The Role of Accounting on Business and Our Society Research Paper

The Role of Accounting on Business and Our Society - Research Paper Example The balance sheet is the most effective tool in communicating the financial health of a business. The balance sheet reveals the financial position of a business and reports the assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity as at a given point in time (Allee & Yohn, 2009). This financial statement also reveals the resources that remain unused at the end of the period and available for use in the following periods. Additionally, the balance sheet reports the claims for resources that remain unpaid at the end of the period and the capital represented in various forms it is constituted. The functions of accountants include recording, analyzing, and reporting the financial status of a company or a person. Either an accountant or a certified public accountant can perform accounting. Accountants do not legally have to acquire any degree or any form of accounting license for them to perform their duties; any person over 18 years old and is good in numbers can be an accountant (Seetharaman, Sun & Wang, 2011). A certified public accountant must earn an accounting degree from an accredited institution, pass the CPA Examination, pass the professional Ethics Exam from the American Institute of CPAs, and work for 1,800 hours in one year under supervision of a licensed CPA. The accounting function in the organization is critical because it enables identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decisions. However, the accounting function is expensive to maintain because of high costs of installing systems and paying salaries and wages for accountants. I would prefer to form a merchandising company to a service company. Charts of accounts provide a list of all accounts in the company’s system (Seetharaman, Sun & Wang, 2011). Merchandising company charts of accounts have more code numbers than the charts for service industry. Charts of accounts in a service industry provides a list of

Should Exams Be Abolished Essay Example for Free

Should Exams Be Abolished Essay According to a recent survey of â€Å"Education Newspaper†, what cause students to be frightened the most is â€Å"exams†. Some students say that the exams should be abolished because they make students absolutely anxious and stressful. However, the exams play an important role in school’s life and also have many advantages. So I believe that the exams should not be abolished because of some reasons. The most important reason is that exams are a method to examine students’ level and .Depending on results of exams; teachers can determine how students acquire knowledge. If marks are from 7-10 that mean students apprehend well the content of subjects, teachers will give them some difficult exercises to help students develop their creation. On the other hand, if marks are below 7 that mean students don’t understand clearly the subjects. In addition, after doing exams, students can know more about their knowledge. Students will determine what are weak points, where are the holes in their knowledge. From these, students review these parts in order not to puzzle when do them later Another reason is that exams make students to study harder. Some fast or mini exams will force students to attend the classes frequently.Some teachers don’t want to remind when students have mini exams. Any time teachers see some interesting exercises, teachers will gives students do those which are like mini tests. If students don’t attend class those days, they will lose one or two column marks, which make their mid-term results low It’s true that exams make students stressful and anxious. Some students say that when exams come near, they have to cram a lot of lesson in short time, which make them exhaust. That is the reason why students wish exams would be abolished. However, these pressures aren’t caused by exams but students. During the studying, students should take note the main points of each subject and review after classes. And when they have exams, they just read again but can remember the important information. They no longer feel stressful in order to cram the lessons. Moreover, if there are no the exams, how can students examine their levels? They study more and more, but they don’t know what the destinations are and how many percents they apprehend the knowledge after studying. As the result, they feel vague and bored. In the end, students’ studying will not be effective if there are no exams. Although they make students absolutely anxious, they  shouldn’t be abolished.

Human trafficking and child sex trafficking

Human trafficking and child sex trafficking In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the research of human trafficking, both in general and in child sex trafficking as a specific and crucial phenomenon. According to the U.S. Department of State (2007) trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises with an approximate number of 800.000 victims each year trafficked over international borders. Anti-trafficking campaigns and NGOs have mushroomed and anti-trafficking policies have become important features of both international development agencies and governmental agendas (Piper 2005:203). Largely, scholars have concentrated their research on South East Asia; a region which is often described as the hub of trafficking in persons, particularly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Since the UN Transitional Authority period child sex trafficking and child sex tourism have been identified as a specific problems and Cambodia has become the focus of many UN activities. Child sex trafficking is describ ed as relatively new phenomenon in Cambodia which did not exist before 1970 (Archivantitkul: 1998). The political and economic landscape of Cambodia as well as moral and social values have changed considerably in the last three decades since the Khmer Rouge regime. This fact makes Cambodia particularly vulnerable for people who seek to make a profit from the poverty of people who may be overwhelmed by the ongoing fast changing impacts which come to their country. South-East Asia has a large scale of undocumented labour migration. Those migrations flows are greatly facilitated by recruiters in destination and origin countries which can cause an exploitative situation. There is a fine line between the issues of migrant smuggling and trafficking and their distinctions are often blurred. Therefore, trafficking has to be seen as a part of migration flows (Piper 2005: 207). Most of human trafficking activities in South East Asia, particularly in the Mekong sub-region, take place domestically and so one can refer more to a regional or national problem than to an international one (ibid.:204). This part of the issue should be considered carefully as different patterns such as globalisation and the socio-economic conditions play an important role and could make trafficking in Cambodia again an international problem considering the causes ( ibid.:205). The definition of trafficking has changed considerably in the last number of decades and yet there is still no consensus about a universally valid definition (Laczko 2005: 10). The lack of a common definition together with the refusal of some states to recognise the existence of trafficking within their country makes it hard to combat this issue effectively on a global scale (Savona and Stefanizzi 2007: 2). In 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons  [1]  , also known as the Palermo Protocol. The protocol offers for the first time a legally binding international definition of trafficking as the control of one person over another for the purpose of exploitation: Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Human trafficking and in particular child sex trafficking is considered by different scholars and studies (e.g. Williams and Masika 2002; Jana 2002; Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking 2003) as a highly gendered topic. Despite the lack of research and accurate data on trafficking patterns, and it is clear that the majority of trafficking victims are women and girls (UNODC, 2006). Hence, one can say that trafficking is so often seen to be caused and facilitated by unequal gender relations and patriarchal values and systems (Williams and Masika 2002: 6). Undeniably, this creates of vulnerabilities and therefore human rights violations on women and children. Understanding the gender dimensions of this phenomenon is crucial to obtain a clear picture of the recruitment of trafficking victims up to the development of policy strategies and campaigns to combat these human rights violations. 1.1. The construction of the victim of child sex trafficking Existing research as well as political and criminal justice activity has the tendency to focus on the offender and their identification and punishment, rather than considering the victims of sex trafficking as equal players. This reflects a traditional criminology research approach which is often criticised by victimology discourse (Goody 2005: 239). Despite the large amount of literature and research which addresses child sex trafficking in Cambodia, there remains a gap about the conceptualisation of the victim of child sex trafficking. From a western perspective, victim conceptions are diverse which can be seen for instance in the ideal victim (Christie 1986) and in social constructivism views (e.g. Schà ¼tz 1962). Therefore it is also vital to consider the gender perspective of trafficking and the social role and construction of women and girls in the Cambodian society today in contrast to the past. For a better understanding of the origin of the construction perceptions it is interesting to take a closer look at constructivism theory. The concept of the victim underlies a construction of a certain reality within a culture, a society and in particular an institution. Those constructions of realities can be seen in the light of constructivism which means the construction of social realities. The theory of social constructivism has been contributed to by Schà ¼tz (1962), Berger and Luckmann (1966) and Gergen (1985, 1999). Regarding the construction of knowledge Schà ¼tz (1962: 5) argues that (a)ll our knowledge of the world, in common sense as well as in scientific thinking, involves constructs, i.e. a set of abstractions, generalizations, formalizations, idealizations, specific to the relevant level of thought organization. In terms of constructing the picture of a victim one can assume that the content of a perception is constructed in an active- constructive process of production rather than a passive- receptive process of representation (Flick 2004: 89). We find access to our world of experience which includes natural and social environment as well as certain conceptions by the construction of concepts and knowledge which are used to interpret experiences, understanding and attribution of meaning (ibid.: 90). It is crucial to regard the construction of knowledge and concepts in the context of social research and figure out the relevance for the present dissertation. Schà ¼tz (1962: 208ff) describes that social research uses pre-existing everyday constructs out of everyday knowledge and constructs with this another more formalised and generalised version of the world (Flick 2004: 91). Due to the lack of research about the conception of a victim in Cambodian society, my dissertation will focus on the social construct of a child sex trafficking victim and how it differs depending on the social environment or society the child is living in. This research seeks to identify the concept of a child sex trafficking victim which NGOs, International Organisation and the Cambodian government develop campaigns and policies to combat trafficking on. To get a clearer picture of the causes of child victim Piper (2005) claims that there is more research required into pre-trafficking situations (evidence of child abuse, family situation, and socio-economic pressure on family) and the challenges faced by trafficked victims who return to their countries and/ or regions of origin. Also the question arises of whether the victim can attain victim status after being returned to the family or whether stigmatisation causes him/her to be seen as an outcast. I would like to consider these issues for my qualitative interviews with NGOs and governmental representatives in Cambodia. 1.2. Additional literature review Apart from the literature referred to in the text above, essential texts for researching human trafficking and child sex trafficking in particular are e.g. Micollier (eds) (2004) who edited different essays which examine the social construction of sexuality, gender roles in the family, and gendered power relations in society in East Asia. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also published various studies and books concerning human trafficking. The most contributive one for my research (IOM 2005), gathers a collection of essays that describe data collection and research of human trafficking from different countries. Relevant for the Mekong sub-region, Nicola Piper (2005) gives a review in this book about undertaken research on trafficking in South East Asia and Oceania. She highlights the gaps of knowledge in literature and research of trafficking issues. Savona and Stefanizzi (eds) (2007) and their contributors have a similar focus but offer a deeper analysis of migrat ion flows and trafficking and improving monitoring mechanisms for these complex criminal activities. An important study about human trafficking in Cambodia was undertaken by the Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (2003): Gender, Human Trafficking and the Criminal Justice System in Cambodia. Their research focus was on the gender perspective of trafficking and the underlying causes and contributing factors. Another study by the Asian Foundation (2006): A Review of a Decade of Research On Trafficking in Persons, Cambodia, aimed to provide a systematically review on trafficking related research about the consequences, scopes and patterns of trafficking. They review more trafficking in general and in its various patterns. Child sex trafficking is considered in a small but well researched paragraph. Summing up, these key readings and studies all critically asses human trafficking and offer a variety of valid perspectives on the phenomenon. 2. Research question and aim Research question As introduced to in the paragraph above, my research question arises out of a literature gap.: What type of conceptualisation of a victim do victim support centres, NGOs and the government in Cambodia have and how do those concepts influence their work, campaigns and policy strategies? Research aim The research aim is to identify the different existing constructions of a child sex trafficking victims in Cambodia provided and to explore if the social and cultural construction of a trafficked child differs depending on society and social environment like shelters or vocational training programme the child lives in or is involved in. Possible sub-questions that contribute to the research question are: How do children become victims of trafficking? What is the social construction of women and girls in Cambodia? Explore the historical development of the term child and juvenile in Cambodia in legal and cultural ways. Is there a changing meaning of those terms? How important is virginity for Cambodian men? 3. Research Method/ Design According to Flick (2006), the foundation of qualitative research is the reconstruction of social realities. Through the exploration of subjective perceptions, patterns of interpretation, structural characteristics and the latent meaning of action, a deeper understanding of a study field can be achieved. Thereby, no proband taming takes place by presetting of answering categories, but it creates a space for individual perspectives of the study field (Muckel 1996: 66). The general claim of qualitative research is to describe life worlds from the inside out, from the point of view of the people who participate (Flick et al: 3), to contribute to a better understanding of social realities. In comparison to quantitative social research where one examine already formulated hypothesis, the aim of qualitative research is to discover new ideas and to develop empirically justified theories (Flick 2006: 15). Though, the communication of the researches of the particular field, i.e. the subjectiv ity of the researcher and the researched, becomes an essential component of the research process and the finding (Flick 2006). Contrary to quantitative research controlling or excluding influence from the researched as interfering variables, in qualitative research the reflection of the researchers actions, his perceptions and observations as well as impressions and irritations are involved in the data evaluation process (ibid.: 16). The openness to the primary world of the researched and their different constructions of reality as well as according to the applied research methods are a basic characteristic of qualitative research (ibid.). My research interest focuses on the subjective views and conception of the victim of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. Therefore it is essential to apply qualitative research methods. In the following I will describe the chosen methods of collecting and evaluating data. 3.1. Method of data collection The dissertation seeks to asses NGOs, crisis centres and governmental agencies conceptions and views of the victim of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. The aim is to examine how their construction of a child victim influences their project, campaigns and policies. This interrelation is possible to depict verbally but not easily to detect throughout observation processes due to ethical considerations. The observation of the work with victims is ethically not justifiable in such a short research time frame as the identity with victims is strictly confidential and observation is not approved by the organisations or shelters if the researcher is not able to stay at least 2 month. Therefore the qualitative interview with the organisations and shelters was chosen as a research method. The main interest is to find out about particular perceptions and more complex argumentations. Therefore the questioning should be more active and probing (Hopf 2004: 204). Semi-structured Interview The semi-structured interview is an appropriate approach to explore the subjective perception and theories that stands behind my questionnaire. Scheele and Groeben (1988) introduced this approach to explore the construction and subjective theories behind everyday knowledge and the field of study (Flick 2006: 155). Their assumption was that interviewees are encouraged to express their perceptions and their reasoning behind certain topics in a natural manner if the interviewer provides a semi-structured question setting. Therefore one can reconstruct the subjective theories and views of the interviewee for the purpose of the study. The main elements of the semi-structured interview are open and confrontational questions. (see box 1) They offer the interviewee space to express their perception and knowledge. The confrontational question has a responsive function to the subjective theories offered by the interviewee and is asking a competing alternative to re-examine the opinions (ibid.: 156). An example for my research would be: (Text box 1) Another set of questions would be hypothesis-directed questions (see text box 2) which test scientific literature written about the research topic (ibid.). They give the interviewee the chance to become more explicit and help the interviewer to get the required information for the researched topic: (Text box 2) In specific: the Expert Interview The expert interview is a subcategory of the semi-structured interview. The approach of the dissertation questionnaire is to interview on the one hand service providers like victim support centre, crisis centres and NGOs that support the victim needs and rights. On the other hand it is an aim to speak to the Cambodian government which means in particular MP Mu Sochua of the Ministry of Womens and Veterans Affairs (MWVA). Here the interest is not so much the biographic background of the actual person but more the perception of the actual institution or the Cambodian Parliament about the research topic. The interviewees are seen as representatives for a certain group not as individuals (Flick 2006: 165). There are several research practical amenities for the expert interview. In an early exploration phase of a theoretical, less prestructured and informational less cross-linked research, the expert interview offers unrivalled dense data acquisition. This stands in contrast to the elaborate, cost and time-intensive accomplishment of participant observation, field study and systematic quantitative research (Bogner and Menz 2005: 7). It is recommended to choose expert interviews if a study field is hard or impossible to access especially when it comes to delicate issues like child sex trafficking and child prostitution. Beside the economic advantages and the chance to get information even about an awkward issue, another advantage is the facilitation of further field access when the expert refers to other colleagues and dialogue partners. It should also be noted out of a methodological view that a further benefit is that it is much easier to interview an expert as they usually have a higher linguistic competence which contributes directly to the analysis of the narrative. Hence, in an idealised conception, two academic socialised dialogue partners meet in this interview setting (ibid.: 8). To ensure validity of my research and to ascertain patterns of the construction of the victim of child sex trafficking, I intend to carry out 15-20 interviews with victim support centres, Human Rights NGOs who are concerned about child sex trafficking and government representatives (all in Phnom Penh). All institutions are contacted via email and telephone to arrange an appointment during my field trip in Cambodia and to offer them an outline of the research project which gives them the opportunity to prepare for the questions. I will use open-ended questions that give the interviewee space to present their perceptions and views. It also allows for the emergence of new topics that were not originally thought to be part of the interview. I will prepare 8 broad topics for the interviews that are formulated as broad questions and introduce them one after the other  [2]  . Depending on the interview course, I will specify the topics and ask in more detail to clarify vague formulations. 3.2. Limitations Whilst there are many advantages to this research design, there are also several limitations to the expert interview. Meuser and Nagel (2002:87) identify the expert might not always react as desired where their expertise may emerge as being limited and impede the interview process. Further, they identify the eventuality that the interviewee may not t participate in the question-answering game (Flick 2006:165) giving instead a speech to promote their knowledge and/or agenda. Whilst this can sometimes contribute to the research topic, it can also digress from the point and make it difficult to return to the original question. Another potential weakness of expert interviews is that the interviewee can change roles from being an expert to being a private person. Whereby, the interview looses objectiveness and private/ personal perceptions and bias may interfere with the representation of the institution or expert knowledge (ibid.). To ensure reliability for this method it is crucial that the interviewee, here the expert, understands the research context and the questions fully. Bulmer and Warwick (1983) identify the difficulties of conducting social research in developing countries which gives this research proposal an interesting angle. It is widely recognised that the availability of social data in developing countries is limited. Existing data is often of poor quality and therefore of little use due to limited administrative capacity, lack of manpower and infrastructure (ibid.: 4-5). The validity might be restricted and misleading if one relies only on administrative sources. The Cambodian law enforcement agencies and administration are perceived as the most corrupt sector. The Global Corruption Barometer also shows that 70% of the citizens are likely to pay bribes to the police (Anti- Corruption Resource Centre 2009) which proves the normality and explicitness of corruption within the population. When it comes to delicate issues such as human trafficking high ranking Cambodian law enforcement official are believed to accept bribes to facilitate human trafficking and child prostitution (US Department of State Human Rights Report 2006). A revealing example for corruption compliance within sex trafficking is the former Deputy Director of the Police Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Department and two officials under his supervision were convicted and imprisoned for facilitating human trafficking (Anti- Corruption Resource Centre 2009). Due to the ubiquity of corr uption, corruption this must be recognised within my research and considered when seeking out NGOs, who can offer a different picture of the reality throughout their mandate, their reports and research. With this considering and an awareness of these potential difficulties and obstacles within the interview process, a valid data collection can be better guaranteed. If one does so, the expert interview can be a very useful and powerful source to generate valid data. After weighing up the variety of pro and cons, the expert interview is an appropriate interview method for this research to provide an interpretative account of the concept a child sex trafficking victim. 3.3. Alternative Method: Problem-centered Interview (PCI) Initially the problem-centered interview (Witzel 1982; 1985) was considered as an appropriate interview method for my research question about construction of a victim. The principles of the problem-centred interview are to gather objective evidence on human behaviour as well as on subjective perceptions and ways of processing social reality (Witzel 2000:1). In this sense, the basic concern is the exploration of subjective cognition, approaches, motivation for actions and situation al interpretations. In contrast, the narrative interview (Hopf 2004: 206) is considered in this context to be inadequate because it produces a lot of material which leads to a huge data amount. Further, there should be no intervention in the process where the role of the interviewer is an attentive listener. This would be inappropriate considering the specific research questionnaire in mind and the given time frame. The problem-centered interview to large extent draws upon Glasers and Strausss (1967) theory generating method of the Grounded Theory. The primary reason for excluding this research method is the fact that it is a biographic focused interview where the biography and personal experiences of the interviewee are integral to the data generated. The expert knowledge of a certain field or of a particular organisation and expertise which mirrors the ideology of that institution is of more use than the biography of the expert and their personal motivations and views. Nevertheless, the research interest is to ascertain and interpret why the concept of the victim is constructed as described by the organisation experts and why it might differ from Western views of the child as a victim of sex trafficking. Therefore cultural and social constructions of realities have to be included. 3.4. Data analysis The reliability of this study will be maximised by transcribing all interviews conducted and building categories based on an initial reading of the transcripts. This process is described as coding (e.g. Flick 2006: 295 and Seale 2004: 306ff) which is based in based in grounded theory as discussed earlier  [3]  . Seale identifies that the purpose of coding qualitative data is to reduce large amounts of data and to develop and test out theories (2004: 313). The main challenging task for the researcher is to filter out comparisons and identify similarities and differences in the interview material. For my research I will use open coding which means the process of breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualising and categorizing data (Strauss and Corbin 1990: 61). The coding strategy enables me to analyse the concepts of the victim of child sex trafficking, group them into categories and subsequently discuss them in depth. The last step of coding is a list of terms together with an explanatory text (Bà ¶hm 2004: 271). 3.5. Ethics in qualitative research Multiple ethical considerations arise throughout the research process for this dissertation. Starting from the research design and the appropriateness of certain methods to collecting data and further on to the point of analysing the gathered data. More recently there has been a paradigm shift from the ethical concerns in social research concerned with the ways in which participants are affected by the research to a more post-structuralist approach which includes the social world and the knowable and objective truth is uncovered by researchers (Ali and Kelly 2004: 116). A crucial influence in social research ethics comes from feminist researchers who emphasise [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the role of power relations at all levels of knowledge production, from epistemology, through research relationships, to the dissemination of findings (ibid.). Research regarding child sex trafficking can be seen from the perspective of feminist research as it is a highly gendered topic. It is therefore crucia l to consider feminist research practices and its related ethical elements. A primary aim of feminist research is to contest and dispute the marginalised status of woman, and in this particular case vulnerable child, by representing their needs, perspectives and perceptions (Gillies and Alldred 2005: 39). There have been many controversies surrounding the role of the researcher in the production of knowledge about women and representing the Other (Wilkonson and Kitzinger 1996, in: Gillies and Alldred 2005: 39). The ethical concerns posed when carrying out research on trafficked children as such a vulnerable group are profound. I therefore consider it ethically unjustifiable to interview children about their experience with sexual exploitation within this short research period. Such an approach could potentially cause further distress to an already vulnerable and exploited subject group. As such, I have therefore decided against interviewing victims of trafficking and will conduct interviews exclusively with experts. Respect will be given to existing ethical precautions and regulations for social research whilst also acknowledging that an ethical practice will often comes down to the professional integrity of the individual researcher (Ali and Kelly 2004: 118). Translator difficulties A further challenge to potentially interviewing victims would be the requirement of a translator which can creates a multitude of problems: The dynamic can create a tense and unbalanced atmosphere for the victims to talk comfortably. There is a risk that the translator may not translate the verbatim accurately. Finally, interpretation of the language particulars of the victim is crucial to the data and therefore not understanding Khmer creates a large obstacle when reviewing the interview translations. This may be hard to overcome even with a translator. In consideration of this I decided to interview English speaking NGOs and government representatives. How generalisable will our results be to the sectors as a whole? 5. Timescale from 15th April to 2nd September Date 2010 Literature Review Contacts Questionnaire Design Fieldwork Cambodia Data Processing Data Analysis Write Report Submit Report April 15 * April 22 * April29 * * April 6 * * * May13 * * * May20 * * * May 27 * June 3 * * June 10 * June 17 * * June 24 * * July 1 * * July 8 * * July 15 * * July 22 * * July 29 * Aug 5 * * Aug 12 * * Aug 19 * Aug 26 * Sep 2 * Sep 9 * Sep 15 * (Bloch, A. (2010) Timescales for Research Project: The Professional Capacity of Nationals from the Somali Regions in the UK, Moodle City University, slides of lecture 6) 6. Bibliography Books and journal articles: Ali, S. and Kelly, M. (2004) Ethics and social research, in Seale, C. Researching Society and Culture. London [et al.]: Sage Publications. Archivantitkul, K. (1998) Trafficking in children for forced labour exploitation including child prostitution in the Mekong sub-region. Bangkok: ILO-IPEC. Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (2003) Gender, Human Trafficking and the Criminal Justice System in Cambodia http://wwww.humantrafficking.org/uploads/updates/gender_report_cambodia.pdf [accessed 7th April 2010]. Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Bloch, A. (2010) Timescales for Research Project: The Professional Capacity of Nationals from the Somali Regions in the UK, Moodle City University, slides of lecture 6. Bogner, A., Menz, W. (2005) Expertenwissen und Forschungspraxis: die modernisierungstheoretische und die methodische Debatte um die Experten., in Das Experteninterview: Theorie, Methode, Anwendung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag FuÃÅ'ˆr Sozialwissenschaften. Bà ¶hm, A. (2004) Theoretical Coding: Text Analysis in Grounded Theory, in Flick et al A Companion to Qualitative Research. London[et al.]: Sage Publications. Bulmer, M., Warwick, D. (1983) Social Research in developing countries. Surveys and Censuses in the Third World. Chichester [West Sussex]: Wiley. Christie, N. (1986) The Ideal Victim, in Fattah, E.A. From Crime Policy to Victim Policy. Reorienting the justice system. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan. Flick, U., von Kardorff, E. and Steinke, I. (2004) A Companion to Qualitative Research. London [et al.]: Sage Publications. Flick, U. (2004) Constructivism, in Flick,U., von Kardorff, E. and Steinke, I. A Companion to Qualitative

Stanley Fish :: Political Politics Essays

Stanley Fish It is one of the minor symptoms of the mental decline of the United States that Stanley Fish is thought to be on the Left. By some of his compatriots, anyway, and no doubt by himself. In a nation so politically addled that 'liberal' can mean 'state interventionist' and 'libertarianism' letting the poor die on the streets, this is perhaps not wholly unpredictable. Stanley Fish, lawyer and literary critic, is in truth about as left-wing as Donald Trump. Indeed, he is the Donald Trump of American academia, a brash, noisy entrepreneur of the intellect who pushes his ideas in the conceptual marketplace with all the fervour with which others peddle second-hand Hoovers. Unlike today's corporate executive, however, who has scrupulously acquired the rhetoric of consensus and multiculturalism, Fish is an old-style, free-booting captain of industry who has no intention of clasping both of your hands earnestly in his and asking whether you feel comfortable with being fired. He fancies himself as an intellectual boot-boy, the scourge of wimpish pluralists and Nancy-boy liberals, and that ominous bulge in his jacket is not to be mistaken for a volume of Milton. In a series of audacious bounds, then, we have argued our way from a 'radical' anti-foundationalism to a defence of the Free World. This leaves Fish in the enviable position of accruing cultural capital to himself by engaging in avant-garde theory while continuing to defend the world of Dan Quayle. A superficially historicist, materialist case - our beliefs and assumptions are embedded in our practical forms of life - leads not only to a kind of epistemological idealism, but to the deeply convenient doctrine that our way of life cannot be criticised as a whole. For who would be doing the criticising? Not us, since we cannot leap out of our local cultural skins to survey ourselves from some Olympian viewpoint; and not them either, since they inhabit a different culture which is incommensurable with our own. They may think that we are raiding their raw materials and exploiting their labour power, but that is just because they have never heard of the civilising mission of the West. The felicitous upshot is that nobody can ever criticise Fish, since if their criticisms are intelligible to him, they belong to his cultural game and are thus not really criticisms at all; and if they are not intelligible, they belong to some other set of conventions entirely and are therefore irrelevant.

A Comment on the Road from Colonus Essay

Edward Morgan Forster was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forster’s humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: â€Å"Only connect†. In part one of The Road from Colonus, Mr. Lucas and her daughter travelled to Greece, to fulfill his dream which has lasted for 40 years. When they were in a Khan in a small town of Greece, Mr. Lucas discovered a very strange tree which has a stream flow from it. He was very excited and felt that he had found his â€Å"habitant for heart†, so Mr. Lucas wanted to stay there for more time, but his daughter frustrated him and finally they left Greece. In part two, Ethel, Mr. Lucas’s daughter, was about to get married, and she got a parcel from a friend who has been with her during the trip, her friend told Ethel that the tree beside the khan was blow down and all the people there were dead, when Ethel told Mr. Lucas about the tragedy, he seemed totally indifferent to it, and just complained about his house and neighbors. In these two parts, water acted as a very important role. In first part, water stands for passion, energy and it can fresh Mr. Lucas’s old spirits and create a new value for him. So in this situation, water symbolized the reborn of him, but in the second part, fresh water became into dead water, and Mr. Lucas was totally dead in his mind, and what he can do is to complain the reality. There are three groups of people in this novel, one group is Ethel and her friends, they are the representatives of young people in Britain of that period of time, and they have received good education, fostered a strict and strong priority of their country and culture, so when they felt that the common value of their society was being offended, the first reaction is to extinguish the possibility of expansion, that is the reason for their objection of Mr. Lucas’s stay in Greece. In their mind, old people can’t be isolated from the youth and they are supposed to rely on the support of their children and also, their life was being projected by their children. For Mr. Lucas, he is among the old class or weak group of society, on one hand they pursued for independence, and searched for a habitant of heart, so that they could get through the rest days in a very peaceful and independent way, they didn’t want to be interfered by other factors such as children, work, and so on, but on the other hand, the society forbade them to do what they like to, Mr.

Cooperative Learning Sample Lesson

Cooperative Learning Sample Lesson Cooperative learning is a great technique to implement into your curriculum. As you begin to think about and design this strategy to fit into your teaching, consider using the following tips. Present the material first, cooperative learning comes after students are taught.Choose your strategy and explain how it works to the students. For this sample lesson, students will be using the jigsaw strategy.Assess students individually. Although students will work together as a team they will also be working individually to complete a specific task. Here is a cooperative learning sample lesson using the the Jigsaw method. Choosing Groups First, you must choose your cooperative learning groups. An informal group will take about one class period or the equivalent to one lesson plan period. A formal group can last from several days to several weeks. Presenting the Content Students will be asked to read a chapter in their social studies books about the first nations of North America. Afterward, read the childrens book The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose. This is a story about how the first Americans lived. It shows the students beautiful pictures of art, clothing, and other Native American artifacts. Then, show students a brief video about Native Americans. Teamwork Now its time to divide students into groups and use the jigsaw cooperative learning technique to research the First Americans. Divide students into groups, the number depends on how many subtopics you want the students to research. For this lesson divide students into groups of five students. Each member of the group is given a different assignment. For example, one member will be responsible for researching the First American customs; while another member will be in charge of learning about the culture; another member is responsible for understanding the geography of where they lived; another must research the economics (laws, values); and   the last member is responsible for studying the climate and how the first American got food, etc. Once students have their assignment they can go off on their own to research it by any means necessary. Each member of the jigsaw group will meet with another member from another group that is researching their exact topic.For example, students that researching the First Americans culture would meet regularly to discuss information, and share information on their topic. They are essentially the expert on their particular topic. Once students have completed their research on their topic they return to their original jigsaw cooperative learning group. Then each expert will now teach the rest of their group everything that they learned. For example, the customs expert would teach members about the customs, the geography expert would teach members about the geography, and so on. Each member listens carefully and takes notes on what each expert in their groups discusses. Presentation: Groups can then give a brief presentation to the class on the key features that they learned on their particular topic. Assessment Upon completion, students are given a test on their subtopic as well as on the key features of the other topics that they learned in their jigsaw groups. Students will be tested on the First Americans culture, customs, geography, economics, and climate/food. Looking for more information about cooperative learning? Here is the official definition, group management tips and techniques, and effective learning strategies on how to monitor, assign and manage expectations.

Kobe Earthquake 1995 essays

Kobe Earthquake 1995 essays Earthquakes are natural hazards, which occur on plate margins. Earthquakes are the result of plate movements. The strain builds up along the fault line between two plates until they move causing earthquakes. So why did the Kobe earthquake happen? Japan is at a high risk to earthquakes. Kobe is no exception. Japans second most major port is situated on a minor fault, the Nojma Fault. Unfortunately it lies above a destructive plate margin. Kobe is located above where the Philippines crust (oceanic crust) and the Eurasion crust (continental crust) meet. It was along this fault that the triggered the earthquake that hit Kobe. At 5.46am on January 17th 1995, whilst many of its citizens were still asleep, the Japanese city of Kobe was hit by the largest earthquake in Japan since 1923. It was recorded at 7.2 on the Richter scale and lasted for 20 seconds. During this time the ground moved 18cm horizontally and 12cm vertically. The earthquake was not only powerful but the epicentre was only 20km away from the city, it resulted in massive damage to property and loss of life. The worst effected area was in the central part of Kobe, a region about 5km by 20km alongside the main docks and port area. This area is built on soft and easily removed rocks; especially the port itself is built on reclaimed ground. Here the ground actually liquefied and acted like thick soup, allowing buildings to topple sideways, resulting in huge cranes in the harbour toppling over into the sea. More than 102,000 buildings were destroyed in Kobe, leaving 300,00 people homeless. The cost to repair the infrastructure of the city was est imated at $150 billion dollars, and that was just for the state owned buildings and services. The final cost makes the earthquake the most expensive natural disaster in modern history. Remember all that for just 20 seconds of earthquake. ...