Standard Forms of Building Contract

Furthermore, procedures for selecting main contractor and sub-contractor was reviewed and comparison was prepared to show differences between two procedures. A flow-chart diagram was attached in the Appendix to show the procedures. 2 Introduction 2. 1 Background of the Projects The project we are going to bid is a private development, which to construct a 24- storey residential apartment. The form of contract that the client decided to use in the captioned project is Hong Kong Standard Form of Building Contract 2005-WithQuantities, which is published by HKIS, HKIA & HKICM. The client preferred a single stage selective tendering approach and we are now going to enter the bid. 2. 2 Objectives (i) Understand the procurement strategy adopted (it) Understand the form of contract adopted (iii) Understand how the Client will appoint our company (iv)Understand how our company will appoint a subcontractor (v) Identify differences in tendering procedures 2. 4 Procurement Strategy Figure 1 Orga nizational structure ofa traditional strategy (RICS, 2013) Based on the above scenario, we assumed the project adopting the traditional rocurement.Traditional procurement is most commonly used approach in the construction industry. It's standard practice in the industry since 19th century. (RICS, 2013) Therefore, roles and responsibilities of contractors and different project consultants are well understood. In traditional procurement, design process is kept separate from the construction process. (RICS, 2013) The design have to be completed first and full documentation including drawings, specifications are needed before tendering process. In view of the client, he can remain his control over the design and ensuring quality.A contract dministrator will also appointed to monitor the projects, usually the architect or the engineer. In view of cost and contracts, all returned tenders are based on same intormation, the tender prices can be easily analyzed, and no need tor the Contracto r to build in a risk premium in the tender sum. If the designed is fully completed, construction costs can be determined with reasonable certainty given that there are no changes in the construction stage. OCT, 2008) However, this procurement method may take longer time because the scheme has to be more or less fully designed before seeking tenderers.Also, fragmented design nd construction process can leads to disputes between the Contractors and the designers, rather than single responsibility in â€Å"design-and-build† method. (RICS, 2013) 2. 5 Contract Choice Since the client has adopted traditional approach, â€Å"Hong Kong Standard Form of Building Contract Private Edition-With Quantities 2005 Edition† (HKSFBC05) has been chosen by the client to use in this tender. This contract is commonly used in private developments in Hong Kong. (KPK, 2010) It is a lump sum contract in which payment will be made at monthly interval.It's suitable for adopt in medium-large size building orks designed by the Employer, or someone on behalf of the Employer. Drawings and bills of quantities have to provide by the Employer to define the quantity and quality of the work for Contract to price for it. OCT, 2008) The HKSFBC05 contains detailed conditions which regulates the rights and obligations of the Employer and Contractor. Moreover, under Article 3&4 of the HKSFBC05, an Architect and a Quantity Surveyor have to be named to administer the contract conditions, their power and duties are also described in the Contract.The Architect will be the contract administrator whereas the quantity surveyor will assist im to prepare valuations for interim payments and variations, calculating liquidated damages (LD) and prepare final account, etc. Generally, the price is bases on lump sums and payment to be made in monthly interval. OCT, 2008) 3 Tendering Procedures 3. 1 Definition Tendering is the process by which bids are invited from interested contractors to carry out spe cific packages of construction work. The process aims to ensure achieving of true competition.Procurement strategy and forms of contract should have decided and confirmed in precedence to execute the tendering process. 3. 2 Main-contract The whole tendering procedures for main contract can be divided at 3 sections as follows:- 3. 2. 1 Establishment of Tender List At the very beginning of the process, the client should have compile a tenderer list, in order to ensure every contractor chosen to tender will be able to meet specified eligibility, if they are appointed. To form the tenderer list, pre-qualification mechanism may adopted.Interested contractors should prove that they meet minimum standards in certain criteria like financial conditions, project experience, protessional competence, etc during pre-qualitlcation. Sometimes, the consultant quantity surveyors will also give advice to prepare a potential tenderer list, depends on the clients need. Generally, 4 to 8 tenders is enou gh, depends on value and nature of the work. Once the tenderers list is compiled, preliminary enquiry should be made to those contractors on list, asking those potential contractors whether they are interested to bid the project before formal invitation.The outcome of the tender would be more satisfactory if the Contractor can decline at the earlier stage, and saving excessive papers for tender documents. 3. 2. 2 Tender Invitation and Submission During the compilation of the tenderers list, the consultant quantity surveyors should prepare the tender documents concurrently. So, as soon as the tender documents ready to be issue out (i. e. bill of quantities, drawings, specifications and client's specific requirements), the tender will be issue to the tenderers with the invitation.The good practice in the industry for the tendering period would be a minimum of 28 days in private sectors. This is a suggested fgure for traditional contract with no design responsibility from the contracto rs. For easier to analyze the capability of each contractor, usually the Employer will ask he tenderers to submit their own qualifications such as preliminary programme for the work, organization chart, etc. Details of those documents should be listed in the form of tender and also in the â€Å"Invitation to Tender† 3. 2. 3 Tender Assessment and Award All tenders should have received on the tender submission date.Sometimes the Employer maybe request the tenderers to submit non-price material such as Job reference, organization chart, financial statement, etc. These materials should be evaluated independently of the examination of the priced documents. OCT, 2012) To xamine the tenders efficiently, an assessment criteria should have established by the Employer. Price-oriented or quality-oriented? The answer should affect the examination process of tenders. For the priced documents (i. e. bill of quantities or schedule of rates), it should be checked to detect any arithmetical e rrors.Professional practice is that the tendered prices should never be altered without Justification. If there are any errors or discrepancies between BQ pages and the tender sum wrote in the form of the tender. There are procedures set out to deal with the above situation. Details of the errors should be given to the tenderers. If the said errors are rather minor in the contract sum, the tenderers may confirm the errors and abide his tender. Or the tenderers can withdraw his tender if he thinks the errors are unaffordable. However, it's depend on the tenderer's commercial decision.Under this procedure, correction of the overall tender price is not permitted. OCT, 2012) It the tenderer decided to stand by his submitted tender and confirmation nas been reached with the Employer, the gross amount of errors should be converted into a discount factor, usually express in percentage of the corrected tender sum. In Hong Kong projects, this factor is usually endorsed together in the letter of intent or letter to acceptance to the Main contractor. Then the factor will be applied to the variation account where related to the BQ or SOR, except those preliminaries, prime cost rates, provisional sums. WSCC, 2010) After checking errors, if there are any changes affecting prices or design, tender queries should be issued to all tenderers and carry out a second tender exercise. All replied tender queries should bind into the contract document as contract correspondences and forming part of contract, especially those with cost mplications. Upon completion of evaluation of returned tenders and tender queries, the consultant quantity surveyor should prepare a tender report and recommend the tenderer which he preferred.Then, the letter of intent or letter of acceptance should be sent out to complete the whole awarding process. 3. 3 Sub-contract The whole tendering procedures for sub contract can be divided at 3 sections as follows:- 3. 3. 1 Selection for a Specific Project When the contract was awarded to the Main Contractor as described above, the Main Contractor takes up total responsibility for the contract work. He cannot complete the hole work using only his own labour and worker. Sub-contractors is therefore needed, especially for E;M services, which require specialist sub-contractors.Each structured main contractor should have his own domestic sub-contractors (DSC) list, the criteria for being qualified into the list depends on different main contractors. Common criteria includes work quality, safety and health record, financial conditions, insurance cover, etc. (CIB, 1997) To appoint sub-contractors for specific project, a preliminary tenderer list should be prepared by drawing up suitable sub-contractors in the company approved list. Confirmations should be seek from potential tenderers if they are interested to tender.Numbers of tenders in the list should between four and six, for â€Å"construct only' sub-contract. (CIB, 1997) Same as appointin g main-contractor, upon complication of tender list, preliminary enquiry should be made with sufficient project details given to the proposed tenderers. Information including conditions of contracts, payment terms, amounts of retention, commencement date and completion date of main contract, etc. Clearly state all necessary information helps to reduce disputes between the main contractor and sub-contractors. CIB, 1997) 3. 3. Tender Invitation and Submission As a formal and good practice, a tender documents for acquiring prices is recommended. By using formal tender documents, offers from different sub- contractors are more easily to be analysed. In contrast, some main contractors may preterred simpler procedures such as asking sub-contractors to submit quotation themselves based on information received. However, in this report, formal tendering procedure are referred. For content of the tender documents, it's basically the same with those described above in the Main contract section .The tenders are to be sent out with the nvitations and date for submission of tenders should have stated in the invitations. The time for tendering should be 6 weeks for â€Å"construct only' tenders. In case of any queries, the tenderers should submit in writing to request for clarifications from the main contractors. (CIB, 1997) Method statements may be requested to submit from the tenderers to better assess their capability for the work and cost incurred by the main contractor for providing temporary working platform and storage space, etc. 3. . 3 Tender Assessment and Awa rd Like the procedure of selecting Main-contractors, only tenders submit by the ubmission date would be evaluated. Non-price material like method statements should be assessed independently, different methods may affect potential costs incurred by the main-contractor. The priced document will be go through checking process first, any arithmetical errors are to be notified to the tenderer and ask whether he wi ll stands by his tender price, procedures are generally same with those above described for main-contract.If it's possible, the tender prices should never be changed if the scope of works remain unchanged. (CIB, 1997) Subcontractors should then be chosen on the basis of the assessment criteria set own before issuing tender documents. The main contractor may arrange tender interview if he think it is necessary to clarify or amplify the submitted documents. Especially those preliminary items, such as provision of site office, storage, lifting equipment, insurance policy, etc. Responsibility for these items should clearly state and agree before awarding contract.Any matters agreed during the interview should be recorded in writing for further reference. If the main contractor has decided to appoint the tenderers as his subcontractors for the projects, the letter of acceptance should be sent as a formal record here. (CIB, 1997) In case the tendering process for sub-contractors start bef ore the award of main- contract and the preferred sub-contractor's tender are to be used for main tender submission, the sub-contractor should be notified so the sub-contractor can arrange his resources more efficiently.Upon the acceptance of the main contract tender, the main contractor should also accept that sub-contract tender price agreed before and notify the sub-contractor formally. Letter of acceptance should be sent to the preferred tenderers as a formal contractual record. (CIB, 1997) Conclusions Tendering procedures for main contract and sub contract has been briefly laborated in above passage. Major differences is illustrated by Figure 2 below.Description Sub-contract Compilation of Tenderer List Consultant QS or Employer Main Contractor Tendering Period 8 weeks minimum 6 weeks minimum Nos. of Tenderers Figure 2 Comparison of Tendering Procedures For the tenderer list, the one used for tendering for main contract are usually recommend by the consultant quantity surveyors or the client have its own preferred list, based on reputation. In contrast, each main contractor have its own sub- contractors list based on their specialized trade.For the tendering period, the codes suggested 8 weeks minimum for main contractors to prepare their tender for the Employer while 6 weeks minimum was suggested for sub-contractors to prepare their tender for main contractors. For numbers of tenderers, it is necessary to have sufficient numbers of tenderers to enable a fair competition. It's suggested 4-8 tenders will be enough for tendering of main contracts, depends on the value and nature of the projects. Fewer numbers of tenderers would be enough for selecting sub-contractors, 4-6 tenderers is suggested in the Codes, depends on different trades.

Intensive Family Based Services Essay

The study carried out by Raschick (1997) offered a keen input on how to create family preservation services and enhanced choice for families in opposition to out of home placements, stating that ‘the information proposed that IFBS (Intensive Family Based Services) services lessened average restrictiveness and extent of out-of-home placements. ’ Still, there are a number of researches that has very short-range, study-focused outcomes that has no long term assurance, picking out the direction that the three sides being argued in this paper is a part of the managing a cruel cycle which is neither stepladder arrangement nor cause and effect, only directed by conditions taking place on a case per case basis. While systematic Family Preservation Services (FPS) was associated vis-a-vis to the enrichment in substantiated reports relating to exploitation and out-of-home placements because of, as Littell imagines in Children and Youth Services Review, case-finding consequences given that FPS contact prioritized cases is considered as high-risk. , ‘the duration, extent, strength of family preservation services had small effect on succeeding youngster maltreatment, out-of-home placement, or the closing of cases’ (Littell, 1997). Extending the scope – is there more to out of home placements and its being used in juvenile delinquency reduction? Juvenile delinquency, as a problem, presents several courses of action which can be explored to combat juvenile delinquency, and two of the several options are sitting at both ends of the social order pole: family preservation efforts and out of home placements. It has a very tyrannical tone in it, as if the government is saying that ‘if you cannot stick together, we will pull you apart. ’ Some do not have a clear cut, black and white clarification on how to keep citizens from stepping within the gray part. Some claim ‘that family preservation agendas bring about substantial decline in the placement of children are based fundamentally on non-experimental studies’ (Littell, Schuerman, 1995), and this is just one of the many cynical or / and critical voices speaking out and representing the greater part of the social behavior discipline that needs a more clear cut answer on where each foot stands in the issue that has continued to threaten homes when it is not inquiring its reliability and firmness to stay together and work competently, contributing optimistically to the the community without the imposition of state- sanctioned procedures. Littell and Schuerman (1995) upped the stake with their disagreement, adding up the learning that ‘there is little solid attestation that programs planned at preventing out-of-home placements or reunifying families with the youth in foster care have the predictable outcomes. ’ Indeed, one of the pressing concerns that should be answered if there are hopes in being able to define what constitutes success and failure in out of home placement programs, juvenile delinquency programs and family preservation programs and how these three agendas are linked with each other (if not, then by designing allowing each to step on another’s foot on purpose) it should depend on the identification of the exact parameters that will dictate success or failure of any program, and the intended affects of each program should be clear to anyone and everyone involved so that the formulation of what was achieved should be in line with what the programs are designed to accomplish in the first place. â€Å"These conclusions do not inevitably mean that thorough family preservation services are weakening, but that researchers and practitioners must recognize that the purpose of services is to assist families attain basic goals and skills needed to keep a child at home, not to attempt to make major changes in family performance† (Wells, Whittington,1993). The trouble may also be intensified by the fact that actions taken by persons who are openly involved in the categorization of out of home placement, family preservation indicators and juvenile delinquency disregard the stipulated characteristics of each of the three areas of discussion and generating more gray and puzzling areas since there are no alternatives provided for or by researchers on how to enumerate or evaluate disparities from conventional behavioral patterns that makes the classification more complicated, success or failure of any of the three. This was the position of Wells and Whittington (1993) who stated that children who are not formally subjected to relationship or non-kinship out of home placements yet still travel from house to house disqualifies it as being measured as family preservation, noting how researchers, as a substitute, give importance on the constancy of a child’s living arrangement; ‘if a child moves from home to home, but avoids placement, the researchers argue that this does not constitute family preservation’ (Wells, Whittington,1993) and adding that ‘out-of-home placement is an inadequate indicator of how well children and their families are functioning after discharge, because child placement may be a result of a large number of factors, like the child or family’s mental health’ (Wells, Whittington,1993). Still, some study shows some positive signs from any one of the three interlinked areas. The study using the Emergency Family Care Program in Northern California to address the out of home placement problems of truly high-risk families yielded a result of ‘eighty-eight percent placement prevention rate found after one year (1985) of treatment’ (Berry, 1994). III. Quantitative and qualitative approaches – how each differ in impact in previous studies and in this paper’s objectives Different studies pertaining to out of home placements and juvenile delinquency cases take different routes, and while research designs, both quantitative and qualitative are unquestionably both generally accepted approach in which data is taken out from the focus groups and, it should also be put in proper perspective that both qualitative and quantitative study styles undoubtedly yield important when used in studying juvenile delinquency and out of home placement and other juvenile delinquency alternative solutions simply because either of the two can provide either a means by which crucial statistical information can be obtained or first hand individual sentiments are determined, sentiments, feelings or emotions that can represent a prevailing emotion residing in the realms of the issue this paper wishes to address. There are researches that provided quantitative output which can be key references in understanding the intricacies of the study focus. A very good example is the identification of Potocky and McDonald of the figures pertinent in determining which among the families with regards to number of children have a higher rate of sending the kids to foster care, pointing out that those with an average of 4. 8 children have higher chances of sending the children to foster care while those with an average 2. 6 children have a greater chance of staying together.

Disclosure of information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Disclosure of information - Essay Example This new employee begun badmouthing his/her former boss and the company he/she used to work with. We initially thought he/she was just kidding because he/she looked sharp and we thought that he/she knew that it is unethical to badmouth former employers to new work colleagues. But he/she was not kidding, as he/she ranted all night long venting all his/her frustration on us about his/her former boss, his former co-workers and everything about the company he/she used to work for. It got to the point that we got stressed by his/her ranting that it defeated the purpose of our night out. Listening to his/her litany of pent-up emotions about his/her former boss and company really stressed me. It really turned me off. And it got me thinking that I may be badmouthed too should this new fellow worker move to other company. The next day, I became uneasy and uncomfortable around this new fellow worker though he/she was nice to me. For whatever reason, I feel guarded around his/her presence. I became uncomfortable sharing my own personal idiosyncrasy and kept my distance from him/her. I also avoided long conversation with him/her. I am aware that it is not the usual me to avoid people. But with this co-worker, I seem to have hard-time establishing a personal relationship as I became too guarded and stiff around him/her for us to become friends. I can feel that he/she is not really that bad as a person. But I just cannot forget his/her litany and ranting during the first evening that we socialized. Every time I try, the words she mentioned against his/her former boss and work mates just keeps ringing on my head. In a way, her personal angst rubbed on me as it affected my ability to open up to some people. Years went by and we both eventually resigned, but our relationship never progressed beyond the

1page for each question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

1page for each question - Essay Example However, none of the two declared military warfare against the other but they used indirect means to curb the other’s influence in the global arena. Americans were largely made to fear the communist agenda and this saw the republicans and democrats wage political wars based on which side can better handle the Soviet Union. Cold War was thought to ultimately lead to a nuclear war as both nations increased their nuclear stockpiles to deter the other from attempting an invasion. Hollywood released many anticommunist films and this instilled patriotism in Americans. For US to advance its agenda around the world and not to be seen as hypocrites, President Truman triggered laws that aimed at ending discrimination of the African Americans in the 1950s. On the other hand, US intervened militarily in regions across the world such as Korea and Vietnam so as to stop the communism agenda from spreading. Cold war, I believe, could not have been avoided. The differences between the US and the USSR were so huge and parallel that it was inevitable that they had to agree to disagree. The ideologies of capitalism versus communism could not merge while both Truman and Stalin could not agree as they had conflicting ambitions of controlling the post WWII world order. The systems of government were so different and the heated arguments between the two leaders made matters

Construction Engineering Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Construction Engineering - Assignment Example Following are the steps involved in designing new hospitals in Canada(Martin). First and foremost step is designing the patient care areas which may either be for a single patient or for multiple patients. These areas are designed for proper HVAC conditions so that least energy is consumed to maintain required environmental parameters. These areas are usually provided with a window or wall that is directly exposed to harsh weather conditions. Therefore, proper supply and exhaust outlets are provided in order to provide isolation from air borne infections. Rooms being designed for patients with burns, aids or other diseases in which rate of infection is much higher, are provided with protective environment. In this case air pressure within the room is controlled by venture valve. After designing patient care rooms, waiting rooms and examination rooms are designed. These are designed to provide better sitting and waiting conditions to the patients. Usually square plaque diffusers are u sed in these areas in order to provide rapid mix supply of air within the room. Operating rooms within the hospitals are not only provided with good HVAC condition but also with good lightning strategies. Operating rooms are usually provided with laminar flow systems for the diffusion and mixing of air, where surgical areas are provided with air curtain systems. Laboratories in the hospitals are provided with square plaque diffusers. While designing state of the art hospitals in Canada, engineering firms are concerned in designing each part of the HVAC system in the integrated form so that it can be easily modified to updated system when needed. If an engineering firm wants to get gold certification for the design of a hospital then the design must satisfy given LEED parameters with rating of 60 to 79 units(Engineering). Sustainable sites Water efficiency Indoor environment quality Material resources Energy and atmosphere Innovative Design Question 2 Explain the different roles that an architect and an engineer fulfill on a design project where they have to collaborate. Consider that they are both assigned to the hospital project in question 1. What would be the relationship between the engineer and architect? Draw a diagram to illustrate. Architects and engineers collaborate while implementing engineering principles to the construction design and planning of a building. While designing hospitals, collaboration between architects and engineers is highly recommended. Both work side by side for proper placement and working of biomedical as well as other electrical systems. Architects are good at implementing design techniques to solve any problem whereas engineers are good at mathematical work. While designing a hospital, engineers are to decide the size of HVAC unit including compressors and boilers and architects are then to plan for the right space for the placements of instruments. Not only this, but engineers are also good at calculating the right amount of flow that should reach each room as required, they go for calculating the number of units of lights required in the operation theatre and proper positioning and distance of light from operation table. Engineers are also good at handling heavy machinery like CT-scans and MRI machines during installation. Whereas, architects are specialized in developing a hospital structure and map of the building. Figure 1: Engineer – Architect Relation Question 3 A consulting engineering firm that is

Microfinance - how government regulations affect microfinance in Literature review

Microfinance - how government regulations affect microfinance in Brazil - Literature review Example The governments of the nations have a crucial role to play from the regulatory and financing points of view. A lot of measures are required to make this form of financing a sustainable one. This requires the scope of the microfinance schemes to be further widened. There are several challenges that the governments of the countries opting for these kinds of schemes face. There is lack of mobility in the credit and a lot of reliance on the government as the source of the funds. The competitive environment of the microfinance sector is a lot biased towards the public sector organisations. Therefore the government needs to ensure all forms of transparency in the way the markets and the competitive forces work. Several works have been conducted over the years on various aspects of microfinance. A review of the literature would provide an insight into the microfinance sector and the regulatory framework within which the Brazilian microfinance companies work. Microfinance companies are consi dered to be feasible alternatives for banks as well as informal sources of credit. Collaterals are used to ensure the timely repayment of the funds. The specific feature of microfinance is that instead of an individual liability toward the lending institution, there is a cooperative liability towards the lender. This method guarantees that the funds are repaid on time or the payments are paid at regular intervals. If the individuals repay the loans on time, they get incentive to get loans of higher amount the next time which makes the borrowers credit worthy. The individuals opting for these kinds of schemes are forced to save for themselves so that the there is enough collateral for the amount of loan that they have taken. Due to the joint liability feature of the microcredit the risk of default is less because the people of a particular locality know each other well and they can estimate the repayment capacity and the chances of default of their co-borrowers. Along with this each of the parties in the loan can monitor each other. Therefore the basic economic problems like moral hazard or adverse selection can be removed through this feature of microfinance institutions in Brazil (Morduch, 1999, p. 1569). Though chiefly deployed by the NGOs of Brazil, the government is equally active in the developing nations in the promotion of the microfinance institutions and setting up of a stringent regulatory framework for the proper functioning of the industry. The government also has a significant role in granting credit of lump-sum amounts to the microfinance institutions. The study of various situations where the system of microcredit has been implemented has been conducted by the researchers. The results have shown that the schemes have positively affected the economies in which they were being implemented. The repayment rates had been quite high in those countries. This has been possible because of the structure of the model which entails extreme scrutiny of the b orrowers of the funds. The capital that is provided as the loan is also used effectively which necessitated the repayment on time. About 15 million households represent the informal sector in the Brazilian Economy. However, the microfinance institutions have been able to bring less than three hundred thousand under its purview. This means that apart from 2.5% of the prospective market, the remaining has remained untapped. There have been several attempts on part of

Film Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Film Music - Essay Example The difficulty of studying the nature of the music for motion pictures derives from the complexity of the medium. Films usually operate through "a conjunction of visual and auditory signals, research into film music requires an understanding of not one but two non-verbal systems of communication, as well as the problematical jargons with which we attempt to describe each of them in speech (Marks, 1997, p. 3)". Currently, few scholars have mastered the field of such specialized studies as music in silent movies. Thus, I have to address that this paper has limitation based on the narrow specialization of the topic. The subject of film music is neglected by researchers, because it spans between two disciplines and its material presents many problems (Marks, 1997). Unlike concert music, film music exists only as an accompaniment to the film and is not included into a repertoire. Especially in music for silent movies, the primary material that has to be researched is not the music, but th e film itself. Consequently, the film music in silent movies has to be studies together with a profound observation of the movie. Music in this sense is in the core of the research and the movie plot stays in the periphery (Marks, 1997). "As we view a film, our minds must contend with the ever-changing content of the moving image and the soundtrack. The individual elements (not just music, but also lighting, camera work, editing, and so forth) are submerged into the flow of images on the screen. Hence the engrossed audience rarely perceives these elements consciously; it is simply carried along by the stream of sights and sounds (Marks, 1997, p.4)." Marks (1997) points out that most of our "information about music and silent cinema dates from after 1910; earlier than that, documents are lacking and extant scores are few (p. 26)." Altman (1998) observes that in the early periods of silent film musical accompaniment was not standard practice. He explains that the US film industry began to introduce normative musical score as accompaniment between 1908 and 1912. Altman (1998) also notes that developing the musical accompaniment was a significant part of the cinematic transformation that was taking part at that time. Efforts were made to stimulate the use of film music and to supervise its quality. Much more attention should be paid on the impact of geography into music. The urbanized east coast versus the less populated western states, the neighborhood trends versus the downtown surroundings have influenced the sound in the silent movies (Altman, 1998). Ethnicity and race and the emergence of African folklore traditions, ragtime an d jazz on the musical accompaniment also placed a cornerstone in silent movies music. After the World War I and the disastrous flu epidemic in the 1918, the 1920s can be characterized as one of the most prosperous years in America. The 1920s are also called "The Roaring Twenties" or "The Jazz Age" (Blundell, n.d). After the World War I, a lot of African Americans who were living in the South, started to move North. Northern America was more industrialized and provided more employment opportunities. Thus, African Americans hoped they could make a better living. 1920s was the time when

Types of Budgets and Budgeting Techniques Research Paper

Types of Budgets and Budgeting Techniques - Research Paper Example Depending on the worth and value of a business, an organization creates a budget that well suits the resources and funds a business is exposed to. Additionally, different organizations have implemented different forms of budgeting. The different types of budgeting greatly depend on the time period and the monetary requirement by an organization. Some budgets are created only to cater to short time needs while others may be created to meet long time expectations of an organization (Cliche, 2012). The author further argues that some budgets are based on the expected income in a specific period of time while otherd are based on the cash in hand at the time of the creation of the budget. Kinds of Budget i. Operating Budgets This kind of budget is a financial statement that presents the financial plan for every expense and revenue (O’Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003). The plan dictates the funds allocated to each responsibility around expenditure and revenues over the budget period. Opera ting budgets include the profit budget and revenue budget. The expense budget is a budget documentation that highlights the expected expenses over the budget period (Cliche, 2012). Forms of expenses include the variable discretionary and fixed expenses. Discretionary expenses are those that are created by the management decisions and cannot be based on certainty, for instance the accounting fees. Revenue budgets project the future sales of an organization based on the requirements of the organization. Profit budgets combine the results from the expense and revenue budget to create a final resource allocation system in the organization. ii. Financial Budgets Financial budgeting revolves around how an organization plans to get money and how it plans to use the funds. They include the cash budget, balance sheet budget and the capital expenditure budget (O’Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003). The cash budget is based on the amount of funds an organization has on hand, and the expenses the organization has to cover over the budget period. It helps organizations evaluate the expense clearance capabilities. Capital expenditure budget helps an organization know whether they have enough funds to cover capital investment over the budget period. Capital investments include investment in heavy machinery or in buildings and property (Cliche, 2012). Balance sheet budget calculates the quantity of assets and liabilities over the budget period to be considered. iii. Variable Budgets Variable budgets are budgets created to offer more than the provisions of the fixed budget. They are flexible enough to cover the variations that may occur over the budget time (O’Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003). However, variable budgets are difficult to prepare since the cost variables are difficult to predict and determine. iv. Zero Base Budgets In other budgeting creations, managers carry forward the results obtained from the previous calendar recordings. This is a shortcoming that makes an or ganization not evaluate their progress from a fresh start. In ZBB (zero-base budget) the results from the previous calendar are disregarded and a fresh financial plan is created (Cliche, 2012). In my organization, the most appropriate budget to use is the operational budget. The technique in this type of budgeting is based on the ability to record and allocate funds to each responsibility in the organization over the budget p

Markets and customers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Markets and customers - Essay Example mportance of the four P’s, followed by the definition and relevance of marketing mix and then finally go on to understanding (with the help of examples) how the 4 Ps are interdependent on each other and a change in one directly impacts the success of the rest. ‘People think that a product is a tangible offering, but a product can be more than that. A product can be anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need. Products that are marketed include physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information and ideas.’ (Kotler et al, 2007: 316). Services also form an important part of products. ‘It is wrong to imply that services are just like products â€Å"except† for intangibility.’ (Shostack, 1977: 73). With the changing trends all across the globe, services have become a very important section which contributes towards a country’s GDP. How much services sector has grown can be seen from the fact that this sector contributes more than 75% in the GDPs of countries like The United States and The United Kingdom. Price is the monetary equivalent that we pay in return for services and products which we consume. According to me, price plays the most important role out of the four P’s of study. ‘Some examples of pricing decisions to be made include: pricing strategy, suggested retail price, etc.’ (The Marketing Mix (The 4 P’s of Marketing) NetMBA, 2007) Place talks about the location from where we want to sell the products and services. It refers to the distribution channel involved in the supply chain. This gives us the information about how many channels a product passes through before it finally reaches the customer. ‘Some examples of place decisions to be made include: distribution channel, market coverage, etc.’ (The Marketing Mix (The 4 P’s of Marketing) NetMBA, 2007) Promotion includes the activities undertaken by the seller to make the customer aware of the products and

Value Chain System Essay Example for Free

Value Chain System Essay The value chain concept was created by Michael Porter and explained in his book â€Å"Competitive Advantage†, published in 1980. The value chain is a series of activities that create and build value- culminating in the contribution of total value to the organization. Porter used the concept of value chain as a systematic approach to examining the development of an organization’s competitive advantage in the marketplace. In using the value chain concept, the total activities undertaken by a business are split into Primary Activities and Support Activities. Primary activities relate to inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. Support activities include procurement, technology development, human resource management, and firm infrastructure. Intel  No doubt, Intel has emerged as the market leader in the design and manufacture of microprocessors, having an almost unbeatable advantage over its competitors. Yet Intel has realized that the best way to retain its market position is to make it easy and efficient for people to do business with the company. Since 1998, Intel has developed and used an e-business strategy to maintain relationships with its customers, employees and suppliers. The company’s goal is to become a 100% ‘e-business enabled’ corporation. In terms of the value chain concept, Intel has made remarkable progress and reaped tangible benefits in the volume of business it does on the Web, as well as created savings of time and money for both itself and its customers. (Pallato, 2001) Let us analyze Intel’s strategy in terms of the primary value chain activities: Inbound Logistics Prior to implementation of its e-business initiative, Intel used the traditional methods of pen, paper and telephone to place and track its supplies and suppliers. Furthermore it ordered supplies only in response to customer orders. Consequently the company lost out on many business opportunities, where it could not meet emergency demands, changing customer needs or large orders for want of adequate stock. However this all changed with the launch of its e-business initiative in 1998. Today, Intel uses the Internet to speed the flow of information between itself, its suppliers and customers. By tracking its deliveries and supplies over the Web, the company has reduced its order and manufacturing lead times. It tracks its supplies from various countries all over the world. Intel’s goal is to move towards a 100% automated system for its supplies and purchases. Operations Intel uses its Web based e-business system to aid in the quick exchange of details and queries pertaining to customer orders, design specifications and proprietary information. Design specifications and models can change every 6 months. Intel has many made-to-order deals with big volume direct customers and this almost instantaneous system can shave off a week or two in design and delivery of the final product, enabling the product and its suppliers to take full advantage of its novelty and price in the market. Outbound Logistics Intel uses its web based system to track deliveries to customers and resellers. It can thus expedite delivery by noting friction points, ascertaining the reasons and smoothing shipments there. Using its ‘vendor driven’ inventory management system, Intel can maintain its inventory levels to respond to fluctuating customer demand, make reliable forecasts and shipments on time. Marketing Sales Intel has also improved time to market for its products to customers. By putting its customer order entry system on the Web, it has reduced errors by 75%. It can take orders round the clock, where more than 25% of its transactions occurring after normal business hours. Its ability to establish links with over 75,000 system resellers worldwide has led to considerable increase in its sales volumes. Online sales doubled from US$ 1 billion to US$2 billion a month. Hundreds of Intel suppliers use the Web to check the status of inventory levels, payments and shipments. Service Intel focuses on many areas of support and service for all its products. From advanced data centers, application platforms, architecture planning, integration of business applications, e-commerce applications and solutions, system migration and server consolidation. Employing a set of highly skilled consultants having considerable technical expertise in designing, building, implementing and optimizing solutions on Intel architecture. Intel provides a variety of services in the areas of wireless, hardware design, networking and communications, software development, business strategies and solution providers. Intel has established alliances with other leading software technology providers and solutions such as Oracle and SAP to give added value to its customers. It has a variety of solution blueprints on its website advertising its successful applications from a variety of industries. A database of solution providers and resellers of Intel products and solutions has been provided on a technological, geographical and language basis for ease of access and use. Intel Website). The success of Intel’s value chain can be judged by the fact that it helped the company earn revenues of US$30. 1 Billion in 2003. The company has over 78,000 employees worldwide, with 294 offices and facilities for its 450 odd products. Intel was ranked 53 in the list of Fortune500 companies in 2003. By converting from its EDI systems to one using its RosettaNet business process standards with XML forms, Intel is expected to make further giant strides in the way it does business. (1) Spectrum Pharmaceutical Porter’s five force analysis is used to analyze Spectrum Pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical industry. Porter’s five forces analysis is a method of analyzing an industry and a company’s business strategy. It uses five fundamental forces that determine competition within an industry and how a company functions within that industry. These five forces involve market forces and pricing power of the business, suppliers and customers. The first force that a company must deal with is the bargaining power of customers. In relation to Spectrum Pharmaceutical, the customers have very little power to bargain prices with the company. The products that Spectrum provides are unique niche products that the customer cannot obtain anywhere else. This gives the customers little bargaining power with the company. This makes the products that Spectrum produces more profitable for the company, but more expensive to the customer. This makes the products more expensive however, which makes them more profitable for the company. There are few substitutes for these products, which reduces the buyers leverage to negotiate lower prices. The buyers have little concentration which reduces their ability to negotiate lower prices. Due to lack of alternative products there are few substitutes for Spectrum’s products. All these reasons combined together give the buyer of the products little force to negotiate lower prices, but give the company a lot of power to maintain their high prices. The second force in the analysis is the bargaining power of suppliers. In this instance, the suppliers to Spectrum have little power to affect the price of the final product. There are several different firms that can supply Spectrum with the necessary products for spectrum to manufacture their products. This gives the suppliers little leverage to boost prices to Spectrum, which in turn helps to keep the price of supplies low. There are usually several alternative products on the market that Spectrum can use to manufacture the necessary goods. Due to the lack of concentration of suppliers, they have little leverage to negotiate higher prices which would squeeze the profits of Spectrum. In addition, the cost of inputs in the price of Spectrum’s products is very low compared to the final cost of the product. The regulatory process is a much more expensive input to the final cost of goods than the raw material inputs. All these reasons combined give suppliers little force to raise prices to Spectrum, and have little influence on the price to the consumer. The next force in the analysis is the threat of substitute products. Several different substitute products allow the consumer to switch to other products and lower price products. This price elasticity keeps prices lower for the consumer and limits the ability of the company to raise prices. There are few substitute products for drugs that Spectrum manufactures. Consumers have little alternative choices for Spectrum products. This reduces the ability of the consumer switch to lower cost products. This keeps the product prices high and reduces the leverage of the consumer has to keep prices lower. All these reasons combined, keep reduce the force of the consumer to exert little ability to keep prices low and allow Spectrum to charge higher prices for its products. The next force in the analysis is the threat of new entrants into the market. If it was easy to enter the market with new and competing products, the ability to keep prices high would be reduced. This however, is not the case with Spectrum. It is extremely expensive for new entrants to get into the pharmaceutical market. It is costly in both money and time to get new drugs to market. The regulatory process insures that new products to the market have been tested at several levels. This testing is expensive in time, money and expertise. It takes several years to get new products through the regulatory process and new products to market. This high cost limits the number of new entrants into the market. There are many barriers to entry into the market. In addition, Spectrum holds patents that limit market competition for several years. Even though the pharmaceutical business is highly profitable, there are few competitors in the marketplace due to the high entrance costs and other barriers. The capital costs to enter the marketplace limit the number of competitors in the marketplace. The high capital, labor and other costs limit the force of new entrants to compete against Spectrum in the marketplace. The barriers to entering the pharmaceutical business limit competition and ensure that drug companies can maintain higher prices. The last force in the analysis is the intensity of competitive rivalries. Industry rivalries can increase the competition for the consumer’s money. This can keep costs down and reduce profitability. Even though there are several companies in the pharmaceutical business, the total business is extremely large. The high costs of entering the market reduce competition. The high capital costs, the regulatory process and the barriers to entry, reduce competitive rivalries within the industry. The industry has a high growth rate, especially as the older population grows. In most cases there is little over production and over capacity. It takes a lot of technical expertise in many different areas to get into the pharmaceutical business. There are advertising campaigns in the few areas where there are substitute products, but this mostly limits the size of the market and not profitability. Due to the extremely high profits, most companies have a strong incentive to innovate, market and remain in the business. All these reasons combined limit the competitive rivalry that would reduce the profitability of firms in the pharmaceutical industry. In summary, the Porter’s five force analysis of Spectrum Pharmaceutical show few limits on its ability to compete. Customer’s have little ability to bargain lower prices with the firm. Suppliers to Spectrum have little ability to raise prices to the company and have little influence on the cost structure of the final product. There are few substitute products to the drugs that Spectrum produces, this reduces the ability of consumers to switch to alternative lower price products, and ensures the ability of Spectrum to keep prices high. The high capital costs and the regulatory rocess restrict the number of new competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. This reduces competition for companies in the drug business and helps to reduce completion and keep prices high. The last force in the analysis is threat of competitive rivalries. This is relatively low for Spectrum. The high capital costs to enter the business and the barriers to entry into the market help keep competitive rivalries low. Due to the size of the industry and few competitors that can overcome the entrance barriers, limit the rivalry and allow the industry to by highly profitable.

The Relationship Between The Big Five Personality Psychology Essay

The Relationship Between The Big Five Personality Psychology Essay Personality traits as the characteristics of a person with consistent patterns of behaviour are undoubtedly playing a significant role in determining a students success in pursuing his or her tertiary education. Therefore, this research aims to investigate and examine the effects of personality traits on the students performance in UTAR Kampar Campus, Perak, Malaysia. As proposed by Costa and McCrae (1992), the Big-Five Personality Traits model has been used in this study whereby the model categorizes humans personality into five factors, namely the Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and lastly Neuroticism. Target population for this research is approximately 408 students and a questionnaire encompassing 3 sections was presented to the respondents. The study subjects were 200 accounting students in UTAR Kampar Campus. For data analysis, the Pearson Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis are adopted to determine the relationships bet ween the variables. Overall, completion of this study will provide a guideline as to which traits would be favourable for students to harness so as to achieve better results in tertiary education. Lastly, this study also confirmed the validity and reliability of the Big-Five Personality Traits model as proposed by Costa and McCrae (1992). CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction This chapter gives a general idea of this research, where it comprises of seven sections. The research background briefly explains what are personality and students performance. The problem statement is addressed in the second section. Research objectives and research questions are also highlighted in this chapter and lastly, significance of the study, outline of chapter, and conclusion is followed by. 1.1 Research Background When someone talks about students performance, what is it actually refers to? Past studies broadly defined students performance as a pedagogical terminology used to determine learners achievement in formal education while to measure a students performance is only by examinations (Tope, 2011). Apparently, it gives rise to the question of whether what is the definite measurement of it? Is examination the only way to measure a students performance? Does the employers nowadays only concern about students academic achievement? While most employers actually view that way, it would be unfair to only compare a persons past achievement in a sole aspect. Nonetheless, some employers nowadays are different whereby they perceive that a successful student should include academic success, secured position in career field, and ability to apply knowledge and skills in real life (Dean, 1998). Therefore, quantitative measurement such as Grade Point Average (GPA) may not be the only factor to determine a students performance whereby other qualities such as communication skills, leadership, and team performance should also be considered (Sansgiry, Bhosle Sail, 2006). Due to aggressive competitions in business world, employers demand higher requirements in fresh graduates (Maurin, Thesmar Thoenig, 2002; Koda, Yuki Hong, 2011). The criterion includes time management, teamwork and leadership ability (Weligamage Siengthai, 2003). Students possessing such skills are definitely in a better position of securing job opportunities. Therefore, higher attention should be placed on graduate students personality as it affects their employability which in turn influences unemployment rates in Malaysia (Ismail, 2011). On the contrary, when people talks about human personality, what is the first thought that comes into your mind? Most people think that it is the different attitudes or habits that each individual possess. This is known as the individual differences or national characters that differentiate people (Mooradian Swan, 2006). Previous studies clarified that there indeed exist differences in individuals attitude from different countries (Lynn Martin, 1994). A simple example of this is where some people would tend to be more sociable and talkative, and some would be the exact opposite (Wilt Revelle, 2008). Such difference would somehow cause different outcomes in ones education with their future career at stake. While it is difficult to completely define the term personality, Pervins study defined it as the characteristics of a person with consistent patterns of behavior (Saleem, Beaudry Croteau, 2011). Apart from that, recent studies presented that personalities can be branched out to other perspectives such as the biological model of the Big-Five personality traits (DeYoung, Hirsh, Shane, Papademetris, Rajeevan Gray, 2010), and the Dark Triad personality traits (Jonason, Webster, Schmitt, Li Crysel, 2012). Personality is becoming an important factor in various situations (Caspi, Roberts Shiner, 2005) where at working place, a right personality allow workers to interact well with colleagues and clients thus expanding their network span; at university, students are more sociable thus studies in a comfortable environment (Bester, 2007). Furthermore, many human-made issues and criminal cases can be related to the decline in ones personality, in other words, lacks of Personality Development (PoliÃ…Â ¡enskà ½, 2006). Then, Jinnie (2011) stated that a person with good personality will enhance his or her communication skills and anger management. Meanwhile, in managements perspective, a positive personality will aid in clearing workers negative conditioning, anxiety, and depressions in solving problems (Morton, 2011; Brunello Schlotter, 2011). Therefore, personality is an important determinant of career choice (Holland, 1976). In relation to students performance at school or university, prior studies have identified the five personalities that affect students behavior where this in turn affects their performances. In this case, the Big-Five personality model is an effective way to predict an individuals behavior as it has been widely used and proved to be convincing (Noftle Shaver, 2006; Robbins, 2007). 1.2 Problem Statement Students performance has been a questionable factor on the employability of fresh graduates and how well are they satisfying the qualities that the employers looking for (Marshall, 2010). According to Department of Statistic in Malaysia, unemployment rate among fresh graduates has been rising from 2.6% in 1996 to 3.1% in 2011. The Prime Minister of Malaysia also indicated that the highly skilled workforce in 2010 is only 23% where this percentage is still far from the minimum requirement, compared with some of the developing countries (Ramakrishnan Yasin, 2011). In the past decade, there are various studies being carried out by the researchers to examine the effect of students performances using the Big-Five personality traits. Gray and Watson (2002) investigated the connections between personalities and sleep that have the combined effects on students academic outcomes in United States. According to Komarraju, Karau and Schmeck (2009), personality traits are important to improve students self-motivation in attaining higher academic honors. Besides, a study in Iran investigated that students distinct characteristic and personality is one of the variables that affect their academic achievement (Hakimi, Hejazi Lavasani, 2011). On the other hand, Taher, Chen and Yao (2011) studied the relationship between MBA students performance and their personality traits whereas Kalshoven, Hartog and Hoogh (2010) carried out a study on individual leadership skill and used only three out of five of the big-five personality traits (conscientiousness, agreeab leness, and emotional stability). However, there are still some deficiencies in the past empirical researches. The study in Gray and Watson (2002) only focuses on the universitys students in their country, therefore no firm explanations that the results of the past research are valid in Malaysia. Besides, Komarraju et al. (2009) pointed out that the personality of the students is being influenced by the environment as the research was conducted in various universities. In addition, Hakimi et al. (2011)s study is very limited due to the area of research were not conducted in Asia. This indicates that little study has been done on the students in Malaysia. Moreover, the study of Taher et al. (2011) also ignored the other aspects of students performance other than their scores and grades. Lastly, Kalshoven et al. (2010) did not include all of the Big-Five factors of personality traits in their research and this implies that the researchs results and measurements of personality traits may not be accurate. Therefore, this research is carried out to fill the gaps of past researches by investigating the personality traits as the one of the important factors that affects the several aspects of university students performance in Malaysia. 1.3 Research Objectives and Research Questions Table 1.1: Research Objectives and Research Questions Research Objectives Research Questions General Objective In general, this research aims to investigate and examine the relationship of personality traits on the students performance in UTAR. General Question Do personality traits relate to the students performance in UTAR? Specific Objectives To examine the relationship between conscientiousness and students performance in UTAR. To examine the relationship between agreeableness and students performance in UTAR. To examine the relationship between openness to experience and students performance in UTAR. To examine the relationship between extraversion and students performance in UTAR. To examine the relationship between neuroticism and students performance in UTAR. Specific Questions Is there any relationship between conscientiousness and students performance in UTAR? Is there any relationship between agreeableness and students performance in UTAR? Is there any relationship between openness to experience and students performance in UTAR? Is there any relationship between extraversion and students performance in UTAR? Is there any relationship between neuroticism and students performance in UTAR? Source: Developed for the research 1.4 Significance of the Study 1.4.1 Theoretical Perspective From an educational perspective, this research can serve as a basic guideline for future researchers as it is a modified research model in terms of measuring students performance qualitatively. This research also confirmed the previous theory of Five Factor Model of personality traits by Costa and McCrae (1992), thus adding credibility towards the theory. 1.4.2 Practical Perspective From country-wide perspective, students, as the citizens of Malaysia, developing their personality and improving their performance would boost overall capability and reduces unemployment rates in Malaysia as more students will be employed. From the industry perspective, findings from this research may contribute to the employer by providing the basic information on which type of employees personality is preferable. Although it may not be of huge importance, employers should not overlook this aspect in recruitment as employees with great personality will definitely enhance the organizations intellectual use of available human resources. 1.5 Chapter Layout Chapter One covers the introduction of this research which includes research background, problem statement, research objectives and questions, and lastly the significance of this study. Chapter Two explores the core theories by reviewing literatures of past empirical studies and developing theoretical framework and hypotheses. Chapter Three explains the research methodology adopted whereby it includes the research design, population and sampling procedures, data collection and analysis techniques, and variables and measurements. Chapter Four presents the analyzed data and results from the target respondents detailed in descriptive and inferential analysis, and scale measurements. Chapter Five briefly concludes this research as it summarizes the findings from this research and also providing implications, limitations, and recommendations for this research. 1.6 Conclusion This chapter has acknowledged the problem statement, research questions and objectives, significance of the study and the outline of the research project. In Chapter Two, it would then provide the relevant literature review. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction The previous chapter has highlighted the introduction of this research project. This chapter will touch on the literature review of the research. Literature review provides a comprehensive review on the secondary sources of data done by previous authors or researchers such as books, journal articles, thesis papers, research projects, and reports. This chapter embodies five sections. Firstly, Section 2.1 is the review of literature whilst Section 2.2 reviews the prior empirical studies. Then, Section 2.3 shows the proposed theoretical conceptual framework. After that, Section 2.4 is the development of hypotheses. Lastly, Section 2.5 summarizes this chapter to provide a general understanding to the readers. 2.1 Review of the Literature Based on the prior researches, it has been widely accepted that the Big Five Personality Traits by McCrae and Costa (1992), and Digman (1990) can determine ones individual characteristics (Moghaddam, Peyvandi Wang, 2009). In this part, this research will define and explain thoroughly each of these traits to provide for the development of hypotheses for this research and lastly, relating each of them with the students performance. 2.1.1 Conscientiousness Conscientiousness is defined by John and Srivastava (1999) as individual differences in the propensity to be goal directed (Savelyev, 2012). According to Barrick and Mount (1991), traits of conscientiousness includes being dependable, responsible, and organized (Trinh, 2002). More specifically, individual who is measured as high in conscientiousness is determined and strong-willed (Bruck Allen, 2002). 2.1.2 Agreeableness According to Nettle and Liddle (2008), Digmans and Grazianos study suggested that agreeableness is associated to a persons warmth, friendliness and conformance with others. It is also supported by Janss and Rabinowitzs study where traits of agreeableness include unselfishness, friendliness and modesty (Bozionelos, 2003). Thus, people who is high in agreeableness is likely to get along well with others (Judge, Livingston, Hurst, 2011). 2.1.3 Openness to Experience Yamagatas study defined openness to experience as people who are intellectually curious (McCrae Sutin 2009) and individuals who are measured high in openness are curious for inner and outer world (Bruck Allen, 2002). Conversely, low in openness to experience usually have a narrow and common interest and likes to enjoy routine activities (Flynn, 2005). 2.1.4 Extraversion Traits of extraversion can be represented by sociability, assertiveness, and social dominance (Bozionelos, 2003). Judges and Wastsons study also supported that viewpoint as it refers extraversion to sociability (Chan, 2007). In other words, it is a tendency to search for stimulation and to enjoy mingling with other people. 2.1.5 Neuroticism Defined as a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, neuroticism continuum ranges from calm and composed to nervous and anxious (Greenberg Baron, 2008). Eysenck (1967) defines that neuroticism accounts for a low tolerance for stress (Norris, Larsen Cacioppo, 2007). In other words, neurotic people respond poorly to environmental stress, and often interpret ordinary and minor situations as threatening and difficult (Hettema, Neale, Myers, Prescott Kendler, 2006). 2.1.6 The Relationship between the Big-Five Personality Traits and Students Performance Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham (2003) indicated that conscientiousness has a strong direct positive relationship with students academic performance and this is also supported by many existing literatures (Conrad, 2006; Zyphur, Bradley, Landia Thoresen, 2008). However, some showed otherwise as a mediating factor exist (Conrad Patry, 2012). The trait is also able to influence a persons behavior which in turn affects their academic behaviors such as self-efficacy and learning styles (Bong, 2008). Additionally, Laidra, Pullmann and Allik (2006) studied the relationship of personality traits and general intelligence with the students academic performances. The study showed that Conscientiousness has a positive association with academic performance. H1: There is a positive relationship between conscientiousness and students performance. Farsides and Woodfield (2003) indicated that agreeableness is negatively correlated with absence for classes. Furthermore, high attendance in classes and seminars has a positive contribution on students performance (Arulampalam, Naylor Smith, 2008). Nevertheless, Nyugen, Allen Fraccastoro (2005) proposed that there was indirect relationship between agreeableness and students performance as the learning style is the mediating factor (Chamillard Sward, 2005). Students with this trait are able to interact and learn well with others especially in groups; thus, agreeableness also enhanced team cohesion which in turn affected their performance positively (Oneill Kline, 2008). Thus, agreeableness is positively correlated with students performance (Taher Jin, 2011). H2: There is a positive relationship between agreeableness and students performance. Duff, Boyle, Dunleavy and Ferguson (2003) revealed that openness has positive effects on learning approach (deep approach) and such approach is positively related to students performance. Learning approach plays an important role in linking the Big-Five traits with students performance (Cano Berben, 2009; Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2006). This is further supported by Chamorro-Premuzic, Furnham and Lewis (2006). Furthermore, Furnham, Monsen and Ahmetoglu (2009) proposed that openness had significant relationship with students performance provided the mediator is deep approach. H3: There is a positive relationship between openness to experience and students performance. According to Furnham, Zhang and Chamorro-Premuzic (2006), extraversion can be recognized as a persons interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Furthermore, extraversion is made up of two central components; affiliation which was having warm personal relationship and agency which was being socially dominant (Bono, 2004). In addition, the most common definitions of extraversion are ascendance and sociability (Mooradian Swan, 2006). Therefore, extraverted individual are more likely to have a desire to work with others and more confident in their ability to work effectively within a team structure. It is essential when an individual is joining a group study and will enhance student performance (Morgeson, Reider, Campion, 2005). In spite of this, students with high extravert personality prefer to be sociable and active in extra-curricular activities rather than focusing on their studies. Thus, students performance would be adversely affected. Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham (2003) research ed on the relationship of personality traits and students academic performance at University College London and as a result, extraversion was negatively related with students academic performance. H4: There is a negative relationship between extraversion and students performance. Neuroticism may affect a persons ability resulting in poorer academic performance (Chamorro-Premuzic Furnham, 2006; Lievens, Ones Dilchert, 2009). As cited under Ahmad and Rana (2012), many neurotic students suffered higher percentage of failures in examinations because this trait shifts the students concentration away from study due to negative emotions. On the other hand, students who obtained high grades were less associated with anxious emotions (Al-Qaisy Khuffash, 2012; Al-Qaisy, 2011), this suggested students with high grades are good in managing their stress. Nevertheless, Poropat (2011) conducted a research about the use of personality in predicting academic performance and proved that there is significant negative correlation between neuroticism and academic performance. H5: There is a negative relationship between neuroticism and students performance. 2.2 Review of Relevant Theoretical Models 2.2.1 The Big-Five Personality The earliest founders of The Big-Five Theory are Tupes and Christal (1961) as they established the five factors of personality traits that we know today (Busato, Prins, Elshout Hamaker, 1999). Unfortunately, their study was published in an obscure Air-Force publication that was not read by many people, therefore the theory was not widely-known at that time (Locklair, 2011). According to Goldberg (1993), other early explorers of The Big-Five include Borgatta (1964) and Smith (1967) who continued the founders work. The first version of this theory is called  The Big-Five, introduced by  Warren Norman in 1963 (Boeree, 2006). The Big-Five Personality Traits is a comprehensive research which analyzes human personality together with their traits (Digman, 1990). Particularly, a five-dimensional personality traits model is proposed by McCrae and Costa (1992) after studying on the Five-Factor Model (FFM) and its applications. To further understanding humans personality, this study categorized humans personality into five main factors, namely the Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. FFM model dominated the personality field over the past two decades due to its famous recognition as a comprehensive description of personality traits and provided a major degree of convergence in the trait-factor analytic psychology (Nikolaou Robertson, 2001). This study has come across many researches about the Big-Five personality model. Thus, it shows that this model can be used in many areas as it gives us the fasters and accurate way to identify a persons attitudes and behaviors (Pickens, 2005). However, the Big-Five personality model has also been discovered to have effects on social or friendship networking behavior (Wehrli, 2008); in addition that it is also a good predictor for employees job performance (Hurtz Donovan, 2000; Fietze, Holst Tobsch, 2010). Nevertheless, this model can also be applied to almost everyone in this world every individual possess all five personalities of the model to a greater or lesser extent (Soto, Gosling, John, Potter, 2011). Apart from that, the Big-Five model is also applied to the research done by Distel, Trull, Willemsen, Vink, Derom, Iynskey, Martin and Boomsma (2009); studying the five personality traits and nature of personality disorders. Furthermore, in the aspect of employment, studies on the five personalities are also conducted relating to executive mangers job recruitment and fresh graduates (Dykeman Dykeman, 1996). The Big-Five includes Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. As there are many personality-related-researches also utilized this Big-Five model, this study exploit this advantage and uses this model to give us the faster and accurate way to identify a persons attitudes and behaviors (Kumar, Bakhshi Rani, 2009). Hence, this theory will be applied in this research as it is a widely-used theory in evaluating peoples personality (Brown Taylor, 2011; Wood, Linley, Maltby, Baliousis Joseph, 2008). 2.3 Proposed Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework Figure 2.1: Relationship between the Big Five Personality Traits to Students Performance Big 5 Personality Traits Independent Variables Dependent Variable Conscientiousness H1 H2 Agreeableness H3 Students Performance Openness to Experience H4 H5 Extraversion Neuroticism Sources: adapted from Taher et al., 2011; Anwar, Shahzed Ijaz-ul-Rehman, 2011; Chen, Tsai Chen, 2009 Based on the literature review, a conceptual framework has been developed and shown in Figure 2.1. This research is conducted to test the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. Whereby, independent variables comprises of conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion and neuroticism, whilst dependent variable is students performance. Previous researches (Nguyen, Allen Fraccastoro, 2005; Chowdhury, 2006) showed that the five factors have produced distinct results. From the proposed conceptual framework, hypotheses will be developed and it is to be proven after completion of a thorough empirical study investigating whether personality traits are related to students performance. 2.4 Hypotheses Development Based on the review of the prior empirical studies discussed at 2.1.6, a summary of the hypotheses development is presented as below. Table 2.1: Development of Hypotheses Personality Traits Hypotheses Conscientiousness H1: There is a positive relationship between conscientiousness and students performance. Agreeableness H2: There is a positive relationship between agreeableness and students performance. Openness to experience H3: There is a positive relationship between openness to experience and students performance. Extraversion H4: There is a negative relationship between extraversion and students performance. Neuroticism H5: There is a negative relationship between neuroticism and students performance. Source: Developed for the research 2.5 Conclusion A review of literature has been carried out in this chapter and it has been discovered that there are different opinions from researchers regarding the relationship between the Big-Five Personality traits with students performance. Besides, an understanding on the Big-Five Personality traits has been done for a clear explanation and how can it be associated with students performance. Then, a conceptual framework has been proposed to show the relationship between each trait with students performance. Finally, hypotheses have been developed based on the literatures reviewed and the discussion for relevant methods to be used in this study will be conducted in the following chapter. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction This chapter will address an overview of the research methodology. At the beginning of this chapter, the research design in term of quantity methodology and deductive research approach will be described. Next, the population, sample and sampling procedures would be explained. After that, data collection methods that have been applied which are primary and secondary data collection are discussed. In addition, variable and measurement were also being presented in this chapter. Lastly, data processing and its analysis would be presented to summarize the findings. 3.1 Research Design The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between Big-Five Personality Traits and students performance in UTAR. Primary data collection and survey method were used in this research in which questionnaires will be self-administered because it is affordable and time saving. Based on the purpose of this study, a deductive research approach was adopted. Besides that, a quantitative methodology was employed because it clearly and precisely specifies both variables of the study (Alaxei, 2002). Moreover, this type of research is a descriptive study because it describes and documents on a phenomenon (Johnson, 2001). The research is based on a cross-sectional study due to the time constraint by academic purposes. Hence, investigation was limited to a subset of population only. 3.2 Data Collection Methods 3.2.1 Primary Data Collection For this research, a self-administrated questionnaire is preferred because it provides convenience to both the researchers and respondents. As an effort to establish the validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire, a total of 30 questionnaires were distributed for a pilot test to check the questionnaires understandability (Black, 2008). After that, questionnaires were distributed to 270 respondents whereby they are expected to complete it under researchers supervisory within twenty minutes and returned to ensure no missing questionnaires. 3.2.2 Secondary Data Collection Secondary data collection involves the literatures review on related past studies (Daas Toth, 2012). This method is vital because relying on primary data collection is not adequate to complete this research (Sandall, Schwartz Lacroix, 2004). Besides, review on literatures also allows the researchers a better understanding on the topic and able to prove the hypotheses developed earlier (Bailey, 2006). 3.3 Sampling Design 3.3.1 Target Population Target population is a complete collection group of objects or people that are specifically identified for an investigation (Wang, 2007). Final year accounting undergraduates in UTAR, Kampar Campus were the target respondents for this research as there is no personality-related study addressing the wide aspects of students performance carried out in this university, hence this university is targeted to examine the relationships between the five factor model of personality traits and students performance. Previous personality-related researches only studied the relationships between personality and perceived benefits on e-ticketing behaviour, and also personality and social networking behavior. Undergraduate students tend to have a higher proficiency in English language, thus they would understand this researchs survey better. Moreover, another reason is that labor market is new to fresh accounting graduate as they will be joining the labor force soon and thus it is emerging trend for the employers to seek high performances, vital interpersonal skills and personality development among the undergraduates (Lim, 2011; Sirat, Chan, Shuib, Rahman, Kamil, Singh, 2012). Besides, Lim (2007) found out that the accounting students in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) would have higher unemployment probability. This highlights that there might be a chance of UTAR accounting students facing the same problem since the competition for best and talented accounting graduates is getting more intense especially in large accounting firm (Brundy Norris, 2011). Therefore, it is interested to investigate the connection between personality traits and students performance in which will affects their employability in future. 3.3.2 Sampling Frame and Sampling Location According to Thompson (1999), sampling is necessary as it is too expensive and impractical to study on every single element in the population. However, sampling frame for this research could not be obtained as the students full details cannot be disclosed due to the universitys privacy policy. Final year accounting undergraduates in UTAR, Kampar Campus were the target respondents for this research because it is convenient and easier to be contacted for researchers (Loh, 2011). The popu

Beauty, Biology, and Society Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Beauty, Biology, and Society What is beauty? How do human beings decide who is attractive and who is not? Society is full of messages telling us what is beautiful, but what are those definitions based on? Do we consciously decide whom we are attracted to, or is biology somehow involved? The issue of beauty and how we define it has been studied for centuries. Scholars from all fields of study have searched for the "formula" for beauty. Darwin in his book The Descent of Man wrote, "It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body. It is however, possible that certain tastes in the course of time become inherited, though I have no evidence in favor of this belief." (1) Science has tried to look at beauty beyond the conscious level. It has tried to determine what roles biology plays in human attraction. Scientists have discovered that symmetry and scent play a role in defining human attraction. (3) But while this can begin to explain beauty on the most basic of levels, what accounts for variations in the standard of beauty? The idea of beauty varies within different societies and communities. Do these cultural preferences have a biological basis? What is the relationship between biology and society in relation to the idea of beauty? How do they relate to each other, and how do they differ? In particular what role does science play in the preference that many societies, (in particular South Asian, East Asian, and North American Cultures), have for fairer skin? Beauty is experienced through visual stimuli. The human being's intake of beauty is through both conscious and unconscious decisions. (4) (4) The question is what motivates our unconscious decisions... ...t/html/astrid/femphers.html 3) Evolutionary Psychology of Sexual Attraction https://cognet.mit.edu/login/?return_url=%2Flibrary%2Ferefs%2Fmitecs%2Fthornhill.html 4) The Biological Purpose of Beauty http://www.beautyworlds.com/beautybiological.htm 5) The Role of Afrocentric Features in Person Perception: Judging by Features and Categories , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology http://www.colorado.edu/~iblair/Blar_features.pdf 6) When Black Isn't Beautiful, , The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3899316,00.html 7) What's In a Colour?. http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/98-2/issue1/colourbar.html1/ 8) The Colour Bar of Beauty http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/98-2/issue1/colourbar.html1/ 9) Races and Racism http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/)%20http://www.geocities.com/pak_history/racism.html

Archetypal Shame Society Essay examples -- German Literature Heroic Ep

Archetypal Shame Society Certainly one of the greatest works of German literature to date, Das Nibelungenlied is arguably the finest example of the heroic epic in all of Western literature. Ostensibly, Das Nibelungenlied is a story of deception, betrayal, and vengeance interwoven with themes of fate and the relationship between love and despair. The poet reproaches the main character, the queen Kriemhild, for her selfishness in sacrificing the lives of thousands of loyal knights to exact her revenge on those who betrayed and murdered her husband. However, underlying the story of Das Nibelungenlied is a tacit critique of its hypothetical society, which itself closely resembles the society of the poet’s audience. Hence, the poet intends to effect discourse amongst his audience regarding the political state of its society, and indeed this theme is even recapitulated in the very act of the epic’s reception. The premise for the poet’s political theory of the Nibelungenlied society is the same as that of English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his essays on the state of nature and the social contract. Hobbes believed that man, in his natural state, was driven by the primitive impulses of desire, aggression, fear, and most of all, survival. For the most part, the lives of uncivilized men were short and brutish. Thus, to protect themselves from each other and external threats, men entered into a social contract, in which they created an entity with authority to rule and power to defend. Nevertheless, this agreement is hardly a solution to the problem of man’s natural aggression towards his fellow man; it merely glosses over it. Perfect evidence of the Nibelungenlied society glossing over natural aggression are the knightly exhibi... ...ext has to be such that the audience member learns nothing new about himself or herself in his or her self-conscious reflection of that text. In this way, the audience member realizes the society of the epic is analogous to his or her own. There are natural urges that man has, such as aggression, for which the state will provide suitable outlets. However, one must be wary that during the sublimation of these natural urges, one does not neglect to recognize the implications of these urges, because it is these impulses that drive and form our societies yet at the same time threaten their existence. To be sure, an audience listening to a reading of Das Nibelungenlied might well be a sublimation of adventure-seeking or intellectual stimulation, but whatever it is, if it sustains the society, it should never be glossed over, for it may also destroy the society it serves.

Role of the New Zealand Reserve Bank :: essays papers

Role of the New Zealand Reserve Bank The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Role and Polices. The 1980’s saw some major changes for New Zealand, but none as significant as the deregulation of the financial institutions and economic policy undertaken by the Labour government. The trigger for these changes occurred in 1984 whilst the country was still under the National party control. The economy was in a bad way, with inflation high, foreign debt through the roof, and the subsequent lack of equity left in the country. The National, ruled under Robert Muldoon, called a snap election, which lead to the Labour party taking control of the country. The new Prime Minister, David Lange, immediately froze the foreign exchange market due to the major flow of currency out of the country, caused by speculation of the New Zealand dollar being devalued. Five later the exchange was reopened with the New Zealand dollar being devalued by 20 cents. This first major reform conducted by the newly elected government was to be just one of many carried out during the deregulation of the next eight months. By March 1985 a number of reforms had been passed by government to help save the economy and bring it in line with other modern economies and financial systems throughout the world. These reforms included the removal of interest rate controls, removal of the limit on interest paid to savings accounts (previously 3%), removal of the 30-day rule (a rule for trading banks, halting them from paying interest on money deposited for less than 30 days), removal of the special position given to a number of dealers on the short term money market, removal of the limitations placed interest rates and maturity for off shore borrowings, reduction in boarder controls, and the floating of the New Zealand dollar on the exchange market. Perhaps the most important changes made, however, were the reforms of the Reserve Banks monetary policies (Spencer, 1990)(Spencer & Carey, 1988)(Peare, 1999). In 1986 the reforms, by the Labour party, of the New Zealand banking system began with expansion of the financial system to incorporate new domestic and foreign banks, with no limits placed of the number of new banks allowed. As well as leading to a more competitive banking system, it also lead to an increase in the powers of supervision allocated to the Reserve

Nursing Research Critique Assignment Essay

I will be critiquing two different articles. Both studies are nursing studies that evaluate outcomes. I will be following specific key points for a quantitative perspective and a qualitative perspective. There is a guideline that I will be following for each article that includes identifying and examining the data collection and data analysis methodologies used in each study. The names of the articles are The Experience of Patients Undergoing Awake Craniotomy and The Effects of Crossed Leg Blood Pressure Measurement. The references will also be reviewed to determine validity and relationship to the new study. Data Collection Quantitative Study: The operational and conceptual definition is congruent. The key variables were operationalized using the best possible method and with adequate justification. Specific instruments were adequately described and were good choices, given the study purpose, the variables being studied, and the study population. The instrument used specifically was a blood pressure monitor. The blood pressure cuff size, dimensions, and inflation pressure were described. The blood pressure monitor was adequately pretested and calibrated before the study began by a biomedical technician (Foster-Fitzpatrick, Ortiz, Sibilano, Marcantonio, & Braun, 1999). It can be determined that the data collection methods provided data that was reliable and valid. The intervention executed was having patients cross their legs and measuring their blood pressure. The intervention was adequately described and implemented. The implementation of the intervention was faithful to its plan (Polit & Beck, 2012). The data was gathered by trained nurse researchers (Foster-Fitzpatrick et al. , 1999). The same blood pressure monitor was operated during the data collection to minimize biases (Foster-Fitzpatrick et al. , 1999). Qualitative Study: The methods for gathering data were appropriate and the data was gathered using interviews over a span of 2 days (Palese, Skrap, Fachin, Visioli, & Zannini, 2008). It could be determined that triangulation was achieved since the interviews were performed on numerous occasions and during assorted circumstances. The researchers did ask the right questions and make the right observations, which were also recorded in an appropriate fashion. It can be concluded that sufficient data was gathered, given the specifics required to be a factor in this study. The data collected was adequately rich in depth and detail. The data was gathered using interviews with open-ended questions. The interviews were audio-recorded. The data compilation tools were valid and reliable for this study. Data collection was adequately described and appeared appropriate for this type of study. Bias was kept to a minimum. The researchers were to determine and recognize ideas that may have prompted or provoked personal biases, they also had to recognize any personal experiences or beliefs that might have influenced what they were going to hear and report (Palese et al. , 2008). Data Analysis Quantitative Study: Analyses were appropriated to answer the research question and to test the hypothesis. The researchers performed various blood pressure measurements on a sample of hypertensive males to determine if the crossing of a leg has an effect on blood pressure measurements. Appropriate statistical methods were used given the level of measurement and assumptions of the test. However, there was only one specific group that was the variable, 100 hypertensive males whose ages ranged from 31 to 81. Hypothesis testing allows researchers to make objective decisions whether study results likely reflect chance sample differences or true population differences (Polit & Beck, 2012). In this study there was no control group. Then, how can we determine that crossing your leg would increase blood pressure. It is challenging to support whether a type I and type II errors were actually minimized or avoided. The intervention studies did not perform an intention-to-treat analysis. All of the participants were treated and there was no omitted information. The participants also did not abandon the study. The problems of missing values were evaluated and adequately addressed. The limitation of the study includes gender and sample size. The researchers discussed the weaknesses with solutions for future studies. The researchers recommend replicating this study using a larger sample size that includes females. They consider that these changes would increase the significance of the results. The findings are discussed and interpreted. Information about statistical significance and confidence interval is presented and reviewed. There was good use of tables and figures that included titles and headings that were clearly and appropriately labeled. The results were also clearly displayed in tables with identifiable titles and labeled headings. The study included descriptive statistics. The study described the main characteristics in the dataset. The mean and standard deviation for each blood pressure measurement was calculated before and after crossing of the legs was performed by the study subjects. Inferential statistics were also present in this study. In order to test mean differences with three or more groups, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical test is used. This research study conducted a repeated-measure ANOVA, which is when there are three or more measures of the same dependent variable for each participant (Polit & Beck, 2012). Measuring blood pressure at various intervals and under numerous conditions for the same subject is one incident where this type of testing can be used. . The model for this design was repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The level of significance in this study was stated at < 0. 05 for all three effects in the model, (before crossing the legs, during legs crossed, and after having crossed the legs). This significance level indicates that researchers accept a risk that out of 100 samples drawn from a population, a true null hypothesis would be rejected 5 times (Polit & Beck, 2012). Given the level of measurement and the nature of the hypothesis, the results were adequate. However, I believe that further research is required to have a stronger correlation. A wider sampling population should be used in future research to have more accurate conclusions. Qualitative Study: The data management and data analysis methods were sufficiently described. The data analysis strategy was compatible with the research tradition. It was also compatible with the nature and type of data gathered. The findings are effectively summarized. There was good use of citations from the patient interviews. The researchers were able to abstract concepts that were found in the data collected from the interviews. Although each patient had a unique experience, the researchers were able to categorize concepts from the data that was analyzed. Researchers were able to group these concepts into pre-operative concerns, intra-operative concerns, and post-operative concerns. Since there was limited research conducted on intra-operative experiences there were limits with the ability of being able to link it to previously performed studies. However, the study did recognize the limits it had. Since this is a qualitative study, generally these studies cannot be generalized to the population. Qualitative researchers are not concerned with the general population, but rather with subjects experiences (Polit & Beck, 2012). The researchers did acknowledge the importance of the healthcare team members to think about patient’s experiences in order to better understand how to prioritize the needs of the patient (Palese et al. , 2008). I believe that biases were kept to a minimal considering the implementations that the researchers were exposed to at the beginning of the study and before they were exposed to the interviews or observations. The composition and exploration of the data produced genuine and significant descriptions of the experiences that the patients whom were subjects had. Summary After reviewing both articles and critiquing each one, I believe to have a better understanding about the difference between a quantitative research study and a qualitative research study. Data collection should be systematic and meticulous. Both studies gathered their data systematically and meticulously. In view of the statistical analysis, levels of measurement should be defined as nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio level data. Sources of data can be documentary sources as primary and secondary sources, field sources as subjects in person, conditions, environment and events that are observable and measurable, and historical data. Both of the studies also had these types of sources. The methods of collecting data include surveys questioning using interview schedule and questionnaires, observation techniques with the help of structured or unstructured instruments, and measuring with standardized instruments. Both of the studies also used some of these methods for collecting data. The purpose of analyzing data in a study is to describe the data in meaningful terms. For example, the study in reference to blood pressure changes utilized tables for interpretation. Statistics help to answer important research questions and it is the answers to such questions that further our understandings. It is required the researcher to have an understanding of what tools are suitable for a particular research study. Depending on the kinds of variables identified (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio) and the design of particular study, number of statistical techniques is available to analyze data. The data collection and data analysis methodologies used varied and followed the particular need of each research study. The researchers followed the research process guidelines and methodologies. Although, both studies had some weaknesses, they were both performed adequately, using appropriate techniques and instruments. They were also both performed with integrity, discussing thei r limitations and weaknesses.