Features of Twentieth Century Literature Essay Example for Free

Highlights of Twentieth Century Literature Essay twentieth century is the time of innovation in writing. twentieth centurys writing follows uniquely in contrast to the nineteenth century writing, on account of significance given to introduction of human cognizance and human brain research. As result new account methods like impressionism and continuous flow has been presented, the reason for whom is to feature human discernment. Impressionism has been embraced by numerous essayists, supplanting authenticity. twentieth century is a time of accentuation on inward reality, hence therapy and human brain research is a significant piece of writing. Experience is given auxiliary help by, themes, fantasies, and equal topics. Detachment and, loss of expectation in mankind are one of the notable topics of present day writing. E. M. Forster, Joseph Conrad and James Joyce are three conspicuous journalists of the twentieth century, who applied current methods and subjects in their books. Human cognizance is a significant part of twentieth century novel. Human, musings, sentiments and incitements are a lot of significant constituent of the century s fiction. Actually A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man resembles somewhat universe of Stephens mind, which is a consequence of a transformative procedure. Ulysses can be known as the narrative of suspected existence of Stephen and Morgan inside one day. Continuous flow is an emanant strategy of twentieth century novel, utilized to clarify human considerations, emotions and incitements. Continuous flow depicts the progression of musings and emotions in the psyche without a grouping, as it were in characteristic request.. Utilized just because by William James, Joyce gives new implications to it by utilizing in his books, A Portrait, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake . Joyce utilizes continuous flow method In Ulysses Mr Prince eats alone in an eatery . Joyce takes us to his brain venture; an inward monolog here is the soup, the smoking soup. Be cautious that the server doesn't sprinkle me in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Stephens stream of contemplations is uncovered when he meets a man other than the extension. : it must be eleven he thought.. as he dismissed he heard a clock some place close to him he snickered as he heard it as it made him consider Mac Cann. Disconnection is an obvious subject of twentieth century writing. Stephen in A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man is disconnected from his reality. Stephen is a person who needs to break liberated from the boundaries of patriotism, religion and society. Stephen is standing separated from his colleagues and peers,but he separated from them and peacefully, recollected in what fear he stood Experience gets a basic help in present day writing, through equal subjects and utilization of fantasies. Ulysses is composed corresponding to odyssey. A picture of the craftsman as a youngster has the fantasy of Daedulus utilized in it. In the composition of English fiction, the account strategy has moved from authenticity to another technique for impressionism. The motivation behind impressionism is to lay weight on human recognition and information. It started from crafted by Walter Pater and Henry James to thrive in the possession of, James Joyce, among others. Impressionism is distinctive in A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man. Joyce utilizes impressionism in the epiphanic snapshot of Stephens life when he comes to realize that he can't stifle nature and thusly his common tendencies. She appeared as though one whom enchantment had changed into the similarity of an abnormal and lovely seabird.. : Impressionism is likewise utilized in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, which is an excursion from murkiness to light for Marlowe. Thusly he sees things, learns and gets information by deciphering things around him. Conrad utilizes impressionism for this procedure. .Close to a similar tree two additional packs of intense edges sat with their legs drawn up his sibling ghost rested his temple.. Colonialism and colonization is one of the advanced topics in twentieth century English writing. A Passage to India and, Heart of Darkness illuminate control by man when he is in power. The two works use Britains Age of Empire as a setting for the stories and they investigate British mentalities and conduct in the remote regions of the supreme boondocks. Ivory has a solid drive for white man and he doesn't leave any opportunity to get it. The move of each work makes place against the background of Empire Heart of Darkness has the grimness and sentiment of current writing, as it shows the frightful essence of humankind. Conrad has absence of expectation in the cutting edge man. Hence Heart of Darkness brings up significant issues about the advancement of human progress. The humanized man plays destruction with the environmental factors of the wilderness, unchecked by rules and guidelines. The created society in this manner is held faulty. The white man assumes a more awful job than the brutal who as indicated by Marlowes perception most likely dont even know the idea of time. Heart of murkiness is additionally an excursion of self acknowledgment, both of Marlowe and Kurtz. Marlowe has an enthusiasm for maps since adolescence. Maps lead towards new ways and help in investigation. Marlowe investigates human self and the spoiled realities of colonization during his excursion up to the stream to meet Kurtz. Heart of dimness has the point of view nature of twentieth century writing. Conrad puts the storyteller inside the activity of the story so as to stay unoriginal. The storyteller has an individual voice he deciphers the things in his own specific manner and along these lines we see a point of view of a person. Conrad doesn't extend any belief system or hypothesis, yet just outputs the bleak essences of humanity. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster is a novel on frontier rule and contrasts between the locals and British are uncovered. It is a connection among colonized and the colonizer. It examines the cutting edge issue of conflict between societies . It is a talk on the social contrasts between two countries. In A Passage to India, the narrative of Adela Quested misleading incrimination against the Indian Dr. Aziz ,that he endeavored to assault her on a campaign to the Marabar Caves, gets emblematic of the twists of comprehension and understanding that can happen among societies, and of the foul play that definitely happens when one individuals holds control over another . The section to India is a talk on the in justifiable presence of man. It has the inquiries concerning the keeps an eye on presence which are the component of twentieth century writing. Marabar Caves themselves are a significant image Their freezing consistency, difficult to disentangle reverberation that follows any stable made inside them, come to speak to the nullity of human activity, the uselessness of presence. As in all twentieth century writing the mental impact of the colonization is clear in an entry to India. The British individuals can't come out of the mental impact that they are a much extraordinary race than the Orientals, where as the locals are unfriendly to them. Subsequently it winds up that with their given brain research projects the two countries can't join together. Ms Adela quested can't stand the truth, the genuine India and her deception gets representative of the mental emergency. Ms Moore experiences a change when contrasted with other English men.

Thermodynamic Analysis and Performance Characteristics

Aeronautic design SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND DESIGN THE THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTRISTICS OF A TURBOFAN JET ENGINE By J. E, Ibok 2011 Supervisor: Dr Lionel Ganippa ABSTRACT This work centers around the exhibition investigation of a twin spool blended stream turbofan motor. The fundamental target was to explore the impacts of utilizing hydrogen, lamp oil and petroleum gas fuel on the presentation qualities, for example, net push, explicit fuel utilization and propulsive effectiveness of the turbofan.Another point of this work was to present the idea of exergy and thermoeconomics investigation for twin spool blended stream turbofan motor and show the segments that contributes the most to the wastefulness of the motor. A conventional reproduction was done utilizing Gas Turb 11 programming to get sensible investigation results that were confirmed with a continuous JT8D-15A turbofan motor. The parametric investigation was accomplished for consistent estimatio n of mass stream pace of fuel and steady turbine gulf temperature for each of the three fuels.The result were legitimately acquired for these examination cases and talked about appropriately. Brunel University Mechanical Engineering Academic Session: 2010/2011 Name of Student: Johnson Essien Ibok Supervisor:Dr Lionel Ganippa Title: The Performance Characteristics and Thermodynamics Exergy and Thermoeconomics examination of a Twin Spool Mixed Flow Turbofan Engine Operating at 30,000ft at M0 0. utilizing Kerosene, gaseous petrol and Hydrogen Fuel. Theoretical: This work centers around the exhibition investigation of a twin spool blended stream turbofan motor. A conventional reenactment was completed utilizing Gas Turb 11 programming to get sensible investigation results that were checked with an ongoing JT8D-15A turbofan motor. The parametric examination was accomplished for consistent estimation of mass stream pace of fuel and steady turbine delta temperature for each of the three fu els.The result were legitimately acquired for these investigation cases and talked about in like manner. Targets: The primary point of this work is to lead the parametric cycle reenactment of a twin spool blended stream turbofan motor and explore the presentation qualities of it. Another point of this work is to show the impacts of utilizing hydrogen, Kerosene and petroleum gas fuel on the general execution of the twin spool blended stream turbofan engine.Also, the reason for this work is to present the utilization of the second law of thermodynamics examination known as exergy and thermoeconomics in investigation the twin spool blended stream turbofan motor Background/Applications: This work is material from numerous points of view with regards to the general execution improvement and practicality examination of a fly motor. This work identifies with the aviation and aeronautics businesses since the turbofan motor is among the tremendous number of fly motor utilized in drive of air crafts.There is expanding pressure in the flight business to lessen contamination and exhaustion of vitality assets while simultaneously keeping up sensible venture cost and high generally speaking execution. Subsequently, this exploration was directed in order to come up with another answer for this issue. Ends: The fundamental end drawn from the presentation examination is that hydrogen fuel created the most noteworthy push level and the least explicit fuel utilization between the three fills for a steady mass stream pace of fuel.Kerosene fuel produced push level can be expanded on the off chance that it is blended in with a limited quantity of hydrogen. The Exit fly speed proportion stayed consistent in spite of the expanding sidestep proportion for each of the three powers at steady mass stream pace of fuel. Utilizing the exergetic examination demonstrated that the burning chamber and the blender contributed the most to the wastefulness of the turbofan motor. The measure of exer gy moved into the turbofan motor by hydrogen was drained in the littlest proportion contrasted with petroleum gas and lamp oil for steady mass stream pace of fuel.The thermoeconomics examination demonstrated that it is desirable over utilize nearby based cost assessment to amount explicit thermoeconomics cost of push than the worldwide technique since the worth was lower. Results: The outcomes got from the reproduction utilizing Gas Turb 11 delivered a blunder scope of 0. 25% †8. 5% when confirmed with the genuine test information of the JT8D-15A turbofan motor. The outcomes acquired for the examination characterized a reference configuration point where the parametric investigation was led on. The investigation was done in three cases as demonstrated plainly in the test grid in table 1 below.Analysis| Parameters being varied| Parameters Kept Constant| Performance Characteristics| case 1| * Bypass proportion * Turbine Inlet temperature| * HPC Pressure Ratio * LPC Pressure Ratio * Fan Pressure Ratio| * Velocity proportion * Fuel-Air-proportion * Turbine gulf temperature * Net push * Specific Fuel Consumption * Thermal proficiency * Propulsive efficiency| case 2| * Bypass Ratio * Three diverse fuelsmH2mCH4mC12H23| * Mass stream pace of fuel * HPC Pressure Ratio * LPC Pressure Ratio * Fan Pressure Ratio| | Case 3| * Bypass Ratio * Three distinctive fuelsmH2mCH4mC12H23| * Turbine delta temperature * HPC Pressure Ratio * LPC Pressure Ratio * Fan Pressure Ratio| | Table 1 The Test framework of the Parametric Analysis. The exergy examination was accomplished for the parametric investigation of case 2 and case 3 where the exergy annihilation rates, exergetic productivity, exergy improvement potential rate and fuel consumption proportion were determined. The dispersion of these outcomes all through every segment of the turbofan motor was spoken to with bar graphs and Grassmann chart. The thermoeconomics investigation was directed for examination case 2 utilizing l amp fuel fuel.The explicit thermoeconomics cost of push was determined utilizing worldwide and nearby based cost assessment techniques. Affirmations First of all, I might want to thank my folks for their money related help and consolation on the grounds that without them I would not be here and have the option to accomplish this work. I am profoundly appreciative to my director, Dr Lionel Ganippa for having confidence in me and allowing me the chance to work with him in this field of study. I am additionally grateful to him for offering the fundamental direction and guidance and his excitement and inventive thoughts propelled me. At long last, I might want to say thanks to Mr Joachim Kurzke for giving me the vital programming required for my thesis. Table of ContentsAcknowledgements I Contents ii List of Notations and Subscripts iv List of Tables vi List of Figures vi Chapter 1: Introduction1 1. 1. Points and Objectives2 1. 2. Computational Modeling3 Chapter 2: Jet Engines4 2. 1. Ex ecution characteristics4 2. 1. 1. Thrust4 2. 1. 2. Warm Efficiency5 2. 1. 3. Propulsive efficiency5 2. 1. 4. Generally speaking efficiency6 2. 1. 5. Explicit Fuel Consumption6 2. 2. Fuel and Propellants For Jet Engines7 Chapter 3: Turbofan Jet Engines †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦8 3. 1. Presentation 8 3. 2. Grouping of Turbofan Engines9 3. 3. Significant Components of a Turbofan Engine10 3. 3. 1. Diffuser10 3. 3. 2. Fan and Compressor11 3. 3. 3. Ignition Chamber12 3. 3. 4. Turbine13 3. 3. 5. Fumes Nozzle14 3. 4.Thermodynamic Process and Cycle of a Twin Spool Mixed Flow Turbofan Engine15 Chapter 4: Mathematical and Gas turb 11 Modeling of the turbofan Engine18 4. 1. Station Numbering and Assumptions18 4. 2. Configuration Point Cycle Simulation of the Turbofan Engine18 4. 3. Off-structure Point Cycle Simulation of the Turbofan Engine21 4. 3. 1. Module/Component Matching 22 4. 3. 2. Off-Design Point Component Modeling22 Chapter 5: Methodology, Results and Discussions26 5. 1. General Relationship conditions of the Major Parameters27 5. 2. Results and Discussions of Parametric cycle Analysis of Case 129 5. 3. Results and Discussions of Parametric Cycle Analysis of Case 235 5. 4.Results and Discussions of Parametric Cycle Analysis of Case 343 Chapter 6: Exergy and Thermoeconomics Analysis of the Turbofan Engine49 6. 1. Exergy Analysis49 6. 1. 1. Exergy Analysis Modeling 50 6. 1. 2. Exergy and Energy Balance Equations of the Components58 6. 1. 3. General Relationships in Exergetic Analysis of the Turbofan Engine60 6. 1. 4. Results and Discussions61 6. 1. 5. Grassmann Diagram72 6. 2. Thermoeconomics Analysis74 6. 2. 1. Thermoeconomics Analysis Modelling74 6. 2. 2. Worldwide Based Cost Evaluation76 6. 2. 3. Neighborhood Based Cost Evaluation77 6. 2. 4. Results and Discussion of the Thermoeconomics Analysis78 Chapter 7 Concl usions and Future Work80 Reference Appendix An Exergy Analysis Results Appendix B Thermoeconomics Analysis resultsList of Notations and Units ?| Isentropic efficiency| ?| Total Pressure ratio| m| Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)| f| Fuel/Air Ratio| M| Mach Number| Pt| Total weight (kPa)| Tt| Total Temperature (K)| NCV| Net Calorific Value (MJ/kg)| Ht| Total Enthalpy (kJ/kg)| V| Velocity (m/s)| ?| Bypass Ratio| T| Static Temperature (K)| P| Static Pressure (kPa)| N| Actual Spool Speed (RPM)| Nc| Corrected Spool Speed (RPM)| mc| Corrected Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)| R| Universal Gas Constant (kJ/kmolK)| ?0| Standard Chemical Exergy (kJ/kmol)| Ex| Exergy Rate (MW)| xi| Mole Fraction| cp| Specific Heat at Constant Pressure (kJ/kgK)| ?| Ratio of Chemical Exergy to NCV| ?| Exergetic Efficiency| | Fuel Depletion Ratio| W| Power Rate of Work done (MW)| List of Subscripts| | LPT| Low Pressure Turbine| HPT| High Pressure Turbine| CC| Combustion Chamber| HPC| High Pressure Compressor| LPC| Low Pressure Compre ssor| d| Diffuser| noz| Nozzle| mix| Mixer| dest| Destruction Rate| 0, ambFAR| Ambient conditionFuel-Air-Ratio| CH| Chemical| PH| Physical| KN| Kinetic| PN| Potential| IP| Exergy Improvement Potential Rate (MW)| CRF| Cost Recovery Factor| c| Specific Thermoeconomic Cost (MJ/kg)| STD| Standard Temperature and Pressure| TIT| Turbine Inlet Temperature| TSFC| Thrust Specific Fuel Consumption (g/kNs)| SFC| Specific Fuel Consumption| p| Propulsive| TH|

How to do your dissertation secondary research in 4 steps

How to do your dissertation secondary research in 4 steps How to do your dissertation secondary research in 4 steps If you are reading this guide, it's very likely you may be doing secondary research for your dissertation, rather than primary. If this is indeed you, then here's the good news: secondary research is the easiest type of research! Congratulations! In a nutshell, secondary research is far more simple. So simple, in fact, that we have been able to explain how to do it completely in just 4 steps (see below). If nothing else, secondary research avoids the all-so-tiring efforts usually involved with primary research. Like recruiting your participants, choosing and preparing your measures, and spending days (or months) collecting your data. That said, you do still need to know how to do secondary research. Which is what you're here for. So, go make a decent-sized mug of your favourite hot beverage (consider a glass of water, too) then come back and get comfy. Here's what we'll cover in this guide: The basics: What's secondary research all about? Understanding secondary research Advantages of secondary research Disadvantages of secondary research Methods and purposes of secondary research Types of secondary data Sources of secondary data Secondary research process in 4 steps Step 1: Develop your research question(s) Step 2: Identify a secondary data set Step 3: Evaluate a secondary data set Step 4: Prepare and analyse secondary data Summary The basics: What's secondary research all about? Understanding secondary research So, what exactly do we mean when we say “secondary research”? To answer this question, let’s first recall what we mean by primary research. As you probably already know, primary research is when the researcher collects the data himself or herself. The researcher uses so-called “real-time” data, which means that the data is collected during the course of a specific research project and is under the researcher’s direct control. In contrast, secondary research involves data that has been collected by somebody else previously. This type of data is called “past data” and is usually accessible via past researchers, government records, and various online and offline resources. So to recap, secondary research involves re-analysing, interpreting, or reviewing past data. The role of the researcher is always to specify how this past data informs his or her current research. In contrast to primary research, secondary research is easier, particularly because the researcher is less involved with the actual process of collecting the data. Furthermore, secondary research requires less time and less money (i.e., you don’t need to provide your participants with compensation for participating or pay for any other costs of the research). TABLE 1 outlines the differences between primary and secondary research: Comparison basis PRIMARY RESEARCH SECONDARY RESEARCH Definition Involves collecting factual, first-hand data at the time of the research project Involves the use of data that was collected by somebody else in the past Type of data Real-time data Past data Conducted by The researcher himself/herself Somebody else Needs Addresses specific needs of the researcher May not directly address the researcher’s needs Involvement Researcher is very involved Researcher is less involved Completion time Long Short Cost High Low Advantages of secondary research Whatever type of research you are conducting, always be aware of its strengths and limitations. If you look at the table above, you should already be able to discern some advantages of secondary research. One of the most obvious advantages is that, compared to primary research, secondary research is inexpensive. Primary research usually requires spending a lot of money. For instance, members of the research team should be paid salaries. There are often travel and transportation costs. You may need to pay for office space and equipment, and compensate your participants for taking part. There may be other overhead costs too. These costs do not exist when doing secondary research. Although researchers may need to purchase secondary data sets, this is always less costly than if the research were to be conducted from scratch. As an undergraduate or graduate student, your dissertation project won't need to be an expensive endeavour. Thus, it is useful to know that you can further reduce costs, by using freely available secondary data sets. But this is far from the only consideration. Most students value another important advantage of secondary research, which is that secondary research saves you time. Primary research usually requires months spent recruiting participants, providing them with questionnaires, interviews, or other measures, cleaning the data set, and analysing the results. With secondary research, you can skip most of these daunting tasks; instead, you merely need to select, prepare, and analyse an existing data set. Moreover, you probably won’t need a lot of time to obtain your secondary data set, because secondary data is usually easily accessible. In the past, students needed to go to libraries and spend hours trying to find a suitable data set. New technologies make this process much less time-consuming. In most cases, you can find your secondary data through online search engines or by contacting previous researchers via email. A third important advantage of secondary research is that you can base your project on a large scope of data. If you wanted to obtain a large data set yourself, you would need to dedicate an immense amount of effort. What's more, if you were doing primary research, you would never be able to use longitudinal data in your graduate or undergraduate project, since it would take you years to complete. This is because longitudinal data involves assessing and re-assessing a group of participants over long periods of time. When using secondary data, however, you have an opportunity to work with immensely large data sets that somebody else has already collected. Thus, you can also deal with longitudinal data, which may allow you to explore trends and changes of phenomena over time. With secondary research, you are relying not only on a large scope of data, but also on professionally collected data. This is yet another advantage of secondary research. For instance, data that you will use for your secondary research project has been collected by researchers who are likely to have had years of experience in recruiting representative participant samples, designing studies, and using specific measurement tools. If you had collected this data yourself, your own data set would probably have more flaws, simply because of your lower level of expertise when compared to these professional researchers. Disadvantages of secondary research By now you may have concluded that using secondary data is a perfect option for your graduate or undergraduate dissertation. However, let’s not underestimate the disadvantages of doing secondary research. The first such disadvantage is that your secondary data may be, to a greater or lesser extent, inappropriate for your own research purposes. This is simply because you have not collected the data yourself. When you collect your data personally, you do so with a specific research question in mind. This makes it easy to obtain the relevant information. However, secondary data was always collected for the purposes of fulfilling other researchers’ goals and objectives. Thus, although secondary data may provide you with a large scope of professionally collected data, this data is unlikely to be fully appropriate to your own research question. There are several reasons for this. For instance, you may be interested in the data of a particular population, in a specific geographic region, and collected during a specific time frame. However, your secondary data may have focused on a slightly different population, may have been collected in a different geographical region, or may have been collected a long time ago. Apart from being potentially inappropriate for your own research purposes, secondary data could have a different format than you require. For instance, you might have preferred participants’ age to be in the form of a continuous variable (i.e., you want your participants to have indicated their specific age). But the secondary data set may contain a categorical age variable; for example, participants might have indicated an age group they belong to (e.g., 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc.). Or another example: A secondary data set may contain too few ethnic categories (e.g., “White” and “Other”), while you would ideally want a wider range of racial categories (e.g., “White”, “Black or African American”, “American Indian”, and “Asian”). Differences such as these mean that secondary data may not be perfectly appropriate for your research. The above two disadvantages may lead to yet another one: the existing data set may not answer your own research question(s) in an ideal way. As noted above, secondary data was collected with a different research question in mind, and this may limit its application to your own research purpose. Unfortunately, the list of disadvantages does not end here. An additional weakness of secondary data is that you have a lack of control over the quality of data. All researchers need to establish that their data is reliable and valid. But if the original researchers did not establish the reliability and validity of their data, this may limit its reliability and validity for your research as well. To establish reliability and validity, you are usually advised to critically evaluate how the data was gathered, analysed, and presented. But here lies the final disadvantage of doing secondary research: original researchers may fail to provide sufficient information on how their research was conducted. You might be faced with a lack of information on recruitment procedures, sample representativeness, data collection methods, employed measurement tools and statistical analyses, and the like. This may require you to take extra steps to obtain such information, if that is possible at all. TABLE 2 provides a full summary of advantages and disadvantages of secondary research: ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES Inexpensive: Conducting secondary research is much cheaper than doing primary research Inappropriateness: Secondary data may not be fully appropriate for your research purposes Saves time: Secondary research takes much less time than primary research Wrong format: Secondary data may have a different format than you require Accessibility: Secondary data is usually easily accessible from online sources. May not answer your research question: Secondary data was collected with a different research question in mind Large scope of data: You can rely on immensely large data sets that somebody else has collected Lack of control over the quality of data: Secondary data may lack reliability and validity, which is beyond your control Professionally collected data: Secondary data has been collected by researchers with years of experience Lack of sufficient information: Original authors may not have provided sufficient information on various research aspects Methods and purposes of secondary research So far, we have defined secondary research and outlined its advantages and disadvantages. At this point, we should ask: “What are the methods of secondary research?” and “When do we use each of these methods?” Here, we can differentiate between three methods of secondary research: using a secondary data set in isolation, combining two secondary data sets, and combining secondary and primary data sets. Let’s outline each of these separately, and also explain when to use each of these methods. Initially, you can use a secondary data set in isolation â€" that is, without combining it with other data sets. You dig and find a data set that is useful for your research purposes and then base your entire research on that set of data. You do this when you want to re-assess a data set with a different research question in mind. Let’s illustrate this with a simple example. Suppose that, in your research, you want to investigate whether pregnant women of different nationalities experience different levels of anxiety during different pregnancy stages. Based on the literature, you have formed an idea that nationality may matter in this relationship between pregnancy and anxiety. If you wanted to test this relationship by collecting the data yourself, you would need to recruit many pregnant women of different nationalities and assess their anxiety levels throughout their pregnancy. It would take you at least a year to complete this research project. Instead of undertaking this long endeavour, you thus decide to find a secondary data set â€" one that investigated (for instance) a range of difficulties experienced by pregnant women in a nationwide sample. The original research question that guided this research could have been: “to what extent do pregnant women experience a range of mental health difficulties, including stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and paranoid thoughts?” The original researchers might have outlined women’s nationality, but weren’t particularly interested in investigating the link between women’s nationality and anxiety at different pregnancy stages. You are, therefore, re-assessing their data set with your own research question in mind. Your research may, however, require you to combine two secondary data sets. You will use this kind of methodology when you want to investigate the relationship between certain variables in two data sets or when you want to compare findings from two past studies. To take an example: One of your secondary data sets may focus on a target population’s tendency to smoke cigarettes, while the other data set focuses on the same population’s tendency to drink alcohol. In your own research, you may thus be looking at whether there is a correlation between smoking and drinking among this population. Here is a second example: Your two secondary data sets may focus on the same outcome variable, such as the degree to which people go to Greece for a summer vacation. However, one data set could have been collected in Britain and the other in Germany. By comparing these two data sets, you can investigate which nation tends to visit Greece more. Finally, your research project may involve combining primary and secondary data. You may decide to do this when you want to obtain existing information that would inform your primary research. Let’s use another simple example and say that your research project focuses on American versus British people’s attitudes towards racial discrimination. Let’s say that you were able to find a recent study that investigated Americans’ attitudes of these kind, which were assessed with a certain set of measures. However, your search finds no recent studies on Britons’ attitudes. Let’s also say that you live in London and that it would be difficult for you to assess Americans’ attitudes on the topic, but clearly much more straightforward to conduct primary research on British attitudes. In this case, you can simply reuse the data from the American study and adopt exactly the same measures with your British participants. Your secondary data is being combined with your primary data. Alternatively, you may combine these types of data when the role of your secondary data is to outline descriptive information that supports your research. For instance, if your project is focusing on attitudes towards McDonald’s food, you may want to support your primary research with secondary data that outlines how many people eat McDonald’s in your country of choice. TABLE 3 summarises particular methods and purposes of secondary research: METHOD PURPOSE Using secondary data set in isolation Re-assessing a data set with a different research question in mind Combining two secondary data sets Investigating the relationship between variables in two data sets or comparing findings from two past studies Combining secondary and primary data sets Obtaining existing information that informs your primary research Types of secondary data The two most common types of secondary research are, as with all types of data, quantitative and qualitative. Secondary research can, therefore, be conducted by using either quantitative or qualitative data sets. We have already provided above several examples of using quantitative secondary data. This type of data is used when the original study has investigated a population’s tendency to smoke or drink alcohol, the degree to which people from different nationalities go to Greece for their summer vacation, or the degree to which pregnant women experience anxiety. In all these examples, outcome variables were assessed by questionnaires, and thus the obtained data was numerical. Quantitative secondary research is much more common than qualitative secondary research. However, this is not to say that you cannot use qualitative secondary data in your research project. This type of secondary data is used when you want the previously-collected information to inform your current research. More specifically, it is used when you want to test the information obtained through qualitative research by implementing a quantitative methodology. For instance, a past qualitative study might have focused on the reasons why people choose to live on boats. This study might have interviewed some 30 participants and noted the four most important reasons people live on boats: (1) they can lead a transient lifestyle, (2) they have an increased sense of freedom, (3) they feel that they are “world citizens”, and (4) they can more easily visit their family members who live in different locations. In your own research, you can therefore reuse this qualitative data to form a questionnaire, which you then give to a larger population of people who live on boats. This will help you to generalise the previously-obtained qualitative results to a broader population. Importantly, you can also re-assess a qualitative data set in your research, rather than using it as a basis for your quantitative research. Let’s say that your research focuses on the kind of language that people who live on boats use when describing their transient lifestyles. The original research did not focus on this research question per se â€" however, you can reuse the information from interviews to “extract” the types of descriptions of a transient lifestyle that were given by participants. TABLE 4 highlights the two main types of secondary data and their associated purposes: TYPES PURPOSES Quantitative Both can be used when you want to (a) inform your current research with past data, and (b) re-assess a past data set Qualitative Both can be used when you want to (a) inform your current research with past data, and (b) re-assess a past data set Sources of secondary data The two most common types of secondary data sources are labelled as internal and external. Internal sources of data are those that are internal to the organisation in question. For instance, if you are doing a research project for an organisation (or research institution) where you are an intern, and you want to reuse some of their past data, you would be using internal data sources. The benefit of using these sources is that they are easily accessible and there is no associated financial cost of obtaining them. External sources of data, on the other hand, are those that are external to an organisation or a research institution. This type of data has been collected by “somebody else”, in the literal sense of the term. The benefit of external sources of data is that they provide comprehensive data â€" however, you may sometimes need more effort (or money) to obtain it. Let’s now focus on different types of internal and external secondary data sources. There are several types of internal sources. For instance, if your research focuses on an organisation’s profitability, you might use their sales data. Each organisation keeps a track of its sales records, and thus your data may provide information on sales by geographical area, types of customer, product prices, types of product packaging, time of the year, and the like. Alternatively, you may use an organisation’s financial data. The purpose of using this data could be to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and understand the economic opportunities or outcomes of hiring more people, buying more vehicles, investing in new products, and so on. Another type of internal data is transport data. Here, you may focus on outlining the safest and most effective transportation routes or vehicles used by an organisation. Alternatively, you may rely on marketing data, where your goal would be to assess the benefits and outcomes of different marketing operations and strategies. Some other ideas would be to use customer data to ascertain the ideal type of customer, or to use safety data to explore the degree to which employees comply with an organisation’s safety regulations. The list of the types of internal sources of secondary data can be extensive; the most important thing to remember is that this data comes from a particular organisation itself, in which you do your research in an internal manner. The list of external secondary data sources can be just as extensive. One example is the data obtained through government sources. These can include social surveys, health data, agricultural statistics, energy expenditure statistics, population censuses, import/export data, production statistics, and the like. Government agencies tend to conduct a lot of research, therefore covering almost any kind of topic you can think of. Another external source of secondary data are national and international institutions, including banks, trade unions, universities, health organisations, etc. As with government, such institutions dedicate a lot of effort to conducting up-to-date research, so you simply need to find an organisation that has collected the data on your own topic of interest. Alternatively, you may obtain your secondary data from trade, business, and professional associations. These usually have data sets on business-related topics and are likely to be willing to provide you with secondary data if they understand the importance of your research. If your research is built on past academic studies, you may also rely on scientific journals as an external data source. Once you have specified what kind of secondary data you need, you can contact the authors of the original study. As a final example of a secondary data source, you can rely on data from commercial research organisations. These usually focus their research on media statistics and consumer information, which may be relevant if, for example, your research is within media studies or you are investigating consumer behaviour. TABLE 5 summarises the two sources of secondary data and associated examples: INTERNAL SOURCES EXTERNAL SOURCES Definition: Internal to the organisation or research institution where you conduct your research Definition: External to the organisation or research institution where you conduct your research Examples: • Sales data • Financial data • Transport data • Marketing data • Customer data • Safety data Examples: • Government sources • National and international institutions • Trade, business, and professional associations • Scientific journals • Commercial research organisations Secondary research process in 4 steps In previous sections of this guide, we have covered some basic aspects of doing secondary research. We have defined secondary data, outlined its advantages and disadvantages, introduced the methods and purposes of secondary research, and outlined the types and sources of secondary data. At this point, you should have a clearer understanding of secondary research in general terms. Now it may be useful to focus on the actual process of doing secondary research. This next section is organised to introduce you to each step of this process, so that you can rely on this guide while planning your study. At the end of this blog post, in Table 6, you will find a summary of all the steps of doing secondary research. Step 1: Develop your research question(s) Secondary research begins exactly like any type of research: by developing your research question(s). For an undergraduate thesis, you are often provided with a specific research question by your supervisor. But for most other types of research, and especially if you are doing your graduate thesis, you need to arrive at a research question yourself. The first step here is to specify the general research area in which your research will fall. For example, you may be interested in the topic of anxiety during pregnancy, or tourism in Greece, or transient lifestyles. Since we have used these examples previously, it may be useful to rely on them again to illustrate our discussion. Once you have identified your general topic, your next step consists of reading through existing papers to see whether there is a gap in the literature that your research can fill. At this point, you may discover that previous research has not investigated national differences in the experiences of anxiety during pregnancy, or national differences in a tendency to go to Greece for a summer vacation, or that there is no literature generalising the findings on people’s choice to live on boats. Having found your topic of interest and identified a gap in the literature, you need to specify your research question. In our three examples, research questions would be specified in the following manner: (1) “Do women of different nationalities experience different levels of anxiety during different stages of pregnancy?”, (2) “Are there any differences in an interest in Greek tourism between Germans and Britons?”, and (3) “Why do people choose to live on boats?”. Step 2: Identify a secondary data set As we mentioned above, most research begins by specifying what is already known on the topic and what knowledge seems to be missing. This process involves considering the kind of data previously collected on the topic. It is at this point, after reviewing the literature and specifying your research questions, that you may decide to rely on secondary data. You will do this if you discover that there is past data that would be perfectly reusable in your own research, therefore helping you to answer your research question more thoroughly (and easily). But how do you discover if there is past data that could be useful for your research? You do this through reviewing the literature on your topic of interest. During this process, you will identify other researchers, organisations, agencies, or research centres that have explored your research topic. Somewhere there, you may discover a useful secondary data set. You then need to contact the original authors and ask for a permission to use their data. (Note, however, that this happens only if you are relying on external sources of secondary data. If you are doing your research internally (i.e., within a particular organisation), you don’t need to search through the literature for a secondary data set â€" you can just reuse some past data that was collected within the organisation itself.) In any case, you need to ensure that a secondary data set is a good fit for your own research question. Once you have established that it is, you need to specify the reasons why you have decided to rely on secondary data. For instance, your choice to rely on secondary data in the above examples might be as follows: (1) A recent study has focused on a range of mental difficulties experienced by women in a multinational sample and this data can be reused; (2) There is existing data on Germans’ and Britons’ interest in Greek tourism and these data sets can be compared; and (3) There is existing qualitative research on the reasons for choosing to live on boats, and this data can be relied upon to conduct a further quantitative investigation. Step 3: Evaluate a secondary data set If you recall our previous discussion on the disadvantages of secondary data, you will remember us specifying that: (1) secondary data may not be fully appropriate for your research purposes, (2) secondary data may have a different format than you require, (3) secondary data may lack reliability and validity, (4) secondary data may not answer your research question, and (5) original authors may have failed to provide sufficient information about their research. Because such disadvantages of secondary data can limit the effectiveness of your research, it is crucial that you evaluate a secondary data set. To ease this process, we outline here a reflective approach that will allow you to evaluate secondary data in a stepwise fashion. Step 3(a): What was the aim of the original study? When evaluating secondary data, you first need to identify the aim of the original study. This is important because the original authors’ goals will have impacted several important aspects of their research, including their population of choice, sample, employed measurement tools, and the overall context of the research. During this step, you also need to pay close attention to any differences in research purposes and research questions between the original study and your own investigation. As we have discussed previously, you will often discover that the original study had a different research question in mind, and it is important for you to specify this difference. Let’s put this step of identifying the aim of the original study in practice, by referring to our three research examples. The aim of the first research example was to investigate mental difficulties (e.g., stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and paranoid thoughts) in a multinational sample of pregnant women. How does this aim differ from your research aim? Well, you are seeking to reuse this data set to investigate national differences in anxiety experienced by women during different pregnancy stages. When it comes to the second research example, you are basing your research on two secondary data sets â€" one that aimed to investigate Germans’ interest in Greek tourism and the other that aimed to investigate Britons’ interest in Greek tourism. While these two studies focused on particular national populations, the aim of your research is to compare Germans’ and Britons’ tendency to visit Greece for summer vacation. Finally, in our third example, the original research was a qualitative investigation into the reasons for living on boats. Your research question is different, because, although you are seeking to do the same investigation, you wish to do so by using a quantitative methodology. Importantly, in all three examples, you conclude that secondary data may in fact answer your research question. If you conclude otherwise, it may be wise to find a different secondary data set or to opt for primary research. Step 3(b): Who has collected the data? A further step in evaluating a secondary data set is to ask yourself who has collected the data. To what institution were the authors affiliated? Were the original authors professional enough to trust their research? Usually, you will be able to obtain this information through quick online searches. Let’s say that, in our example of research on pregnancy, data was collected by the UK government; that in our example of research on Greek tourism, the data was collected by a travel agency; and that in our example of research on the reasons for choosing to live on boats, the data was collected by researchers from a UK university. Let’s also say that you have checked the background of these organisations and researchers, and that you have concluded that they all have a sufficiently professional background, except for the travel agency. Given that this agency’s research did not lead to a publication (for instance), and given that not much can be found about the authors of the research, you conclude that the professionalism of this data source remains unclear. Step 3(c): Which measures were employed? If the study on which you are basing your research was conducted in a professional manner, you can expect to have access to all the essential information regarding this research. Original authors should have documented all their sample characteristics, measures, procedures, and protocols. This information can be obtained either in their final research report or through contacting the authors directly. It is important for you to know what type of data was collected, which measures were used, and whether such measures were reliable and valid (if they were quantitative measures). You also need to make a clear outline of the type of data collected â€" and especially the data relevant for your research. Let’s say that, in our first example, researchers have (among other assessed variables) used a demographic measure to note women’s nationalities and have used the State Anxiety Inventory to assess women’s anxiety levels during different pregnancy stages, both of which you conclude are valid and reliable tools. In our second example, the authors might have crafted their own measure to assess interest in Greek tourism, but there may be no established validity and reliability for this measure. And in our third example, the authors have employed semi-structured interviews, which cover the most important reasons for wanting to live on boats. Step 3(d): When was the data collected? When evaluating secondary data, you should also note when the data was collected. The reason for this is simple: if the data was collected a long time ago, you may conclude that it is outdated. And if the data is outdated, then what’s the point of reusing it? Ideally, you want your secondary data to have been collected within the last five years. For the sake of our examples, let’s say that all three original studies were conducted within this time-range. Step 3(e): What methodology was used to collect the data? When evaluating the quality of a secondary data set, the evaluation of the employed methodology may be the most crucial step. We have already noted that you need to evaluate the reliability and validity of employed measures. In addition to this, you need to evaluate how the sample was obtained, whether the sample was large enough, if the sample was representative of the population, if there were any missing responses on employed measures, whether confounders were controlled for, and whether the employed statistical analyses were appropriate. Any drawbacks in the original methodology may limit your own research as well. For the sake of our examples, let’s say that the study on mental difficulties in pregnant women recruited a representative sample of pregnant women (i.e., they had different nationalities, different economic backgrounds, different education levels, etc.) in maternity wards of seven hospitals; that the sample was large enough (N = 945); that the number of missing values was low; that many confounders were controlled for (e.g., education level, age, presence of partnership, etc.); and that statistical analyses were appropriate (e.g., regression analyses were used). Let’s further say that our second research example had slightly less sufficient methodology. Although the number of participants in the two samples was high enough (N1 = 453; N2 = 488), the number of missing values was low, and statistical analyses were appropriate (descriptive statistics), the authors failed to report how they recruited their participants and whether they controlled for any confounders. Let’s say that these authors also failed to provide you with more information via email. Finally, let’s assume that our third research example also had sufficient methodology, with a sufficiently large sample size for a qualitative investigation (N = 30), high sample representativeness (participants with different backgrounds, coming from different boat communities), and sufficient analyses (thematic analysis). Note that, since this was a qualitative investigation, there is no need to evaluate the number of missing values and the use of confounders. Step 3(f): Making a final evaluation Having considered all the things outlined in the steps above, what can you conclude regarding the quality of your secondary data set? Again, let’s consider our three examples. We would conclude that the secondary data from our first research example has a high quality. Data was recently collected by professionals, the employed measures were both reliable and valid, and the methodology was more than sufficient. We can be confident that our new research question can be sufficiently answered with the existing data. Thus, the data set for our first example is ideal. The two secondary data sets from our second research example seem, however, less than ideal. Although we can answer our research questions on the basis of these recent data sets, the data was collected by an unprofessional source, the reliability and validity of the employed measure is uncertain, and the employed methodology has a few notable drawbacks. Finally, the data from our third example seems sufficient both for answering our research question and in terms of the specific evaluations (data was collected recently by a professional source, semi-structured interviews were well made, and the employed methodology was sufficient). The final question to ask is: “what can be done if our evaluation reveals the lack of appropriateness of secondary data?”. The answer, unfortunately, is “nothing”. In this instance, you can only note the drawbacks of the original data set, present its limitations, and conclude that your own research may not be sufficiently well grounded. Step 4: Prepare and analyse secondary data During the secondary data evaluation process, you will familiarise yourself with the original research. Having done so, your next step is to prepare a secondary data set. Your first sub-step here (if you are doing quantitative research) is to outline all variables of interest that you will use in your study. In our first example, you could have at least five variables of interest: (1) women’s nationality, (2) anxiety levels at the beginning of pregnancy, (3) anxiety levels at three months of pregnancy, (4) anxiety levels at six months of pregnancy, and (5) anxiety levels at nine months of pregnancy. In our second example, you will have two variables of interest: (1) participants’ nationality, and (2) the degree of interest in going to Greece for a summer vacation. Once your variables of interest are identified, you need to transfer this data into a new SPSS or Excel file. Remember simply to copy this data into the new file â€" it is vital that you do not alter it! Once this is done, you should address missing data (identify and label them) and recode variables if necessary (e.g., giving a value of 1 to German participants and a value of 2 to British participants). You may also need to reverse-score some items, so that higher scores on all items indicate a higher degree of what is being assessed. Most of the time, you will also need to create new variables â€" that is, to compute final scores. For instance, in our example of research on anxiety during pregnancy, your data will consist of scores on each item of the State Anxiety Inventory, completed at various times during pregnancy. You will need to calculate final anxiety scores for each time the measure was completed. Your final step consists of analysing the data. You will always need to decide on the most suitable analysis technique for your secondary data set. In our first research example, you would rely on MANOVA (to see if women of different nationalities experience different stress levels at the beginning, at three months, at six months, and at nine months of pregnancy); and in our second example, you would use an independent samples t-test (to see if interest in Greek tourism differs between Germans and Britons). The process of preparing and analysing a secondary data set is slightly different if your secondary data is qualitative. In our example on the reasons for living on boats, you would first need to outline all reasons for living on boats, as recognised by the original qualitative research. Then you would need to craft a questionnaire that assesses these reasons in a broader population. Finally, you would need to analyse the data by employing statistical analyses. Note that this example combines qualitative and quantitative data. But what if you are reusing qualitative data, as in our previous example of re-coding the interviews from our study to discover the language used when describing transient lifestyles? Here, you would simply need to recode the interviews and conduct a thematic analysis. TABLE 6: STEPS FOR DOING SECONDARY RESEARCH EXAMPLE 1: USING SECONDARY DATA IN ISOLATION EXAMPLE 2: COMBINING TWO SECONDARY DATA SETS Outline all variables of interest; Transfer data to a new file; Address missing data; Recode variables; Calculate final scores; Analyse the data 1. Develop your research question Do women of different nationalities experience different levels of anxiety during different stages of pregnancy? Are there differences in an interest in Greek tourism between Germans and Britons? Why do people choose to live on boats? 2. Identify a secondary data set A recent study has focused on a range of mental difficulties experienced by women in a multinational sample and this data can be reused There is existing data on Germans’ and Britons’ interest in Greek tourism and these data sets can be compared There is existing qualitative research on the reasons for choosing to live on boats, and this data can be relied upon to conduct a further quantitative investigation 3. Evaluate a secondary data set (a) What was the aim of the original study? To investigate mental difficulties (e.g., stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and paranoid thoughts) in a multinational sample of pregnant women Study 1: To investigate Germans’ interest in Greek tourism; Study 2: To investigate Britons’ interest in Greek tourism To conduct a qualitative investigation on reasons for choosing to live on boats (b) Who has collected the data? UK government (professional source) Travel agency (uncertain professionalism) UK university (professional source) (c) Which measures were employed? Demographic characteristics (nationality) and State Anxiety Inventory (reliable and valid) Self-crafted measure to assess interest in Greek tourism (reliability and validity not established) Semi-structured interviews (well-constructed) (d) When was the data collected? 2015 (not outdated) 2013 (not outdated) 2014 (not outdated) (e) What methodology was used to collect the data? Sample was representative (women from different backgrounds); large sample size (N = 975); low number of missing values; confounders controlled for (e.g., age, education, partnership status); analyses appropriate (regression) Sample representativeness not reported; sufficient sample sizes (N1 = 453, N2 = 488); low number of missing values; confounders not controlled for; analyses appropriate (descriptive statistics) Sample was representative (participants of different backgrounds, from different boat communities); sufficient sample size (N = 30); analyses appropriate (thematic analysis) (f) Making a final evaluation Sufficiently developed data set Insufficiently developed data set Sufficiently developed data set 4. Prepare and analyse secondary data Outline all variables of interest; Transfer data to a new file; Address missing data; Recode variables; Calculate final scores; Analyse the data Outline all variables of interest; Transfer data to a new file; Address missing data; Recode variables; Calculate final scores; Analyse the data Outline all reasons for living on boats; Craft a questionnaire that assesses these reasons in a broader population; Analyse the data In summary… This might have been a long read to accompany your cup of coffee or tea, but you should, by now, know how to do your secondary research. Hopefully you will have concluded that doing secondary research is not that hard. Just follow the guidelines summarised in Table 6 and you are all set. ^ Jump to top The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation See all articles in the series How to do your dissertation secondary research in 4 steps A complete guide to dissertation primary research How to write a dissertation proposal Navigating tutorials with your dissertation supervisor Planning a dissertation: the dos and donts Dissertation research: how to find dissertation resources dissertation helpdissertation primary researchdissertation researchdissertation tipsstudy skillsstudy tips

A Quick but Complete Review of Common Oak Tree Species

Current Attitudes Towards Child Rearing - 1664 Words

Our modern, first world reaction to hearing that children are involved in combat usually bring our thoughts to child soldiers in Africa or children caught up in fighting in the Middle East. When photographs of children in civil war uniforms are seen, we might automatically assume it was done in jest, and no such service was ever performed by children. If we assumed this, we would be wrong. While 18 years was the official age for a combat position, many underage soldiers or supposedly â€Å"non-combat† musicians were otherwise in the middle of battle during the American Civil War. One estimation has that 20% of the conflict participants were under 18. This is not surprising as nearly half the population of the country at the time was†¦show more content†¦Popular media sparked the imaginations of children. In the periodical magazine â€Å"Our Young Folks† stories could be found of children enlisting in the ranks of the military, and personally encountering the immoral behavior of the enemy, as the child-hero in the story fought the good fight. Songs like â€Å"Southern Wagon† encouraged all to join. Modern parents cannot fail to notice the effects the current YouTube fad has upon our children. We watch them copy the dance, the attitude or the mode of dress ascribed by the music video. Music is a great motivator for certain behaviors, true then as it is now. Reasons why the children joined the military varied. Some were caught up in the romantic excitement of war. Others were influenced by family. They joined the military to escape, or to follow family members into battle. In the case of 15 year old Elisha Stockwell, he suffered the public humiliation of this father’s disapproval of his enlistment. He was dressed down by his sister when she called him a â€Å"Snotty little boy†. He had the need to prove himself to others and to himself as well. 18 years old was the minimum age for combat positions, but this rule did not stop underage children from enrolling. Boys would lie about their age, lie about parental consent, gain authentic consent or simply find a willing adult to help them, as Stockwell did

My Name Is Asher Lev Free Essays

Name: Waleed Khokhar Date: 11/13/12 Word Count: appx 900 Which character intrigues you the most? The protagonist and narrator of the book, â€Å"My name is Asher Lev† Asher Lev’s story begins with him as a young boy from a Jewish family. A young boy who lived in conservative community that was strict and fascist in nature when it comes to religion. Two conflicting forces play an important role in Asher Lev’s story. We will write a custom essay sample on My Name Is Asher Lev or any similar topic only for you Order Now One, Asher Lev’s up tight and all- encompassing religious community, and the other his intense passion and desire to create art. Throughout Asher Lev’s life as a young child and as an adult, he had to trade-off between his love of creating art and/or following his family and community religious traditions. How Asher grows up with such intense friction in his mind of these two subjects is something important to elucidate. The decisions he made and the actions he took shaped his future. Asher grew up in an old-fashioned Jewish community of Ladover; a community filled with narrow-minded people who did not want to look at the world beyond their realms. Due to this, Asher Lev was always in conflict with himself, his family and the community. As Aryeh, Asher Lev’s father said, â€Å"If you were a genius in mathematics, I would understand. If you were a genius in writing, I would also understand. If you were a genius in Gemorra, I would certainly understand. However, a genius in drawing is foolishness, and I will not let it interfere with our lives. Do you understand me, Asher? † (pg. 136). Asher’s father always condemned his work and wanted him to give up art. However, art surrounded and reflected in every part of Asher’s life. It is interesting to see even under immense pressure of his father Asher continued to draw. Usually, kids become rebellious if restricted. In this case, Asher just suppressed his feelings and confined to himself. Asher’s personality is the most mesmerizing in this book. Living in a strictly religious family as boy and continually opposed by several people on creating art, Asher still managed to pursue his passion. It was a marvel in its own. Nonetheless, these two aspects of life balance out each other and play the most apprehensive part in his life. Asher’s creativity is one of the reasons he was able to continue with his work. One can see this when Asher uses common life material and create tools to paint (citation required). It is obvious that Asher possessed the gift of drawing.. Another aspect one needs to look at is Asher’s desperation and his urge to find such creative ways to express him in form of art. He was burning with desire to express his emotions by drawing. On one occasion, his strong influences lead him to steal paints from a shop. However, ethics and morals from his family teachings embedded in him evoked his conscience, and he eventually returned them. Such endeavors, at such a young age, living in such ascetic society requires a lot of guts. It brings the crisp and twist in a story and binds a reader to discover of what lies ahead. In addition, it is hard to ignore how a young child with such creativity uses such ingenious ways to pursue his passion as Asher uses ashes to paint. It reminds me of a famous idiom ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. In the beginning, Asher did not understand his cravings as a child and innocuously doodled which turned into structured drawing later in his life. Furthermore, an on-going friction permeated inside Asher. He was confused with what was allowed to draw and what was deemed intolerable in his community. This is most evident when Asher’s father would not come to Asher’s art exhibitions, which displayed nude and crucifixion pictures. Asher justified such painting by saying (Book 11, pg. 303), â€Å"A naked women is a women without clothes. A nude is an artist’s personal vision of a body without clothes. † â€Å"Is such a personal vision important in your art? † â€Å"That’s what art is, Papa. It’s a person’s private vision expressed in aesthetic. † This brings Asher in the contradiction to his upbringing, what his beliefs were and what the world of art wants. It is astonishing for a reader of how Asher well aware that his father reproved nude paintings and yet without hesitation he invites his father. An analysis to this could be that Asher was so lost in the hymn of his passion that his childhood values were fading away. Whether these values would instill in Asher is something that intrigues a reader to continue with the story. Additionally, Asher’s interaction with an artist named Jacob Kahn, who immensely drew Asher towards new dimensions of art played the most significant role in this story. Asher learns different styles of painting and hones his skills under Kahn’s mentorship. Working with Kahn once again Asher faces the dilemma of whether to follow his religious teachings or follow the eccentric ways of world of art. Kahn played a pivotal role in Asher’s life and persuaded him to draw nude and crucifixion pictures, which were against Asher’s religion, Asher hesitant but open to learn suppressed his feelings and drew. Here once again, Asher prioritized art over his family and religion. In contrast, it is evident that Asher has not completely strayed away from his religious teaching as he continued to observe his Jewish dietary laws when he was away at Kahn’s beach house. Likewise, Asher leaves the reader tangled that whether he would lean back to his childhood education or ensue the world of art. Finally, the most controversial side of Asher becomes flamboyant when he drew his mother’s picture in form of crucifixion and invited his parents to his exhibition. Asher was well aware that his painting would bring great pain to his family and his community as crucifixion in Judaism is a taboo. Asher knowing the consequences will be dire yet he prioritized artistic world over Jewish world. From Asher’s point of view, this drawing only portrayed his emotions and it was targeted toward world of art where it carries a different meaning and only artists understand its value, whereas, Jewish community was naive of language of paint. Asher motive to invite his parents to gallery is questionable. A concern that arises is why Asher would invite his family to his exhibition. Did he deliberately want to inflict pain to his family and finally part away or was it another episode of innocence. The most bewildering scenes of this book which must have left several readers confused was in the ending chapter of the book where Asher stood thinking about his decisions in his life. Asher had to decide whether he wanted himself or religion; himself or family; and/or himself or art. Similarly, the writer has portrayed Asher’s uncanny nature and it leaves many questions in a readers mind. The book concludes in many ways unresolved, as Asher was not fully comfortable with the decisions he had made. My Name is Asher Lev ends with protagonist banished from his people as Rebbe asked him to leave. So far, there are no means to conclude that Asher had embarked himself away from his family and community. No conclusive or unanimous consensus about Asher’s future choices How to cite My Name Is Asher Lev, Essay examples

The Body Shop Australia

Introduction The Body Shop Australia is a shop that deals in beauty products such as skin care, hair care, lotions, make up, and community trade. Although The Body Shop Australia currently offers online shopping to its consumers, safety and security over the cyberspace has become such an important issue in determining consumer behavior.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Body Shop Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The consultancy thus intends to introduce a Secure Online Shopping System (SOSS) for The Body Shop Australia’s customers. Secure online shopping system is a platform where consumers of the product are able to make orders on particular product and make payments using their credit cards. The SOSS platform will ensure the safety and security of those cards. Research carried out by different organizations shows that the level of trust on internet shopping of many Australians has increased making them willing to shop online as long as their security is ensured (Access Economics 2010). Since the development of electronic commerce practitioners of E-commerce have strived to gain insight into consumer behavior in cyberspace. SOSS target to woe global consumers of beauty products to make their purchases online. Economical and social responsible purchasing behaviours of consumers have become significant determinant of consumer behaviour therefore SOSS will ensure that consumers’ social and economic welfare is well thought-out. Consumer Behavior Report, 2009 indicates that online consumers continued to use the internet amidst the economic recession experienced in Europe. According (Access Economics 2010) the highest number of internet users in Australia are those aged between 25 to 44 years. It further state that online purchases amongst these internet users are done by those in their late teens and early twenties. As a result, the SOSS platform will be used as that mainly target the individuals in the age bracket that use internet shopping frequently-college students.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Issues facing consumers in adopting SOSS Each year, vast numbers of new products in different groups are launched globally. Factors such as growing advertising costs and increasing competition have made the successful implementation of a new product more difficult in recent years (Aaker 1996, p.34). The concept of E-commerce in relation to the topic of online consumer behavior has been examinined by different researchers in a variety of contexts. Despite the immense progress that researchers from different business disciplines that have made on this vast and new concept, none of these studies has focused on the security dimension of online shopping. Thus, introduction the security aspect in online shopping services to be offered at The Bod y Shop of Australia will attract if not all, most online shoppers of beauty products. According to reviews done by different researchers indicate that earlier researchers in these field mostly draw theories from classical consumer behavior, such as personality research, behavioral learning, attitude models, and information processing (Folkes 1988; Skinner 1938; Bettman 1979 Fisbein 1967). To achieve this broad objective of increasing online customer base for the products offered at The Body Shop of Australia, we analyze online consumer behavior in a systematic manner using various consumer behavior theories and models. Consumer behavior theories have been applied to study online consumer behviour; however, gaps still exists between the online and offline consumer behavior that warrants further studies. Koufaris et al (2001) asserts that the previous studies have been relatively fragmented with contradictory results. A large body of knowledge has been developed in consumer behavior analysis by influential works of Engel et al 1968; Nicosia 1966 among others. A large part of these literature concerns differentiable products, thus, may not be explicitly applicable in a service such as online shopping. It is therefore necessary to understand the intrinsic differences in between offline and online consumer behaviours.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Body Shop Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The other studies on online consumer behavior have largely focused on how consumers adopt and use online purchase. Particularly, the emphasis was directed on the past history of consumer online purchasing adoption and intention. In this era of digital economy, companies and organizations have realized that consumers and competitors are just one click away. To succeed in the e-business era therefore, companies need create adept initiatives and maintain long term sustainable relationship with loyal customers (Cheung et al 2001). SOSS is a proficient platform that will help The Body Shop of Australia to remain relevant in this digital period. Consumers are generally influenced by two factors: internal influences and external influences. Internal influences are personal feelings and thought that includes; self-concept, motivation, attitudes, emotions and perceptions. These factors generally influence perception, purchasing patterns, and attitude customers develop towards a product or a service offered by business. Besides, these factors are directly linked to internal and external interacting social aspects that control the pattern of though and expressed feelings. Resonating on the facets of internal and external influences, this paper develops a comprehensive matrix for purchasing patterns exhibited by customers. Motivation and emotion Emotions and motivations often serve as the emerging forces within consumers that activate certain behaviours. Emotions are described as temporary state that show present changes in motivations whereas motivation are persistence need that stimulate long term goals in consumers. These emotions control direct and indirect behavior inclination that arouse the instinct to purchase or refuse to purchase. Though a temporary state of mind, emotions challenge the market preference and direct judgment to buy. Therefore SOSS will impact on consumer bevaviour by arousing their motivation to buy products from The Body Shop Australia.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Attitude and Perception Attitude is the general evaluation that consumers engage in before deciding to purchase a particular product or service. Attitudes are direct personal experiences that are influenced by consumers’ personality, advertisement, family and friends. Perceptions are unique ways through which consumers internalizes and interprets information about a product. Consumer engagement is essential towards winning and maintaining a client especially in a competitive market setting where the best offer carries the day. The offer could be in the form of price, quality, and quantity. When information on attitude is verifiable, it is easy for a company to execute a well researched plan within allocated resources. The processed information is used by consumers in making â€Å"the buying decision,† (fig. 1) as such, SOSS provides consumers with the platform to share information on internet. The buying decision There has been substantial research on consumer behaviou r, examining the decision process, and influences upon it, in terms of store and brand characteristics and consumer behaviors (Babin et al, 1994, p.45). Central to the theories of consumer behaviour is the conviction that different consumers go through markedly complex decision making process that is influenced at different stages by a number of possible variables. The buying process normally begins with the need for a particular product or good. The need that is created prompts the consumers such for available information concerning the good or service that can satisfy that need. Having considered the available information, consumers then evaluate alternatives before making a purchase (Kotler, 1997, p.17). SSOS will not only avail the information on the product, but also ensure that customers security of their information making shopping at The Body Shop of Australia convenient and safe. Need Fig. 1: The buying decision model.  Source: (Kotler 1997). External influences Several external influences affect online consumer bevahiour. These influences include individual culture and sub-culture, group associations, social cultural and household structure. Under SOSS we classify external influences as negative externalities that determine consumer behavior. Culture and subculture Consumer bahaviour studies have shown that consumers’ attitude, opinions, belief, and values shape consumer buying decisions. Products that consumers view to be violating their cultural belief often attract fewer customers. In fact, cultural belief influence and dictate how consumers meet their needs. Often, customer tend to associate satisfaction and value of a good on cultural believe or inclination in line with preset societal mind set. Culture controls dressings, morals, and even association. As long as a service or a good is associated with positive result, the sales for such a good are likely to sky rocket. On the other hand, the reverse often leads to damning or uncomforta ble response from potential customers who may appear reluctant to play along. Therefore, acceptance of a good or service is a reflection of its responsiveness to culture and a target group’s social affiliation. Household structure and groups The household structure basically represents the household composition in terms of age, occupants and their incomes. On the other hand, groups in the context of consumer behaviour represents individuals who share set of common values, norms and beliefs. The group and the household to which a consumer belongs to has a significant influences on consumers behavior that is influencing the decision making process. Consumer response The aim was to find respondents who are the potential, if not actual customers of The Body Shop Australia who fell within the category of students described in the introduction. One reason that informed the decision was the fact that such respondents are categorized as the most internet shoppers in Australia. Second ly, we wanted to make sure that the respondents were aware of the brands investigated. Thus, a certain degree of familiarity with internet shopping and the security risks was a prerequisite among the interviewees, in order to carry out meaningful discussions. As a result, consumers who did not show any familiarity of the brand were not included as respondents. Since all the four interviewees were obviously aware of the existence of the internet shopping, we tried to link their responses to their previous association with parent brand that is traded at The Body Shop Australia under offline shopping. To make the responses inclusive despite the few numbers of respondents interviewed, the college students were selected from four different colleges across Australia. The respondents differed in age but fell within the age bracket described as internet shoppers (aged between 25 to 44 years). However, it is worthy to note that due to the limited number of respondents the interviewees could have been more representative. The entire interview questions and answers given by respondents are attached in the transcripts as appendix I. Apply Model of Intention, Adoption, and Continuance (MIAC) (Fig. 2), to investigate the concepts of intention, adoption, and continuance on the process of online consumer purchasers. Lee (1999) focused on online repurchase and argued that consumer trust and satisfaction were the key determinants of continued purchase from a particular shop. Fig. 2: Model of Intention, Adoption, and Continuance (MIAC).  Source: Cheung et al. 2001 This model is an integration of two models of consumer behaviours: Oliver’s expectation-confirmation model (Oliver, 1980, p. 19), and Fishbein’s attitudinal theoretical model (Fishbein 1967, p. 29). Attitudinal theoretical model (Fishben 1967) is used in examining the variables informing consumer purchasing intention and adoption. According to this model, behavior is principally determined by intent. O ther factors like, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes are also shown to be related to an appropriate set of significant normative, behavioral, and control values about that behavior. However, this model does not explain consumer behavior in relation to repurchase. Oliver’s’ expectation-confirmation model, on the other hand, focuses on post purchase behavior of consumers. This model is used in explaining consumer satisfaction with a service or good through their repeat purchases. Consumer satisfaction is the key focus of this model and expressed via the gap that exist between the perceived performances (Oliver, 1980, p. 45). From the analysis the impact of consumer issues on online consumer behavior is markedly significant. Goldsmith (2000) found that personal innovativeness of individual consumers is key personality characteristic that give explanation to consumer online behavior. Janvenpaa et al. (2000) contends that consumers’ trust on the internet is a significant determinant of online shopping. From the above reflection, it is vital for The Body Shop Australia to embrace online marketing and introduce anti age natural lotion product as the population of Australia embrace the need for natural beauty products. Besides, their secure SOSS system will play a significant role in ensuring that this product, information on how to use it, therapeutic consultation, and purchase is protected for privacy. Recommendations In the face of globalization and the development of e-commerce competing companies apply strategic techniques to in their products and services to avoid being obsolete. The companies compete through product differentiation through focusing on the service-dormant paradigm with investments in new technology, people, and policies. These investments are imperative to organizations as because customer’s attitudes and motivation significantly influence the consumer behaviors (Koufaris 2002). The earlies t marketing principle of marketing was the model introduced by McCarthy (1960) was the 4Ps marketing mix, defined by Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. This marketing model was further modified by (Bettman 1979, p.78) to include the service industry introducing three additional variables: People, Physical evidence and Process (Blythe, 2006, p.67). Due the unique characteristics of the service industry: intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability. Booms and Bitner (1982), argues that all people are indirectly or directly in the service encounter, specifically the organization employees, personnel and customers. Kotler et al. (2006), defines Product as anything that can be offered to the market for acquisition, consumption, attention, and use. The product can include the services, places, persons, organizations, physical objects and ideas. From this definition the new service: SOSS that I want to introduce in the operations of The Body Shop Australia fall under a service. The reality of e-commerce in the market guarantees that the service will be very important in ensuring that new and existing customers are given the opportunity to shop cheaply and conveniently for the beauty product with an assurance of privacy and confidentiality. The Price is the amount charged for a product or service offered by a particular business organization (Kotler et al, 2006, p.32). The service that SOSS creates is relatively inexpensive since customers will not be charged for using online shopping service rather, they are charged for the product and deliver costs. Apart from these direct costs the customers will have to incur internet service charges by their providers. SOSS therefore reduces the product cost and time incurred by offline shoppers for this beauty product by maximizing on economies of scale since this natural beauty product is likely to sell in large scale. Process refers to the mechanisms, procedures and flow of activities through which a serv ice is delivered to customers. Blythe (2006) notes that the process of delivery is an important variable that creates a difference to the benefits the consumers in the service industry reap. In a normal offline buying scenario, customers are likely to queue for the service or product. This is quite time consuming as the customers have to be present physically. SOSS will eliminate this process by timely delivery thus eliminating the requirement of the physical presence of customers at the shop. SOSS customers will be able to receive the products they have ordered via the online portal. This will ensure that the products are delivered to specific customers at the right time. Customers will be required to provide information about their physical address to facilitate the process of transportation and delivery. With information in their database SOSS take into consideration the Place aspect of 7Ps marketing principles. Physical Evidence The environment in which a service is assembled an d where the customer and the service provider interact is what is referred as Physical Evidence in 7Ps marketing principles (Blythe, 2006, p.67). These services include all the tangible representation of the service being offered, such as, business cards, brochures, reports and signage. For example, in The Body of Australia Shop, the design, furnishing as well as the neat arrangement of products on the shelves that will be shown on the website will influence customer perception on the quality of the products on The Body of Australia Shop. Since our online customer are not physically present at the shop, the neat and attractive display and descriptions of products on the SOSS website will give our online shoppers cues that will help them understand the nature of products they are ordering (Babin, Darden, Griffin 1994). Conclusion From the examination of our findings, we can wrap up that the extent, to which consumers associate to Secure Online Shopping System (SOSS), is dependent o n the degree of perceived safety of the system and ease of use. Consequently if a high-level of perceived safety and ease of use is achieved, consumers tend to refer more notably to the system. On the other hand, the use of online shopping seems to be dreaded by online consumers when the degree of perceived safety is not achieved or relatively low. Furthermore, the more safe and convenient the online consumers perceive an online shopping system in their mind, the more likely it is for them to use it when making online purchases. Finally, this research has been conducted in a very meticulous setting with predetermined respondents’ characteristics. Therefore, we are aware of the possibility that the results could have turned out differently if respondents were picked randomly from across the social divide. Appendix Interview Questions What is your opinion on online sales and purchasing of goods and services? How often do you participate as an active purchaser of products trade d online? What do you consider key before engaging in online purchase? What are your expectations whenever you trade online? Do you trust online sites and advertisements as presented in these sites? How did you get information on sites you purchase in? Do you consider these sites help full? What is your projection into the future use of purchasing sites? What would you recommend in order to make these sites more secure and reliable? 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Lee, M K 1999, â€Å"Comprehensive model of internet Consumer satisfaction†, unpublished working paper, City University of Hong Kong. McCarthy, E J., Perreault, W D 1993, Basic marketing, Irwin: Homewood. Nicosia, F M 1966, Consumer Decision Processes: Marketing and advertising implications, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Oliver, R L 1980, â€Å"A Cognitive model for the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction,† Journal of Marketing Research, no. 17, pp. 460-469 Skinner, B.F. 1938, The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis, Appleton Century Crofts, New York. This report on The Body Shop Australia was written and submitted by user Trey Jenkins to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.