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.

Mana and Kaitiakitanga Essay

Noa is often paired with tapu indicating that often noa refers to restoring a balance, unrestricted. A high level of tapu is regarded as dangerous. The role for tikanga and tohunga is to reduce th level of dangerous tapu until it is noa. However, it is not plainly the case to think of noa as being opposite or the absence of tapu. For instance, a person could be very tapu if one got very sick or there was bleeding. That one still has personal tapu even though the increasing of tapu symptoms have passed lead the person to return to the safe state. Health is restored after a crisis passes, which means a balance has been reached (the state of noa). Mead, H. M. (2003). (3) 2. Mana tangata According to The New Zealand Auction Plan for Human Rights, human rights (mana tanga) underlie our expectation about our education, work, life, and health. The essence of mana tangata is rights, control, and authority that are emanated directly from human. Injury or illness attributable to human activities, deaths through warfare, lifestyle changes affecting exercise, nutrition, and sanitation are all connected to Maori Hauora. Mana tangata relates to mana because it is an acknowledgment of acquired skills and inheritance (mana) which influence certain people to direct the daily activities in order to towards higher quality of life within Maori community. http://www2. ohchr. org/english/issues/plan_actions/docs/New_Zealand. pdf (4) 3. Mana â€Å"house nigger† According to Amanda Cameron’s article – Health book tells Maori to smoke – on Maori health, the term of â€Å"house niggers† was describe as the people who have been brainwashed by Pakeha and kept tamed by greedy â€Å"Uncle Tom† Maori health managers. ttp://www. nzherald. co. nz/nz/news/article. cfm? c_id=1&objectid=10347182 (5) From the book, Maori Health, was co-authored by the trust’s chairman Peter Caccioppoli and Rhys Cullen, Maori are persuaded to change their lifestyle because the Crown thinks it would reduce the number of Maori requiring treatment for disease if they change their diet (eat less and better), exercise more and stop smoking. In fact, people do not know how Maori health was defined and how healthcare for Maori was delivered. They just put Maori in position that relies on research on Pakeha. There is no reason why Maori cannot have their rights to choose their own life style. The health system is against what Maori enjoy and is racist, which can directly influence the mana of Maori. Caccioppoli, P. Cullen R. (2005) (6) 4. Mana (Respect) Respect, the most essential term of mana, is a key professional and social responsibility for all who are involved in the sector of health and disability services. This term for uniqueness of each individual child underlies all the rights within the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumer’s Rights. The right to dignity and independence is the basic requirement to respect the dignity and mana of the child. Negative attitudes held about consumer’s values and beliefs can impact upon their mana and wellbeing. For example, a nurse should provide respect in accordance with people with cultural requirement. http://www. hdc. org. nz/education/presentations/the-code,-child-and-adolescent-mental-health-and-concepts-of-maori-health (7) 5. Mana (Pride) – Whakama Whakama gives the notion of embarrassment and shame. The restoration of mana and tapu of all parties involved can sometimes help to eliminate the feeling of whakama. Hence, this term is bound up with the loss of mana. Collective whakama are able to affect the whanau, hapu and iwi that can be intense on both group and individual. The embracement or shame felt is an extremely strong and emotional force which can contribute to violence and suicide. List of Maori terms – http://www. justice. govt. nz (8) Question 2: 5 terms relating to Kaitiakitanga 1. Ira tangata (gene) and surrogacy Surrogacy means a woman gives birth to a child on behalf of another woman who lost her ability to carry her own children. The term of ira tangata (gene) and surrogacy is mentioned by Maori Attitudes to Assisted Human Reproduction. The surrogate mother may be paid to nurture the fertilized egg, giving the birth to the new life and then handling the new life to the natural parents. The aim of surrogacy is to produce a new life and thus create a new mauri. However, this would raise different sorts of moral and social issues. Mead, H. M. (2003) (9) For example, where a surrogate carried the intended parents’ embryo (gestational surrogacy), the integrity of whakapapa are not undermined. Whereas, when a surrogate is also donating an egg (contain her ira tabgata – gene) to the process and therefore the biological mother, then concerns about the integrity of whakapapa would rise. The surrogate may not be mentioned in whakapapa. http://lens. auckland. ac. nz/images/3/32/AHR_report_final. pdf (10) 2. Manaakitanga At the Cole’s Medical practice in New Zealand 2011, Peter Jansen and David Jansen articulated the term of Manaakitanga refers to the obligations and responsibilities to describe care for family and for visitors that is related to kaitiakitanga. Being hospitable and looking after one’s visitor is given priority. The provision of food (kia) and accommodation are involved in the process of welcoming and caring for visitors. http://www. mcnz. org. nz/portals/0/publications/coles/005%20-%20george. pdf (11) The aim of manaakitanga is to nurture relationships and as far as possible to respect the mana of other no matter what their standing in society might be. Mead, H. M. (2003) (12) Manaakitanga seeks to maintain balance harmony by informing kaupapa and protecting the quality or integrity of relationships among groups. www. tumana. aori. nz/assets/Te-Tauranga-Waka. doc (13) 3. Collective Responsibility In Maori society, collective responsibility is normally emphasised on the well-being of group, as opposite to the Pakeha focus on the individual. Grant Berghan(2007) (14) Collective responsibility is essential seem in terms of caring and whanaungatanga which belongs to the individual, the whanau, hapu and iwi (descended from a common ancestor. In The Code, Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Concepts of Maori Health, the right 4(4) of the Code emphasises holistic health is a cornerstone of Maori health. Te Hingengaro generally refers to mental health. Te Tinana is the physical body/representation of the ancestor. Both of them together determine how people feel about themselves and are therefore vital factors influencing a person’s health. Maori believe tat the mind, body, and soul are all closely inter-related and influence physical wellbeing. Physical cannot be dealt with in isolation, nor can the individual be seen as separate from their family. http://www. hdc. org. nz/education/presentations/the-code,-child-and-adolescent-mental-health-and-concepts-of-maori-health (15) 4. Family violence (Child abuse) Family violence is any violent act inflicted by one member of the household. Families and whanan are strong and richly interconnected with communities. They are able to support their member’s wellbeing, identity, participation in society and independence. Strong families are central to achieving wellbeing for all New Zealander, today and in the future. Family violence, including child abuse and neglect, is a major problem in New Zealand. Maori are more likely than non-Maori children to be assessed as abused and neglected. In 2002, 10. 3 Maori children compared with 5. 9 non-Maori per 1000 were assessed as abused and neglected. Ministry of Social Development has strengthened early intervention for vulnerable children and family. They are trying to improve health, education, and parent support services, as well as strengthen monitoring to prevent the family violence. http://www. msd. govt. nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/corporate/statement-of-intent/2005/families-and-whanau. html(16) 5. Whanau and smoking Whanau refers to family relationship, friendship, and other interpersonal relationship. The tendency of smoking in Maori community can result from lack of whanau support and care. Smoking represents one of the mechanisms by which socioeconomic factors affect health status. Recent national surveys (below) have shown that Maori adults smoke tobacco at a higher rate compared with the percentage of total population. [pic] http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470538/ (17) Smoking is the key risk factor for causing or contributing to death in Maori society. Thus, the programme Aukati KaiPaipa offers a strong cultural identity and support within whanau in order to address smoking addiction. http://www. bpac. org. nz/magazine/2009/july/smoking. asp (18) Question 3: Examples based on mana and kaitiakitanga terms Tapu In the Cole’s Medical Practice in New Zealand 2009, noa is the absence of tapu and donates the state of being normal, ordinary or safe. On the other hand, tapu can be understood as the state of dangerous. However, tapu is believed to be scared by psychotherapist and clinical advisor Cabrini ‘Ofa Makasiale. The concept of tapu is more about safety than about a punitive measure. The function of tapu is to protect and enhance people’s lives. Cabrini ‘Ofa Makasiale(2007) (19) These two meaning are quite different in terms of the theory described by different health sectors. Tapu defines the boundary between safe and unsafe. They analyse tapu from different kaupapa (subject) of the term. Auahi Kore The term Auahi Kore is used by The Hauora provider Te Kotahitanga Trust in order to mean Maori should have their own rights to make choices on issues about smoking. This opinion was mentioned by Peter Caccioppoli and Phys Cullen in their book Maori Health on page 108. However, Hon Peter Hodgson who is the minister of health uses the same term to mean Auahi Kore is a good lifestyle which can lead a longer and healthier life for Maori people in New Zealand Health Strategy. Smoking is the root of a variety of disease like lung cancer and heart disease, which are trend to shorten human’s life. www. moh. govt. nz/moh. nsf/pagesmh/5507/$File/mentalhealth-toolkit-relinked08. doc (20) The difference in meaning is that they focus on two different theories. The previous one concentrates on rights, while the other concerned about health, which is dominant culture using Maori term to promote a healthier life. Question 4: 5 terms relate to Hauora Outcomes Tapu and mental disease: Tapu is about scared bonds between people. These bonds could stem Pacific eople from the cosmic and spiritual relationships between them, their patients and their gods. Spirituality is a key component in Pacific models care and exists alongside the mental aspect of a person’s wellbeing. For Pacific people, the concept of wellbeing focuses on the collective, rather than the individual. Therefore the breakdown of the holistic self as well as breach of tapu can contribute to m ental illness. www. leva. co. nz/file/Documents/090428-le-va-seitapu-real-skills-web. pdf (21) Take cervical screening for example, many women are not willing to see doctor even though they have already known their situation. Womb is scared and a part of tapu for woman. Barriers such as shyness caused by tapu may contribute women of any ethnicity to suffer regular cervical screening. The chart below shows cervical screening rates in different areas by 2009. [pic] http://www. bpac. org. nz/magazine/2010/november/cervicalscreening. asp (22) Mana tangata and Lifestyle Awareness Mana tangata refers to human rights which are closely connected with human lifestyle. According to National Health Committee (NHC, 1998), Maori are over-represented in the areas of unemployment, poverty, crime, poor diet, and harmful lifestyle choice such as alcohol and drug abuse.

Application Controls, Monitoring, and Honeypots Essay

Application Controls, Monitoring, and Honeypots - Essay Example In addition to maintaining the rules, someone must respond to the alerts. Sometimes signatures may also match valid activity, meaning that responding to alerts first requires determining whether the alert is the result of an intrusion or unexpected, but valid, system activity. All of these require highly trained personnel to carry out (Skoudis, 2002). The implication here is, and as our company's ICT director confirmed, that current intrusion detection systems are somewhat limited in capacity. This does not mean that current intrusion systems are not effective but only they are not as effective as required. Within the context of the stated, it is commonly held that anomaly detection will ultimately prove more valuable and robust because it has the potential to identify previously unknown intrusions or attacks. It is, thus, that the corporation is currently investigating the implementation of honeypots. Honeypots are new security technologies that, while not a replacement for traditional intrusion detection systems, address some of the weaknesses of intrusion detection systems (Spitzner, 2003). As their only purpose is to be attacked, all traffic to the honeypot can be considered an intrusion or an anomaly of some sort. For this reason there is no need to separate normal traffic from anomalous; this makes any data collected from a honeypot of high value. Added to that, since honeypots have no production value, no resource or person should be communicating with them, and therefore any activity arriving at a honeypot is likely to be a probe, scan, or attack. Their value comes from their potential ability to capture scans, probes, attacks, and other malicious activity (Spitzner, 2003). There are three types of honeypots: low interaction, medium interaction, and high interaction. In order to collect information a honeypot must interact with the attacker, and the level of interaction refers to the degree of interaction the honeypot has with a potential attacker (Spitzner, 2003). A low interaction honeypot provides minimal service, like an open port. A medium interaction honeypot simulates basic interactions like asking for a login and password, but providing no actual service to log into. High interaction honeypots offer a fully functioning service or operating system, which can potentially be compromised (Spitzner, 2003). Honeypots have also been shown to be effective against Internet worms. Laurent Oudot (2006) demonstrated how MSBlast could be detected and captured using Honeyd and some simple scripts. He also showed how worm propagation can be slowed using Honeyd to attract the worms attention and then respond very slowly to its requests. Using scripts, Oudot demonstrated how a honeypot could even launch a counter attack against a worm outbreak, either by isolating services or network segments, or by abusing the same vulnerability the worm used and then trying to kill the worm process. Honeypots do face several important challenges: 1) honeypots are totally unaware of attacks not directed at them, 2) they must avoid being fingerprinted because if an attacker can easily identify honeypots their usefulness will be severely limited, and 3) like so many security technologies, they require configuring and maintaining by a knowledgeable person (Spitzner, 2003). Honeypots, because of their very nature, excel at detection. What makes them most attractive in the area of detection is the fact that they

Least Preferred Coworker(LPC)Measure Personal Statement

Least Preferred Coworker(LPC)Measure - Personal Statement Example I do agree with the results of this test. I am task-motivated and better at organizing people and getting the job done. However, I also agree with Fiedler’s other postulation concerning LPC model. According to him, LPC model helps in indicating the leadership style of a person however the effectiveness of this style is also dependent on situation’s favorableness. It is a universal fact that there is no ideal leadership style and a particular leadership style can not be suitable for contingent situations. A combination of personal traits and given situational contingency determines the leadership style’s effectiveness. Leader-member relationship, task structure and leader-position power are the factors which determine if the situation in hand is favorable and matches the leadership style (Bar-Tal, 1989). On theoretical grounds, Fielder’s model does helps in identifying one’s leadership style but its accuracy is still doubtful due to various factors. Firstly, Fiedler based this model on an assumption that leadership styles remain fixed and ignored the possible flexibility in personal traits or chances of betterment through learning over time (Bass, 1990). Secondly, the model assumes that a person can either be task-oriented or relationship motivated which are two extremes (Peter, Hartke & Pohlman, 1985; Vecchio, 1983). If a person’s LPC scores give an average total, then the leadership style is uncertain and difficult to determine. Lastly, there is a possibility that a person is actually effective as a leader irrespective of leadership style and works well with rest of the team except one who is confused, incompetent or a genuinely unpleasant person to work with. In such case, the LPC model will simple declare the person taking test a low-LPC leader whereas the a ctual picture can simply be the opposite (Mind Tools, 2012). Peters, L.H.,Hartke, D.D. & Pohlmann, J.T. (1985), Fiedlers Contingency Theory of Leadership: An application

My experience on censorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My experience on censorship - Essay Example We did not care to ascertain the age limit of the movie. The security officers at the entrance were equally more concerned with the security details than verifying the details of the moviegoers. Nevertheless, they reserved the verification of personal details to the end of the first episode. At the end of the first episode, the security men sought to verify our personal details by asking for our identification cards. My friend produced his identification card and got a clearance. When my turn came, the security agent could not believe that a sixteen year old is watching a movie rated eighteen years and above. The security agent was actually very furious that I had breached the rules of the theatre by entering the theatre well knowing that I had not acquired the required age. My attempts to explain that I had not seen the age requirement landed on deaf ears. My friend watched in disbelief and the audience caught the scene with amazement as the security agent manhandled me. The security agent whisked me out of the theatre to the security cabin where he locked me up in readiness for resultant punishment. It was the greatest shock of my life as nobody dared come to my support. Later on, the management of the movie theatre sought to explain to me the various rules applicable in a movie theatre and the attached punishments and fines on defaulters. Playing audience to the movies relevant to one’s age was one of the rules that attracted heavy penalties upon defaulting. Security agents treat ignorance to this rule with equal wrath. The management expects the audience to brief themselves with the relevant terms and conditions pertaining to a given movie with no omissions and total strictness. This act of censorship caused me to think objectively of censorship. The stringent measures put in place to ensure compliance to the set rules proved effective for censorship. The need to seek

Registered Nurse (RN) versus Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Assignment

Registered Nurse (RN) versus Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) - Assignment Example It is vital to note that there are certain duties that LPNs are not allowed to carry out since they are not qualified. Skills only handled by RNs in hospitals include hanging the first unit of blood during transfusion, carrying out the initial assessment of a patient and IV pushes. However, the working hours of RNs and LPNs are similar despite the fact that RNs normally carry out more of supervisory roles in hospitals and have a greater scope of practice (Ellis & Hartley, 2004). The amount of pay the two sets of nurses receive is also different due to the skills they hold and roles they carry out. A RN earns about $10 an hour more than a LPN. However, it is important to note that there are some LPNs who earn more than RNs depending on the duties they carry out and location of the hospital. The reason as to why RNs get more pay than LPN is because of their supervisory role. If any procedure carried out by the LPN goes wrong, it is their supervising RN who will be blamed. This is becau se they are meant to ensure that the LPNs carry out their duties effectively. It is hence essential to note that the most important difference between a registered nurse and a licensed practical nurse is the different duties they carry out in a hospital. An RN is expected to carry out the initial assessment of a patient and then write down a care plan on when the patient was admitted. An LPN is not allowed to carry out such duties, however, they may carry out a focused assessment and chart their findings during the shift and can later carry out all the patient care and charting after the RN is through with the initial assessment (Ellis & Hartley, 2004). Another duty that is only carried out by the RN is the educating of patients. This is because under the license LPNs are prohibited from interpreting data, or making decisions for their patients. However, LPNs are allowed to collect data such as vital signs that include blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose levels, and pain. Upon collection of the data, they are meant to inform the physician or the supervis ing RN for the interpretation of the data. This is due to the fact that LPNs are not certified to carry out this duty. Due to the limitations set by their licenses, it may seem as though LPNs carry out less work in the hospital than RNs. However, the LPN only carries out duties that she is legally allowed to do. This is despite the fact that an LPN may learn quickly on the job, and hence become familiar with certain medical ailments, and extremely well informed about the welfare of their patients from years of practical experience. In real practice, LPN may disregard these lines since they are blurred and not well defined. However, legally these limitations are extremely real limitations and not following them may lead to serious repercussions. It is vital to not the fact that several LPNs later on become RNs. They do so by enrolling for accelerated degree program, and this allows them to bypass the initial steps of the degree because they already have the fundamental education and hands-on experience working as LPNs. Some of the fields that RNs have been taught in school and are not familiar to LPNs include maternity and medical surgery (Ellis & Hartley,

Edgar Allan Poe's Story and Death Theme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edgar Allan Poe's Story and Death Theme - Essay Example The prince later throws in a party in which he invites several guests and decorates his rooms. During the party, a strange visitor makes entry into the palace dressed in a manner similar to a corpse. When the prince confronts him, the prince dies. Later everyone dies as the Red Death makes entry into the castle (Poe 10). From the story, death makes a significant manifestation. In the story ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ the narrator narrates of occurrences that took place fifty years, and no one has come to realize the actual happenings to date. In the story, one Fortunato hurts the narrator, who plots revenge for Fortunato’s actions against him. The narrator brings out some wine, which he hid in the graveyard and gives it to Fortunato until he is drunk, and constantly talks of Amontillado, the wine, though the narrator leads him to a hole in some part of the wall, where Fortunato is chained, and the hole filled with bricks. Fortunato begs for mercy from the narrator who later fills the hole with the last brick, leaving Fortunato for death, an occurrence not known to anyone until now (Poe 10). The narrator is Montresor. In the story ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ death is portrayed in both an irony and a theme. As a theme, death comes out as an inescapable occurrence from which nobody can run. When the prince locks his gates, it happens in an urge of preventing death from reaching his territories. However, when he organizes a banquet, the unexpected happens when death comes and kills all in attendance. Ironically, death comes in at the least expected time after the prince has made all the possible aspects in keeping it out of the castle, killing all in attendance. Similarly, in the story ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ Poe brings about some element of death by showing the power of the dead over the living. The dead come back to life, from where

Evaluation model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evaluation model - Essay Example The sensitization will not only include educating the youth on ways of avoiding falling into addiction but will also be testing different models of ensuring the youth keep away from drug abuse. In addition to that, the program intents to implement models and techniques of breaking the cycle of youths addicted to drugs. The purpose and scope of the program is to identify the communities within Washington DC where drug abuse is prevalent and the incident rate for health related complications resulting from the addiction. The complications resulting from drug abuse will be identified and categorized. These effects will be grouped and assessed in the following categories; spiritual, emotional, mental, social and financial health. Drug abuse among the youths in Washington DC will be gauged on the basis of subpopulation within the city. This will be an attempt to help unearth communities where incidences of drug abuse are high. A detailed analysis of each subpopulation will proceed to determine its socioeconomic status, level of education, the rate of crime and access to drugs. The main that will be used in the third assessment of the communities is categorical socioeconomic status of the communities. This aspect will categorize the community in terms of the community with high socioeconomic status, the one in between and the one on the lower end of the socioeconomic status. This way, it would be easy for Discover Hope organization to come up with a hypothesis from the results that will draw a relationship between a community’s socioeconomic status, level of education and drug abuse. Using that criteria in assessing the relationship of drug and substance abuse within the communities, conclusive results will enable identification of the target community and Discover Hope will be in a position to roll out its program in the most effective way

Academic goal Essay Example for Free

Academic goal Essay Review this week’s resources (for example SMART criteria, and the Career Plan Building Activities). Respond to the following in 50 to 100 words each: 1. Describe one academic goal that you have created using the SMART criteria. How do SMART criteria contribute to your academic goals?. The long academic goal I have created using the SMART technique is to pass college. The SMART Criteria break down the goal to make it more understandable and specific to my needs. A more recent goal I want to achieve is getting through my us/101 and my fp/101 classes without any problems. 2. Describe one professional/career goal you have created using the SMART criteria and Career Plan Building Activities results. How did the results of the Career Interest Profiler and Career Plan Building Activity on Competencies contribute to your professional goal development? Using the SMART criteria it helped me develop a goal of getting more information on the job I want to do once I am out of college and have my degree. My goal was to talk to someone who does what I do and get more information on the job I want to do. I sat down with my step dad who does a Tech Support job and talked with him for about 2-3 hours about his job. 3. Describe the stress and time-management strategies you have learned this week that will help you achieve your goals. This week I’ve read about many time-management strategies and the one that stuck out the most was having a planner on you at all times. After reading about this I went ahead and set up a schedule in my phone to follow and boy howdy it has been very convenient, it has helped me tremendously complete all my work on time. 4. Describe how you will balance academic expectations and your personal and professional responsibilities. I will most likely be able to balance all of my academic expectations in college between my person responsibilities very well because I currently am 18 and living with my parents. I don’t really have much to do other than college and hang out with friends. Currently I’m just doing all my college work Monday-Friday then on the weekends just going out and hanging out with friends. 5. How can understanding the importance of SMART criteria and your career interests and competencies help you move towards your career and academic goals? Understanding the SMART criteria and my career interests can help me move towards my goals because I can set up goals that are simplified and more understandable. Understanding my goals specifically will help me achieve them easier. Once I have my goals set up I can work towards completing them in a timely manner.

Training Day (King Kong Clip) Essay Example for Free

Training Day (King Kong Clip) Essay During the process of envisioning and designing a film, the director, production designer, and art director (in collaboration with the cinematographer) are concerned with several major spatial and temporal elements. These design elements punctuate and underscore the movement of figures within the frame, including the following: setting, lighting, costuming, makeup, and hairstyles. Choose a scene from movieclips.com. In a three to five page paper, (excluding the cover and reference pages) analyze the mise-en-scà ¨ne I chose the movie clip entitled â€Å"King Kong†. It’s from the movie â€Å"Training Day† starting Denzel Washington. Training Day is a movie that comes straight from the streets it depicts a product of the match up between screenwriter David Ayer, who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and director Antoine Fuqua, who grew up on the rough side of Pittsburgh. Both men are intimately familiar with the daily, potentially explosive face-offs between cops and criminals in urban America. The director Antoine Fuqua vision for this film was to bring the heat and intensity to the movie Training Day to the big screen. Fuqua wanted Training Day to look as authentic as possible, and he shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He also wanted to show the audience what officers in the rough neighborhoods of Los Angeles experience on the outside and also on the inside as they grapple with an amoral world of drug dealers, murderers, rapists and thieves. Fuqua wanted to show the audience a rough, undaunted, fast moving style of life on the other side of the legal line. With this film he was able to capture the mean streets of Los Angeles in an honest and revealing way, but also with a visual style that makes every scene exciting, whether it’s a major action sequence or just two guys in a car talking. Production Designer Naomi Shohan wanted the movie’s design to reflect the underlying relevance of the story because they filmed in all real locations. All the interiors done on stage were taken from the locations and researched in the neighborhoods with the help of the residents which also gave the film the authenticity of being in the â€Å"hood†. She became sort of an urban anthropologist, because everything the viewer sees is as it really is. The colors and textures used, change throughout the scene, but everything they used was taken directly from the neighborhood that you find yourself in throughout the clip. Cinematographers and art directors play a very important and creative role in film production. They work closely with the director and give a film its unique visual look and identity. The art director, David Lazan and cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, shot the film almost entirely in sequence, following the clock from the crack of dawn to a very dark night of reckoning. Compressing intense action and emotion into a brief time frame became one of their key challenges. They had to make sure the film felt like it was one single day unfolding which became the single biggest challenge during the production. Explain how the artists utilize lighting in the scene. How does the lighting affect our emotional understanding of certain characters? What sort of mood does the lighting evoke? How does lighting impact the overall story the filmmaker is attempting to tell? Describe the setting, including the time period, location, and culture in which the film takes place. Light can make a scene look more realistic by creating shadows and highlights. Washington’s character, Alonzo, is displayed as a powerful, yet currupt police officer who believes that he is untouchable. The way Alonzo dresses shows a look of dominance. In the clip I chose Alonzo (Denzel Washington) is on the dark and dominant streets of L.A, surrounded by gangs and the people of the community that he very well is suppose to have been protecting and serving. Alonzo tries to keep the tough guy look for most of the part only showing one emotion. However at this point of the film, Alonzo does not have the tough guy look as he have had when no one helps him in time of need. Explain what costuming can tell us about a character. In what ways can costuming be used to reflect elements of the films plot? Explain how hairstyle and makeup can help tell the story. What might hairstyle and makeup reveal about the characters? Discuss your opinion regarding the mise-en-scà ¨ne. Do the elements appear to work together in a harmonious way? Does the scene seem discordant? Do you think the design elements are congruent with the filmmaker’s vision for the scene? From the moment you set eyes on him you can relies that Alonzo is a feisty character, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Denzels performance is absolutely riveting. Every scene hes in, hes got the audience captivated with his dark costuming and the character’s dark and dominant personality. Ethan Hawke (Jake Hoyt) provides excellent backup. Jake is a bright eyed and innocent rokkie who reports to his training officer for his first day on the job in narcotics in the LAPD. He never could have fathomed just how much he would learn on that very first Training Day. Overall, Training Day proved to send a powerful message and gave us a small glimpse of what is truly happening in our society, the effect that the epidemic of drugs and violence are having in our cities and the corruption that is happening among our most trusted police officers. Reference pages http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/training-day-20010917. Training Day (2001) Memorable Quotes. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. Feb. 2011. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139654/quotes.

The Vietnam War: Defeating the US

The Vietnam War: Defeating the US Why did the Vietnam war happen? Why didnt we just back down?. I think that he United States could have won this war, with a mixture of better weapons usage, better moves, and better support from their home country, this could also have even been prevented. Before the war, Vietnam was a disputed territory. Many countries countrys in the past had taken Vietnam over, and after World War II, Vietnam was in the hands of France. Clearly, the Vietnamese wanted their own country, and their long history of being a colony prompted the oppressed people to fight for their independence in the French Indochina war. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Communist party, organized the Vietnamese independence movement, Viet Minh. Asked for support from America first, since that leader didnt want to use communism to free his people. The United States looked helping Ho Chi Minh gain his independence from France as a move against their own allies, they declined. It was only after Russia and China offered to help that Ho Chi Minh adopted communist ideals and wanted to make all of Vietnam communist. The Vietnam war started because communism was going to expand into Korea and eventually into other countrys. America didnt want that. If the United States had looked past its alliances and not helped another country gain its independence like we had gained ours so many years ago, this war would have been completely avoided. Unfortunately for the families of over 58, 000 soldiers, it wasnt. this began as early as 1954, the United States started sending financial and military aid to South Vietnam, hoping to stop the spread of communism. The flow of military advisors from 700 to over 14,000 built up steadily through John F Kennedys presidency, and after he was assassinated, Johnson escalated the war to the point of no return. American people were so scared of communism that they were willing to do anything to stop communism where it started. The people of the United States let Johnson build up a huge force in Vietnam, and he was also almost unanimously backed by congress. By the end of the war, Johnson was so ashamed that he didnt even try to run for reelection. If the Americans would have stopped and thought about wh at they were getting themselves into and not jumping right into it, we would be ok. In 1964, the event that all war hawks wanted happened. In the Gulf of Ton kin, several Viet Cong torpedo boats reportedly fired on a U.S. vessel. Even though the American ship sustained no damages, Johnson drafted the Gulf of Ton kin Resolution, which authorized him to use any force necessary to beat back the North Vietnamese. Congress never declared war or even directly authorized troops, but Johnson somehow got to declare it. Early in the War At first, Johnson didnt let the problem go into the air, because he was hoping to destroy Viet Cong. He used planes such as the B-52 bomber and the F-4 Phantom to try to win the war as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the United States air power had many shortcomings. The F-4 Phantom was the latest and best technology out there during Vietnam War. Manufactured by McDonnell-Douglas, this plane was capable of multiple roles, as a dogfighter, bomber, recon, and support aircraft. But, the F-4 had its some problems. First, the engineers who desi gned it did not mount any type of gun on the F-4A through the F-4D, thinking that the Phantoms frightening compliment of missiles could take out any enemy threat. This wasnt the smarted move. Not having a gun made the dog-fighting role of the Phantom extremely hard, because the AIM-9 and AIM-7 missiles were not as effective at closer ranges against the enemy MIGs. Only after almost 2 years was the F-4E Phantom fitted with a 6-barrell gatling gun. Also, many pilots were not trained very well, only having 6 weeks of training as opposed to the normal 1-year. The B-52 Stratofortress was the largest bomber ever made at that time. We should have used it wisely There were also negative sides to the use of the B-52. During World War II, the allies could depend on destroying the industry of their enemy, eventually destroying its fighting power. The VC did not count on industry and big guns, but guerrilla tactics and small arms weapons. The U.S. also thought by using a lot of bombs and by using napalm, the enemy would be scared and finally give up. Both of tactics proved to be wrong. The bombings got the enemy angry and brought the North Vietnamese closer together, instead of its actual goal. Napalm was also bad mistake. By using a flammable jelly which consisted of gasoline and some other chemical to make it think, they burned up all of North Vietnam, the United States not only killed more people than enemies, but also made people think was this the right thing to do? Anything that Napalm touched burned for up to a week. Another type of bomb was dropped by the B-52s, this one containing a large amount of the deadly gas, Agent Orange. Millions of acres of jungle were destroyed and even more fields and paddies were poisoned. South Vietnamese farmers complained about the effect Agent Orange had on their rice paddies. Agent Orange was supposed to eliminate the Viet Cong s advantages of there hiding places, but it only turned the people we were fighting for against us even more. Agent Orange also hurt us to, many of the Veterans ended up getting sick, like cancer and other deadly sicknesses. The use of Agent Orange was perhaps one of the worst mistakes made in Vietnam. If we just thought ahead, and figuring out the consequences of using weapons such as napalm and Agent Orange, the U.S. could have won the Vietnam War, mostly through the use of air power. During the Vietnam War we dropped more bombs than in any other war, this would make you think that we should win because its easy. Sadly, ethical problems and lack of planning made it impossible to settle the war in the air, making the U.S. invade with ground forces. President Johnson chose General William C. Westmoreland to command the land forces. Westmoreland commanded over 500,300 troops at the high point of the war, and was still unable to defeat the Viet Cong. But there were many factors that contributed to our shocking defeat on the ground in Vietnam. The first and foremost was the difference in tactics. The Viet Cong was ruthless soldiers, who, even though sometimes poorly trained, fought with a lot of drive and pride. The Viet Cong used something called guerrilla tactics. They would get children, to join use babys as bait for booby traps, and other unethical things. These were a few deaths that the U.S. soldiers had. Also on the tactics side, the entire U.S. consisted of sea rch and destroy missions. Search and destroy missions involved a group patrol, (usually 15-30 soldiers), going out of the home territory and finding and killing the enemy. Unfortunately, the booby traps placed by the Viet Cong and the fact that they knew the land meant that they could hide well. They took advantage of that and so U.S. soldiers died a lot from that. If the United States only thought about what they were getting them selves into and realized the consequences then they would have probably not gotten involved. Either way I do believe that if we didnt help out the other country that, they would try to get back at us in a some way. But the amount of people that died, and the amount that got sick was really just unnecessary. But since we did get involved we should have just stuck with fighting in the air. That was our strength at the time and we should have taken advantage of it. Compassion in Medicine | Reflective Essay Compassion in Medicine | Reflective Essay Advancements in medical technology have given rise to medicalization, a process where ‘non-medical’ problems have become understood and treated as ‘medical’ issues.1 This potentially objectifies humans, leading to â€Å"deindividuation†2, where doctors identify patients by their disease or procedure. The distancing of doctor-patient relationships have been worsened by limited doctor-patient interactions.3 Humanization of medicine is critical to ensure patients receive adequate care because they are reliant on the doctors competence and good will.4 This is where the BH1002 module contributes to my development as a good doctor. It increases my awareness of patients’ needs and the complexities of the healthcare system. The essence of this module is encapsulated in three learning points: a) Professionalism; b) Communication in Doctor-patient relationships; and c) Patient safety. My role as a future doctor is to heal. Professionalism exemplifies the contract between society and medicine as it is the foundation of doctor-patient trust.5 In the BH1002 tutorials, I was exposed to three fundamental principles of professionalism, namely, the primacy of patient welfare, patient autonomy and social justice. Professionalism requires honesty with patients, empowering them to make informed medical decisions; it requires trust and having patients’ interests at heart; it involves equal distribution of healthcare resources to all patients.5 In my opinion, medical professionalism involves demonstrating humility and compassion. Modern medicine has established a culture defined by entitlement and conceit, and humility indicates weakness or false modesty.6 Having the confidence to tackle my insecurities is paramount to my development as a doctor. However, I am aware that self-confidence can develop into overconfidence as my level of clinical knowledge and skills increases. It can cause me to overestimate my capabilities, breeding incompetency and arrogance. As a future doctor, I strive to remain grounded and be accountable for my blunders. I will avoid finger-pointing when mistakes occur. Being humble makes me mindful of the limits of my knowledge, allowing me to recognize opportunities for improvement. I will consider things from my patient’s perspective, prioritizing the well-being of my patients. Humility and confidence are not mutually exclusive.7 To strike a balance, I will constantly evaluate myself in clinical encounters. Through introspection, I can work towards being a more gracious person. I understand that when I am tired, I may have a temporary lapse in humility and be rude to someone. In response, I will take time to apologize sincerely, fostering better work dynamics in the medical setting. Compassion is an important aspect of medical professionalism. It involves both empathy and the desire to improve the current situation. The Society for General Internal Medicine describes empathy as â€Å"the act of correctly acknowledging the emotional state of another without experiencing that state oneself.†8 In this module, I was taught to strive for detachment with my patients to ensure that my feelings do not hinder the quality of care I provide.8 Nonetheless, it is essential to be sufficiently vulnerable to my patient’s suffering. When my attention is focused on my patients, they will be able to feel that I care. In contrast, being emotionally-detached could be interpreted as being indifferent, increasing their suffering due to the lack of understanding. A study on the effect of forty seconds of compassion on patient anxiety noted, â€Å"The enhanced compassion segment was †¦ effective in decreasing viewers anxiety†9. Compassion builds trust between the doctor and patients, encouraging them to recall and disclose significant details about their conditions.8 Increased awareness of the patient’s situation allows for more accurate diagnosis and effective personalization of treatments, improving the quality of care.8 Patient satisfaction is increased, enhancing the doctor-patient relationship. I strive to exhibit medical professionalism by being compassionate. As a future doctor, I am responsible for the welfare of my patients. Having compassion will make me attentive to their needs. I can understand the situation from their perspective, and think about how I can ease their suffering. Consequently, my patients will not have to face their difficulties alone. The doctor-patient relationship is a keystone of care. Built on trust and compliance, it exists when a doctor serves a patient’s medical needs, providing support and healing.10 There were two key reasons taught on why effective communication is crucial: a) provision of quality care; and b) medicine adherence. I believe patients benefit most when there is mutual trust and respect – doctors set aside time to listen to their patients; patients provide information about their medical condition to the best of their ability and comply with prescriptions. This can only be achieved with effective communication. In the provision of better healthcare, it is important to focus on the medical interview between the doctor and patient. This is the main medium through which doctors gather information about the patient, make diagnoses and develop the doctor-patient relationship.3 During the tutorials, I was introduced to a famous painting, The Doctor by Fildes. The painting exemplifies the qualities of an ideal doctor. Despite the inadequacy of medical technology, and thus inability to save the patient, he remains by the patient’s bedside, providing reassurance through his presence. This is a huge contrast with the modern physician, who, because of the large number of patients to see every day11, is often unable to set aside time to stay by the patient’s side. In his book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Gawande laments the deterioration of care in the medical setting. He attributes it to the shift in focus to curing diseases quickly using modern technology, highlighting that â€Å"fast, solution-oriented care accounts for approximately one-quarter of Medicare expenditures†11. Moreover, the time spent on write-ups is threefold the time spent in direct contact with the patient12. This means that little time is spent on communication with the patient. For this reason, patients feel neglected and even more miserable when doctors are unable to listen to their emotional needs and address their concerns. What I wanted †¦ was a doctor †¦ who understood that a conversation was as important as a prescription; a doctor to whom healing mattered as much as state-of-the-art surgery did. What I was looking for †¦ was a doctor who is able to slow down, aware of the dividends not just for patients but for herself and for the system.11 In the introduction to the course, I was taught that doctors have an ethical obligation to prioritize the best interests of the patient. This means alleviating their suffering and minimizing patient dissatisfaction. When doctors take the time to listen carefully, the quality of information obtained increases, enabling a more accurate diagnosis to be made.3 In mastering communication skills, I can clearly explain my patient’s situation, preventing misunderstandings that may occur due to the lack of understanding of â€Å"basic health ideas, medical terms or medical information†13. I can provide emotional reassurance to those involved, facilitating the process of healing and enhancing the doctor-patient relationship. Medicine adherence refers to whether patients follow the agreed recommendations and whether they take their medication for the entire duration.14 Effective communication is the major determinant of compliance.15 Doctors struggle with communicating information effectively, as seen in a study that reported, â€Å"40-80 percent of the medical information patients receive is forgotten immediately and nearly half of the information retained is incorrect†15. In this module, I was taught the teach-back method to improve medicine adherence, which relies heavily on communicating information to patients in a way that is easily understood. In teach-back, patients are asked to describe the information taught. This involves them in prescription decisions and serves as confirmation that they understand what has been explained, such as the prescribed dosage of their medication. Patients can then make informed decisions regarding their use of medicines. By engaging patients in their care, they are more likely to comply with the prescriptions, leading to a higher quality of life and higher satisfaction.14 As a future doctor, I strongly believe that patients have a right to make decisions in regard to their health. This means that if patients refuse to take the prescribed treatment, that choice must be an informed one; if they accept the recommendation, I am responsible for facilitating the appropriate adherence to optimize the efficacy of treatment and reduce risk of side effects. Using what I learnt, as well as the â€Å"SPIKES† model detailed in WHO Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide16, I will provide uninterrupted time for patients to share their concerns and ask questions about their conditions. This will help me understand my patients’ beliefs and assure them that I am listening. After which, I will provide the necessary information, in a comprehensive manner, using the teach-back method to check their understanding. This will facilitate shared-decision making, where patients can effectively voice concerns about aspects of the treatment they disagree with. This allows me to tackle the issue of limited health literacy of patients and negotiate a treatment they are agreeable with. A large proportion of the BH1002 module was spent discussing patient safety. I was exposed to the idea of human limits and reasons why healthcare systems fail. My greatest takeaway was being constantly reminded that doctors are not infallible. In fact, great doctors are people who expect errors to occur and take measures to prevent them before these errors can happen. Humans have limitations that can predispose them to error. Through the lectures, I learnt about memory constraints, confirmation bias in perception and selective vision. The recalled memory is reconstructed, changing according to what we perceive; we tend to seek evidence to support our decisions, even if the decision may not be correct; we do not notice when something unexpected enters our field of vision, especially when we are focused on something else. These cause difficulty multi-tasking and recalling detailed information quickly15, creating room for error. Now that I am aware of these limits, I will put in greater effort to reduce the impact human limits have on my patients’ health. I will use writing aids, noting important information immediately, reducing the reliance on human memory. This also removes the uncertainty that I could have remembered the wrong details. I believe this habit needs to be cultivated while I am a medical student. Therefore, I have begun with the lectures I attend, jotting down points raised by lecturers and reviewing them for greater understanding of the content taught. To reduce the risk of confirmation bias, I will make sure to gather information from reliable sources, analyze the data carefully before reaching a conclusion, instead of drawing a conclusion before finding evidence that tally with my opinion. In a medical practice study conducted in 2000, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, it is emphasized that to assure patients that they are safe from accidental injury, concerted effort by all professionals is required to â€Å"break down traditional clinical boundaries, the culture of blame, and systematically design safety into processes of care†.17 There are several reasons why healthcare systems fail. First would be the traditional intolerance for error in the medical setting. Doctors are held personally accountable even if the error was systems-based and beyond their control. The medical culture of blaming encourages doctors to underreport errors out of fear of disciplinary measures.18 The BH1002 module taught the importance of sharing the burden of guilt. If a doctor makes a mistake, sharing creates opportunities for everyone to review the problem objectively. Improvements can then be made to existing systems to prevent a repeat of the same mistake. I learnt about the â€Å"Swiss cheese model of system accidents†. This model compares the different levels on which mistakes occur with slices of cheese. Each slice represents a layer of defense against potential errors. In the real world, each slice has holes in different places, each representing a loophole. A catastrophe will occur when the holes align to permit an opportunity for accidents, directly bringing patients in contact with hazards.19 These lapses in defense arise from two types of errors. Active errors are unsafe behaviors committed by people that lead directly to a given error. Latent errors are errors that remain dormant in the system until ‘triggered’ by other events. These occur further away from the action itself, such as flaws in the healthcare organization or faults in the equipment used. Active errors are often unpredictable whereas latent errors can be prevented. The persons-approach, which focuses solely on active errors and individual blame, is therefore of limited benefit because it deals with errors only after they occur. In contrast, the systems-approach revolves around the idea that errors are to be expected and designs a resilient system to reduce the risk of incidence of error before it happens. The systems-approach is important to my development as a good doctor. It reminds me of the need to adhere to standard operating procedures in the medical setting. Simple practices such as hand hygiene can reduce the risk of spreading infections among patients. I understand that patient handovers are an integral part of the healthcare system. There are an average of 50-100 steps between the doctor’s decision to order a medicine and the delivery of the medicine to the patient, causing an overall 39% chance of error.20 I will do my part by making my case notes comprehensible and legible to prevent miscommunication between doctors. I will clarify expectations before undertaking any tasks and consult my superiors should I be unsure of any issues. When reporting critical laboratory results, I will use the read-back method, noting and correcting any discrepancies to ensure the relayed information is accurate. This will reduce the risk of harm brought to the patient. The healthcare environment is a very complicated one. In the beginning, I was fearful of the rigid and complicated hierarchies that exist. The BH1002 module has equipped me with the necessary knowledge of what it takes to be a good doctor, as well as how I can understand my patients better and ensure their safety. I believe being accountable for my actions is the best way to exhibit professionalism and help people. I look forward to overcoming the trials I will face as a doctor. I hope to become a doctor who can serve my patients and peers well, by providing quality care and becoming a pillar of support.