Principles of Economics

Paper Individual decision making is either you do, or you do not. Most people are rational beings basing their decisions on a formula, benefits versus cost. Are the benefits of buying a $1000 television worth it? Are the marginal benefits worth the marginal cost? Just this morning, I was faced with such a scenario. I was invited over to a friend’s house to try a new video game. I did not go, however, because I knew that I had to read several chapters for my class and write a paper.The benefits were that I would have some time to hang out with my friends and enjoy some much needed free time. The cost would’ve been that I could have not gotten all of my reading done and possibly been late on my assignment. My rational thought was that I would spend the day doing my reading and assignment and then get some free time later. Taking care of my responsibilities now would allow me to enjoy my free time later knowing that I had everything else, which was important, finished. Rat ionally, I would not have made a different decision.Economists have created an economic model that almost all businesses, government policy makers and entrepreneurs base their decisions on. Using these models, these people make their decisions based on how that decision will affect the economy. These models are for by economists based on analyses which are composed of: a hypothesis, assumptions, and simplifying. Analyses are done between consumers and businesses and how the two interact with each other. Will consumers buy certain products from these businesses?This analysis also includes assumptions that consumers will buy products to maximize their own profits. These assumptions are somewhat simplified and are not always accurate or do not apply to all consumers. This goes back to the first of the three economic ideas: people are rational. Each economy has three problems to solve: 1. What will be produced? 2. How will the goods and services be produced? 3. Who will receive those go ods and services? There are two main ways for each society to organize their economies: centrally planned economy and market economy.Centrally planned economies are of a lower caliber quality, because the government decides who, what, and how products will be handled. This however does not meet the consumers wants, only the needs. Market economies are quite different from centrally planned. Market economies base their who, what, and how answers on the consumers. This gives the consumers more choice and power on their buying habits. In a market economy, products will tend to have higher quality and higher probability of satisfying the consumers.This does, however, target the more willing and capable buyers. There is a third economic system that was brought about in the nineteenth century: a mixed economy. This mixed economy is a combination of both centrally planned and market economies. This allows for the answers to â€Å"who, what, and how? † to be decided by consumers but in which the government has a significant role in the allocation of resources. Simply explained, social interactions change from one economic system to another.A centrally planned economy restricts free will as far as the questions who, what, and how. Perhaps leaving the society a little less satiated. A market economy will allow for higher paying jobs, better quality products, but targets only a certain demographic. A mixed economy attempts to combine both systems and allow for high quality products, high paying jobs for skilled workers, and allow products to be distributed to all demographics.Resources Hubbard, R. G. , & O'Brien, A. P. (2010). Economics. Principles of Economics Paper Individual decision making is either you do, or you do not. Most people are rational beings basing their decisions on a formula, benefits versus cost. Are the benefits of buying a $1000 television worth it? Are the marginal benefits worth the marginal cost? Just this morning, I was faced with such a scenario. I was invited over to a friend’s house to try a new video game. I did not go, however, because I knew that I had to read several chapters for my class and write a paper.The benefits were that I would have some time to hang out with my friends and enjoy some much needed free time. The cost would’ve been that I could have not gotten all of my reading done and possibly been late on my assignment. My rational thought was that I would spend the day doing my reading and assignment and then get some free time later. Taking care of my responsibilities now would allow me to enjoy my free time later knowing that I had everything else, which was important, finished. Rat ionally, I would not have made a different decision.Economists have created an economic model that almost all businesses, government policy makers and entrepreneurs base their decisions on. Using these models, these people make their decisions based on how that decision will affect the economy. These models are for by economists based on analyses which are composed of: a hypothesis, assumptions, and simplifying. Analyses are done between consumers and businesses and how the two interact with each other. Will consumers buy certain products from these businesses?This analysis also includes assumptions that consumers will buy products to maximize their own profits. These assumptions are somewhat simplified and are not always accurate or do not apply to all consumers. This goes back to the first of the three economic ideas: people are rational. Each economy has three problems to solve: 1. What will be produced? 2. How will the goods and services be produced? 3. Who will receive those go ods and services? There are two main ways for each society to organize their economies: centrally planned economy and market economy.Centrally planned economies are of a lower caliber quality, because the government decides who, what, and how products will be handled. This however does not meet the consumers wants, only the needs. Market economies are quite different from centrally planned. Market economies base their who, what, and how answers on the consumers. This gives the consumers more choice and power on their buying habits. In a market economy, products will tend to have higher quality and higher probability of satisfying the consumers.This does, however, target the more willing and capable buyers. There is a third economic system that was brought about in the nineteenth century: a mixed economy. This mixed economy is a combination of both centrally planned and market economies. This allows for the answers to â€Å"who, what, and how? † to be decided by consumers but in which the government has a significant role in the allocation of resources. Simply explained, social interactions change from one economic system to another.A centrally planned economy restricts free will as far as the questions who, what, and how. Perhaps leaving the society a little less satiated. A market economy will allow for higher paying jobs, better quality products, but targets only a certain demographic. A mixed economy attempts to combine both systems and allow for high quality products, high paying jobs for skilled workers, and allow products to be distributed to all demographics.Resources Hubbard, R. G. , & O'Brien, A. P. (2010). Economics.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Essay

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantitative and qualitative measures used to review an organization’s progress against its goals. These are broken down and set as targets for achievement by departments and individuals. The achievement of these targets is reviewed at regular intervals. KPIs are used to monitor the performance of a company, department, process or even an individual machine. They will also help shape the behaviors of employees within the company. KPIs need to be flexible and reflect the changing goals of the organization. Goals change as the organization changes in reaction to external factors or as it gets closer to achieving its original goals. Individual KPIs need to be directly linked to organization goals and objectives, or overall organization KPIs where they are used. They need to reflect organization culture and values, by indicating the types of behavior and performance the organization will recognize as ‘successful’ and reward employees for. KPIs need to be measurable and reflect a balance between operational and people orientated measures. KPIs are a fundamental component of sustaining a change process and maintaining a performance management culture. KPIs should be aligned with the organization’s vision and direction. When performance is measured, and the results are made visible, organizations can take action to improve. SMART KPIs The acronym SMART is often used to describe KPIs. Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Timely Specific KPIs need to be specific to the individual job and if possible expressed as statements of actual on-the-job behaviors. For example, a KPI should: Explain clearly to the employee what he/she has to do in terms of performance to be successful Have an impact on successful job performance, that is distinguishing between effective performance and ineffective performance  Focus on the behavior itself, rather than personality attributes such as ‘attitude to customers’. Terms such as ‘work quality’, and ‘job knowledge’ are too vague to be of much use. Measurable KPIs must be measurable, that is based on behavior that can be observed and documented, and which is job-related. They should also provide employees with ongoing feedback on their standard of performance. Achievable Performance management needs to be an open, collaborative communication process. KPIs must be seen by all that they are achievable. The KPI must be realistically achievable. If it is set too high for the circumstances (such as an ambitious production target), not only will it be irrelevant but it will ensure failure. Relevant It is essential that employees clearly understand the KPIs, and that they have the same meaning to both parties. Consultation is more likely to result in standards that are relevant and valid. Timely KPIs should have an appropriate time frame. It should be possible to collect the relevant information either ‘as it happens’ or within a short time afterwards, otherwise it will lose its relevance. As outputs of the performance management system, KPIs also need to be in alignment with other HR-related functions, including training and development, recruitment and selection, rewards and recognition, and career planning. Business aspects that require KPIs KPIs should cover every aspect of the business. Sample examples are Customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction Staff turnover Absenteeism Department/division specific measures Triple bottom line: financial, environmental and social responsibility Finance including revenue and costs OHS reporting including incidents and related costs Equipment usage and OEE Maintenance costs and effectiveness New product development & innovation Lead times and down times Quality KPI components KPIs should identify the required outcomes, for example: The minimum acceptable performance e.g. daily break even point Target performance eg desired daily output. KPIs should: Be communicated to all staff so that they are aware of how they are to be measured and how their KPIs impact on the organization as a whole Be aligned with the vision and direction of the organization Have relevant reward and recognition criteria linked to each KPI. When implementing new KPIs, having baseline data to measure improvements is very important. Progress on KPIs should be communicated at regular times to highlight emerging trends. As these trends emerge, corrective action can be implemented in a timely fashion. KPIs need to be communicated via multiple media. The measures that are selected must be carefully specified to ensure they do not cause non-lean behaviors. In many cases there will need to be a selection of measures that balance quality and quantity factors to ensure the correct behaviors are encouraged. Listed below are some examples of the behaviors and outcomes that measure in isolation can cause. Measure in isolation Behavior Outcome Production output Make more Overproduction Machine efficiency Run machine longer Run in most efficient sequence for machine Unnecessary stock Customer orders late Maintenance costs Reduction in maintenance activities to reduce costs Machine breakdowns Cash flow performance Pay suppliers as late as possible Supplier deliveries XX unreliable Creating KPIs KPIs must be designed for each proposed change to the production process so that: There is a base line measurement taken to establish a starting performance standard There are measures developed to track the team’s  performance There are measures established that can highlight any variability. This can assist in future diagnoses Reward and recognition can be effectively implemented. Before data is collected three questions need to be asked. What is the purpose of collecting this data? Will this data tell us what we want to know? Will we be able to act on the data we collect? The goal is to create an easy-to-use, accurate measurement system with as few measures as possible. The following questions need to be answered when setting up a data collection system: What type of metric is it (financial, behavioral or core-process)? Why was it selected? Where will the data be collected? How will it be collected? How often will it be collected? How often and where will the metric be displayed? Who will use it? KPI examples Some examples of measures that can be used to monitor the performance of a competitive manufacturing company are listed below. Financial Examples Costs Material costs Labor costs Operations costs Inventory Overtime Warrantee costs Cost of Sales Interest on overdraft Number of projects completed on time and on budget Revenue Sales Gross margins Return on assets or investment Product profitability Team metrics Overtime Material costs Revenue generated by team Inventory value in team’s area Number of projects completed on time and on budget Core metrics Examples OHS Lost time injuries Number of staff off work Length of time staff are off work DIFOT Delivery in full on time Quality First time through quality Yield Lead-time Order to cash in bank Raw material to dispatch Dock to dock Inventory Inventory turnover rate OEE Overall equipment effectiveness Schedule performance % Changes to the weekly schedule Value added ratio Ratio of value adding time to lead time Team metrics Turnaround time for jobs Output rates Quality rates Equipment OEE Attendance rates Schedule compliance Customer feedback Number of deadlines/milestones met Metrics relating to specific team tasks Behavioral metrics Examples Employee satisfaction Gained from regular Employee Satisfaction Surveys Staff turnover rates Participation levels in improvement activities Customer satisfaction Gained from regular Employee Satisfaction Surveys Retention rates Skill uptake Skill matrices Absenteeism Absenteeism Error rates Error rates Time spent on managing under-performing staff Team metrics Number of team meetings Members at team meetings Number of ideas generated Number of ideas implemented Total Savings generated

An Analysis Of William Shakespeare’s Othello

An Analysis Of William Shakespeare’s Othello There are many powerful stories in the world. Tales of intrigue, revenge and redemption. But it is the skilful craft of storytelling which makes these narratives memorable. Narratives which are well told that involve the compelling characterisation of complex individuals, an engaging and suspenseful plot which reflect the values of the narratives context and masterful use of language to create a story which has withstood the test of time. Great storytelling appeals to the audience with its engaging plot through the universal themes that have been demonstrated in the tragedy of both Othello and New Boy through their individual context, utilising the Aristotelian elements. William Shakespeare’s Othello has been reimagined by Tracy Chevalier, where she encapsulates the solid and timeless themes of jealousy, duplicity and the use of the tragic hero and transports them onto a school playground. With the shift in time, from the 17th Century Venice in Othello, to New Boy’s much more contemporary era, 1970’s Washington DC, the same themes are explored in both texts and are used to their full potential. So, what is it that makes Othello so powerful and memorable that its’ story can be reimagined to todays time? How skilfully the story must be moulded so the untouched themes can fit the drastic change in context? â€Å"A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;†¦ in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.† â€Å"A cartharsis of pity and fear†, that is what has made Othello so memorable. Words spoken by the famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle, has recognised the basis of what consists of powerful storytelling, the plot, the character, the melody, and has aided some of the most classic and timeless stories having Othello being one of them. When Chevalier chose to mirror Othello in New Boy, she felt that â€Å"an American school playground† would be most appropriate, where there is active evidence of dramatic affairs taking place, a clear order of hierarchy and a lot of room for drama. All these factors that come with the playground context make room for Chevalier to write a more contemporary version of Othello, where the times and values have changed. One thing Chevalier noticed in Othello was the lack of the involvement of the ladies in the play as the values of the people at the time saw women as weak and submissive, so she chose to give the girls in New Boy, Dee, Mimi and Blanca more of a voice, fitting to today’s contemporary era as the feminism movement grows stronger. This would appeal to a wider audience considering ‘girl power’ is much more prominent today compared to the 16th century when Othello was written, further making New Boy a powerful narrative through time whilst still encap sulating those same timeless themes of jealousy and duplicity. Characters are what bring the story to life. Compelling characters are what keep the story alive. Othello is an outsider, a moor in Venice and has eloped with the most sought-after girl in the city. Osei is a new boy, the Ghanaian son of a diplomat and has earned the title of ‘Dee’s boyfriend’. Sound similar yet? This is what makes these characters complex. They’re not one-dimensional and have sides to them which are revealed throughout the play and novel. The tragic heroes of both Othello and New Boy have been developed and twisted by the antagonists, Iago and Ian respectively. They have been adapted for the sake of creating what the author feels best about how to intensify their story, how to mould each character and their perspectives by utilising the language forms, with one being a drama and another, a novel. The skill of crafting a story is essentially how well the author can shape the language forms and features to create and enriching experience tha t highlights the core themes and the context. Through time, the concept of an unreliable narrator has only recently been coined, where the narrator’s credibility is questioned, and the perspective of other characters has been closed off by the author. This concept has been recognised by Chevalier as her novel can be read from the point of view of many characters. Not only has she created an unbiased view but her deliberate choice of a playground setting has created intensity by concentrating all the drama into one day and one setting. She makes her novel follow the recognisable language features that are prominent throughout Othello, the motifs of the handkerchief and the pencil case, the bestial imagery, having race as a line defining who the outsiders are, only to showcase how the shift in time from when Othello to when New Boy was written is very much reliant on how those same themes and language features is being represented. Shakespeare’s Othello, however, has bee n a culprit of potentially having unreliable narration. The conscious choice of exploring the aspects of jealousy and manipulation through a play has restricted Shakespeare by limiting him to create the multiple perspectives, which is what builds up intensity. Instead, he depends on the dramatic irony and soliloquys that are mostly presented by the malign Iago. He’s first shown as an intriguing character, â€Å"Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce†¦either to have it sterile with idleness or manured with industry, why the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.† Presenting himself in this soliloquy as the ‘master gardener’ because of his great self-control over himself and his actions and his ability to plant the seeds of doubt and jealousy in Othello’s mind. This powerful and skilful use of language features, with the analogy about the garden is used by Shakespeare to enhance and further contribute to the characterisation of Iago, to mould his perspective of himself and others, creating dramatic irony which further involves the audience making the play more powerful. Shakespeare also explores Othello’s language as he uses Iago as a puppet that works on him, showing the decline of his character through how his language has changed. His once calm and edu cated tone, twisting him into a â€Å"Green-eyed monster†. The character development that has been written for Othello is remarkable. Watching him undergo a transformation that makes him so fascinating contributes to how powerful the story of Othello and New Boy really is.

Movie - essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Movie - - Essay Example It also provides difficult lessons that Robert McNamara learned about modern war when he was the United States’ Secretary of Defense. In addition, it involves a study of moral complexities in conflicts. The documentary can explain common contemporary issues happening in the modern world, especially the Israeli-Palestine war. For example, it focuses on one of the most significant and controversial figures in the government of the United States in the 20th Century (Grothaus 1). The documentary focuses on the war involving Cuba, United States and United Soviet Socialists Union (Grothaus 1). Cuba almost engaged in war with the United Soviets Socialists Union. In addition, the documentary provides methodologies that can be adopted in times when one has to make a quick decision (Grothaus 1). Moreover, Robert McNamara claims that some war situations might be hard and dilemmatic. However, learning is not possible when dealing with nuclear weapons because any mistake made in the process would be highly consequential.As directed by Errol Morris, the film focuses on eleven lessons that can be learned from Robert McNamara’s life. Some of the lessons learned are decisions concerning critical situations in events of war. The first lesson is to empathize with your enemy. Consequently, it is necessary for the Israelis to sympathize with Palestinians and vice versa. Empathy will allow leaders from both divide to acknowledge that civilians are the most affected (Merip 1). The lesson analyses the need to view the world according to enemies’ perspective. The situation help understand their opinions concerning certain conflict situations. The approach also helps in comprehending their thinking and decision making process. For instance, McNamara illustrates one of the major events that took place when he was the Secretary of defense. The Cuban Missile Crisis illustrates the increased likelihood of Cuba exchanging nuclear weapons

Yesterday's Thinking and Organizational Disabilities Part II Assignment

Yesterday's Thinking and Organizational Disabilities Part II - Assignment Example gs, an alternative to your findings I would recommend is the need to ensure that the formation of structure to carry out implementation processes is done in such as a way that reflect the very climate and culture of the organization. This way, it will be easier for the members to incorporate well into the structure. From your post, I get the impression that Garden Way Inc. could not become the organization it wanted to become due to poor planning and lack of in-house competency development. This is because in the first place, the organization over elaborated with what it wanted to achieve by wanting to grow big overnight. As an alternative, the company could have been systematic with its approach of expansion as system thinking allows for systematic implementation of processes (Atwater and Pittman, 2006). What is more, the fact that the company depended so much on outsourcing took control out of the management, even though system thinking demands close monitoring (Senge, 2006). Compared to my own findings, I believe that if the company had depended more on the development of competencies of its in-house staff, the bankruptcy situation would not have come

IS globalization a new stage in the development of capitalism Essay

IS globalization a new stage in the development of capitalism - Essay Example The premise of capitalism banks on the philosophy of holding wealth on the part of the privately owned entities. This is a drastic philosophy – and one that can have lasting effects on the long run contextual meaning of the globalization regimes. Since globalization looks to provide benefits to both the developed nations as well as the comity of nations that can only be remarked as the underdeveloped, what in essence it does is to instigate the capitalist entities in a very aggressive manner. The political ramifications that come attached with such globalization undertakings under the capitalist modules need serious thinking and proper action, before one could deduce the overall success or failure of such regimes in entirety. As a matter of fact, capitalism is generally not a very favored phenomenon within any region of the world. If the globalization regimes are taken as a new stage or a new sub-cultural norm within the capitalist settings, then one can only think of havoc coming in within the respective economic and political undertakings of the state. Politically speaking, globalization aims to bring wealth and prosperity for any country and thus the proponents of globalization generally favor the tide which is coming their way. The publics seem to understand that with the wave of globalization within their folds, success will actually creep in, though in a slow fashion. However one can comprehend that success is indeed significant from the long term scheme of things and if globalization provides the boost within the interaction mechanisms of people with their respective governments, then the latter usually allow the globalization regimes to come in within the countries and flourish to the optimum pos sible levels (Maitra 1996). This means a win-win scenario for the people as their government understands how to bring prosperity and growth basis within the country. It helps the political groups in winning the electorates and thus sweeps the elections as and

Emergent Strategy Implementation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Emergent Strategy Implementation - Essay Example For instance, organizations refine and develop their goods, they look for new features to provide that permits their goods to stand out from the competition. The organization tries to employ emergent strategy to capture good progresses that could help it become a technical frontrunner in its industry. However, emergent strategy could lead to creation of more problems within an organization if not well planned. For instance, in case an organization continually concentrates on emergent strategy to attempt to capture that one concept that could lead to success, components of the strategic plan can go off and develop a completely new set of problems that the organization did not count on. Logic incrementalism is the development of strategy because of experimentation and consensus. This approach permits strategy to be blended and incorporated into a solitary coherent direction. Therefore, Honda`s entry demonstrated the attributes of logic

Employment Law Compliance Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment Law Compliance Plan - Assignment Example Please note that the descriptions contain the consequences of the violation of the employment laws. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies to covered nonexempt employees (Fox & Davenport, 2013). The rate took effect from July 24, 2009. The minimum wage in Texas and Federal are equal. The federal minimum wage covers the workers of businesses with more than $500,000 (Canas & Cross, 2008). However, the administrative personnel, executives, and professional workers are exempted from the protection of the minimum wage. The non-exempted employees deserve a pay for the overtime for time worked over forty hours. The employers are liable for minimum wage if they classify the employees incorrectly as exempt when they do not qualify such status. The violation of the law attracts a fine of more than $100,000. It is a requirement for the employers to offer safety to the employees as stipulated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The employees should work in a safe environment that is free of hazards such as toxic chemicals, excessive heat and noise, and mechanical dangers. The employees can file their complaints with the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDIDWC) (Fox & Davenport, 2013). The employers are liable to compensate the employees as determined by TDIDWC or OSHA. Employers cannot discriminate against the employees who file such complaints. The law prohibits any form of employment discrimination based on religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, color, national origin, disability, and age. Additionally, the law stipulates that employers should not discriminate employees who comply with a subpoena (Canas & Cross, 2008). Employers who violate the law are liable to prosecution and charges imposed on them. The courts have the rights to compel the employers to give compensation to the employees who have suffered due to discrimination. The employers should not

Sustainability Of The International Trade Regime Term Paper

Sustainability Of The International Trade Regime - Term Paper Example The first reason is that the developing countries are as necessary to sustain the international trade regime now, as the developed countries/dominant countries. This is primarily because the international trade regime and the capitalist project are largely dependent on labor and natural resources – assets which the developing countries have in abundance. The second is that the viability and sustainability of the international trade regime depend as much on trade as well as on issues such as the environment and climate change. The debates created by a diverse international community has preserved rather than compromise the international trade regime. To this end, I will give the example of the debate between the US and Europe on biotechnology. A. The developing countries are as necessary to the international trade regime as the developed countries Krasner has argued that a â€Å"potentially dominant state has symbolic, economic and military capabilities that can be used to entice or compel others to accept an open trading structure.† (page 27). There is of course logic to this assertion as we have seen the many ways in which asymmetrical power relations were used to compel adherence to the principles of liberalization. He has also discussed the unfair and unjust ways that the developed nations might have taken advantage of developing nations in order to establish their lead, as for example, using protectionist policies to get ahead and then demanding openness and trade liberalization once a chasm has been created.

Advanced management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Advanced management accounting - Essay Example They cannot control costs well without preparations the statements that reconcile expected revenue and expenditure with budgeted figures. In this regard, the paper aims at preparing a statement giving the budgeted, actual, and variances. The information above reveals that L10 has a favorable variance because the actual expenditure is less than the budgeted amount whereas L17 has an adverse variance sine the actual number exceeded the budgeted expenditure. The quantity put into books may not be the same as the one sold. It is due to favorable or unfavorable operating conditions. In obtaining the variance, the actual amount sold is subtracted from the standard number. The result is multiplied with the standard selling price. The information of Geeta plc allowed the calculation below in determining the sales volume variance. Labour cost variance has been given a definition by Drury (2008) as the difference between the actual labour cost incurred and the budgeted cost. It is made up of labour rate variance and labour efficiency variance. The employees in an organization may take more hours in completing tasks than what the budget allowed. Conversely, the conditions may allow the workers to spend less time in completing the activities assigned to them. Either way, the variance arises. It is calculated by finding the difference between the time allocated in the budget and the real time taken at standard wage rate (Lucey, 2002). In every organization, decision making process requires certain information. The crucial information involves cost analysis. The costs have different behavior, and it becomes necessary for management accountants to prepare cost reports allowing efficient management of costs. The statements categorize costs. In doing so, the managers are able to identify relevant and irrelevant costs. Lucey (2002) defines relevant cost as the one that can

Time management Essay Example for Free

Time management Essay I would like to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to my Project Guide Prof. Shailshree Ail, SIES College of Commerce Economics for extending valuable guidance and encourage me from time to time, without which it would not have been possible to undertake and complete this project. I also wish to extend my thanks especially to our Principal Dr. Mrs. Sheela Nabar and also Coordinator of Banking Insurance, Mrs. Aarti Kalyanraman for their kind co-ordination and support. Also I would like to thank all my friends, staff and teaching faculty of S. I. E.S. , my parents and staff of Crosswords who have directly or indirectly helped me during the course of my project. Special thanks to the respondents of the survey and people who have helped me to attain the indepth knowledge about the concept of Time Management. ________________ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY People generally assume that Time Management means managing the time that people have but on the contrary it actually means managing ourselves. As one cannot mend time according its own ways instead one can mend its own ways. Time Management is a broader concept. There are various categories of time such as Biological Time which means time utilized for the biological needs of any particular person. Then there is Fractal Time or widely known as The Theory of Relatively, which in general terms means fragmentation of time according to various situations one faces in life. Time has various dimensions and it is different for different people even though the measurement of time is same. Various studies by various scientists’ states that time always remain but it is the people who pass by it as time is considered to be unconquered, unvanquished and immortal. So to manage such a big factor along with managing our own self is quite a big task. Time management is an ongoing process because every person from any corner of the world, having any amount of money or a pauper or any one for that matter manages itself and the time he has in some or the other way. So no one has created the only and perfect methodology for time management but still people has practiced time management in the past. The present study seeks to analyse the managing habits among the people of Mumbai as it is a big and busy city as it is commercial city and also financial capital of India. People here are always on the run and need to manage their time well to achieve success in their work. The urban life in Mumbai is nothing but a fast life, this study tries to learn how well people in Mumbai manage their time, what are their time stealer, how to get rid of them, how the given grid has benefited them and also to know the miscellaneous benefits that one can get by managing its time. INDEX INTRODUCTION: â€Å"Yesterday is a cancelled cheque. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is ready cash, use it. † This is a perfect quote to begin an introduction of time. Time is now, time was yesterday and time is also tomorrow. It’s all in our hands as to how we make the best of it. Time is unique and unrenewable. It favors no one. No one is immune to the relentless, unforgiving passage of time. â€Å"Main Samay hu, Main Akshay, Ajay aur Anant hu. † This is one filmy dialogue but when looked into closely we realize that it has a deep meaning. It means that time is Unvanquished, Unconquerable and Immortal. We say that we are running out of time. So the question arises that does time pass by or do we pass through time? The solution to this question is TIME MANAGEMENT. If you ask any one what do they mean by time management very common response is managing time successfully. This is the simplest definition of Time Management. But the skills of managing time are not easy as its definition is. Planning can be done by anyone who has some knowledge of it but when it comes to executing it people fail miserably. Managing time successfully or in fact executing it effectively is what this project is all about. TIME: Time has historically been closely related with space, the two together comprising space-time in Einsteins special relativity and general relativity. According to these theories, the concept of time depends on the spatial reference frame of the observer, and the human perception as well as the measurement by instruments such as clocks is different for observers in relative motion. The past is the set of events that can send light signals to the observer; the future is the set of events to which the observer can send light signals. Time catches up with the present and overtakes it, so Time is Unvanquished. No one can stop time or reverse it so Time is Unconquered. Time is constant, continuous and infinite process so Time is Immortal. TIME IN THE ORGANIZATION: Time in the organization is constant and irreversible. Nothing can be substituted for time. Worse, once wasted, it can never be regained. Leaders have numerous demands on their limited time. Time keeps getting away and they have trouble controlling it. No matter what their position, they cannot stop time, they cannot slow it down, nor can they speed it up. Thus, time needs to be effectively managed to be effective. On the other hand, you can become such a time fanatic convert by building time management spreadsheets, creating priority folders and lists, color coding tasks, and separating paperwork into priority piles that you start to waste more time by managing it to deeply. TIME MANAGEMENT: Time management is the organization of tasks or events by first estimating how much time a task will take to be completed, when it must be completed, and then adjusting events that would interfere with its completion so that completion is reached in the appropriate amount of time. Calendars and day planners are common examples of time management tools. TIME EQUITY: The one universal distribution of equity is time: Everybody on the planet has ownership of 24 hours per day. Everyone receive the same allotment, day in and day out. Each new day brings an automatic deposit of 24 hours into the time account. It is referred to as Time Equity. Although each day brings a new deposit, each day the entire amount must be withdrawn, with no balance carried over to tomorrow. Use it or lose it. The challenge everyone face is how and where to invest the time equity. These decisions determine success, career path, productivity, and family status. The truth is that where people are in life is a direct reflection of how well they have managed their time portfolio—how and where they spent their time. One often hear people refer to personal activities in terms of time equity: How did you spend your weekend? or During our trip we spent a lot of time doing Time equity is the essence of a full and complete life. People often take it for granted and succumb to its harsh, unforgiving consequences. One has to take responsibility for ourselves and consciously appreciate the positive impact time management can have on our lives. Anyone who expects to achieve sales success should expect to make a serious commitment to working hard and efficiently. Throughout the five principles of time management that follow I share various techniques and suggestions to help streamline your activities. Time cannot think for you, but it can certainly work for you. Like any other investment, time produces returns if invested wisely and treated with respect. Sales professionals constantly explore investment opportunities for their time, maximizing their time. METHODS OF TIME MANAGEMENT: 1. PRINCIPLE METHOD Principle #1: Maximize Your Time Spending your time wisely starts with paying attention to how you spend it. Only when you decide to take control of your time will you have the power to stop squandering it. The best starting point to a better use of time is to conduct your own time-efficiency study. Evaluate your current use of time by breaking down a typical day into hourly increments. Be objective. Include everything throughout your entire day, even the time you sleep. You may need to track a full week or two to get a clear picture of your time usage. The next step is to review your time log and classify the activities as time-wasters, obligations, or priorities. Time-wasters are just that, activities that distract you and contribute nothing toward your goals. Eliminate them. The danger is that time-wasters are activities performed out of habit. Usually, they create a false sense of productivity but actually produce few or no results. The cure comes in the form of personal organization, the process of incorporating structure into your day. Obligations are the dutiful responsibilities of your job. They are necessary yet unimportant activities, usually performed throughout the day. They contribute indirectly to your goals. They are the administrative aspects of your job such as call reports, expense reports, quarterly forecasts, and various other required duties. Despite the challenges of limited time coupled with increased responsibilities, you can be productive by evaluating your current usage of your 24 hours and maximizing time. Obligations cannot be overlooked but be cognizant of the negative impact they have on daily productivity. As you become better organized you can streamline your activities, minimizing the time spent fulfilling obligations. You may be in a position to delegate some of your administrative duties to support people (internal customers) within your office. There are some sales entrepreneurs who have hired a part-time assistant. Maximize your time by doing what you do best, selling. Priorities are the activities that contribute significantly to your time. They are directly responsible for your results, moving you closer to your goals. Remember, companies today pay for results, not activities. They no longer pay for attendance, they expect results. As you evaluate your current use of time, the time-wasters will become clear, allowing you to rethink your activities. Make the shift from a long day filled with unproductive busyness to a shorter day focusing on priorities. As a sales entrepreneur, challenge yourself to be more proactive by prioritizing your tasks. Take control of the activities that prey on your efficiency, compromising your time. Once you complete your time-efficiency study, you will be shocked to see the time wasted reacting to other peoples demands and requests. Most of us habitually spend our days reacting instead of being proactive, unaware of the costly consequence. I suggest that up to 75% of our day is reactive. A sobering thought. Principle #2: Know What Time It Is. If you are like most salespeople, you have too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. To get ahead in todays fast-paced world, youve got to be aware of what time it is. It does not mean talking about telling time, you learned those years ago. What is talked about here is: Its not enough that youre doing a particular job right, youve got to be sure that youre doing the right activity at the right time. By the way, if you dont have a good watch, get one. The best and simplest time management tool is on your wrist. Common sense tells us that we should spend the majority of our time working on high-priority A and B accounts. Most of us dont. We waste a lot of time in the adult day care centre reacting to the demands of C accounts or even performing C activities. The first step is to take control of your entire day by knowing what time it is. Principle #3: Manage Your Time Time management is a personal process. It takes a strong commitment to change long-established habits. According to the 80/20 rule, we get 80% of our results from 20% of the things we do. This statistic supports the observation that we spend a lot of time on time-wasters and obligations. Imagine the impact on our time efficiency if we increased the 20% to 30%! What takes us from a time-starved day of routine, frustration, and stress to a productive day filled with accomplishments? Change. One definition of time management is doing fewer things in less time. Wouldnt that be great? Research suggests that effective time management strategies can free up a minimum of two hours per day. For example, time management studies show that we spend up to 70 minutes a day just looking for stuff. How many times have you said, Just a minute, I know its here somewhere. We misplace files, reports, memos, and letters, and the desks look like the movie Twister was filmed in the office. Clutter can be a huge time-waster, not to mention the embarrassment of lost or unanswered requests. Your goal isnt to have a nice neat desk, but to get organized so that you can convert wasted time into productive time. However, with a clean, orderly desk, youll improve your time working on priorities that will make you money. Your quality of work will also improve. The underlying objective of effective time management is to utilize all available resources to increase face-time; the time spent talking face-to-face with existing customers or potential customers. If youre an inside salesperson, increase talk-time. Take some time to determine how much time you actually spend with customers. Take a stop watch and clock total face-time in one entire week. On average, its only two to four hours. Shocking! This statistic serves as additional proof of the inordinate amount of time consumed by time-wasters and obligations. It is recognized that with leaner companies salespeople are often saddled with more of the administrative aspects of the job. Unfortunately they become high-priced administrators. How many times a day should you ask yourself if you are making the best use of your time. If you answered several, youre right. Only you can answer that question honestly. As the president of ME Inc. , dont compromise your time by blindly filling your day with busyness. Restructure your day to eliminate the time-wasters and minimize the time spent fulfilling obligations. Sometimes working in the office on a project or on a presentation could very well be the best use of your time. It’s doubtful that you can ever eliminate time spent in the adult day care centre, but you certainly need to minimize it. Use janitorial time to fulfil your obligations. As part of your time-efficiency study, you should determine the time of day that you are most efficient and productive. Know your peak time, the time of day you are at high energy. Not everyone has the same peak time. Some of us are morning people and others are afternoon or evening people. Pay attention to your moods and high-energy time of day to determine when youre most productive. Morning people can accomplish more simply by getting up an hour earlier each day, and night owls can carve out time for administrative activities in the evenings. Once you have identified your peak time, do your worst jobs then. They wont go away so you might as well get them done when youre feeling energized. Some authors suggest doing them first thing in the morning when youre feeling fresh. This approach works well if youre a morning person but could be disastrous if youre an afternoon person. Imagine doing your worst job at your worst time of day. Two worst dont make a right! In my case, prime time is during the late afternoon and early evening. Another suggestion in the interest of maximizing your time is to learn how to say no. Many of us are our own worst enemies. Youll never have enough time to finish your own tasks if youre always taking on more than time permits. Do not be afraid to politely refuse a request or task if your plate is already full. This includes saying no to your sales manager. When given a task, simply ask your managers, Would you like me to do this now or would you prefer I spend the time selling? Your manager may decide to delegate the task elsewhere. Its great to want to help others, but not at the expense of ME Inc. Principle #4: Use the Right Tools A professional (sales entrepreneurs included) is anyone paid to perform a task or a job at an acceptable level of proficiency while utilizing the tools of the trade to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. It is amazing to see how often salespeople conducting business with inappropriate tools. Its as though they are exempt from the requirement to be a professional. Imagine your doctor or dentist using anything but the best instruments. Your customers expect no less of you. As a sales entrepreneur, you have an obligation to invest in the best. You may have heard it before, A carpenter is only as good as his tools. The solution begins with a personal planner—a time management system that offers the convenience of portability while organizing your activities, mapping your week and, most importantly, planning your day. A good planner includes twelve months at-a-glance, 365 individual day-pages, a daily to-do list section, and an appointments section. Some planners come with a rigid set of instructions, so pick a planner that offers simplicity and the flexibility to meet your personal preferences. A planner used effectively not only buys you time, it helps you stay in balance throughout your week, including weekends. Poor time management skills result in overspending your time, running out of day before you get everything done. It is supposed to be compared it to managing a checking account. Imagine opening a checking account at your local bank then not using a check book to track the account activity. Surely you would find yourself out of balance at the end of the month, possibly overspending your available funds. Without the appropriate tool to track your time-related activities, you quickly find yourself out of balance, overdrawn on your time account. Principle #5: Be Proactive, not Reactive I would suggest that up to 75% of our day is spent reacting to the needs and requests of other people such as customers, managers, internal customers, family, and friends. We are constantly bombarded with demands on our limited time, leaving us unable to accomplish our own goals and objectives. No wonder we feel the frustration of, So much to do, so little time. We often succumb to the demands and requests of others because we think it is socially inappropriate to say no. We become victimized by others who may have a strong interest in controlling our activities or behaviour—such as a spouse or a manager. Unfortunately many people, including salespeople, are content to be regulated and manipulated rather than committing to SMART goals and living life guided by their agenda, not someone elses. No one ever accomplished a personal goal by being subservient to others. Successful sales entrepreneurs refuse to be swayed by the whims of others and are quietly effective at managing their own agendas. Employers and managers sometimes do more to demotivate rather than to motivate. Demotivation can take the form of intimidation or high-performance expectations constrained by rigid management policies and limited resources to perform the job. No wonder so many people want to take this job and shove it. A proactive strategy means developing the discipline to stay focused on your agenda, your goals, and your objectives. Part of this discipline comes in the form of qualifying the severity of a problem prior to reacting to it. For example, next time a customer informs you of a problem or a concern, resist the temptation to immediately jump into react mode, drop what you are doing, and race over to console your customer. It may not be necessary. The next time you get an irate customer (or internal customer) demanding to see you right away, follow these two steps: 1. Acknowledge the problem. Allow the customer to vent by explaining the situation and then clarify your understanding of it by paraphrasing. Be sure to take notes of your discussion for future reference. By acknowledging the concern and showing empathy, the customer will begin to feel better about it and may become somewhat flexible as to how and when you resolve the concern. A sympathetic attitude to a real or imaginary product or service failure cannot be overemphasized. A 10-minute phone call to determine the facts and the seriousness of the problem may be a valuable investment, possibly saving you hours of unnecessary running around. Work smart, not hard. 2. Suggest another time. Tell the customer that your day is full with appointments and commitments and ask if first thing tomorrow morning would be okay to get together. Your business and time are just as important and legitimate as that of your customer. You are equals. In the majority of cases, your customer will appreciate your schedule and agree to meet with you the next day. Too often we assume that we must respond immediately, but by following these steps you will save yourself valuable time. Sometimes, however, the customer may be insistent that you respond immediately, in which case you must act accordingly. As a student, there are some basic Principles of Time Management that you can apply. 1. Identify Best Time for Studying: Everyone has high and low periods of attention and concentration. Are you a morning person or a night person. Use your power times to study; use the down times for routines such as laundry and errands. 2. Study Difficult Subjects First: When you are fresh, you can process information more quickly and save time as a result. 3. Use Distributed Learning and Practice: Study in shorter time blocks with short breaks between. This keeps you from getting fatigued and wasting time. This type of studying is efficient because while you are taking a break, the brain is still processing the information. 4. Make Sure the Surroundings are Conducive to Studying: This will allow you to reduce distractions which can waste time. If there are times in the residence halls or your apartment when you know there will be noise and commotion, use that time for mindless tasks. 5. Make Room for Entertainment and Relaxation: College is more than studying. You need to have a social life, yet, you need to have a balance in your life. 6. Make Sure you Have Time to Sleep and Eat Properly: Sleep is often an activity (or lack of activity) that students use as their time management bank. When they need a few extra hours for studying or socializing, they withdraw a few hours of sleep. Doing this makes the time they spend studying less effective because they will need a couple hours of clock time to get an hour of productive time. This is not a good way to manage yourself in relation to time. 7. Try to Combine Activities: Use the Twofer concept. If you are spending time at the laundromat, bring your psychology notes to study. If you are waiting in line for tickets to any concert, bring your biology flashcards to memorize. 2. FIRST THING FIRST (Method by Virginia Tech Division of student Affairs) 1. Each night write on a 35 card the 6 most important tasks you have to do tomorrow. 2. Number them in the order of importance. 3. First thing in the morning look at the task listed as most important and start working on it until it is finished. Then tackle item 2 the same way, item 3 and so forth until your work or school day are completed. 4. Don’t be worried if you only complete 2 or 3 items. You’ve completed the most important tasks and any other method wouldn’t have given you more time to work on the rest of the list. 5. Each night write a new 35 card for the next day. 3. TIME GRID URGENT IMPORTANT NOT URGENT IMPORATNT Crises Pressing problems Dead-line driven projects, meetings, preparations Preparation Prevention Planning Relationship building True recreation empowerment URGENT UNIMPORTANT interruptions, phone calls, mails, reports, meetings many proximate, pressing matters many popular activity NOT URGENT UNIMPORTANT trivia, busy work some phone calls, time wasters, time stealers excessive television. 4. REMEMBERING, SETTING PRIORITIES AND MOTIVATION METHOD: Remembering Three keys to time management are: remembering, setting priorities, and motivation. Its easy to fall into the trap of thinking I wont forget that. But the important thing is not just to remember it, but to remember it at the right time a time when you can take the first step in doing it. Your thoughts are valuable. Write them down, whether theyre ideas on how to save the world or reminders to wash the frying pan. Then figure out some way for the messages to get to you at a time when you can do the things. Use calendars and lists. I have lists of things that can be done at home, lists of things that can be done when the stores are open, lists of things to do before going to work in the morning, etc. By looking at the appropriate list, I can forget about everything else and concentrate on the work appropriate for that moment. Setting Priorities If you write a list of things to do this evening, it probably contains way more things than you can actually accomplish. Thats fine. The list is valuable. By looking over it, you can choose the most important things and do them first. The rest can be transferred to other lists. Some people say they dont need to spend time planning. That may be true. If you have a list of things to do that are all about equally important, and if youre sure that the most important things are on the list, then you dont need to spend any time comparing them. Just start doing one of them, it doesnt matter which one. But for most people most of the time, some of the things are more important than others, so its worthwhile taking a few minutes to read over the list and choose the most important to do first. Its good to have a pen handy all the time to write down ideas. That way you can catch thoughts about important things that you might have forgotten to add to your lists. Motivation Youve set goals, written lists, chosen priorities, and identified whats important to do right now, but you dont feel like doing it. Here are some ideas to help with motivation. In the book Feeling Good, David Burns points out that its not necessary to feel like doing something in order to do it. You can just start. Usually, once youve started, you begin feeling more motivated to continue doing it. I started feeling more in control when I started giving myself permission to cross things off lists. Deciding not to do something and putting an X next to it gives a feeling of relief, almost as satisfying as checking it off as done. Sometimes I graph the total number of check marks per day. This feels good and gives me motivation to finish lots of things on my to-do lists. Plan rewards and celebrations for yourself, such as special snacks after getting certain things done. Just taking a few seconds to admire the finished work such as a tidy table or pile of clean laundry, is an excellent reward. Smile and tell yourself what a good job you did. Even if youre in a hurry, you can plan rewards that take a few seconds, like standing up and stretching, looking out the window for 10 seconds, or tossing a pen in the air and catching it. If you plan them as rewards, they feel like rewards, and give you time to congratulate yourself on getting something done. MYTHS OF TIME MANAGEMENT Myth #1: Theres too much to do; I cant handle it all. This cant be the real reason why I have a messy house. After all, other people manage. Its encouraging to hear that there are others who also have trouble with the little things in life. That means that it isnt just that there are too many things for one person to handle: rather, its possible, theoretically at least, for me to organize my time in a way that gets it all done. Myth #2: Theres plenty of time; I can do that later. This is the exact opposite of myth #1. Yet both myths contribute to procrastinating. Rather than switch from one myth to the other, I need a consistent, realistic view of how much my time is worth and how much of it there is. Myth #3: Im busier than usual right now, so it makes sense to shift some tasks off to another time. Occasionally its really true, of course. But usually, Im about equally busy all the time, really. My time is worth the same all the time, with a few exceptions like if Im trying to be on time for a job interview or something. It SEEMS that Im unusually busy at any given moment, because at that moment, Im AWARE of the things impinging one my time right then. A person can only be aware of so many things at once. The detail of the moment seems complex; the future seems simple, free and clear. But really life is always that complex. I may think, This is an unusually busy day because I have library books due. It seems reasonable; I know I only have books due on a small percentage of all days. But really, there are so many other aspects to life: dentist appointments, parties, holiday celebrations, bike repairs, etc that taking all into consideration, the other days are really just as busy. I also tend to think Ill have plenty of time later the same day, too. And of course I dont. Myth #4: Re-scheduling something to a later time is procrastinating. No, re-scheduling is taking control and responding to new information about priorities and time available. Its only procrastinating if you dont schedule it at all, or if you re-schedule for the wrong reasons which will become apparent when you find yourself re-scheduling the same thing more than about 3 times. In that case, stop and think about whether you really want to do the thing. If its important, go ahead and start. Myth #5: This little task is not important. Example: I cut open a package of food and leave the little bit of plastic I cut off on the kitchen counter. Question: Shall I put the bit of plastic in the garbage right now? It seems that doing so is not important. The plastic isnt doing any harm where it is. It wont hurt me if I leave it there. I can always put it in the garbage later. But actually it is important to put it in the garbage. I ask myself, Is it important not to have it sitting there on the counter all year? Yes. I dont want it there that long. OK, then I have to put it in the garbage now or some time in the next few days. Next question: Is my time more valuable now than it will be, say, tomorrow? I seem in a hurry now, but I will tomorrow, too. (See myth #3. ) Really its best to put it in the garbage right now. Its important enough to be worth the few seconds of my time. The myth really means, Its not important to do it RIGHT NOW. However, it is important. Either its important or it isnt. When its done doesnt affect that. Its important to wash the dishes before eating on them again; therefore its important to wash the dishes. If its important, its probably worth doing now. BEATING PROCRASTINATION Manage Your Time. Get It All Done. If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree – but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them achieving things theyre capable of and disrupts their careers. The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to better manage your time and outcomes. Why do we Procrastinate? In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favour of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing. Procrastinators work as many hours in the day as other people (and often work longer hours) but they invest their time in the wrong tasks. Sometimes this is simply because they dont understand the difference between urgent tasks and important tasks, and jump straight into getting on with urgent tasks that arent actually important. They may feel that theyre doing the right thing by reacting fast. Or they may not even think about their approach and simply be driven by the person whose demands are loudest. Either way, by doing this, they have little or no time left for the important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about. Another common cause of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed by the task. You may not know where to begin. Or you may doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you need. So you seek comfort in doing tasks you know youre capable of completing. Unfortunately, the big task isnt going to go away – truly important tasks rarely do. Other causes of procrastin.

The Nationalism In The Contemporary World Politics Essay

The Nationalism In The Contemporary World Politics Essay This essay will be focusing on the ethnic conflict that erupted predominantly in Eastern Europe as a result of the dissolution of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia in the late twentieth century. Attention will be given specifically to Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) to illustrate the on going effects of ethnic conflicts that continue and how autonomy was sought by the Bosnian Muslims in reaction to the strong nationalism expressed by the Serbians and Croats during that time. The situation surrounding Bosnia is a valid example of contemporary nationalism, and as a nation it continues to face ethnic conflict and conquest and the threat of war and domination by the Serbians, who still seek a unified Slavic state. In assessing Bosnia, this essay will firstly define nationalism and assess how Bosnia can be looked at as an example of both ethnic and civic nationalism. A brief interpretation will also be given to what is meant by ethnic conflict before looking specifically at the causes of the eventual collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia) and how this subsequently gave birth to several new nations, including Bosnia. Focus will then turn solely to Bosnia and at the key issues that led to the outbreak of ethnic conflict and the rise of nationalism within the nation and furthermore, which ethnic groups were involved and what their motives were. Conclusions will then be drawn as to the stability of Bosnia in the present day and why it can be used as a case study to demonstrate the happenings of both contemporary nationalism and of ethnic conflict. To begin with this examination into Bosnia, it is firstly important to set out the parameters of what is meant when one refers to ethnic conflict, the ideology of nationalism and more specifically the further distinctions made between ethnic and civic nationalism. For the purposes of this essay, the idea of nationalism occurring within or against a state is defined as a group of people who see themselves as distinct in their culture, history, institutions, or principles and should thus rule themselves in a political system that expresses and protects those distinctive characteristics.  [1]  Quite simply, it can be looked at as a category of practices as an institutionalized cultural and political form with the aim of building a nation.  [2]   Ethnic or Eastern nationalism is a strand of nationalism that places more emphasis on the creation of a state based on common cultural, religious and linguistic traditions and generally occurred against an existing state opposed to within it.  [3]  Conversely, civic or Western nationalism appeared to encase a more sophisticated demeanor and was based on the ideals of individual liberty  [4]  and political ideals with membership to that state being defined purely in political terms.  [5]  As this essay will later purport to show in its discussion, Bosnia identifies with several parts of the ethnic nationalist ideology, however it also shares commonalities with civic nationalism, particularly in certain areas of Bosnia where there are separate political institutions set up to bring order and civility to those areas. Ethnic conflict refers to the struggle between mobilized identity groups for greater power, whether for equality within an existing state or for the establishment of a fully independent nation.  [6]  It should be noted that the collapse of states is more often than not, the cause of ethnic conflicts opposed to the result.  [7]  In this instance, the dissolution of Yugoslavia as a multination state resulted in the re-emergence of much older historical identities, religions and ethnicities being used as a mechanism and foundation on which to base a nations claim to autonomy.  [8]  Consequently, conflict began to erupt between those who were dedicated to the principles of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, versus those who clung to their ethnic and religious roots as a means to define an independent state.  [9]  A more in depth analysis will be given to the role of ethnic conflict and its causal link to the rise of nationalism in Bosnia at a later point in this essay. To understand the relevance of these terms that have now been interpreted, a brief overview must be given of the collapse of Yugoslavia and the birth of Bosnia as an independent state near the end of the twentieth century. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia) emerged in 1943 and comprised of six socialist republics. Those republics were Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Serbia, in addition, included two autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo. During this period, Josip Tito began his reign as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and in 1953 he became the President of the state.  [10]  It has been said that Tito was the chief architect of the second Yugoslavia  [11]  , as he was pivotal to the development and birth of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Tito instigated the ideology of socialism throughout Yugoslavia and after the commencement of World War Two in 1945, Yugoslavia became victim to peculiarly harsh Communist system.  [12]   For several decades during the mid twentieth century, Yugoslavia enjoyed economic success and prospered as a nation. In the nineteen sixties, Yugoslavia could boast an annual gross domestic product growth of approximately 6.1 percent, with free medical care, and a literacy rate of 91%.  [13]  Yugoslavia remained at this point in time, the most diverse collectivity of societies in the Balkan region.  [14]  Political reform began to lose momentum in the early nineteen seventies and was suddenly pushed aside within the pluralist multi-nation in favour of federalization.  [15]  The push for federalization came as a reactionary movement to the growing Serbian supremacy in Yugoslavia as Tito realized he needed to enforce institutional innovations that would federalize the federation.  [16]   By the nineteen eighties, Yugoslavias once growing economy began to hinder as the international arena was changing from a bipolar sphere to the dominance of the United States of America as a unilateral mega power. There was a growing amount of foreign debt and increasing amounts of Yugoslavias GDP were being swallowed by debt servicing. There was also a sudden decrease in Western aid after the Soviet President Gorbachev began to admit defeat to the American and Western Europe.  [17]  On May 4th 1980, Tito passed away and with this, the strong socialist regime of Yugoslavia began to break down and the process of democratization in the six republics started to ensue. As a result, central state authority became increasingly weaker, and Yugoslavia faced an upsurge of nationalist movements and anarchy.  [18]   Titos 1974 constitution remained in force during the immediate period after his death and this allowed for a rotation system out of the eight leaders of the republics, for year long presidencies. These short terms of presidencies turned out to be highly ineffective and added to the unstable and increasingly volatile conditions of Yugoslavia. Essentially it left open a power vacuum with Slobodan MiloÃ…Â ¡eviĆ¡ gaining steady momentum from the many Serbian nationalists who resided throughout Yugoslavia and particularly within Bosnia Herzegovenia.  [19]  MiloÃ…Â ¡eviĆ¡ began rallying to the many Serbian supporters he had, making reference to Yugoslavias historical past and the pressing need to unite all the Slavic nations into one centralized government and brotherhood.  [20]  As a reaction to the strong nationalist Serbian movement occurring within Yugoslavia, both Croatia and Slovenia quickly declared autonomy and independence of state and after a v ictorious week of fighting by the Slovenes in the Ten Day War the breakup of Yugoslavia had begun.  [21]   In 1992, the multi-nation state of Yugoslavia began to break apart and left several nations fighting for autonomy. Instead of these nations clinging to Western liberal democratic ideals to form a state, they fell back on their own older and entrenched religions, ethnicities and national identities to assert independence over one another.  [22]  Bosnia, compiled of the Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, was suddenly facing an internal clash of cultures and identities with the Serbians residing in Bosnia wanting to unify with Serbia and the other remaining Slavic nations, against the Croats and Muslims who wanted independence as a state. There were several factors that contributed to the tensions and ethnic conflicts between the three main ethnic groups residing in Bosnia. Firstly, there were historical hostilities and antagonisms that had existed within the ethnic groups for centuries. There was also the sudden presence and dominance of Serbian nationalist MiloÃ…Â ¡eviĆ¡, who continued to pursue Bosnia as a Slavic nation and part of that sanctity. To add to the fragility of the situation facing Bosnia during the early nineteen nineties, there was an inadequate political institution in place with Bosnias parliament fragmented based on ethnicity and was divided into a majority Bosnian faction and minority Serb and Croat factions.  [23]  In 1991, Radovan KaradÃ…Â ¾iĆ¡, the nationalist leader of the Serb Democratic Party, gave a strong and hostile warning to the Bosnian president, stating: This, what you are doing, is not good. This is the path that you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina on, the same highway of hell and death that Slovenia and Croatia went on. Dont think that you wont take Bosnia and Herzegovina into hell, and the Muslim people maybe into extinction. Because the Muslim people cannot defend themselves if there is war here.  [24]   Bosnia was surrounded by two incredibly powerful and nationalistic states; Croatia and Serbia who both extended equal rights and citizenships to the Croat and Serb Bosnians. Therefore, it was impossible for Bosnia to resolve its national identity without the input of Croatia and Serbia.  [25]  One the one side in Bosnia, there were the Serbian nationalists who identified closely with Milosevic and their greater homeland of Serbia and thus wanted a unified Slavic state, and to be part of the brotherhood. Others however, such as the Croats and particularly the Bosnian Muslims, wanted to identify with their own individual ethnic groups and stick to the notion of individual opposed to collective rights and the freedom to identify with whom they choose. With Bosnias demographic structure comprising a population of Serbs and Croats of approximately 50%, and with ideas on independence resting with the ethnicities rather than the nation on the whole  [26]  , control of territory once again became open to interpretation, particularly due to the pluralist and multi-culture nature that existed within Bosnia which led to large sections of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia under dispute as to its proper ownership.  [27]   In October 1991, Bosnia joined Croatia and Slovenia in declaring its sovereignty and quickly organized a referendum on independence in March 1992.  [28]  The general Serbian population residing in Bosnia was encouraged by the Serbian nationalists to boycott the referendum and subsequently, the turnout in the referendum was 64-67% and the vote was 98% in favor of independence.  [29]  Independence was however officially declared on March 5 1992 by the parliament of Bosnia. However, this merely added and even encouraged the continued surge of nationalism from the Serbs in Bosnia and instant war broke out in Bosnia between the different ethnicities and much to the detriment of the Bosnian Muslims who although made up an estimated 48%  [30]  of the population, were ill equipped to stand up to the strong Serbian forces who were receiving support from their own nation. A period of genocide, ethnic cleansing and blood shed occurred over the next three years and was the tragic consequence of the Bosnian War that illustrated a series of failures made by the Western world at large and also at a regional level, the failures of local leaders to intervene and offer any sort of assistance.  [31]  There was a fundamental breach of human rights during this period and a total disregard for any rule of law or civility. Whilst the Serb Bosnians engaged in a greater amount of ethnic cleansing during this period of trauma, it should be noted that they were also the victims of such cleansing at the peril of the other two ethnic groups.  [32]  The Bosnian Muslims had really pushed to preserve Bosnias existence as a multi-cultural state  [33]  and did not want to see the division of Bosnia. Only a scarce minority of politically significant actors in Bosnia were committed to trying to mediate a balance between a civil society and competing nationalisms.  [34]   November 1995 brought some hope to the Bosnian cause when the Dayton Accord was signed, purporting to end the Bosnian War and the continued outbreaks of conflict in the region.  [35]  The Dayton Accord had the purpose of compromising between the ethnic groups who sought an independent unitary state, versus those who sought total autonomy from Yugoslavia and the Slavic nations.  [36]  The institutional part of the agreement created a Bosnian state divided between Bosnia, which is shared between the Bosnians and the Croats, and the Republika Srpska. The Bosnian-Croat federation holds 51% of the territory with the remaining 49% controlled by the Republika Srpska.  [37]  Each division has their own parliament and presidency. Fifteen years has passed since the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accord which effectively ended a great proportion of the ethnic conflict and cleansing occurring in Bosnia as a result of the Bosnian War. However, in a contemporary setting, nationalism and consequently ethnic conflict still pursues in Bosnia and there are mounting fears by the United Nations and the international community, that war is still a threat to the Bosnians due to the divided and segregated nature of Bosnia.  [38]  With the Dayton Accord dividing Bosnia into a Muslim -Croat federation and a Serbian republic, each ethnic group has established their own legislature with ten regional authorities each with their own police force, health system, education system and judiciary.  [39]  Furthermore as a result of the Bosnian War and the division of Bosnia, there is a huge displaced population of Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs who were essentially driven out of Bosnia and are now scattered throughout t he world with little national identity left in tact. In conclusion, the situation that occurred in Bosnia during the late twentieth century exemplifies the pivotal role nationalism played within the state and the consequential ethnic conflict that erupted and continues to do so, as a result of three different ethnic groups identifying strongly to their own historical nationalisms and religions. Due to the strong nationalistic tendencies of the Croats and Serbs residing in Bosnia during this time, Bosnian Muslims who historically were not allowed to declare themselves as Bosnians  [40]  were forced to band together and unite in their own autonomy and form a national identity so as to compete with the much stronger Croats and Serbs. As a result of these competing nationalism, ethnic conflict ensued and was only resolved after the implementation of the Dayton Accord which effectively segregated Bosnia into different regions dominated by different ethnicities. For example, the city of Mostar before the Bosnian War was considered the mo st ethnically integrated city in all of the former Yugoslavia.   [41]  Now, Mostar has developed into the most divided town in Bosnia where even a pizza delivery joint will not deliver to the Muslim sector of Mostar across the bridge. This is viewed as a victory for the Croat and Serb Nationalists against the Bosnian Muslims.  [42]   The on-going situation in Bosnia Herzegovina really demonstrates a contemporary example of nationalism occurring and further shows the severe impact nationalism has had on the country and how it led to the eventual segregation of the nation as well as pursuant ethnic conflict. Whilst the nationalism portrayed by the Serbs and Croats mostly identifies with the ethnic strand of nationalism, that is nationalism founded on historical ethnicities, customs and religions, it is interesting to note that Bosnia Herzegovina as a whole, and particularly through the Bosnian Muslims, share many elements of civic nationalism in its attempt to set up order, democracy, and political institutions. Perhaps the conflict of the two nationalisms also contributed to the volatile nature and confusion that seems to cloud over Bosnia. Whilst it is idealistic and perhaps naÃÆ' ¯ve to hope that Bosnia will one day have unity as an independent state, it is still a vision that many civilians in Bosnia and around the world share. Bosnia has provided the global arena with a strong message and precedent and demonstrates a situation that must be learnt from especially in the overall dangers and effects that competing nationalisms can have on even the most harmonious nations.

Participant Observation Social Desirability And Operational Definition Psychology Essay

Participant Observation Social Desirability And Operational Definition Psychology Essay 1- Short notes on Participant Observation, Social desirability and operational Definition a- Participant Observation Participant Observation is a humanistic as well as a scientific method that produces a kind of experiential knowledge that allow a researcher talk convincingly. This method of fieldwork produces effective and positive knowledge and it involves getting very close to people and making them feel comfortable with researchers presence so that he can observe and record information about their lives (Bernard, p. 2006, p. 342). Participant observer is basically carrying out a naturalistic approach to conducting research and it seems to be a commitment that attempts to adopt the perspectives of studies shared in the day to day experiences. Participant observation has been described as an ongoing and intensive observing, listening and speaking with some explanations (Ely, 1991, p. 42). Many researchers use participant observation as an umbrella term for all qualitative data gathering and data handling. Participant observation includes going out or staying out in search for qualitative data gathering, and thus the observer may learn a new language in order to express the experiences about the lives of people that the researcher comes to know. With this type of research approach, the researcher is prompted to be immersing himself in a specific culture and also learning how he can get rid of the same immersion so that he will be able to intellectualize what he has seen and heard. He will express them in writing, speaking to others and will try to convince others (Bernard, p. 2006, p. 344). Participant observation is therefore more likely to be a fieldwork, but all fieldworks are in contrary not participant observation. Social Desirability Social desirability is a major source of response bias in conducting a survey research. Some times, participants in a survey research show social desirability bias as their answers reflect an attempt to enhance social desirable characteristics or attempt to minimize certain social undesirable characteristics. Social desirability has been defined as a tendency to give culturally sanctioned and socially approved answers for a survey research to provide socially desirable responses to describe oneself in terms judged as desirable and to present one-self favorably (Craighead and Nemeroff, 2002, p. 1557). Social desirability affects the accuracy of data to be gathered. It is mainly influenced by the way questions are prepared or asked. Many of survey research questions are more likely to create chances of social desirability so that respondents answer questions in a pre-made answer formats. Engel and Schutt (2005, p. 234) stressed that social desirability effects are more likely to occur when discussing issues that are of controversial in nature or when researcher expresses a view that is not popular or not widely accepted. When survey researcher or interviewer asks the participants with certain ready-made questions, especially when the questions have highly desirable answers, respondents feel conflicts between a desire to conform to the definition of good respondent behaviour and a desire to respond and appear to the interviewer to be in a socially desirable category. In surveys with pre-made multiple choice questions, social desirability is more likely to occur among the respondents. Operational Definition An operational definition, in the context of data collection and research, is an obvious, brief, complete and careful description of a measure. Social scientist uses operational definition as a measure to explain various conceptual terms (Sprague, Stuart and Bodary, 2008, p. 205). As different types of data were gathered, operational definition is very fundamental. The operational definition is a significant one in a situation at which the decision is to be taken about something regarding whether it is correct or not, or something having the confusion about its accuracy and usefulness. The data can be collected any time but it should be made clear that how to collect data and how it will be processed. Without processing the data, meaningful information may not be maintained. The ambiguity may arise while people viewing different opinions and it will negatively affect the data collection. Forming a detailed and consistent operational definition helps eliminate such ambiguity. If data are collected by comprising errors on it or about a product line, for instnace, it may lead to selecting a defective product and probably rejecting a good one. Similarly, when some accounting transactions or other business invoices are inspected to see errors among them, the data collection may not be treated as meaningful unless the term error has not been made clear. Lewis (2010, p. 417) asserted that an operational definition is required in order to maintain almost same meaning and understanding of a problem mainly to get it solved. It is because, operational definition establishes a language that communicates same meaning to everyone involved in solving the issue. 2. Explain the hypothesis testing procedure, using an example. Developing and testing of hypothesis are critical steps in most researches. Hypothesis testing is a statistical procedure that helps a researcher use sample data to draw inferences about the population according to researchers interest. As far primary data collection is concerned, observing every individual in a population is practically impossible or difficult to be conducted and therefore most researchers depend on sample surveying and thus sample data are used to help answer specific research questions. Hypothesis testing has been defined as a process of deciding whether a null hypothesis is to be accepted or rejected in favor of an alternative hypothesis. In hypothesis testing, there wont be any errors in decision making if the null hypothesis is rejected when it is false and also if it is accepted when it is true. Sample data being collected is the base for taking decision regarding whether to reject or accept the null hypothesis. The statistical hypothesis is an assumption about an unknown population parameter and hypothesis starts from an assumption that is termed as hypothesis. A hypothesis cannot be accepted or rejected on the basis of intuitions or on the basis of general assumptions that researchers have while conducting the research. Process of Hypothesis Testing In hypothesis testing, the researcher first assumes that the hypothesis is true. The researcher then collects data to test the hypothesis. Based on the data being collected, the researcher will calculate the confidence interval and probability for the hypothesis to become true. In this calculation and assessment, in the probability of hypothesis to be true is smaller than the pre-set level, the hypothesis will be rejected (Vaughan, 2001, p. 59). Though hypothesis testing can be different from situation from situation, or from project to project, the general process involved in hypothesis testing remains almost same. Hypothesis test is thus a statistical method that uses simple data to evaluate a hypothesis for studying a population. Following are the logics and steps involved in hypothesis testing: The researcher first states a hypothesis about a population. In general research contexts, the hypothesis concern the population values in parameter. Before the researcher selects a sample, the hypothesis will be used to predict the characteristics and specifications that the sample must have. The sample also requires being similar to the population and the researcher should always expect certain amounts and levels of errors. Next, the researcher obtains a random sample from the population. Finally, the researcher makes a comparison and analysis between the sample data obtained and the data that were predicted for the hypothesis. If this comparison shows that the sample mean is consistent with prediction, it will be concluded that the hypothesis is reasonable. Similarly, if it shows that there is big discrepancy between the sample data and prediction, then the hypothesis will be reckoned to be wrong (Gravetter and Wallnau, 2008, p. 189). Example for hypothesis Testing For instance, a researcher wants to find out knowledge and expertise of a universitys students in terms of their familiarity with university library and the amount of time they spend in library. Various journalism programs have been arranged to make students more aware of the library use and other relevant matters that are important to them. Do this journalism programs affect the amount of time that students spend in library? This is the main issue to be found out with the research. A random sample survey has been conducted from around 40 students in the number of hours they spend in the library in a week. As previously thought, students were spending around 5 hours per week in the library, but it is required to test whether students spend more than that after the journalism programs. This hypothesis testing includes following steps: a) Formulating two competing hypothesis, namely null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, b) Calculating the test statistics by using the latest sample data being collected. c) Determining the probability that the null hypothesis is true based on the test statistics d) Comparing the pre-set value or pre-determined value with probability value (Vaughan, 2001, p. 59- 62). Briefly explain the following (i.e., what it is; what its used for, etc.). Null hypothesis There are various types of tests in statistics. In research and hypothesis testing in particular, null hypothesis plays very significant role. Hypothesis is statements that researchers, or decision makers or analysts believe to be true. This statement will be verified by using statistical tests. Practically, hypothesis is employed in pairs. Out of the two hypotheses, the first one is normally stated in negative forms, for instance, stating as something is not true, or the variable is not related etc. this negative form is termed as null hypothesis and the other is alternative hypothesis. Null hypothesis is represented by the symbol H0 and alternative hypothesis H1 or H2 (Downing and Clark, 2010, p. 66) The tested statement in statistics is called the null hypothesis because it is often in the form like there is no relationship between a variable and b variable, or both x and y are not related etc. Before testing the measure, the researcher or statistician may draw only two probabilities, X = y and X ≠  y. When a statistician observes a result likely to be so, then that assumption is called alternative hypothesis, and the opposite assumption is called null hypothesis (Howell, 2007, p. 152). For instance, an investigation is required to know the average ability of students in a class (X standard) in the co-scholastic area. They assumed that it will be above 50. Then the x≠¥ 50 is an alternative hypothesis and x< 50 is null hypothesis. The test revealed that the average ability is 70, H0: m < 50 H1: m ≠¥50. 20 is therefore population standard deviation Replicability A research which has replicability is often considered to be more accurate. When a researcher adopts almost the same procedures with similar settings and systems of research and surveying used by another researcher and this helps him obtain similar findings, the research can be said to be replicable. To be replicable is also considered to be an important tenet of an effective scientific research as well (Holloway, 1997, p. 137). Langbein and Felbinger (2006, p. 33) noted, replicability of a research helps the researcher make empirical claims more defensible and clearly objective. If the research lacks replicability, the conclusion and claim would be considered to be personal opinion and causal observation. Replicability of a research thus makes conclusions more traceable. Qualitative research may not as replicable as quantitative mainly because the relationship between the researcher and the participant in the research seems to be unique and cannot be replicated. Moderator variable Normally, there are two main variables in a research; they are independent and dependent variables. But, some time, there can be a moderate variable, which is a special type of variable that the investigator has chosen to determine how the relationship between independent and dependent variables is affected (Brown, 1998, p. 11). In simple terms, moderate variable is a third variable that affects the relationship between independent and dependent variables. As moderator variable affects the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in a research, it takes form of or plays roles of expressions like specification, contingency, conditional and qualification etc. For example, Mr Joseph decides to study Chinese and the issue to be considered is his study of Chinese for one year and his expertise or proficiency in that language may vary for male and females. In this example, Josephs study of Chinese is independent variable, his proficiency in Chinese is dependent variable and there is one point to be debated, which is whether the proficiency will vary from male to females. Proficiency variation between male and female is arguably moderator variable. Cross-sectional study A cross sectional study is part of sampling or surveying involving observations of a sample of a population or phenomenon that are made at one point in a time. Both exploratory and descriptive research methodologies are often considered to be cross sectional study (Babbie, 2008, p. 111). In a cross sectional study, the researcher or the investigator would make all of his measurements and analysis on a single occasion or within relatively a short period of time. The researcher who makes cross sectional study draws from the population and searches variables distributions within the sample, often by designating and predicting the outcomes of variables based on information from other sources. Cross sectional study is very much suited to describing variables and their relative distributions patterns. This type of study never takes into account the temporal relationship between the factors that are already explored and this usually includes an evaluation of a cross section of a particular population in a given period of time (Rao and Richard, 2006, p. 205). 4. Compare and contrast each of the following, giving examples: Primary and Secondary Data Sources of data are basically two, either primary or secondary. Primary data comprise of those data that a researcher collects directly from a specific population through ways of sampling, survey or any other technique of data gathering. Primary data are raw data and are not already used or published in books, journals, newspaper or any other sources. When primary data are published through media and made available to the public, and later they are used by others for their purpose, the data becomes secondary and the source becomes secondary source of data. Primary sources of data are those where the researcher describes his or her own work and the process that has been employed to come to conclusion. Secondary sources are usually books, articles, journals, statistics published in them, and other publications that are written by people with only a passing or second hand knowledge of a specific subject (Guffey and Loewy, 2009, p. 259). Primary data includes information that are developed or gathered by the researcher specifically for a particular research at hand. Secondary data refers to those data that are previously been gathered by someone other than the researcher for some purpose other than the research project at hand. Primary data is raw-data where as secondary data are previously used by others and may not be very appropriate for the purpose of second users. A survey conducted by local government to know exact numbers of farmers and industrialist in its region gives primary data, but when this data is used by a newspaper for studying the same regions financial strength, it becomes secondary data. Field study versus Comparative study A field study in research methodology refers to a method of data gathering based on direct observation from the population. For instance, a business organization may conduct a field study about its customers, their preferences, their specific requirements and their responses etc. in conducting field study, the researcher or the investigator directly observes users or the population they target, most probably taking notes on certain activities that their targeted people do indulge with, copying their activities clearly, and noting down the answers they give for specific questions. Comparative study is typically a qualitative analysis tool that attempts to figure out a specific issue or find out answers to specific issues by comparing two known variables or already studied areas of a given topic. An unknown fact may be explored by comparing its dimensions with an already known fact. For example, 50 Biology students in a university who are very fond of reading of library books were found to have scored more than 65 percent of marks. The relation between scoring marks and reading library books in known. In analyzing what factors led many students score high marks in business studies, the reading and high soring in biology can be compared. Bibliography and References Most researches, mainly literature review part, depend on literatures of published book or journals. The researcher may give direct quoting or parenthesizing in between texts and the details of these sources are required, according to almost all referencing formats like APA, MLA, Harvard etc, to show in detail at the end of the research paper on a separate title called references. References thus refers to those sources that are mentioned in text in a research, may be with or without the year of publishing or page numbers, but with last name of the author. Any specific idea that a researcher depends from a previous study and uses to develop his research must give its details in references. References thus indicate sources of specific ideas he parenthesized or quoted from another work. But, bibliography refers to the lists of books or journals or any other type of literature work that a researcher has read and used for his work, but not directly quoted an idea from them or not parenthesized from those sources. Researchers normally read several books and journals and they list them in bibliography to give readers an insight to further reading. Criterion and Predictor Variable In research methodology, criterion or criterion variable is the variable that measures the construct of interest to the researcher. Criterion variable is an outcome variable that can be predicted from one or more predictor variables, and it is often the main concentration in the study as it is the outcome variable mentioned in the research problem (Hatcher, 2003, p. 30). The predictor variable, in contrast, is a variable that is used to predict values on the criterion and it has a causal effect on criterion (Hatcher, 2003, p. 30).