund raising from the primary market. Although number of issues of shares increased from 1692 in 1994-95 to 1725 in 1995-96 but the total amount reduced to 20,804 crores from 27,633 crores. This fall ing trend continued till 2002-03, when a new lifeline was provided to the primary market and the confidence of the industry as well as the investors was restored and both the parties returned to the primary market fold. The total funds mobilized increased from Rs. 23,272 crores in 2003-04 to Rs. 87,029 crores in 2007-08. In 2008-09, the world economy witnessed one of the severe financial crises of all times. Although the impact on Indian economy was less as compared to other economies, but still it took its toll on the securities market. In 2008-09, the funds raised fell sharply to Rs. 16,220 crores from Rs. 87,209 crores in 2007-08. But with the immediate intervention of all the concerned authorities (Government, SEBI, RBI etc.) the negative impact was restricted to one financial year only and there was a turnaround in 2009-10. Table 1.1: Resources Mobilized from the Primary Market (Amount in Rs. Crore) Year Total Category wise Issuer Type Public Rights Listed IPOs No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. 1993-94 1,143 24,372 773 15,449 370 8,923 451 16,508 692 7,864 1994-95 1,692 27,633 1,342 21,045 350 6,588 453 11,061 1,239 16,572 1995-96 1,725 20,804 1,426 14,240 299 6,564 368 9,880 1,357 10,924 1996-97 884 14,284 753 11,565 131 2,719 167 8,326 717 5,959 1997-98 111 4,570 62 2,862 49 1,708 59 3,522 52 1,048 1998-99 58 5,587 32 5,019 26 568 40 5,182 18 404 1999-00 93 7,817 65 6,257 28 1,560 42 5,098 51 2,719 2000-01 151 6,108 124 5,378 27 729 37 3,385 114 2,722 2001-02 35 7,543 20 6,502 15 1,041 28 6,341 7 1,202 2002-03 26 4,070 14 3,639 12 431 20 3,032 6 1,039 2003-04 57 23,272 35 22,265 22 1,007 36 19,838 21 3,434 2004-05 60 28,256 34 24,640 26 3,616 37 14,507 23 13,749 2005-06 139 27,382 103 23,294 36 4,088 60 16,446 79 10,936 2006-07 124 33,508 85 29,796 39 3,710 47 5,002 77 28,504 2007-08 124 87,029 92 54,511 32 32,518 39 44,434 85 42,595 2008-09 47 16,220 22 3,582 25 12,637 25 12,637 21 2,082 2009-10 76 57,555 47 49,236 29 8,319 34 30,359 39 24,696 Source: SEBI Handbook 2010 The funds mobilization has always been more from the equities as compared to other instruments (Table 1.2). However there were certain exception years (1996-97, 1998-99, 2000-01 and 2002-03) when the funds raised through equities was less as compared to Bonds, Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) and other instruments. In 1996-97 maximum funds have been raised through CCPS whereas in remaining years i.e. 1998-99, 2000-01 and 2002-03 the maximum funds have been raised through bonds. Table 1.2: Resources Mobilized from the Primary Market (Amount in Rs. Crore) INSTRUMENT WISE EQUITIES CCPS BONDS OTHERS AT PAR AT PREMIUM Year No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. 1993-94 608 3,808 383 9,220 1 2 9 1,991 142 9,351 1994-95 942 5,529 651 12,441 7 124 0 0 135 9,538 1995-96 1,181 4,958 480 9,727 8 145 6 2,086 63 3,888 1996-97 697 3,441 148 4,412 10 5,400 27 886 1997-98 64 271 33 1,610 3 10 4 1,550 10 1,128 1998-99 20 197 20 660 3 78 10 4,450 6 202 1999-00 30 786 52 3,780 0 0 10 3,200 2 51 2000-01 84 818 54 2,408 2 142 10 2,704 1 36 2001-02 7 151 8 1,121 0 0 16 5,601 4 670 2002-03 6 143 11 1,314 0 0 8 2,600 2 13 2003-04 14 360 37 18,589 0 0 6 4,324 0 0 2004-05 6 420 49 23,968 0 0 5 3,867 0 0 2005-06 10 372 128 27,000 0 0 0 0 1 10 2006-07 2 12 119 32,889 0 0 2 356 1 249 2007-08 7 387 113 79,352 2 5,687 2 1,603 0 0 2008-09 5 96 40 14,176 1 448 1 1,500 0 0 2009-10 1 9 71 54,866 1 180 3 2,500 0 0 Source: SEBI Handbook 2010 In 2010-11, 91 companies accessed the primary market as against 76 in 2009-10. The total amount mobilized during 2010-11 was Rs 67,609 crores compared to Rs. 57,555 crores mobilized during 2009-10. With the entering of large number of public sector companies in the IPO market, the number of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) have also increased to 53 in 2010-11 from 39 in 2009-10. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the share of public sector in the funds mobilization was more as compared to private sector. But there was a fall in the number of rights issue from 23 to 29 and also in the funds raised through the Qualified Institutions Placement Mode (QIP) to Rs. 25,861 crores (from 50 issues) against Rs. 42,729 crores (from 62 issues) during the same period.  [1] INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS An Indian company can issue shares through Public Issue, Right Issue, Bonus Issue and Private Placement. Figure 1.2: Types of Issues Public issue is the most popular way of raising finance directly through the public i.e., primary market. The IPOs have their existence from the historical era but IPO market in India has been developing since the transformation of Indian economic structure after the economic reforms in the form of liberalization of the Indian economy. IPO has become one of the most preferred methods of raising funds for various new companies and existing companies. An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the sale of stock by a company that is made to the public immediately after the formation of the company. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises. Investment Banking firms assist companies that undertake an IPO and also act as an underwriter to help them correctly assess the value of their shares, that is, the share issue price. A company can issue securities in the following three ways: 1. Public issue 2. Right is sue 3. Private placement Public issue is the most preferred and important source of raising funds by the company. It is not only in the interest of the company to raise funds through IPOs rather it is generally a win-win situation for all the parties involved. Normally there are three parties involved in the process of IPO The Company, The Vendors (Investment Bankers) and The Investors. IPO is the safest form of raising funds for any company. It is one way of expanding ownership. Although, the main objective of the company in issuing IPO is to raise funds but at the same time it becomes the responsibility of the company to create atmosphere for immediate return to the investors by facilitating increase in market price of the shares and future returns to the shareholders. The Vendors act as an intermediary between the company and the investors. The primary interest of the vendors in an IPO is to get immediate returns in the form of commission but at the same time they are a lso interested in creating a market for them by ensuring the full sale of shares and to be seen as a successful intermediary. Investors are the main affected party as they are investing their amount and are the real risk bearers. The investors will always like the value of their shares to go up and will seek higher possible return on their investment. Figure 1.3: Various IPO Objectives Source: Geddes, 2003, IPOs and Equity Offerings, Butterworth-Heinemann Publications PROCEDURE FOR ISSUING AN IPO The process of issuing an IPO starts with the appointment of the Merchant Bankers who do the primary work for issuing the IPO. They try to propose a price which will be accepted by the market by studying the market environment. The task of appointing agents, registrar, banks etc. is facilitated by Merchant Bankers. As already explained tAs the Merchant Bankers are the intermediaries between the company and the investors, so practically all the functions of issuing IPO are either performed by them or they act as advisors for other functions. Sometimes a single Merchant Bank is hesitant to take all the risk, especially when the size of the issue is very big. In such cases they for a group of similar bankers and divides the risk amongst them. The Merchant Bankers after doing the analysis and discussion with the company prepares an offer document which is than filed with SEBI. After receiving a confirmation from SEBI the prospectus is finally issued and the applications are invited from the investors. The offer normally remains open from 3-7 days. After the closing of the issue, the merchant bankers scrutinize the applications and then finally decide on the issue of the shares. The successful investors are informed of the allotment and amount is refunded to the unsuccessful investors. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK The IPO market in India is growing as a large number of companies are issuing equity shares in the capital market. Since 1990 reforms, the Indian IPO market went through a dynamic phase of policy changes, reforms and streamlining. Among these reforms and transforms, one of the most significant developments was the substitution of Controller of Capital Issues (CCI) by a free pricing mechanism. CCI had the regulatory control on all capital issues in Indian market. CCI was the authority which actually cleared the issue price set as the offer price of such issue. The CCIs formula was used to compute the fair price of equity in the light of accounting information (Shah, 1995)  [2] 1.3 Schedules Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines, 2000 enables the Central Government to exercise the jurisdiction over (a) stock exchanges through a process of recognition and continued supervision, (b) contracts in securities, and (c) listing of securities on stock exchanges. market expectations and economic environment prevailing at that particular point of time. F A is appointed as by the issuer company of IPO. Ais prepared in consultation with . W, the final prospectus is filed with the registrar of companies. One day before the opening of the public issue through fixed price method, private placement and t On the 2nd day from the closure of the issue, is to that portion will be As per the statutory requirements, is to be done for the shares in n. Table 1.4: Difference between Book Building and Fixed pricing https://www.bseindia.com/bookbuilding/about.asp Jagannathan et. al. The been considered as a when there was a the e was suffering from a downturnIt was after 2002 when the primary market recovered from this downturn but the investors had already lost their confidence as they suffered huge losses since they had bought shares in the boom period. The confidence of the investors was only restored in 2003 when wthe improve ment in the market. 1.5 2008-09 45 14,670 2009-10 67 25,298 2010-11 70 24,830 RBI But in 2008 the financial crisis took its toll on the primary market also with the number of IPOs decreased to 45 in 2008-09. . The market showed a sign of recovery with the number of IPOs increasing since 2009. , 1.4POi (Kaustia, 2004) The type of industry to which that particular company belongs also affects the degree of underpricing of the IPOs. The IPOs of the sectors from which the market has greater expectations are tend to be more underpriced as compared to the IPOs of the sectors for which the demand is comparatively less. (Henrick, 2012) (Hail and Leuz, 2006)It can also be concluded (Shi, Pukthuanthong Walker, 2007) IPOs have been the most preferred source of raising funds by companies. The companies always try to fix a fair price for the shares but generally end up pricing IPO at a lower price in order to attract investors. This safe play or rather conservative approach adopted by the companies generally result in underpricing of IPOs. The above discussion brings into light the possible reasons which cause underpricing. A large number of studies have been published regarding underpricing of IPOs and on the role of various factors on underpricing in IPOs in isolatio n in emerging markets. An attempt is required to be made to