Trustworthiness of Qualitative Writing and Research Methodology Essay - 12

Trustworthiness of Qualitative Writing and Research Methodology - Essay Example Richardson and Adams explore the topic of qualitative research by attempting to analyze key aspects of qualitative writing. Richardson notes that in the world of qualitative writing two sets namely, literary and scientific exist. She notes that even though there seems to be a blur between the two genres, the distinction between them lies in the nature of the claim made by the author in the article. However, Richardson observes that post-modern ideas have helped resolve this issue, as it has made it easier to tell between based on such concepts as post-structuralism, a concept, she notes, that allows us to link the language used, social organization, subjectivity, and power. She observes that this interconnection directs qualitative writers towards understanding themselves reflexively, and equally frees them from consolidating all information that targets a myriad of an audience in one piece, instead of developing different pieces for the different audience. Postmodernism also claims that regardless of the extent to which a writer tries to suppress his/her presence in a qualitative article, the writer is always present and that the partial and situational nature of writing is a testimony to this fact. This, therefore, implies that a qualitative paper must meet the following key criteria: the paper must contribute to a substantive understanding of social life and the analytical approaches used in the paper must give room for interpretive responses. In addition, there has to be adequate self-awareness and self-exposure that enables the reader to make a conclusive judgment about the opinion presented by the writer, and finally, the paper ought to have an impact that for instance, can motivate the need for further research on the same.

Statement of purpose Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Statement of purpose - Essay Example This will add onto my competence as a member of the society because the family is the basic unit of the society. Clinically, my pursuit of this program is meant to advance my knowledge of health assessment. Prior studies and internships have underscored to me the need to have the highest level of competence in examining a patient’s medical issue in order to pick on the most suitable intervention that addresses that issue. Additionally, I seek to advance my knowledge of research methods in nursing because I reckon that as a registered nurse, I have a responsibility to generate knowledge, share it with other nurses and contribute to the overall growth and development of the profession of nursing (Codina 266). I seek to pursue this program with an interest of augmenting the skills of identifying and utilizing best practices in my work as a committed registered nurse. The other interest I have in pursuing in this program is to acquire knowledge of managing acute and chronic illnesses. I developed this interest after witnessing how disruptive the effects of such illnesses are to the family. A sizeable portion of scarce family resources goes to the care of chronically ill family members. Besides this economic impact, caregivers of the chronically who lack strong defences can develop depression. My endeavour is to use the knowledge I will get from this course to devise affordable and accessible interventions that can help address the economic, social and psychological toll that acute and chronic illnesses have on both patients and their families (Codina 262). It would be fulfilling to me to see families living happily without being put down by the sickness of one of the members. My value and high esteem for the family unit is one of the things that justify my fitness for the Family Nurse Practitioner program. The clinical hours I have handled in the previous educational levels and in my internships have

System Evaluation Essay Example for Free

System Evaluation Essay One of the most prevalent and effective systems used within the Marine Corps is the human resources system known as Marine Online (MOL). MOL was created to track Marines annual training, allow special requests such as leave, liberty, temporary duty assignments, personal time away from duty. MOL also gives Marines the ability to track carrier progression through annual reporting and rewards that are posted. The system includes promotion tracking and allows one to calculate physical training scores such as physical fitness training scores and combat fitness-training scores. The system allows Marines to track pay and leave in incremental amounts allowing one to view pay 15 days prior to being paid. The need for the system has been ever present and before its implementation everything was stored on paper and word of mouth. The system has helped the Corps as a whole because it creates a platform for many different types of data to be stored and calculates data automatically allowing data to be requested at a moment notice. The requirements of the Marine Corps that drove the system development of MOL are many in number but the need that drove the creation of it the most was how large the organization is. The Marine Corps size can vary from 200k to 400k including reserves. Commanders needed a system that would allow them to view leave and performance reports at a moments notice. In the process of creating the system they found there were many other facets of records they could include in the system. By digitizing these records they would be viewable by every Marine. This in turn allowed the Marine Corps to save hundreds of millions of dollars because they could reduce the number of departments. The Marine Corps had the ability to centralize all of the departments and reduce the amount of paper waste along with wasted man hours. In the past Marines would have to go to several separate departments to view the same information. The original system was only created to track only two areas of information. When the Marine Corps did their assessment of the system they found it to be so helpful they asked commanders if there was anything else they could add to the system to make it easier to track Marines carrier and allow individuals the ability to do the same. Allowing the individual Marines the ability to view these reports at a moments notice has allowed the organization as a whole to appeal to a much higher standard and expectation of the Marines. An example of a new tool that has been implemented in the system MOL is in the Marine Times â€Å"Use of the new communications tool, accessible through Marine Online, or MOL, will be mandatory for nearly the entire Corps by the end of February. † (Sanborn, 2011, para. 2). The use of this new communication tool has allowed family’s to stay in contact with loved ones while deployed over seas. The new system has improved almost every facet of the organization the basic use of the Marine Online System is to allow tracking of Marines to the commanders in the Marines Corps with the simple click of a mouse. The system has grown to so much more than it was originally created for allowing the growth of the Marine Corps in many other areas. Some likely future developments of the system will be the incorporation of medical and dental records. The system will probably be updated to include service record books to allow Marines individual records to be recorded electronically. The information system will eventually grow to allow every Marine to track every portion of their carrier to include new functions that were never though possible or never thought were needed. Something that has not been incorporated into the system is a mobile aspect but in the near future there will be. â€Å"In 2011, the Department of Defense announced it was creating a special online app store for members of the military so that they could download mobile apps that had been vetted for security issues† (Turban, Volonino, Wood, 2013, p. 88). Security has always been an issue for the Department of Defense (DOD) when creating mobile portions of their information systems. This is something that has repressed their ability to expand into the mobile business as of late the security of mobile system has become ever stronger and allowed the DOD to expand its information systems. Conclusion The MOL system has transformed how the Marine Corps functions in many different ways. The IS has allowed the organization as a whole to reduce aste and streamline the data it collects to a central location. Requirements of the system have always been present within the organization until recently has not been reasonably attainable with the amount of employees within the organization. The ultimate drive of the system is unit readiness and the unit readiness is easily quantifiable within the system because the commanders within the Marine Corps have instant access to the information required to gauge it. Unit readiness is the ability to leave at a moments notice when called upon by the president or congress to deploy to a war zone. The type and basic uses of the system are some of the most essential parts of the IS. Without the basic use of this system the Marine Corps as a whole would be at a loss without the use of it. In essence the application of this system has changed the business processes of the Marine Corps as a whole.

Poverty and the Welfare State

Poverty and the Welfare State Poverty and the Welfare State. Question 1 Describe critically Murrays analysis of the underclass. How does the population in the USA characterized by his use of this term differ from that in Britain. Question 2 In an essay of no more than 1000 words, outline and critically evaluate the view that the Welfare State tends to create more poverty than it has the ability to solve. your essay must include examples of state policies as well as consider the different ideologies of welfare in Britain Question 1. Murrays articles in the Times magazine in 1989 which outlined his thesis concerning the emergence of an underclass in the UK similar to the one he had already identified in the US has been one of the more controversial texts in social policy recently (Murray, 1989, 1990). Murrays central thesis is that the welfare state through the provision of benefits to unmarried mothers and the cessation of those benefits should these women marry has the effect of removing fatherhood and the influence thereof a father figure from the lives of these children (Murray, 1989). They in turn become dependent upon welfare and so a class of people is formed outside of the norms of wage earning society dependent wholly on the state for support (Murray, 1989). Before we discuss some of the criticisms of this view it is worth noting the peculiarities and differences between Murrays thesis as it relates to the US and the UK. In the first instance Murrays work in the UK is much less racialised than his identification of the population in the US (Murray, 1984). In the case of the US Murrays thesis and identification of the population comprising the majority of the underclass has been that it is a Black population. Murray then identified single black mothers as forming the core of the underclass. While this was a feature certainly still of his analysis of the British underclass it was not as strikingly so as his British version however the later versions of his thesis on the UK underclass also took on these racial overtones, (Murray, 1994). Murray can be criticized on any number of grounds but perhaps some of the most devastating criticisms can be found when we consider research which is actually undertaken on those who constitute the underclass rather than abstract theorizing about the underclass which denotes much of the vague definitions of what the underclass is meant to be (Alcock 1997). In this regard recent work by Edwards and Duncan (1997) for example has demonstrated the degree to which the stereotypes of the composition of the underclass do not match the realities of the lives involved. In their study of single women with children and their uptake of paid work they found that black single mothers living in positively regarded underclass areas (inner city areas of London for example) were more likely to seek work and to regard working themselves as being beneficial for their children (Edwards and Duncan, 1997:33). This was in contrast to single mothers from less predominantly underclass areas that held traditio nal views about rearing their children. These views emphasised the importance of caring for their children through being at home with them rather than outside the home in employment. Consequently the members of this group were much less likely to have work or to seek work or see work as a good. Thus the image of black single mothers creating an underclass through their rejection of a work ethic would seem to be unfounded. Thus even in this small instance fatal flaws in Murrays thesis can be identified, ultimately it can be said that the very vagueness of the definitions of what constitutes the underclass in the literature can it be argued be seen to be reflective of the fact that an identifiable object such as the underclass is impossible to define and serves merely as a critique of welfare arrangements and a moral attack on the nature of those who are marginalized by society. Question 2. With the collapse of communist states across the world in the 1980s a major perceived competitor to the market economy was removed with some like Fukuyama proclaiming it to be the end of history and the triumphant victory of liberalism (Fukuyama, 1992). In the UK as in other European countries of course the welfare state has mediated against the evils of capitalism as set out by Beveridge for some time, serving as Marxists had argued as a bribe of the working class and ensuring the legitimization and continuation of the welfare state (Mishra, 1990). It is not surprising then with all the past attacks on the nature of the welfare state to note that with the end of history there has come a renewed assault on the welfare state in the UK. Criticisms of the welfare state have come from both the left and the right but also crucially from the middle way of social democratic viewpoints. Almost consistent research has demonstrated the failure of the welfare state in reducing relative levels of poverty; in fact the UK today has a divide between rich and poor which is increasing quicker than at any other time in the history of the welfare state (Hills and Stewart, 2005). Thus it has become an almost consistent feature of debate that the welfare state has failed but the reasons given for this failure are completely oppositional. The two most prominent sources of these reasons have been neo-liberalists and social democratic parties. For neo-liberalists the evils of the welfare state far outweigh the evils of the free market so in discussing the view that the welfare state creates poverty it is worth recounting their views on the failings of the welfare state. At the core of many of the arguments thus against the welfare state are notions of desert. Desert is seen as a principle of morals and thus the failings of the welfare state in this respect is a moral failure which in turn leads to the moral turpitude of those the welfare state attempts to help (Lavalette and Pratt, 1997). This moral attack on the poor and the perceived institutions which has lead to their poverty is of course nothing new (Thane, 1992). Since the Poor Law state welfare arrangements have been criticized for the creation of a mentality which is seen to encourage indolence and decrease motivation towards self-sufficiency. The reliance on welfare thus leads to unwillingness to seek work. This in turn has the effect of leading to increased taxation to support those unwilling to work. This then in turn leads to increased difficulties for employers in terms of paying higher salaries to counter higher taxation and so on into a vicious cycle of dependency (Hayek, 1990). Such a trend it is argues lay at the heart of the Oil Crises and the subsequent retrenchment of the welfare state in the UK and elsewhere. Thus for the neo-liberal critique it is the totality of the welfare state which not only fails in reducing poverty but also serves to in fact create more. It does this both in a structural sense by hindering the effective operation of the market but also by creating in those who are recipients of welfare a mentality which causes them to retreat from the fundamental basics of economic life in seeking employment. Thus for neo-liberals measures such as Income Maintenance support schemes serve to create a duality of factors leading to the increase of poverty. Reform of the welfare state for neo-liberalists must be done so that only the bare minimum of services are required for those who are truly in need, such as the young, aged or infirm, (Fitzpatrick, 2001). Amidst these criticisms the welfare state in the UK has undergone revisions also from its social collectivist roots. This may be surprising but we can view this a response to critiques of the welfare state from both left and right and hence theyre emerged consequently an articulation of a Third Way, (Giddens, 1994). This Third Way was to be a radical re-conceptualisation of the basis and functions of the welfare state. As such then it can be seen that New Labour in particular has followed in the footsteps of Thatcher towards reforming the welfare state. But how effective have these reforms been and what is their basis? Perhaps the most potent of these transformations has been in a shift away from the universalism of the early welfare state to a new selectivitist philosophy. Selectivism entails the targeting of benefits through such measures as means-testing and other income threshold schemes so as that ideally those that need it the most benefit from the specified arrangement (Lowe, 2005). If anything their effect on the poorest has been marginal as these people are already in receipt of benefits and the introduction of means tests has had little impacts. Instead a stealth reform of the welfare state has occurred and those who were on the margins, previously covered by the benefit are now excluded on the basis of their income being over thresholds, even if this is just marginal, (Esping-Anderson, 2002). Thus we can argue that this selectivist based reform of the welfare state has worsened life for many by removing the safety net for all that existed previously under a universalist system. What this means in other words is that the Third Way of Labour has in actuality enhanced and widened the gaps between rich and poor and made the effects of poverty worse their reforms in favour of making the welfare state more effective. The pace and scale of the gap and its widening between rich and poor can be considered in this light. Indeed this notion of effectiveness found in much of social policy discourse can often be seen as simply cost-cutting exercises. The effects of which are leading to a situation where it is arguable that we have now seen neo-liberalism by the back door with major consequences for UK policy treatment of both poverty itself and those living in poverty. References Alcock, P. (1997); Understanding Poverty, Palgrave, Basingstoke UK Edwards, R. and Duncan S. (1997); Supporting the Family: Lone Mothers, Paid Work and the Underclass Debate; Critical Social Policy, Vol.7 No. 4 Esping-Anderson, G. (2002); Why We Need a New Welfare State, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK Fitzpatrick, T. (2001); Welfare Theory: An Introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke UK Fukuyama, F. (1992); The End of History and the Last Man, Penguin, New York US Giddens, A. (1994); Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics, Stanford University Press, California US Hayek, F.A.V. (1990); Economic Freedom, Blackwell, Oxford UK Hills, J. and Stewart, K. (2005); A More Equal Society, Policy Press, Bristol UK Lavalette, M. and Pratt, A. (1997); Social Policy: A Theoretical and Conceptual Introduction, Sage, London UK Lowe, R. (2005); The Welfare State in Britain since 1945, Palgrave, Basingstoke UK Mishra, R. (1990); The Welfare State in Capitalist Society, Harvester Wheatsheaf, New York US Murray, C. (1984); Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980, Basic Books, New York Murray, C. (1989); Underclass; Sunday Times Magazine, 26th November Murray, C. (1990), The Emerging British Underclass, IEA, London UK Murray, C. (1994); Underclass: The Crisis Deepens; The Sunday Times, 29th May Thane, P. (1982); The Foundations of the Welfare State, Longman, London UK

Communication Problems in the Workplace Essay -- Personal Narratives C

Communication Problems in the Workplace I work at Geneva Ace Hardware. My most important job, among my many duties, is to help customers. Usually everything goes ok, but there are always a few customers that can be hard to deal with. I’ve had to deal with Mexicans who can barely speak English. I’ve had to deal with Mexicans who use their 5 year old children/grandchildren as translators. I once had to deal with a Canadian couple whose accent was so rich; I would have about a 30 second delayed response to try to convert their English into my English. Then there are the people who just won’t accept my help because I’m only a kid. None of these people compare to the dude that was deaf. About a month ago I was standing in the main aisle of Ace chatting with Lambert, one of my coworkers. As we were talking, I noticed a guy approaching us. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw him stare right into my eyes, so I knew he needed some help. This was a big guy. He must have been 5’10† and 350 pounds, but it wasn’t exactly like he was fat. He was the kind of guy that had a lot of muscle, and then he had a layer of fat over that. This dude’s forearms were bigger than my lower legs. He had short, brown hair with a receding hairline. He had on work clothes, and he was sporting a big pair of wire-rimed glasses. These are the kind of glasses my grandpa would wear. This guy was probably in his late 40’s, but his karma made him appear much older. Anyway, as he’s approaching, I asked him if...

The Struggle of EZNL In Modern Mexico Essay -- Culture Mexico Mexican

The Struggle of EZNL In Modern Mexico Introduction In so few words, the Zapatistas are a people united in the struggle for the rights and dignity of the indigenous people of Mexico. They are a group composed of the natives to the land of the state of Chiapas, the southernmost and poorest state in Mexico, which primarily consists of the tribes of the Mayan peoples. The conditions that these indigenous people live in are a testament to the injustices caused by the spread of colonialism and capitalism and the blind eye that its institutions and governments have turned to the people who inhabit the land from which its profits are made. The suffering has given these people a voice, and the collective struggle has given rise to an organized army of the people: the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). The motives, actions, and origins of the EZLN are either misinterpreted or misunderstood by many. Often times my research has uncovered contradictions as to the purpose of this group, which shows that they are not fully known on a larger scale. However, their methods of non-violence after some initial violent uprisings have led to their sustenance, and the message they preach is spreading throughout the world and gaining them much support. They are both War and Peace in their existence, and in their ends have stated that they will bring War in order to finally attain Peace. What follows is a brief introduction to the setting of which the EZLN was born: the history of Mexico, the conditions and peoples of Chiapas, the shrouded origins of the EZLN, and the legend of the man from which they took their name: Emiliano Zapata. Following this is an account of the uprising that announced their presence to Mexico and the worl... ...municados. Ediciones Era, Mexico. 2003 VIDEO RECORDINGS Storm from the mountain: Zapatistas take Mexico City [videorecordng]. Colombo, Santiago. Big Noise Films, New York. 2001. The Silence of the Zapatistas. [videorecording]. Paco. Chiapas Media Project, Chicago. 2001. WEB RESOURCES http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/mexico/0311Zap_March.htm http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/2000/fzln_10thesis_july.html http://www.geocities.com/alt_politics/EZLN.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZLN http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico4.html http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chiapaslink.ukgateway.net/Mexicomap.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.chiapaslink.ukgateway.net/ch0.html&h=384&w=492&sz=51&tbnid=TNzEGG5d_Z4J:&tbnh=99&tbnw=126&start=19&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmexico,%2Bchiapas,%2Bmap%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Financial Education

Financial education should be a mandatory component of the school program. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? It is an obvious fact that financial aspects are a major part of the daily life, as an adult and even as a young individual. Each and every one of us has to make financial decisions concerning recreation, health, education and more. The question is whether to start with financial education as part of school program or to postpone it for a later stage in life.To begin with, being able to understand the value of money, the way the economic system works and to interpret financial news and its implications is a virtue. Without this virtue, an individual, even a young one, might suffer to some extent. For an example, a child who doesn’t understand the concept of money might find it more difficult to except choosing only one present out of more possible ones. In addition, many adults are lacking capability of financial analysis.Quite often, the reas on can be the lack of sound foundations or insecurity when it comes to financial terms and concepts. Starting from an early age, building a strong background, can very likely prevent such situation. However, financial education necessarily involves quantifying and setting prices and value for services and goods. It can easily turn young people into cynical human beings who lack emotion.Furthermore, a tendency to self-concentration and egoism might rise when one start measuring everything from a profit-making perspective. In conclusion, financial education has both pros and cons. In my opinion, the advantages are more significant than the disadvantages, making financial education an advisable component of the school program. The disadvantages should be thought of as a certain price that young people have to pay due to the characteristics of the world that we live in.Financial Statements