Human Service Programs: Commonalities & Success Paper Essay

The following paper will discuss the human service organizations uniqueness in comparison to other various business organizations around the world. The common denominator and central focus for all human service programs will be discussed. The trends in human services, and the qualities associated with human service agencies that contribute to their successfulness. (Lewis, 2006) Human service agencies are designed to specifically provide services to those in the communities. They usually provide services that are a to meet certain needs such as substance abuse, mental health concerns, and developmental disabilities. Particular agencies may focus on employment, rehabilitation centers that helps individuals gain skills pertinent to their job, and also to populations that are subject to prejudice or marginalization. Most human service organization are non profit but there are also for-profit and not-for-profit. All in all human service agencies have the needs of their clients as their fi rst priority. Human service programs are often effected by political, social, technological, and economic trends. Due to political trend the human service programs may be effected such as things like Obama Care. Politics can play a crucial role as they give most of the funding to programs that human service agencies operate. Economic trends are up and down and this is to be expected. Of course technological trends will continue to change as businesses can run more fluidly with up-to-date technology. (Korkmaz, 2012) In order for a human service agency to be successful the company should have a human resource that is focused on the needs of meeting goals of the organization. The organization should also be treating their employees fairly and justly. The code of ethics should be followed, as every management has an extensive guideline. The agency should make serious efforts to have a diverse workforce, training to enhance staffs  knowledge, efficient methods of hiring, appraising, and commending workers, and designing jobs so that the workers are able to use all of their knowledge and skills to the companies profit.(Lewis, 2006) In conclusion, unlike other agencies in the workforce the main agenda of a human service program is to lift our clients up and help those in our communities. Though not all agencies are the same some are small, larger, more funding, less; all have one goal in mind and that is to make a difference in the lives of our children, neighbors, seniors, adolescents, and adults. Many trends will effect the human service programs as with anything else in this world but it does not stop the goals. Each agency has serious guidelines and code of ethics implemented to strive for success in their agencies. References Judith. A. Lewis (2006). Management of Human Service Programs (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole . Korkmaz Yaylagul, N., & Seedsman, T. (2012). Ageing: The common denominator? Journal of Population Ageing, 5(4), 257-279. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12062-012-9072-x

An investigation into the characteristics of a filament bulb Essay

I will set the voltage at the certain voltages and I will repeat the experiment twice. This will give me a set of results to compare my originals to. When performing this experiment I must carry out a few safety procedures. I must make sure I do not overpower the bulb as it could break. I must not leave my wires dangling as this is a safety hazard. I must try and work away from other experiments as this will give me more space to work on and minimise hazards to the other experimenters in the room. I would predict that as the voltage goes up so do the readings on the ammeter and voltmeter. There will be a positive strong line on a line graph that would rise rapidly but as the voltage is increased, the curve will flatten out. To make the experiment as fair as possible I will use the same filament bulb and other materials throughout the experiment. Most of the factors however cannot be controlled. This includes the wire resistance which we cannot change or tell if it is bad or good. Temperature will also affect the resistance of the wire very slightly. However slight this is it is still a factor which would determine my results. This can be controlled to a certain extent by performing the experiment all at the same time when the temperature changes will be very slight. Volts Test 1 Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Ammeter Voltmeter Ammeter Voltmeter.

Case Study of Bob Jackson-Free-Samples for Students

1.After reviewing the symptoms, pathological reports and physiological parameters, it seems that Mr. Bob Jackson is suffering from Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease is defined as a condition of idiopathic inflammation of any part of the gastrointestinal tract (starting from the mouth to anus). Although, maximum reported cases shows ileocaecal occurrence. It is one of the most common diseases encountered in the domain of gastroenterology and falls under the category of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) (Baumgart & Sandborn, 2012). The major leading cause behind the occurrence of the Crohn’s disease is uncontrolled inflammation. This uncontrolled inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract may occur because of beer consumption. Mr. Jackson, consumes 6 stubbies of beer per week such high beer consumption rate at the age of 55 might have resulted in the inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, leading to Crohn’s disease (Manninen et al., 2012). Another excepted cause behind developing susceptibility towards Crohn’s disease is nutritional deficiencies. Mr. Jackson resides in a rural community (100 Km northwest from Melbourne) and people of the rural community lack nutrition in diet, leading to the arrival of the stigma of the Crohn’s disease (Kyle, 2013).   One of the most important bacterial threats stated so far behind the occurrence of the Crohn’s disease is Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis. Recent research conducted by Traveria et al., (2013) identified the existence of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis in the sheep. Mr. Jackson is a sheep farmer by occupation at the Paterson’s Plains in Australia. His job profile demands close association with the sheep and during his duty hours, the bacteria Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis might have got transfused into his blood steam via food or via cut and leading to the development of the Crohn’s disease. The prolong use of the Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) make a person susceptible for the development of the Crohn’s disease. Mr. Jackson, has been on the medication with Ibuprofane for nocturnal bone pain in hips and back. This prolong use of this NSAIDs might made Mr. Jackson develop Crohn’s disease (Ananthakrishnan et al., 2012). Examination of the gastro-intestinal tract of Mr. Jackson noted lower abdominal distension. In the majority of the cases, people who are suffering from the Crohn’s disease tend to consume less food in order to avoid the excretion of the watery stool or due to lack of appetite. This empty stomach leads to the formation of wind and leading to abdominal distension. Moreover, Crohn’s disease classified with crypt inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, mostly in the lower part of the small intestine or colon. Such inflammation in the lower part of the abdomen can result in the development of the lower abdominal distention. The transmural spread of the inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract leads to the generation of the lymphedema, which is followed by the thickening of the stomach wall and mesentery. This thickened mesenteric fat y extends up to the serosal surface of the bowel causing Mr. Jackson gastrointestinal tract to appear mildly obese.   Pain in the left lower quadrant of the gastrointestinal tract again shows signs and the presence of the inflammation. Moreover, it is the small intestine from where the nutrients are absorbed in the blood stream. High level of inflammation followed by formation of the granuloma in the small intestine prevents this normal absorption of the nutrients and thus further generating the pain. Furthermore, this inflammation in the gastro-intestinal tract leads to the generation of the delayed type hypersensitivity response or other type I and Type II hypersensitivity response. This rise in the hypersensitivity response leads to the increase in the levels of the cytokines mostly IL-8. High levels of IL-8 in the blood caused problem with the urinalysis (Steenholdt et al., 2012).    Headache in the last few days as encountered by Mr. Jackson may not have a direct relation with the pathophysiology of the Crohn’s disease however, increase in the level of abdominal pain, lack of nutrient and lack of sleep might be the reason behind this sudden headache. Thus from the above detailed analysis of the condition of Mr.Jackson on the basis of disease aetiology and pathophysiology, it seems that Mr. Jackson might be suffering from Crohn’s disease The symptoms of crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis are more or similar. The common symptoms of the Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis are: So taking the medical condition and the symptoms Mr. Jackson into consideration, he becomes a bit dubious to claim that he is suffering from Crohn’s disease. He might also be the victim of the Ulcerative Colitis. Ulcerative colitis affects colon and the rectum leading to chronic inflammation. Thus, Ulcerative colitis affects mostly the lower portion of the gastrointestinal whereas; Corhn’s disease can affect or may cause inflammation to any portion of the gastrointestinal tract (Bressler et al., 2015). In order to detect the exact Inflammatory Bowel disease that has affected Mr. Jackson, a ultrasonography of the entire stomach is mandatory.   The ultrasonography will reveal the exact point of inflammation via show casing the organo-megally. It is in the ileum or in the upper portion of the respiratory tract then it will be Crohn’s disease while if the organ enlargement is seen in the rectum or colon then Ulcerative Colitis can be confirmed (Chatu, Subramanian & Pollok, 2012). Crohn’s disease as discussed is caused by Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis whereas Ulcerative Colitis is mostly caused by Escherichia coli (Winter et al., 2013). A bacterial culture test using the selective media for the Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis will help in the elucidation of the exact micro-organism colonizing in the gastrointestinal tract leading to the elucidation of the disease. Ananthakrishnan, A. N., Higuchi, L. M., Huang, E. S., Khalili, H., Richter, J. M., Fuchs, C. S., & Chan, A. T. (2012). Aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, and risk for Crohn disease and ulcerative colitisa cohort study.  Annals of internal medicine,  156(5), 350-359. Baumgart, D. C., & Sandborn, W. J. (2012). Crohn's disease.  The Lancet,  380(9853), 1590-1605. Bressler, B., Marshall, J. K., Bernstein, C. N., Bitton, A., Jones, J., Leontiadis, G. I., ... & Group, T. U. C. C. (2015). Clinical practice guidelines for the medical management of nonhospitalized ulcerative colitis: the Toronto consensus.  Gastroenterology,  148(5), 1035-1058. Chatu, S., Subramanian, V., & Pollok, R. C. G. (2012). Meta?analysis: diagnostic medical radiation exposure in inflammatory bowel disease.  Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics,  35(5), 529-539. Kyle, J. (2013).  Crohn's disease. Butterworth-Heinemann. Manninen, P., Karvonen, A. L., Huhtala, H., Rasmussen, M., Salo, M., Mustaniemi, L., ... & Collin, P. (2012). Mortality in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. A population-based study in Finland.  Journal of Crohn's and Colitis,  6(5), 524-528. Steenholdt, C., Svenson, M., Bendtzen, K., Thomsen, O. Ø., Brynskov, J., & Ainsworth, M. A. (2012). Acute and delayed hypersensitivity reactions to infliximab and adalimumab in a patient with Crohn's disease.  Journal of Crohn's and Colitis,  6(1), 108-111. Traverà ­a, G. E., Zumarraga, M., Etchechoury, I., Romano, M. I., Cataldi, A., Alvarado Pinedo, M. F., ... & Romero, J. R. (2013). First identification of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis sheep strain in Argentina.  Brazilian Journal of Microbiology,  44(3), 897-899. Winter, S. E., Winter, M. G., Xavier, M. N., Thiennimitr, P., Poon, V., Keestra, A. M., ... & Popova, I. E. (2013). Host-derived nitrate boosts growth of E. coli in the inflamed gut.  science,  339(6120), 708-711.

Marketing management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing management - Essay Example This section of the pÐ °per discusses plÐ °nning process of the mÐ °rketing strÐ °tegy Ð °nd defines the fÐ °ctors thÐ °t influence its efficiency. PlÐ °nning process is Ð °n initiÐ °l stÐ °ge of mÐ °rketing strÐ °tegy for Ð °ny orgÐ °nizÐ °tion thÐ °t helps to shÐ °pe objectives Ð °nd goÐ °ls of Ð ° firm Ð °s well Ð °s to produce the principÐ °l policies Ð °nd plÐ °ns for Ð °chieving those goÐ °ls. During the plÐ °nning process it is normÐ °lly defined the nÐ °ture of the business the orgÐ °nizÐ °tion is to pursue which in turn hÐ °s Ð ° greÐ °t beÐ °ring on the kind of economic Ð °nd humÐ °n orgÐ °nizÐ °tion it needs to possess. GoÐ °ls Ð °nd objectives Ð °re usuÐ °lly set within Ð ° time frÐ °mework. StrÐ °tegy entÐ °ils mÐ °tching the compÐ °ny’s Ð °ctivities to its resource cÐ °pÐ °bility. There is little point in trying to tÐ °ke Ð °dvÐ °ntÐ °ge of some new opportunity if the resources needed Ð °re not Ð °vÐ °ilÐ °ble or cÐ °nnot be mÐ °de Ð °vÐ °ilÐ °ble. Ð n orgÐ °nizÐ °tion must formulÐ °te strÐ °tegy during the plÐ °nning process of mÐ °rketing strÐ °tegy within the boundÐ °ries of the resources thÐ °t Ð °re likely to be mÐ °de Ð °vÐ °ilÐ °ble. This is Ð ° fundÐ °mentÐ °l considerÐ °tion thÐ °t must be Ð °ddressed when formulÐ °ting the plÐ °n. StrÐ °tegy is Ð °lso to do with the mÐ °tching of the Ð °ctivities of Ð ° compÐ °ny to the environment in which it operÐ °tes. Since the environment is continuÐ °lly chÐ °nging, strÐ °tegic decisions necessÐ °rily involve coping with chÐ °nge. The extent Ð °nd speed of environmentÐ °l chÐ °nge will vÐ °ry Ð °nd the pÐ °ce Ð °t which strÐ °tegy must chÐ °nge will necessÐ °rily vÐ °ry too. Ð s it wÐ °s Ð °lreÐ °dy mentioned, there Ð °re Ð ° lot of fÐ °ctors thÐ °t need to be considered in the plÐ °nning process of Ð °n orgÐ °nizÐ °tion thÐ °t Ð °ffect mÐ °rketing strÐ °tegy of the compÐ °ny. These fÐ °ctors Ð °re described in bellow Ð °nd Ð °re the reflection of stÐ °ges of the plÐ °nning process of Ð °n orgÐ °nizÐ °tion. This step is to Ð °ssure thÐ °t the key stÐ °keholders understÐ °nd the plÐ °nning process Ð °nd Ð °re committed to it. ImportÐ °nt

Journal 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

Journal 5 - Essay Example Politically, Roman Empire was based on Christianity values as Pope Leo II was involved in government affairs as he was crowned the Frankish King on Christian’s days as Roman Empire. This was different from the Classical Greece as there was no involvement of Christianity in the political systems of Classical Greece. In the Classical Greece, the Athenians were helped by the Spartan troops to overthrow their king known as Hippias. The same political war or fight for power was involved in Roman Empire at the period of trouble in the reign of commandos when Alexander Severus was assassinated. The Roman Empire troops were more powerful than the Classical Greece troops as the Athens were helped by Spartan troop to overthrow government (Mattingly 14). In respect to culture, Roman Empire upheld two ethnic group’s culture while the classical Greece culture composed of cultural practices from different western communities. Roman culture was from Latin and Greek while the classical Greece was from western civilization or western communities. In making the conclusion, I analyzed both classical Greece and Roman Empire culture, life style, social, political and economic life (Mattingly

The strategic plan for NyShy Home Health Services Assignment

The strategic plan for NyShy Home Health Services - Assignment Example Moreover, the plan also has highlighted various organizational objectives including functional tactics, milestone tasks and implementations along with risk factors and their mitigating actions. Furthermore, the paper intends to highlight different challenging factors during the process of serving mentally challenged old age group people. Company Background, Organizational Mission, Vision, and Value Statements NyShy Home Health Services (NyShy) is well-known for associating the healthcare assistance services to the senior citizens above the age group of 50 years. The organization facilitates its intensive healthcare services for the people who are facing challenges in terms of behavioral and mental illness. The services of NyShy will be focused on providing homemaking assisting programs along with medical supports in a continual process for each person suffering from mental and behavioral ailments. ... The workforce of the organization will be associated with qualitative and interdisciplinary etiquettes in terms of serving each client under the operational process of NyShy. Organizational Mission, Vision, and Value Statements The mission, vision, and value statements of an organization encourage or draw its customers to be loyal towards the corporation for sustaining long-term commitment to be served by the products and/or services rendered by the company. Mission, vision and value statements can be considered as the major elements for the organization not only for the strategic plan purpose but they also enable to define the path that should be followed by the entire company. These also enable to provide a declaration of guiding principles for identifying the future steps that could be taken by the organization (Greer, 2012). An appropriate mission and vision statements along with effective value statement of an organization comprise encouraging aspects to increase the quality of the services that are rendered (McLeod, 2004). With this concern, the mission, vision and value of NyShy will be focused on transparent objectives for both the employees of the organization and its clients. The staff of the organization will be employed according to their quality and capability to serve the clients efficiently which reflects the enacted excellence of the mission, vision and value of NyShy. The mission, vision and value of NyShy is to deliver optimal healthcare service to each individual with extensive care from its workforce and the organization will also envision to be one of the leading healthcare service providers in offering community based mental healthcare programs/treatments. Moreover, the organization will be highly focused on the validation of mission, vision

Strategic Management Case Study Analysis Adam Aircrafts Term Paper

Strategic Management Case Study Analysis Adam Aircrafts - Term Paper Example A strategy is the game plan the company is using to stake out market position, conducts its activities, attract and service customers, compete successfully for achieving its organizational objectives and encompasses mobilization of resources, perceiving and utilizing the opportunities, managing risks in its operations, resolving uncertainties and meeting challenges and threats for survival and success. The corporate strategy should be flexible, dynamic and is generally long term in nature. In this paper strategic management with reference to Adam Aircrafts has been studied for identifying the objectives of the company, problems faced by the company and the causes for such problems, strengths and weaknesses of the company, the opportunities in the industry, the external threats in relation to its operations and strategies of the company for a careful analysis and possible solutions and recommendations. The promoter’s or the management’s views and conclusions about the company’s direction and the product-customer-market-technology focus constitute a strategic vision for the business. The promoter Rick Adam, a licensed pilot for over 18 years, hailing from a family of aviators with his successful foray into IT field had a vision on aviation sector. The company was closed and now Triton America is redesigning the A500 and A700 with the intent to return the aircraft to production at the  Port of Skagit County, Washington. (Wikipedia, 2010) The mission of the enterprise has not changed, that is building smaller and lighter aircraft designed for the most common trip length and passenger load to deliver optimal efficiency. Also, the company wants to focus on personal jet aircraft for the average mission of less than a two-hour flight, with three and a half people on board. Though it could be construed as a narrow segmentation, the idea of the company could be to es tablish itself in niche market, though

Tell us about the types of housing foundation used today in terms of Essay

Tell us about the types of housing foundation used today in terms of building structure and interior design - Essay Example ce, a house built in a bad soil might require the use of a deep foundation Because of this, an individual is free to choose on the type of foundation to use. The following are some of the popular types of foundations used today: This is a type of foundation in which a concrete slab is prepared and then used as a foundation. Here, a 4-8 thick concrete slab is made on an initially prepared frost line footing then used as a base for the entire building. In this situation, the foundation is directly constructed on a place in which there is no crawlspace or basement. However, for slab foundation to be effective, it needs to be embedded with steel bars (Dearborn & Verton, 2007). These are necessary for preventing any faulting or cracking which might be experienced. Besides, it should be made after the construction of all the necessary waistlines and waterlines. Thus, it will produce a very firm and long lasting foundation for the structure. Slab foundation has become very popular with many interior designers because it is less costly. In fact, it is the cheapest of all the construction foundations. Unlike other foundations, it only requires the use of a slab. This helps in saving on the money that would otherwise be used in floor joints that are used for supporting the building. In addition, the construction of this foundation is much easier as compared to others. Once it is made, the house is directly erected on it (Nicholson, 2011). Hence, it helps in saving a lot of time during the construction process. Nevertheless, slab foundation might be undesirable to some designers and house owners because it is more expensive to maintain. For example, in case of any breakage, the entire slab might be torn a part before any reparations are made. Meaning, it is expensive to repair in case of damage. Crawlspace foundation is constructed from the outside of the house. They are raised above the ground to elevate the building to around 5 feet above the ground level. It is

Nature of Work Groups in respect to organizational behavior Essay

Nature of Work Groups in respect to organizational behavior - Essay Example The current business practices involve better management and handling of organizational projects. At present, we are seeing that training within organizations is transforming along with knowledge management projects, in hopes of enhancing corporate profitability. The enhancement of the business and corporate culture depends on the establishment and improvement of the workgroups. Organizations often pay less attention to individuals playing key roles in business and are more interested in how particular workgroups can effectively enhance performance, with a view toward establishing a better corporate culture. This outline establishes how this can be accomplished. This paper will present a comprehensive analysis of the work groups with respect to organizational behavior via an assessment of the role and contribution of work groups and a thorough analysis of their operational structure. This paper will also assess the diverse structure of work groups within business organizations. Most work groups share external and internal information, exchange data and expertise, discuss current trends, and provide information and feedback to organizational experts, customers, and others outside of the group. A structurally diverse work group is one in which the group members, through virtue of their dissimilar organizational roles, affiliations or positions, can elevate the group beyond the norm to serve as an exceptional sources of business knowledge. It is assumed that if group members of structurally different work groups connect in outside knowledge sharing, their expertise will be enhanced because of this dynamic sharing of information (Cummings-2, 20 01). Groups always play an important role in the development of an organization. However they have recently increased in significance as an essential component of organizational structure. In an effort to become accustomed to quickly varying environments, many work organizations have granted teams augmented independence

Operational Management of Risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Operational Management of Risk - Essay Example 1. Aircraft fuelling for small jets, small piston aircrafts, older piston planes. 2. Stored Plane Fuelling Service, i.e, removal of aircraft from individual hangar & fueling. 3. Fueling of aircrafts on the flight line (where aircraft lines up for take off & after landing). 4. Preparing for self service fuelling for private aircraft owners & pilots. 5. Repair & Maintenance of 15 private & the transient hangars. 6. Inspection of safety & fire violations. 7. Transportation & Carriage of planes from hangar to flight line & vice-versa. 8. Management of landed flight directions, parking & refueling. 9. Management & Accounting of fuel charges of fuelling & parking. 10. Provision of on duty staff for maintenance of all fuel storage tanks, piping and pumps at the airport's small fuel farm (three storage tanks). Sec. 1.b: Identification of one critical stakeholder/crew for each operational activity in Sec. 1.a. (Corresponding list of stakeholders/crew.) 1. Chemical/Fluid Mechanic Engineer expert in identification of fuel & air craft engines for guidance to labors in fueling different categories of planes. 2. Aircraft Maintenance Engineer & Stores Manager for managing safe removal of plane & chemical engineer for relevant fuelling according to the type of plane. 3. Site Aircraft Maintenance Engineer & Aircraft Parking Manager. 4. IT Infrastructure Development Engineering Manager. 5. Aircraft Maintenance Engineer / Stores Manager. 6. Safety / Fire Engineer or Manager. 7. Transportation Manager. 8. Chemical/Fluid Mechanic Engineer & Transportation Manager. 9. Accounts/Billing Manager. 10. Site Maintenance Engineer. Sec. 1.c: Identification of a consultation/communication technique/strategy to engage the stakeholder in risk... The essay "Operational Management of Risk" talks about the case study on the East Coast Aviation Service Company situated in Wales. The main focus of the study is to work out the specific queries on the risk identification techniques, risk analysis and the risk treatment approaches.Any project is required to be managed through a well structured hierarchy & reporting results to work out problems in processes & project performance tracking to categorizing them in problems & solution sets for in all cases that would be easy for review & changes too in later time for implementation of new plans & strategies. Following is a stake holder hierarchy that I think will work in automating the processes. A project manager lead responsible for management of all the undergoing project’s solutions, & performance tracking to help technical member/engineers to concentrate more on technical side development, instead of increasing their over heads of managing all of the things that will not work for sure. Every person should have only that much burden & responsibilities that he/she could manage, else, may result in increased attrition & depreciation of employer’s image in employee cadre & further consideration for career development. This hierarchy will enable the communication in cross functional hierarchies across the organization & provide an ease to handle the process implementation. The communication approach may differ on the basis of the situations.

Social Medias Negative Influences on Social Interaction Essay Example for Free

Social Medias Negative Influences on Social Interaction Essay The purpose of this paper is to observe complete strangers and familiar groups of people in a coffee shop setting, and a college setting, and document the use of social media and their interactions with other people. The goal of these observations is to see how much people socially interact with one another, and how much time people seclude themselves through the use of social media. The observer will also record the number of  interactions that are created through social media topics, meaning conversations that would not have occurred if social media was not present. It is the prediction of the author that people are less likely to socialize with face to face conversations, and are more likely to spend their time in a social environment using social media and interacting with others online with the use of their social media devices. The data collected will give the reader a better understanding of how society prefers to interact socially in present day, and what percentage of their time do they depend on the use of social media in a social environment. Does social media positively or negatively influence social interactions? How is social media used as an external attribution? Introduction. Technology has come so far over the last twenty years, and nobody really asked what society was losing, because of all that we gained. With all the interactions occurring in social media, including text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, email, YouTube, etc., do we really communicate in person anymore? Was it that long ago where our culture was dependent on pay phones and had to mail letters to contact other people? Because of the lack of convenience that people had during that time, it was very common to prefer to interact with people face to face. Now we live in a culture that people prefer to write text messages and/or emails, instead of calling someone to avoid talking with them directly. In a span of about ten years, our culture went from wanting cell phones to becoming dependent on cell phones, and having mostly to do with being able to view data (texts, emails, internet browsing), as opposed to calling people. It is because of all these facts that this author wishes to find out if social media is helping us interact socially, or if it actually prevents us from interacting. Another purpose of this research paper is to determine whether social media is used as an external attribution. External attribution is defined when an event is caused by an outside factor (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005), or in this case, social media. In this study, we will find out if the event that occurs due to social media use is face to face interactions, the extended use of additional social media, or no interactions at all. It is believed that behavior results from personal and environmental, or social influences. In this study, we will find out if social media being present will cause  conversation to take place between groups of people that know each other, as well as complete strangers. What also will be recorded is whether the use of social media will result in social media interactions, as opposed to face to face interactions. An example of this would be if a person using social media on their tablet saw a YouTube video, and due to how funny they found the video, they then proceeded to text friends or post information on Facebook and/or Twitter about the video. This study will take place in two different locations, the first place being a Starbucks coffee shop in Coalinga, CA, while the second place will be West Hills Community College in Coalinga, CA. The setting’s benefits and weaknesses will be discussed later in this research assignment. The purpose of this location is to record the actions and uses of social media with complete strangers, as well as groups of people that know each other. By monitoring the interactions of people in a coffee shop, the author is able to see how much time that people rely on social media in a half hour setting. The coffee shop is used primarily as a place to study, interact in groups, read the newspaper, or to simply drink coffee. As opposed to a restaurant, where it is a more social atmosphere and it may be considered rude by patrons for people in their group to use their cell phones, tablets, and laptops. By observing the use of social media and social interactions at a college, we can see how similar or different the results are in a school setting. This case study will apply to the purposes of social psychology, as social psychology is defined as how people influence one another (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005). The twist that will appear in the research to follow is how not only people influence other people, but how their use of social media influences other people and their interactions with other people. It is the author’ s hypothesis that the use of social media, although very useful at times, is devastating to normal face to face interaction. We are reminded of those people walking down the sidewalks with their heads buried into their cell phones, causing them to run into other people and obstacles on the sidewalk. The author also believes that this research will find that most, or all interactions that do exist, will occur through the use of social media instead of normal conversations. Setting. The two different locations where this study will be held will be at a Starbucks coffee shop and a community college, both of which are located in Coalinga, CA. These locations were both chosen because they offer the author the best chance for naturalistic observation, or nonparticipant observation. Nonparticipant observation is defined as an observation made by a researcher that allows them to remain separate from the event being monitored, so they do not have to worry about affecting the results of their observations (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005). Since this study deals with monitoring other people’s use of social media and its influence on their social interactions, it is necessary to remain distant from the participants so they are unaware they are being observed, so that the data collected is more accurate. Different from participant observation, where the observer interacts with the participants being monitored, nonparticipant observation allows the observer the best chance to get realistic data. When people know they are being observed, they tend to act differently, and in the case of this study, they may hesitate from interacting socially and/or using social media as much as they normally would. The first observation will take place in the only coffee shop in the town of Coalinga, CA. This is relevant, as Coalinga is a small college town, so the chances of observing college students and adults interacting and/or using social media are high. The second observation will take place outside in the quad at the local community college in Coalinga, CA. The target audience for this observation period will be students who are getting out of class, or who are sitting around killing time until their next class begins. Both settings target a younger audience, which will heighten the chances of observing social media use, since social media is used more by young adults than older adults (Skues, Williams Wise, 2012). The goal of these two locations is to give the author the best chance to see the most use of social media, and how its use affects social interactions between the users and the people around them, all in a thirty minute time period. Location Advantages. The advantages of observations made in a coffee shop and a college setting are that it allows the author to target a younger audience, which should  generate observations of social media use and its affect on social interactions. When people go to coffee shops, they stay there to interact with other people, to study, or to hang out and spend time using social media. This is why most coffee shops have free Wi-Fi now, to encourage people to stay and drink more coffee while they interact socially or use social media. Another benefit of observing interactions and social media use in a coffee shop is that we find a large number of groups coming in together, as well as complete strangers placed next to each other. This study’s purpose is to monitor the social media use and social interactions of complete strangers, as well as people that know each other. In the group setting, we can see if everyone in the group uses social media, and whether they let their findings on social media to spark up conversation topics. With individuals, we can see how much they use social media and whether their use prevents them from trying to interact socially with complete strangers, or encourages them to start conversations with complete strangers. At the college setting, it gives the author similar surroundings to a coffee shop, in that it is a social environment, since most students hang out with their friends before and after class. A common occurrence at school is to see students doing homework, socializing with friends, or using social media before class since it usually is not allowed during class. Some students may even use social media to help with their homework assignments. While observing the college, the author will get the chance to see groups of people interacting, as well as students hanging out by themselves, which makes it similar to the coffee shop environment. Location Disadvantages. One disadvantage that may occur at the coffee shop is that the observer cannot control how many people come in during the thirty minute observation period, thus making it an uncontrolled environment. The hope is that, since the small town only has one coffee shop, it will be a popular place for people to go interact and use social media. If the author chooses to go on a slow day for business, the observations will be limited. This will obviously be affected by the time that the author chooses to go observe. To avoid any  issues, the observer will do this observation on a weekend morning, in hopes of avoiding work and school hours. Another disadvantage of a coffee shop is that it has a similar environment to a library, since so many people are present, people can avoid interactions to keep the place quiet for everyone to enjoy their experience. The fact that people are ordering drinks at the front counter and there is quite a bit of noise coming from the workers and coffee machines, the chances of it being quiet are small. One disadvantage of the college setting is the fact that the observation will be made outside, and weather can affect the number of students being present outside. The fact that Coalinga is a very warm area, the chances of it being cold in the mid-afternoon are small, so this should not be a huge issue. The other disadvantage of the college setting is, like the coffee shop, it is an uncontrolled environment, so the observer cannot control the number of students present at the time of observation. To prevent any issues here, the observer will choose a time around lunch, where most classes are on break from the hours of 12:00pm- 1:00pm. How social psychology considers social media in this environment. Since social psychology is defined as people’s behaviors influenced by others (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005), this case study is specifically targeting how people interact around one another. The external factor in this study is that we are also monitoring the use of social media, and how it affects how people interact with each other. According to Gross (2009), in 2000, 34% of our population used cell phones, which increased to 84% in 2009. This is clear evidence that today’s generation is becoming dependant on cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other social media devices. Knowing this, and reading what Marche researched (2012), people are using social media more than ever. The problem lies in the fact that people using social media could be a result of people feeling lonely, and through the use of social media, they feel connected to something or someone. According to Marche, people are lonely as ever because â€Å"Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect. (2012)† What Marche means by this is in the past, people had the chance to disconnect from everything and  everyone, especially when things were not going so well. Now society never disconnects, because everything is a click away. The more people use social media, the less interaction they have with other people face to face, thus creating a state of loneliness. This study fits the purposes of social psychology because it will monitor how people’s actions and interactions are affected by the people that surround them, as well as the social media that is present around them. The observer will see how much conversation is started without the use of social media, and compare it to conversation started through topics of social media. Will people by themselves have the confidence to approach people they do not know to have a conversation? If so, will it be a result of the person being outgoing or the result of social media sparking a conversation? The observer will see groups and how they interact with one another, and how much of it depends on social media. Will the interactions between groups be different between those of strangers, in regards to social media use? These are all questions that the author will target throughout his research and observations. Research Methods. To conduct this research, the author first went to a Starbucks coffee shop on a Sunday morning at ten o’clock in the morning. The coffee shop is located in Coalinga, California. The reason this time was chosen was because it is a college town, so a weekday morning would most likely be slow, and most people have work off on weekends. The goal was to try and observe the most crowded time possible, in order to get the most accurate results throughout the observation. Though the research was done in a very small town, the Starbucks coffee shop still attracts a lot of business on weekends. Since this study was to be done with naturalistic observation methods, the author chose to get a seat in the far corner of the coffee shop, so that he could avoid people being aware of his presence and monitoring. By not letting the participants know that they were being monitored, the author felt that the data collected would be a more accurate portrayal of how they normally would interact socia lly, and how much those interactions were affected by the use of social media. Due to participant’s  change of behavior when they are aware of their actions being recorded, the naturalistic observation method can be an effective way to get the most accurate results when monitoring people’s actions (Rosas, 2006). The second setting for data collection was done at West Hills Community College, located in Coalinga, California. Although this is a smaller college, there are still plenty of classrooms that are all located outside, which allowed the author the chance to sit nearby a classroom door and monitor the students waiting to go into class, as well as the students just getting out of class. The author chose to use natural observations when monitoring these students throughout the case study at the college. The observations also focused on the teachers that walked around campus, and their interactions with other teachers and students. Similar to the observations made at the coffee shop, these were done at the school by the author staying out of the way of those who were being monitored. The author was able to find a table across from the classroom, where many students gathered together while they waited to go into class. These were the two settings in which the research for this study were do ne by the author. Ethical Challenges. Since naturalistic observations are defined as those made by a researcher who neither changes the environment in any way, nor creates their own desired environment (Capella, 2013), the only challenge presented to the author in this study was not being found to be monitoring by the people who he was observing. Since the coffee shop is a smaller venue, it was difficult to not stick out while observing the actions of people so close to the author. At the school, it was much easier to blend in as the author was outside and could put sunglasses on, so people could not see his eyes. As mentioned earlier, the study results could only be found accurate if the author did not intervene with the participants, since this is the only way to view the participants in their natural habitat (Capella, 2013). The only way this study was found to be ethical was if it was done without intervening with the participants. This also included not using personal information from the participants, so none of th e documented results could be connected to people who were unaware they were being monitored. Since  none of these issues were breached, the research done was ethical. Research Analysis. The author made naturalistic observations at two individual settings, each for a twenty minute period of time. The first observation was done at the Starbucks in Coalinga, California, on January 26, 2014. The second observation was done at West Hills Community College in Coalinga, California, on February 4, 2014. In the twenty minute observation period at the local Starbucks, the researcher witnessed three groups of people come into the coffee shop together and eight individuals, three of whom were already present before the researcher got to the coffee shop. In the twenty minute observation period at the college, the researcher saw one group of 6 students, one group of three teachers, and two individuals all outside a classroom door. Groups. The first group witnessed at the Starbucks was a group of three women, two in their early fifties, and one who appeared to be a college student. The women came in and interacted with each other while waiting in line, and then grabbed a table once their order was ready. The younger girl checked her phone three different times while in line with the two older ladies, and appeared to be texting back and forth. This usage brought up some communication with one of the older women, who appeared to be the mother of the younger girl. The â€Å"mother† asked who she was texting, and then asked how the friend who the younger girl was texting was doing. Once they sat down, the younger girl texted on her phone only a few times, as the time spent at the table between the ladies dealt with interacting about the young girl’s impression of the town of Coalinga. At no point during their ten minute sit down did any of the women interact with any other people that were in the coffee shop, as they stayed completely in group. The author noted that the younger girl appeared more interested in what texts she was getting on her phone than what the two older women were talking about, but she refrained from using it too much. In the second group, which came a few minutes after the first group, there  were four college students (2 girls and 2 guys). They all had their backpacks with them, and one guy had a tablet while the other had a laptop. It was evident that they had been to this coffee shop before, as they all started up a conversation with two of the young workers at the counter, who appeared to be classmates of theirs. Once they grabbed a table, they began discussing a class project that they had in their health class. The guy with the tablet used his social media device to research certain health topics that were presented to him by both girls in the group. The second guy with the laptop was responsible for writing down their research findings, as all four discussed the topics and what was found through their research. At no point through their discussions did they interact with anyone outside their group, as they seemed focus on completing their research only. They still remained there at the co ffee shop after the author left the coffee shop fifteen minutes later. The third group of people consisted of two females, one in her late twenties and the other being a college student, and one male in his mid-thirties. The older woman and male both worked at this Starbucks, and it was evident that they held a managerial position. The younger college student female was applying for a job at this particular Starbucks. The younger female had a resume with her, and had to fill out an application while sitting down in the group. The older male was asking the applicant questions about her completed application, while the older female was documenting some of the responses on her tablet. It appeared that the two managers were using the tablet to input important information about the applicant. There were some outside interactions, as some of the other employees were invited over to the table and introduced to the applicant. This meeting lasted about ten minutes, and then the applicant left the shop while the two managers went back into the office in the back. At the college, the first group that was seen was a group of six students (five guys and one girl). It was clear that this group was waiting for their next class to begin and was killing time before the class started. Although nobody from this group had a tablet or laptop, all six had cell phones and used them almost the entire time. The female was on a phone call, while the  guys were all checking out videos and music on YouTube. All the conversations between the guys were related to their findings on their phones, and once the girl got off her phone, she was invited over to see a funny video that the guys had found. At one point, two individuals passed by this group at separate times, but no interactions were made between the group and the individuals. The final group seen at the college was a group of three mid-forties females who are teachers at the college. One of the ladies had her laptop open, while the other two were talking about creating new student learning outcomes for their particular fields. At no point did the teachers even look over to the group of students that was two tables away from them, as they seemed focus on completing their research before their next class. Although only one of the females was using the laptop, all three were conversing about the student learning outcomes and making suggestions to what was documented on the laptop. Individuals. There were eight different individuals present at the coffee shop during the twenty minute observation period. Five of the eight individuals sat down at a table, while the other three got their coffees to go. The three individuals who got their coffee to go all only interacted with the workers at the counter, and none of them used a social media device or interacted with other people. One of the five that chose to stay at the coffee shop was a college female, and she sat at a table with headphones on while viewing her tablet. She appeared to be watching a movie, as she did not speak the entire time she sat down. Another of the five (mid-forties male) had a copy of the newspaper and proceeded to drink his coffee while reading the Sports section of the newspaper for ten minutes, before he left the shop. The third individual was another college student female who sat down at a table with her coffee and made a four minute phone call to a friend. Once the phone call was over, she grabbed her coffee and left the coffee shop. The fourth individual was a mid-thirties female who brought a book with her, as she sat in the quiet corner of the shop while reading her book and drinking her coffee. She did not interact with anyone while the observation took place.  The final individual was a mid-twenties male, who brought his laptop with him. Once he sat down, he put earphones in and appeared to face-time someone on his laptop, as he was speaking into the microphone on his computer. This conversation was about ten minutes, and prevented any outside interactions with this person with anyone else at the shop. One thing noted by the author was that the people around this last individual did notice that he was speaking rather loudly in a public place, and it was evident that some conversations came up about the man being rude. At no point did anyone approach the man, as they just whispered about it at their individual tables. In the college setting, there were only two individuals present during the twenty minute observation, and they walked by the classroom that was being monitored at separate times. Both individuals were male and both were walking to their next class while using their phones. The first was using his phone to make a phone call, but because he was in the area for only thirty seconds, the contents of the phone conversation were unclear. The second male was typing on his phone the entire time he was walking to his next class, so it appeared that he was texting. The student did not raise his head one time as he was walking, which caused him to walk very slowly and it appeared that he was using his peripheral vision to make sure he did not run into anything during his walk to his next class. Neither one of these individuals interacted socially to any of the groups present as they walked by. Research Analysis’ Relationship to Social Media Statisitics. The research collected through the two observations shows that younger and older participants all were likely to use some form of social media device. About 50% of all social media users in this study used their social media devices to communicate with others through texting and phone calls, while the other 50% used their social media devices to document information and view videos online. According to research done by Baker (2012) just with regards to social media use for videos, YouTube gets 4 billion page views per day all over the world. The average person spends fifteen minutes per day on YouTube streaming video, and every day, over 800,000 videos are uploaded onto YouTube. 35% of all YouTube viewers are between the ages of  18-34 (Baker, 2012). In another study done by Baker (2012), she writes how there are one million new Twitter accounts created every day, which is equivalent to eleven accounts created per second, and over 100 million active Twitter users globally today. Ac cording to research done by Gibson (2013), over 97% of all people own cell phones, and 56% of those cell phones owned are â€Å"smart-phones†, which have the potential to retrieve email and browse the internet. She also states that within the ages of 18-29, 80% of that age group own a smart-phone. With all this said, it is clear that today’s majority culture is dependent on cell phones. Throughout this study, the author saw a majority of participants using some form of social media device, which agrees with other research on social media usage. What was unclear throughout this study is how much social media usage affects our interactions with others socially. Even though some people use their social media devices to interact with others online, does social media limit our ability to communicate with others face to face. During this study, we saw that people that were involved in a group setting still interacted with one another, whether the conversations were dependent on social media or not. We also saw that individuals by themselves did not go out of their way to converse with complete strangers, unless it was to buy a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, this does not prove if social media is the cause of less face to face interactions, because these participants may have just kept to themselves on that particular day. Although it may appear that people today are less likely to interact socially, especially with people they do not know, it is impossible to prove that based on two observation periods. Research Summary. So what has this research study shown us? The one definite that was shown is that people were hesitant to approach people they did not know, unless it was to order something from the front counter at Starbucks. While this does not prove that people today are less likely to interact with complete strangers, it shows proof that people in a public setting are not going out of their way to interact with other people they do not know. What is interesting is that through social media usage (Twitter, Facebook, etc.),  people today are more likely to engage in conversations with complete strangers than they are in face to face settings (Diaz, Evans Gallagher, 2011). What is it about social media that allows people today to be more open to converse with people they do not know, rather than doing it in a public setting in person? Diaz, Evans Gallagher believe that because people do not have to face the person they are speaking with, thus not having to deal with embarrassment if what they s ay is found to be unpopular, people are more likely to be outgoing when it will not affect them negatively in a social manner (2011). Another fact that was proven in this study is that social media can provoke interactions with other people, even though those witnessed in this study were not how the author thought they would occur. In this study at the Starbucks, a man sat at a table and spoke to another person on his social media device in a public place. Because of how loud he was, other people that did not know the man began talking about how rude the man was to act like he was in his living room and not respect the other people surrounding him. The author was hoping to find people that would find something of interest on a social media device and show other people they did not know, sparking an interaction between two strangers. Though this did not happen, one person’s social media use did spark an interaction between another group of people which would not have occurred had the man not done what he had done. This proves to the reader that social media usage can promote interactions between people that w ould not have occurred had people not used social media. Study Implications. New Trends. Though this study does not prove anything, as it is a small sample size of the world’s social media usage and their interactions, it does agree with the author’s hypothesis that people today rely less on face to face interactions and more with interactions made through social media. According to Diaz, Evans Gallagher (2011), there are several advantages and disadvantages of using social media to interact. Young adults that are shy may gain confidence to interact more, first by using social media to  interact and develop confidence. Social media also encourages people to apply more thought into their interactions, as they have more time to think about what will be said. This differs from face to face interactions, as people are put on the spot and sometimes cannot have sufficient time to think about the best thing to say in a particular moment. Some of the disadvantages mentioned by Diaz, Evans Gallagher (2011) are that social media is so widespread, that any convers ation can be seen by millions of people, rather than a face to face conversation that is only seen by those present. Social media also leads people to multi-task, which leads to a lack of attention applied to one individual topic. Multi-tasking also leads to spending too much time on social media, and not enough time studying and developing the brain. New Responses to Influences of Social Media. Does our society even have negative responses to the influences of social media? It seems that everyone is so involved with how cool technology is, and what new social media devices are coming out, there is not a lot of talk about the negative influences of social media. Is social media a more negative or positive influence on our culture? This question cannot be answered with a study like this, as many studies have been done to observe people’s usage of media, and everyone handles their usage differently. Some people may be consumed with social media, and all that comes with it, to where they separate themselves from the non-interactive world. Some people may be able to contain their usage, while using their social media use to improve their face to face interactions with regular people. The author’s feelings on this topic is that due to the data collected in this case study, people did not go out of their way to interact with people they did not know. Whereas twenty years ago, people by themselves in a coffee shop may have been more likely to try and interact with strangers because they did not have social media to occupy their time. This is not to say that people twenty years ago did not go to coffee shops to read the paper or their book in private. The data collected in this study also shows proof that the percentages of people using social media and smart phones found in recent research studies are pretty accurate, as a high percentage of the people that were observed had some of sort of social media device. Recent research  also showed that phones today are more likely to be used for texting, emailing, and web browsing, rather than talking on the phone (Duggan, 2013). This research was proven to be accurate in this observational study as well, as one person at the school was using their phone to talk, while everyone else was using their phones to browse, text, or email. Further Areas of Research. So even though this topic has been researched many times by different researchers, are there any areas that may have not been covered to try and come up with a more definitive answer to if social media usage affects our social interactions? The problem presented with all research is that every person is different, and how they are affected by social media will be different in each individual situation. The author believes that all that can be accomplished by completing further research is to add more proof to a topic that has not been proved to be 100% accurate. Even with more research leading readers to believe that social media is affecting our culture negatively, the only way that we can prove that is if one day people stop talking to other people completely and interaction is done ONLY through the use of social media. Then we can say that social media is definitely the reason that people do not interact socially face to face. One other area that can be further researched is to fi nd out the relationship between social media use and feelings of depression. It would be interesting to see how depression is related to the loneliness that comes with secluding oneself with only interacting through social media. Conclusion. It was the goal of the author to see how the use of social media affected our social interactions in today’s society. Another focus of this study was to see how interactions that do take place are a result of social media usage. Given the data collected in these two case studies, the research findings do support prior research that social media usage is taking over as the primary means of communicating. Each individual person is different, in that some may rely more on social media to communicate than others based on their personalities, but the data found by the author does support this theory and shows the reader that people are growing less accustomed to  communicating face to face with others. While it is said that communicating through social media can expand our abilities to communicate in person (Diaz et al, 2011), it can also be said that social media is preventing our society from socially interacting in person. What this author has found is that there will always be two different sides to this argument, as some will feel that the benefits of social media use will always outnumber the negative effects, while others feel that no matter how advanced social media is, the fact that it may prevent people today from having face to face interactions is a serious issue. The reader has to believe that social media will only increase the more advanced devices become, which may lead some to think that social interaction will keep diminishing. The best thing that people can do as parents is to somehow regulate their children’s usage of social media, with regards to how much time is spent on their social media devices and what content is being viewed. By doing this, parents can still allow their children to interact socially and continue to develop their communication skills by not solely relying on social media to interact socially (Diaz et al, 2011). Whether social media usage is regulated or not, it is apparent that social media is here to stay. It is up to parents and teachers to try and incorporate other methods of interacting with their children so that they receive all the benefits that can come from interacting face to face. The conclusion of this study is, although research may support the fact that social media usage can affect social interactions, it will be very difficult to prove 100% because of different people’s reasons for choosing whether to interact socially face to face or through social online networks. References Baker, H. (2012). Video Statistics. The B2B Guide to Social Media. Retrieved on February 14, 2014 at: http://www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com/2012/06/07/video-statistics/ Baker, H. (2012). Twitter Statistics. The B2B Guide to Social Media. Retrieved on February 14, 2014 at: http://www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com/2011/04/04/twitter-statistics-7/ Capella University. (2013). Social Media Naturalistic Research Study. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 at: https://courseroomc.capella.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4655_1%26url%3D Diaz, Y., Evan, L. Gallagher, R. (2011). Anti-Social Networking: How do texting and social media affect our children? A panel discussion by CSC clinicians at the Nightingale-Bamford School. Retrieved on March 5, 2014 at: http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/antisocial_networking_how_do_texting_social_media_affect_our_children_panel_discussion_csc_ Duggan, M. (2013). Cell Phone Activities 2013. Retrieved on March 7, 2014 at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/19/cell-phone-activities-2013/ Gibson, M. (2013). 2013 Cell Phone Statistics. AccuConference. Retrieved on February 13, 2014 at: http://www.accuconference.com/blog/Cell-Phone-Statistics.aspx Gross, M.S. (2009). Conversations in the fast lane: Social media’s influence on communication theory. Public Relations Tactics, 16(11), 15. Marche, S. (2012). Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? Atlantic Monthly. August, 2012, Vol. 310 Issue 1, p16-22. Rosas, S.R. (2006). Nonparticipant to Participant: A Methodological Perspective on Evaluator Ethics. American Journal of Evaluation. pp 27, 97-103 Skues, J.L., Williams, B., Wise, L. (2012). The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 28, Issue 6, November 2012, Pages 2414-2419, ISSN 0747-5632.

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Example for Free

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Identify the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety. Legislation covering child protection can be divided into two main categories : civil law and criminal law. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 – This is an older piece of legislation of which some parts are still in forced today. It includes a list of offences against children, these are referred to as Schedule One offences. The Children Act 1989 –The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989. The introduction of this act was intended to be the most compressive and far reaching reform in child law in parliamentary history. The main aim of this law is to ensure that the welfare of a child is always considered as the most important factor when making any decisions about the upbringing of a child. The act also considers the thought and feelings of the child in a situation and bases decisions on whether the outcome would be better or worse for the child. It introduced the concept of parental responsibility. Two guidance documents are available to help professionals to identify children that may be at risks and the steps to take to help prevent this occurring. These documents are intended to be used with The Children Act 1989. The first is called, Guidance on interagency cooperation under the Children Act 1989, which was first published in 1991. The second which was published in 2000 was titled The Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families. Below are listed the variations of the policy throughout the UK. Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004 – This is the current guidance for Wales. The Children Order 1995 – Northern Ireland. The Children Act 1995 – Scotland. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 – This includes the right for a child to be protected from abuse, the right to express their views and have them listen to and the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away from home. The Human Rights Act 1998 – This protects the rights of all human beings, in the eyes of the law children are seen as human beings and therefore the Human Rights act covers their rights as well. The Education Act 2002 – This was introduced to ensure that a schools governing body and LEA make arrangements for the safeguarding and welfare of children. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 This expands on the Children Act 1989 by including domestic violence in the definition of harm. The Children Act 2004 – This new act didn’t replace or amend the Children Act 1989, instead it set out the process for integrating services to children. Further acts that followed the 2004 Children Act include – The Children and Adoption Act 2006, Children and Young Persons Act 2008, The Boarders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Legislation to protect children from adults that pose a risk. The 1997 Sex Offenders Act – Requires sex offenders to have their names and addresses added to the sex offenders register. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 – This was introduced to update the legislation relating to offences against children. It included the offences of grooming, abuse of position of trust and trafficking. Further policies include – The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. E-Safety A School’s e-Safety Policy reflects the importance it places on the safe use of information systems and electronic communications. e-Safety encompasses not only Internet technologies but also electronic communications via mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology. * E-Safety concerns safeguarding children and young people in the digital world. * E-Safety emphasises learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way. * E-Safety is less about restriction and more about education about the risks as well as the benefits so we can feel confident online. * E-Safety is concerned with supporting children and young people to develop safer online behaviours both in and out of school. The Internet is an unmanaged, open communications channel. The World Wide Web, email, blogs and social networks all transmit information using the Internet’s communication infrastructure internationally at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource used by millions of people every day. Some of the material on the Internet is published for an adult audience and can include violent and adult content. Information on weapons, crime and racism may also be unsuitable for children and young people to access. Pupils need to develop critical skills to evaluate online material and learn that publishing personal information could compromise their security and that of others. Schools have a duty of care to enable pupils to use on-line systems safely. Schools need to protect themselves from legal challenge and ensure that staff work within the boundaries of professional behaviour. The law is catching up with Internet developments: for example it is an offence to store images showing child abuse and to use email, text or instant messaging (IM) to ‘groom’ children. Schools can help protect themselves by making it clear to pupils, staff and visitors that the use of school equipment for inappropriate reasons is â€Å"unauthorised† and ensure an Acceptable Use Policy is in place. E-Safety training is an essential element of staff induction and part of an on-going CPD programme. However, schools should be aware that a disclaimer is not sufficient to protect a school from a claim of personal injury and the school needs to ensure that all reasonable actions have been taken and measures put in place to protect users. Legally an educational institutions e-safety policy ties into multiple laws and legislation.

Problems Of EFL Speaking In Thailand

Problems Of EFL Speaking In Thailand Introduction This chapter provides introductory description regarding the pronunciation of English sound by Thais. It describes the problems of EFL speaking in Thailand, function of English in Thailand, and the teaching pronunciation in EFL curriculum in Thailand providing the content designed of communicative speaking skills. This is followed by significance of the study, the purpose of the study, research questions, scope and ending with limitations of the study. 1.1 Background to the study Problems of EFL Speaking in Thailand In line with the role of English as an international lingua franca, Thailand has taken several measures to incorporate English into its education system. For example, in 1995, the Thai government made English language study compulsory from primary school (Sedgwick, 2005). Based on my two-year English teaching experience at school, Narathiwat, Thailand, however, many Thai students still have problems using English, especially in the area of pronunciation. One of the reasons for this is the lack of exposure to English language use outside the classroom. Another could be due to the differences between the phonetic and phonological systems of English and their first language. Next, they all might be taught and emphasized only the rule of grammar and increasing their English vocabulary but might not be practiced English pronunciation properly. On the one hand, formal pronunciation instruction should not be neglected in all foreign language classrooms since pronunciation plays important ro les in communication which is the fundamental element of foreign language learning: as it has been claim from the most of Thai people that teachers should speak the target language during their foreign language class. Due to the lack of time on teaching English pronunciation in the classroom, Thai students have not been instructed in the area of pronunciation sufficiently. In Thailand, only the students doing bachelor degree in English field are aware of how the sound is produced correctly and of the English vowel sound both in terms of vowel quality and vowel length but not for others. Hence, some students are aware only of quantity differences of the vowels but never being realized of quality of the vowels. Moreover, some are not aware of both the quality and the quantity differences between each pair of the vowel sound. Previous studies on the English pronunciation of Thai speakers have found that they do not contrast vowel length (Chantachorn 2003). For instance, Thai speakers tend not distinguish between vowel pairs like /É ª/-/i/ and /ÊÅ  /-/uË /, resulting in words like ship and sheep, and fool and full being produced as homophones. However, most of the published studies on the production of English vowels by Thai speakers are impressionistic in nature, and hence, the current study aims to examine the production of English vowels by Thai speakers through acoustic analysis. It also aims to examine the extent to which the production of vowels is influenced by Thai vowels. Those problems of spoken English by Thai students are influenced by the following factors: functions of English, English language education, and teaching of English pronunciation. Functions of English in Thailand In Thailand, recently, the role of English is obviously important as it is used for international communication. New technology and World Wide Web have been developed rapidly resulting in a greater transition in education, business, tourism and economic affairs which all interrelate commanding high English proficiency. Thai government officials use English for international conference and communication. For example, ASEAN summit which is a meeting held by ASEAN in relation to economic growth, social progress and cultural development of Southeast Asian Nations. In the commercial part, English is used by entrepreneur, tourist agencies, hotels, airlines and even bank to communicate with foreigners, as well as business for import and export. Beside this, English is the most important for the tourist area in Thailand. For instances, Phuket island, Krabi and Phangna located in southern of Thailand are very popular among Westerners. Therefore, Thais who leave in tourist area need to communicate with them in English even sometimes they do not communicate effectively. This may be due to faulty pronunciations which lead to communication breakdown. Some researchers foreign friends have blamed that most of the Thai people cannot communicate well, especially for people who come from Deep South of Thailand which are Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala provinces. This could be due to there are not so many foreigners come there and Deep South is not a tourist area. This also cause the students in the area do not have much motivation in learning English. Another group of English user is in mass media and publications. Some news channels and variety shows in Thai television program use English as a medium to perform their program. The examples of such programs are English breakfast program on TV Thai channel providing English knowledge together with entertainment such as idiom for everyday life, grammar as well as English pronunciation. Chris Delivery once famous English teaching program on channel TTB5 and English minutes a short program on channel 5. Furthermore, the Hollywood movies are played in the cinemas around Thailand with English sound track and Thai sub-title. However, most Thais prefer to watch the Hollywood movies playing Thai sound track to English one. Moreover, there are also News program using English as a medium played on channel MCOT. Thailand outlook channel is a 24 hours English language news channel broadcasted by ASTV (Asia Satellite television) which provide news and insight into Thai affairs that really matter and affect both Thai and foreign residents. The Nation and Bangkok Post are well known and widely read by foreigners and educated Thai readers all over Thailand. For the English magazines, Nation Junior and Student Weekly have been well-liked among Thai teenagers. Since English is a global language, Thai government has tried to get all mass media involved with English language in order to serve Thais and support them to learn English. Finally, English, therefore, works as a language for basic informal education in Thailand. Although English is not a medium of teaching in school level, it enables students to learn and understand differences of languages and cultures, customs and traditions, thinking, society, economy, politics and administration (Ministry of Education 2001). All in all, these functions reveal that Thailand has attempted to use English in many ways to make Thais get use to English language however these approaches only work on some Thai groups and some of Thais still not getting familiar with English perception and production skills which are listening, speaking , reading and writing. English language education in Thailand Learning foreign language serves an important and essential tool for communication, education, seeking knowledge, livelihood and creating understanding the culture and vision of the world community (Ministry of Education 2001). Although English is not only the foreign language in Thailand, clearly can be seen that English language still play a dominant role as it is mainly used to communicate to make a connection and cooperation between people around the world. English has been known as an international language and many Thai people have been getting involved with it for decades. Most of them implicate with English language used in their daily lives from many media such as text, television, radio and newspaper. The people who get into school, of course, they have known English language at the beginning of the first primary school level. As mentioned above that English language has been made as compulsory subject starting at primary school in 1995 in Thailand. However, the curriculum was revised once more in 1996 and English is now taught as a subject in Grade 1 to 12(Sarmah, Gogoi Wiltshire 2009). All students have to take English language as a compulsory subject every semester for primary and secondary school levels. This means that they have to take English course at least 9 credits for primary level and 12 credits for secondary level. In the upper secondary level, at least 6 credits are required for them (240 hours). Due to limited time as for 2 periods/hours a week, leading to limited lesson for pronunciation. Furthermore, six English courses are required for all learners in four -year curriculum at the undergraduate level (Chusanachoti 2009). These few English courses are only a little period of time exposed to English language use. The Thai Ministry of Education has encouraged several approaches in English course syllabus to enhance the intelligibility in English language used such as a learner-centered approach, communicative language approach as well as language for specific purpose. Within those approaches, the area of pronunciation has also been taught in terms of conversation and reading out loud. Nevertheless, the most of the contents still focus on reading and writing skill for examples reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary. This could be primarily due to a difficulty in teaching pronunciation, especially at primary level and lower secondary level: students feel shy to express and utter an English sound making them not to cooperate with the activities provided. As a consequence, most of the teachers feel oppressed to teach pronunciation. At the primary school level (grade 1-6), students should be able to know the English Alphabet, to read a simple word aloud, to spell an easy vocabulary, to read simple conversation and story. However, the course syllabus has been focused very few on the pronunciation and reading out loud. Furthermore, in a period of secondary school, the fundamental English course requires the students to be able to listen, read, write and speak communicatively at the level of their own. For instances, at grade 6 level, they are requires to be able to communicate naturally in everyday life, to explain or tell a story of their own lives and history. But, as can be seen obviously that students still speak English poorly, even though they have studied English for 12 years (primary school-secondary school). This could be due to less attention on pronunciation lesson and a lack of exposure to English language used out side the class room. In addition, they tend to pay more attention on reading to be able to comprehend the content of the text and grammar in order to pass the final exam for all grade level students and to success in getting a high score from the national university entrance exam. Beside this, to emphasize on pronunciation and let students learn and know each sound correctly, teachers should instruct students to learn the relationship of each letters and its sound. This will not only help them in reading and spelling but also will master them in speaking. Moreover, teaching students to know how the sounds are produced will also support them to be aware of different sound and its characteristics. Teaching pronunciation in EFL curriculum in Thailand Pronunciation instruction has sometime been neglected in most EFL classroom. In another word, it is not given much more attention by the teacher in the classroom. In EFL curriculum in Thailand, spoken English has been played through these following main contents: language for communication, language and culture, language and relationship with other learning areas and language and relationship with community and the world (Ministry of education 2001). The Thai Ministry of Education has placed teaching pronunciation instruction to all school level at primary and secondary school. Generally at Grades 1-3, students are expected to be able to know and pronounce the English alphabet, words, phrases, and simple sentences simultaneously with observing the principle of pronunciation. The tasks focus on learning basic phonology system which involves specifying the letter sound and vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u), spelling the words correctly and reading some basic words and sentences out loud as well as getting students practice on producing initial and final consonant, rhythm and intonation. Besides, the students would be engaged in interpersonal communication by asking them to use short and simple word that they have heard. These include using requested words such as pleas do not make a noise and can you help me, please?. Moreover, Students grade one, two and three should be able to differentiate the consonance sound and speak common sentenc es in imitating a real situation in the classroom. At Grade 4-6 primary education level, students are trained to speak English through expressing their needs feeling and opinion. They also should be able to tell story about themselves, friends and family to others. The ability in using English to communicate in various situations is required for them. During secondary education, speaking activities in the EFL curriculum, students are required to be able to listen, speak, read and write appropriately with their own grades both at upper and lower levels. Generally at the lower secondary level, communicative speaking tasks are played through various speaking activities such as dialogue speaking, speaking for short conversation, speaking for giving the information around them and showing opinion about the matters around them in the current situation. Reading aloud is also emphasized by training students to read some story in text books, newspaper and some simple English poem out loud in front of the classroom. By these school levels, in fact, the practice on production of English vowel sound appears in the curriculum designed. For instance, students should be able to read all text out loud by observing the basic principle of pronunciation. This means they would discriminate the differences of English vowel sound in term of vowel lengt h. The emphasis of communicative speaking at the upper secondary level is on asking for information, accurately read out loud text, news, announcement, advertisement, skits and poem and having conversations to exchange some information, experience, opinion in current situation in Thailand and overseas. These activities will be done by having a role-play in the classroom. For example, divide students in a group and ask them to create some situation by imitating the real situation in day life. Some students play as news reporters and some play a short drama in front of their friend. As a matter of fact, although there are some contents on English pronunciation practice, the limited time as mentioned above is one of obstacles of practicing pronunciation. In addition, in the EFL context, Thai secondary students appear to use and give attention on English literacy skills of reading and writing rather than listening and oral skills (Bennui 2003). Significance of the Study An acoustic analysis of English vowels produced by Thai speakers will yield more reliable information on the characteristics of the vowels produced, in particular vowel quality and vowel length for monophthong vowels, and the former for diphthongs. Such information will enable comparisons with the acoustic characteristics of vowels in Thai, making it possible to compare the vowel systems of English and Thai, and henceforth to determine the influence of L1 on English. The findings on the extent to which Thai speakers can perceive English vowel contrast will help in the understanding of the relationship between perception and production of vowel contrast in English as it can be argued that if they are unable to perceive vowel contrast, they may not be able to produce the contrast. The information will also provide valuable insights to the area of pronunciation teaching in Thailand. The Purpose of the Study The current study is based on an instrumental analysis of English vowels produced by native speakers of Thai and investigates if there is any acoustic evidence of vowel contrast between vowels in Thai and English. It also aims to examine the extent to which the vowels produced by the Thai subjects share similar characteristics with a native and neighboring variety of English. The study also intents to examine the perception of English vowels by Thai speakers. In relation to these, the purpose of this study is to answer the following research questions: What are the acoustic properties of English vowels produced by Thai speakers? To what extent is there vowel contrast between traditional vowel pairs of /iË / /É ª/, /e/ /Ó†¢/, /ÊÅ   / /uË /, /ÊŒ/ /É‘Ë / and /É’/ /Ɇ:/? To what extent is the production of English vowels influenced by the speakers L1? To what extent do the vowels produced by Thai subjects share similar characteristics with British (BritE) and Malaysian English (MalE)? To what extent can Thai speakers perceive vowel contrast in English? The Scope and Limitations of the Study This work is limited to the acoustic properties of English monophthong and diphthongs as produced by 15 female students from one secondary school in one particular area of Thailand Narathiwat. Moreover, the data were collected by recording the subjects in word list and informal speech context. Thai speeches were recorded by 5 female subjects in order to enable comparison of Thai vowels with the English produced by the target subjects.

School Safety and the Tragedy at Columbine High School :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Unlike most of the country, I knew about Columbine High School on April 19, 1999. I knew that the Columbine Rebels had a good football team, I remembered how they beat Cherry Creek for the 1999 football championship. I knew what Columbine's building was like from when I was inside it in January for a debate tournament. I had friends that went to CHS. We had gone on a trip to Hawaii together to learn about biology. The rest of the country found out about Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. They didn't hear about their football team, the debate tournament they hosted, or my friends, though; they heard about two angry students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, that went on a killing rampage killing 12 other students, a teacher, and themselves. The nation, the media, the killers, my friends, and me all have their own view of what happened that day. Many people tried to understand how something so terrible could happen, while the killers thought that the killings were a wonderful thing , and still other students were trying to comprehend that this tragedy had actually happened so close to home. At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.

The Disadvantages Of Standardized Testing Essay -- High-Stakes Standard

Standardized tests must be improved. Instead of traditional standardized testing, random testing should be put in place and tests themselves should be reconstructed to promote fairness, reduce errors and and more accurately assess student’s knowledge. Testing should be done to random groups of students on random dates throughout the year. There will be a large enough group of students to give a good idea of how well material is being taught but a small enough group that not everyone needs to take the test. Cheating is a major problem with standardized tests. Cheating leads to inaccurate test scores (Dolezalek 71). In many cases of it is the teachers that are the ones cheating. â€Å"About 10 percent of the teachers admitted to providing hints about the answers during the test administration; about 10 percent pointed out mismarked items by students; about 15 percent of the teachers provided more time for the test than was allowed; and about 5 percent of the teachers engaged in instruction during the test† (Dolezalek 73). Teachers can also cheat by altering finished tests by filling in blank answers or fixing the answers at the end of the test which tend to be the hardest (Dolezalek 75). Teachers are often pushed by administrators who also cheat for their schools. â€Å"In July 2011 the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a report on the Atlanta Public Schools charging a widespread cheating conspiracy over a ten year period by 178 teachers, principals and administrators to f ix answers on the statewide competency test† (â€Å"Pressure Caused Teachers to Cheat†). The fact that federal budgets can be determined by tests causes some schools and states to cheat (Dolezalek 76). Schools cheat because the system for determining budgets makes n... ...argets Has Caused Teachers to Cheat.† Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from â€Å"GBI Reveals Why Cheating Occurred in Atlanta Public Schools.† Teacher World. 10 July 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web 4 March 2014. â€Å"Why Can Some Kids Handle the Pressure While Others Fall Apart?† The New York Times. The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 March 2014. â€Å"Why Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Educational Quality.† ASCD. Educational Leadership, March 1999. Web. 10 March 2014. Walberg, Herbert J. â€Å"Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement.† Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. of â€Å"Stop the War Against Standardized Tests.† Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal. (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 March 2014.

The Red Curtain Trilogy by Baz Lurhmann Essay -- Papers

The Red Curtain Trilogy by Baz Lurhmann On The Red Curtain Trilogy, which were all directed by Baz Lurhmann, all of the films began with red curtains opening up like in a theatre to 'reveal' the film. In 'Strictly Ballroom' the scene opens with silhouettes of the main characters dancing, waiting for a performance to start (?) then walking excitedly onto screen which starts the movie. For 'Romeo & Juliet' the opening shot is a lot more fast and furious. The film begins with a plain black screen, then a television screen appears. the television screen, that is showing a news report, appears and draws closer to the viewer. The reporter is reciting the prologue of the play. Accelerated scenes from the film are shown, with words and sentences in red lettering from the prologue, this scene reminds me of a trailer for a film. The story then starts, showing both families of the story, their traits and portrays the friction between the Montagues and Capulets. For Moulin Rouge, when the red curtain begins to open, a conductor appears and begins conducting the music for the film, to give a feel of being at a theatre. Then the town where Moulin Rouge is set is introduced to us, and the main character is introduced, and then begins to tell the story. The Music in 'Strictly Ballroom' for the opening sequence is slow, quiet calming music, but as it becomes closer to the actual beginning of the film, the music becomes louder and more extravagant, and then for the 'salsa' scene the music is very jazzy and upbeat. The music for this film is very well done because it portrays exactly what is happening on the screen at the time. The Music is mor... ...gant things which you would never see at theatres. I think my favourite opening would be the one for Romeo and Juliet. The opening is fast paced and has bright colours. It contains scenes form the film which seems to pull the viewer in to watching the film. The films differ from each other as well, as Strictly ballroom begins with red curtains opening to the beginning of the film. Romeo and Juliet decided to not use the Red curtain theme, although because it is based on a play, there was already a feeling of 'red curtain' (play) about it. Moulin rouge used the red curtain idea and extended it by showing the conductor which you would see at a theatre or musical, which Moulin rouge was intending to be. Overall, I think the openings for the Baz Lurhmann Trilogy are gripping and make you want to see the rest of the film.