Alternative methodology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alternative methodology - Essay Example Scientific theory is usually objective, while the constructivist approach is mostly subjective. This paper aims to identify the ways in which the study would have been different if the researchers had taken the scientific theory or positivist approach as opposed to the constructivist approach used. This difference will be identified by focusing on the epistemology, ontology, methodology and the effects of the theory on the data generated and inferences used. According to Gialdino (2009), epistemology is the approach that the researcher takes to the study based on the theory being used. As already identified, scientific theory usually takes on the objective construct, while constructivist paradigms usually involve subjectivity. The objectivity or subjectivity of the researcher is the epistemology of the research. In the case of Swain and Hammond (2011), it is evident that the research took a subjective view, which means that the researchers used the constructivist approach. In this case, if the researchers had taken the scientific approach, the research would have been different. In the scientific approach, the researchers remain objective and try to eliminate bias from the research. The ontology of research is a concept that deals with the relationships between different aspects of the society, and is different in both scientific and constructionist approaches (Hein, 1991). In the constructionist approach, researchers consider that there is no true knowledge, that knowledge is interpreted differently by different individuals. Since the constructionist approach is usually qualitative, it differs from scientific research in its ontology. If the research by Swain and Hammond (2011) had taken a scientific approach, the ontology would have been differentiated. Scientific or positivist paradigms use knowledge as the goal of

Democracy in Athens | Essay

Democracy in Athens | Essay Where did the real power lie in Athens’ radical democracy? Fifth-century, Athenian democracy has often served as a paradigm for democratic radicalism: from the French and American Revolutions to contemporary Anarchist Thought. And yet, the historical reality of the Athenian constitution may have been very different to what modern ideologues have envisaged. Was Athenian democracy truly a ‘rule by the many’, as the Greek word suggests? Or did the upper classes maintain their grasp over ‘real power’ down to the 4th century? This serious tension is exemplified in two contrasting passages in Thucydides’ narrative. In the so-called ‘Funeral Oration’, Thucydides has his Pericles proudly declare that ‘our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people’[1]; but a few chapters later Thucydides will turn this statement on its head by claiming that ‘in what was nominally a democracy power was really in the hands of one man’ : Pericles himself[2]. This essay will argue that although ‘real power’ did indeed reside with the demos, in practice a special position was reserved for wealthy citizens who would dominate the assembly as orators. Democracy first emerged in the end of the 6th century as a reaction to ‘stasis’ or civil strife[3]. The Cleisthenic reforms of 508-7 BC resulted in an isonomic constitution, founded on ten new tribes and the reorganization of Attica in demes, while the assembly, archons, Council of Areopagus and Heliaea still functioned as they had done under Solon and Peisistratus. The new council of 500, based on the 10 tribes, was now gradually replacing the aristocratic institution of the Areopagus, while the extensive use of lot in selecting the officials, emphasized the equality of all citizens, who now enjoyed equal political rights in the election of officials whether at the deme level (demarche), the tribal level (general) or the state level (archons and councillors). Democratic reforms continued throughout the 5th century. In 501/0 the importance of the archonships was greatly reduced by the introduction of the ten strategoi (generals). By 487 archons were selected by lot, whil e in 462 the democratic leader Ephialtes was assassinated for his involvement in further weakening the jurisdiction of the Areopagus[4]. Soon after, Pericles will introduce political pay of jurors and other officials while even the chief archonships were now opened to smallholders and -at least in theory- to the thetes. In post-Periclean Athens, a new generation of wealthy non-aristocrats like Cleon, Hyperbolus and Androcles dominated the Athenian political scene as ‘champions of the people’ and promoted further the interests of the Athenian masses. The Athenian constitution of the middle and late 5th century was therefore a genuinely popular constitution, a form of government that was primarily concerned with improving the welfare of the citizen mass. The Athenian demos was empowered with direct voting in the Assembly and the popular jury-courts, by raising hands, drawing ballots, or inscribing on ostraca. They enjoyed political liberty, freedom of speech and equality before the law. The people –rather than the Areopagus- were directly responsible for the examination  of one’s conduct while in office[5]. With respect to foreign policy, democratic Athens embarked on a staunched imperialistic policy which entailed significant benefits for the citizen mass. Measures such as state pay for jurors, Assembly members and sailors, the cleruchies, the liturgies and the eisphorae imposed on the rich, were tantamount to an indirect form of redistribution of state funds to the lower classes. Yet in practice the Athenian democracy retained a hint of elitism throughout its long history. Politicians -democrats and oligarchs alike- were always members of the upper classes of Athenian society. Cleisthenes, Alcibiades and Pericles himself were all members of the Alcmeonid family, one of the oldest and most illustrious ‘gene’ of Attica. And even ‘new men’ like Cleon and Hyperbolus or even Demosthenes were wealthy enough to afford the appropriate rhetorical education provided by the sophists. While the wider demos would exercise its political power by voting for or against the issue at stake, it was always men from the propertied classes that would put forth a proposal or move a decree. As a consequence Athenian politics tended to be personal rather than ideological, revolving around personal charisma and rhetorical skills rather than party organization[6]. This explains the typical view expressed by conservatives such as Thucydides, Aristophanes and Pl ato that the demos was always being ‘led’ by the ‘rhetores’: led wisely under Pericles, and led astray by his ‘lesser’ successors[7]. While acknowledging the special role played by these wealthy Athenians vis-à  -vis the citizen mass one should dismiss the oligarchic view of the Athenian demos as a naà ¯ve, passive spectator of the rhetorical skills of its leaders as an exaggeration. Athenian Assemblies were proverbially harsh in holding their leaders responsible for failures. One should think of the aftermath of Arginusai in 406 BC and the fate of Thucydides himself[8]. Even Pericles’ own political career was far from rosy. As one reads through Plutarch’s ‘Life of Pericles’ the Thucydidean concept of Athens as ‘essentially the rule by one man’ seems less and less plausible. Pericles, his wife and his protà ©gà ©s, Pheidias and Anaxagoras, were repeatedly -and often successfully- prosecuted by political opponents like Thucydides son of Melesias[9]; his sons were never granted an Athenian citizenship despite his passionate plea before the Assembly; and a fine was imposed o n him when the invading Spartans pillaged most other country estates but not his[10]. Unfair as these measures may sound, they demonstrate that even the ‘Olympian’ was susceptible to the fierce criticism of the Ecclesia. The Athenian demos was not only one of the most powerful citizen bodies in the Greek world; it was also the most experienced and demanding when it came to judging personalities, abstract concepts, law cases, policy recommendations or even theatrical plays. Politicians could come and go but the Athenians knew that the final word would always rest with the demos. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hornblower, S. (2002): ‘The Greek World: 479-323 BC’, New York: Routledge. Meiggs, R. (1999): ‘The Athenian Empire’, Oxford: Oxford University Press. D. Lewis [ed.](1988): ‘A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions’, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Wilcken, U. (1962): ‘Griechshe Geschichte: im Rahmen der Altertumsgeschichte, Mà ¼nchen. Plutarch, ‘Life of Kimon’, Bernadotte Perrin [trans] available in the Perseus Digital Library, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0182:text=Cim.:chapter=1:section=1 accessed on 15.03.2006. Plutarch, ‘Life of Pericles’, Bernadotte Perrin [trans] available in the Perseus Digital Library, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0182:text=Per.:chapter=1:section=1, accessed on 15.03.2006. (Pseudo-)Aristotle, ‘The Athenian Constitution’, G. Kenyon [trans], available in the Perseus Digital Library, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0046query=head%3D%2316, accessed on 15.03.2006. Thucydides, ‘History of the Peloponnesian War’, original and translation in G. P. Goold [ed], Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998. 1 Footnotes [1] Thucydides, II. 43 [2] ibid., II. 65. [3] For the relation between stasis and democratic reforms see Pseudo-Aristotle, 20.1: ‘Cleisthenes, getting the worse of the party struggle, attached the people to his following by proposing to give political power to the masses’. [4] For the weakening of the Areopagus see Plutarch, ‘LÄ ±fe of Kimon’, 15 and Aeschelus, ‘Oresteia’; for dating the introduction of the lot see Hornblower (2002:25) and Meiggs Lewis(1988:89-94); for the first recorded instance of a paid council see Thucydides, VIII, 69. [5] All greek words in brackets are taken from Pericles’ Funeral Oration. [6] Hornblower (2002:25) [7] Thucydides, II. 65 [8] ibid. IV, 104-7 [9] Plutarch, ‘Life of Pericles’, 32 [10] Thucydides, II. 65

Applying Theory to Practice Essay

Theory offers procedure and arrangement to nursing knowledge and provides a methodical way of collecting data to define, clarify, and forecast nursing practice (McEwen & Willis, 2011). Nurses use nursing theory to develop a certain outlook about patient care. Nursing theories serve as a shared groundwork for nursing practice across all settings to develop better patient care outcomes. This paper will explore childhood obesity and then apply to practice a mid-range and a borrowed nursing theory to the practice problem. Childhood obesity is a national problem that crosses all economic and social lines. Overweight children and adolescents are in jeopardy of having heart disease, such as hyperlipidemia or hypertension. In a varied group trial of 5- to 17-year-olds youths, 70% of overweight youth had at least one risk factor for heart disease (Freedman, Zuguo, Srinivasan, Berenson, & Dietz, 2007). Overweight youth are at higher risk to develop Type II diabetes (Li, Ford, Zhao, & Mokdad, 2009). Type II diabetes increases the risk of long term complications such as renal disease, visual impairment, cardiovascular disease, amputation, neuropathy, up to and including death. Youth that are overweight are also at higher risk for musculoskeletal issues, sleep disorders, socio-economic problems due to families inability to obtain medications and treatment. Overweight youth are also at risk of psychological problems such as being bullied in school, depression, suicide, and poor self-esteem (Dietz, 2004). Children and adolescents who are obese often carry this into adulthood and become obese adults. This sets them up for the likely hood of adult health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and osteoarthritis (Guo & Chumlea, 1999). Some of the long term ramifications of childhood obesity include but are not limited to many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Kushi et al., 2006). There are so many short term and long term emotional and physical ramifications associated with childhood obesity that it warrants research and study. Childhood obesity is preventable and treatable. As a society it is time that measures were put into place to reduce the ever increasing numbers of children dealing with childhood obesity on a daily basis. There also seems to be a tendency for obesity to be passed down from generation to generation not because of genetics alone, but because of the learned lifestyle of the family. To treat children and adolescents for obesity it is going to take educating and treating the entire family unit. References Dietz, W. H. (2004). Overweight in childhood and adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine, 350(), 855-857. Freedman, D. S., Zuguo, M., Srinivasan, S. R., Berenson, G. S., & Dietz, W. H. (2007). Cardiovascular risk factors and excess adiposity among overweight children and adolescents: the Bogalusa heart study. Journal of Pediatrics, 150(1), 12-17. Guo, S. S., & Chumlea, W. C. (1999). Tracking of body mass index in children in relation to overweight in adulthood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70(), 145-148. Kushi, L. H., Byers, T., Doyle, C., Bandera, E. V., McCullough, M., & Gansler, T. (2006). American cancer society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: Reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 56(56), 254. Li, C., Ford, E. S., Zhao, G., & Mokdad, A. H. (2009). Prevalence of prediabetes and its association with clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors and hyperinsu linemia among US adolescents. Diabetes Care, 32(). McEwen, M., & Willis, E. M. (2011). Theoretical basis for nursing (3 ed.). Philidelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer .

Human Resources Essay

Human Resource Policies Assessing personnel needs HR must be approachable if an employee seeks advice regarding employment Recruiting personnel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recruitment must be objective and has to meet the standards of the company Screening personnel Applicants must be screened in an objective manner and test their aptitude for the job Selecting and hiring personnel   Upon selection, the hired applicants will be more than qualified for the job applied for Orienting new employees to the organization   Newly-hired employees are oriented by the company guided by its mission and vision Deciding compensation issues Compensation and other benefits should be discussed upon signing the contract. Benefits and Compensation Basic Salary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The monthly wages that an employee must received due to work rendered. Night Differential   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An employee who works from 10pm until 6am will get a 30% of his basic salary Fringe Benefit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employees should be   complemented with the following: housing, group insurance (health, dental, life etc.), income protection, retirement benefits,daycare, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation (paid and non-paid), social security, profit sharing, funding of education, and other specialized benefits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employee awards Prolific   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An employee is award because he works more than is required. Efficiency   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An employee is awarded because of his work ethic and objectivity Resourcefulness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     An employee is rawwarded due to his ability to find alternatives for the betterment of the job Customer Satisfaction It is always a company standard to treat a client in a proper manner, so as to make an increase in sales. Such award given to the employee makes him a role model for other employees. Innovative An employee is given this award because he strives for progress Salesmanship An employee makes a transaction beyond his quota, sales of the company would increase and will give the company and the manufacturer a boost on their public relations. Citation: The Art of Motivation: An Incentive Industry Primer

Explain why the League of Nati essays

Explain why the League of Nati essays Explain why the League of Nations failed in the 1930s [6] Its membership never embraced all the great nations. It had no moral determination. It dared not offend the Great Powers. It had positive means of enforcing its decisions. It was not universally trusted. It did not attempt to make a stand until it was too late. The concept of the League of Nations could only succeed if all great Nations were members. Although the membership of the League steadily increased this was never the case. The U.S. never joined the League; Germany was not accepted as a member until 1926 and withdrew in 1934, Russia was initially very hostile to the League and did not join until 1934, and Japan withdrew in 1933. The League showed in its early days that it was not always willing to take a stand over a matter of principle. For example; Italy and Corfu: An Italian General was murdered in 1923 while arranging a new border between Greece and Albania. The Italians blamed the Greeks (although Albanians might have not bee responsible), sent them an unacceptable ultimatum and then invaded the island of Corfu. The League persuaded the Greeks to pay 50 million lire into a Swiss bank while mediation took place. Meanwhile the Conference of Ambassadors of the victorious powers decided that Italy should be appeased and ordered the 50 million lire to be paid to Mussolini as compensation. The result shows that the League was prepared to allow its decisions to be overruled by the Great Powers and that it would permit a big nation to bully a small one. Machine parts were found to contain machine guns. Somebody was re-arming Hungary contrary to the Versailles settlement. Then the League went to investigate it found that the Hungarians had broken up the guns. However, as the train carrying the weapons had started its journey in Italy, it seemed likely that Mussolini was responsible. When the League debated the matter it mildly rebuked the Hungar...

Learn How to Conjugate Neiger (to Snow) in French

Learn How to Conjugate Neiger (to Snow) in French When you want to tell someone that its snowing in French, youll use the verb  neiger  (to snow). While this is a spelling change verb, which typically makes learning the conjugations a challenge, its also an impersonal one. That means you have far fewer words to memorize, which makes this lesson far easier than most. Neiger  Is an Impersonal Verb Neiger  is an  impersonal verb. This means that a person cannot do the act. It makes sense if you think about it: I cannot personally make it snow, you  cannot make it snow, and neither can we, she, he, or any other subject pronoun except it. This happens to verbs that we cannot control and youll find that  pleuvoir  (to rain) follows the same logic. What this means for French students is that you dont need to memorize the verbs conjugates for all of the pronouns other than  il, which means it in this circumstance. Also, there is no imperative form. The Essential Conjugations of  Neiger While you do have fewer forms of  neiger  to memorize than with personal verbs, you do need to look out for a few changes in its conjugations. This is a  spelling change  verb. You will notice that when the verb stem (neig-) requires an ending that begins with  a, an  e  is placed between the stem and the ending. This is done to retain the soft  g  so it sounds like gel rather than gold. The first chart gives you the proper forms for  neiger  in the indicative mood. While the present and future tenses use regular -er  endings, the spelling change is required in the imperfect past tense. The chart  will help you learn that  il neige  means it is snowing,  il neigera  means it will snow, and il neigeait  means it snowed. Present Future Imperfect il neige neigera neigeait You may also need to question whether it really is snowing, which is when  the subjunctive  is useful. If, however, it will only snow if something else happens (the temperature drops, perhaps), then youll use  the conditional.  In most cases, you will only find  the passà © simple  and  imperfect subjunctive  in written French. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive il neige neigerait neigea neigeà ¢t The Present Participle of  Neiger The present participle  of  neiger  does require the spelling change. Thats because it uses an -ant  ending and this produces the word  neigeant. Neiger  in the Compound Past Tense Beyond the imperfect, you may also use the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  to say that it has already snowed. This compound past tense requires neigers  past participle  neigà ©Ã‚  as well as a helping (or auxiliary) verb. To form this, begin by conjugating  avoir  to the il  present tense, then add  neigà ©:  il a neigà ©.

Summarize Comm Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize Comm Theories - Essay Example principle of human social organization is made up of three basic elements: The appearance of the other with the self, followed by the identification of the other with the self, and lastly the searching of self-consciousness through the other (p. 253). The three elements of human social organization are enabled through mass communication. The theme in this reading is supported by the critical cultural theory. The theory argues that mass media establishes the status quo that defines social movements to bring about positive social change. The critical cultural theory illustrates that; communication occurs through a psychological process referred to as â€Å"mob-consciousness† (Baran & Davis, 2015). The psychological process is identified through a quantitative research method. An experimental approach is adopted to indicate how mob-consciousness is influenced by attitude and the surrounding environment. The quantitative research method was efficient and effective in establishing that a speaker has the ability to influence the general attitude of the audience. The research concluded that; communication occurs when one party assumes an attitude passed from another party and adjusts the attitude in respect to a particular aspect of the environment. The environment that influences attitudes is of much importance to the parties in the audience. The text achieves a common ground between the authors and the readers. The authors successfully explain how the social foundations and functions of thought influence communication. The critical cultural theory supports the theme of human social interaction. Communication arises when attitudes are assumed and adjusted to accommodate a common ground between the speaker and the audience, and among the audience