Critique of a Qualitative Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Critique of a Qualitative Research Paper - Essay Example In addition, the researchers have particularly concentrated upon the social marketing, which looks for striving for the betterment of society at large. Social marketing, Andreasen (1995:31) submits, is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society. In other words, the main objective of the social marketing is working voluntarily for the benefit and uplift of the individuals at large. Moreover, it is also a reality that the young people are the future builders of a society, proper education and training of which is one of the most formidable responsibilities of all members of asocial set up. If the youth is not discouraged and prohibited from participating into the social evils including drinking, smoking and gambling etc, the future prospects of the society would be in grave jeopar dy for the future years of come. In addition, it has aptly been observed that gambling leads the young people towards other nefarious activities including drinking and sex etc, which may challenge their health condition. Hence the social problem, selected by the researchers, is very important in its scope and exposure, and carries wide scope and depth in its nature. The researchers are quite justified in choosing the research problem related to social marketing, which looks to strive for the wellbeing and safety of the young people on the basis of the findings of the study, as well as the suggestions made on the foundations of the findings of the present research. Whether positively or negatively the gambling prevention campaigns, being launched by the government and non-governmental organizations at various media platforms, influence the minds of the young

The Influence of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Essay

The Influence of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen - Essay Example After the Mass, the Bishop that officiated the Mass, said to him that Sheen would go to Leuven University and that he would become a Bishop, just like he was. The Bishop’s prediction was right. As Sheen said and experiences, â€Å"God is constantly remolding that clay, giving it a second and third, and even seventy times seven chances.† Through his television programs, books, and preachings, Fulton Sheen was one of the most influential people during the second half of the 20th century. When Sheen got into television, he had to compete with the big stars of the 1950ss, such as Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra. He started his first television show, Life is Worth Living, in 1952. He based his talks on his book also called Life is Worth Living. Sheen had to fight for his airtime because most people wanted to watch the big stars, until Sheen came on air. Sheen’s show was very popular and he was doing better than the big television start. People would make an extra effort every Tuesday evening to watch him and take in his works. Sheen’s words got into people’s hearts and helped people strengthen their faith. He had millions of viewers and he drew as many as 10 million a week. Eventually he became more popular than everyone else on television. At the 1952 Emmy Awards, Sheen defeated Edward R. Murrow, Lucille Ball, and Arthur Godfrey for the title of Most Outstanding Television Personality. When he accepted his award, he said, â€Å"I wish to thank my four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.†

Compare Chinese monster and American monster Essay

Compare Chinese monster and American monster - Essay Example Chinese holds the Spring Festival to commemorate Nian Monster. Besides, they consider the Spring Festival as the grandest, most magnificent festival in the history of the country’s culture. On the other hand, Momo the Missouri Monster is a hairy, foul-smelling monster. According to Taylor (130), Momo, in simple term refers to Bigfoot. It was first reported in 1971 and identified to live in Missouri. Since that time, the monster has been spotted up and down the Mississippi river. In the first scenario, two picnickers asserted that they saw the monster come out the woods nearby. The foul-smelling creature allegedly ate their food while they locked themselves inside the car. In the second scenario, local children (Doris, Wally and Terry) reportedly saw Momo walk regally past them hauling a dead dog. The fundamental differences between the two legends, Nian and Momo, highlight the deep-seated cultural variation and beliefs between Chinese and Americans. In this regard, this paper tries to compare the existence of Nian vs. Momo the Missouri Monster and their importance to Chinese and American cultures respectively. Nian was a furious monster that allegedly descended from the mountains or under the sea to hunt people every 1st and 15th of the lunar month. Thus, people locked their doors very early before nightfall on the days the creature was likely come (Wong 27). Although the monster attacked anyone regardless of gender, it mainly preferred children. Parents were terrified of a possible fatal attack on their children who often played outside their homes. The old man in the village thought the panic in people perhaps made the monster furious and so bold. He asked the people to come together and find a way of conquering the monster. According to the old man, burning of bamboo, beating gongs and drums, lighting off fireworks would be an effective approach to conquering Nian (Wong 27). He believed that large noises would threaten and scare away the horrible monster.

The Influence of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Essay

The Influence of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen - Essay Example After the Mass, the Bishop that officiated the Mass, said to him that Sheen would go to Leuven University and that he would become a Bishop, just like he was. The Bishop’s prediction was right. As Sheen said and experiences, â€Å"God is constantly remolding that clay, giving it a second and third, and even seventy times seven chances.† Through his television programs, books, and preachings, Fulton Sheen was one of the most influential people during the second half of the 20th century. When Sheen got into television, he had to compete with the big stars of the 1950ss, such as Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra. He started his first television show, Life is Worth Living, in 1952. He based his talks on his book also called Life is Worth Living. Sheen had to fight for his airtime because most people wanted to watch the big stars, until Sheen came on air. Sheen’s show was very popular and he was doing better than the big television start. People would make an extra effort every Tuesday evening to watch him and take in his works. Sheen’s words got into people’s hearts and helped people strengthen their faith. He had millions of viewers and he drew as many as 10 million a week. Eventually he became more popular than everyone else on television. At the 1952 Emmy Awards, Sheen defeated Edward R. Murrow, Lucille Ball, and Arthur Godfrey for the title of Most Outstanding Television Personality. When he accepted his award, he said, â€Å"I wish to thank my four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.†

Recruiting in the High Schools Essay Example for Free

Recruiting in the High Schools Essay You see them everywhere dressed up head to toe in camouflage and shiny boots, with the image of a super hero. With the recent conflicts in the Middle East, parents across America have protested the military being inside of our children’s schools auctioning off a better life. Let’s face it, who can give a better life to you than your mother? In 2002 the government made a flagship program designed to help underprivileged kids called the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act†. â€Å"Since 2002 the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act† has meant that US schools which receive government money must allow the military in to talk to students† (Act of Congress). So this poses a huge problem for the parents that are trying to fight to get the military out of the schools and to put a ban on recruiting from within the confines. The military shouldn’t be able to recruit in high schools for many reasons. The most important reasons why the military shouldn’t recruit inside of high schools is because the mind of a high school student isn’t developed enough to make the right decisions to join; the military gives false hope to kids of financial freedom, and the possibility of death isn’t realistically depicted by the recruiters to the high school students. Why are we recruiting in high schools instead of on college campuses? There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but first and foremost is that seventeen year olds aren’t ready to join. The mind of a seventeen year old isn’t fully developed until their in their twenties. So the judgment of a right and a wrong decision isn’t mindfully thought through. Yes, a seventeen year old only needs a high school diploma and parental consent but, how can they think they are ready for war when they can’t even drink alcohol or vote for their commander and chief? In high schools there are cliques and like any kid they want to be in these so called cliques. Robert Ayers discusses in his book how kids are looking for a clique or group to belong to, â€Å"High school kids are at an age when being a member of an identifiable group with a grand mission and a shared spirit — and never underestimate a distinctive uniform — is of exaggerated importance, something gang recruiters in big cities also note with interest and exploit with skill† (William Ayers). Ayers is depicting to us how easy it is to manipulate, and convince a young mind, seventeen years old, just wants to be part of a group with an image no matter what group it is. All someone has to do is depict an image of greatness and the young people are sold. The fact and bottom line is that our kids look up to a glorified image that the military and their commercials depict from a young age and they shouldn’t be capitalized on nor taken advantage of due to this overwhelming lopsided image. The military is currently under quota of manpower that they need to run a successful defense, so turning to seventeen year olds without the knowledge of military recruiting tactics is the logical and more efficient way to get people to join our depleted military. But this is not a reason to prey on sixteen and seventeen year olds who aren’t even old enough to vote nor drive, but they can make life and death decisions to join the military. But having the undeveloped brain, like we all went through, as they do they are not old enough to cypher through the presentations that the recruiter gives in order to make a valid and rational decision. Why do you see more recruiters in poverty stricken areas contrast to those in areas of good or well financial being? This is because the military is unethically targeting the vulnerable kids in our school system. Recruiters unethically target low income kids while promising them financial aid for school after these students serve in the military. Some of the students are promised is school fully paid for via the â€Å"Post 9/11 bill† and the â€Å"GI Bill†. But if you go www. va. gov website you will see the underlying criteria to actually get 100 percent free tuition. The Veteran Affairs website referenced these criteria’s; Active duty status, months and years served, months retired and a plethora of underlying circumstances. Getting high school students seem to be the plan for high school students, â€Å"The U. S. military’s practice of targeting low-income youth and students of color for recruitment, in combination with exaggerated promises of financial rewards for enlistment, undermines the voluntariness of their enlistment† (Soldiers of Misfortune). So why does the military seem to recruit people of color? Well according to www. census. gov the website tells us a lot about Caucasian children eighteen and under below the poverty line was seventeen percent and the children of the minority races were thirty five percent and higher. So this is actually the ideal place for a recruiter to so called â€Å"fill their quota†. Going back to the argument of recruiters promising false financing of school, this could be an advantage for the recruiters. Promising people who don’t have anything something is unethical and misleading. This is mostly unethical because the recruiters that are usually E-4 to E-6 have no pull to get you in different schooling programs nor give you the position that you could want, in terms of career and financing. â€Å"Many possible recruits are promised that they will receive tens of thousands of dollars in education when, in actuality, 57 percent of veterans who have applied for Government Issue (GI) benefits have not received any financial aid, according to the non-profit organization Finding Alternatives to Military Enlistment† (FAME). Promising financial benefits to kids that less than the majority of the military veterans receive is morally and ethically wrong. Also, the recruiters don’t tell you that in some circumstance you can’t attend school while in an â€Å"Active Duty Status†. Reason being is that you could get deployed and be called off to duty at any time and then the government would have to reimburse the institution for the incomplete credits. The recruiters also don’t tell recruits that if you are a reservist you are not eligible for the GI Bill, being in the reserve status it will be impossible to accumulate four years’ worth of active duty. The military also made it so that this could never be reached, it’s like a safe guard they have in place. The U. S. government also targets disadvantaged communities and areas. The philosophy of recruiters seem to be â€Å" The more in poverty a student is, the more likely they will look for a way out and join the ranks†. When the recruiters target these areas their showing that the more fortunate kids lives are more valuable and worth sparing more than others. It just isn’t right to exploit children from these backgrounds and hold their lives to a lesser status than other backgrounds. Why isn’t war realistically depicted to recruits before they join? Because, it’s nothing like what you see on the video games like â€Å"Call of Duty† or movies like â€Å"The Expendables or The ‘A’ Team†, when people shoot a plethora of bullets at you someone or something gets hit. â€Å"War is catastrophic for human beings, and, indeed, for the continuation of life on Earth. With over 120 military bases around the globe and the second largest military force ever assembled, the U. S.  government is engaged in a constant state of war, and American society is necessarily distorted and disfigured around the aims of war† (William Ayers). A good statistic that should be shared while a recruit is debating whether or not to join the military is, â€Å"During the last decade of that spectacular century, two million children were killed, 20 million displaced, six million disabled† (William Ayers). Now this is a statistic that should get shared with recruits along with the good statistics that are put in there to glorify military service. Another good fact that recruits probably don’t know about â€Å"108 million people were slaughtered in wars during the 20th century† (William Ayers). Now the recruiters should tell the recruits to put this into perspective. 108 million people like you and me were killed within 100 years due to war and military conflict. The kids in high school need to understand that those were kids their age and younger, on some continents that were getting killed over things not fully understood. Then when your contract is up and you are honorably discharged from your branch of service people are still left with images of war and relive it every day. â€Å"Vets suffer long-term health consequences including greater risk of depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, sleep disorders, and more. About one-third of Vietnam vets suffered full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder. Another 22% suffered partial post-traumatic stress disorder. This is the nature of the beast. Anyone who’s been there knows† (William Ayers). If kids the age of 18 and lower are allowed to see and experience these things, then when their brains are fully developed they will be brain washed and war could be instilled in them with no turning back. This could also be that kid’s brains are not fully developed so they don’t have a clear concept of death. Recruiting in the high schools is ethically wrong due to the lack of the recruits’ brain development to cypher through and make a decision based on facts instead of the image the recruiters portray of the military. Also, the recruiters promise tens of thousands of dollars to these kids when that is a very farfetched truth. The recruiters need to tell them what you actually have to do to earn and qualify for that money so it can actually be yours’. Military recruiters also don’t depict a clear picture of war and all that is lost during it. People’s sanity, lives and total way of living are altered forever. Recruiting in high schools should be closely monitored in schools if not done away with all together. Kids eighteen and younger just don’t have a grasp on what’s reality and what’s fabricated. Works Cited Ayers, William. Hearts and Minds: Military Recruitment and the High School Battlefield. Www. democraticdialogue. com. N. p. , 07 Apr. 2006. Web. Cave, Damien. Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents. Editorial. New York Times [New York] 3 June 2005: B6. Www. newyorktimes. com. Web. Census Bureau Homepage. Census Bureau Homepage. N. p. , n. d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. http://www. census. gov/. FAME Time Series. FAME Time Series. N. p. , n. d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. http://www. fame. com/. Www. gibill. va. gov. N. p. , n. d. Web.

The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay

The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay When pursuing a degree in social work, a student experiences equal exposure to group work and individual case work. The curriculum set out by the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE) requires that a healthy mixture of the two be taught in order to grant a degree in social work (CSWE, 2010). Every person becomes involves with different groups during their life, but within social work, groups are a tool for helping bring people together and solve problems, not only for recreation. One of the people responsible for the foundation of group work education in America was Gertrude Wilson. Gertrude Wilson was born in 1895, three years before the first course on social work was available at Columbia University in 1898. She was raised in a town with fewer than 200 people in Dana, Illinois (Chambers, 1986). Miss Wilson grew up seeing women like Jane Adams and Frances Perkins having an impact on the social fabric of America through the settlement house movement. She entered Illinois Womens College in 1915, but ended up receiving a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago (Chambers). After two years of teaching high school, she became a secretary for the Young Womens Christian Academy (YWCA) in Pennsylvania. Ten years later, she returned to Chicago as the administrator of the new Women in the Workforce branch of the YWCA. Miss Wilson has stated that her experience with the YWCA opened her eyes to the ability of groups to influence peoples lives for the better (Greenwood, 1985). It was during her time with the YWCA that she met Grace Coyle, a sociologist, who convinced her to leave the YWCA and take a position teaching at Western Case University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935. Wilson attended the University of Chicago part time while teaching in Ohio and received her M.A. from its School of Social Service Administration in 1938 (Chambers, 1986). She became a member of the American Association for the Study of Group Work (AASGW) and assisted Coyle with some of the first research done on groups in social work. Shortly after receiving her degree, Wilson moved to the University of Pittsburgh. It was here that she published her first two, and what many believe, most influential books (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Her first book, Case Work and Group Work was published in 1941.When Wilson began writing, the field of social work was dominated by case work, a more individual based approach that applied methods of psychoanalytic theory rather than examine environmental factors. Along with Coyle, she was among the first to argue that personal problems were not solely internal, but also found in external sources such as family organization and interaction. She advocated an integrated approach that involved both case work and group work to treat separate issues together rather than individually (Wilson G. , Case work and group work, 1941). Case Work and Group Work was not written with the intent to make group work seem more important than case work. In the first few pages of Case Work and Group Work, Wilson decried the short-visioned little cults of method and function that claim their superiority at the expense of healthy clients (Wilson, 1941). Hers was an argument to consolidate the two approaches rather than create separate disciplines. Group social work existed, but still lacked any single academic foundation for study. She presented the book before the AASGW, the Psychiatric Social Workers Association (PSWA), and multiple schools of social work around the country. At the National Conference on Social Work in 1942, Gertrude Wilson further expanded on what she began discussing in Case Work and Group Work. Wilson believed that group work could bring about changes in the values of individuals and society as a whole. She argued that a worker could dynamically influence the environment of the group for the better by directing certain processes towards specific social goals (Wilson G. , 1942). At this conference she defined three different ways in which the worker might influence the group by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦directing the process toward the accomplishment of a social goal conceived in a democratic philosophy. They are 1) developmental, as it provided for normal social growth; 2) protective or corrective, in that it could be offered to people without groups; and 3) instrumental in achieving of socially desirable ends. (Wilson) Her view put forth the idea that the good of the one and the good of the many were dependent on each other and social workers had a social responsibility to address both in order to build society (Weil, K., Southerland, 1991) After several years at Pittsburgh University, Miss Wilson and her colleague Gladys Ryland published Social Group Work Practice. Group work had lacked this academic foundation for so many years. It offered a systematic method of applying group work for social work practice. As the first book to actually offer a process for applying group work, it became the first textbook for group work and was used in schools of social work across the United States. It was called the Green Bible due to the color of its cover and size (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Many still consider it the most influential book on group work in social work history (Chambers, 1986). The 700-page book can be divided into two sections: practice methods and case studies. The first half of the book described group work methods and theories about groups. For the first time, a social group work method was described. This was based on Wilson and Rylands experience with groups and Grace Coyles research. Miss Wilson expressed the key goal of group workers as such: The workers aim is to help the members of groups develop the capacity to carry on their own group life and achieve goals (Wilson, 1949). This goal is still considered important and appears in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics to this day NASW, 2009). The second half of the book contained analyses of different groups, their specific activities and how the social group work method applies to them. Miss Wilsons research over the years is seen here in the detailed case studies included in this section. The case studies cover groups from preschool to retirement, reflecting the extent that Miss Wilson went to in researching the book. Significantly, much of the case study material was drawn from work in recreational and informal educational agencies because group social work was not practiced often in a clinical setting at that time (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). The case studies included in Wilsons book may be dated, but the concepts of group work that they represent have withstood the test of time. The last half-century has seen a great deal of social change and numerous group work textbooks since Social Group Work Practice, but Wilsons original ideas about group work have remained largely unchanged and few modern texts can refer to group work without referencing the work of Gertrude Wilson, especially this book. One of the most tempestuous times in Gertrude Wilsons life was during the time that she and Gladys Ryland were putting Social Group Work Practice together at the University of Pittsburgh. During the late 1940s, anti-communist politicians began attacking the field of social work because of its progressive views and support of New Deal policies to assist the needy (Andrews Reisch, 1997). One of the main targets was Marion Hathaway, the director of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh (Reisch Andrews, 2001). Wilson was among the several educators and students that supported Hathaway and her support (along with many other faculty members) caused friction between the School of Social Work in Pittsburgh and the university chancellor (Wilson, 1978). Wilson was one of the many professors who resigned from the college in 1950 under pressure (Wilson). Ryland was terminated after refusing to resign a few months after Wilson left (Andrews Reisch). Wilson did not let this controversy stop her career. She joined the School of Social Welfare at Berkeley in 1951. It was here that she developed a professional education program focused on training new social workers. Originally known as the Certificate Program in the Social Services, it contained specific courses over a two-year period that ended with a two-week seminar on campus (Greenwood, 1985). The Council on Social Work education (CSWE) in 1952 adopted this program as the model for national accreditation (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). At Berkeley, Wilson taught courses in both theory and practice in group work. She was a frequent speaker at seminars and conventions all over the United States and she guest-lectured at the Columbia, Smith, and Tulane Schools of Social Work. Even after retirement, she served as a consultant to social agencies, schools of social work and professional associations. Wilson used her own experience to constantly refine what she considered a dynamic aspect of social work (From practice to theory: a personalized history, 1976). Wilson wrote dozens of conference papers, journal articles, chapters in books, and monographs although she will most likely always be remembered for Social Group Work Practice with Gladys Ryland in 1949. She was one of eight social work pioneers chosen for the NASW Oral History Project in 1978. Each participant took part in a 1-2 hour interview that was recorded and placed in the Library of Congress. Berkley performed a similar interview on videotape in 1982. Both recordings are very difficult to obtain. Although she officially retired from Berkeley in 1963, the college was very gracious following her death from cancer in 1985 (Greenwood, 1985). Gertrude Wilson was an amazing woman who pushed social barriers as an educator and activist. She was one of very few women with a full professorship in the 1930s. Her work in the first half of the 20th century still influences social work today in the 21st. She had a passion for helping people that encouraged her to study a field of practice that was barely recognized until the 1940s. Not only did she pursue that field, she made it possible for others to do so as well by writing the first textbook on the practice of group work. Her certificate program at Berkley was the foundation for modern undergraduate social work curriculum in universities across the nation. These are all accomplishments she made in her field that show her impression on the practice, theory and future practitioners of social work. Personally, I am inspired by her resolve to follow her passion even though there wasnt a road to follow; she dug it out herself so that she could reach her destination and so that others could follow her. It is this attitude that inspires me in my pursuit to implement school social work in Oklahoma. It will never exist in Oklahoma if people do not fight for it and have a practical way to practice it once it does.

The Virtual Umwelt :: Internet Communication Essays

The Virtual Umwelt In my last reflexive paper titled Semiotics in Cyberspace (April, 1995), I referred to the following statement from Philip Elmer-DeWitt's article Welcome to Cyberspace: What is it? Where is it? And how to get there?: "Stripped of the external trappings of wealth, power, beauty and social status, people tend to be judged in the Cyberspace of the Internet only by their ideas and their ability to get them across in terse, vigorous prose." This statement was used to prove a point in that context. The point was that Cyberspace is a place for the discovery and exploration of semiosis. I found Elmer-DeWitt's comment to be an excellent example of the kinds of issues that semioticians could argue about when analyzing the semiosis of the Internet. In his statement, Elmer-DeWitt depicts Cyberspace as what appears to be a world without umwelts. He implies that the only reference we have from others in Cyberspace is their writing and composition abilities (as if those by themselves were not signs leading to a million interpretations). I very much disagree with Elmer-DeWitt's argument. Semiosis in Cyberspace is a lot more complex than just the act of signification from writing styles and well chosen words. Most of us would agree that when communicating through the Internet we all must realize that we do so with other human beings, not with machines. Those machines might be considered to be one of the components of our umwelt in the context of that experience. The technological devices we need to interact with are bear essentials of Cyberspace and they establish the first element of characterization we use to impersonate other human beings. We know that our correspondents must have access to the technology and should have a certain amount of skills in order to get to Cyberspace. By simply making this assumption (which in most cases is true) we are issuing a set of new set of labels and re-localizing our correspondents in a specific spot within our umwelts. We might very easily connect characteristics like the access to highly technological devices with a relatively high socio-economical status or with a certain level of academic achievement. I also believe that most of us conduct very dynamic communications through the net. We do not just read messages. Instead, we try to find out more from the person who wrote it. We start by looking at things like their e-mail addresses.