Thursday, November 28, 2019

STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF A CUP OF TEA Essays - A Cup Of Tea

STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF " A CUP OF TEA" 1. Introduction To be honest, when I read the story, I thought " how absurd this is". The first appearance of the story to me was just like this. But when I re- thought about some details I realised that the story is not that absurd. Above, it includes some social factors in it. And I think my assignment is going to be all about those details, because for me, "truth always hides itself in details", so to analyse this story I'm to deal with them. 2. Summary of the story The story is all about Rosemary Fell, a rich, young and modern country woman and one of her shopping days. This day, and an extra-ordinary day it was, started after she got out from an antique shop with a little box in her mind, that she is planing to buy. What made this ordinary day, extra- ordinary came with a voice of a young, poor girl, Miss Smith. She was shyly asking money for a cup of tea. At the moment Rosemary couldn't believe her ears. How can someone doesn't have money, even for a cup of tea? She thought a little, and decided to make an invitation. She invited this young, poor girl to her home. After some insist, Miss Smith accepted this invitation. They went home and had some cup of tea, and chat for a while. It was a chat that mostly Rosemary talk and Miss Smith listen with tears in her eyes. Then Philip, the husband of Rosemary appeared. He was confused to see Miss Smith, because she is not like one of the other friends of Rosemary. Then he wanted to talk with her and t hey went to the library. They had a conversation about the poor girl. Philip thought this situation is ridiculous, besides, he thought that Miss Smith is beautiful and pretty. This thought of Philip shocked Rosemary. She didn't look to her as Philip did. After she got out from the library she decided to give some money to her and let her go. Jealousy was the only reason for this. 3. Ideational functions a. Rosemary as participant i ) Relational process We can both understand her physical and personal state from the story. Everybody seems to be cheerful to her and acts like she is the one and only. This lady is the most active role of the story. We even can say the story is based on her. There are some sentences used to describe her image. a. She was young, brilliant, extremely modern, exquisitely well dressed... b. ... how charming her hands were against the blue velvet. ii. Mental process Mentally Rosemary is the organiser of the story, everything starts with her and so they finish with her. Her words are the commands for the others. For example, if she wants, Miss Smith to come home and have a cup of tea with her, Miss Smith must obey. Her commands are indeclinable. Although she seems to be philanthropic. I think she is not, for me she is so selfish. a. It would be thrilling (taking the poor girl home) b. And she heard herself saying afterwards to the amazement of her friends " I simply took her home with me" c. " Well keep it for me. Will you? I'll..." but the shop man had already bowed as though keeping it for her was all any human being can ask. He would be willing, of course, to keep it for her forever. Miss Smith as participant i ) Relational process She is the blur character of the story. Although we couldn't find information about her, she is the second important role. She appears to be young, poor, shy and pretty. But for me her main appearance is her tiredness. Besides, her personal or physical states are not that clear as Rosemary's. a. ... said the girl and there was pain in her voice b. Battered creature with enormous eyes, someone quite young... ii) Mental process There seems to be nothing abut her mental process. From the beginning till the end she just did what she is said to. a. " Won't you take off your hat?" very good madam" and the crushed hat was taken off b. The girl stayed just as she had been

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Electic Kool Aid Acid Test essays

The Electic Kool Aid Acid Test essays 1) Title of Book: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test 3) The grounds on which Thomas Wolfe created this documentation of the Merry Pranksters is that he attempts to re-create both the mental and physical atmosphere of their adventure and exploration across America. 4) Specific evidence in supporting the aforementioned thesis can be found in the Authors Note section of the book but also in the writing style used to develop this masterpiece. Writing in a basic journal style, Wolfe documented the extraordinary life style lived by the Pranksters through personal experiences with them as well as transcribing their adventures that were captured on both film and tape. 5) Tom Wolfe, with his journalist style of transcribing the current events, seems hard-pressed to be categorized into a specific group of historians, but he can be most noticeably associated with the New Left. This is because The New Left dealt mainly with the social and economic movements of the 1960and 70s, and the Psychedelic movement Wolfe documented so well was definitely a social movement of the infamous 1960s. 6) Tom Wolfe grew up in the land of Richmond, Virginia. He eventually graduated from Washington and Lee University, and later received a doctorate in American Studies from Yale. Besides being a novelist, Wolfe has worked as a reporter for the Springfield Union, The Washington Post, and the New York Herald Tribune. Some of his writings have also appeared in New York Magazine, Esquire, and Harpers. 7) The available information on Wolfe only affects his point of view in that the reason for his meticulous work can be found in his outstanding academic work in American Studies and diligent work as a journalist. This novel, which originally started out to be a novel discussing Ken Keseys (author of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) life as a fugitive wanted for drug possession living in Mexico, fr ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Impact of Financial Crisis on the Role of the Labor Union Movement in Essay

Impact of Financial Crisis on the Role of the Labor Union Movement in the US - Essay Example It is generally agreed that due to union partnership, wages are often driven up and those who are members of the labor unions tend to benefit more from the labor unions as compared to the workers who are not the members of the unions. Due to higher wages, the overall costs are increased and countries lose their overall competitiveness and hence jobs relocate to regions like Asia to provide low cost labor services. The current economic situation is also a glaring example of how higher wages and costs associated with the unions can actually increase the cost for the firms and hence make them less competitive as compared to other countries with little or no union activity. The resources of the firms are already under stress and higher costs therefore can further increase the costs. It is pertinent to note that trade union movement, at the global level, has also transcended itself into a much bigger role. During the initial phase of the current economic recession, global leaders of the d ifferent labor unions actively coordinated with G20 countries to bail out the global economy. This active participation into the overall policy making process therefore suggest that with the advent of the current global crisis, trade unions have also evolved the much bigger role for themselves including the element of policy making. (Russell) There is also a growing demand from different other quarters to suggest that labor unions must play an active part in resolving the economic crisis. As such emphasis has been laid on the role of labor unions as the facilitators of the management in overcoming the economic crisis. This new role of the labor unions therefore suggest that at least in US, the overall role of labor unions is... This essay offers comprehensive review of the Labor Union Movement in the United States in the post-crisis years. The paper outlines the diminishing role of labor unions in the modern economy. The current economic recession in US and other developed countries of the world has resulted into sharp decline in employment level. As such firms are cutting jobs in order to become more competitive and save costs. Rising unemployment therefore has also resulted into the lack of new memberships for the labor unions thus effectively reducing their influence within the organizations. Sharp decline in the output and lack of demand is resulting into lower output produced by the firms. Government is also looking for ways to further streamline and rationalize its expenses. Labor union is considered as an organization of workers wherein workers collectively strive to achieve some common goals such as better pay, improved working conditions and other benefits. The collective bargaining agent role of the labor unions therefore outlines that labor unions have the explicit right to enter into negotiations with the management of the firm to make mutual decisions in order to safeguard the interests of the workers. There have been efforts in some States of US, wherein due to high cost paid to unionized public employees that the union activity in public organizations should be banned. This suggests that there is a huge cry over curtailing the union activity in order to avoid further damage to the pubic as well as private institutions.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Market Review Exercise Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market Review Exercise - Dissertation Example Service proliferation comes from the increasing number of services offered by the financial in their search for new avenues of revenue generation. The search for new avenues of revenue generation by the financial sector has also resulted in growing competition among the various financial organizations in the financial sector. A key reason for the proliferation of financial services is the trend in favour of government de-regulation or the loosening of the control strings of the government on the financial sector. One of the reasons for the deregulation of the financial sector is for the ordinary citizen to earn more interest on savings and this has resulted in the trend for interest sensitive mix of funds. Developments in the field of information technology are used as tools for sharpening the competitive edge among the players in the financial, and also allow the many new services offered to ride piggyback on technology changes including automation. Effective use of the automation p ut in place requires generation of high volumes of sales, which means increased customer base and as a result the trend in consolidation and global expansion. ... Differences between Building Societies and Banks Building societies are mutual institutions in which a major portion of the having a savings account in the building society or a mortgage from the building society are members and in essence operate in the financial markets as financial services providers for meeting housing finance needs. Banks on the other financial enterprises in many cases hold public investment as stocks on which revenue has to be derived for paying out to the stock holders and so offer a plethora of financial services in the market towards revenue generation. Building societies are not so strongly governed by profit motives and so their services for housing purposes tend to be offered at lower costs; however they have a drawback in that there is a limit of 50% of their funds that they can seek from the wholesale market. However, in the new millennium these differences are getting blurred, because of the cross provision of financial services that has seen building societies indulging in selling insurance, unit trust and other such long term investment products and banks also offering competition in these services (Spencer, 2000). Current Building Society Trends By incorporating as public limited companies, building societies are able to overcome the limitations that they have in access to capital from the financial markets. This has seen the trend among building societies to become public limited companies. Such a move also helps them to overcome the restrictions of the UK Building Societies Act and face the challenge of reduced demand for housing finance. To offset the reduced demand for housing financial services, the trend after incorporation as public limited companies is to move into new areas of financial services

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The National Rugby League Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The National Rugby League - Case Study Example Rugby league was one of the three major sporting codes played in the winter, between March to September. The other two were Australian Football League (AFL) and the Rugby Union. The other two had made much progress in the previous years. The AFL had successfully included the girl’s competition in the league in order to broaden its junior ranks. Rugby Union on the other hand, had become very strong and successful considering the fact that in October to November 2003, it had organized and hosted a successful and high profile rugby world cup, which generated a huge profit of $40 Million. The Union has reinvested the money into the game, to improve its league at all levels. The National Rugby League wanted to grow and to do this, it had to first deal with the issues that had arose. It had to increase or maintain the crowds in order advance. It was necessary to increase the merchandise and win sponsorship. To expand the fan base, there was a plan to target the women. There was a plan to produce a 30 seconds lead commercial that would target the women audience. To do so, the commercial would feature the muscle star athletes and the well-recognized thumping background music â€Å"It’s my game† song of the voodoo gurus. There was also a need of increasing the multi-cultural fan base, which is very important for the league’s growth and marketing of the league. This was attributed by the fact that Canterbury Bulldogs, a famous Sydney-based NRL club, had a large multi-cultural fan base from different nationalities in Sydney. ... as attributed by the fact that Canterbury Bulldogs, a famous Sydney-based NRL club, had a large multi-cultural fan base from different nationalities in Sydney. In fact, one of their top players in 2003 was a Lebanese from Triploi Lebanon, by the name Hazem El Masri. He was such an inspiration and a great role model for junior players playing amateur rugby and aspiring to join the National league. This attraction of multi-cultural fan base in turn promoted the Canterbury Bulldogs, helping them to register more sells in merchandise than other clubs in the league. Case Problems The National Rugby league faced major problems that threatened to reduce the fan base, reduce sponsorship and popularity of the league. Canterbury Bulldogs one of the top clubs was rocked with a major scandal and this threatened to cause all the named problems. National Rugby League faced a huge responsibility, of ensuring that it took proper measures to prevent future incidences of such kind. One of the scandals that rocked the league was that its top club, Canterbury Bulldogs faced a sex scandal and potential loss of sponsors. In the pre-season of 2004, the Canterbury Bulldogs visited the country town of Coffs Harbour to play Canberra raiders. The Bulldogs team spent a night at the Novotel Pacific Bay resort, and one of the clubs policy never allowed women in to the hotel rooms where players spent. After the game on Saturday February 21, some of the players sneaked and went to party in the town and returned to the resort later that night. It was three days later on February 24 that reports of a sex scandal surfaced. The media alleged that on the night of 21st, six players had sexually attacked a 20-year-old woman. The players refuted that it was an attack. Some unnamed players said that the woman

Friday, November 15, 2019

Compatibility Of Divine Foreknowledge With Human Freedom Philosophy Essay

Compatibility Of Divine Foreknowledge With Human Freedom Philosophy Essay In this essay I will discuss Leibnizs position that divine foreknowledge of all events is compatible with human freedom and why it is that I agree with his position. To do so, I will first discuss Leibnizs position. Next, I will discuss what divine foreknowledge is and what human freedom is, so that it will be much easier to understand Leibnizs position. Following these descriptions I will provide Leibnizs conclusion and then show that his position is in fact correct due to the lack of contradiction between the two concepts that would have made divine foreknowledge and human freedom incompatible. Leibniz believes that divine foreknowledge, meaning Gods prior knowledge of every action, occurrence or event, is compatible with human freedom (Schlà ¶sser) which means that there is no contradiction between the two and that they go hand-in-hand. This mention of compatibility shows that Leibniz believes that divine foreknowledge works with human freedom and does not disrupt freedom in any manner. Before venturing on with Leibnizs position, it is best to first describe the two concepts in which Leibniz is considering which is Divine foreknowledge and human freedom. Divine foreknowledge is the knowledge of the world and everything within it which is preordained by a divine figure, which in this case is God (Schlà ¶sser). This concept of divine foreknowledge assumes that everything in the past and things in the future, that have not occurred yet, have already been seen and put in place by God. The concept of divine foreknowledge can be related to a priori truths (Leibniz 31) because the ability to know and see everything prior to its occurrence leaves no room for truth without all possible facts. What I mean by this is that, since God has created all and has the ability to see everything in that past, present and future, it is impossible for the truth/knowledge to be without factual backgrounds and is therefore a priori. Divine foreknowledge also follows the principle of contradiction which relates to all truths that concern possible or essences and the impossibility of a thing or its necessity (Leibniz 19). There is quite a difference in terms of human knowledge as human knowledge contains both a priori and non a priori truths. The reason for this is because humans do not possess the unlimited knowledge as divine foreknowledge does. This means that humans are incapable of knowing everything in the past, present and future which deems their knowledge very limited and cannot possess the ability to know everything with complete factual backing. There are truths in human knowledge which are a priori such as there is no effect without a cause (Leibniz 31) but there are also non a priori truths that humans are subject to such as, a hundred people on Earth, weigh the same as a hundred people in an unknown universe, which cannot be proved because this unknown universe has no factual backing to it to prove this claim, yet the truth/claim still exists. A good example of divine foreknowledge, given by Leibniz, is Julius Caesar and his rise to dictator and emperor of Rome (45). Leibniz writes that it is within Caesars notion, or natu re, as predetermined by God, that Caesar would overthrow the Roman Empire (45). Leibniz does not say that to do the opposite (i.e. not overthrow the Empire) would be impossible but seeing that it has been predetermined it is impossible (45). That may seem confusing, but what Leibniz means is that Caesar always had the choice to do the opposite but chose to overthrow the Empire, and the foreknowledge of this event is irrelevant in the choice that was made. Leibniz states that to find a connection between the subject, Caesar, and the predicate, his successful undertaking, he would in fact be showing that Caesars future dictatorship is grounded in his notion or nature (45), which is a predetermination of God but still is founded on free will as the decision to [cross] the Rubicon and [win] rather than [lose] at Pharsalus was based purely on reason and not cause (45). With this example, Leibniz is able to show not only how divine foreknowledge works, but also its connection and compatib ility with human freedom. Human freedom, as described by Leibniz, is any action that is committed purely out of personal views, beliefs, goals, et cetera (Schlà ¶sser). This action cannot be influenced by any other source outside of ones own self, else the action cannot be deemed as free (Schlà ¶sser). Also, it is merely reasons that guide us rather than the cause, which means we do things based primarily on a reason to do so instead of committing actions consistently for the same cause as everyone else, which is to say we were being controlled at every moment. Human freedom is different, in a sense, than that of divine freedom. Human freedom is limited purely by the person committing the action and his/her morals, beliefs and values (Schlà ¶sser) that back the action, while divine freedom is somewhat similar in its limits where the actions are limited purely by doing the right thing and not the wrong. Overall both freedoms are similar in that they are limited by some form of morality or belief, one of the only differences being that there is still the free will to choose ones action (Schlà ¶sser) over preordained divine freedom which is already set in stone. Therefore if free will is based primarily on ones own self and nothing else, then it is safe to assume, still, that Gods foreknowledge of these events is compatible. Leibniz has shown what it means to have free will and what divine foreknowledge is, as I have discussed. What must now be discussed is what makes divine knowledge so compatible with human freedom? At first, it seems as if God already knows whats going to happen before it even occurs, but then it couldnt be possible for humans to have free will as their every action had been preordained. However, this is not the case. It may be the case that God does has foreknowledge of every event, even prior to its creation, but what allows for human freedom to exist is that it is the person who commits the action at that point and time (Schlà ¶sser). God may have pre-existing knowledge of what you are going to do, but God does not control your actions every step of the way. It is still the person who makes the choice based on their own reason (Schlà ¶sser). Unlike a machine (Schlà ¶sser), humans have the option to choose a different path regardless of divine foreknowledge. This can be seen in t he world everyday with overbearing amounts of sin. These sins were also predetermined but not prevented by God (Schlà ¶sser), because if all foreseen sinful acts were prevented than there would be no existing human freedom and therefore divine foreknowledge would, instead, not be compatible with human freedom as the two concepts would create a contradiction. That being said, since there is sin in the world, it means that God has allowed for humans to make their own decisions based on their own reasons, beliefs, nature, et cetera, which means that human freedom does exist, even when the event at hand had been foreseen by God. Therefore, Leibniz can conclude that divine foreknowledge is in fact compatible with human freedom. I am in complete agreement with Leibnizs position on human freedom and divine foreknowledge. Leibnizs concept of divine foreknowledge not interfering with human freedom appears to be sound in its explanation. There would be more issues concerning freedom if divine foreknowledge had any effect directly on human decision in real-time. This means that as the decision to act is being made, a divine being is there to bend our choices to the right decision (i.e. a puppeteer). If this is the case then there would not be any free will in existence because, as Leibniz notes in his explanation of free will, our will is being governed by some external force (Schlà ¶sser). Therefore the action committed is not a free choice but a controlled one. I believe Leibniz is correct in saying that divine foreknowledge is not a problem for human freedom because this knowledge of all events is predetermined long before the existence of such events and therefore has no direct effect on human freedom to cho ose between the right and wrong decision. There is another way to look at this scenario that may better solidify Leibnizs claims (other than the Caesar example). To stray away from divinity for a moment, lets say that there is an ordinary man who can see into the future. This man has a vision that a teenage thug is going to steal a purse from a store in downtown Toronto. Moments later a teenager walks into a purse store. At this very moment, the teenager has the choice to do the right thing and rather purchase a purse or leave the store empty handed. The other option is to do the wrong thing and steal the purse. This choice is what determines the existence of free will. The teenager chooses to steal the purse for her own reasoning and leaves the store. I will now pose the following question: is the mans ability to foresee this theft a disruption of the existence of this teenagers freedom? The answer is simply, no. This vision, or foreknowledge, is simply an ability to foresee other humans making their choices to do good and bad things and not the ability to command or change a persons mind to choose right over wrong, as this would disrupt human freedom. This example provides a well-rounded and more up to date explanation of Leibnizs claim. The only difference would be that the man with visions could choose to stop the person from doing what is wrong, which is a little different from God, who has known about all events prior to their creation but will not interfere with free will. To make the example a little more satisfying, we can say that the time between the vision and the action is mere milliseconds, so that no disruption will be provided to intervene with free will. All-in-all the mere fact that God allows for sin to occur and that he is all knowing shows that this divine figure does not wish to intervene in human free will and change the outcomes. Just like the man with the visions, God has foreseen a humans every action but what God sees is free will in action as the person chooses to commit right and wrong actions. By no means does foreseeing an event occur, grant that that something or someone is being controlled. If it were the case that foreseen actions were tampered with, then human freedom would not exist. The same can be said for the man with visions. If the man decided to assist those people he foresaw in charging their ways to the right decision (not taking into account the very minute time gap put in place between vision and action) he would also be interfering with another persons free will, but at the same time is making use of his freedom of choice in order to help this person. This means that the man must implement his free will in order to do the right thing (although it can be argued whether interfering with another persons free will can in fact be considered the right thing to do). Therefore this example shows that the mere foreknowledge of an event does not mean that it contradicts free will, which means that div ine foreknowledge is in fact compatible with human freedom and also that Leibniz is correct. In conclusion, I have discussed Leibnizs position, that divine foreknowledge of all events is compatible with human freedom, by providing an explanation of what divine foreknowledge is and what it means to have free will in accordance with Leibniz. I then grouped the two concepts and explained why Leibniz thought they were compatible and then provided Leibnizs example of Julius Caesar and divine foreknowledge to show this. I then concluded this essay with why I agree with Leibnizs position and provided an example of my own, regarding a man who has visions of the future, to provide a better understanding of Leibnizs position without the use of divine characters. After careful consideration of Leibnizs position and reasoning I have concluded that Leibniz is correct in his position and divine foreknowledge poses no contradiction to human freedom and is indeed compatible with it.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Internet. Essay -- Design and Technology

The Internet. The Development of the Internet The Internet had started as a research project that was funded by the US Military. There were only three computers that were linked up to this network at this time. After 1969 a total of four computers were linked to this network, but nowadays there are billions. To link onto the internet everybody had a dial up connection which was a connection through your telephone line, when you wanted to go onto the internet a analogue signal would have been sent to your telephone provider and you would have been billed by them according to what your pay package was. The disadvantage of this was that you couldn’t accept telephone calls that were being made to your phone numbers but now the latest technology allows telephone calls to be accepted regardless if you are on the internet and now a new digital signal is being used instead of the old analogue one. Before simple information was displayed on the internet for example reviews and news and membership clubs were common, but now anything can be found on the internet. The internet also has a long way to go before it is 100% safe in the future; internet developers are working on improving the search engines, privacy and the security of the internet. Spam Spam is the name given to unwanted e-mails. This could be things advertising new products, or get rich prize draws, credit schemes and pornography. Spam can cost businesses as much as a couple of million pounds to send out computers. Spam can be sent to home computers as well as business computers. Businesses try to filter Spam by using blockers but these attempts may fail, because Spam is sent out in its millions this can clog up the internet network causing computers to rum slow or even crash. E-mail E-mail is short for electronic mail. E-mail is not only for fun but plays a large part in effective communication between major businesses. Almost everybody connected on the internet has an e-mail account. Accounts are free and can be achieved by singing up with companies such as yahoo, AOL and hotmail. Due to e-mail accounts being free storage space is limited. If you wish to have more storage space to keep more e-mails then the providers of your account offer you the chance to purchase a bigger account at a small price which you normally have to pay each month. Depending on ... ... should only contain material that is relevant and suitable for them. Ø Any pages that are likely to offend people should have a warning on them e.g. racist pages. Ø Links should not connect people to inappropriate sites when they are unaware of it. Ø People should not send Spam Ø Adverts on the internet should be true and not just joking about Ø If it is a purchasing site any extra cost such as VAT should clearly be shown Ø The advertisers name should be shown clearly Ø Information on web sites should not encourage illegal acts Ø Private data can’t be shown without the person knowing about it. Conclusion Overall the internet is a fast way to obtain information from a lot of different sources it is a good time killer if you are bored as it has billions and billions of different websites to explore. The internet is also a good way of advertising and selling and equally purchasing items. Although there are many draw backs the internet has more advantages than disadvantages. The fact that there are billions of people connected to the internet opposed to four computers when it was first set up means that it must be a good place to visit.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Mktg 390 Exam 3 Study Guide

MKTG 390, Exam 3 1. Marketers often mislead consumers by misrepresenting marketing research findings in ads and sales presentations. What are six ways in which they do this? (1). Incomplete or misleading reporting of survey or product testing results; (2). Reporting only the percentage of survey respondents answering in a given way (for example, â€Å"55% of those surveyed said†¦. †) but not the absolute numbers or the sample size; (3). Misleading specification of the competitors tested in reported comparative tests; (4).Using survey techniques that confuse respondents or bias their answers, but not revealing the questions and interview procedure. Sometimes corporate researchers intentionally design the company’s product testing and marketing research studies so as to generate deceptive findings. (1). Testing the company’s drug against a comparison during theta is well known not to work well. (2). Testing the company’s drug against too low a dose of t he comparison product, to make the company’s drug appear â€Å"more effective† , or against too high a dose of the comparison product to make the company’s drug appear â€Å"less toxic†. 3). Reporting only that part of a product trial that favors the company’s drug, and hiding the rest of the results. (4). Funding many different studies about the same product but reporting only the one or two that make the company’s product look desirable. 1) Tell lies about risks or limitations 2) Omit disclosing risks or limitations entirely 3) Bury or conceal disclosures among other information 4) Report only % of respondents who answer in a specific way 5) Incomplete reporting of testing results 6) Using survey techniques that confuse respondents 2.Explain the â€Å"number of subgroups† method for determining sample size. In any sample size determination problem, consideration must be given to the number and anticipated size of various subgroups o f the total sample that must be analyzed and about which statistical inferences must be made. For example, a researcher might decide that a sample of 400 is quite adequate overall. However, if male and female respondents must be analyzed separately and the sample is expected to be 50 percent male and 50 percent female, then the expected sample size for each subgroup is only 200.Is this number adequate for making the desired statistical inferences about the characteristics of the two groups? If the results are to be analyzed by both sex and age, the problem gets even more complicated. Assume that it is important to analyze four subgroups of the total sample: men under 35, men 35 and over, women under 35, and women 35 and over. If each group is expected to make up about 25 percent of the total sample, a sample of 400 will include only 100 respondents in each subgroup.The problem is that as sample size gets smaller, sampling error gets larger, and it becomes more difficult to tell whet her an observed difference between two groups is a real difference or simply a reflection ofsampling error. Other things being equal, the larger the number of subgroups to be analyzed, the larger the required total sample size. It has been suggested that a sample should provide, at a minimum, 100 or more respondents in each major subgroup and 20 to 50 respondents in each of the less important subgroups. Number of Subgroups to Be Analyzed . Subgroups–the number and anticipated size of various subgroups of the total sample that must be analyzed and statistical inferences must be made should be seriously considered. b. Sample Size–dependent on the number of subgroups to be analyzed–the more needed the larger the required total sample size. c. Minimum Needs–100 or more respondents in each major subgroup and 20 to 50 respondents in each of the less important subgroups. 3. You need to hire a marketing research firm to work with you on a new product research pro ject.Five factors you might consider in choosing among different research firms are the price they charge, their apparent honesty, their punctuality (ability to meet deadlines on a project), their flexibility, and their capacity to deliver the specified work. What are five other important factors for you to consider in making your choice? Briefly explain why each of these five factors is important. Maintains client confidentiality Provide high-quality output Responsive to the clients’ needs High quality-control standards Customer oriented in interaction with clients Keep clients informed throughout a project (1).Maintains client confidentiality (2). Delivers against project specifications (3). Provides high-quality output (4). Is responsive to the client’s needs (5). Has high quality-control standards (6). Is customer oriented in interactions with client (7). Keeps the client informed throughout a project 4. What two aspects of a research firm’s chosen research method and data collection process can decrease the firm’s ability to meet a deadline for completing a research project? What two aspects of a research firm’s internal management operations can decrease the firm’s capacity to meet key deadlines for a research project? 1) A discussion of questionnaires would not be complete without mentioning their impact on costs and profitability. Factors affecting costs and profits include overestimating, overbidding, incidence rate, roadblocks to completed interviews, and premature interview terminations. (2) Generally research firms do not have design and analytical capabilities. This means that their clients may, on occasion, need to seek other providers to meet their fully service needs. It also could decrease the firms’ capacity to meet key deadlines for a research project. not pretty sure yet) 5. A research firm’s â€Å"flexibility† is an important factor for clients to consider in deciding whether t o hire that firm. Why is flexibility important and what information would you seek to learn about a firm’s flexibility? Flexibility is important to see how a firm reacts in a crisis-management situation. Unexpected happenings occur often and flexibility shows how a firm will react to these situations. Flexibility also refers to a firm’s control over internal operations, and how they handle personnel issues, such as personnel turnover. . Research management has eight important goals. Three of these are (a) excellent communication, (b) staff development and retention, and (c) cost management. What are four other goals in successful research management? Briefly explain these four goals. (1). Organizing the supplier firm: large suppliers have separate departments for sampling, questionnaire programming, field, coding, tabulation, statistics, and sales? Even the client service staff may be separate from those who manage projects and write questionnaires and reports.Each of these departments has a head who is expert in the functions of that department and manages work assignments within the department. So in response to problems like this, some companies are organizing by teams. (2). Data Quality Management: this is the most important objective of the research management. Marketing research managers can help assure high-quality data by having policies and procedures in place to minimize source of error. Marketing researchers must not only attempt to minimize error, but must also do a better job of explaining the term margin error.Also, managers must have in place procedures to ensure the careful proofing of all text, chart, and graphs in written reports and other communications provided to the clients. (3). Time management:it is very important becasue clients often have a specified time schedule that they must meet. Two problems that can play havoc with time schedules are inaccuracies in estimates of the incidence rate and the interview length. The pro ject manager must have early information regarding whether or not a project can be completed on time.Time management requires that systems be put in place to inform management as to whether or not the project is on schedule. (4). Client Profitability Management: while marketing research departments may be able to focus on doing â€Å"on-demand† projects for internal clients, marketing research suppliers have to think about profitability. Customer Research Incorporated (CRI) divided its clients into four categories based on the client’s perceived value to CRI’s bottom line. CRI spent too much time and too many valuable employee resources on too many unprofitable customers. (5).Outsourcing:One way that research firms are cutting costs is outsourcing. The term outsourcing as used in this text is having personnel in another country perform some, or all, of the functions involved in a marketing research project. When a research firm sets up a wholly-owned foreign sub sidiary, it is called captive outsourcing. Simple outsourcing is where a domestic research company enters into a relationship with a foreign company that provides a variety of marketing research functions. For example, Cross-Tab Services of Mumbai, India, offers online survey programming, data processing, data analysis, and other services.Other services that are beginning to be outsourced are data management and panel management. A number of issues need to be considered when one is outsourcing, as shown in Exhibit 15. 10. India is most likely the world leader in marketing research outsourcing firms. Over 110 marketing research outsourcing firms in India (noncaptive) employ over 9,000 people. The country’s revenues Research management has seven important goals beyond excellent communication: building an effective organization, assurance of data quality, adherence to time schedules, cost control, client profitability management, and staff management and development. ) Building an effective organization–having an organization in which people work in their areas of highest strength (technical people doing tech stuff and charismatic people doing customer service activities) 2) Assurance of data quality–to ensure the integrity of the data produced 3) Adherence to time schedules (time management)–keep the project on schedule with specific time schedules the client has specified 4) Client profitability management–projects for clients are a priority but the bottom line is the most important; make sure the clients you’re serving are maximizing profitability and not stretching yourself too thin. . To retain key staff members, a research firm can help them develop their professional skills and meet their goals. What are three specific things a research supply firm can do to help retain key marketing research staff members, beyond paying them well? a. Conduct regular performance reviews that give continuing feedback on a job well d one—or offer ways to improve. Many staff members think their bosses play favorites during performance reviews. So department heads try to use clear performance criteria for each position and offer objective appraisals for everyone. . Offer public recognition for great work. Some groups mention great work during staff meetings; post client comments on a â€Å"wall of fame† in the department; have bosses send personal letters to staff members at home, praising their work; hold pizza parties for teams that have performed â€Å"above and beyond†; or simply have the head of the department stop by a staff member’s office to offer congratulations and thanks. c. Give differential pay raises that recognize superior performance.While across theboard, uniform pay increases are often used (because they are the easiest to administer), they do not recognize the high performers—and they allow the lower performers to believe they are doing adequate work. d. Vary t he work. In order to keep everyone interested, some research groups identify one-off projects and then allow staff members to volunteer for them. Examples of special projects could include a project that will feed into the firm’s strategic plans, formation of a high-visibility cross-functional team, or a project that uses a new technique or addresses an unusually interesting topic. 8.What is â€Å"stratified sampling†? What are the three steps involved in implementing a stratified sample? A stratified sampling procedure divides a population by a specific strata (some demographic characteristic pertinent to the population of interest) then people are chosen randomly within each stratum, usually proportionate to the total number of people in each stratum. Stratified samples are probability samples that are distinguished by the following procedural steps: (1). The original, or parent, population is divided into two or more mutually exclusive and exhaustive subsets (for ex ample, male and female). (2).Simple random samples of elements from the two or more subsets are chosen independently of each other. Three steps are involved in implementing a properly stratified sample: (1). Identify salient (important) demographic or classification factors. Factors that are correlated with the behavior of interest. For example, there may be reason to believe that men and women have different average consumption rates of a particular product. To use gender as a basis for meaningful stratifi cation, the researcher must be able to show with actual data that there are significant differences in the consumption levels of men and women.In this manner, various salient factors are identifi ed. Research indicates that, as a general rule, after the six most important factors have been identifi ed, the identification of additional salient factors adds little in the way of increased sampling efficiency. (2). Determine what proportions of the population fall into the various su bgroups under each stratum (for example, if gender has been determined to be a salient factor, determine what proportion of the population is male and what proportion is female).Using these proportions, the researcher can determine how many respondents are required from each subgroup. However, before a final determination is made, a decision must be made as to whether to use proportional allocation or disproportional, or optimal, allocation. (3). Select separate simple random samples from each stratum. This process is implemented somewhat differently than traditional simple random sampling. Assume that the stratified sampling plan requires that 240 women and 160 men be interviewed.The researcher will sample from the total population and keep track of the number of men and women interviewed. At some point in the process, when 240 women and 127 men have been interviewed, the researcher will interview only men until the target of 160 men is reached. In this manner, the process generate s a sample in which the proportion of men and women conforms to the allocation scheme derived in step 2. Stratified samples are not used as often as one might expect in marketing research. The reason is that the information necessary to properly stratify the sample is usually not available in advance.Stratification cannot be based on guesses or hunches but must be based on hard data regarding the characteristics of the population and the relationship between these characteristics and the behavior under investigation. Stratified samples are frequently used in political polling and media audience research. In those areas, the researcher is more likely to have the information necessary to implement the stratification process. 9. The American Marketing Association’s Code of Professional Ethics cites data collection principles that all marketing research firms should follow.One is â€Å"treat the respondent with respect and do not influence a respondent’s opinion or attitu de on any issue through direct or indirect attempts, including the framing of questions. † What are six other data collection principles that are cited in the AMA Code? Explain each of these briefly. (2). will conduct themselves in a professional manner and ensure privacy and confidentiality. (3). will ensure that all formulas used during bidding and reporting during the data collection process conform with the MRA/Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) Incidence Guidelines. 4). will make factually correct statements to secure cooperation and will honor promises made during the interview to respondents, whether verbal or written (5). will give respondents the opportunity to refuse to participate in the research when there is a possibility they may be identifiable even without the use of their name or address (e. g. , because of the size of the population being sampled). (6). will not use information to identify respondents without the permission of the respo ndent except to those who check the data or are involved in processing the data.If such permission is given, the interviewer must record it, or a respondent must do so, during all Internet studies, at the time the permission is secured. (7). will adhere to and follow these principles when conducting online research:  ¦ Respondents’ rights to anonymity must be safeguarded.  ¦ Unsolicited e-mail must not be sent to those requesting not to receive any further e-mail.  ¦ Researchers interviewing minors must adhere to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  ¦ Before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from a child, the researcher must obtain verifiable parental consent from the child’s parent. 8). for Internet research, will not use any data in any way contrary to the provider’s published privacy statement without permission from the respondent. (9). will respect the respondent’s right to withdraw or refuse to co operate at any stage of the study and will not use any procedure or technique to coerce or imply that cooperation is obligatory. (10)will obtain and document respondent consent when it is known that the personally identifiable information of the respondent may be passed by audio, video, or Interactive Voice Response to a third party for legal or other purposes. 11). will obtain permission and document consent of a parent, legal guardian, or responsible guardian before interviewing children 13 years of age or younger. Prior to obtaining permission, the interviewer should divulge the subject matter, length of interview, and other special tasks that may be required of the respondent. (12). will ensure that all interviewers comply with any laws or regulations that may be applicable when contacting or communicating to any minor (18 years old or younger) regardless of the technology or methodology utilized. (13). ill not reveal any information that could be used to identify clients withou t their written authorization. (14). will ensure that companies, their employees, and subcontractors involved in the data collection process adhere to reasonable precautions so that multiple surveys are not conducted at the same time with a specific respondent without explicit permission from the sponsoring company or companies. (15). will consider all research materials provided by the client or generated as a result of materials provided by the client to be the property of the client.These materials will not be disseminated or disposed of without the verbal or written permission of the client. (16). will, as time and availability permit, give their client the opportunity to monitor studies in progress to ensure research quality. (17). will not represent a nonresearch activity to be opinion and marketing research, such as:  ¦ the compilation of lists, registers, or data banks of names and addresses for any nonresearch purposes (e. g. , canvassing or fund raising).  ¦ industrial , commercial, or any other form of espionage.  ¦ the acquisition of information for use by credit rating services or similar organizations. sales or promotional approaches to the respondent.  ¦ the collection of debts. Companies engaged in data collection: (1) Will treat the respondent and the respondent’s opinions or beliefs with respect, and not influence a respondent’s opinion or belief on any issue through direct or indirect behavior, including the framing of questions or verbal or non-verbal reactions to what a respondent says. (2) Will ensure privacy and confidentiality (3) Will ensure that respondents are given information needed for â€Å"informed consent† to participate, e. , purpose, tasks, type of questions, length, right to refuse/withdraw. (4) Will make truthful statements to secure cooperation and will honor promises made before and during the interview to respondents, verbal or written (5) Will explain, promise and respect the respondentâ€⠄¢s right to withdraw or refuse to answer at any stage of the study, and will not try to coerce or to imply that cooperation and completion is obligatory. (6) Will give respondents the opportunity to refuse to participate when there is a possibility they may be identifiable even without using name or address (e. . , a small population of respondents). (7) Will obtain permission and document consent of a parent, legal guardian, or responsible guardian before interviewing any person under 13 years old. (8) Will disclose the study’s subject matter, length of interview, and special tasks required of before participation begins, to parents and guardians of children under 13. (9) Will not misrepresent as opinion research or marketing research any non-research activity. (10)Will not disclose to respondents any information that could identify a client without the client’s permission. ) Ensure privacy and confidentiality. 2) Assure that respondents are given information needed for â€Å"informed consent† to participate, e. g. , purpose, tasks, types of questions, length, right to refuse/withdraw. 3) Make truthful statements to secure cooperation and honor promises made before and during the interview to respondents verbal or written. 4) Explain and promise respect of the respondent’s right to withdraw or refuse to answer any stage of the study and will not try to coerce or to imply that cooperation and completion is obligatory. ) Give respondents the opportunity to refuse to participate when there is a possibility they may be identifiable even without using their name or address. 6) Will obtain permission and document consent of a parent, legal guardian, or responsible guardian before interviewing any person under 13 years old. 10. Snowball sampling is one method for doing â€Å"non-probability sampling†. Explain how and why â€Å"snowball sampling† is done. How? In snowball samples, sampling procedures are used to select addit ional respondents on the basis of referrals from initial respondents.This procedure is used to sample from low-incidence or rare populations—that is, populations that make up a very small percentage of the total population. The costs of finding members of these rare populations may be so great that the researcher is forced to use a technique such as snowball sampling. For example, suppose an insurance company needed to obtain a national sample of individuals who have switched from the indemnity form of healthcare coverage to a health maintenance organization in the past 6 months. It would be necessary to sample a very large number of consumers to identify 1,000 that fall into this population.It would be far more economical to obtain an initial sample of 200 people from the population of interest and have each of them provide the names of an average of four other people to complete the sample of 1,000. Why? The main advantage of snowball sampling is a dramatic reduction in sea rch costs. However, this advantage comes at the expense of sample quality. The total sample is likely to be biased because the individuals whose names were obtained from those sampled in the initial phase are likely to be very similar to those initially sampled.As a result, the sample may not be a good cross section of the total population. There is general agreement that some limits should be placed on the number of respondents obtained through referrals, although there are no specific rules regarding what these limits should be. This approach may also be hampered by the fact that respondents may be reluctant to give referrals. Snowball Sampling–involves the selection of additional respondents on the basis of referrals from the initial respondents. a. Main advantage– the dramatic reduction in search costs. b.Disadvantage–reduction in sample quality. Snowball sampling procedures ask respondents to recommend other individuals who share the characteristic of inter est. If you are looking for individuals who have been a victim of a particular crime, and you know there is a victim support network in the area, you might use this technique. There may be no other way to obtain the respondent’s names. The danger associated with this type of sample is, of course, the bias that may occur because of the method. The sample may not be a good cross section, also respondents may be reluctant to give referrals. 1. What are the first five steps in the questionnaire design process? Explain briefly what each step involves. 1. Determine survey objectives, resources, and constraints: know objective and information want to get out of the survey 2. Determine the data collection method: Way to gather info such as internet, phone ect†¦ 3. Determine the question response format: open ended, yes/no, multiple choice (check al that apply to you, age/ethnicity questions), scaled-response questions 4. Decide on the question wording: clear, avoids bias, willin gness to answer 5.Establish questionnaire flow and layout: screening questions to find people qualified for the survey, first question brings in interest, capitalize important things Step 1: Determine Survey Objectives, Resources, and Constraints The research process often begins when a marketing manager, brand manager, or new product development specialist has a need for decision-making information that is not available. a. Survey objectives–should be spelled out as clearly and precise as possible, as well as the available resources and budget and other constraints.Step 2: Determine the Data-Collection Method Given the variety of ways in which survey data can be gathered, such as via the Internet, telephone, mail, or self-administration, the research method will have an impact on questionnaire design. An in-person interview in a mall will have constraints (such as a time limitation) not encountered with an Internet questionnaire. A self-administered questionnaire must be exp licit and is usually rather short; because no interviewer will be present, respondents will not have the opportunity to clarify a question.A telephone interview may require a rich verbal description of a concept to make certain the respondent understands the idea being discussed. In contrast, an Internet survey can show the respondent a picture or video or demonstrate a concept. Step 3: Determine the Question Response Format Once the data-collection method has been determined, a decision must be made regarding the types of questions to be used in the survey. Three major types of questions are used in marketing research: open-ended, closed-ended, and scaled-response questions. Step 4: Decide on the the Question Wording 1). Make Sure the Wording Is Clear a. The questions must be stated so that it means the same thing to all respondents. b. Clarity is the goal. The questionnaire designer must use terminology native to the target respondent group and not use research jargon. It should c ustom-tailor the wording to the target respondent group. c. State the purpose of the survey. d. Avoid double-barreled questions–two questions in one. (2). Avoid Biasing the Respondent a. Leading questions. b. Biased wording of the question. c. Sponsor identification early in the interviewing process. (3).Consider the Respondent’s Ability to Answer the Questions a. A respondent may have never acquired the information to answer the question. b. A respondent may have forgotten details. c. To avoid this problem, keep the referenced time periods short. (4). Consider the Respondent’s Willingness to Answer the Question. a. Embarrassing topic must be phrased in a careful manner to minimize measurement error. b. Ask the question in the third person. c. Ask about â€Å"most people†. d. Using counterbiasing statements technique–state that the behavior or attitude is not unusual prior to asking the question.Step 5: Establish Questionnaire Flow and Layout (1). Use Screening Questions to Identify Qualified Respondents (2). Begin with a Question That Gets the Respondent’s Interest (3). Ask General Questions First (4). Ask Questions That Require â€Å"Work† in the Middle (5). Insert â€Å"Prompters† at Strategic Points (6). Position Sensitive, Threatening, and Demographic Questions at the End (7). Allow Plenty of Space for Open-Ended Responses (8). Put Instructions in Capital Letters (9). Use a Proper Introduction and Closing 12. Step 6 in the questionnaire design process is â€Å"Evaluate the questionnaire†.What are three key issues in evaluating a draft of the questionnaire? (1) Is the Question Necessary? Perhaps the most important criterion for this phase of questionnaire development is the necessity for a given question. Sometimes researchers and brand managers want to ask questions because â€Å"they were on the last survey we did like this† or because â€Å"it would be nice to know. † Excessive numbers of demographic questions are very common. Asking for education data, numbers of children in multiple age categories, and extensive demographics on the spouse simply is not warranted by the nature of many studies.Each question must serve a purpose. Unless it is a screener, an interest generator, or a required transition, it must be directly and explicitly related to the stated objectives of the particular survey. Any question that fails to satisfy at least one of these criteria should be omitted. (2) Is the Questionnaire Too Long? At this point, the researcher should role-play the survey, with volunteers acting as respondents. Although there is no magic number of interactions, the length of time it takes to complete the questionnaire should be averaged over a minimum of five trials.Any questionnaire to be administered in a mall or over the telephone should be a candidate for cutting if it averages longer than 20 minutes. Sometimes mall-intercept interviews can run slightly l onger if an incentive is provided to the respondent. Most Internet surveys should take less than 15 minutes to complete. Common incentives are movie tickets, pen and pencil sets, and cash or checks. The use of incentives often actually lowers survey costs because response rates increase and terminations during the interview decrease.If checks are given out instead of cash, the canceled checks can be used to create a list of survey participants for follow-up purposes. A technique that can reduce the length of questionnaires is called a split-questionnaire design. It can be used when the questionnaire is long and the sample size is large. The questionnaire is split into one core component (such as demographics, usage patterns, and psychographics) and a number of subcomponents. Respondents complete the core component plus a randomly assigned subcomponent. (3) Will the Questions Provide the Information Needed to Accomplish the Research Objectives?The researcher must make certain that th e questionnaire contains sufficient numbers and types of questions to meet the decision-making needs of management. A suggested procedure is to carefully review the written objectives for the research project and then write each question number next to the objective that the particular question will address. For example, question 1 applies to objective 3, question 2 to objective 2, and so forth. If a question cannot be tied to an objective, the researcher should determine whether the list of objectives is complete.If the list is complete, the question should be omitted. If the researcher finds an objective with no questions listed beside it, appropriate questions should be added. Tips for writing a good questionnaire are provided in the Practicing Marketing Research feature on page 263. (1). Is the Question Necessary? a. Each question must serve a purpose. b. Is it directly and explicitly related to the stated objectives of the particular survey? (2). Is the Questionnaire Too Long? a. Mall or telephone administered questionnaires should be limited to 20 minutes. b. Internet surveys should be less than 15 minutes. . Incentives can lower the cost of surveys because the response rates increase and terminations decrease. (3). Will the Questions Provide the Information Needed to Accomplish the Research Objectives? a. Review the written objectives for the research project–write each question number next to the objective that the particular question will address. b. If the question cannot be tied to an objective–determine if the list of objectives is complete. If complete, eliminate the question. c. If an objective has no questions, then appropriate questions should be added. 13.Compare â€Å"probability sampling† to â€Å"non-probability sampling†. What is probability sampling? What is non-probability sampling? Why is non-probability sampling used more often than probability sampling in actual marketing research projects? Probability samp les are selected in such a way that every element of the population has a known, nonzero likelihood of selection. Simple random sampling is the best known and most widely used probability sampling method. With probability sampling, the researcher must closely adhere to precise selection procedures that avoid arbitrary or biased selection of sample elements.When these procedures are followed strictly, the laws of probability hold, allowing calculation of the extent to which a sample value can be expected to differ from a population value. This difference is referred to as sampling error. The debate continues regarding whether online panels produce probability samples. Nonprobability samples are those in which specific elements from the population have been selected in a nonrandom manner. Nonrandomness results when population elements are selected on the basis of convenience—because they are easy or inexpensive to reach.Purposeful nonrandomness occurs when a sampling plan syste matically excludes or over represents certain subsets of the population. For example, if a sample designed to solicit the opinions of all women over the age of 18 were based on a telephone survey conducted during the day on weekdays, it would systematically exclude working women. See the Practicing Marketing Research feature above. On the other hand, probability samples have a number of disadvantages, the most important of which is that they are usually more expensive than nonprobability samples of the same size.The rules for selection increase interviewing costs and professional time spent in designing and executing the sample design. Non-probability sampling VS Probability sampling Disadvantages of Probability Samples a) More expensive than nonprobability samples b) Take more time and money to design and execute. Advantages of Nonprobability Samples a) Cost less than probability samples. b) Can be conducted more quickly than probability samples. c) Are reasonably representative if executed in a reasonable manner. , 14. Step 8 in the questionnaire design process is â€Å"Pretest and Revise†. a) How do you do a pretest a first-draft of a questionnaire? (b) Under what conditions can this step be skipped? (a) A pretest is done by the interviewers who will be working on the job and is administered to target respondents for the study. The pretest should be conducted in the same mode as the final interview. In a pretest, researchers look for misinterpretations by respondents, poor skip patterns, additional alternatives for pre-coded and closed-ended questions and general respondent reaction to the interview. Interviewers want find out if respondents were confused at all during the interview. b) There are NO reasons to not pre-test! No survey should be conducted without a pretest. 15. In a well-organized questionnaire, there is a logical flow of questions. The first questions are called â€Å"Screeners†. After Screeners are asked, what types of questio ns are asked in the next four sections of the questionnaire, in correct order? 16. In class and a handout, we discussed a method called â€Å"Information Acceleration† that companies can use to understand how people may react to a complex innovative product (e. g. , new self-driving car; new medical diagnostic system) when it is marketed sometime in the future. i) Explain the goals of the â€Å"Information Acceleration† method; (ii) Explain how to do the â€Å"Information Acceleration† method — what are its key features? (i) The goals of the â€Å"Information Acceleration† method (1)Test how exposure to an overall set of product-related messages influences consumer attitude toward the product, especially when test ads are mingled with non-marketing messages from other sources, eg, news articles, journals, competing ads, etc (2)Test how exposure to a company’s overall set of marketing materials affect consumers beliefs and impressions.For exa mple, does exposure to the assorted marketing messages for a product launch (TV ads, magazine ads; mailed brochures; point-of –purchase information; sales presentations; packaging) confuse consumers or mislead them about some aspect of the product, eg, risks, limitations, the key usage benefits? (ii)How: IA places consumers in a â€Å"virtual† learning and decision making environment, and stimulates (via computer) a set of information sources potentially available to a consumer, including advertising; news articles; showroom or store visits; and world-of-mouth opinions from other consumers and product experts.The method â€Å"accelerates† the flows of information consumers may encounter over a long time period in the future. Key features: (1) Realistic simulation of a complex media and message environment that consumers may face in the future when deciding about a new innovation, (2) Vivid and concrete renditions of the messages and the message-exposure Stimulat ions (3) Uses computer-interactive technology to decrease participant fatigue. (4) Respondent have access to a full assortment of information.They can choose which to look at or ignore; the order of their information search; the time they spend on the sources of information they consult (5) But, the marketer controls the overall time available for the search, as incentive to consumers to set priorities as they search (6) Can do â€Å"after-only with control group† experiments that vary product features. Product-related marketing materials, types of messages from non-marketing sources 17. In addition to â€Å"number of subgroups† and â€Å"traditional statistical methods†, what are (1). Budget AvailableThe sample size for a project is often determined by the budget available. The budget brand manager have, after deducting of other project cost, the amount remaining determines the size of the sample that can be surveyed. If the dollars available will not produced an adequate sample size, then management must make a decision:either additional funds must be found or the project should be canceled. Financial constrains challenge the researcher to develop research designs that will generate data of adequate quality for decision making purchases at low cost.This approaches forces the researcher to explore alternative data-collection approaches and to carefully consider the value of information in relations to its cost. (2). Rule of Thumb Potential clients may specify in the RFP about the sample size they want. Sometimes, this is number based on desired sampling error. In other cases, it is based on nothing more than past experience. The justification for the specific sample size may boil down to a â€Å"gut feeling† that a particular sample size is necessary or appropriate.If the researcher determine that the sample size requested is not adequate to support the objectives of the proposed research, then she or he has a professional responsi bility to present arguement for a larger sample size to the client and let the client make the final decision. (1). Budget Available a. Sample Size–for a project often is determined by the budget available. Sample size, therefore, is often determined backward. b. Alternative Data Collection Approaches–budget available approach forces the research to explore and consider the value of information in relation to its cost. 2). Rules of Thumb a. Potential clients may specify they want a sample of a specific size. b. Sometimes based on some consideration of sampling error, sometimes based on past experience and sample sizes used for similar studies in the past. c. If that the sample size requested is not adequate, the researcher has a professional responsibility to present arguments for a larger sample size to the client and let the client make the final decision. 18. Why is it so important for a marketing research firm to maintain high confidentiality about all aspects of i ts clients’ projects?Why is it sometimes difficult for a marketing research firm to maintain high confidentiality? Because participants of research projects share valuable and sometimes sensitive information with the researcher, and they trust that the researcher will ensure that their identity is protected. It is imperative that no one but the researchers coordinating and conducting the interviews or focus groups knows the names of participants. No one other than the researchers should have access to the responses from individual participants.It is critical that no one but the necessary researchers have the ability to match the names of individuals to their responses. It is hard to maintain confidentiality because sometimes companies share information about customers with partners and affiliates. Also, some companies sell information they have gathered on customers to outside companies. 19. What steps should be taken to assure that the response data from each respondent in a survey are kept confidential? (1) Develop a code sheet, listing the participants’ names with a code next to each name, assigned by the researcher, which uniquely identifies each respondent.This code, not the respondent’s name, will be written on the form for talking interview notes or the questionnaire itself. (2) Keep the code sheet in a secure location so that people other than the researchers do not have access to it. (3) Keep participants’ responses in a secure location, separate from the code sheet, to protect the identity of individuals participating in study. (4)Researchers should be trained to explain these procedures for maintaining confidentiality to all respondents before they start participation. 20.In deciding whether or not to hire a specific marketing research firm, why it is important to learn about the other new clients and projects that the firm has taken on recently? It is important to know if we are their prior client compared to other clien ts, so we could have the priority on technical team, key personals and other important resources to accomplish the project. Besides that, it’s important because if a client is a big account for the firm, will the firm be likely to ask difficult or complex questions and not be a â€Å"yes-man? And if the client is small, will they still be valuable to the firm or will they be ignored? Also, if a firm has had a high client turnover rate, both recent gains and losses, this could be a red flag. If they’ve lost a lot of clients it could signal poor work or management, but on the flip side if they’ve gained a lot, it may mean the firm will pay less attention to each individual client. It’s important to look at past projects as well to determine if a firm can actually do the client’s work.

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Homeless Essays - Homelessness, Humanitarian Aid, Socioeconomics

The Homeless Essays - Homelessness, Humanitarian Aid, Socioeconomics The Homeless Homelessness is a very large problem that America has come to face with. Millions of people, including children, families, babies, veterans, and the elderly live day by day without food, water, a roof over their head, or love. People that are mentally ill also have to tough it out on the streets, which can be very confusing to them, and dangerous to us. This problem must be solved soon, because it's not getting better fast enough. People have not always had to suffer with homelessness. Though the problem has almost always existed, it had not reached a severe level until the early 1970's. With every war there has been a small trickle of homeless veterans to follow, but the Vietnam war and Korean war left a wave of many people without anywhere to go. This was just the start of the problem. Many homeless people lived in places called Skid Row. A place with cheap bars, entertainment, and very cheap housing in buildings called SROs, or Single Room Occupancy. They could be rented from .50 to .90 cents a night. Then cities started to grow, and in the mid 1970s One million SROs were replaced with parking lots, buildings and apartments. Skid Row eventually vanished. Then the government decided to decriminalize drunkenness, loitering, and vagrancy. That means there were a great many homeless people that would normally be arrested under these conditions, still roaming the streets. Women and children started to f! ilter in to the homeless scene, and then in a huge recession in the 1980s 11,000,000 people were laid off (9.7% of all jobs). The numbers of homeless people soared. It didn't stop here though. President Reagan and Bush dropped public housing funds from 30 billion dollars to 6.7 billion, a net loss of 37,800 houses per year. By the beginning of the 1990s, over one million people were on waiting lists for homes. Homeless people can be categorized into four basic categories, families, lone, transient, or bums. A person in a family is usually a man and wife with one to many children living on the streets. A lone person is that who has no connection to anybody and never travels, but stays in the same general area. A transient is a person who never settles down for more than a few weeks, but keeps moving throughout cities by means of walking and hitch hiking. Within these categories are sub-categories. These sub categories are taken from a random group of 1,000 homeless people, and what their numbers would be. CATEGORYPEOPLE Families220 Lone Individuals780 Under 19146 Women229 Elderly Men17 Veterans Men188 Mentally Disabled Men125 Disabled Men28 Full Time Jobs7 Part Time Jobs27 Sporadic78 Effort173 Bum (Undeserving Homeless)49 Even the people with full time jobs are in need of permanent residence. These people live on eating scraps of food from trash cans, and possible meals from shelters on occasion, but those are usually three times a week at dinner, or some other type of schedule. People who have homes rarely think, nor can comprehend what terrible things that the homeless have to go through. They live in abandoned buildings, cars, buses, boxes, on park benches and underground. They eat bits of old fruit and meat with the mold and green sludge scrapped off. One man and his son used up their $60 of food stamps that they were giver for two months. For a week they lived on ketchup and mustard. Within three days of the condiments disappearing the boy had both his feet amputated due to frostbite. This was in New York. There are some people who still have a spark of interest in finding jobs. They look for places to work, and they try to establish an address and connections. If a homeless person is absolutely dedicated to ending his own homelessness, he will most likely find his way out. The one category that people assume all homeless fall into is the undeserving homeless, or "bums". These are usually men in their 40s or 50s who sit around all day and do nothing. They don't try and help themselves or others. They lie and cheat and honestly deserve nothing because they could never give anything if they were forced to. They make up a very small group in fact, about 4% of all homeless. Drugs are

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Free Essays on Anthropolgy- Taking A Nas Song And Depicting The Meaning

have meaning, and we can make a connection with what the singer/ writer has to say. Hip - Hop and rap often are classified as music that promotes; violence, drugs and inappropriate behavior. Yet many of the most famous rappers have sent positive messages to their listeners. Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones, A.K.A. â€Å"Nas Escobar† has a gift. He writes songs that come from his heart and from what he has seen in his lifetime. Born and raised in Queens Bridge, Queens New York he has seen a lot in his 29 years. His lyrics are â€Å"raw† and to the point. In the song â€Å"I can†, Nas offers lyrics of hope and continued support to children. This song contains many stories, all promoting one thing, with perseverance and knowing that in with time and many lessons to be learned, one will grow and become something great. Nas has been known for many of his songs/ and the meaning of his lyrics, but this song is not only making its way up the charts, but into the minds of many. When one hears a child singing â€Å" I know I can, be what I wanna be, if I work hard at it I’ll be where I wanna be†, it brings a smile to your face; knowing that these kids are singing a song that is catered to them and carries a positive message. The song continues with many short stories; the first one talking about a woman who was going to be a famous singer, but gets caught up with doing drugs and gets nowhere in life. Nas explains that the company one keeps is important, because they can alter your lifestyle, and it’s not always for the best. This is a subtle way of telling kids watch what they do because although it might seem harmless at that time, it can affect you forever. He also shows that drugs can ruin your dreams, so keep your mind straight. â€Å"I met a... Free Essays on Anthropolgy- Taking A Nas Song And Depicting The Meaning Free Essays on Anthropolgy- Taking A Nas Song And Depicting The Meaning Words went put together don’t only make sentences, but the words, phrases, and sentences make visions, pictures and ideas in our minds. Songs often become our favorites or have special meaning when the words have meaning, and we can make a connection with what the singer/ writer has to say. Hip - Hop and rap often are classified as music that promotes; violence, drugs and inappropriate behavior. Yet many of the most famous rappers have sent positive messages to their listeners. Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones, A.K.A. â€Å"Nas Escobar† has a gift. He writes songs that come from his heart and from what he has seen in his lifetime. Born and raised in Queens Bridge, Queens New York he has seen a lot in his 29 years. His lyrics are â€Å"raw† and to the point. In the song â€Å"I can†, Nas offers lyrics of hope and continued support to children. This song contains many stories, all promoting one thing, with perseverance and knowing that in with time and many lessons to be learned, one will grow and become something great. Nas has been known for many of his songs/ and the meaning of his lyrics, but this song is not only making its way up the charts, but into the minds of many. When one hears a child singing â€Å" I know I can, be what I wanna be, if I work hard at it I’ll be where I wanna be†, it brings a smile to your face; knowing that these kids are singing a song that is catered to them and carries a positive message. The song continues with many short stories; the first one talking about a woman who was going to be a famous singer, but gets caught up with doing drugs and gets nowhere in life. Nas explains that the company one keeps is important, because they can alter your lifestyle, and it’s not always for the best. This is a subtle way of telling kids watch what they do because although it might seem harmless at that time, it can affect you forever. He also shows that drugs can ruin your dreams, so keep your mind straight. â€Å"I met a...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Ethical Marketing and Tobacco Advertising Essay

Ethical Marketing and Tobacco Advertising - Essay Example Because of their powerful role in the society, governments and the legislatures of different nations and states impose rules and regulations to ensure that such power is not used wrongfully. Moroever, there is a growing demand on businesses to maintain higher ethical standards in all of their practises (Lantos 2001). The tobacco industry provides a classic setting to study the ethicality of marketing practices in general (Sundaram & Mitra 2007). This is especially that it is believed that â€Å"the cigarette is the only legally available product in the United States that when used as directed, will kill the user and injure others (Snell 2005). The future of the tobacco industry depends on maintaining current users and recruiting new users to replace older smokers who quit or die from tobacco-related diseases (Kreslake, et al,2008, p.1685). As such, every day in the United States, the tobacco industry spends almost $42 million on advertisements and promotions, and between 2002 and 2003 the industry increased its spending by $2.7 billion (Facts A La Carte 2007). The usual way of the government to effectively reduce the use of tobacco products is to ban smoking in restaurants and impose higher taxes on tobacco products (Doohee et al 2004). This paper will explain the basic ethics in marketing based on the related literature gathered and the current marketing strategies of the tobacco industry and a brief evaluation on the two sides of their ideas. For George Brenkert (2008), marketing a product is not about obtaining profit. For him marketing is a moral activity embodying central ethical values and principles. Marketers are expected to have limited but positive sympathies toward others (Robin and Reidenbach 1993). In Brenkert’s book Marketing Ethics, he addressed in a clear and pragmatic manner the ethical questions, misunderstandings, and challenges that marketing raises. He tried to confront standard marketing views and offered

Friday, November 1, 2019

HUMANITIES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

HUMANITIES - Essay Example the optimistic aspect of those issue schemes is applied while concluding any specific event, we come out with a positive approach towards conclusion of that event, and if pessimistic aspect of those issue schemes are applied, then appropriate conclusion towards any specific event can not be drawn. It is really essential to apply such issue scheme to any specific issue which should enable us in drawing a better conclusion. Before going into discussing impact of a historic issue on a selected event, let’s first get to know which historic issue and event are chosen for this purpose. The historic issue which has been selected is violence versus peace and the event on which its implication will be discussed is 9/11, a violent attack on the world trade center. The selected issue is a real ongoing issue in the present era and almost every country in the world is facing the dilemma of violence these days. And in opposition to that, peace is the phenomenon which has a lot of influence in settling up disputes and conflicts either among the individuals or among the nations. The event which is selected is also related to the historic issue of violence versus peace and in this assignment, we will show how much significance violence and peace has on the event of 9/11. While discussing a historic issue, let’s first get to know what violence is. To start with violence, it is those sadistic and aggressive acts done by a group or an individual whose purpose is to create fear and terror among some people or societies. We can also say that any act which creates fear and affects psychological stability of a person or society is called an act of violence. Whenever a violent act occurs, the people living in that specific area get mentally distressed and their routine life also get disturbed because of the fear that is generated due to the violent act. People, who perform violent acts, always have a motive of creating fear and distress among people. â€Å"Violent groups have an