some engagement with notions of social inequality. which you can find some suggested starting points for this essay in (sociology antipodean perspectives 2ed textbook)
#64 (‘Division’ Nikos Papastergiardis) and
#65 (‘Insiders, Outsiders’; Ghassan Hage).
SAMPLE ANSWER
In this 21st century, the number of indigenous people in the 21st century is over 300 In this 21st century, the number of indigenous people in the 21st century is over 300 million, whereby they are spread all over the world, including the Scandinavian Sami, Guatemala’s Maya, the Dalits in the South Indian mountains, the Kwei and San of South Africa, and Aboriginal people of Australia, among others. There is a great diversity among indigenous people’s communities, with each having a significant culture, history, language, and a significantly different way of life (Altman and Johnson, 2010). In spite of these diversities, these indigenous communities across the world share various values that are partly derived from the view of their lives are inseparable and part of the general natural world.
In Australia, the ancestors of the first Aborigines in the country, believed to have originally been the homeland of Aborigines. For thousands of years, they lived a peaceful, primitive, and nomadic life without the disturbance of the outsiders. Therefore, historically Australians have more aligned to think of remote living Aboriginal people through broad representation types (Altman and Johnson, 2010). During the 21st century, it is clear that the aborigines of Australia are the ultimate outsiders. This paper argues that the fact on top of discussing why they are perennial objects in regard to the Australian government attention.
Over the past two decades, the Australian approach of the Social Policy towards the indigenous people has been underlined under the overreaching goal of struggling to achieve outcome equality, while at the same time recognizing the discrepancy that is increasing (McCormick et al, 2007). Such an approach is considered as necessary because it makes it possible for an ultimatum of the rights of the indigenous citizens, which have been in play since the 1960s, as well as the recognition of the inherent rights envelope, which both highlight equality and difference. However, even in this century, there is still a disturbing extreme for the making of social policy that underlined in the norm of universalism. Indigenous people whose economic and cultural circumstances are very diverse from the dominating societies, are living on land owned by the Aborigines in Australia’s remotest parts and are engaging in significantly diverse customary economies (McCormick et al, 2007). This is a very problematic extreme, especially within the reform welfare context, which has placed so much emphasis on mutual obligation since the ‘striving for equality of measured outcomes’ milestone might never be realized or be seen as appropriate in a setting that views the Aborigines as outsiders in the 21st century Australia.
Apart from the historical legacy that makes the Aborigines to viewed that way, this status is also contributed to significantly by two factors. The first one is that they reside in localities that are extremely remote considered to be “beyond the market’, which makes these localities susceptible to geographically-remote localities lacking viable markets of labor; and secondly, due to the significantly high-levels of commitment in the non-market or customary economy that results due to concrete cultural continuities – partly due to relatively benign and late histories (Levitus, 2011). As a result, in the 21st century, Aboriginals are represented as the outsiders in the Australian context due to the picture that is attached to them by default. First, they are pictured as outsiders due to the cultural discrepancies even if in positive terms – gatherers and hunters who have vibrant artistic and ceremonial traditions, and whose language is very distinct coupled with the fact they live off the land (Levitus, 2011). Secondly, they are viewed as outsiders in this perspective because their cultural differences are significantly viewed as negatively driving them away from the common population. In the critical view of the typical Australian, their cultural discrepancies are more of savage and repugnant practices, characterized with anti-modern (anti-21st century) tendencies, and they are generally depicted as improvised social outcasts of the modern age. Despite the fact that they have existed through history of Australia, large and by, it is clear that just a particular kind of image has been dominant all through – they are the modern-day Australia outsiders (Levitus, 2011).
It is largely due to the reasons outlined concerning why they are the ultimate outsiders in the 21st century Australia that help to better explain why they are the perennial objects of Australian Government attention (Megaw, 2006b). The government views it as an informed move to intervene through the introduction of new policies for the policy regarding the indigenous people. Mainly it is in an effort to change their being viewed as outsiders. The government attention cannot be mentioned as romanticist or dilettantish and can be generalized in several observations. The first one is the combination of native title and land rights as well as increasing the possibility of the recognition of the Aboriginal rights, and making sure that they are not habitats to such remote localities in the future. Secondly, the government attention can be viewed in terms of trying to improve the robust living conditions in such localities and increase the state penetration, globalization and the labor market. Thirdly, as a result of the recent debate regarding the social policy that is underlined by the rubric of mutual obligation, it is crucial for the government to act as a the key player it is in improving on the social participation degree that is well established already, to cater for these indigenous and remote communities like Aboriginals for this matter.
The government consideration of the Aboriginals as perennial objects can be argued in terms of increasing self-determination and self-management. In this century especially, the commonwealth policy has been based on this declaration: ‘the fundamental right of Aboriginals to retain their racial identity and traditional lifestyle or, where desired, to adopt wholly or partially a European lifestyle,” (Coombs, Dexter and Hiatt, 2010; p. 21). The government is promoting the initiative on Aboriginal control or participation in community or local government, as well as the other concerned areas to encourage them from living in the conceptualities that ultimately label them as outsiders. This approach was previously conceived as self-determination and self-management, and recently the government support has been the latest positive investment in programs that are managed by Aboriginal organizations. For instance, the Aboriginal Development Commission has been string than ever in the 21st century advent, whereby it is positively assisting social and economic development of Aboriginal people, through promotion of their self-management and development as well as increasing the economic self-sufficiency of the Aboriginal people (Coombs, Dexter and Hiatt, 2010). The government involvement in the general view is to ensure that the Aboriginals are at the same social and economic front with their counterparts.
In general, the Aboriginal are viewed as outsiders in the 21st century Australia because of the remote localities and deprived social, cultural and economic welfare. The reason they are they are the perennial objects of Australian Government attention is because the government wants to change these statuses and ensure this is not their position in the country anymore (Megaw, 2006b).
References
Altman, J.C. and V. Johnson (2010), ‘CDEP in town and country Arnhem Land: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 209, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University, Canberra.
Coombs, H. C., B. G. Dexter and L. R. Hiatt (2010), ‘The outstations movement in Aboriginal Australia’, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Newsletter, 14, 16– 23.
McCormick, T., R. Irving, E. Imashev, J. Nelson & G. Bull, (2007). First Views of Australia 1788-1825: a History of Early Sydney. David Ell Press in association with Longueville Publications, Chippindale, NSW
Megaw, J.V.S., 2006b. Australian archaeology – how far have we progress.
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Hi Dear,
This is the continuation of comprehensive exam, question 3. This question is based on what you provided on the two previous questions. Please pay special attention to the three pars of the question. Additionally, I will provide my last paper regarding my research questions of my topic of interest below:
Introduction
The compensation of construction workers that is based on the prevailing wage and its consequent effect, positive or negative, on construction in general and specifically on affordable housing for senior inhabitants is the subject matter of this concept paper. The prevailing wage paid to construction workers for government-funded construction projects as compared to market rate compensation on privately owned and financed construction projects was the perceptible experience that is the basis of undertaking this study. Dunn, S., Quigley, J. M., and Rosenthal, L.A. (2005) emphasized on the prevailing wage law as factors in increasing the costs of construction. The costs of construction with market rate compensation to the construction workers seem to be lower than the prevailing wage. Carr (2008) stated that lowering high construction wages would lead to lower construction expenses and consequently more affordable housing. Carr (2008) also claimed the price of low-income affordable housing is already high; the application of prevailing wage creates an additional burden on the end users.
The objective of this investigation is to explore the effects of the prevailing wage versus market wage rate on the construction industry and in particular low-income housing for the senior populace. The cost efficacy of low-income housing construction for senior citizens constructed with the prevailing wage as a medium of payment to the workforce on construction projects is the target of this investigation. The factors that impact the affordability of senior citizens housing, when utilizing prevailing wage, are targeted in this study. The line of reasoning is about the elements that could have an impact on the affordability of low-income housing in general and the factors that influence the cost of affordable housing for seniors in particular when the prevailing wage is used in the course of construction. There is limited research directly related to the topic of this study, but a combination of past five years and older studies would serve the purpose.
Statement of the Problem
The elevated costs of construction have greatly decreased the production of affordable housing for seniors (Scanlon & Cohen, 2009). One of the most prominent causes for this decrease in production is the currently high construction wages. Lowering construction wages will lead to lower construction expenses and consequently more affordable housing for this vulnerable population (Carr, 2008). One of the major factors that affect construction cost is labor wage rate that when combined with other related elements will establish the construction cost. The senior affordable housing is the targeted picture of publically funded projects in which the high construction cost is the conclusion of many factors that have caused it. The high labor wage rate is one of the construction cost determinants among the list of other elements. Applying lower construction wages so as to have lower construction cost is the reasonable correlation between labor wage and construction cost. Some states have repealed the Act and some others have enforced it. Construction workers who are working on public construction projects that are compensated on prevailing wage standard in average receive $3.68 an hour more than the workers paid with market wage rate. This assumption may lead to conclusion that public construction could costs less without prevailing wage (Clark, 2005). The findings of a study showed construction costs amplifies considerably, ranging from 9% to 37%, when prevailing wage regulations utilized (Dunn, et al., 2005). The price of affordable housing is already high and applying the prevailing wage laws will create extra burden on the end users (Carr, 2008). Every state, district, and county may have their own prevailing wage laws, policies, regulations, and guidelines. Therefore, generalization of the topic of study should be contained within different states, districts, or counties.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this quantitative study is determine the effect of the prevailing construction worker wage on construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California as compared to the market construction workers wage rate. Also, the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California with the prevailing construction worker wage as compared to the market construction wage will be examined.
Research Questions
Q1. What is the effect of the prevailing construction worker wage on construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
Q2. What is the effect of the market construction worker wage on construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
Q3. What is the effect of the prevailing construction worker wage on the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California?
Q4. What is the effect of the market construction worker wage on the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California?
Hypotheses
Hypotheses for question one, are illustrated as follows:
H10. There is no relationship between the prevailing construction worker wage and the construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H11. There is a positive relationship between the prevailing construction worker wage and the construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H20. There is no relationship between the market construction worker wage and the construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H21. There is a positive relationship between the market construction worker wage and the construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H30. There is no relationship between the prevailing construction worker wage and the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H31. There is a positive relationship between the prevailing construction worker wage and the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H40. There is no relationship between the market construction worker wage and the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California?
H41. There is a positive relationship between the market construction worker wage and the affordability of affordable housing for seniors in California.
Theoretical Framework
Stigler as cited in Oslington (2012) quoted Adam Smith when he stated that human being demeanors are to follow their own interest within competing environment. Naturally, human behavior is founded on the desire for competition. Since the childhood, individuals are either part of competing challengers or had desire to be competitive (if not practically, at the minimum dreaming of being better than others). Smith as cited in Evensky (2005) stated that self-love is the driving force within the market structure. Smith’s emphasis of market organization in his Wealth of Nations is around self-interest and self-love that drive the individuals to be better than their competitors and eventually profit more in cases of businesses. Smith, as cited in Bayer (2012), believed people will perform what benefit them through producing goods and services that are necessities to the public. The Wealth of Nations in which Smith asserted the theory of invisible hand of the market, works like a self-regulating device. As expressed by Smith a free marketplace economy is capable of taking its course routinely without needing government to interfere. Smith outspokenly challenged involvement of government regarding product regulatory enforcement, trade restriction, and labor law as it is understood market will take care of its issues. As suggested by Smith the mixture of the elements of self-interest, competition, and supply and demand are the components of invisible hand of the market, and believed these elements unavoidably are capable in resource distribution within the community (Bayer, 2012). Theoretical structure of this study is based on the theory of Smith’s market invisible hand.
Brief Review of the Literature
Examination of the prevailing wage laws have provided evidence that the prevailing wages are influential factors in increasing the costs of construction (Dunn, et al. 2005). The prevailing wage laws in the Unites States established as part of public policy at the federal and state levels since the first half of twentieth century (Prus, 1996). This means workers will be compensating with the prevailing wage rate when working on publicly funded construction projects. The available literature for the effect and impact of the prevailing wage on senior affordable housing is incredibly limited. There is no solid experimental study of the economic effects of prevailing wage in general and on senior affordable housing in California in particular. Although there are some researches in the subject of prevailing wage impact on the costs of senior affordable housing (Prus, 1996), there is a gap of understanding in the area of the impact of prevailing wage on construction costs of affordable housing for seniors. For higher understanding of the prevailing wage requirements, it would be better to start from early labor movement literature. Labor movement primarily began with requesting to have “eight-hour legal working day” (Yeagle, 1997, p.7). The movement led into three laws, the Davis-Bacon Act, Walsh-Healey Public Contracts, and the Service Contract Act (Yeagle, 1997). The Davis-Bacon Act law essentially enforces the wages and benefits of construction workers on the basis of prevailing wage rate (Price, 2005).
Subsequent to the impassionate political argument in October 2001, the legislature in California passed a bill in broadening the use of state’s prevailing wage laws to cover numerous construction projects that were not covered before; this include subsidized housing financed through public entity, and some of the privately owned construction project covered under this law (Dunn, et al., 2005). The policy argument and dispute will have an added heat by introduction of the new law, particularly in the area of subsidized low-income housing. Dunn, et al. also expressed in view of the fact that market wage rates are almost always lower than the prevailing wage rates. The extended application of this law could considerably increase the costs of public construction, conceivably to the extent that they may not be economically viable (Dunn, et al., 2005), which mean enormous impact on construction cost.
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) law has passed by Congress as to divert the problem of housing for low income citizens (Wright, 2003). Contractors pay nine to $12 for simple laborer and about $20 to $24 for skilled workers based on the market rate, comparing to union wages, market rate is half the amount (Kennedy, 1993). In order to have affordable housing it is required to lower high construction wages (Carr, 2011). Carr argues that the price of affordable housing is already high and having prevailing wage in effect, creates extra burden on the end users. As a result, production of affordable housing is reducing dramatically due to high cost of construction (Scanlon & Cohen, 2009). Scanlon and Cohen brought up this subject and compare the hard cost of a condominium in Manhattan with union labor versus non-union labor. In this regard hard cost of construction of condominium in Manhattan is about $450 per square foot (psf) with union wage rate against $300 psf with market wage rate (Scanlon & Cohen, 2009). In comparing union wage rate with prevailing wage rate the findings show that most of the requirements for both are the same with minor differences (Wilder, 2010). Opponents of union wage rate emphasize that union control the market power which in turn increasing pay rates (Bennett & Kaufman (2002).
The cost and quality of construction always debated between policymakers (Clark, 2005). The costs of projects run through Davis Bacon are 23 percent higher than the projects governed by the funding of private sector without prevailing wage application (Prus, 1996). The United States founded on competition that is the principal factor of capitalism, which in turns supported by anti-trust law (Leef, 2010). Leef claims that prevailing wage is against competition. The Florida’s low-income rental housing for senior citizen that is subsidized by government demonstrates the non-affordability of such rental housing (Golant, 2002). Construction cost analyses that are based on wage differences between market wage and prevailing wage are inappropriate, as many other factors in addition to labor wage are involved in construction cost. Therefore, the cost savings dialog that some investigators are claiming application of lowering wage will lower construction cost is uncertain and for this reason requires further investigation (Prus, 1996). The incentive for publically funded affordable housing called the tax-exempt bond program might not be sufficient in order to keep the construction cost down; also the prevailing wage may not be the reason for having lower construction production of low-income housing. However, there is no research literature emphasizing on California or other states’ prevailing wage necessities regarding correlation to construction cost (Newman, Blosser & Haycock, 2004). The school construction projects in the Washington State that had paid market price to the construction workforce would cost taxpayers 12.7% cheaper than when constructed under prevailing wage requirements (Washington Research Council, 1999). The Washington Research Council reveals that the market will lay down prices more efficiently than any authoritarian methodology even though well directed and managed. In other hand, decreasing prevailing wage rates will threaten the skill-centered construction industry of Pennsylvania State and will lead toward the opposite direction through which requires decreasing costs in a long run (Wial, 1999).
Literature Review of Experimental and Quasi-
Experimental
Looking for appropriate research design is the ground for this section of the literature review. The objective of experimental and quasi-experimental research designs is to test the effect of remedial function applied on a dependent variable (Kovera, 2010). Once the remedy methodically differs from other variable, it is referred to as the variables confounded, which denotes that the remedy effect is associated with other variables effects. Kovera also stated that although the target of performing an experiment is to have the effect of probable confounding variables under control by means of manipulating the independent variable and arbitrary allocation of partakers to the situation within the experiment that are still probable to have confounded variable in an experiment.
Random allocation of partakers to numerous treatments is the distinguishing factor of an experiment (Anderman, 2009). Random allocation to either an investigational group or a control group is among the elementary factors involved in the experimental approaches. In such case, investigational group would receive certain type of treatment while, control group will not receive treatment. Anderman also asserted when the treatment differs between the investigational (experimental) and the control group and this differences are controlled firmly, and when after the experiment measureable variances exist amid the two groups in which did not existed before the start of experiment, the researchers could then conclude the investigational manipulation was the cause for the differences.
The advantages of experimental design include investigator trying to eradicate unsolicited extraneous variables, controlling extraneous variables normally are better performed than other researches design (Kikishin, 2012). The methodology contains manipulation of independent variable in order to observe the influence on dependent variable, which provides a situation to discover the cause and effect correlation, and the sever conditions and controlling will provide a condition that experimenter can rearrange the experiment and repeat to check the outcome (Kikishin, 2012). Kikishin also denotes the Disadvantages of experimental design as extraneous variables cannot be removed in every instances of experimental environment as may not associate to real life events. Random assignment of participants to groups might be unethical or impossible, which would count toward the disadvantages of the design (Kikishin, 2012).
Independent variable is the corresponding balance to dependent variable (Fan, 2010). In contrast, dependent and independent notions are initially utilized as in mathematical logic, which denotes that dependent variable value alters as the value of independent variable changes (Fan, 2010). Fan also stated that independent variables in a research study are the variables that investigator can influence and control; while dependent variables are replies to the outcomes resulted from independent variables. Variable in the simplest form is measurement of some elements that embraces minimum of two separate values over the span of the research that partakers are involved (Brown, 2010). On the contrary, dependent variable is the outcome resulted from the deed of minimum of one or more independent variable (Salkind, 2010).
In an investigational and observational approach through data examination, control variable is counted as variables without having major emphasis on such variables, therefore establishes extraneous or confound variable that controlling or eliminating of its impact will be necessary (Pole & Bondy, 2010). The purpose of controlling possible confounder is to separate the influence of the exposure element over the concluding factors where decreasing or removing possible bias obtained through differences in the outcomes detected amid exposed and unexposed partakers that are determinable to the probable confounder. Control is realized once the possible confounder is incapable to differ between exposure groups and because of this the detected relationship amid the exposure and concluding result is independent from possible confounder. Pole and Bondy described the achievement of control in an example when chemical reaction rate is investigated and shows how it varies with different substances as exposures in the process. The researchers by keeping the rate of temperature constant in different substances under investigation will make sure that temperature differences will not affect the outcome of the series of experiments. A group within an experimental study that is alienated from the remainder of the examinational study that is testing the independent variable so as to prevent its impact is referred to control group. Through segregating the effect of independent variable of the research, every other clarification of the outcome of the experiment is eliminated (Pole & Bondy, 2010).
Reviewing Project Trade-Offs
There are three tradeoffs present in an experiment as follows (Wiley, 2009). First, there are unavoidable tradeoffs in experiments regarding blocking or to standardize conditions. When deciding to incorporate blocking in any experimental design, it is needed to iterate treatment on any of the experimental unit. Second, clarifying interpretation of multiple tests of a hypothesis undertaken. Just at the time of interest, emphasize on any instead of each for N number of probable responses, which would be the suitable time to adjust criteria for statistical significance of the outcomes. Third, misunderstanding regarding disadvantage of large experiments be corrected. There are possibilities of small biases even after randomization of treatments in experiments with considerable amount of sample size. As these small biases are hard for investigators to detect, therefore large experiments need special attention and examination (Wiley, 2009). Wiley asserted that these types of experiments could be justified only at the time the least amount of human involvement with highest amount of standardization is in place. In experimental design justifying unavoidable tradeoffs necessitate vigilant consideration at the time of attesting any experiment.
Theme/Sub-Topic
Knowing these facts leads to a question: Can public housing that are built under the term affordable housing, be really affordable? Affordable housing for seniors is the target of this paper so as to look for the effect of prevailing wage rate on affordability of such housing in California, and in general any construction project that are publicly funded. This research intends to answer five extensive questions as sub-problems:
1. The prevailing wage effect on production of affordable housing.
2. The prevailing wage effect on employment in construction industry.
3. The prevailing wage effect on government-subsidized rental housing for low-income seniors, and in particular California.
4. The prevailing wage effect on political inclination related to affordable housing.
5. The prevailing wage effect on anti-trust laws.
Research Method
The literature from the past researches and the directional guidelines of NCU (2013) concept paper template was the most valuable material and information to utilize for this concept paper. The Dissertation Journey presented broad walkthrough for development and writing a dissertation for novice researchers. Roberts (2004) emphasized on learners’ responsibility after graduations so as to have their research findings publicly shared and distributed for the use of other upcoming learners. As Leedy and Ormrod (2010) stated there are two main steps involved in descriptive quantitative research. Identifying the characteristics and attributes of a professed events or facts is the first thing to start with. The second one is to determine possible correlation between two or more events or facts. There are four foremost approaches to descriptive research. These are developmental designs, observation studies, survey research, and correlational research. In continuation of this assertion Leedy and Ormrod described that correlational research “examines the extent to which differences in one characteristic or variable are related to differences in one or more other characteristics or variables. A correlation exists if, when one variable increases, another variable either increases or decreases in a somewhat predictable fashion” (Leedy and Ormrod, 2010, p. 183).
Creswell (2005) designated that the correlational research is used when the purpose is to look for the presence of relation between two or more variables with the intention of discovering if they have effect on each other. This practice is best pertinent when scholars are capable of utilizing statistical data in calculating the correlation through statistical analyses. Creswell went on indicating that the two major correlation approaches are explanatory and prediction. The explanatory design is the one that the objective of examiners is to discover two or more variables named co-vary, which designates that the deviation applied to one variable will show deviation occurring in other variable(s). The researchers in the prediction approach are focusing on predicting the results through explicit variable named as predictors (Creswell, 2005).
When the relation between two variable exist, such as wage rate and construction cost, choosing the correlational research design for the topic of interest would be the most attractive and common sense to establish our research based on this phenomenon. The independent variable of labor cost and dependent variable of construction cost are the foundation for the research. In either case of increase or decrease in labor cost, in the form of the prevailing wage or the market wage, there could be raise or drop in construction cost that illustrates evidence of correlation relationship between the two variables. The prevailing wage as an independent variable may influence construction cost, positive or negative, and or a number of other variables. Exploring correlation relationship between the prevailing wage and other dependent variables assists in comprehension of such relationship. When Type I error considered in hypothesis testing, the statistical significance is accentuated on diminishing Type I error. This means with the assumption of null hypothesis being true, what would be the probability of rejecting it by mistake.
In this concept paper we established controlled research based on two groups of the prevailing wage rate and the market labor wage. Two groups of A and B were proposed. Group A presumes construction cost using workers with the prevailing wage rate, and Group B considered construction cost using workers with the market labor wage. We also assumed to study Group A for the situation that the prevailing wage is applied as compared to the application of the market wage, then examining causes of higher cost of construction. Next moving to analyzing the causes that if it is because of the chance or having the higher prevailing wage as compared to the market labor wage rate. We as well assumed the case if the Group A of construction cost with the prevailing wage to be either a little lower or higher than that of Group B of the market wage. In such case having the prevailing wage rate or the market wage causing the impact on the construction cost are not probable, since the two groups of events would probably have small differences due to the random selections. In the same manner, if there are a small number of participants in the investigation, having the outcome by chance are more probable. For the purpose of determining statistical significance we depend on the actual rates of labor costs in each of the two groups as well as the number of partakers in each group. These processes will be repeating for the other three pair of hypotheses as well.
Operational Definition of Variables
Construction costs principally consist of cost of land, hard costs, soft costs, and developers’ profit. Fundamentally, hard costs include the cost of labor and material. While soft cost comprise of the cost of financing, insurance, professional fees, and the cost of complying with codes, regulations and environment (Scanlon & Cohen, 2009). Therefore, major variables in the construction can be classified as land, labor rate, material, and funding. Land can be measured under nominal scale in that land is categorized to those that have views, which can be further divided to hill side view, ocean view, lake view, water front, flat land, and steep hill side lands.
Labor rate as the second variable in our list is measured with interval scales, and depending on the type of funding (publicly funded projects either totally or partially are subject to prevailing wage or union rate), prevailing wage, union rate, and market standard pay can be analyzed precisely through this method of measurement. Material is the third variable in our inventory. Any data that orders are based on species, grades, levels, and strength, are best suited to place them in the ordinal scale of measurement. Building materials are classified under species, grades, strength, levels, and structural features, are the best example of ordinal scale of measurement. Finally, funding that is the groundwork of any construction project is based on time, mathematics, accounting, and related ratios. Hence, the best suggestible scale of measurement for funding variable is ratio measurement.
Construct/Variable 1.
A moderator variable affects the direction and or power of the association between independent variable and dependent variable (Petty, 2006; Bauman, et al., 2002). To clarify moderator and mediator variable in the scenario of this study, it will be appropriate to start with couple of examples. The extension of the application of prevailing wage requirements to construction workers working on subsidized low-income housing projects (Dunn, et al., 2005) is the moderator variable. Generally, researches reach to a level for examining relationship between theoretical constructs through measurement of variables that are matching up with the said constructs and monitoring statistical correlation between the variables. This study emphasizes on current legislation in California that prolonged the application of prevailing wage law and its requirements to subsidized low-income housing projects, mandating prevailing wage payment to construction workers employed to build such housing (Dunn, et al., 2005).
The effect of the initiating and spreading out the prevailing wage regulations over the cost effectiveness of construction of public schools in British Columbia was examined (Duncan, et. Al., 2012). The key constructs in this study was the prevailing wage regulations, construction cost inefficiency, and best-practice cost frontier. The prevailing wage is taken as the cause and construction cost inefficiency as the effect. The moderator variable in this study would be the impact of this law on total construction cost. On the other hand, the reasons and the way prevailing wage have impact on the construction cost is the mediator variable in the study (Duncan, et. al., 2012).
Knowing construct of similar projects will assist in pin pointing the moderator and mediator variables of this study. For the topic of this study, the variables, the level of measurement of the variable, and how each variable will vary are classified below:
1. Land: Nominal, Ratio, and Interval
1.1. Land purchase: Interval scale of measurement (Ratio can also be used)
1.2. Land development cost: Interval scale of measurement
1.3. Land location: Nominal scale of measurement (Ordinal can also be used)
1.4. Views: Nominal scale of measurement
1.5. Terrain/Topography – Ratio and Interval scale of measurement
2. Labor rate: According to the exhibited table below:
Variable Name Level of Measurement
1 Direct labor cost Interval –
2 Fringe benefit cost Interval Ratio
3 Worker’s compensation cost Interval Ratio
4 Medicare cost Interval Ratio
5 Group (health, life and accident) insurance cost – Ordinal
6 Retirement benefit cost Interval Ratio
7 Sick leave cost – Binary
8 Vacation cost Interval Ratio
9 Social security cost Interval Ratio
10 Mandatory safety training cost Interval Ratio
11 Perk cost (Daycare and tuition reimbursement, etc.) – Nominal
3. Material: Nominal and Ordinal
4. Costs: Ratio, Interval
1.6. Financing costs – interval and Ratio scale of measurement
1.7. Insurance cost – measured with Ordinal scale of measurement
1.8. Professional fees – measured with Interval and Ratio scale of measurement
1.9. Cost of complying with codes – Nominal and Interval scale of measurement
1.10. Cost of regulations and environment – Interval scale of measurement
1.11. Cost of political issues and changes – Ordinal and interval scale of measurement
1.12. Cost of applied taxes – Interval and Ratio scale of measurement
5. Project Time: Ratio and Interval measurement
In this section the two research method design of experimental and coorelational are defined so as to perceive the better fit for the topic of interest. Several times I switched between the two methods of experimental and correlational as either technique practically could apply to the topic of my interest. According to Field (2009) in correlational study observation of the events occurs without straightforwardly manipulating it. While, in experimental examination variable is influenced to observe its consequence on another variable. Lastly the correlational research method looks more logical for the topic of interest and has no manipulation of variables and would demonstrate real variation in different selected samples. Exploring construction costs are about real numbers and are best to study any variation with no manipulations of the samples (Field, & Mills, 2010).
In statistics, when it is referred to population it means a certain group that are under study or information are being gathered about them for further decision making based on information collected. A proportion of the group under study or in other words randomly picking a section of population with all its characteristics referred to as sample. Random samples contribute to generalization of population under study (Field, & Mills, 2010). The construction cost is generally high, and when manifold of projects are studied for the investigation intentions, the projects’ costs of study will go skyrocket that would not be affordable by any researcher, unless being supported by grant or some kind of government assistance. Because of this fact, it is suggested to produce a list of constructors and developers that have performed a number of projects in the past five years. These projects will be used in this study. The projects under investigation in this study will be categorized based on the financial sizes of the project. Then, five levels of projects scoring of $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, $10,000,000, and over $100,000,000 will be produced that are tabulated and illustrated bellow:
Project Size Sample Size Prevailing Wage Samples Market
Wage Samples
$ 100,000 60 30 30
$ 500,000 30 15 15
S 1,000,000 20 10 10
$ 10,000,000 14 7 7
$100,000,000 and more 6 3 3
Measurement
The pre-acquired list of builders, contractors, and developers will be contacted to obtain their consent regarding participating in the research. The sample size as illustrated in the table above could be 60, 30, 20, 14, and six correspondingly. The selected and consented companies will arrange for information gathering regarding their most recent project completed. The samples are divided into two groups of projects in each category of the prevailing wage and market wage rate. The wage rates will serve as independent variables accordingly. This will decrease massive amount of examination and its resulting observation costs, as studying projects that already completed in the most recent year are going to serve the purpose. Observing and inspecting projects under construction at the same time require several observant to record their findings within which the cost of so many personnel is horrendous. While, randomly selected companies with their latest completed project will serve the research needs in the same manner as would have started from ground zero without any manipulation of numbers. A hypothetical matrix prepared below with various probable covariate that could possibly have impact on the construction cost as dependent variable.
Contractor’s Name Date Established No. of Employees Payment Schedule Wage Rate of Non-skilled Workers Benefit Paid to Workers Mandatory Safety Training Cost Sick Leave Cost Vacation Cost Social Security Cost Const. Cost per square foot
Ridge Homes 07/25/89 38 MW Rate 8.5 3.4 0.68 0.085 0.85 0.85 $ 205
Market Builder 08/12/99 17 MW Rate 10 4 0.8 0.1 1 1 195
On-Price Home 03/03/85 25 MW Rate 9 3.6 0.72 0.09 0.9 0.9 185
Logical Corp. 02/10/01 32 MW Rate 10 4 0.8 0.1 1 1 215
Cheap Homes 10/02/02 21 MW Rate 9 3.6 0.72 0.09 0.9 0.9 200
Picky Homes 01/15/02 37 PW Rate 34 20.4 2.72 0.68 3.4 5.1 285
Ridicules Builder 07/23/85 31 PW Rate 32.5 19.5 2.6 0.65 3.25 4.875 270
Stimulus Building 03/01/01 24 PW Rate 33 19.8 2.64 0.66 3.3 4.95 300
Suspicious Homes 02/25/98 20 PW Rate 35 21 2.8 0.7 3.5 5.25 290
Expensive Builder 09/10/88 23 PW Rate 32 19.2 2.56 0.64 3.2 4.8 325
Nominal Nominal Ordinal Binary Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio
Ranges Range = Range = Range = Range = Range = Range = Range = Range =
21 26.5 17.6 2.12 0.615 2.65 4.4 140
Where: Market Wage = MW, and Prevailing wage =PW
During the course of acquiring the charges for the test statistics, when getting to the value that is less than 0.05 commonly we accept the examination of hypothesis as true, which means an effect exist in population. This terminology is normally stated as significant effect. On the other hand, when the effect is not substantially large and is more of a chance in its occurrence, then it is called non-significant result (Field, 2009). Then, p-value that is the probability value and resulted after test statistic is calculated. When we set alpha at 0.05 and the p-value found smaller than 0.05 (alpha) then we conclude it is statistically significant, with the same analogy when alpha is considered as 0.01then the p-value must stay smaller than 0.01 to consider the condition as statistically significant. Principally, p-value must be smaller than alpha in order to consider it statistically significant in which case we reject the null hypothesis and this is the time to call there is a difference between the groups (NCU, 2010).
As acknowledged by NCU (2010) statistical inference is constituent of business statistics when estimating a population stricture anchored in a statistical sample. Hypothesis testing is a significant part of statistical inference. When performing hypothesis testing, the identified population stricture related to the hypothesis will be confirmed to be true only if enough sample evidence is available. The denial or confirmation of the validity of the suggested hypothesis can be judged thereafter. Any information within a sample is subject to sampling error. Based on this statement, a sample mean more or less undeniably will not equal the population mean. Therefore, a testing process need to be applied that integrates the probabilities for sampling error. There are two potential error that can happen at the time of hypothesis testing due to probability for tremendous sampling error that are referred to as Type I and Type II errors. Type I error is defined as rejecting the null hypothesis where it is actually true. Type II error is identified as failing to reject the null hypothesis where it is actually false. The argument that many statisticians unanimously agreed upon is that the expression accept the null hypothesis should not be used at all. The term do not reject the null hypothesis should be used in its place. Therefore, reject H0 or do not reject H0 should be the only two testing decision on hypothesis to be made (NCU, 2010).
The correlational design is quite simpler than other experimental research approaches as there is no control group to deploy. A correlation illustrates the existence of positive or negative relationship between two or more variables. In such case, the weakness of the design could be that the verification of cause and effect would not be possible, as it is not known which variable comes first. Another alternative approach that would work with our scenario is the survey design a quantitative research that includes assembling of information from one or multiple group of people, their opinion, feature, or past experiences, and placing them in a matrix for in-depth examination. Leedy and Ormrod, (2010) stated that for this type of research design, a number of questions are presented by the researchers from consented partakers and then summarizing the answers and placing percentage to the responses. Then, setting number of frequencies of the replies, or employing statistical index. This procedure is used for survey research as to determine the answer required in the study about certain population through responses received via sample of that population (Leedy, & Ormrod, 2010). This research approach could be another design to use in the topic of interest that would work decent. In my opinion for every 100 questionnaire sent out, receiving 10% responses would be considering optimistic. In the range of $ 100,000 projects we may find thousands of builders and contractors. Whereas, the higher the range of project budget size the lesser number of constructor exist. This design is less costly as compared to the correlational approach, but has a weaker status regarding logical explanation compared to correlational design.
Summary
The productions of affordable housing for seniors have significantly decreased because of high costs of construction (Scanlon & Cohen, 2009). The high cost of construction wages are one of the major elements in the reduction of such housing. Lessening construction wages will lead to lower construction expenses and consequently more affordable housing for these susceptible citizens (Carr, 2008). Among all others, one of the major factors that influences construction cost is labor wage. The construction of affordable housing for seniors was the target of the study when are publically funded.
The intention of this quantitative study is to determine the impact of the prevailing construction worker wage on construction costs of affordable housing for seniors in California as compared to the market construction workers wage. Additionally, the affordability of construction of low-income housing for seniors in California with the prevailing construction worker wage as compared to the market construction wage will be scrutinized. In order to collect data for this study, it is suggested to construct a list of constructors and developers that have performed several projects in the past five years. These projects will be used in this study for information gathering. The projects under investigation in this study will be categorized based on the financial sizes of the project. The chosen and consented builders will cooperate for collecting information concerning their most recent project accomplished. The samples are divided into two groups of projects in the prevailing wage and market wage. The wage rates will serve as independent variables correspondingly.
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SAMPLE ANSWER
Four Comprehensive Exam Questions
Question One
Introduction
Theories contribute significantly to the guiding of research/study and organizing and creating sense of findings of a research. This paper is divided into three Parts. Part I focuses on the scholarly views on the nature and types of theories, and offering a comparison and contrast of three scholarly views of what constitutes a theory. Part II focuses on revealing the scholarly literature on the association between research and theory. This part also addresses three through which research contributes to theory. Part III of the paper explains how grounded theory contributes to the reader’s understanding of my research topic. Consequently, this part proceeds to discuss and analyze two controversial areas that are associated with the grounded theory.
Part 1
Scholarly Views on Nature and Types of Theories
Examples of theories include deductive, inductive and grounded theories. Deductive theory is based on reasoning on one or more statements with the aim of reaching a logical conclusion. Inductive theory involves the movement from specific observations to the broader or wider generalizations of assumptions (Cameron, 2013). Grounded theory refers to the method of research/study that can help the researcher develop an assumption on the principle concern of a community or population being investigated, and how the concern can be processed or resolved. This theory can be employed in explaining my research as will be shown in Part III of the paper.
Various opinions exist concerning what constitutes a theory. Some researchers define theory as the association/relationship between variables, while other refers to theory as an abstract (Gelso, 2006). Other researchers such as Wacker refer to theory as a trial and error, as opposed to a systematic examination/investigation. Moreover, other authors argue that a theory reveals clearly how it is measured. As a framework for evaluation, a theory should manage to address all the primary questions that a researcher aims at answering such as what, who, where, why and when. In relation to this, it can be argues that the measurable or quantifiable dimensions of a theory arises from data and research (Amseus, 2014). Some of the measurable aspects of theory are the relationship between describable and observable data. According to Wacker, a theory refers to the association among units that can be observed in an empirical manner. Besides, this scholar adds that as sound theory aims at explaining why and how certain associations lead to certain events/phenomenon (Wacker, 1999). Some researchers such as Harlow argue that a theory is not a global or a fixed notion, but tends to evoke series of constructs. Furthermore, this researcher argues that a theory can be employed in determining a law. Modern psychology takes into consideration a broad range of use of the term theory. These uses are aligned in different levels in relation to how the term is employed in scientific explanation (Stam, 2010). As such, the establishment of theory within psychology relates directly to the manner in which methods have prepared and dispersed. Taking these aspects into consideration, it can be noted that theory differs from elements such as concept, model, paradigm and hypothesis.
A concept refers to the components or constituents of the thought, while a model refers to a composition of concepts that are employed in making individuals comprehend certain phenomena. On the other hand, a paradigm refers to a framework that contains all the accepted views concerning a given topic, the format of the directions that should be adopted by a research and how the research should be executed (Mercer, 2014). Hypothesis refers to an informed or educated guess concerning the ways in which things work. It can also refer to the tentative/uncertain statement about the association between two variables.
Comparison and Contrast of three Views of what constitutes a Theory
The views presented by researchers about what constitutes a theory have similarities and differences. Taking this aspect into consideration, three views that can be compared and contrasted are reductionism, realism and instrumentalism. According to the view of reductionism, theories are considered reducible to observables. Realism considers theories as statements about events that exist in the real sense (Mayer, 2013). On the other hand, instrumentalism argues that theories are employed as tools of executing operation or performing thing in the world.
The three views on theory contribute significantly to the establishment of theory in the scientific discipline. Reductionism and determinism can be employed in the comprehension of theory development within psychology (Stam, 2010). As a view on theory, reductionism targeted at observable vents/phenomena. This view strives to explain and describe events and to distinguish whether such phenomena are physical or not. In addition, this view focuses on explaining and describing whether events can be accounted for within the context/realm of scientific theory or not.
Being connected to reductionism, determinism is perceived as an account of results of theories. In relation to this, determinism argues that for a given set of conditions, there exists a single outcome (Stam, 2010). As such, determinism and reductionism act a perfect reflection of methods/ways of delimiting the description of events or phenomena. According to instrumentalism, a theory refers to a tool that can be employed in comprehending the world. This view argues that the significance of a theory is founded on how effective it is to predict an event or phenomenon, as opposed to how such a theory illustrates objective reality.
While the view of instrumentalism focuses on events that exist, the view of realism focuses on finding or identifying deliverables beyond what can be observed, and establishing the knowledge that is applicable beyond a theory despite a theory being employed in grounding knowledge. Moreover, realism argues that in a situation in which there exist several explanations for a single event or phenomenon, only one out of the various theories and hypotheses can be true. In relation to the view of scientific realism, characteristics such as warfare, differentiation, parsimony and theoretical specifications are perceived as components of good theory (Gelso, 2006). Contrary to the realism view, instrumentalism focuses on the presentation of an antirealism view. Instrumentalism considers theories as devices, instruments or tools that allow scientists to move from a set of statements to observations that are predictable. In addition, while the view of realism focuses on theory validation to a greater extent, instrumentalism focuses on the aspect of discovery. Instrumentalism perceives a good theory as an outcome or product of integration. On the other hand, realism focuses on the aspect of precision.
Instrumentalism, realism and reductionism argue that a theory should be focus on addressing significant practical issues to clarify complex events or phenomena. As a result, the three views on theories have been integrated in several ways within the psychological theory (Naor & Coman, 2013). Among the three views, both instrumentalism and scientific realism have impacted significantly on mainstreaming psychological discipline theory. The integration of the two views in the psychological theory resulted from the need to establish valid theories such as those witnessed in the psychological discipline and science. In relation to this, the discipline of psychology has adapted characteristics that are promoted as components of good psychology such as delimitation, internal consistency and integration (Gelso, 2006). Within the realm of psychology discipline, instrumentalism happens to be more process-driven, and aims at identifying significant theoretical systems/ or frameworks for localized phenomena. Recently, psychology advocated for the adoption of views related to non-reductive materialism. In relation to this, materialism presents a platform on which some features or elements cannot be reduced to physical properties (Harlow, 2009). Examples of such elements include functional, informational, cultural, mental and linguistic features. In psychology, theory has embraced the need to provide an explanation for unobservable events such as cultural, mental and functional elements among others.
Part 2
Scholarly Literature on the Relationship between Research and Theory
The association/relationship between research and theory can be explained by focusing on the various research designs that are employed in developing different types of theories. As mentioned in part 1, there exist three types of theories that include descriptive, explanatory and relational theories. There exists a robust relationship between descriptive research and descriptive theory. Descriptive theories focus on the classification of specific characteristics or dimensions of groups, individuals, events or situations (Mercer, 2014). This goal is accomplishing by the summarization of the commonalities existing in discrete observations. As such, these theories often state the aspect of what is? Besides, these theories are often required when there is inadequate knowledge about the phenomenon being investigated.
There are two categories/forms of descriptive theories, which include classification and naming. A classification theory is more elaborate than the naming theory. This theory states that the characteristic or dimensions of a certain phenomenon are interrelated in a structural manner. These dimensions may be overlapping, mutually exclusive, sequential or hierarchical. As such classification theories are often known as taxonomies or typologies (Cameron, 2013). On the other hand, a naming theory refers to the description of the characteristics or dimensions of some phenomenon.
Descriptive theories are created and tested using descriptive research. This form is also known as exploratory research, and it is aimed at answering questions like:
What is this?
What are the existing features of the real world in relation to the mentioned question? Descriptive research/study may or may not employ an empirical method. Non-empirical mechanisms include historic and philosophic inquiries (Mercer, 2014). Historic research is targeted at describing an event/phenomenon that happened at an earlier time. On the other side, philosophic inquiry classifies and describes an event/phenomenon via a critical discussion.
An example of descriptive research that employs empirical methods is the observation of an event its natural setting. In these forms of research, data are often collected by non-participant or participant observation. Besides, data can be gathered by questionnaires, structured interview schedules or open-ended interviews. The raw data collected is a descriptive research may be quantitative or qualitative (Cameron, 2013). The analysis of qualitative research may be conducted using content analysis. This technique is employed in sorting data into categories that may appear during analysis. It can also be employed in sorting data into priori categories. Quantitative data are evaluated using various parametric and non-parametric measures of variability and central tendency.
Empirical descriptive research covers case studies, phenomenological studies, ethnographies, grounded theories and surveys. Case studies are systematic and intensive investigations of several factors for a few individuals, community or group. Phenomenological studies produce descriptions of human experience. Here, Investigators often collect data without priori identification of terms or preconceived expectations. As such, emphasis is place on comprehending people’s subjective and cognitive perceptions, and how such perceptions impact on behavior (Cameron, 2013). Surveys yield accurate and factual descriptions of intact events/phenomena. In the real, sense surveys employed structured instruments in gathering data. However, they may also takes into consideration the use of open-ended questions in such instruments.
There also exists a robust relationship between correlational research and relational theory. Relational theories focus on the specification of the relations that exist between dimensions/characteristics of situations, events, groups and individuals. These theories focus on explaining how parts of events relate to one another. As such, these theories can be established after the identification of the essential dimensions of an event. Relational theories are established by correlational research (Mayer, 2013). This form of research often focuses on answering questions like:
What is taking place here?
At what level do two dimensions tend to happen together?
Correlational studies employ empirical method. Such studies always need the measurement of the dimension of events in their natural settings. Surveys and interviews are the common methods employed in these studies. The collection of data is often accomplished by self-report measures and non-participant observation. Contrary to descriptive study, correlational research often employs instruments such as fixed-choice observation rating scales, checklists and standardized questionnaires. The accomplishment of this goal is often enhanced by the fact that characteristics or dimensions are known (Mercer, 2014). These techniques always yield quantitative and qualitative data. Since data must be attached to un-interpreted data to allow for the calculation of correlation coefficients, qualitative data should be categorized, and numbers assigned to those categories.
Experimental research and explanatory theory have a strong relationship. Explanatory theories supersede relational statements. As such, they focus on the prediction of associations existing between dimensions of phenomena. They also aim at predicting the dimensions of differences between groups. Explanatory theories produced and examined by experimental research. This form study always asks questions like:
What will occur if…?
Is treatment B different from treatment C?
Experimental study employs empirical mechanisms of experimentation (Bradbury-Jones & Caroline, 2014). It takes into consideration the manipulation of some events to determine its impacts on some characteristics or dimensions of another phenomenon/event. Experimentation consists of several different designs with the inclusion of pre-experiments like pretest-posttest-no control group design.
Three Ways through which Research (Quantitative and Qualitative) Contributes to Theory
Ways through which research contribute to the development of a theory are manifested in the observations, research design, case studies and hypothesis testing. Research contributes to the development of the theory via observations. In research, observations impact significantly on theories. Observations can lead to the changing of a theory when the events under observations are not in line with the theory applied in the research. Moreover, observation can lead to the confirmation of a theory in case the events being investigated are in line with theory on which the research is established or founded (Harlow, 2009). Theories often change to match the observations that are being investigated. In this way, it can be argued that a research has a greater impact on theory than the impact the theory can have on it. Research serves to influence the theory, as opposed to the theory influencing the research. In order for researchers to accomplish their objectives, they should engage in an active quality control. Besides, researchers should ensure that they monitor the relationship between observations and theory so that they can manage to tell whether the two elements match or not. In a case observations and theory do not match, researchers should ensure that they adjust the theories on which their research is founded. One of the principle aims of researcher is to ensure that observations and theory correlate. This goal can be accomplished verifying observations followed by the determination of whether the verified observations match the selected theory. The success of a research is determined by its ability to prove or disapprove a theory. Researchers should note that theories are subject to delimitation. In relation to this, a theory can be delimited based on the aspects or dimensions of the issue being investigated (Harlow, 2009). For instance, the type of the study that has been conducted in reference to the problem under investigation can lead to the delimitation of a theory.
Research also contributes to the development of a theory via research design. Taking into consideration the research’s theory driven aspect, it can be noted that research can help in the construction of a theory. A research design affects several factors such as the association of theory construction, results of empirically based research and observed. Some of the methods and research designs that are employed in psychology are qualitative, quantitative, case study and mixed methods (Levis & Ellis, 2006). Every method of research is composed of many different tools, which can be applied in research questions. As such, the methodology of a study should focus on addressing aspects of how, where, why, when and what.
Inductive and deductive research methods determine the approach to be adopted for a research, research question’s data and research goal (Mercer, 2014). It is advisable that researchers employ mixed methods when executing their activities as such an approach ensures that they draw suitable strategies from the two methods (inductive and deductive research). These methods are vital in ensuring that researchers draw appropriate strategies from them.
Case study research and hypothesis testing contributes significantly to the establishment of a theory. While testing for hypothesis takes into consideration the testing of a single statement/account from theory against various observations, case study research focuses on the comparison of several statements to observations. In relation to this, case study research points out the matching of an observation to theory, and how such a theory can predict aspects of certain cases in an adequate manner (Mayer, 2013). Furthermore, case study research relies on many contacts between each theory and each case.
Case study research plays a vital role in the establishment of a theory. Contributions from case studies often provide new data. In established areas, case study research often contributes to incremental advances/developments in the works of previous theorists (Naor & Coman, 2013). Novel evidence that is obtained from case studies can offer theoretical insights, which can be employed in confirming or denying existing theory. In this manner, theoretical contributions establish the knowledge foundation of disciplines.
Grounded theory has been noted to relate the initial question to the course of doing research. Grounded theory refers to an iterative course in which the establishment of the theory and data gathering build on each other. Research always starts with the raising of questions that do not remain static or confine, but help in yielding the research. As such, researchers often operate from a center of theoretical concepts that are employed as baseline in adjusting and asking questions (Levis &Levis, 2006). Thus, research contributes to the establishment of a theory in a direct manner via the creation of linkages between data.
Part 3
How the Grounded Theory adds to the Reader’s Understanding of my Research Topic
Grounded theory can contribute to the reader’s understanding of my research in several ways. First, this theory ensures that the readers develop a deep understanding of the main concern of the issue being investigated in my study (Higginbottom & Lauridsen, 2014). For example, this theory enables the reader comprehend the effect that the prevailing construction worker wage has on the costs of constructions of affordable housing for seniors within California in relation to the workers’ wage rate of market construction. Here, the principle concern is the effects of the prevailing construction worker wage on the expenses of affordable housing for seniors. Besides, the theory will also help readers comprehend or relate how Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market, which is the base of capitalism, can help determine the market rate compensation that should be paid to construction workers, as opposed to the existing wage (Bradbury-Jones & Caroline, 2014). Second, this theory ensures that the reader develops a deep understating on how the process of data collection was achieved in my study (Cameron, 2013). My study is a qualitative research. As such, the reader can manage to comprehend the method employed in gathering data, which in turn help the reader understand the data evaluation mechanisms employed in accomplishing the objectives of the study. This theory offers a guideline on how data analysis is executed by the researcher, which helps in enhancing the reader’s understanding of the entire data analysis process (Mayer, 2013). Third, grounded theory ensures that the reader understands the structures of the existing construction worker wage via constant process of comparing it to affordable housing for seniors. This process enables the reader to understand the effects that result from the relationship between the two variables (Mello & Flint, 2009). As such, the use of grounded theory in my researcher is significant in eliminating confusions or problems that readers may encounter as they attempt to understand my research.
Discussion and Analysis of Two Controversial Areas associated with the Grounded Theory
Grounded theory’s approach to methodology happens to face controversy. Researchers who are new to the use of this theory can experience problems in comprehending various elements associated with this approach to research methodology (Amsteus, 2014). Besides, the existence of various versions concerning the theory’s approach to methodology can prove daunting to researchers who are new to this theory. Learning and comprehending the differences existing between the grounded theory’s methodologies can be equated to the learning of an individual’s research philosophy, which is always the determining factor in the selection of a methodology. The problem associated with learning various methodologies associated with this theory arises from the fact that terminologies employed in it always sound similar to the new researcher (Mercer, 2014). However, this problem can be addressed when such a researcher focuses on the exploration of the differences existing between such terminologies. One of the methods that researchers can employ in addressing this problem is focusing on comprehending their philosophies. Such an undertaking is vital in ensuring that researchers focus on their objectives. Moreover, another controversial area surrounding the grounded theory is the element of axial coding (Rintala, Paavilainen & Astedt-Kurki, 2014). Addressing this problem requires the researcher not to focus on the approaches to grounded theory as either wrong or right. Instead, the researcher should focus on selecting an approach that fits the goal of his or her study. This approach is significant in ensuring that the researcher avoids facing the confusions that are associated with perceiving the two aspects (grounded theory and axial coding) as bang different (Green, 2014). Focusing on the two approaches as being different often results in the researcher developing a negative attitude towards the use of such a theory in meeting his or her research objectives (Naor & Coman, 2013). As a result, a researcher may face problems comprehending how the tow aspects can be integrated to help the research attain the study’s goals.
Conclusion
Some examples of theories that can be employed in guiding research are deductive, grounded and inductive theories. Various views exist concerning theories. Some researchers such as Gelso (2006) consider theory as relationship between variables, while others such as Wacker consider it trial and error. Three views on theory are reductionism, realism and instrumentalism. Some of the ways through which research contributes to theory are manifested in research design, hypothesis testing, case studies and observations. In relation to this, the grounded theory enables the reader to comprehend the data analysis and data collection process of my research. It also enables the reader to gain an in-depth comprehension of the issue being investigated by engaging in a continuous process of comparing various issues being raised in the study. However, this theory presents problems to new researchers who employ this approach in their study as its methodology involves various approaches.
References
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Gelso, C. (2006). Applying Theories to Research: The Interplay of Theory and Research in Science. In Leong, F.T., Austin, J.T. (Eds), The Psychology Research Handbook (pp.455-465). Thousand Oak, CA: Sage Publications.
Green, E. (2014). Use of Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks in Qualitative Research. Nurse Researcher, 21(6) 34-38
Harlow, E. (2009). Contribution, Theretical. In Mills , A, Durepos, G., & Wiebe, E.(Eds), Encyclopedia of Case Study Research(pp.237-239), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
Higginbottom, G & Lauridsen, I. (2014). The Roots and Development of Constructivist Grounded Theory. Nurse Researcher, 21(5), 8-13.
Mayer, J. (2013). Integrating Theories in AMJ Articles. Academy of Management Journal, 56(4) 917-922.
Mercer, H. (2014). Theory-Driven Evaluation in School Psychology Intervention Research: 2007-2012. School Psychology Review, 43(2), 119-131.
Mello, J., & Flint, J. (2009). A Refined View of Grounded Theory and its Applications to Logistics. Journals of Business Logistics, 30(1) 107-125
Naor, M & Coman, A. (2013). Theory of Constraints: Is it a Theory and Good One? International Journal of Production Research, 51(2), 542-554.
Levy, Y & Ellis, J. (2006). A System Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research. Informing Science Journal 9(1) 181-212
Rintala, T; Paavilainen, E., & Astedt-Kurki, P. (2014). Challenges in Combining Different Data Set During Analysis When Using Grounded Theory. Nurse Researcher, 21(5) 14-18.
Stam, H. (2000). Theory. In Salkind, N(Ed), Encyclopedia of Research Design (1449).
Wacker, J. (1999). A Definition of Theory: Research Guidelines For Different Theory-Building Research Methods in Operations Management. Journal of Operations Management, 16(4) 361-385.
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The patient has many presenting symptoms and this is a challenge to identifying the disease at once. The productive cough of the patient is purelent indicating the presence of a large number of white blood cells mainly neutrophillic granulocytes. The purulent sputum of asthmatic is as a result of eosinophillic cells (Farzan N.p). The patient’s blood stained sputum (hemoptysis) may be caused by a wide range of underlying disorders ranging from trauma to heart problems to lung diseases to many other infections. Patients in industrialized countries such as china, bronchitis, bronchogenic carcinoma and bronchiectasis may lead to a productive blood-stained cough but are ruled out since chest X-rays in these diseases are shown to be normal (Jaiswal pp. 176-178.). Lung cancer is also ruled out because its diagnosis does not indicate the presence of rod-like bacteria. Pulmonary embolus is also ruled since diagnosis of sputum is found to be non-purulent. Hemoptysis and purulent sputum may also be observed in patients with HIV, where the common cause is typical pneumonia (Health Grades Editorial Staff, Chamberlain 2012).
Home. n.d)
A patient with pneumonia may also present a cough with purulent sputum (Lower Respiratory Tract Infections N.p). Scanty acid-alcohol fast bacilli are also observed in a patient with HIV but this infection is also ruled since HIV patients show a normal X-ray. The patient may be suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease since X-ray shows flattened diaphragm but it also ruled out because the Ziehl Neelsen’s method does not show the presence of the rod –like bacteria (Acute Exacerbations of COPD, N.p). The patient may be having tuberculosis which is the most common cause of hemoptysis and also due to the observation of scanty acid-alcohol fast bacilli in the patient’s sputum (Yoon pp. 172). Observation of heavy pus cells and red blood cells and multiple light areas which coalesce provides evidence that the patient has tuberculosis (Tuberculosis, advanced – chest x-rays N.p).
Table of the Biochemistry Results
Protein
Result
Normal Range
High (),
normal () or
low ()
C-reactive protein
13mg/l
1-3 mg/l
10-40
10
1
Creatine kinase
125IU/I
10-120IU/I
308
39-308
39
C-Creatine (hs-CRP) is an essential clinical tool used by physicians to assess patients to determine if they can benefit from a statin therapy. The rise in levels of CRP is brought about inflammation hence it serves as a marker for inflammation. Different diseases and infections have varying ranges of CRP. The CRP of 13 mg/l measured for the patient indicates an increased sensitivity presenting mild inflammation.
(The Relationship Between C-Reactive Protein and Cardiovascular Disease. (n.d.)
The patient’s CK is within the normal range. This implies that there is no injury to muscles in the body (Clinical significance of markedly elevated serum creatine kinase levels in patients with acne on isotretinoin. n.d.).
Chest X-ray Pathology Test
The patient was directed to stand in front of the X-ray machine and instructed to hold his breath at the time the X-ray is taken. The radiologist usually takes two images, that is, one is taken when the patient is standing next to the machine while the other is taken while standing sideways. In case the patient is pregnant, chest X-rays are not recommended at all. In fact, no chest X-ray should be taken of the pregnant woman when she is in first six months pregnant.
(TUBERCULOSIS: No longer down and out. n.d)
All other patients can have the chest X-rays as long as they have diseases suggestive of a chest related problem. These may include the patient experiencing a persistent cough, coughing blood or productive cough with purulent, and having difficulty in breathing. If the patient has shown advanced signs of tuberculosis, one’s doctor can order for a chest X-ray. There are no expected complications as long as it is not repeated many times within a short time or a certain number of times in the patient’s life span.
The patient’s symptoms suggest that he has Tuberculosis (cough, rod-like bacteria, fever). He, therefore, would require chest X-ray besides microbiological testing. The radiologist will take both the lateral and the posterior-anterior (PA) films with each having clear notes. The typical changes he will be looking for include air space consolidation, fibrous contraction and cavitation on the superior parts of the lobes or one or both superior parts of the lower lobes or upper lobes. The extensive infiltrate with air space consolidation in noted with a bronchogram( ). The number of cavities formed is indicated by (+). Ina addition, reticulonodular satellite fibrosis and lesions are seen surrounding the involved lung which is normally identified by a traction of the right upper hilum. However, atypical finding will be more profound if the patient has human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Testing for tuberculosis n.d.).The result on the X-ray depends on the level of the disease. On the X-ray result film there will be seen an abnormality on the mid and lower lung fields.
Interpretation of data and Diagnosis of the patient
Based on the symptoms which have been listed, the patient has an upper respiratory infection which indicated by the cough (Rabkin N.p, n.d). There are a number of diseases which are indicated by the hemoptysis such as bronchogenic and bronchitis. But only Tuberculosis diagnoses with the rod-like bacteria in the purulent and blood-stained sputum. The patient experiences fever which comes about by the body’s struggle to fight the foreign disease causing microorganisms. That is why his average body temperature is higher than the normal 37 .4 d degrees centigrade. According to the X-ray, the arrow points to the air space consolidation, fibrous contraction and cavitation which can be observed clearly on the superior parts of the lobes or one or both superior parts of the lower lobes or upper lobes.
The suggestion that the patient is suffering from TB is based on other examinations made which indicate that the patient is not generally well. The patient was also referred to the urologist because he was suspected to have genitourinary tuberculosis. The result from the urologist which indicated 15 leukocytes in the field, confirms the presence of foreign antigens in the genitourinary system, probably, the mycobacterium, the rod shaped bacteria which causes tuberculosis (Savage pp. 1998 N.p).
More evidence that the patient is suffering from Tuberculosis is indicated by the result obtained from staining the purulent and blood stained sputum with Ziehl Neelse’s method which also confirmed the presence of large a number of scanty acid-alcohol fast bacilli. The result indicated that each field had more than 20 pus cells within a single field. This was an indication a high density of the mycobacterium, the organism behind the genesis and progression of tuberculosis. Besides pus cells, rod-like bacteria or streptococci are observed. Although few in number, they are still the causative and infectious agents of both pulmonary and genitourinary tuberculosis.
Ziehl neelsen staining. (n.d.).
The presence of red blood cells also indicates that more oxygen is needed to for respiration to produce energy needed by leucocytes. This suggestion was based on the underlying symptoms such as the immobilization of the commercial disease associated antigens. This were observed on the plastic micro-wells’ surfaces and were specifically bound IgG antibodies from Alfred’s serum to his diseased parts. There was also a positive result when peroxidise- conjugated goat which is also indicated by anti-human IgG bound Alfred’s IgG in change. Also, resistance to Amphicilin and Isoniazid in which the test carried out shows sensitivity to the drugs.
5. Discussion
a) The Lesion (Abnormality) in the Chest X-Ray
The lesion is observed as an extensive infiltrate and air-space consolidation on the upper lobe of the right lung. A number of cavities are also observed as indicated by the positive (+) signs. Also, observed are surrounding reticunodular satellite lesions which are very easy to note. There are also fibrotic lung lesions. These are also consistent with tuberculosis at an untreated inactive state of the disease. These lesions make the patient more at risk than their counterparts with a tuberculosis infection if both were more than eight years. b) Why did the urologist request the submission of three specimens?
X-ray alone is not enough to confirm that a suspect has TB . The urologist might have requested to carry out other diagnostic tests associated with TB. The results obtained support the radiology results. The comparison of the results from both departments helps the two practitioners to confirm with certainty the actual disease the patient is suffering from. The results from the urology department such as cid-fast smear which is used for microscopic identification of the cause of the pulmonary tuberculosis. The results show the presence bacilli and pus cells.
c) Significance of Using Early Morning Specimens
The urologist requested for the urine specimens produced by the patients in the early morning since it is less contaminated by lyses red blood cells. This is because the urine collected soon after a prolonged recumbency or soon after a vigorous physical or even sexual activity should not be examined when assessing the patient’s state of microhematuria since he knows it is contaminated. Patients are advised to void the first 5 ml of the urine and then collect up to 50 ml of the remaining urine in a sterile bottle.
d) Antibiotics Used As Treatment of Pulmonary TB
After diagnosing with TB, a number of antibiotics are prescribed by a doctor as a therapy for the infections and to prevent emergence of resistant bacteria in the body. They are used in a period of 6-12 months. The combination of the antibiotics includes:
Isoniazid
Rifampin
Pyrazinamide,
Ethambutol
(Tuberculosis (TB) – Treatment. n.d.).
(The rationale for recommending fixed-dose combination tablets for treatment of tuberculosis. n.d.).
e) Route; Drug Resistance; Combination Therapy and Length Of Therapy.
Since is has pulmonary TB, he will take two antibiotics orally in a combination of rifampicin and isoniazid every day for six months. He will have an additional oral administration of two antibiotics in a combination of pyrazinamide and ethambutol every day for two months (Tuberculosis (TB) – Treatment. n.d.). f) Further Investigations to Determine the Spread of the Disease
To determine the spread of the disease within him, three tests may be conducted. Positive tuberculin test leads to the development of cell-mediated immunity which develops within 2-8 weeks from the time of infection. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is that activated T Lymphocytes combine with macrophages to form granulomas which are effective in limiting replication hence curbing the spread of bacilli. Ziehl Neelsen method may be used to determine the level of infection by the bacilli. Lastly, use biochemistry tests such as determine the level of damage to specific muscles of the body. g) The Disease Progress and Prognosis for the Patient
Tuberculosis disease begins with infection and overcoming the carrier of the mycobacterium’s immune system defences. During primary tuberculosis, the disease is dormant and the immune system is able to contain the infecting and its spread. The bacteria multiplies, it continues affect the immune system and eventually overwhelms it leading to tuberculosis (Testing for tuberculosis n.d.).
Jaiswal, A., Munjal, S., Singla, R., Jain, V. & Behera, D. 2012, “A 46-year-old man with tracheomegaly, tracheal diverticulosis, and bronchiectasis: Mounier-Kuhn syndrome”, Lung India, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 176-178.
This is supposed to be a discussion posting. Not a paper assignment.
Due 11/13 (Wed)
Please see attachment for instructions and references.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
The regression technique used is the logistic regression. This is a technique used when the dependent variable is categorical. The study outcomes are not continuous and they do fall into different categories that warrant this modeling approach (Lewis-Beck, 1993). In a logistic regression, a logistic transformation of the odds or the logit serves as the dependent variable. The dependent variable (odds) if taken and adding a regression equation for the independent variable will yield a logistic regression (Allen, 1997).
The odds ratio is used to measure how the fitted probability changes between different values of the explanatory variable. An odds ratio that is equal to one indicates a zero effect, an odds ratio greater than one indicates an increase in odds while an odds ratio less than one indicates a decrease in the odds (Draper, & Smith, 1981).
A logistic regression significance testing helps a researcher to identify the influence of different factors in his model (Lewis-Beck, 1993). Thus, the Wald’s test is used to test the contribution of individual regression co-efficient, while the deviance test is used to identify the contribution of several model coefficients simultaneously.
Criminal Justice Research
The research has looks into different types of mistreatment categorically. The odds ratio with its confidence interval has been indicated, as well as the regression co-efficient for each contributing factor. The Wald value has also been indicated so as to ascertain the contributory aspects of each variable. The p-value to indicate the significance of each variable has also been indicated.
In analyzing emotional mistreatment, age, employment status, health status, previous traumatic event, social support levels, and ADL assistance needs are our categorical variables with a probability of success or failure (Williams, 1959). From the results, the odds of an a person below seventy years being mistreated emotionally is approximately three time more than for a person above seventy years. The regression coefficient also indicate that age is the most influential factor when understanding aspects of emotional mistreatment followed by previous traumatic event, need for ADL assistance, health status, employment status and social support respectively. Nonetheless the health status is insignificant when interpreting the health status. Social support level contributes more to the model individually.
Physical mistreatment can be associated with age, gender, race, income level, health status, previous traumatic event and level of social support. Age and social support levels are the only significant factors that can be used to define physical mistreatment as indicated by their probability values of 0.05. The model also suggests that age is the most influential factor as regards physical mistreatment. This is attributed to its Wald value of 8.5 and regression coefficient value of 1.41.
Sexual mistreatment as a categorical variable is identified by gender, income levels, health status, previous traumatic event, social support and need for ADL assistance. Of these factors, previous traumatic event is the only significant variable explaining sexual mistreatment. It regression coefficient of 2.64 indicates its high influence on the logistic model describing sexual mistreatment.
The research utilizes logistic regression to assess different aspects of elderly mistreatment based on different predictors ascribed to them. This is due to the categorical nature of the various forms of mistreatment. Mistreatment is our outcome variable as its value is discrete, thus the assumption of linearity is upheld. A logistic regression then addresses this defect by using a logarithmic transformation on the type of mistreatment variable. The different levels of mistreatment are expressed in terms of odds ratio for success. This ratio indicates the reaction resulting from any form of mistreatment.
References
Allen, M. P. (1997). Understanding regression analysis. New York: Plenum Press.
Draper, N. R., & Smith, H. (1981). Applied regression analysis. New York: Wiley.
Lewis-Beck, M. S. (1993). Regression analysis. London: Sage Publications.
Read Case 9.5: Swedish Daddies, located on page 351 of your textbook (attached PDF has case reference material).
Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you answer the following questions:
1. If you have, or plan to have, children, what sort of balance do you seek between career and
family life? Do you believe that the mindset of corporate America is conducive to the type of work
and family arrangement that would suit you?
2. Should the United States require companies to provide paid maternity leave? Should it assist
them to do so? What about paternity leave?
3. Should specialized organizational arrangements be made for workers who wish to combine
career and child raising? Suppose specialized organizational arrangements must be made for
such workers. Identify steps that companies can take to accommodate parental needs more
effectively.
4. Does a firm have an obligation to give employees the flexibility to work out the particular balance
of career and family that is right for them? Or does this go beyond the social responsibilities of
business?
5. Cite your textbook as a reference.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all
sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any
additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s
name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in
the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Analyze the concepts of public safety and government regulation along with the role of business
responsibility.
• Recommend ways in which businesses can be partners with nature by applying the concepts of
business ethics, business ecology, and environmental ethics.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business ethics.
• Write clearly and concisely about business ethics using proper writing mechanics.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Swedish Daddies
Parents should balance their time between work and family. They should always ensure that they spend quality time with their families without using much of it accomplishing tasks at work. As much as income earned from work sustains the family, spending time with family members increases the love between parents and children. In the article, the author states in the article that most jobs offered for women have low income and require less time to accomplish a task. The author further states that employment opportunities that pay much money require worker to spend most of their time working to accomplish tasks. Married couples who plan to have children should seek to engage themselves in careers that do not work for late hours (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). In addition, they should not settle for jobs that they work through evenings (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). They can pick on a career that they work for eight hours then spend the rest of their time with their families.
Consequently, the love between the parents and the children bonds when they spend much time together. Through this practice, the children share numerous issues with their parents (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). Children also tend to be free with their parents. Spouses should also not consider employment opportunities that require them to work over the weekends as this also denies their time with their families. Referring to the article, the author states that the mindset of corporate America is not conducive to the type of work and family (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). Corporate America is also not conducive to the type of work and family because they are opposed to marital leave for working women. America does not guarantee women a paid maternity leave. Through this practice, America does not encourage women to consider giving birth since their employees do not receive their maternity leave allowance. America also offers less remuneration to jobs that women execute because of their flexibility and availability. Arguably, women do not get a chance to secure well paying jobs because they require employees to work for long hours.
Business organizations within United States should allow employed women paid maternity leave. Though this practice, women can constitute their family by giving birth to the number of children they desire. Paid maternity leave also allows women to cater for their needs during the time that they are attending to their newly born babies (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). Allowing women maternity leave without allowances discourages them to give birth to children they desire. Women should be at liberty to give birth to the number of children they desire since this forms their families. Parental leave employee gain offered in most countries that grant paid time off work to care for a child or arrange for the welfare of the child (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Government institutions should stipulate a minimum benefit of parental leave in the law so that business organizations can practice its implementation (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Parental leave law in return benefits parents and their children. Paid parental leave to married couples should also be available as legal rights.
The interests of the children should be a collective responsibility between the parents to raise their children successfully (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Consequently, the three types of childcare policies include parental leave policy, childcare policy and early childhood benefits. Parental leave policies assist employed parents prior to giving birth to stay at home for a period so that they can take care of the child. A paternity leave is important to households since married men assist their women to carry out their daily duties during the maternity leave. Paternal leave also increases the bond between a woman and a newly born child. Paternal leave is also important for men since it allows them to have a long break with their families (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Childcare policies enable parents receive assistance in non-parental care for the child by subsidizing the type of care parents select. In addition, childcare programs serve both working and non-working parents. In addition, early childhood benefits support parents in their everyday care of their child. The benefits parents receive in return are cash grants used to cover the costs of caring for an infant.
Formation of specialized organizations for workers who wish to combine career and to raise their children is of necessity because it encourages family members to spend more time with their families. Specialized organizations allow men and women flexible time to execute their duties (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). These organizations also pay adequate allowances to their staff members to enable them cater for their families. Consequently, family members can interact with each other and can share many issues amongst themselves. A specialized organization will allow its workers maternal leave that further encourages married couples to form their families and raise the number of children they desire to during their marriage (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Paternity leave is also of necessity since men offer their assistance during the maternity leave (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). In the article, the author states that business organizations in Sweden are allowing women employees up to sixteen months paid maternal leave per child. Through this practice, women can give birth without worrying how they will sustain their newly born children (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). In Sweden, business organizations allow men a two-month paternity leave that they use to support their families.
Arguable, business organizations in Sweden supports the practice of parents to spend most of their time with their families and children. Specialized organizations can take numerous steps to accommodate parental needs more effectively (Grzywacz & Demerouti, 2013). These steps include allowing parents to work within the normal eight hours per day. Through this practice, parents can spend time with their families, which further culminate to love among them. Through this practice, families are also able to perform numerous duties together at home. Specialized organizations should not operate through the weekends as this also denies families time together. Consequently, specialized organizations should offer their staff salaries that can sustain both their basic needs and those of their families. Arguably, a sustainable salary for employees enables them to perform their duties well and deliver positive output compared to earning a low salary.
Business organizations are not obliged to give employees the flexibility to work out the particular balance between career and family. Business organizations should embrace practices that value their employees. Business ethics requires that business organizations engage in activities that enhance sustainability of the business. Business ethics is a professional applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical predicaments that arise in a business environment (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Business ethics concerns all aspects of business conduct and is applicable to the behavior of individuals and entire organizations. The main aim of for-profit business organizations is to maximize their profits with the available resources within the market. Business ethics contributes to the reputation of the organization positively (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). In addition, business ethics also assists the company to communicate its expectations to its staff members, to suppliers, vendors and customers.
It is necessary that business institutions giving their employees the flexibility of work because it enables them to perform their duties without much stress. Ethical business practices also create a positive working environment within the market and enable the organization avoids legal problems (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Arguably, giving employees the flexibility to work out the particular balance of career and family goes beyond the social responsibilities of the business. Consequently, the business will have a positive reputation within the market. Through this practice, the business can increase its market share and maintain its sustainability within the market. The business also creates a good rapport with its staff members (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Through this practice, staff members of the business can raise issues concerning them and the organization at large. A good rapport with the business also fosters a good relationship between the staff members and the management of the organization (Korabik, Lero & Whitehead, 2011). Even so, staff members can assist the management run the business by giving out crucial information that may be of use and support to the business organization.
Permission granted by Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, 28 JAN 11.
Answer the following:
1.Why are refinery and storage stages more vulnerable than at other supply chain components?
2.IT-ISAC: Explain what this is and its role in IT and computer products.
3.“SCADA protection is scattered among governmental agencies and commercial groups.” Give some examples of overlap.
Assignment Expectations
Length: This Case Assignment should be at least 3 pages not counting the title page and references.
References: At least two references should be included from academic sources (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles). Required readings are included. Quoted material should not exceed 10% of the total paper
Organization: Subheadings should be used to organize your paper according to question.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Why Refinery and Storage Stages in Energy are More Vulnerable than at Other Supply Chain Components
Energy markets are known to be very complex, technically challenging and highly competitive. Improving the performance throughout the supply chain and more so at all levels of the operations could be at the top of all the agendas of all suppliers. The economic regulatory and the changing business dynamic pressures are continuously faced by the energy providers. Success can only be achieved in this area if the suppliers have responsive, flexible, and scalable strategies that could deliver the profits to the shareholders and the service and value to the consumers.
According to the National Research Council (NRC) and the US Global Research Program (USGCRP) assessments, it is clear that the US energy infrastructure is more vulnerable to the impacts of the range of climate particularly the infrastructure in areas that are prone to bad weather and shortages of water supply. The climate changes are most projected to affect the infrastructure throughout the stages of the energy supply chain thus increasing the risk of disruption (Andrews, 2008).
However, the key issues that affect the retail energy market include: the security of supply in the short and long term, the unit cost of energy and its increasing competition, simplification of the models of tariffs and setting the standards for billing of customers, the smart meters, the carbon reduction commitments and its effects on the energy bills, the micro generation, reduction and the removal of the fuel poverty, and finally the improvement of the energy efficiency at the level of consumption.
IT-ISAC
IT-SAC is known in full as the Information Technology Services Advisory Committee. It was established in the year 2002 to offer a forum say for the students as well as the IT staff in order to discuss the technology priorities and issues. It involves the membership including the representatives from the college and the members in general in order to discuss the current and the new IT initiatives and is mandated to submit a report each and every year (Basham & Campbell, 2009).
Role of IT-SAC in IT and Computer Products
The Information Technology Services Advisory Committee (ITSAC) is designed so as to advice the Vice Provost of the Information Technology and the CIO on the IT services that are provided to the community of the University by the Information Technology Services. Its deliberations are known to be informed by the advice from the respective administrative units, which have clear accounting for all the advisory committee recommendations and the commentary.
Simply, its primary roles include the making of recommendations on the levels of the services offered to IT and their costs in general. Secondly, is to review the budget involved in the Information Technology Services so as to ensure that the services that are provided to the University are carried out effectively and even more efficiently. Lastly, the IT-SAC is designed also for the purpose to provide advice and the input to the Vice Provost for the Information Technology and the CIO regarding the annual preparation and the presentation of the budget of the Information technology Services to the university Budget Advisory Committee (Shyh Chiuan Chia, 2005).
“SCADA protection is scattered among governmental agencies and commercial groups.”
With the SCADA international, consulting, project solutions and engineering are offered. Aside from that, they involve the execution of the Supervisory Control and data Acquisition (SCADA) systems within the renewable sector of energy. The clear structures and processes guide their work whether with the supply of an off the shelf solution or a project specific solution. They implement the best SCADA solutions to the market, make puzzle to get into place as well as the critical piece involving any good SCADA solution.
The SCADA systems are usually more complex with multiple components. They may be fully automated where there is full control performed by the computers, fully manual in the case where control is performed by the human operators or even a hybrid system. Many SCADA systems include the following in order to perform the above functions: The field Interface Devices which sensors the detecting and the reporting power levels, temperature, pressure, flow rates and the local control devices like the controls of motors, valve actuators and the control switchboxes.
In addition, they involve the operating equipment where the motors, automated factory, pumps and the valve are controlled by the SCADA network. They involve the management computers whereby the computer terminals with a Human machine Interface (HMI) are connected with the SCADA network. These computers have a provision of an interface for the operators to monitor and control the devices on the SCADA network. Other than that, they involve the interconnection to the business process systems. That is, the SCADA networks frequently are connected to the corporate networks so as to allow them to interconnect with the business process systems (Norman SCADA protection, 2012).
References
Andrews, C. J. (2008). Energy Conversion Goes Local: Implications for Planners. Journal Of The American Planning Association, 74(2), 231-254.
Basham, M. J., & Campbell, D. F. (2009). Introduction to the Special Issue on Best Practices in SACS Accreditation. Community College Journal Of Research & Practice, 33(8), 609-610.
Norman SCADA Protection. (2012). Pipeline & Gas Journal, 239(6), 85.
Shyh Chiuan Chia, C. (2005). Promoting independent learning through language learning and the use of IT. Educational Media International, 42(4), 317-332.
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Currently, people live in a world where the internet plays a major role in day-to-day lives, commonly referred to as the information age, which can be described as an era where economic activities are mainly based on information. This comes as a result of the development and use of technology. This article discusses the ethical questions related to the right to privacy of an individual that is threatened by the use of the internet. Specifically, it gives the challenges that these ethical problems pose to the information professional and the practical guidelines based on the ethical norms.
The Concept of Privacy and Ethics
Privacy is defined as a condition of life of an individual that is characterized by an exclusion from the public. This concept follows the right to be left all alone (Thierer, 2013). Such a privacy perception sets the course for passing the laws of privacy in the United States for the following years. Privacy could be regarded as a right that provides the foundation for the legal right. This is important because it is necessary for the fulfillment of other rights such as freedom and the personal autonomy, which are quite related. The respect of someone’s privacy acknowledges the person’s rights to freedom and recognizes that the person is an autonomous human being. Thus, respecting a person’s privacy is a duty that everyone is obliged to follow.
Categories of Private Information
According to Kauffman, Lee, Prosch, and Steinbart, (2011), privacy is usually expressed by means of information. This implies that it is possible to categorize privacy, namely; information that is related to the privacy of an individual’s body, private communications, information regarding a person’s possessions and other personal information.
The category of private communications concerns all the forms of personal communication, which one wishes to keep private. This kind of information is usually exchanged, for example, between the user and informational professional during a reference interview. The category of the privacy of the body normally refers to the medical information and enjoys a separate legal protection (Kauffman, Lee, Prosch, & Steinbart, 2011). This legislation defines the right of a person to be notified about the nature of an illness and the implications associated with it.
The category of personal information refers only to the information of a specific person. Examples of these kinds of information include name, address, which are the bibliographic data, and the financial information. All of these are relevant to the categories of the information professionals. Lastly, the category of the information about someone’s possession is known to be closely related to the right to own property (Thierer, 2013). A person has the right to control the information, which relates to his personal possessions in certain instances. A good example of this is the secrecy about the place where a person has kept his wallet.
Ethics
Ethical actions of a person are described as those actions, which are performed within the criteria of what is regarded as right. In terms of human actions, it relates to the question of what is good or bad. Its purpose is to help people behave in an honorable manner and attain the basic good that make them fully human.
The Influence of the Internet on the Processing of Personal and Private Information
Definition of the Internet in relation to Information Technology
According to Busch (2013), the concept of technology is defined as the process of gathering, organizing, storing and distributing information in different formats by the use of computer means and the techniques based on the micro-electronics. He defines internet as a form of technology that is a network of many computers, which he sometimes calls the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) (Busch, 2013).
Ethical Implications for the Use of Technology in Processing Information
The main ethical impact of technology relates to accessibility and inaccessibility and the handling or manipulation of information. Through its implications, it becomes easy to access the private information of an individual by many people. Other than that, the person may be excluded from necessary information in the electronic format by use of security formats such as passwords. This kind of manipulation of information by the use of technology refers to the integration of information done by the merging of documents, repackaging of information, which involves the translations and the integration of textual and the graphical formats, and the alteration of information by the means of computer electronics, thus, changing the photographic images.
The use of technology to process information is not regarded as ethically neutral. Technology has, however, changed the ontological status of a document while accompanying the ethical implications (Mingers & Walsham, 2010). This refers to the manipulation of personal information by the use of the internet as a form of technology.
The impact of technology use on the private lives of people manifests itself in a variety of areas. First, is the use of the electronic monitoring of people in the workplace. Research shows that companies justify their use of technology to the increase of their productivity. However, there are several ethical problems pertaining to it (Nunan & Di, 2013). People’s privacy in their workplaces are threatened by these devices, which could lead to fear and the panoptical phenomenon. Second is the interception and the access to the email messages of people. This is an ethical problem related to the private communication of a person. The reading of email messages is justified at workplaces because they get to see the technology infrastructure as usually a resource being to the company rather not to an individual. Aside from that, they get to intercept the messages so as to get to know whether their employees use the facilities for their own private and selfish reasons or for the right purposes of the job.
Thirdly, there is the merging of databases, which contain the private information known as the data banking (Nunan & Di, 2013). This shows the integration of personal information from various databases into one central database. The problem here comes up because the individual is not aware of his personal information that is being integrated in the central database, the purposes for that, and if truly the information gathered is accurate. Forth, is the buying of cards by the retail stores. These cards are buried with computer chips that record every item that is purchased together with the variety of information of the buyer which allows companies to do targeted marketing to people they may have known their personal information and their buying habits (Busch, 2013). Lastly, another threat to information privacy is the increase in the number of hackers and crackers, which break into the computer systems (Kauffman, Lee, Prosch, & Steinbart, 2011). This comes together with the shift in the ethical values as well as the emergence of the culture of the cyberpunk with the ‘information wants to be free’ motto.
Associated Effect
The use of technology affects the individual level in that it causes loss of dignity and spontaneity as well as a threat to the right of information privacy and freedom. Technology is viewed more as a cause of threat rather than personal freedom. Research conducted by one of the biggest credit bureau companies in the USA, Equifax, showed that approximately 79% of the respondents indicated that they were weary of the use of technology for the processing of personal information (Nunan & Di, 2013).
Technology also has effects on the economic and the social levels. The biggest effect is the growth of businesses such as the credit bureau and the telecommunication companies that specializes in the processing and trade of person related information. The legislation on the protection of information privacy on the internet of an individual is known to fall behind due to the rapidly changing world in terms of technology (Thierer, 2013).
Relevance to the Information Professional
Ethical Issues
Handling and processing of the categories of personal and private information is entitled with several ethical issues. First is the confidential treatment of such information which refers to the information that is gained from the reference interview. The main ethical problems regarding this could be the use of personal details obtained from the interview for other purposes rather than what they were gathered for. This involves the re-use of a search strategy of one user for another user and discussing the nature of the specific query with other people.
Second is the issue of accuracy of information, which is important in cases where an information professional is working with the personal information that could have a direct influence to a person’s life. Third is the purpose for using different categories of information. The question is whether an information professional will employ the categories of private information for other reasons other than the original reason and whether the person should be informed about it (Mingers & Walsham, 2010).
Last is the ethical problem of the rights of a person in the use and distribution of his or her personal information. The related questions to this is if the user has the right to verify the information held by the professional and what rights the person has regarding the correction of any wrong information. Other than that, it is necessary to question if the person has the right to know the person using his personal information and for what reasons.
Ethical Norms
It is necessary to formulate the ethical norms to address the ethical issues. The ethical norms that can be distinguished are freedom, truth and the human right. Truth has a dual application in ethics. It is a norm for factual correctness of information. It thus guides the information professional to accurately and correctly handle the private information of an individual.
An individual also has the freedom to make choices in terms of the freedom of privacy and the freedom from intrusion though it may not become absolutized. The human rights norm on the other hand means the juridical acknowledgement and protection of the right to privacy of a person. It protects an individual from the unlawful interference from the society in the private life of an individual.
Ethical Guidelines
The recognition of person’s autonomy and freedom together with the fact that the guidelines on information privacy do not give a complete framework for ethical actions of the information professional regarding handling an individual’s private information. Thus, it is important to have the following ethical guidelines in mind.
The information professional is required to act on the assumption that is regarded by the client as confidential. This implies that the information professional is obliged to acknowledge the right of the client to control any private information. Regularly, the client is obliged to have access to all the private and personal information that is used by the information professional. This helps the client to have the opportunity to verify if the information is accurate.
Merging of personal information of an individual into a different database should be done with necessary caution. This is applicable in certain situations where the client is not aware of the merging or rather its implications. The client should be informed about that and be given the right to access the information in the central database. Other than that, the client should be given the right to change the information in the central database if it could by any chance be incorrect. In addition it is the right of the client to know those people using the information and for what purposes.
It is necessary for the information professional to notify the client of any intended purpose of using the information. This implies that the client has granted permission to that. No unnecessary private information should be gathered. This is for both the logistics reasons and to prevent any unnecessary violation of the person’s information privacy. Aside from that, any personal information that is collected and is no longer necessary should be destroyed (Bush, 2013). This is based on the norms of freedom and the human rights. In addition, in case the rendering of a specific product or service is refused to an individual due to his or her personal information like the credit worthiness, it is necessary to inform the individual the reason for denial. This is based on the norm of truth and the human rights. Personal information must be given strict confidentiality. This is the security and the control of information regarding the right to access it and the right to change and add any necessary information to it (Thierer, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the use of the internet in processing information has various important questions with regard to a person’s right to information privacy, which is directly linked to the freedom right and the human autonomy. These problems relate to the accessibility and the manipulation of information. It is, however, relevant to the information professional who deals with the private and the personal information. Their practical guidelines to handle the problems are formulated according to the truth, norms of freedom, and the human rights. In a world that is facing a rapid technological advancement, it is important that relevant sectors take appropriate measures to curb cases of cyber-crime, in order to protect the rights of users and ensure complete confidentiality. Otherwise, this piece of unprecedented innovation might as well become its own barrier.
References
Busch, T. (2013). Fair Information Technologies. The Corporate Responsibility of Online Social Networks as Public Regulators. University Of St. Gallen, Business Dissertations, 1-158.
Kauffman, R. J., Lee, Y. J., Prosch, M., & Steinbart, P. J. (2011). A Survey of Consumer Information Privacy from the Accounting Information Systems Perspective. Journal Of Information Systems, 25(2), 47-79.
Summary of Marx’s political philosophy. How Marx’s position related to Liberalism
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2000 word essay
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Summary of Marx’s political philosophy. How Marx’s position related to Liberalism
Please ONLY USE resources below as provided in uploads. Please reference these resources accordingly.
“Marx, Marxism and Liberalism” by R. Farrell
“The Communist Manifesto” by K. Marx and F. Engels
Marx, Economics and Morality (from SEP)
Defence of Marx by Ellen Wood
Vigor on Marx and Modern Capitalism.
SAMPLE ANSWER
How Marx’s position related to Liberalism
Karl Marx, one of the most influential philosophers in the history of human existence Karl Marx, one of the highly influential philosophers in the history of human existence, came up with a philosophical system. His works stand out from the work of other philosophers who contributed on the subject of human philosophy. The basic human history stuff according to Karl Marx consisted of the principles of exploitation and class. In the context of modern capitalism, there exists three classes in the sense of Marx’s world: those who employ labor; the employed ones; and those in the third class of a single person business (Vigor 2004). These groupings according to Marx were the most significant in the study of human existence, whereby the classes are viewed as united within itself due to the common economic pitting sense. Marx went on to breakdown his philosophic theory based on modern capitalism. Marxists theory can be reconstructed upon the basis of some significant tenets of liberalism. In the discussion of how the position of Marx relates liberalism, inherent tensions based on the premises of liberalism can be differently interpreted. This paper summarizes Marx’s political philosophy and analyses how Marx’s position relates to Liberalism.
Exploitation and inequality are mentioned to be the main tenets of Marx’s theory on modern capitalism. In argument, the full corpus of the philosophical by Marx can be correlated to three significant postulates according to Immanuel Kant, namely: freedom, equality and rational autonomy. Rational autonomy of people is the state where individuals use reason in making decisions regarding the way of life that a person deems fit, without reliance on cultural, social, intellectual or religious tradition- whereby liberal individualism is one of the core tenets of liberal individualism (Vigor 2004). The following is the discussion of both exploitation and inequality as the core tenets of Marx’s theory.
Inequality
The ideals of freedom, equality and rational autonomy standout as the core tenets of the ideals of Marx regarding ethics and justice. It is in relation to such a vision that Marx conducts evaluation of the human society. He discusses the empirical facts that constitute the human society through an examination of contemporary and past social-political systems whereby he discovered that the history of the society is a struggle between classes. The entire spectrum of the human history has been characterized by oppression; the human existence facts and the livelihood of most humans are not anything near the ideal. It is plagued by oppression, injustice, inequality and lack of autonomy as the characteristics of the existence of humans (Vigor 2004). In Marx’s view, regardless of the fact that the conditions of life for most humans had been improved through the improvement of conditions of life for most humans, there was still a ubiquitous existence of inequalities in the human life. In his analysis of the 19th-century societies, he mentioned that there was a system of two classes that was developing in Europe. One of them was Bourgeois, which was composed of a few people who owned the land and controlled mines, trade, factories. The other class was Proletariat, which was an ever-rising salary-earning working class who were under employment of the Bourgeois. A small number of the people, Bourgeois, had attained a status of rational autonomy since they could pursue their lives comfortably the way they deemed fit; but a large population, proletariat, did not enjoy rational autonomy privileges (Vigor 2004).
The justification according to Marx for this huge disparity was unjustifiable. In other words, the interests of the classes outlined according to Marx’s reasoning irreconcilable, and as such that was the reason why they were inevitable for every human society, like in capitalism where it exists as a struggle between classes that takes the shape of a continuous civil war, characterized by the misery, attendant waste, and frustration which the class struggle causes (Karl & Friedrich, 2005). The frustration and misery of the conditions of class-struggle are increased among the employees by the fact that they are subjected to inherent exploitation. There was a revolt tendency in the lower class that was intensified by this fact, coupled with the boom-slump cycle, as a sure characteristic of a capitalist society (Karl & Friedrich, 2005). Marx reasoned that there was a defect in capitalist functioning, otherwise referred to as the ‘over-population crises. Further, the struggle was intensified by the fact that the oppressed population could not sufficiently purchase what was produced.
Exploitation
After an argument that there was no justification for the discrepancies between bourgeois and proletariat led Marx to address the issue of whether such a discrepancy was evil or ethical. He based his argument on the dynamic origin of the division between the two classes (Karl & Friedrich, 2005).
Marx argued that the bourgeoisie and its exploitation of the world-market has resulted into a cosmopolitan character in regard to consumption and production everywhere in the world. Marx detailed how the bourgeoisie through the dramatic improvements of the various production instruments had extended their exploitation to the lower class. They had subjected the economy to the town ruling, creating bug cities resulting to increased population. He also mentioned that the bourgeoisie find their way around crises that they have created through dominance and insufficient purchase of what is produced through the conquest on fresh markets, and more through the exploitation of the old markets that have been enforced by a mass destruction pf the production forces for high quantities. He notes that no sooner is the exploitation of the worker by the manufacturer, so deep at an end, that the worker receives the cash salary, than he/she is beset by the various bourgeoisie proportions like the shopkeeper, landlord, or the pawn broker, among others (Karl & Friedrich, 2005). His philosophy was, therefore, centralized on this philosophy on the basis of the exploitation of the many by the few. His initial argument is, therefore, that capitalism is unfair because it is based on Marx’s observation that all the profit from the capitalist is a product of worker exploitation. It an absurd secret devoid of harmony and mutual benefit, but based in a system where the extraction of profit is systematically done unjustly. However, at a certain point, the description of capitalism by Marx is not conclusive as he incorporates such words as robbery, embezzlement and exploitation – he believes that capitalism is unjust but he doesn’t belief that he believes it is unjust (Wolff, 2003).
Relation of Marx’s position to Liberalism
Karl Marx is still regarded to be the strongest of the critics of liberalism in the history of western political thought. In his analysis, he argues that liberalism is made up of manifold different political movements and outlooks, and goes on to argue that is underlined by the principled commitment to equality and the freedom of individuals (Wolff, 2003). His critique of Liberalism can be viewed through his dismissal of rights as illustrations of the egoistic and estranged individual of the society ruled by bourgeois in his sentiments regarding “On the Jewish Question”. In his arguments, it can be deciphered that he views human rights only as barriers rather than bridges to the freedom of the human. In his ancient assessment of human rights which is considered as the most mature assessment of rights, he is inherently negative (Robert, 2011).
The consensus surrounding the negative depiction of rights and rights by Marx, as well as their irrelevance historically in regard to communalism, are not confined to Marxists as it is confined for the case of Pushakanis. He even mislead the numerous scholars who adopted his arguments regarding rights and rights, whereby they echoed his arguments that the end of domination by one-class will also imply the end the rights and rights concept. It is clear that Marx had little patience for the considerations of bourgeois in the liberated society. There is good reason to confirm that the approach Marx took regarding this issue criticized the conventional liberal interpretation on the abolition of rights and rights in a community that is based on communism (Wolff, 2003).
The earliest appraisal of “on the Jewish Question” in regard to Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a starting point that appropriately points out the earliest proof that Marx had a disdain for liberalism, and rights and rights. “On the Jewish Question” which was written in 1843, it was a time when Marx wasn’t conversant with the decisive role that was played by political economy historically (Ellen, 2011). In his recount, Marx mentions that when he was requested by the Jews to support a parliamentary petition so as to grant equal political and civil rights to the Jewish Community in Prussia, which is an initiative he endorsed positively. “On the Jewish Question” Marx does not agree with Bruno Bauer, who was formerly his mentor on the issue that Jews have to be granted political and civil rights until the renunciation of religion for Judaism. In his revelation of flaws that Bauer commits, it is clear that he is strangling liberalism. It is noteworthy here that political emancipation is a reference to the liberal state of the constitution that is not bound to private or religion property at the political level. The fact that he refutes these claims proves that he does not support liberal state of the constitution (Ellen, 2011).
In the outline of his theory, Marx proceeds to show that the unchallengeable rights of security, property, liberty and equality cannot exceed the bourgeois civil society contradictions. His arguments are that the right to liberty equals to not more than the protection of the competitive and atomistic individual from the dangers of the individuals they are in competition with. This is not to imply that Marx could not figure out any positive way to put rights into use. Actually, he embraces political emancipation by mentioning that it was a step in the required direction towards the human emancipation struggle, by stating that it is the last representation of huge progress towards human emancipation – it is a final human emancipation form in the framework of the social order that is prevailing (Ellen, 2011).
Fat forward, in Capital Marx manages to demonstrate that the equality and freedom of individuals in the exchange arena in challenged by capitalist approach to production, whereby capital domination over the level of labor triumphs under the realms of equality of rights. He argues that equality of rights and freedoms results to freedom and inequality in the capitalistic approach to the production sphere. Later on in Capital he argues that an equality of rights to all persons is actually a mere ‘deceptive semblance’ in the context of capitalistic approach to production (Robert, 2011). Therefore, in regard to liberalism, the assessment of rights by Marx assume two different dimensions. The first one is whereby he outlines the right of individuals as an advance historically, while on the other one he identifies that these individual rights also portray exploitive production relations in a community that claims to operate in an equal and free society. The point he eminently dwells on in Capital is that the abstract individual is viewed as a owner of commodities, whereby he proceeds to address independent producers of commodities, who socially relate in an environment meditated by community exchange at the marketplace (Robert, 2011).
In conclusion, exploitation and inequality are mentioned to be the main tenets of Marx’s theory on modern capitalism. In argument, the full corpus of the philosophical by Marx can be correlated to three significant postulates according to Immanuel Kant, namely: freedom, equality and rational autonomy. The ideals of freedom, equality and rational autonomy standout as the core tenets of the ideals of Marx regarding ethics and justice (Robert, 2011). It is in relation to such a vision that Marx conducts evaluation of the human society. Marx argued that bourgeoisie and its exploitation of the world-market has resulted into a cosmopolitan character in regard to consumption and production everywhere in the world. Karl Marx is still regarded to be the strongest of the critics of liberalism in the history of western political thought. In his ancient assessment of human rights which is considered as the most mature assessment of rights, he is evaluated to be inherently negative (Robert, 2011).
Log and Reflection Part B: Historical Social and Technical Knowledge
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Just do part B & C do not include part A
SAMPLE ANSWER
Historical, Social and Technical Knowledge
Log and Reflection (MUS207)
Part B: Historical, Social and Technical Knowledge
There exist a number of music genres that people play using their guitar as one of their accompaniments. Different people have favorite music genres they listen to and would recommend to their friends. Personally, I love blues and RnBs. I have always used this category of songs to aid my guitar practice. Songs usually have a history of their evolution. For instance, the blues genre is categorized differently such as delta and electric. These subgenres develop as new singers embrace slight changes or deviate slightly from the original version of the song. These variations as well result from variation of styles in instrumentations. The different tones of guitar contribute to the noticeable differences in these songs. Blues trace their roots from African American communities that used to live in Deep South in the 19th century (Govenar, 2008). Folk and spiritual works and chants from the European influenced this genre (Coelho, 2003).
Most blues are about love and relationships. They, therefore, trigger emotions from those people that listen to them. The variations of the tone and melodies on a guitar add pleasure and texture in the songs. I have listened to various songs in this genre by different artists and on various topics. However, when it comes to my guitar training, I prefer to train with James Blunt songs. These songs are so personal and use instrumentals such as guitar. I admire the way the songs’ melodies are organized that make them sound emotional.
At the training place, I normally use a number of songs from these artists. One of the songs is ‘Stay the night’ composed by James Blunt. The song is in his third studio album named ‘Some kind of trouble’. This song was released as a single in 2010 and became one of the hit songs in Austria media (Blunt, 2014). It has as well performed in the ARIA charts since 2005 ranking among the best ten songs.
The other song I used to train with in my guitar session is ‘You’re beautiful’ also written by James Blunt in collaboration with Amanda Ghost and Bacha Skarbek. The singer was James Blunt and this was one of the songs in the 2004 album named ‘Back to Bedlam’. It is the third single song that was released from the album in the year 2005. The song has received global airplay in many television and radio stations. It as well won the Ivor Novello Award for its airplay in 2006.
The third song is ‘Goodbye my lover,’ that was released in 2005. James Blunt sang the song and it is in the album, ‘Back to Bedlam’. The song is very emotional as it is about a love relationship gone sour. Handling separation is an awful experience that James exemplifies through the song.
All these three songs are calm and emotional. They are accompanied by guitar as one of the instrumentals that makes the sounds and the tunes. The sounds vary from low, medium, and high pitches. These moderations and variations add aura on the listening experience. Therefore, I use these songs as I practice to play and follow various guitar principles during my training session.
During this training, I was able to learn various aspects about guitar. A guitar can be fine-tuned to produce various sounds such as bass, soprano, and can as well blend these sounds to reduce a customized rhythm. There are various forms of guitar and they continue to evolve. New types of guitar that are more advanced are produced to enhance their sounds and melody. Nowadays, there are guitars that use power transformation from the traditional types manually operated.
When playing a guitar, you have to understand the techniques, patterns, rhythms, and notes that fit a specific song rhythm. Songs have different rhythms and require specific guitar notes. Before playing, the guitar is tuned to an open chord such as G or E major. An individual uses hands or metal objects to tangle strings that produce sound.
Training allowed me to learn about picking style exemplified in slide and fretted guitar styles. To produce a rhythm, the guitar is thumped out continuously on bass notes on its lower strings. This can be repeated on upper strings, which produce chords; melodic riffs and fills making a song come out clearly. Chords are played by slides that move from one point to another. These chords in such songs have minor triads, major, and dominant 7th chords (Chappell, 2014). The songs use blue scale in melodies as well as in their composition. Therefore, listening to these songs enabled me to acquire more knowledge on how to play a guitar. I noticed how the melodies kept on changing as the players continued to make slides using their thumbs. Listening gave me confidence and tricks in understanding the notes and adjustment procedures.
The log
This practice session was a wonderful experience for me. It gave me an opportunity to utilize my time well. The training took a duration of four days. Every training day, I learnt a lot about the guitar. I used my diary to record the session and all that I experienced at the training. I used to practice in the evening after the afternoon classes. The training session begun at 5 pm and lasted from 2 hours until 7 pm. This training was conducted at my friends’ places. Sometimes they used to come at our home to help me learn the guitar.
The first day, I learned about parts and functions of guitar and how to adjust it to produce different melodies. This was not a difficult task as it took me 20 minutes to know how to set a guitar. I also learned about various keys such as E and G factors and fine-tuning them. The second day, I listened to the first song, ‘Stay the night’ to identify the various types of guitar tones and how it produced the various melodies. I managed to learn how to play the guitar the way the song played in the DVD.
The third day, I listened to my second favorite song, ‘You’re beautiful’ and used the melodies and the skills gained to play the song. The fourth day, I listened to the third favorite song, ‘Goodbye my lover’ and as well practiced it. In the last one hour, I went through all the songs and played guitar along with them. I realized that I had learned guitar-playing skills. My colleagues congratulated me for being a quick learner and surprising them for the level of perfection I exhibited once I held the guitar in my hands. I realized that I could be one of the best guitar players when I develop interest in the same. I believe that in future, I will also sing songs and play guitar just the way my best artist, James Blunt, did.
It is critical that the writer follow APA 6th edition for this papers as the Prof is very particular about that , I am already loosing a lot of points for that in my previous papers of last week. so I have also uploaded a document he send to guide us on how to use APA 6th edition to complete this assignments
Mini-Case Study: The MBA Decision
For this assignment I have attached the case study mentioned below in the question for the writer to use in completing this paper. The prof took me a lot of points for the previous paper because of the APA which he said was very bad. I will also upload a document which he send to me indicating how the paper has to be using APA 6th edition.
In this case study, found on page 134 of your course text, an individual is making a decision on what is the best option for pursuing an MBA and has asked for your advice. After reading the case study, briefly answer the six questions at the end of the study ( 3 sentences minimum each).
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
Graduating from an MBA class is mostly related to success and good living associated with high paying jobs. But making the final to quit from a secure job and taking the chances to move up the ladder maybe one of the hardest decisions that most potential students experience. These paper looks at the process of determining the best decision to take considering all the quantifiable and the non quantifiable factors.
Financial Factors that Ben Bates must consider
The age of Ben is relevant when estimating the number of years that he can work. For example if his age is currently 30yrs, and if he is expected to retire after reaching the age of 55yrs then his remaining working life would be 25yrs.
The other non-quantifiable are the increased taxation that is progressive, the bonus that’s payable once and the other medical health benefits that are offered while studying for post graduating degrees.
Benefits from the current job
Interest
C
Years
rate
PV Annuity
Tax
After Tax
Annuity due
1.03
65,000
40
0.03
1547533.98
402358.84
1145175.148
Formula
C * (1.05^-n-1)/0.05) *1.05
Benefits
After
MBA
Graduation
Interest
C
Years
rate
PV Annuity
Tax
After Tax
Annuity due
1.04
110,000
38
0.04
9,835,006.50
3048852.02
6,786,154.49
Formula
C * (1.05^-n-1)/0.05) *1.05
Future Value (After MBA graduation)
Years
Present value
Interest
FV
38
110000
1.04
488269.5
Future Value (Current Job Benefits)
Years
Present value
Interest
FV
40
65000
1.03
212032.5
The future values are not for periods over 30 yrs and the interest rates are lower than 10% it would be better to calculate the options using the annuities due.
The Present value of the benefits he receives from the current employment are;
PV of all salary payments in 40 years
1,145,175.15
Taxes
-297,746
Total benefits
847,429.61
MBA Course $70,000 per yr for 2yrs
140,000
Books
6000
Taxes
2103707.89
Total Exp
2,249,708
Bonus
20,000
MBA Job income for 38yrs
6,786,154.49
Savings
4,556,446.59
The total benefits to be derived from the job offers are much more than the current benefits from the current job. The MBA offer has a net benefit of $4,536,446.59 on getting a job after completion. While the current job offers a total of 867,429.60. (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2013, p.175).
Ben would need a salary of; $4,556,446.59 – 847829.61 = 3,708,617
The present value of 3,708,617 at 3% interest for 40 years = 1,136,902 per year which is equivalent to $94,741.83 per month;
PV =
Years
Future value
Interest
PV
PM
40
3708617
1.03
1136902
94741.83
6. PV of all salary payments in 40 years
1,145,175.15
Taxes
-297,746
Total benefits
847,429.61
MBA Course $70,000 per yr for 2yrs + interest
150,675
Books
6000
Taxes
2103707.89
Total Exp
2,260,383
Bonus
20,000
MBA Job income for 38yrs
6,786,154.49
Savings
4,545,771.59
Discussion
The present value of the total benefits that Ben bates can possibly earn from his employment in the next forty years is $1,145,175.148 at a growth of 3%. The other benefits that he can derive from his employment are the low taxes that are chargeable because of low salaries. The amounts receivable after graduating from the MBA class are very high compared to the benefits that Ben Bates receives from his current employment even after factoring all the expenses incurred while seeking the MBA degree course. I certainly would recommend to him to take the MBA class.
Conclusion
The option to take an MBA degree course is a good decision compared to the current job undertaking. It would be profitable for Ben Bates to quit the current job and enrolled at the Ritter College of Business Studies at Wilton University. The cost of the tuition, books and also the loan interests are still affordable given the outcome of the MBA degree course.
