Friday, November 29, 2019

My God-Given Right by Helloween free essay sample

Suprised to say this is my first time talking about this band at all. Helloween is a power metal band that have been around since the early 80s and come from Germany. Since then, they have had some highlights in their career such as the Keeper of The Seven Keys series, Seven Sinners, and Walls of Jericho to name a few. They have also managed to span many great bands like Blind Guardian, Edguy, Unisonic, Gamma Ray and many others mostly from their home country. This is their most recent album and unlike the others, it incorporates some elements of heavy metal thats probably a bit of a throwback to their old days of Jericho and Seven Keys 1 and 2. Continuing with the Michael Kiske era of Helloween this is a hit or miss to many fans. Heck, The Metal Voice, who are big fans of Helloween, thought it was meh at best. We will write a custom essay sample on My God-Given Right by Helloween or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As for me, I can see why some people wouldnt like it even though its a slight change in direction, but referencing groups like Iron Maiden, Accept and Judas Priest is always good to do at least once am I right? Ive noticed this albums likes to deal with politics which is a topic that you wouldnt expect a power metal band to cover. This seems to be especially true with tracks like My God-Given Right, Russian Roule, and Lost In America.I still can see some problems though, like repetitive drumming, some of the lyrics are a bit cheesy and maybe they couldve focused less heavily on the heavy metal side of them but thats just me. While they didnt reach their highest potential here, they still have enough to be good. You really just cant top the classics. I give this an 8/10. I am the Grim Reaper, signing off.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Kangaroo Facts

Kangaroo Facts Kangaroos are marsupials that are indigenous to the Australian continent. Their scientific name, Macropus, is derived from two Greek words meaning long foot (makros pous). Their most distinctive characteristics are their large hind legs, long feet, and large tail. Kangaroos are unique in that they are the only animals of their size that use hopping as their primary means of movement. Fast Facts: Kangaroo Scientific Name: MacropusCommon Names: Kangaroo, RooOrder: DiprotodontiaBasic Animal Group: MammalsDistinguishing Characteristics: Large hind legs, long feet, large tail and pouch (females)Size: 3 - 7 feet in heightWeight: 50 - 200 poundsLife Span: 8 - 23 yearsDiet: HerbivoreHabitat: Forests, plains, savannas, and woodlands in Australia and TasmaniaPopulation: Approximately 40 - 50 millionConservation Status: Least concernFun Fact: Like camels, kangaroos may go for periods of time without drinking water. Description Kangaroos are best known for their powerful hind legs, their large feet, and their long powerful tails. They use their legs and feet to hop around, which is their basic means of locomotion, and their tails for balance. Like other marsupials, females have a permanent pouch for raising their young.  A kangaroos pouch is technically called a marsupium and it performs a number of functions. The female kangaroos breasts, which she uses to nurse her young, are inside her pouch. The pouch also functions similarly to an incubator to allow a joey (baby) to fully develop. Lastly, the pouch has a safety function in that it helps to protect the females young from predators.   Kangaroos are usually between 3 to 7 feet in height. They can weigh up to approximately 200 pounds. Other physical characteristics of kangaroos are their relatively small heads with their large, round ears. Due to their hopping ability, they can leap over long distances. Some males may leap to almost 30 feet in one leap. Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Murramarang National park, New South Wales, Australia.   J and C Sohns/Getty Images Plus Habitat and Distribution Kangaroos live in Australia, Tasmania, and surrounding islands in a variety of habitats such as forests, woodlands, plains, and savannas. Depending on the species, kangaroos occupy different niches in the ecosystem. Diet and Behavior Kangaroos are herbivores and their diet consists mainly of a variety of plants such as grasses, shrubs and flowers. Some species may also eat fungi and moss. Kangaroos live in groups called mobs, also known as troops or herds. These mobs are usually headed by the dominant male in the group.   Similar to cows, kangaroos may regurgitate their food to chew it as cud and then swallow once more. This behavior is much rarer in kangaroos than in ruminant animals. Kangaroo stomachs differ from those of cows and similar animals; while both kangaroos and cows have chambered stomachs, the fermentation process in their respective stomachs is different. Unlike cows, the process in kangaroos doesnt produce as much methane, so kangaroos dont contribute as much to methane emissions globally as cows. Kangaroos are usually active at night and in the early morning hours, but their overall activity pattern is varied. Their rest periods are restricted almost exclusively to a diurnal (during the day) pattern. Similar to camels, they may go for periods of time without drinking water due to their relative inactivity during the day when it is hotter. Since their diet consists of plants, their water needs can be largely satisfied by the water content present in the plants that they eat. Reproduction and Offspring Eastern Grey Kangaroo with Joey in Pouch.   Gary Lewis/Photolibrary/Getty Images Plus Kangaroos have a varied breeding season. Reproduction takes place all year long, but the Australian summer months of December to February are the most common. Male kangaroos may flex their muscles to attract females and can fight for the right to breed with females. Females usually produce one baby kangaroo, called a joey. After becoming impregnated, a kangaroo will have her baby after a gestation period of a little longer than a month (approximately 36 days). The baby joey weighs about .03 of an ounce and is less than one inch in length when born, about the size of a grape. After birth, the joey will use its forelimbs to travel through its mothers fur to her pouch, where it will remain for the first few months of its life. After five to nine months, depending on the species, the joey will typically leave the pouch for brief periods of time. After about nine to eleven months, the joey will leave its mothers pouch for good. Females can enter heat after giving birth, so they may become pregnant while a joey is still nursing in her pouch. The developing baby will enter a dormant state that coincides with their older sibling leaving the mothers pouch. When the older sibling leaves the pouch, the mothers body will send hormonal signals to the developing baby so that it will resume its development. A similar process occurs if the mother is pregnant and the older joey dies in her pouch. Conservation Status Kangaroos are designated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their population is very abundant and by most estimates, there are more kangaroos in Australia than people. Estimates range from a population of 40 to 50 million kangaroos, which continues to increase. Humans are the main threat to kangaroos since they are hunted for both their meat and their hides. Humans can also contribute to the loss of kangaroo habitat due to land clearing for development. Predator threats include dingos and foxes. Kangaroos use their teeth, claws, and strong hind legs as defense mechanisms against such predators. Species There are four major species of kangaroos. The red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest. Males of the species have red/brown fur. Other species include the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), the western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus), and the antilopine kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus). The eastern grey kangaroo is the second largest species and is known as the great grey species, while the western grey kangaroo is also known as the black-faced kangaroo due to its distinctive facial coloring. The antilopines name means antelope-like and they are found in northern Australia. Some scientists consider there to be six species of kangaroo, including two species of wallaroo (Macropus robustus and Macropus bernardus). Wallaroos are considered to be closely related to both wallabies and kangaroos. Herd of kangaroos at twilight (Coombabah Lake, QLD, Australia).    Kangaroos and Humans Humans and kangaroos have a long and varied interaction pattern with one another. Humans have long used kangaroos for food, clothing, and some types of shelter. Due to their increasing numbers, kangaroos can be viewed as pests, particularly by farmers when kangaroos compete for grazing land. Kangaroos are often present in grasslands and areas that are typical farmland so resource competition may take place. Kangaroos are not typically aggressive when grazing. The situation of farmers seeing kangaroos as pests is similar to how many in the United States may see deer as pests. Sources Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. Kangaroo. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Inc., 11 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/animal/kangaroo.â€Å"Kangaroo Facts!† National Geographic Kids, 23 Feb. 2017, www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/general-animals/kangaroo-facts/.â€Å"Kangaroo Mob.† PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 21 Oct. 2014, www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/kangaroo-mob-kangaroo-fact-sheet/7444/.â€Å"Kangaroo Reproduction.† Kangaroo Facts and Information, www.kangarooworlds.com/kangaroo-reproduction/.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Caffeine affects blood pressure Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Caffeine affects blood pressure - Term Paper Example It is categorized as a psychoactive drug, but its consumption is legal. The substance has several pharmacological actions peripherally and also centrally. It is an antagonist of adenosine, a neuromodulator, blocking the actions of adenosine which are inhibitory (Hartley et al, 2001). Thus, caffeine has a stimulatory effect on the central nervous system. Typical doses of caffeine in day to day consumption are less than 500mg, while the toxic doses are more than 10 grams (James, 2004). Consumption of caffeine can have both negative and positive side effects and is predominantly individual and dose based. Positive effects include protection against Parkinson's disease. Negative side effects include disruption of sleep, elevated blood pressure and elevated heart rate. Caffeine effects on blood pressure are a much controversial topic and several studies have been conducted to ascertain its role in elevating blood pressure and contribution to cardiovascular disease. This effect merits impo rtance, because caffeine is consumed by many people worldwide and this includes populations who have hypertension. In this essay, the effects of caffeine on blood pressure will be discussed. Discussion Caffeine is an adenosine antagonist. Adenosine is a neuromodulator and inhibition of adenosine causes increased activity of various other hormones like adrenaline, dopamine, cortisol and endorphins. At higher doses, caffeine can also cause inhibition of GABA neurotransmission leading to insomnia, anxiety and increased respiratory rate and heart rate. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and placental barrier readily because it is water soluble. In the brain, it acts as a non-selective adenosine antagonist because of its structural similarity to adenosine (Dunwiddie and Masino, 2001). Some studies have shown that administration of caffeine in doses comparable to those consumed everyday can lead to acute elevation in blood pressure by 5-15 mmHg of systolic pressures and 5-10mmHg of diasto lic pressures (James, 2004).. The effects pertaining to elevated blood pressures can last several hours in both sexes and in individuals of all age groups. Another important finding in these studies is the fact that the effect is additive to that caused by other factors like smoking and stress. Effect of caffeine on blood pressure varies from individual to individual and elevations in blood pressure may be an individual susceptibility. Individuals who already have hypertension or borderline hypertension may be even more susceptible. Caffeine can also have synergistic action on blood pressure in times of psychological stress exaggerating the increase in blood pressure. Thus, indirectly caffeine can contribute to cardiovascular disease (James, 2004). One interesting aspect is that the effects on blood pressure are inversely proportional to the number of portions consumed on a particular day. For instance, the initial portion of caffeine produces the greatest hemodynamic effect when co mpared to later portions (James, 2004). According to a study by James (2004), there is extensive evidence over the fact that consumption of caffeine in dietary doses increases blood pressure. However, it is unclear whether this has an impact on cardiovascular disease because habitual use of caffeine leads to tolerance and epidemiologic findings regarding the impact of caffeine on cardiovascular disease is confusing. . Several experimental and epidemiologic studies have proven the impact of dietary caffeine on blood

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The military, political and social importance of the castle in King Essay

The military, political and social importance of the castle in King Stephen's reign - Essay Example own territories from the rivals, both Matilda supporters and King’s force started establishing fortifications on their own style of motte, bailey designs and fen-edge castles. â€Å"Meanwhile in England both parties were compelled to keep armed forces permanently in strong castles, if necessary building new castles or increasing the fortifications of old ones.†1 In the period of King Stephen various new fortifications were established and the existing ones were reconstructed. Stone built castles played a major role in the military and political spheres of the country. â€Å"Developments in castle-building certainly did not arise from the exigencies of war but to provide an appropriate lordly residence – offering security, not terror, to dependents.†2 Royal castles were built to maintain and control the township and the forests while the baronial castles were used by the lords in controlling their widespread territories and estates. In addition, the authori ties also excised power over baronial castles and placed restrictions on its construction. The baronial castles, of that time were considered as a threat to the public, due to their extensive control over the land and people, and so it was curbed by the monarchic authority by the castle policies and forfeitures. â€Å"There was a distinct ‘Angevin castle policy’ under which, by a careful strategy of building and forfeiture, the ratio of royal to baronial castles was altered to enhance royal power over that of the aristocracy.†3 It was during the period of King Stephen that these numerous castle building created a greater chaos to the social life of the people. The society was greatly affected with the castle-building of the powerful people. This included the ‘adulterine castles that are so prominent both in... The researcher states that in the period of King Stephen various new fortifications were established and the existing ones were reconstructed. Stone built castles played a major role in the military and political spheres of the country. â€Å"Developments in castle-building certainly did not arise from the exigencies of war but to provide an appropriate lordly residence – offering security, not terror, to dependents.† Royal castles were built to maintain and control the township and the forests while the baronial castles were used by the lords in controlling their widespread territories and estates. In addition, the authorities also excised power over baronial castles and placed restrictions on its construction. The baronial castles, of that time were considered as a threat to the public, due to their extensive control over the land and people, and so it was curbed by the monarchic authority by the castle policies and forfeitures. â€Å"There was a distinct ‘Ange vin castle policy’ under which, by a careful strategy of building and forfeiture, the ratio of royal to baronial castles was altered to enhance royal power over that of the aristocracy.† It was during the period of King Stephen that these numerous castle building created a greater chaos to the social life of the people. The society was greatly affected with the castle-building of the powerful people. This included the ‘adulterine castles that are so prominent both in modern times as well as in the chronicles which is probably considered as the root of all the evils of the reign.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Mis-wanting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mis-wanting - Assignment Example The market for weight loss programs, skinny diets and slimming pills is so huge that you can easily purchase anything that can help you lose those extra pounds at almost everywhere. Because of this brainwashing, most women are convinced that they will be completely happy if they will look like those model-like figures on TV and would even venture with non-healthy regimens to attain this. However, most of the people I know who underwent the same dilemma during their teens soon realized that they can still be happy even if they are fat. Some were even unsatisfied with their lives after reaching their target weight. According to Gilbert & Wilson, â€Å"We may misconstrue events, misunderstand ourselves misinterpret our feelings – and any of these mistakes can be a cause of miswanting.† (p. 194). And so we must take into consideration that true happiness and satisfaction can be achieved by simply having the things that will holistically improve our sense of self-worth and c ontentment. What we want to become in the future might not necessarily bring us bliss thus we should be grateful of whatever fate gives us and try to find light in every

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay The books in The Sage Qualitative Research Kit have been written with the needs of many different types of readers in mind. As such, the Kit and the individual books will be of use to a wide variety of users: Practitioners of various research, University teachers and Undergraduate and graduate students. Each book of the Kit has been written by a distinguished author with extensive experience in their field and in the practice with methods they write about. Doing interviews addresses the theoretical, epistemological, ethical and practical issues of interviewing people about specific issues or their life story. There are two other books about interviewing, they approach the subject in a much more detailed and focuses way for the specific method. Interviews are one of the major approaches in collecting data in qualitative research. There are variety ways of how to do interviews and what to do after the interview has been done. Doing interviews comes with specific needs of increasing the interview quality in general and its validity in particular and finally of reporting what was said and how it was analyzed. 1. Introduction to interview research Three interview sequences Conversation is a basic mode of human interaction. Through conversations we get to know other people, get to learn about their experiences, feelings and hopes and the world they live in. In an interview it is the same, except the researcher asks and listens to the people. The research interview is an interview where knowledge is constructed in the interaction between in the interviewer and the interviewee. Trough various sequences the writer is explaining that there are three forms of interviewing. A rather simple form of straightforward questioning contrast with the reciprocity of everyday conversations. The interviewer is in a power position and sets the stage by determining the topic of the interchange; it is the interviewer who asks and the interviewee who answers. The qualitative interview is a key venue for exploring the ways in which subjects experience and understand their world. Interview research in history and in the social sciences The term interview is of recent origin; it came into use in the seventeenth century. An interview is literally an inter-view. An interchange of views between two persons conversing about a theme of common interest. Systematic literature on research interviewing is a new phenomenon of the last few decades. Qualitative interviews have, previously been extensively employed in the social sciences. With education and health sciences, the interview has become a common research method in the last few decades. Quality methods, ranging form participant observation over interview to discourse analysis, have since the 1980s become key methods of social research. Technical, epistemological and cultural reasons may be suggested for the growing use of qualitative research interviews. The availability of small portable tape records in the 1950s made the exact recording of interviews easy. In the 1980s, computer programs facilitated the qualitative analyses of transcribed interviews. Interviews have also become part of the common culture. Methodological and ethical issues The interview is a conversation that has a structure and a purpose determined by the one part, the interviewer. The qualitative research interview is a construction site for knowledge. A semi-structures life-world interview will be in focus of the book. It is defined as an interview with the purpose of obtaining descriptions of the life world of the interviewee with respect to interpreting the meaning of the describes phenomena. To have an interview a good preparation will be needed. The interview is a powerful method of producing knowledge of the human situation. 2. Epistemological issues of interviewing Mode of understanding in a qualitative research interview A semi -structured life-world interview attempts to understand themes of the lived daily world for the subjects own perspectives. It comes close to an everyday conversation but as a professional interview it has a purpose and it involves a specific approach and technique. The interview is a uniquely sensitive and powerful method for capturing the experiences and lived meanings of the subjects everyday world and it allow the subject tot convoy their situation from their own perspective and in their own words. An interview seeks to understand the meaning of central themes of the subjects lived world. It is necessary to listen to the explicit description and to the meaning expressed, as well as to what is said between the lines. In qualitative interviews, precision in description and stringency in meaning interpretation correspond to exactness in quantitative. The qualitative interviewer encourage the subject tot describe as precisely as possible what they experience and feel. The qualitative interview attempts to obtain descriptions that are as comprehensive and presupposition less as possible of important themes of the interviewees life world. The interviewer should be curious, sensitive to what is said, as well as to what is not said, and critical. The focus of the interview is on particular themes: it is neither strictly structures with standard questions, nor entirely non-directive. The task of the interviewer is to clarify, as far as possible, whether the ambiguities and contradictory statements are due to a failure of communication in the interview situation. Power asymmetry in qualitative research interviews The research interview is a specific professional conversation with a clear power asymmetry between the researcher and the subject: The interview entails an asymmetrical power relation; The interview is a one-way dialogue; The interview is an instrumental dialogue; The interview may be a manipulative dialogue; The interviewer had a monopoly of interpretation; Counter-control, subjects may hold information; Exceptions. Research interviews between a philosophical dialogue and a therapeutic interview The qualitative research interview has affinities to philosophical dialogues as well as to therapeutic interviews, but follows neither the relentless intellectual reasoning of the former nor the close personal interaction of the latter. Professional interviews, such as a therapeutic interview, a job interview or a legal interrogation, are characterized by a focus on the dynamics of interaction between interviewer and interviewee, a methodological awareness of question forms and a critical attention to what is said. The therapeutic sequence indicates the possibilities for research interviewers to learn from the techniques developed within the therapeutic profession, while also demonstrating differences between therapeutic and research interviews. The interviewer as a miner or as a traveler Two contrasting metaphors of the interviewer, as a miner or as a traveler, may illustrate the different epistemological conceptions of interviewing as a process of knowledge collection or as a process of knowledge construction, respectively. In a miner metaphor, knowledge is understood as buried metal and the interviewer is a miner who unearths the valuable metal. The knowledge is waiting in the subjects interior to be uncovered, uncontaminated by the miner. An alternative traveler metaphor understands the interviewer as a traveler on a journey to a distant country that leads to a table to be told upon returning home. The interview traveler walks along with the local inhabitants, asks questions and encourages them tot tell their own stories of their lived world. Epistemological conceptions of interview knowledge The elimination of the hum factor in research, key aspects of the mode of understanding in qualitative research interviews appear as methodological sources of error, to a philosophy of sciences. In a postmodern approach the qualitative research interview appears as a construction site of knowledge. The knowledge generated by interviews is in line with key features of a postmodern conception of knowledge, such as the conversational, the narrative, the linguistic, the contextual and interrelational nature of knowledge. With a decline of modern universal system of knowledge, the local, manifold and changing language contexts come into prominence. In a postmodern epistemology the certainty of our knowledge is less a matter of interaction with a non-human reality than a matter of conversation between persons. 3. Ethical issues of interviewing Interviewing as a moral inquiry An interview inquiry is a moral enterprise. Moral issues concern the means as well as the ends of interviews. The human interaction in the interview affects the interviewees and the knowledge produces by an interview inquiry affects our understanding of the human condition. Consequently, interview research is saturated with moral and ethical issues. Ethical issues throughout an interview inquiry Ethical issues go through the entire process of an interview investigation, and potential ethical concerns should be taken into consideration form the very start of an investigation and up to the final report. Ethical guidelines Professional ethical codes serve as contexts for reflection on the specific ethical decisions throughout an interview inquiry. Figure 1 outlines issues raised by these ethical guidelines in the form of questions, which interviewers may ask them before embarking on an interview journey. Figure 1. Informed consent entails informing the research about the overall purpose of the investigation and the main feature of the design, as well as of possible risks and benefits from participation in the research project. This raises the issue of how informed consent can be handled in exploratory interview studies, where the investigators themselves will have little advance knowledge of how the interview will proceed. The interviewees should always be informed about the purpose and the procedure of the interview. Confidentiality in research implies that private data identifying the subject will not be reported, otherwise the subject need to agree on the release of identifiable information. In extreme cases, protecting confidentiality can raise serious legal problems. The consequences of an interview study need to be addressed with respect to possible harm to the subjects as well as to the expected benefits of participating in the study. The ethical principle of beneficence means that the risk of harm to a subject should be the least possible. The researcher as a person is critical for the quality of the scientific knowledge and for the soundness of ethical decisions in an interview inquiry. Moral research behavior involves more than ethical knowledge and cognitive choices. The integrity of the researcher, his or her knowledge, experience, honesty and fairness, is the decisive factor. 4. Planning an interview study Seven stages of an interview inquiry No standard procedures or rules exits for conducting a research interview or an entire interview investigation. There are standard choices of methods at the different stages of an interview investigation. The quality of an interview study to a large extent rests on the craftsmanship of the researcher. The term unstandardized pertains to the interview situation, but an entire interview investigation had often tended to be a rather standardized affair, going through five emotional phases of hardships. Anti-positivist enthusiasm phase; The interview-quoting phase; The working phase of silence; The aggressive phase of silence; The final phase of exhaustion. These descriptions are based upon observation of colleagues and students undertaking interview projects. The seven stage of an interview inquiry are: Thematizing Designing Interviewing Transcribing Analyzing Verifying Reporting Through these stages an interview study will be developed and ends with the reporting. The emotional dynamics of an interview study are related tot these seven stages. Thematizing an interview study Thematizing refers to the formulation of research questions and a theoretical clarification of the theme investigated. The key questions when planning an interview investigation concern the why, what and how of the interview. Thematizing an interview study involves clarifying the purpose of the study, the why question. Interviews can have explorative or hypothesis-testing purposes. An exploratory interview is usually open with little pre-planned structure. Interviews that test hypotheses tend to be more structured. Interviews can also being used to inductively develop an empirically grounded theory, or as background material for further practical and theoretical studies. The thematic understanding of the topic if the study, the what, will further provides a ground for the how of the study: the many decisions on method that must be made on the way. The thematic focus of a project influences what aspects of subject matter the questions centre upon, and which aspects remain in the background. Familiarly with the local situation may also sensitize tot local ethic-political issues of the community, which need to be taken into account when interviewing and reporting the interviews. Designing an interview study Designing an interview study involves planning the procedures and techniques, the how of the study. The temporal dimension of an interview investigation should be kept in mind from the first thematizing to the final reporting stage, taking into account the interdependence of the seven stages. Overview, interdependence, push forward, spiraling backwards, keep the end point in sight, getting wiser and work-journal are all key factors of an interview inquiry. The number of subjects to interview necessary depends on the purpose of a study. In common interviews, the amount of interviews trends to be around 15. This number may be due to a combination of the time and resources available for the investigation and a law of diminishing returns. The method may be understood in a broad sense, like the way to the goal. A method is a set of rules, which can be used in a mechanical way to realize a given aim. Within such a formal rule conception of method, the qualitative research interview, where knowledge is produced trough the personal interaction between interviewer and interviewee, is clearly not a scientific method. Interviewing may be regarded less as a method following explicit rules than pragmatically as a craft, where the quality of knowledge produced by the interview rests upon the subject matter knowledge and the craftsmanship of the interviewer. Learning to interview is to arrive at a transparency of the techniques and tools. 5. Conducting an interview Setting the interview stage The setting of the interview stage should encourage the interviewees to describe their points of view on the topic. The first minutes of an interview are decisive. The interview should be introduced by a briefing in which the interviewer is defines the situation for the subject, briefly tells about the purpose of the interview, the use of a tape recorder and ask if the subjects has any questions before starting the interview. The initial briefing should be followed up by a debriefing after the interview. Scripting the interview An interview guide is a script that structures the course of the interview more or less tightly. The guide may merely contain some topics to be covered or it can be a detailed sequence of carefully worded questions. Interviews differ in their openness of purpose; the interviewer can explain the purpose and pose direct questions from the start, or can adopt a roundabout approach, with indirect questions, and reveal the purpose only when the interview is over. Thematically the questions relate to the what of an interview, to the theoretical conceptions of the research topic, and to the subsequent analysis of the interview. Dynamically the questions pertain tot the how of an interview; they should promote a positive interaction, keep the flow of the conversation going, and stimulate the subjects to talk about their experiences and feelings. The interviewer should also try to keep in mind the later analysis, verification and reporting to the interviews. Interviewers who know what they are asking about and why they are asking, will attempt to clarify the meanings relevant to the project during the interview. Active listing, the interviews ability to listen actively to what the interviewee says, is as important as the specific mastery of questioning techniques. That is why researcher questions need to translated to interviewer questions, figure 2 Figure 2 6. Interview variations Interview subjects Different issues will raise by different populations when the focus is on cross-cultural interviews, interviews with men, women and with children. In a cross-cultural interview it is difficult to become aware of the multitude of cultural factors that affect the relationship between interviewer and interviewee. In a foreign culture an interviewers needs time to establish a familiarity with the new culture and learn some of the many verbal and non-verbal factors where interviewer in a foreign culture may go amiss. Also with children the approach for an interview needs to be different. Interview forms A variety of research forms, useful for different purpose, exist. With the broad variety of interview forms and subjects it becomes understandable that there are no general standard procedures and rules for research interview. There is no correct or ideal interview form. Qualitative interviews do not only focus on the interviewees own perspectives and meanings. Obtaining valid factual information may be crucial in many interviews. In other situates, when interviewing for the oral history of a community, the focus will be less on the storytellers own perspective upon the events recounted, than on his or her stories as venues to reliable information about a collective past. Some experiments may serve interviewers as a reminder to be extremely careful in wording their questions when interviewing for factual information. Confrontational interviews though we did not seek to impose our ideas on those with whom we talked, †¦we did attempt to uncover assumptions, to make explicit what the person we were talking to might have left implicit (Bellah et al., 1985, p 304) In addition to a prevalent empathetic and consensual interview form, the more active confrontational and agonistic styles of interviewing may also produce valuable knowledge. 7. Interview quality Interview qualifications The interviewer is the key research instrument of an interview inquiry. A good interviewer knows the topic of the interview, masters conversational skills and is proficient in language, with an ear for his or her subjects linguistic style. The interviewer must continually make on-the-spot decisions about what to ask and how; which aspects of subjects answer to follow up, and which not, which answers to comment and interpret, and which not. The interviewer should have a sense for good stories and be able to assist the subjects in the unfolding of their narratives. Leading questions It is a well-documented finding that a slight rewording of a question in a questionnaire or in the interrogation of eyewitness may influence the answer. Politicians are well experienced in warding off leading questions form reporters; but if leading questions are inadvertently posed to subjects who are easily suggestible, such as small children, the validity of their answers may be jeopardized. In contrast to common opinion, the qualitative research interview is particularly well suited for employing leading questions to repeatedly check the reliability of the interviewees answers, as well as to verify the interviewers interpretations. The task in an interview is not to avoid leading research questions, but to recognize the primacy of the question and attempt to make the orienting questions explicit, thereby providing the reader with the possibility of evaluating their influence on the research findings and of assessing the validity of the findings. There are no unequivocal quality criteria for research interviews. A good interview rests upon the craftsmanship of the researcher, which goes beyond a mastery of questioning techniques to encompass knowledge of the research topic, sensitivity to the social relation of interviewer ad subject, and an awareness of epistemological and ethical aspects of research interviewing. 8. Transcribing interviews Oral and written language Transcription is an interpretative process, where the differences between oral speech and written texts give rise to a series of practical and principal issues. A transcript is a translation from one narrative mode, oral discourse, into another narrative mode, written discourse. The quality of interview transcriptions had always been a neglected issue. Transcribing interviews Transcribing the interviews from an oral to a written mode structures the interview conversations in a form amenable to closer analysis, and is in itself an initial analysis. The reliability and validity of transcriptions are generally neglected. If these two issues are addressed, the interpretative and constructive nature of transcription will appear. Computer tools for interview analysis Once the interviews have been transcribed, they become available for structuring and analysis by a variety of computer programs. The computer programs allow for such operations as writing memo, writing reflections on the interviews for late analysis, coding, searching for key words, doing words counts, and making graphic displays. No valid transcription of an oral account exists, but a variety of forms of transcribing, which will be valid for different uses of the transcripts. 9. Analyzing interviews Integrating interview analysis in an interview inquiry The question How shall I find a method to analyze the 1000 pages of interview transcripts I have collected? is a question which is too late en the work will be too much. The method of analysis should not only be given thought in advance of the interviewing, but may also, to varying degrees, be built into the interview situation itself. Modes of analysis No standard method exists, to arrive at essential meanings and deeper implications of what is said in an interview. The techniques of analysis are tools, useful for some purpose, relevant for some types of interviews, and suited for some researchers. But it depends on each interview itself. Interview analyses focusing on meaning Meaning and language are interwoven; in the practice of interview analysis the focus on meaning versus linguistic form does imply rather different techniques. Coding and categorizing were early approaches to the analysis of texts in the social sciences, which make it easy to transcribe the interview. Coding involves attaching one or more keywords to a text segment in order to permit later identification of a statement, whereas categorization entails a more systematic conceptualization of a statement, opening for quantification. Interpretation of texts is established by a hermeneutical circle, where the meaning of a text is established through a process in which the meanings of the separate passages are determined by the global meaning of the text as it is anticipated. Re-reading of the single passages may again change the first anticipated global meaning of the text, which again alters the meaning of the single passages. Interview analyses focusing on language The medium, or the material, with which interviewers work is language. The interview process occurs through speech, and the interview products are presented in words. During the last few decades social science researchers have started to use linguistic tools. Linguistic analysis, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, discourse analysis and deconstruction. Interview analysis as bricolage Many analyses of interviews are conducted without following any specific analytic method. The researchers may then freely change between different techniques and approaches. Bricolage refers to mixed technical discourses where the interpreter moves freely between different analytic techniques. In contrast to systematic analytic modes such as categorization and conversation analysis, bricolage implies a free interplay of techniques during the analysis. 10. Validation and generalization of interview knowledge Objectivity of interview knowledge. Issues of reliably and validity go beyond technical or conceptual concerns and raise epistemological questions of objectivity of knowledge and the nature of interview research. Interview analyses can be objective in the sense of intersubjective agreement, such as when a high degree of intersubjective reliability is documented by coding interview in quantifiable categories. Objective may also mean reflecting the nature of the object researched, letting the object speak, being adequate to the object investigated expressing, the real nature of the studied. Contrary to common opinion, knowledge produced in interviews need not be subjective, but may, be an objective method with respect to key meanings of objectivity. Reliability and validity of interview knowledge Reliability pertains to the consistency and trustworthiness of research findings; it is often treated in relation to the issue of whether a finding is reproducible at other times and by other researcher. Validity refers in ordinary language to the truth, the correctness and the strength of a statement. A valid argument is sound, well grounded, justifiable, strong and convincing. Validity as quality of craftsmanship Validation rests on the quality of the researchers craftsmanship throughout an investigation, continually checking, questioning and theoretically interpreting the findings. Validations do not belong to a separate stage of an investigation, but permeates the entire research process. Validity is ascertained by examining the sources of invalidity. The stronger the falsification attempts a knowledge proposition has survived, the stronger and more valid is the knowledge. Communicative and pragmatic validity When a modern belief in knowledge as a mirror of reality recedes to a social construction of social reality, communicative and pragmatic forms of validation come to the foreground. Communicative validity involves testing the validity of knowledge claims in a conversation. A Communicative validation of interview findings raises specific questions about the how, why and who of communication. Pragmatic validation relates to the users responses to an interpretation, and in a strong for it concerns the issue of whether interventions based on the researchers knowledge may instigate actual changes in behavior. Pragmatic validation is verification in the literal sense, to make true; justification is replaced by application. Analytical generalization rests upon rich contextual descriptions. It includes the researchers argumentation for the transferability of the interview findings to other subjects and situations, as well as the readers generalizations form a report. 11. Reporting interview knowledge Contrasting audiences for interview reports. When writing a report for an interview study it may be useful to be aware of different requirements within local social science communities. In common interview reports the link between the original conversations and the conclusions reported may be thin or missing. The interested reader will not find any, or only come across some vague scattered descriptions of how the interview knowledge was produced. Working towards the final report from the start of an interview study may contribute to a readable report of methodologically well-substantiated, interesting findings. Presenting interview findings with a quote, three guidelines for editing are suggested: The quotes should be contextualized; Interview quotes should be rendered in a readable style; Interview quotes should preferably be loyal to the habitual language of an interviewee. For communicative validation and analytical generalization, readers need rich contextual information about the interview findings in order to validate and generalize the results. 12. Enhancing interview quality Learning the craft of interviewing A book about interviewing involves a paradox of presenting explicit and general guidelines for a craft, which consist of practical skills and personal know-how that often remains tacit and depends on given situation. It can not be predicted which an interview journey goes. If people research interviewing by themselves, they will discovered the theory about interviewing and transcription themselves and not through a book. Starting to learn interviewing by listening to tapes will sensitize novice interviewers to the oral medium of the interview craft. Learning interviewing by transcribing interviews promotes a discovery learning where , through their own practice, newcomers tot the trade discovery techniques and dilemmas is transferring live conversations to written texts. There are three options to learn about interviewing: Learn interviewing by witness others interviewing; Learn interviewing by practicing interviewing; Learn interviewing in a community of interview researchers. The road to mastery of interviewing through a transcribing task, an interview practicum, or ideally a research apprenticeship, may appear as too cumbersome and time-consuming to some students. But it is most important to be well prepared. The adequate knowledge of the nature of interview conversations is suggested by: A pragmatic approach involves a move from philosophical legitimation to the practical effects of knowledge. Rather than seeking universal knowledge, the emphasis is on situated knowledge. What matters is not arriving at context-independent general knowledge, but producing well-described situated knowledge from the interviews. Interview knowledge is not collected, but produced between interviewer and interviewee, and the meanings constructed in their interaction are again restructured throughout the later stages of an interview inquiry. In order to reach a professional level comparable to quantitative analysis today, qualitative social research needs to move beyond a linguistic illiteracy towards a professional mastery of the linguistic medium of the interview craft. We live in a conversational world. The relevance of conversations in social science goes beyond the use of interview conversations as an additional empirical method. It concludes conversations among researchers, and the public, about the truth and value of the knowledge produced in interview conversations about a conversational world. Conclusion Doing interviews by Stein Kvale is a book which has two kinds of different input. There is the theoretical background and the practica

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

marketing rules Essay -- essays research papers

This is an introduction with insight on what Guerrilla Marketing is. The main idea of Guerrilla Marketing is to try and get the most out of advertising, by using the least expense. There was a statement that suggested using alternative plans rather than standard expensive plans discussed in textbooks. Most of those plans are developed for large corporations with a huge spending budget. Guerrilla's don't have the same revenue to spend on large advertising campaigns. The best plan is to make the most of the money that is available to the company. Technology is a huge benefit to business owners of today. In today's society this is something that must be pursued and will also offer huge benefits to the Guerrilla's. There also was general information about tomorrow's customer. One aspect that stood out, was the fact that they will be less forgiving and will greatly appreciate warmth and attention. There was also a list of the fastest growing areas. These areas are Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Utah.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Entrepreneurial marketing is to be very profitable for the owner who wants to get it right the first time. This helps by focusing on the task at hand and trying to perfect the operation. The single most effective improvement a company can make, is reducing as many errors as possible. There also is a slim possibility that only a few customers are enough to run a business and make a profit. This is very important in understanding the way key customers spend at your company. 80/20 rules are very important to keep in mind. This is a rule that tells us that 80% of the profits come from 20% of the customers. There is also the key to try and make the most out of the money spent. One great example is how to use a business card effectively. The business card should have as much information as possible. This will help to get the entire guerilla effect. A business card can provide valuable information, but it can also be used as a resume. A small business also has the chance to get up close and personal with it's customers. This is a great tool for the Guerrilla that is willing to try and be involved with the customer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are thirteen important marketing secrets. This is a list of secrets that are used by the guerilla's in the marketing industry. The main secrets that stood out t... ...Guerilla that understands the thought process of the consumer and uses that understanding to better the chances of the sale. This can be the use of the point of purchase displays or the way the music is played, and the overall feel of the area. It is good to create a human bond that will help to enforce the quality of the shopping experience. There are also language of colors that will help the business. It is important to understand the aspects of the colors and how they affect the consumer. One of the best aspects is to use the name of the individual. This makes the consumer comfortable and will help them in repeating business.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How Guerilla's win battles is very important in creating a marketing plan to be followed. This can be a very tough task and hard to implement. It is also very important to launch this in a slow motion. Take small steps to the goal and be sure to move slowly. This will allow for a comfort level to be developed. Another very important aspect is to measure the results. It is impossible to know how a marketing plan is if there is no data to compare the changes to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚