...Compare and contrast the major characteristics of two methods of sociological inquiry. Your answer should clarify how: Each method relates to a distinct tradition of social research (e.g., positivism, interpretivism or the critical tradition); Addresses the issue of objectivity and; Account for the relationship between the natural and the social sciences. Research methods are a crucial part to understanding society. Without research methods, scientists and researchers would not be able to understand the why, the how or the what. There are three main traditions in social research; Positivism, Interpretivism and Critical Tradition. In this essay, the writer will examine two of these traditions; positivism and interpretivism. The writer will talk about each of these traditions, the history and the type of research method each are. The writer will discuss examples of each tradition, a qualitative research method and a quantitative research method. The writer will then go on to discuss the contributions of two major sociologists in each; Emile Durkheim for Positivism and Max Weber for Interpretivism. The writer will then go on to compare and contrast each tradition. Positivism was first established by French philosopher Auguste Comte in the early 19th century. Positivism can be defined as ‘’ the tendency to develop the means of our reason either to predict the phenomena of nature or to modify them through our intervention, which is the characteristic feature...
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...educators. In adopting an autoethnographic and life-history approach, Mike Hayler develops a theoretically informed discussion of how the professional identity of teacher educators is both formed and represented by narratives of experience. The book draws upon analytic autoethnography and life-history methods to explore the ways in which teacher educators construct and develop their conceptions and practice by engaging with memory through narrative, in order to negotiate some of the ambivalences and uncertainties of their work. The author’s own story of learning, embedded within the text, was shared with other teacher-educators, who following interviews wrote self-narratives around themes which emerged from discussion. The focus for analysis develops from how professional identity and pedagogy are influenced by changing perceptions and self-narratives of life and work experiences, and how this may influence professional culture, content and practice in this area. Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK The book includes an evaluation of how using this approach has allowed the author to investigate both the subject and method of the research with implications for educational research and the practice of teacher education. Audience: Scholars and students of education and the education of teachers, researchers interested in autoethnography and self-narrative...
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...Chapter 1: Introduction to Communication Theory What is communication; ● ● ● “The process by which people interactively create, sustain and manage meaning” (D&Z, p 2), It is how we plan, control, manage, persuade, understand, lead, love, and so on, Competent communication: both effective (achieving goal) and appropriate (follow social expectation). What is theory; Theory is about what we know and how we know it. ● Theories provide an abstract understanding of the communication process (Miller, 2002), ● A lens through see the world, which highlights some things (and ignores others!) (D&Z, 3), ● A systematic summary about the nature of the communication process. There are 3 types of theories: 1. Commonsense theory -Created by an individuals own personal experience, -Useful to us and are often a basis for our decisions about how to communicate, -These theory’s are not supported by research. 2. Working theory -Generalizations made in particular professions about the best techniques doing something, -Practical and more systematic than commonsense theory. 3. Scholarly theory -The theory has undergone systematic research, -Provides more thorough accurate and abstract explanations for communication, -They are often more complex and difficult to understand. Evaluating theory; These are some criteria for evaluating the usefulness of the theory. Not good or bad. What to look for Accuracy Has the research supported that the theory works the way it says it does? Look at the research...
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...Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften Studiengang International Management Fach- Sozial und Methodenkompetenz Bachelor Research Proposal Consumer perceptions of socially responsible consumption: Attitudes among Chinese and German business students- A comparative/ contrastive study * * * Index 1 Title and Initial Statement of Research Question 3 2 Background 3 3 Statement of research objective 6 3.1 Primary research objective 6 3.2 Secondary research objective 6 3.3 Definition of terms 6 3.4 Detailed explanation of objectives 7 4 Research design and schedule 8 4.1 Approach 8 4.2 Methods of familiarisation: 8 4.3 Methods of using text: 9 4.4 Methods of using Talk: 9 4.5 Methods of using experimentation: 10 4.6 Methods of observation: 11 4.7 Tools of data recording and documentation 12 4.7.1 Tools for talk 12 4.7.2 Tools for text 12 4.7.3 Tools for observation 12 4.8 Time schedule 12 5 Significance and creativity 13 6 List of References 13 Title and Initial Statement of Research Question Consumer perceptions of socially responsible consumption: Attitudes among Chinese and German business students- A comparative/ contrastive study Every single consumption choice that consumers make has a huge impact on the environment and the society. Consumers can influence the market by buying products that have a limited impact on the environment and the society. By taking social responsibility in...
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...society, which often reply primarily on empirical approaches 2. Studies Culture * Culture is composed of ideas, values and perceptions * Culture is not instinctual, it must be learned and shared * Culture only exists within a society or group of people * Culture is a human adaptation to their environment 3. Holistic * The various parts of human culture and biology must be viewed in the broadest possible context in order to understand their interconnections and interdependence * Cultural Anthropology * The study of patterns of human behavior, thought and emotions, focusing on humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures * Ethnography * Detailed description of a particular culture * Ethnology * Study and analysis of different cultures from a comparative or historical point of view * Linguistic Anthropology * The study of human language – looking at their structure, history, and relation to social and cultural contexts * Descriptive Linguistic * Recording,...
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...CHAPTER THREE The Use of Theory ne component of reviewing the literature is to determine what theories might be used to explore the questions in a scholarly study. In quantitative research, researchers often test theories as an explanation for answers to their questions. In a quantitative dissertation, an entire section of a research proposal might be devoted to presenting the theory for the study. In qualitative research, the use of theory is much more varied. The inquirer may generate a theory as the final outcome of a study and place it at the end of a project, such as in grounded theory. In other qualitative studies, it comes at the beginning and provides a lens that shapes what is looked at and the questions asked, such as in ethnographies or in advocacy research. In mixed methods research, researchers may both test theories and generate them. Moreover, mixed methods research may contain a theoretical lens, such as a focus on feminist, racial, or class issues, that guides the entire study. I begin this chapter by focusing on theory use in a quantitative study. It reviews a definition of a theory, the use of variables in a quantitative study, the placement of theory in a quantitative study, and the alternative forms it might assume in a written plan. Procedures in identifying a theory are next presented, followed by a script of a theoretical perspective section of a quantitative research proposal. Then the discussion moves to the use of theory in a qualitative study. Qualitative...
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...Reading Guide, Mauss, The Gift Anthropology 125A/Econ 152A Economic Anthropology Reading Guide for Mauss, The Gift NOTE: use this guide to the extent that you find it helpful. You will hopefully have already read through the reading once. The guide is long because I often include quotations from the book. You can use this to reexamine points that I think important. I ask many questions. I do not expect you to be able to answer them. Ponder over the quotations and questions for a second. That pondering, even for a second, will help you focus better on sections in the coming week as we figure out the answers together. ------------------------ Consider this quote. Don’t worry if you don’t know everything he is referring to. Be sure to think about the sentence in bold: Note: “Utilitarianism” in Mauss refers to “liberalism,” (or economics as you are taught it and ‘market society’ as we have studied it in this course: focused on the individual as homo economicus, who puts individual self-interest first, and in where society is organize through and via the free market) “{In The Gift] Mauss summarily eliminates the two utilitarian ideologies that purport to account for the evolution of contracts: “natural economy,” Smith’s idea that individual barter was aboriginal; and the notion that primitive communities were altruistic, giving way eventually to our own regrettably selfish, but more efficient individualism. Against the contemporary move [i.e. at the time that...
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...EXPLORING THE REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER- ASSIGNMENT 1 “We teach to change the world.” (Brookefield, 1995: 1) This first section discusses reflection, as a teacher, why should I reflect upon my practice? What do I achieve? I feel that the process of reflection allows me to learn from my own experiences as a teacher, by providing me with a record of what I have done and an assessment of where I want to end up. Reflecting provides me with a focus for my teaching, where I constantly question what it is I am asking my students to do and why I am asking them to do it. So when I reflect, I not only challenge my own assumptions about what I do, I also identify areas where I feel that I could be lacking and possibly where I may be setting or working to standards that are too high and therefore unachievable by my students. There are many models that we can utilize to help us think reflectively. The Peters Model (1994) asks us to think of a particular situation we experienced and then to step back and allow ourselves to question the assumptions that we have made about that situation. Alternatively Brookfield suggests that we should use ‘critical lenses’, so that we look at a situation from our own viewpoint, from our colleagues’ viewpoint, from our students’ viewpoint and from a theoretical viewpoint. He calls these four viewpoints critical lenses and reminds us that, “A critically reflective educator knows that while meeting every one’s needs sounds compassionate and learner-centred...
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...Business Research Methods (2014) Decreasing number of box office hits per year in Telugu film industry (Tollywood) - analysis and recommendations Business Research Methods Submitted to Dr Arun Abraham Elias Victoria Management School Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand Submitted by M Rohit PGP/17/151 – Section C Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode India M Rohit (PGP/17/151) Page 1 Business Research Methods (2014) Abstract This paper talks about the emergence of Telugu films and subsequent growth and development of Telugu film industry (Tollywood). Indian film industry on a whole is facing serious issue in the decrease in number of hits per year. An attempt has been made to study this trend in Tollywood. Entertainment industry is a major source of income in the Indian GDP. Hence this topic of research has been chosen. The industry has seen transformation from Puranas to mass folklore to technological breakthroughs in the form of colour films and many more innovations. Tollywood holds a special place in Indian film industry in terms of quality of films, number of films released, box office collections and cultural and political impacts on India. This paper approaches the industry with behaviour over time analysis and then identifies various stakeholders involved in this complex network. The paper gives a brief idea of the effects of various parties on the industry. An attempt has been made to address various issues relating to technology,...
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...How Society Works – Lecture Notes Sep, 11, 2012 Introduction to Classical Social theory * “Theories in sociology are abstract, general ideas that help organize and make sense of the social world” (attempt to link idea’s with actual events) * Classical social theory (1840s – 1920s) – The enlightenment, political revolution (American revolution, French revolution), the industrial revolution * American and French revolution inspired more widespread adoption of democratic principle and rights of citizens * Industrial revolution caused dramatic, rapid urbanization, changes in family relations, gender relations, increased secularization * Classical social theorist and macro and micro theorists – macro are interested are in social theory that can explain huge social phenomenon’s (past and future), micro are interested in smaller scale phenomenon’s * Emile Durkheim was a positivist, saw society as analogous to a body, concerned with social solidarity, and developed the idea of the ‘social fact’ * Social Solidarity: division of labour Organic: present in modern societies, high dynamic density, high degree of labour specialization (works like a human body, everything works together with high specialization) Mechanical: present in traditional societies, low dynamic density , low degree of labour specialization (works like gears, works together to complete society) * Similarities of Social Solidarity: Conscience collective similar ideas...
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...Azim Ali Ali 1 Film Analysis of 3 Idiots and Societal Impacts on Individualism There is a classical Hindu scripture and story part of the Mahabharata called the Bhagavad Gita. In this story, one can tell the importance of sacrifice and dharma in Indian society. A legendary archer, Arjuna, has a major dilemma in the story in which he was to go to battle and fight, as he was a Kshatriya (warrior caste), or to not fight because he was going into battle to fight his uncles and aunts. Arjuna asked his chariot driver, an incarnation of Krishna, what he should do, and the driver told Arjuna to obey his dharma and fight just as his duty entailed him to and fight his loved ones. The dilemma that Arjuna experiences in the Bhagavad Gita is the same as the one many of the characters in 3 Idiots face. 3 Idiots is the perfect amalgamation of how dharma and izit affect one’s life in South Asia. Throughout the film, there were stories of characters facing the problem of being accepted in society as something other than what their parents wished them to be or do. 3 Idiots is a great movie that pushes the idea that duty and izit is not limited to family pressures or societal pressures, but also it pushes the idea that duty and izit can come from within and from individualism. The movie is a story of how three friends faced the major issues and problems with the education system in India and around the world. Three main characters: Rancho, Raju, and Farhan all coming from different...
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...BARACK OBAMA'S SOUTH CAROLINA SPEECH Introduction In this paper, I shall analyze US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's South Carolina victory speech from a particular pragmatic perspective. In particular, I shall explore the idea that this speech is constituted by many voices (in other words, it displays polyphony, to use an idea due to Bakhtin 1981, 1986) and that the audience is part of this speech event, adding and contributing to its text in a collaborative way (in particular, in constructing meaning). As many are aware (including the journalists who report day by day on Barack Obama's achievements), Obama uses the technique of 'personification' (The Economist, Dec 13th, 2007). When he voices an idea, he does not just expose it as if it came from himself, but gets another person (fictitious or, plausibly, real) to voice it. Since in an electoral speech, he cannot reasonably get people on stage to voice his ideas, he personifies ideas by narrating what people told him. His stories are his way of personifying his ideas. The discourse strategy he uses serves to reverse the direction of influence from the people in control to the people controlled (see van Dijk 2003). Duranti (2006b) writes that The language of politics has been presented and studied in terms of its ability to persuade an audience (of peers, subjects, and superiors) to go along with the speaker's view of the world and his or her proposal (Perrot 2000). In much of this literature, the successful political...
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...Expatriates in China Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges Ilaria Boncori ISBN: 9781137293473 DOI: 10.1057/9781137293473 Palgrave Macmillan Please respect intellectual property rights This material is copyright and its use is restricted by our standard site license terms and conditions (see palgraveconnect.com/pc/connect/info/terms_conditions.html). If you plan to copy, distribute or share in any format, including, for the avoidance of doubt, posting on websites, you need the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. To request permission please contact rights@palgrave.com. Expatriates in China Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges Ilaria Boncori Expatriates in China 10.1057/9781137293473 - Expatriates in China, Ilaria Boncori Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Wollongong - PalgraveConnect - 2014-05-17 This page intentionally left blank 10.1057/9781137293473 - Expatriates in China, Ilaria Boncori Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Wollongong - PalgraveConnect - 2014-05-17 Expatriates in China Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges Ilaria Boncori University of Essex, UK Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Wollongong - PalgraveConnect - 2014-05-17 10.1057/9781137293473 - Expatriates in China, Ilaria Boncori © Ilaria Boncori 2013 Foreword © Heather Höpfl 2013 All rights reserved. No reproduction...
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...C H A PTE R CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND TARGET AUDIENCE DECISIONS 3 Chapter Objectives • To understand the consumer decision-making process and how it varies for different types of purchases. • To understand various internal psychological processes, their influence on consumer decision making, and implications for advertising and promotion. • To understand the similarities and differences of target market and target audience. • To understand the various options for making a target audience decision for marketing communication. Marketers Seeking 50-Plus Consumers Nintendo is famous for its video games. DaimlerChrysler features a wide selection of car brands. Tabi is known for its classic women’s clothing. While seemingly unrelated, these brands have recently shared a similar strategy. As these established companies expanded beyond their current customer base, each brand attempted new marketing communication programs containing a more emotional message aimed at the 50-plus demographic. The 50-plus crowd not only is a sizable market, but also is a very lucrative one; they control 55 percent of all discretionary spending in Canada due to their relatively high net worth. And while the brands all looked toward the fifty-plus market, additional segmentation based on an understanding of consumer behaviour revealed subtle differences in their approach. For Nintendo, the saturated youth market proved to be a no-growth avenue. With industry sales hitting the billion-dollar level...
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...Contents Abstract 5 Acknowledgment 6 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Research Overview 7 1.2 Aims and Objectives 7 1.3 Research Questions 8 1.4 Structure of the Dissertation 8 2. Literature Review 10 2.1 Introduction 10 2.2 The 21st Century Business Environment 10 2.3 The Notion of Technology 11 2.4 The SWOT Framework 14 3. Research Methodology 17 3.1 Introduction 17 3.2 Justification of Theoretical Approach 17 3.3 Research Paradigm 17 3.4 Research Methodology 18 3.5 Ethical considerations 21 3.6 Challenges Encountered 21 3.7 Alternative Approach 22 4. Discussion and Findings 24 4.1 Introduction 24 4.2 Case Discussion and Analysis 24 4.3 Case Findings 29 5. Conclusion 31 5.1 Key Findings and Recommendations 31 5.2 Limitations 31 5.3 Future Research Options 32 6. Appendix 33 Appendix A: References 33 Appendix B: Interview Questions 36 Appendix C: Activity Plan 37 Abstract Gone are those days when firms used to just blindly invest in technology and forget. In this era of rapidly changing market needs and increasing use of technology, it is extremely significant and almost mandatory for firms to formulate a strong socio-technical network involving both technical and non-technical artefacts and structured around the organizational business strategies in order to attain set goals. Corporations all across the world especially Multi National Corporations (MNCs) which work twenty four hours round the clock and possess some of...
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