Using Mixed Method Both Qualitative Quantitative Research Free Essays

Background Once upon a time there was a successful line of convenience stores. We’ll call this group of stores â€Å"QuickStop†. At some point a staff-member realised that QuickStop seemed to be patronised by many more men than women. We will write a custom essay sample on Using Mixed Method: Both Qualitative Quantitative Research or any similar topic only for you Order Now This was passed along to the management team and they asked the store tellers to informally keep track of the proportions of men to women who came into their stores. It turned out that the theory seemed to hold true, and in fact far more men patronized QuickStop than did women. This information was passed along to the other managers at other QuickStop stores and they found the same trend. This received some higher level management attention and they began to wonder why this was occurring. Eventually management made the decision that this was too large a group of potential customers to lose, and a decision was eventually made to study this phenomenon and to understand why it was taking place, and if anything could be done about it. Research Objective A research project was designed to understand how women felt about shopping at QuickStop stores and why. It was decided that this research should be qualitative and the specific methodology would be In-depth-Interviews (this is research with one professional interviewer and one respondent at a time – in this case the decision was made because there were suspicions that there could be sensitive issues that wouldn’t be discussed as candidly in a group setting). Qualitative Research About two dozen current or potential female customers were paid to come into a research facility to discuss the use of convenience stores in general, and later in the interviews the discussion was directed specifically to QuickStop convenience stores, in particular. The results were very surprising to the management team. The major qualitative findings included  the following: i. Women viewed convenience stores to be primarily designed for men, with little or no consideration for women, ii. The bathrooms at convenience stores were believed to be the dirtiest that could be found in a city – â€Å"gross† was the most common description – and that perception permeated everything that women felt about convenience stores in general iii. QuickStop was seen as one of the worst of convenience stores â€Å"kind of the place for a man to buy gas, get a six-pack of cheap beer and cigarettes, but not the kind of place I want to go†. Quantitative Research Once the management team had an understanding of what issues they faced with female customers, they felt that they needed to understand how broadly these beliefs were held. Now they needed to get some hard numbers, and that meant that they needed to conduct quantitative market research. The research objective for this phase of research were: i. Understand how female customers of QuickStop differ from those that don’t regularly visit these stores. ii. Understand whether or not a renovation of QuickStop could entice each group to visit more frequently (or at all depending on whether the respondent currently avoided QuickStop entirely). For the quantitative phase of research they decided to conduct 250 telephone interviews with a combination of female respondents. The requirements to participate in this phase of research were that: half of the respondents stated that they had used QuickStop at least five times in the last year, and the other half admitted to intentionally avoiding QuickStop altogether, although they did use other brands of convenience stores. The major results  from the quantitative phase indicated that: a. Over 76% of all female QuickStop customers were women under 30 years old, without children, while women with children and with higher incomes were 5 times less likely to shop at QuickStop b. The good news was that of the women who didn’t currently use QuickStop, 64% said that if these stores were to update their color schemes, clean up their bathrooms and update their health and feminine products that they would be willing to try QuickStop again. The two phases of research (qualitative + quantitative) gave the QuickStop management team a very good understanding of where they currently stood with female customers and why. Their quantitative research also indicated that those women who were not currently using their stores would â€Å"forgive† them if they changed their ways. Their decision now was to decide if gaining more middle-aged women as customers was worth the cost of updating their stores and spending more money to keep them clean and neat, and better stocked with the types of products that middle-aged women with children needed. Research note: in general when conducting two phases of research (in this case qualitative and quantitative market research) it’s most often the case that the first phase (qualitative research) is conducted first as a â€Å"lead-in†. Qualitative research tends to help the management team understand the underlying issues, and the second phase (quantitative in this case) helps to understand how pervasive/wide spread these feelings/attitudes are among a certain target audience. How to cite Using Mixed Method: Both Qualitative Quantitative Research, Essays

Effectiveness Of Employee Involvement †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Effectiveness Of Employee Involvement. Answer: Effectiveness of employee involvement Employee involvement can have a positive impact on the performance of employees. The fact that the decisions and thoughts of the employees are taken into account by the managers acts a motivation for the employees (Wallace et al. 2016). Hence, the factors that support the involvement of employees include excellent opportunities for career development, transparency and the level of learning that the employees may get. These factors are supported by the fact that the motivation of the employees plays an important role in the success of an organisation. Moreover, the decisions of the employees play a crucial role, as the employees are involved in the designing of the products. Hence, the managers cannot generate the ideas that can be generated by the employees while designing a product. This also provides a learning experience for the employees as wrong decisions can help them to understand their mistakes. Hence, such experience can allow the employees to become a future leader and stri ve for the success of a company. Level of involvement required According to Andries and Czarnitzki (2014), it is important for managers to provide a level of involvement for the employees. Some of the decisions regarding designing, manufacturing or technical expertise can be consulted with the employees involved in these fields. However, the level of involvement needs to be checked so that the employees do not get enough freedom to take decisions at random. Hence, the level of involvement needs to be limited to only in the field of expertise. Managerial decisions such as planning or appraisal system need to be made confidential. These are top-level decisions that are to be made without the involvement of the employees. However, freedom needs to be provided to the employees in terms of applying any innovative tactics. Such freedom allows the employees to be more creative in their work. Thus, an involvement of the employees needs to be limited to the field of work rather than any managerial activities. References Andries, P. and Czarnitzki, D., 2014. Small firm innovation performance and employee involvement.Small Business Economics,43(1), pp.21-38. Wallace, J.C., Butts, M.M., Johnson, P.D., Stevens, F.G. and Smith, M.B., 2016. A multilevel model of employee innovation: Understanding the effects of regulatory focus, thriving, and employee involvement climate.Journal of Management,42(4), pp.982-1004.

Argument against Fracking free essay sample

I understand that hydraulic fracturing holds possibilities for many more jobs, tax revenue, and greater energy security. In a country that has had a terrible economy for years, it is reasonable for Americans to feel that fracking would be beneficial to them. Landowners and energy companies would make money from hydraulic fracturing. It would also create jobs for welders, drillers, chemists, and mechanics. New York could potentially drill four hundred wells per county and raise incomes by over $6-8 billion. Massive quantities of oil and clean-burning natural gas would improve our countries energy security and our ability to generate electricity, power vehicles, and heat homes for years to come. Although fracking presents us with these benefits, I believe that the negative impacts outweighs the increase of resources and revenue. In order for fracking to be successful, millions of gallons of water are needed. The need for this much water is depleting our fresh water supply. We will write a custom essay sample on Argument against Fracking or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Up to six hundred different chemicals are used in fracking, most of which are very toxic, including uranium, mercury, formaldehyde and ethylene. A lot of this now toxic water stays underground and could potentially contaminate a necessary resource, our water supply. Some of the chemicals used have been known to cause infertility, autism, ADHD, diabetes and thyroid disorders. (â€Å"Fracking Air Pollution†) It is obvious that many other health risks may arise as a result of fracking. Fracturing fluid chemicals, contaminated wastewater, and radioactive material could leak or spill from well heads, flow lines, tanks, trucks, and pits and cause contamination. For example, there has been reports of possible groundwater contamination in Colorado as a result of fracking. (J. Colson) There are records of earthquakes that have caused property damage in Ohio due to the pressure levels in the wells. (John Upton) Areas of gas production have also noticed significant increases in smog caused by chemical compounds released during hydraulic fracturing. (â€Å"Fracking Air Pollution†) There is a lack of long-term research on the effects that fracking has on people and their environment. Fracking is a big guessing game. People that claim to know that it will present us with all of these financially beneficial promises are not even sure how it is going to play out. There is no proof that it will raise incomes significantly. As far as increasing our countries energy security, do we even know how long energy from fracking will last? The harmful effect on the environment are not worth what may be false promises. We need to take the time to really understand what fracking could do instead of rushing into it because of its initial benefits. Yes, Americans are struggling for work, but how could we justify the jobs that fracking would create when so much potential damage could be done. We need to decide whether having an abundance of fossil fuels for the next generation is worth contaminating the environment. It may be beneficial to examine an already existing hydraulic fracking site for a few decades in order to make better decisions about whether it is a good choice of New York State. With the information we have at this time, I feel that it is clear to vote against fracking.

Biotech & Food Essays - Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology

Biotech & Food Essays - Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology Biotech & Food INTRODUCTION This paper is about Biotechnology and its use in creating new food products. In researching this paper, I found there is a lot of information on this subject and a lot of debate on the creation of genetically altered food, medicine, crops, and more. I decided to do my paper on the genetically altered food part of the subject. I will discuss what biotechnology is, who is for it and who is against it, and what some of the ethical concerns are when it comes to growing genetically modified (GM) crops. THE FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY DEBATE WHAT IS BIOTECHNOLOGY? Biotechnology is a broad term that applies to all living organisms. It is used for everything from microorganisms used to ferment beer to the most sophisticated forms of gene therapy. There are two categories of activities in biotechnology: the traditional methods and new scientific methods. The traditional methods are the way that farmers have been breeding their crop for centuries, cross breeding plants until finally some generation down the line is exactly the way they want it. The new methods are taking genes from different organisms and inserting them into another organism in the lab. This eliminates the waiting period to get the results they want, instead they get the exact plant they want right away. The United States government defines it as being any technique that uses living organisms or parts of living organisms to (1) make or modify products, (2) improve plants or animals, or (3) develop microorganisms for specific uses. The purpose of biotechnology in foods is to create better tasting and more nutritious foods, that have higher crop yields, and plants that are naturally protected from disease, insects, and drought. Through biotechnology scientist can develop plants with only specific beneficial traits and leave out the undesirable traits. They can change one characteristic or a few characteristics at a time with current technology. This enables them to release, for use, the modified seeds one step at a time instead of spending years to develop the best tasting and hardiest plants all at once. It takes 10 12 years to breed plants in the traditional way. With biotechnology, breeders can select the exact traits they are looking for and mix them together enabling them to get the plants they want in only 1 - 2 years. Crops that are currently produced in the U.S. through biotechnology are soybeans, corn, canola, tomatoes, squash, and potatoes. These crops are suppose to be improved versions of the traditional ones with added beneficial traits. RISKS Som e of the risks, to humans, that scientists have identified are new allergens in the food supply, antibiotic resistance, a concentration of toxic metals, and enhancement of the environment for toxic fungi. NEW ALLERGENS New allergens could cause problems for people that are sensitive to certain things and do not know that they are now part of something else that they were not allergic to. For example if they put certain milk proteins into carrots, parents would know not to give children allergic to milk the milk but they would not think twice about giving them the transgenic carrots that now contain milk proteins. A study done at the University of Nebraska showed that soybeans that were genetically engineered to contain proteins from Brazil nuts caused people allergic to Brazil nuts to have reactions to the soybeans. ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE In genetic engineering the often use antibiotic resistant genes as what they call selectable markers. The markers help select cells that have taken up foreign genes. Although the cells no longer have a use for the genes, they still stay in the plant tissues forever. Having these antibiotic genes in foods could cause two problems. This first is eating the foods that contain the genes could reduce the effectiveness of taking antibiotics that need to be taken with food when you are sick. An example is if you eat a tomato with the antibiotic genes at the same time as you take an antibiotic, the genes could destroy the antibiotic in your stomach. The second thing that could happen is the resistance genes could be transferred to humans making the antibiotics taken when ill useless. Although number two is

Digital technologhy plays a key role in eduction Essay

Digital technologhy plays a key role in eduction - Essay Example It is also argued that digital technology has the potential to support socio-cultural forms of not only ‘situated learning’, but also the associated perception of ‘communities of practice’ (Selwyn 2014). Some educators also argue that digital technology has the potential to support ‘progressive’ which are non-authoritarian forms of engagement in education. The progressive educational engagement include child-centred learning as well as open forms of teaching which advocates meaning making and interpretation in addition to encouraging learner autonomy as well as dispersal of power. Educational technologies are also believed to play a significant role in not only improving, but also transforming schooling (Gouseti 2014). It has the potential to transform â€Å"teaching and learning into an engaging and active process connected to real life† (Gouseti 2014, p. 37). Digital technology also prepares learners for future workplace. Despite digital technology being associated with many contributions to education, it is also evident that it can result to displacement of educational institutions. Digital technology cans also lead to the displacement of teachers in schools. Additionally, it is argued that the use of digital technology can result to partial reconfiguration of educational institutions (Selwyn 2011). Students also use digital technology inappropriately in school environments. However, it is good to know the integral role of a teacher in education as well as learning whether in technology-based or not in order to ascertain if technology use in education will lead to displacement of the teacher. Additionally, I think it is good for one to know more about ‘blended learning’. Understanding this will enable one associate role of the educational institution with use of digital technology. Armstrong, J 2014, BC High Students Punished For

Bodies, Sexualities and Identities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bodies, Sexualities and Identities - Essay Example Keywords: body, child masturbation, mind, sexuality Introduction I would like to use varying theories regarding Bodies, Sexualities and Identities. How have these theories transformed my understanding of some aspect of gender, sexualities, or identities from experience or the world around us is the main focus of this paper. There are varying theories presented by Locke, Freud, Rousseau and other theorists regarding bodies, genders, sexualities, and identities. Regarding this, it is important to integrate personal experience and other’s encounter with these aspects in order to somehow prove or justify the importance and relevance of the theorists’ ideas on the subject matter involving bodies, sexualities and identities. It is the intention of the proponent to justify that these theories are not hopelessly outmoded in today’s modern society, but in fact, would actually help the people understand the complexity and richness of ideas within the intricate subjects emb odied within bodies, sexualities and identities. Regarding this, the issue about child masturbation is discussed in detail. ... This is the first time that the very act of masturbation is illustrated in the scripture. This literature remarkably gave birth to a coined word â€Å"onanism† which in the modern times is strongly associated with the very act of masturbation or self-sex pleasure. This is of no surprise that masturbation was mentioned to be initiated by an adult. Onan was of the right and advanced age when he initiated masturbation by withdrawing his semen from the womb of his brother’s wife. Even in the times of Locke, Freud and Rousseau, masturbation was considered prevalent among adults as integral issue about sex. In fact, the idea about masturbation was strongly opposed within the classical period as it would strongly contradict with the ultimate view within religious principle. Even until today, religious individuals would most likely view at it as an act of immorality before God. Surprisingly, masturbation and even addiction with it in the 18th century was also associated with ch ildren (Egan & Hawkes, 2011). Today, masturbation is reportedly initiated by some children even at the age below 12 years old. Even then, this paved the way for taking into account child sexuality as an important area of concern among theorists like Locke, Freud, and Rousseau. It was of great interest to understand child sexuality in the first place as things in line with sexual matters would concern most about adults who are considered to be mature in this area. However, there are many things that need to be learned more about child sexuality as they are also humans who could be potentially sexually aroused at some specific point in time. This is the very point

The Physiological Demands Of Association Football

The Physiological Demands Of Association Football Association football at the elite level has developed vastly over recent years and many studies into match performance and training have been performed. It is clear that this research has enabled science to be incorporated to a greater extent into the training conducted in football. Earlier studies looked into the physiological demands of the game, by performing physiological measurements before and after the game or at half-time. In addition to this earlier research, some up to date studies have scrutinized changes in both performance and physiological responses with a special focus on the most demanding activities and periods in the game. Another area to have received considerable attention individual differences in the physical demands players are exposed to throughout the games and in training. These can be affected by training status, playing position and to the specific tactical roles assigned to the players. Thus, most top level clubs have incorporated the tactical and physical demands of the players into their fitness training. This paper will look into the demands of different activites of football, aerobic and anaerobic energy production in match play, the fatigue experienced in football matches and the training of top level players. Aerobic Energy Production in a Football Match Association football is an intermittent sport in which the aerobic energy system is utilized majorly, with mean heart rate at around 85% of maximal and peak heart rate at around 98% of maximal, Taking these values, it is possible to discover oxygen uptake using the relationship between heart rate and oxygen uptake. Though, it is unlikely that the heart rates measured during a match will be accurate enough to lead to a correct estimation of oxygen uptake, since variables such as dehydration, hyperthermia, and mental stress elevate the heart rate without affecting oxygen uptake. However, taking these factors into account, the heart rate measurements received during a game suggest the average oxygen uptake is around 70% of VO2 max. This is supported by core temperature data measured during the match. Since a linear relationship has been reported between rectal temperature and relative work intensity (Saltin Hermansen, 1966), core temperature can be used as an indirect measure of energy production. Throughout a bout of continuous cycling, completed at 70% VO2 max, the rectal temperature was 38.7 °C. In association football, the core temperature increases relatively more compared with the average intensity due to the intermittent nature of the game. Hence, it is pragmatic that a 60% of VO2 max work rate, the core temperature was 0.3 °C higher during intermittent than continuous exercise (Ekblom et al., 1971). All the same, core temperatures of 39-40 °C for the duration of a game propose that the average aerobic energy production rate for the period of a game is around 70% VO2 max (Mohr et al., 2004). Conversely, a factor of more interest than the average oxygen uptake may possibly be the rate of rise in oxygen uptake during the many short intense actions throughout the duration of the game. A players heart rate during a game is rarely below 65% of maximum, which means that oxygen delivery is continuously high. However, the oxygen kinetics during the constant flow from low to high intensity during match play appear to be restricted by the oxidative capacity of the contracting muscles (Krustrup, Hellsten, Bangsbo, 2004). Anaerobic energy production in a Football Match Top football players complete approximately 150-250 short duration, intense actions (sprints, shooting, tackling etc.) throughout a game (Mohr et al., 2003). This suggests the rate of anaerobic energy production will vary from low to high during the game. Albeit, not studied directly, the intense exercise leads to a high rate of creatine phosphate breakdown, which in some measure is resynthesized in the low-intensity exercise periods (Bangsbo, 1994). On However, creatine phosphate levels may decrease during periods of the game if the intense activities are completed with short recovery periods. Creatine phosphate in muscle biopsies obtained after intense exercise periods during a game have provided values above 70% of those at rest, although could be due to the delay in attaining the biopsy (Krustrup et al., 2006). A range of blood lactate concentrations of 2-10 mmol ·là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 have been observed during matches, from a variety of research (Krustrup et al., 2006). These findings suggest that the rate of muscle lactate production is high during match-play. However, it is important to consider that muscle lactate has been measured in only one study. In a non-competitive match between non-professional teams, data indicated that muscle lactate increased by 400% in comparison with resting values, after intense periods in both halves, (Krustrup et al., 2006). A study in 2003 by Krustrup, found values over three times those observed previously. However, more interesting was the fact that muscle lactate was not correlated with blood lactate. This is supported by research when participants performed repeated intense exercise using the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (Krustrup et al., 2003). This is in contrast to continuous exercise where the blood lactate concentrations are lower but reflec t well the muscle lactate concentrations during exercise. This difference between intermittent and continuous exercise are most likely caused by the different turnover speeds of muscle and blood lactate during the two types of exercise, with muscle lactate being removed more readily than blood lactate (Graham, Saltin, 1993). The relationship between muscle lactate and blood lactate also appears to be influenced by the activities immediately before sampling (Krustrup Bangsbo, 2001). Thus, the rather high blood lactate concentration often seen in football may not correspond to a high lactate production in the activity just performed, but instead, an accumulated reaction to a sequence of high-intensity activities (Krustrup et al., 2006). This is important to take into account when looking at the relationship between blood lactate concentration and muscle lactate concentration. Yet, it is suggested that the rate of glycolysis is high for short periods of time during a game based on the finding of high blood lactate and moderate muscle lactate concentrations during match-play, Fatigue in a Football Match Several studies have suggested that players ability to perform the high-intensity activities associated with football,is reduced towards the end of games in both elite and non-professional football (Krustrup et al., 2006; Mohr et al., 2003). Therefore, it has been established that the amount of sprinting, tackling, shooting, and the distance covered are lower in the second half compared to the first half of a game (Mohr et al., 2003). Whats more, it has been suggested that the amount of sprinting decreases in the final 15 min of a top-class soccer game (Mohr et al., 2003). However, there is a wide range of mechanisms that have been suggested to explain the decrease in exercise performance at the end of the football match. One particular mechanism is the depletion of glycogen stores, since the onset of fatigue during intermittent exercise has been linked to a lack of muscle glycogen. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that increasing muscle glycogen before intermittent exercise by carbo-loading enhances performance during exercise (Balsom et al., 1999). A study by Krustrup et al. (2006), found that the muscle glycogen concentration at the end of the match was reduced to 150-350 mmol ·kg. Thus, there was still glycogen available. However, histochemical analysis revealed that about half of the individual muscle fibres of both types were almost depleted or depleted of glycogen. This reduction can be linked to the reduction of sprint performance at the end of the match, and it was suggested a depletion of glycogen in some mucsle fibres does not allow for a maximal effort in single and repeated sprints. Nevertheless, it is unclear what the mechanisms are behind the possible causal relationship between muscle glycogen concentration and fatigue during prolonged intermittent exercise (Maughan, 2007). Dehydration has also been linked to the onset of fatigue in the later stages of a football game (Magal et al., 2003). Elite players have been reported to lose up to 3 litres of fluid during games (Maughan, 2007) and it has been observed that 5 and 10 m sprint times are slowed by dehydration which amounts to 2.7% of body weight (Magal et al., 2003). On the other hand, in a study by Krustrup et al. (2006) a significant decline in sprint performance was found, although the fluid loss of the subjects was only about 1% of body mass. Thus, it would appear that fluid loss is not always an important component in the impaired performance seen towards the end of a game. Current research via analysis of professional male football players during games has pointed out that players become fatigued at stages in a game (Mohr et al., 2003). Accordingly, in the five minutes subsequent to the most intense time of the match, the ability to complete   high-intensity exercise was decreased to levels below the average. Fatigue throughout a match is a complex and one with a wide range of explnations. One of these may be cerebral in nature, especially during hot conditions (Meeusen, Watson, Dvorak, 2006). Nevertheless, it has been suggested that the cause of fatigue, in elite level athletes only, is a muscular mechanism. In the study by Krustrup et al. (2006), the decrease in performance for the period of the game was correlated to muscle lactate. Conversely, the connection was very weak and the alteration in muscle lactate were not particularly clear. Whats more, numerous studies have publicized that the build up of lactate does not cause fatigue (Krustrup et al., 2003). A further mechanism suggested to be responsible muscle fatigue at some point in intense exercise is a low muscle pH (Sahlin, 1992). Nonetheless, muscle pH is not reduced dramatically, only to about 6.8, throughout a game and no correlation with performance level has been observed (Krustrup et al., 2006). Nevertheless, none of these explanations offer a clear picture into what is the primary cause of the fatigue during the game, and further research is needed to reveal the mechanisms causing fatigue throughout the match. Conclusions It is clear to see that association football utilizes both the aerobic and anaerobic energy production systems heavily, and could not be described as predominantly either aerobic or anaerobic. With the players travelling on average 10-13 km through a 90 minute game, the aerobic system is very important and training needs to focus on aerobic exercise. However, as the players complete, on average, 150-250 intense activity exercises throughout the 90 minute game, and blood and muscle lactate levels both dramatically increasing throughout the game, anaerobic exercise would also need to be focused on in order to improve this part of the game. It is the players that   can managed the balance between aerobic and anaerobic exercise that reach the top level of the game, and differences are seen between international players and other professionals, like they are non-international players and non-professional players. Based on the analysis of the demands of association football it is evident that the training of elite football players should focus on enhancing their ability to perform intense exercise and to recover rapidly from these periods of high-intensity activity. This can be achieved by performing an aerobic and anaerobic training regime on a regular basis (Bangsbo, 2005), which is easy for elite level football players who are played to train every day. However, for those who are wanting to become a professional football player, it is more difficult to train regularly, while potentially completing other work to earn money.   In a typical week for a professional football team with one match to play, the players might have six training sessions in 5 days, with the day after the match used to recover. For the average person, this sort of time is hard to find, and restricts an individual, who has not come through the academy system, wanting to become professional.