3

Liem

From Medical Tourism to Globalization of Health Services

I recall having a non-emergent dental procedure while I was a student. Even though I have dental insurance, I still need to spend a lot. So I postponed the dental procedure until the summer when I visited my parents in China. It costs about ten percent of what it would cost in the United States. Even with the additional cost of the flight and hotel, it is still much cheaper than in the United States. Since the cost is much less expensive in China, this was pretty common in the Chinese American community to travel back for medical service. For example, an annual physical checkup that includes a chest X-ray, an ultrasound, and an EKG costs about $30-$40 in China.

  I didn’t realize there was a term for this phenomenon called “medical tourism” until today, after reading Chapter 14 of the book. The Global Healthcare Manager. (Michael, 2019)

Medical tourism, according to the CDC (nd), is when a person goes to another country for medical treatment. World Tourist Organization defined that as “a form of tourism activity that includes the utilization of evidence-based medical therapeutic resources and services (WTO 2018).  

 Medical tourism attracts millions of Americans each year. Mexico, Canada, central and south America, India, Singapore, and Thailand are popular destinations for medical tourists from the United States. Medical services provided usually include diagnosis, treatment, cure, prevention, and rehabilitation. Medical tourism is growing in popularity, with estimates estimating that up to 750,000 Americans would seek medical treatment abroad in 2007( Horowitz 2007). 

  At the same time, as Chinese people get richer, a growing number of individuals are traveling to the United States for medical treatment, particularly to world-class medical institutions such as MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, and Mayo Clinic. Actually, one of my friends has a company that handles this kind of business. He assists Chinese customers by setting up appointments, booking flights and hotels, and arranging trips, among other things. For example, several novel chemotherapies have been authorized by the FDA but are not accessible in China; the only option to get the medicine is to seek treatment in the United States. Some cutting-edge clinical trials are exclusively done at the NIH, and patients must participate in these trials in order to get therapy.

 Medical tourism and the international healthcare marketplace are examples of future trends in global health. Many challenges, such as the balance of quality/safety and cost, policy and regulation, and insurance coverage for overseas medical services, must yet be addressed.

Reference: 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Medical tourism: Travel to another country for medical care. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/medical-tourism#:~:text=Medical%20tourism%20is%20when%20a,South%20America%2C%20and%20the%20Caribbean.

Horowitz, M. D., Rosensweig, J. A., & Jones, C. A. (2007). Medical tourism: globalization of the healthcare marketplace. MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine, 9(4), 33.

World Tourism Organization and European Travel Commission (2018) . Exploring Health Tourism – Executive Summary. Madrid: UNWTO;2018. doi:10.18111/9789284420308  

Olayin

The topic I chose to discuss this week Globalization of Healthcare: Influence on health status, future trends, and key considerations of global health management.

Globalization of healthcare has contributed to health advancements through the use of new health knowledge, it can be explained according to( NIH) as how people are becoming interconnected and interdependent. The world is becoming a global village and as such there are several new trends that are evolving.

INFLUENCE ON HEALTH STATUS  Globalization makes it easier for for people to access healthcare easily, for instance with virtual healthcare a patient is allowed to see a doctor or attend doctors visit through the help of virtual healthcare. Virtual healthcare or virtual appointment is when a patient stays in the comfort of their home and is attended to by a doctor through the use of a computer or a smart phone. This also serves time of travelling to the doctors office and also helps reducing of overcrowding in the doctors office. Another influence oh health status is that it encourages digital healthcare, this is a system in which a patient is able to access his healthcare records online through a password and user name given by the doctors office.

 FUTURE TRENDS OF HEALTHCARE ;Shortage of healthcare worker is a trend that is affecting the healthcare industry and will also continue. Nearly 1 in every 5 workers had quit their job during to Covid19 the pandemic. Taking my job as a case study when Covid19 broke out a lot of my colleague left the job out of fear. A lot of nurses also left the job due to the risk involved. Others left and went to a different field.  According to World Health Organization(WHO) estimates a projected shortfall of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030.

Another important trend digitization of healthcare Despite remarkable breakthroughs in health sciences, healthcare services are lagging behind in digitization in comparison with other industries. The introduction of digital technologies is expected to substantially transform the healthcare sector in the next two decades (Hamid 2019). 

Global health management  relates to navigating medical trends on a local or international basis, it focuses on the management aspect of healthcare, it deals with the billing, insurance

References

 Hamid Yeganeh 2019 An analysis of emerging trends and transformations in global healthcare College of Business, Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota, USA

Globalization and Health PMC NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

2.4 Hypothesis Testing

Regardless of the details of a particular study, be it correlational, experimental, or descriptive, all quantitative research follows the same process of testing a hypothesis. This section provides an overview of this process, including a discussion of the statistical logic, the five steps of the process, and the two ways we can make mistakes during our hypothesis test. Some of this material may be a review from statistics class, but it forms the basis of our scientific decision-making process and thus warrants repeating.

The Logic of Hypothesis Testing

Chapter 1 discussed several criteria for identifying a “good” theory, one of which is that theories have to be falsifiable. In other words, research questions should have the ability to be proven wrong under the right set of conditions. Why is this so important? This will sound counterintuitive at first, but by the standards of logic, when data run counter to a researcher’s theory, that is more meaningful than when data support the theory.

For example, suppose we hypothesize that growing up in a low-income family puts children at higher risk for depression. If the data fit this pattern, our prediction might very well be correct. It is also possible, however, that these results are due to a third variable—perhaps low-income families grow up in more stressful neighborhoods, and stress turns out to increase a person’s depression risk. Or, perhaps our sample accidentally contained an abnormal number of depressed people. This is why we are always cautious in interpreting positive results from a single study. Yet now, imagine that we test the same hypothesis and find that those who grew up in low-income families show a lower rate of depression. This is still a single study, but it suggests that our hypothesis may have been off-base.

Another way to think about this is from a statistical perspective. As the chapter discussed earlier, all measurements contain some amount of random error, which means that any pattern of data could be caused by random chance. This is the primary reason that research is never able to “prove” a theory. We will learn (or recall) from the study of statistics that at the end of any hypothesis test, we calculate a 
p value, representing the probability of observing our results—or results that are even more extreme—due entirely to random chance. Conceptually, we are calculating the probability that we are wrong rather than the probability that we are right in our predictions. And the bigger the effect, the smaller this probability will generally be. So, as strange as it seems, the ideal result of hypothesis testing is to have a small probability of being wrong.

This focus on falsifiability carries over to the way we test our hypotheses, in that the goal is to reject the possibility of results being due to chance. The starting point of a hypothesis test is to state a null hypothesis, or the assumption that the variables have no real effect in the overall population. This is another way of saying that observed patterns of data are due to random chance. In essence, we propose this null in hopes of minimizing the odds that it is true. Then, as a counterpoint to the null hypothesis, we propose an alternative hypothesis that represents the predicted pattern of results. This part is a little confusing, because the word alternative actually refers to the hypothesis in which we are interested. The term is employed because, in statistical jargon, the alternative hypothesis represents the predicted deviation from the null. These alternative hypotheses can be directional, meaning that we specify the direction of the effect, or nondirectional, meaning that we simply predict an effect.

Say we want to test the hypothesis that people like cats better than dogs. We would start with the null hypothesis, that people like cats and dogs the same amount (i.e., no difference). The next step is to state the alternative hypothesis (that is, our actual hypothesis), which in this case is that people will prefer cats. Because we are predicting a direction (cats more than dogs), this hypothesis is directional. The other option would be a nondirectional hypothesis, or simply stating that people’s cat preferences differ from their dog preferences. (Note that we have avoided predicting which one people like better, what makes it nondirectional.)

Finally, these three hypotheses can also be expressed using logical notation, as shown below. The letter H is used as an abbreviation for “hypothesis,” and the Greek letter µ is a common abbreviation for the mean, or average.

Conceptual Hypothesis: People like cats better than dogs.

Null Hypothesis: H0: µcat = µdog

the “cat” mean is equal to the “dog” mean;

people like cats and dogs the same

Nondirectional Alternative Hypothesis: H1: µcat ≠ µdog

the “cat” mean is not equal to the “dog” mean;

people like cats and dogs different amounts

Directional Alternative Hypothesis: H1: µcat > µdog

the “cat” mean is greater than the “dog” mean;

people like cats more than dogs

Why distinguish between directional and nondirectional hypotheses? A statistics class provides a more detailed answer, but it is important to note that this decision will have implications for the level of statistical significance. In essence, nondirectional hypotheses are less precise: “I think there is a difference,” versus “I believe cats are the preferred pet!” Because we always want to minimize the risk of coming to the wrong conclusion, we have to be more conservative with a nondirectional test. In this context, being conservative means needing a bigger group difference to feel confident in the results.

In the cats-versus-dogs example, a larger difference in ratings would be needed to support the claim that people like cats and dogs different amounts than would be needed to support the claim that people like cats more than dogs. The goal of all this statistical and logical jargon is to place hypothesis testing in the proper frame. The most important thing to remember is that hypothesis testing is designed to reject the null hypothesis, and statistical tests tell us how confident to be in this rejection.

Five Steps to Hypothesis Testing

Now that we understand how to frame a hypothesis, what does a researcher do with this information? Framing a hypothesis is the first step of a five-step process of testing a hypothesis. This section walks through an example of hypothesis testing from start to finish, that is, from an initial hypothesis to a conclusion about the hypothesis. Using a fictitious study, we will test the prediction that married couples without children are happier than those with children in the home. This example is inspired by an actual study by Harvard social psychologist Dan Gilbert and his colleagues, described in a news article at 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1941195/Marriage-without-children-the-key-to-bliss.html
. The hypothesis may seem counterintuitive, but Gilbert’s research suggests that people tend to both overestimate the extent to which children will make them happy and underestimate the added stress and financial demands of having children in the house.

Step 1—State the Hypothesis

The first step in testing this hypothesis is to spell it out in logical terms. Remember that we want to start with the null hypothesis that the presence of children in a home has no effect. So, in this case, the null hypothesis would be that couples are equally happy with and without children. Or, in logical notation, H0: µchildren = µno children (i.e., the mean happiness rating for couples with children equals the mean happiness rating for couples without children). From there, we can spell out our alternative hypothesis; in this case, we predict that having children will make couples less happy. Because this is a directional hypothesis, we write H1: µchildren < µno children (i.e., the mean happiness rating for couples with children is lower than the mean happiness rating for couples without children).

Step 2—Define Variables

Once we have an idea of the conceptual relationship that we want to test, we need to translate these concepts into measurable variables. As the chapter has discussed more than once, the decisions we make at this stage will trickle down and influence every subsequent step of the research process. For our current example, we will need to find a way to define the concept of “happiness,” as well as decide our criteria for “couples with / without children.” We have encountered happiness as an example before, so it seems fairly straightforward to define it based on participants’ responses to a happiness scale. But what does it mean for a couple to have children? Do the children need to be of a certain age, or would the study include everyone from parents of newborns to empty-nesters whose children are away at college? These types of decisions need to be made carefully, to ensure that we are controlling outside influences that might interfere with our hypothesis test. For example, couples who survive the trials and tribulations of raising a toddler without getting divorced may come to develop a more realistic set of expectations for their everyday happiness, compared to the parents of newborns or the parents of college students.

Step 3—Collect Data

The next step is to design and conduct a study that will test our hypothesis. The next three chapters will elaborate on this process in great detail, but the general idea is the same regardless of the design. In this case, the most appropriate design would be correlational because we want to predict happiness based on whether people have children. It would be impractical and unethical to randomly assign people to have children, so an experimental design is not possible in this case. One way to conduct our study would be to survey married couples about whether they had children and ask them to rate their current level of happiness with the marriage. Suppose we conduct this study and end up with the data in Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4: Sample data for the “children and happiness” study

As the figure shows, the results suggest an average happiness rating of 5.7 for couples without children, compared to an average happiness rating of 2.0 for couples with children. These groups certainly look different—and encouraging for our hypothesis—but we need to be sure that the difference is big enough that we can reject the null hypothesis.

Step 4—Calculate Statistics

The next step in our hypothesis test is to calculate statistical tests to decide how confident we can be that the results are meaningful. Researchers have a wide variety of statistical tools at their disposal and different ways to analyze all manner of data. These tools can be broadly grouped into descriptive statistics, which describe the patterns and distribution of measured variables, and inferential statistics, which attempt to draw inferences about the population from which the sample was drawn. Researchers use inferential statistics to make decisions about the significance of the data. Statistics courses cover many of these in detail, and we will discuss a few examples throughout this book. All of these different techniques share a common principle: They attempt to make inferences by comparing the relationship among variables to the random variability of the data. As the chapter discussed earlier, people’s measured levels of everything from happiness to heart rate can be influenced by a wide range of variables. The hope in testing our hypotheses is that differences in our measurements will primarily reflect differences in the variables we are studying. In the current example, we would want to see that differences in happiness ratings of the married couples were influenced more by the presence of children than by random fluctuations in happiness. Regardless of which statistic a researcher chooses to test the hypothesis, the resulting value will be translated into a measure of statistical significance, and this provides a key piece of information for the final decision.

Step 5—Make a Decision

Finally, we are able to draw a conclusion about our experiment. Based on the outcome of our statistical test (i.e., step 4), we will make one of two decisions about our null hypothesis:

Reject null:
 decide that the probability of the null being correct is sufficiently small; that is, results are due to differences in groups

or

Fail to reject null:
 decide that the probability of the null being correct is too big; that is, results are due to chance

Given the mean difference in Figure 2.4, and the small amount of error, our statistical test would certainly be significant, and we could be confident in rejecting the null hypothesis. At long last, we can express our findings in plain English: Couples with children are less happy than couples without children.

Having walked through this five-step process, we note an important fact. When it comes to analyzing data, to test hypotheses, researchers actually rely on a computer program for part of this process—Step 4 in particular. In these modern times, computing even a simple means comparison by hand is rare. Software programs such as SPSS, SAS, and Microsoft Excel can take a table of data, compute the mean difference, compare it to the variability, and calculate the probability that the results are due to chance. However, because these calculations happen behind the scenes, it is very important to understand the process. By understanding how the software operates, researchers can reach informed conclusions about their research questions. Otherwise, they risk making one of two possible errors in the hypothesis test, discussed in the next section.

Errors in Hypothesis Testing

In the children and happiness study, we concluded with a reasonable amount of confidence that our hypothesis was supported. Still, what if we made the wrong decision? Because our conclusions are based on interpreting probability, there is always a chance that we draw the wrong conclusion. In interpreting our hypothesis tests, we risk two potential errors, referred to as Type I and Type II errors.

Type I errors occur when the results are due to chance, but the researcher mistakenly concludes that the effect is significant. In other words, no effect of the variables exists in the population, but some quirk of the sample makes the effect appear significant. This error can be viewed as a false positive—researchers get excited over results that are not actually meaningful. In our children and happiness study, a Type I error would occur if children had no effect on happiness in the real world, but some quirk of chance made our “no children” group happier than the “children” group. For example, our sample of childless couples might accidentally contain a greater proportion of people with happy personalities or greater job stability or simply more marital satisfaction from the start.

Fortunately—although this error seems worrisome—we can generally compute the probability of making it. Our alpha level sets the bar for how extreme our data must be to reject the null hypothesis. At the end of the statistical calculation, a p value tells us how extreme the data actually are. When we set an alpha threshold of, say, 0.05, we are attempting to avoid a Type I error; our results will only be statistically significant if the effect outweighs the random variability by a big-enough amount. If the p value falls below our predetermined alpha level, we decide that the risk of a Type I error is sufficiently small and can therefore reject the null hypothesis. If, however, the p value is greater than (or even equal to) our alpha cutoff, we decide that the risk of Type I error is too high to ignore and will therefore fail to reject the null hypothesis.

Type II errors occur when the results are significant, but the researcher mistakenly concludes that they are due to chance. In other words, an effect of the variables does exist in the population, but some quirk of the sample makes the effect appear nonsignificant. This error can be viewed as a false negative—researchers miss results that actually could have been meaningful. In our children and happiness experiment, a Type II error would occur if couples without children really were happier than couples with children but some flaw in the experiment kept us from detecting the difference. For example, if our measures of happiness were poorly designed, people might vary in how they interpreted the items, and this source of error could make it difficult to spot an overall difference between the groups.

Although this error sounds disappointing, the good news is researchers have some fairly easy ways to avoid or minimize it. The key factor in reducing Type II error is to maximize the power of the statistical test, or the probability of detecting a real difference. In fact, power is inversely related to the probability of a Type II error—the higher the power, the lower the chance of Type II error. Power is analogous to the sensitivity, or accuracy, of the hypothesis test; it is under the researcher’s control in three main ways. First, as the section Reliability and Validity discussed it is important to make sure that measures are capturing what the researcher thinks they are. If the happiness scale actually captures something like narcissism, then this will cause problems for the hypothesis about the predictors of happiness. Second, it is important to be careful throughout the process of coding and analyzing data. Small mistakes&nbs

Discussion 1 (250 words)

How does a researcher develop a research question for a research study? What might guide a researcher in identifying a specific topic for study?

Discussion 2 (250 words)

There are several databases that can be used to search for background sources. Conduct an online search and find at least two databases that provide access to peer-reviewed publications. Identify the name of each database, and provide a link if available. Include a summary of the content within each. Describe at least one strength and one weakness of each database.

Textbook

Staines, Gail M. Social Sciences Research, (3rd Edition). Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2019.

Ascertain the importance of strategic planning for an organization.

• Suggest one strategy to structure the strategic planning session for a midsize nonprofit health organization that is competing with several for-profit facilities in the area. Then determine your approach to communicate the mission, vision, and value statements for the strategic planning. Provide a rationale for your response.

It can be postulated that there are two scenarios when it comes to price setting by providers and provider organizations. Providers refer to those practitioners eligible to bill third-party payers for the services they provide to patients. Provider organizations are facilities where care is delivered to patients. The first scenario is that providers and provider organizations are considered “price takers,” in that the rates of reimbursement are set by the payers with little to no input from providers and organizations. The second scenario is that providers and organizations set their own prices and that payers are expected to pay these rates. These strategies will be explored in this week’s discussion assignment.

Briefly discuss what is meant to be a price setter or price taker, the strategies employed in both approaches, and a clear listing of the pros and cons associated with each price setting strategy. After weighing the pros and cons of each, which approach do you feel best meets the needs of the key stakeholders?

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 2 of your Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow course text.

This discussion forum focuses on analyzing Case Study 2.1 (The Bad Boy of the Pharmaceutical Industry) from your textbook. In at least one paragraph, supported by evidence from your text and from other research:

• Describe the shadow casters you see in Martin Shkreli.
• Explain if rapid success increases the probability that leaders will fall victim to shadow casters.
• Appraise if Turing Pharmaceutical, as well as other companies that follow the same business model, engaged in price gouging, or are these firms serving the interests of their investors?
• Describe any learning outcomes you had from this assignment.

1 hour ago

Rachelle Britton

RE: Week 5 Discussion

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Week 5 Discussion

· Describe some of the specific challenges (for example, risks of employees going to various websites, viruses, and legal implications) associated with BYOD policies.

Some challenges organizations might face with their bring your device policies are a lack of control of the personal device if it is lost or stolen. Not having administrative rights and what the employee does personally on their device might be against company policy on corporate-owned devices.

· Recommend methods organizations can use to address the challenges associated with BYOD policies.

Organizations should have a long-term plan to maintain their security objectives, with the proper controls to meet those objectives. Wireless devices should be one of the areas covered in the policy along with BYOD. The policy must address encryption, firewalls, network security, and termination of access for these devices. The plan should clearly outline the rules and practices associated with their BYOD policy. Organizations can provide training to any colleague who has signed up for BYOD and have them attest that they understand the policy. The content of the policy should contain an overview of the policy, the purpose of the policy, what is in scope, and who the targeted audience should be.

References:

 William Stallings. 2019. Effective Cybersecurity: A Guide to Using Best Practices and Standards. 

Reply

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What happens in October Birds is very similar to what happened to us during Covid-19. It’s incredibly scary to read in the first chapter how quickly the potential of spreading infection increases. Reading how the initial doctor who was infected had multiple layovers, stopped at different shops and bars, and hotel rooms was scary on his journey to Texas. I have gone on international trips and had several layovers on those trips and now realizing how easy it can be to infect so many people at once then those people going home to their destinations is to infect others. From this reading I learned how important it is to stay isolated if you are sick. I do believe that we have learned social distance from Covid however, I do not think people will take it as seriously as it needs to be. To best stop the spread we need to prioritize quarantine.

From the lectures we’ve learned that infections can spread quickly but to read that within a matter of 1 chapter the number of infections went from 7 to 571 – an incredible rise in numbers within 1 day. Similar to our situation, this viral infection directly impacted the lungs filling them with fluid making it hard to breathe and describes the shortage of ventilators and supplies for children. This book has shown the importance of keeping logs and records as a healthcare professional seeing patients. For example, the school nurse who kept a log of all the students she saw the day the young girl came in coughing. This was helpful in contact tracing and expresses the importance of notifying the possibly infected as soon as possible

Those that are infected are not taking their illness seriously. One lady went to a coffee shop and risked the exposure of everyone there but when confronted by the doctor at the cafe, she broke into tears because she didn’t realize how impactful her selfish decision was and it was risky for those around her that she didn’t stay in isolation.

Other similarities seen are that they discuss shutting down the cities however, the mayor is debating the potential loss of revenue and that it’s understandable because businesses won’t be able to pay their employees and then those employees won’t be able to pay rent.

It was really sorrowful reading Nabil’s death. It’s hard to imagine what would be done in this situation; I don’t know if I would have the tolerance to bury my partner. Knowing the alternative would be him sitting in a body bag in someone’s fridge sounds horrific. It forces me to wonder how people cope with their loved ones’ deaths in their own homes during our pandemic. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were family members currently buried in backyards in San Francisco, especially since the book revealed that the body collection team wouldn’t be available to pick up until the next morning.

The character situation that related to me most was the holistic doctor because she genuinely wants to help people and do it the natural way. It was relieving to read that she had some formal medical training yet, she still chose to heal people in her own way. I really enjoyed reading about the home remedies she had for the sick daughter and the priest because I too try to heal things like a cough or sore throat naturally using herbs and roots like ginger. I have a backyard full of plants and vegetables that I love to incorporate in my diet.

October Birds was very relatable to our Covid-19 it was hard for me to find differences. One that I would like to note is that they wanted to start with shutting down schools before anything else.

1. Research a policy about reducing fossil fuel use in a US state or commonwealth, municipality, or region of your choosing. Choose one that was not covered in the lesson. For example, in the lesson we talked about Governor Newson’s initiatives to limit gas-fueled cars or reduce fossil fuel use. Make sure you look through the lesson – you cannot choose one we already covered. You may want to choose an area you are familiar with – you have lived there or have family there. Or you may choose a place you want to visit. Think about places outside of California – that way we get the greatest diversity of responses.
2. State the policy and explain it. Give your opinion. What non-renewable resources does it target? How does it propose reducing them? Why this resource? What is the timeline for reduction? Why this particular resource? Be detailed and thorough so we can understand it.
3. Analyze the policy. Knowing what you know about environmental problems, will this policy be effective? Or is it just a first step? Is it aggressive enough? What do you think about the approach? Is it likely to work or not? These are examples of questions to answer when you analyze the policy.

Nurses are well positioned for reforming health care in ways that promote a healthier public and reduce healthcare cost. Discuss the role nurse plays in COVID vaccination mandate, telemedicine, and prescription drug pricing as advocates in the healthcare system. 

 400 words  

Use the information found at Protecting Your System: Physical Security to research how determining possible physical threats may affect the choice of physical security countermeasures while planning new or updated security systems. Summarize your findings.

Culture in Nursing

Library Assignment Content

Research Paper:

Write a three-page paper about a specific health belief system that is common to a population.

1. Include the origins of the health beliefs.

2. Discuss the health implications of the health beliefs (e.g., are they a potentially harmful?).

3. How will you integrate the health beliefs into your nursing care?

Submission Instructions:

· The paper is to be clear and concise and students will lose points for improper grammar, punctuation and misspelling.

· The paper should be formatted per current APA and 3-5 pages in length, excluding the title, abstract and references page. Incorporate a minimum of 3 current (published within last five years) scholarly journal articles or primary legal sources (statutes, court opinions) within your work.

· Complete and submit the assignment before 11:59 PM ET Saturday 21,2022

Topic:
Does democracy require equality of income or wealth? Discuss why democracy might make a country more or less egalitarian?

Be sure to make connections between your ideas and conclusions and the research, concepts, terms, and theory we are discussing this week. Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources)

Text Book:

Title: The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition Revel Access Code

Authors: EDWARD S. GREENBERG, Benjamin I. Page

Publisher: Pearson

Publication Date: 2018-12-31

Edition: 12th

APA Citation

Greenberg, E. S & Page, B. I. (2018). The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition. (12th ed.). Pearson.

This textbook is available as an e-book and can be accessed from the module view.

Part A

Please complete the following:

From football teams to Fortune 500 companies, recruiting superior talent is essential to fueling a team’s successful growth, as you see from Coach’s story of getting John Riggins to rejoin the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins. However, convincing someone to join your team can be a tricky business. This week, we look at ways to effectively recruit with key insights that’ll help you convince someone that they need to join your team! Imagine you’re preparing to recruit someone to be part of your team. Name three things you would try to do or use in your sales pitch to close the deal. Why do YOU think those things would help you land your recruit?

Part B – Please respond to the following:

• From the case study, determine the challenges faced by the Help Desk at Bank USA and suggest strategies to mitigate them.
• Using the data on call volume in the case, select a forecasting model to forecast the short-term demand. Justify why this model was selected over other forecasting models. Support your position.

Prompt

Discuss the essential hardware components of the data communication model and explain the importance of software (i.e., layers of the Internet model) to an implementation of a functioning network.

Guidelines

You are required to post an initial response to the discussion question. Your post should be of substance. There should be at least two paragraphs that address the topic. Use APA format for any quotations or citations you use to support your answer.

WRITE 175-265 WORDS

Consider the differences between marketing in for-profit and nonprofit health care organizations, then differentiate between the two on the issues below, responding to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

• Strategic goals of the organizations

• Variation in access to the capital market

• Strategic marketing differences between these two types of organizations

• Quality attributes of the two types of organizations

• The management of pricing and volume

 Discuss how the computerized baggage handling system (CBHS) project at Denver International Airport (DIA) could have been a success with proper control. 

Planning for a Training Session

Sonya Hatfield

South University Online

Dr. Mirza

PMC6601

May 9, 202

Planning for a Training Session

Introduction

Planning refers to looking ahead and developing strategies to achieve desired goals and objectives, facilitate actions, and solve issues. It is an activity carried out systematically to determine when, how, and who is supposed to perform particular tasks. For example, planning for Walmart’s training session will consider the company’s available physical and human resources to coordinate and execute the training session effectively.

Statement of Need

Walmart Inc is a retailer operating supermarkets, grocery stores, discount and department stores, neighborhood markets, and hypermarkets (Khabibullaev, 2022, p. 281-292). The organization’s stores provide consumables and grocery, wellness and health, entertainment and office, technology, and apparel at low prices to improve the living standards of its consumers. The company markets its products under different licensed brands and private labels, including Parent’s Choice, George, Equate, and Wonder Nation. Additionally, it merchandises its products through various e-commerce portals in Africa, the US, China, Canada, and Central America. Walmart has discovered that its markets are becoming increasingly competitive; therefore, it seeks to provide a training sessions to its employees to equip them with the required tools and language for managing business operations successfully to help the company remain competitive.

According to Veile et al. (2019), businesses depend on their employees to develop and implement procedures and practices supporting the business goals. Competitors tend to imitate the product offering and strategies, but they cannot replicate their human resources. Therefore, training employees to equip them with knowledge can help any organization set itself apart from its competitors. The training session will help Walmart obtain a competitive edge that competitors will not imitate easily. Proper training session planning will help the organization achieve the training objectives and overcome uncertainties.

Objectives of Planning the Training Session

Businesses must improve their game to remain relevant and competitive in the overly competitive corporate world. A part of it involves effective planning, which outlines achieving strategic plans. Planning helps an organization obtain a competitive advantage and remove confusion and uncertainties. For example, planning for the training session includes assessing the training needs, addressing logistical requirements, organizing materials, identifying the goals and objectives of the training program, developing and evaluating the budget, and communicating important information to the stakeholders.

Project Stakeholders

The stakeholders of this project are the individuals who will be impacted by the project during its life cycle and whose input can directly affect the project outcome (Kolasa & Modrzejewska, 2020, p.545). They include the project team, executives, project manager, facilitators for the training program, and the employees. These are the people whose objectives should be satisfied because they have the power break or do the project.

The company employees will be the attendees of the training, and their willingness to attend the training will be essential in determining whether to plan for it. Also, the employees can suggest the areas they need further training, which can impact the planning process. The project manager will lead the project team in planning the training session. The project team will execute the planning under the project manager’s leadership. The company executives include the top management, who direct strategies in the organization and control the resources required to execute the project. Additionally, the project managers can help in emphasizing the importance of the employee training session to encourage the workers to participate. The training facilitators can aid in decision-making, and they can help determine factors related to the training.

Project Scope

The scope establishes the project boundary conditions and baseline that people cannot compromise without receiving consent from the approving managers. The project scope involves identifying the project team, resources, tasks, timeline, and budget. Every good project has a timeline that every person should follow. The project will be completed within two months. The project manager should have identified the venue, set the training date, determined the facilitators, and developed and examined the budget.

The project manager will establish whether the current project team is enough to prepare and plan well for the training session. Also, the project manager, with the help of the project team, will draft the budget indicating all the costs of obtaining the required resources. Further, the project team will identify the facilitators based on the objectives and goals of the training. The facilitators will be in charge of determining the training materials and requirements. This will help the project team prepare well for the required equipment, tools, seating arrangements, machines, environmental conditions, and lighting for enhancing proper practice or demonstration. The facilitators will be needed to prepare well for the training session to provide a high standard of training.

To prepare the trainees, the project team, with the help of the executives, will use different techniques to motivate and gear up the employees to prepare them to learn. The team will distribute the session plan or outline a month before the training session. Also, the project team will distribute precession activities and expectation questionnaires which will help in customizing the session.

References

Khabibullaev, A. S. U. (2022). Experiences of Foreign Countries in the Use of Marketing Research in Retail Trade and Their Application in the Context of Uzbekistan. International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, 9(3), 281-292.

Kolasa, I., & Modrzejewska, D. (2020, July). How Information System Project Stakeholders Perceive Project Success. In Science and Information Conference (pp. 542-554). Springer, Cham.

Veile, J. W., Kiel, D., Müller, J. M., & Voigt, K. I. (2019). Lessons learned from Industry 4.0 implementation in the German manufacturing industry. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.

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Lisa

Quality Models and Methods: Types, principles, and processes

When speaking about quality you may hear people refer to Quality Assurance (QA) or Quality Improvement (QI) which often are used interchangeably and refer to how well something is either working or how well a job is done. Total quality is “a philosophy or an approach to management that can be characterized by its principles, practices, and techniques. Its three principles are customer focus, continuous improvement, and teamwork. Each principle is implemented through a set of practices, the practices are supported by a wide array of techniques that make the practice effective.

Some continuous quality improvements methods are :

Performance management – the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise

Six sigma- a statistical term referring to the goal of achieving zero defects or failures. Six Sigma quality is considered a rate of less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, which translates to a process that is 99.99966 percent defect free. The use of Six Sigma is encouraged in health services organizations as a way of achieving high reliability through use of rigorous and disciplined approach of process improvement tools, methods, and statistical analysis

Lean-is used to remove wasted effort from healthcare processes without compromising quality

Three principles of total quality:

Customer-focused quality- means that key patient and other customer requirements and expectations are identified and drive improvement efforts. Defining customers and stakeholders is a prerequisite to determining their requirements. 

Continuous improvement- may also be expressed through managers’ execution of their managerial functions. Managing by fact and depending on performance data to inform decisions is requisite to this principle.

Teamwork – referring to cross functional or interdisciplinary project teams. Healthcare organizations seeking to make changes in complex processes or activities that involve more than one discipline or work area often use a team approach. Quality improvement is fundamentally a team process in which significant and lasting improvements rely on the “knowledge, skills, experience, and perspectives of different individuals”

Resources

Patrice Spath. (2017). Applying Quality Management in Healthcare : A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition: Vol. Fourth edition. Health Administration Press.

Maren

 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2021) defined quality improvement as ”the framework used to systematically improve care. Quality improvement seeks to standardize processes and structures to reduce variation, achieve predictable results, and improve outcomes for patients, healthcare systems, and organizations.” A quality improvement (QI) approach, also called continuous quality improvement (CQI), emphasizes the ongoing improvement of processes to enhance the quality of the outputs, for example, by limiting defect outcomes. Examples of process improvements in operating rooms are preoperative checklists, sponge counts, and team briefings to prevent negative results or surgical complications (Spath, 2017).
     The role of the management is to set organizational goals on how human, financial, material and intellectual resources are protected, assigned, and used. Furthermore, the goals involve how activities in the organization are created, carried out, coordinated, and developed. The manager’s views and strategies differ regarding the organizational position and responsibilities, such as team, project, department or organization-wide. How managers in health services describe and arrange quality in their daily activities is often affected by their own experiences. A manager with an education in health services administration background focuses, for example, on the importance of organizational structures and stakeholder relationships; this leads to numerous ways quality concerns may be stated and addressed in healthcare organizations. Quality improvement is essentially a team process dependent on knowledge, skills, understanding and views of different individuals.   
     Managers have to show continuous improvement in their daily activities to attain the same in their organizations. The principle of constant improvement is dependent on the manager’s performance in their managerial practices. Therefore, managing facts regarding performance data is essential. For example, by watching the patient transportation system, the supervisor is immediately alerted when a problem appears and can quickly react and address the issue. He can reassign staff to increase available employees and reduce the response time. He analyzes problems by comparing the total number of transports with the average response time. With the daily data, he can identify documented concerns and address them quickly, improving employee accountability and enhancing patient relations. The manager also reviews the statistics to analyze any problems that need to be solved directly by the managers. Furthermore, he reviews the monthly stats with the administrators, as annual statistics are also used for the budgeting process (Spath, 2017).
      According to W. Edwards Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, the four components of theories of systems, the concept of knowledge, understanding variation, and psychology of change are necessary for quality improvement in the health care system. Organizations cover several departments, people, and functions working collectively to achieve a common goal, such as the quality of care and customer service. Leadership has to optimize the system as a whole. Therefore, leaders have to gain knowledge of the scenario through small tests. The knowledge is essential to adjust and enhance the system. Furthermore, it is vital to encourage anticipated variation and prevent adverse deviation. Finally, leaders have to comprehend the motivation of employees and offer skill training to change and succeed (Roehrs, 2018). As Roehrs (2018) stated, “The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people.”

References:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (2021). Quality Measurement and Quality Improvement. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/MMS/Quality-Measure-and-Quality-Improvement-

Roehrs, S. (2018, September 25). Building of profound knowledge. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care. Volume 48, Issue 8,P. 196-197, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1538544218300865

Spath, P. (2017). Applying Quality Management in Healthcare: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition: Vol. Fourth edition. Health Administration Press.

 1) Find an example of a fallacy used in popular advertising or any persuasive text. Upload the image/words or provide a link.

2) Identify the fallacy and why you think that this particular type of advertisement represents the fallacy that you have chosen.

This discussion forum focuses on analyzing Case Study 3.2 (Cultivating Character from Crooked Timber) from your textbook. In at least one paragraph, supported by evidence in your text and from other research, respond to at least three of the five bullet points below.

• Explain if you agree with Brooks that modern Western culture makes the self the center of the universe.
• Explain the value of viewing humans as “crooked timber”. What might be the dangers of this perspective?
• Describe if humility is the foundation for character development. Why or why not?
• Explain which provisions of the Humility Code you agree with and take issue with.
• Do you recall other prominent leaders who struggled to develop their character while wrestling with their weaknesses? How did they cope with their flaws, and what virtues did they develop?

Prompt

Discuss the process of a mail sender using a two-tier architecture sending mail to a receiver using a three-tier architecture.

Initial Post

You are required to post an initial response to the discussion question. Your post should be of substance. There should be at least two paragraphs that address the topic. Use APA format for any quotations or citations you use to support your answer.

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapters 1 and 2 of your Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow course text.

Leadership is a complex topic. Up until now, the majority of your studies have focused on ethical leadership forms, but ethical leadership is only one part of a much larger leadership picture. There is also a dark side to leadership and to truly understand the ethical side of leadership, you need to understand the dark side.

In your paper,

• Summarize your impressions of the different dark leadership theories.
• Discuss why leaders cast shadow instead of light.
• Describe ethical dilemmas that you have encountered as a leader or a follower.
  • Explain ways that you have resolved these dilemmas.
• Explain your thoughts about this week’s reading, and what you learned that will transfer to future ethical decisions.
• Describe your thoughts and observations about the moral choices made by a public figure and how these choices fit the lesson.

The Dark Leadership Theory paper

• Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.).
• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least three scholarly , peer-reviewed, or credible sources in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  • To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this University of Arizona Global Campus Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Subject : Apple or PC? Which is more popular?   We are only discussing computers, not mobile devices (no phones or tablets).   Give me your opinions, not what’s out on the Internet.   Can you back up your suggestion?

Comments :  

In my opinion PC computers are very popular but depends in many factors,primarily the budget.PC computers are more affordable and can be found around 40% cheaper than MAC,easier to upgrade and compatible with more software.Mac (APPLE) is a high-end machine that looks and performs great.I ve used both operating systems and all depends on the user.Each system has its strengths and weaknesses.Most people are ok with spending a bit more on a MAC because they know Apple makes good products.The most noticeabe difference between one and the other is in the user interfaces.While many computer users will say one or the other is the best,this is a matter of personal preference.Traditionally PCs have had the upper hand when it comes to gaming because more publishers developed games for the PC platform.PC also provided more powerful processors and speed.PCs are manufactured and distributed by hundreds of manufactures.Definitely for me Windows 10 is the more flexible operating system and comes optimized for touch on supported touch-screen laptops. 

 Personally, I like pcs better than Apple. In my opinion, Apple is mostly known for its iPhones rather than its computer systems. Pc is used by a wide variety of people, whether it’s gamers, educators, business people, etc. I think pcs are more budget-friendly and more efficient, they have access to many more different apps, for example, Apple does not come with Word, Excel, etc you have to download it and pay for it separately. I also think pcs are better for gamers, on Macbooks most games are not downloadable. Pcs also have more variety, many of the new laptops are touch screens, and most can change into a tablet if you’d like, I think they are more versatile, promoting their products over a broad spectrum to businesses, hospitals, and students, and many more. You never go into a library or office and see all the apple products as they are very expensive and less budget-friendly to maintain. I also think getting a hold of a pc is easier, they sell in many stores as for Apple, they are in select stores and are sold out often. 

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Turkey’s research

Perceived Risk and Mental Health Problems among Healthcare Professionals during COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Mediating Effects of Resilience and Coronavirus Fear

Background

In Turkey, during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were high risks of healthcare professionals evolving signs of mental health complications because of them being on the frontline in fighting against the virus (Yıldırım, Arslan & Özaslan,2020). The research involved recruiting two hundred and four healthcare professionals, with 50 percent of the recruited being females with a minimum age of thirty-two. The purpose of the study was to examine the interceding roles of resilience and fear of coronavirus in the connection between mental health problems and perceived risk among all healthcare professionals treating patients nonstop. Method. The method used for the study is the participation method, and the participants were healthcare professionals who took the role of in the inpatient clinics, outpatients, and intensive care unit. Results. The results of the study showed that there was a significant perceived risk forecasted in coronavirus fear, but there was a non-important analyst of resilience. Coronavirus had a complete mediation on the consequence of supposed risk on resilience, and there was a 29 percent variation in coronavirus fear.

Italian research

Mental Health Conditions of Italian Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Disease Outbreak

Background

The disease in Italy represented a risk in relation to mental distress. Therefore, there was a need to investigate the healthcare professionals’ psychological health during the pandemic outbreak (Bettinsoli et al.,2020). The research was based on assessing the current mental distress of the participants and the coping approaches during the virus outbreak. The front-liners were asked to report how they recall feeling before the outbreak. The purpose of the study was to examine the psychological condition of the medical personnel before and during the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy. The methods used were questionnaires and participation, and they distributed the questionnaires online to all healthcare personnel living in various Italian regions. Results. The research outcome showed that thirty-three percent of the healthcare professionals met the psychiatric indisposition threshold. After the study, it was found that the participants viewed their psychological conditions to have worsened during the coronavirus outbreak rather than before the outbreak. This perception was a fact among female health professionals.

Spanish research

Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Levels of Resilience and Burnout in Spanish Health Personnel during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background

Spain had the highest number of infected health workers with COVID-19 in the world. They aimed to analyze the posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depression during the period of the virus (Yıldırım, Arslan & Özaslan,2020). They analyzed several associations such as burnout, work, and others on the variation of COVID-19—the purpose of the research. The purpose was to analyze the symptoms presented to health workers in Spain with posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. Several methods were used during the examination, such as using participants who were the health workers. There was also measurement of variables and instruments. The researchers collected data through the use of demographic variables. Results. The study’s findings were as follows; there were gender variations in the symptoms of the three disorders. There were differences in the depersonalization burnout scale between men and women. Women are mostly and positively linked to posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, and age is negatively and significantly linked to the three symptoms.

Analysis & Conclusion

For discussion part

Both three studies had a similar objective and goal: to examine and analyze the mental health of healthcare personnel before and during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Both studies focused more on the mental well-being of female healthcare workers. Both three studies emphasized their research on how Covid-19 impacted the lives and the mental health of the health workers. Moreover, the three studies were focused on certain ages; not all health workers on the frontline were participants in the study. However, there were differences in the study with some similarities since these are three different countries. In Italy, their examinations were on the associations between psychological distress with mental health and perceptions of infection; in Spain, their analysis was based on associations between burnouts, resilience, demographics, and work with COVID-19 variables. In contrast, Turkey’s examination was on the mediation roles of resilience and the fear of coronavirus relating to the perceived risk and the problems with their mental health.

Health personnel was greatly affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic because they were on the frontline trying to save the lives of the infected people. It was a challenging time all over the world, and thus, cases of increasing mental health problems were widespread. Many health workers had these underlying issues before the pandemic, but witnessing people die before themselves increased the cases. They take care of people without having someone to take care of them; thus, the research was necessary, and if the results were used to improve their health, it would be better than just mere research.

References

1. Bettinsoli, M. L., Di Riso, D., Napier, J. L., Moretti, L., Bettinsoli, P., Delmedico, M., … & Moretti, B. (2020). Mental health conditions of Italian healthcare professionals during the COVID‐19 disease outbreak. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 12(4), 1054-1073.

Let’s use this discussion to demonstrate the connection between data modeling and database design. This discussion is going to help you as your team works on ER modeling and database design phases of your project.

1. Define E-R diagram. What does it represent?
2. What is the purpose of normalization and what is the outcome?
3. What is the relationship between an E-R diagram and a set of normalized relations?
4. What is the purpose of a Primary Key and a Foreign Key?
5. Give an example of a Primary Key and an Foreign Key showing two related tables. Use the following notation:
   • TABLENAME(Primary Key, Attribute 1, Attribute 2, Attribute 3, Foreign Key……)

Around 250 words

This discussion forum focuses on analyzing Case Study 4.2 (Poisoning Flint, Michigan) from your textbook. In at least one paragraph, supported by evidence in your text and from other research, respond to at least three of the five bullet points below.

• Explain if this is a case of administrative evil in action. Why or why not?
• Discuss if you think that the residents of Flint were treated differently because they are poor and African American.
• Describe how much blame the governor should accept for the crisis.
• Explain if governors should be able to appoint emergency managers who have the power to override the decisions of local elected officials.
• Describe what steps the state and federal government should take to repair the damage done to Flint and its residents, including children.

Assume that you have been  hired by a small veterinary practice to help them prepare a contingency  planning document. The practice has a small LAN with four computers and  Internet access. Prepare a list of threat categories and the associated  business impact for each. Identify preventive measures for each type of  threat category. Include at least one major disaster in the plan.

Part 1

This week’s learning content introduces the many ways informatics is used in health care administration and operations to improve patient outcomes. This discussion invites you to examine informatics applications up close.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

· What ideas in medical informatics presented in this week’s learning material excited and inspired you about the ways data can be used to improve health care? Explain the idea and provide examples.

· How can these applications of health data and information be used at an organization where you have worked?

PART 2

Respond to two classmate’s posts 80 word minimun

R1

Accurate data in healthcare is vital which can mean the difference between life and death to patients. Patient data are collected in many ways not just limited to patient interview or medical records, data can also be collected to medical devices either wearable devices or e-diaries among others. These data are captured for a range of reasons and stored in various databases across the healthcare system. Data allows doctors to serve patients in rural areas and other locations where vigorous medical infrastructure may not exist, Data also support and quickly intervene on high risk and high-cost patients, reduce costs of treatment, forecast outbreak epidemic, evade avoidable diseases, and expand the quality of life in general. Health data can be used to benefit individuals, public health and medical research and development. The utilization of health data is categorized as both primary or secondary. Primary purpose is when data is utilized to deliver health care to individual from whom it was collected while secondary use is when health data is used outside of healthcare delivery for that individual.

R2

What I saw over the years is that many medical records were physically locked away in secure locations prior to the Affordable Care Act, requiring medical professionals to maintain and protect them from theft which has been happening so frequently now in days. In some ways, this physical method of record storage has an impact on patient safety. Because the information is physical rather than virtual in other words digital there is a risk of it being lost due to human error or natural disasters, identity theft, or tampering by anyone with malicious intent. These dangers are mitigated to some extent by modern health informatics. Secure data storage is provided by electronic health record systems, which encrypt and secure patient data using advanced computing technologies. To help the situation, medical professionals must document their work in a specific way to ensure proper compensation for medical treatments provided under Medicare or Medicaid plans. They must confirm that patients received treatment before storing and recording the patient’s medical history on the appropriate electronic forms which is super important. Incorporating informatics into this process improves the flow of data between healthcare providers and government agencies. It also improves patient data standardization, making it easier for future healthcare professionals to streamline their own practices. Finally, informatics allows for faster file submission, resulting in faster reimbursement for health providers and faster notification of covered treatments for patients.

3.3 Archival Research

Slightly further along the continuum of control is archival research, which involves drawing conclusions by analyzing existing sources of data, including both public and private records. Sociologist David Phillips (1977) hypothesized that media coverage of suicides would lead to “copycat” suicides. He tested this hypothesis by gathering archival data from two sources: front-page newspaper articles devoted to high-profile suicides and the number of fatalities in the 11-day period following coverage of the suicide. By examining these patterns of data, Phillips found support for his hypothesis. Specifically, fatalities appeared to peak three days after coverage of a suicide, and a greater degree of publicity was associated with a greater peak in fatalities.

Pros and Cons of Archival Research

AP Photo

Copycat suicides often peak 3 days after media coverage of a high profile suicide, such as when Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994.

It is difficult to imagine a better way to test Phillips’s hypothesis about copycat suicides. A researcher could never randomly assign people to learn about suicides and then wait to see whether they killed themselves. Nor could someone interview people right before they commit suicide to determine whether they were inspired by media coverage. Archival research provides a test of the hypothesis by examining data that already exist and, thereby, avoids most of the ethical and practical problems of other research designs. One key element of archival research is that it neatly sidesteps issues of participant reactivity, or the tendency of people to behave differently when they are aware of being observed. Any time research is conducted in a laboratory, participants know they are part of a study and may not behave in a completely natural manner. In contrast, archival data involves making use of records of people’s natural behaviors. The subjects of Phillips’s study of copycat suicides were individuals who decided to kill themselves, who had no awareness that they would be part of a research study.

Archival research is also an excellent strategy for examining trends and changes over time. For example, much of the evidence for global warming comes from observing upward trends in recorded temperatures around the globe. To gather this evidence, researchers dig into existing archives of weather patterns and conduct statistical tests of the changes over time. Psychologists and other social scientists also make use of this approach to examine population-level changes in everything from suicide rates to voting patterns over time. These comparisons can sometimes involve a blend of archival and current data. For example, a great deal of social-psychology research has been dedicated to understanding people’s stereotypes about other groups. In a classic series of studies known as the “Princeton Trilogy,” researchers documented the stereotypes held by Princeton students for 25 years (1933 to 1969). Social psychologist Stephanie Madon and her colleagues (2001) collected a new round of data but also conducted a new analysis of the previous archival data. These new analyses suggested that, over time, people have become more willing stereotype other groups, even as the stereotypes themselves have become less negative.

One final advantage of archival research is that once a researcher gains access to the relevant archives, it requires relatively few resources. The typical laboratory experiment involves one participant at a time, sometimes requiring the dedicated attention of more than one research assistant for an hour or more. After researchers assemble data from the archives, though, conducting statistical analyses is a relatively simple matter. In a 2001 article, the psychologists Shannon Stirman and James Pennebaker used a text-analysis computer program to compare the language of poets who committed suicide (e.g., Sylvia Plath) with the language of similar poets who had not committed suicide (e.g. Denise Levertov). In total, these researchers examined 300 poems from 20 poets, half of whom had committed suicide. Consistent with Durkheim’s theory of suicide as a form of “social disengagement,” Stirman and Pennebaker (2001) found that suicidal poets used more self-references and fewer references to other people in their poems. The impressive part of the study is this: Once they had assembled their archive of poems, their computer program took only seconds to analyze the language and generate a statistical profile of each poet.

Overall, however, archival research is still relatively low on the continuum of control. Researchers have to accept the archival data in whatever form they exist, with no control over the way they were collected. For instance, in Stephanie Madon’s (2001) reanalysis of the “Princeton Trilogy” data, she had to trust that the original researchers had collected the data in a reasonable and unbiased way. In addition, because archival data often represent natural behavior, it can be difficult to categorize and organize responses in a meaningful and quantitative way. The upshot is that archival research often requires some creativity on the researcher’s part—such as analyzing poetry using a text-analysis program. In many cases, as we discuss next, the process of analyzing archives involves developing a coding strategy for extracting the most relevant information.

Content Analysis—Analyzing Archives

In most examples so far, the data come in a straightforward, ready-to-analyze form. That is, it is relatively simple to count the number of suicides, track the average temperature, or compare responses to questionnaires about stereotyping over time. In other cases, the data can come as a sloppy, disorganized mass of information. How does someone who wants to analyze literature, media images, or changes in race relations on television accomplish the analysis? These types of data can yield incredibly useful information, provided the researcher can develop a strategy for extracting it.

Mark Frank and Tom Gilovich—both psychologists at Cornell University—were interested in whether cultural associations with the color black affected behavior. In virtually all cultures, the term “black” is associated with evil—the bad guys wear black hats; people have a “black day” when things turn sour; and some are excluded from social groups by being “blacklisted” or “blackballed.” These associations appear to be independent of any culture-specific prejudices regarding race or skin color. Frank and Gilovich (1988) wondered whether “a cue as subtle as the color of a person’s clothing” (p. 74) would influence aggressive behavior. To test this hypothesis, they examined aggressive behaviors in professional football and hockey games, comparing teams whose uniforms were black to teams who wore other colors. Imagine for a moment being a researcher for this study. Professional sporting events contain a wealth of behaviors and events. How would information about the relationship between uniform color and aggressive behavior be extracted?

Frank and Gilovich (1988) solved this problem by examining public records of penalty yards (football) and penalty minutes (hockey) because these represent instances of punishment for excessively aggressive behavior, as recognized by the referees. In addition, in both sports, the size of the penalty increases according to the degree of aggression. These penalty records were obtained from the central offices of both leagues, covering the period from 1970 to 1986. Consistent with the researchers’ hypothesis, teams with black uniforms were “uncommonly aggressive” (p. 76). Most strikingly, two NHL hockey teams changed their uniforms to black during the period under study and showed a marked increase in penalty minutes with the new uniforms. One equally compelling alternative explanation is that, rather than the teams acting more aggressive in black uniforms, referees perceived them to be more aggressive while wearing black uniforms. Both explanations are consistent with the idea that cultural associations can affect behavior.

Even this analysis, however, is relatively straightforward because it involved data that were already in quantitative form (penalty yards and minutes). In many cases, the starting point is a jumbled mess of human behavior. In a pair of journal articles, psychologist Russell Weigel and colleagues (1980; 1995) examined the portrayal of race relations on prime-time television. To do so, they had to make several critical decisions about what to analyze and how to quantify it. The process of systematically extracting and analyzing the contents of a collection of information is known as content analysis. In essence, content analysis involves developing a plan to code and record specific behaviors and events in a consistent way. We can break this plan down into a three-step process.

Step 1—Identify Relevant Archives

Before we develop our coding scheme, we have to start by finding the most appropriate source of data. Sometimes the choice is fairly obvious: To compare temperature trends, the most relevant archives will be weather records. To track changes in stereotyping over time, the most relevant archive is questionnaire data assessing people’s attitudes. In other cases, this decision involves careful consideration of both the research question and practical concerns. Frank and Gilovich decided to study penalties in professional sports because these data were both readily available (from the central league offices) and highly relevant to their hypothesis about aggression and uniform color.

Because these penalty records were publicly available, the researchers were able to access them easily. But if the research question involved sensitive or personal information—such as hospital records or personal correspondence—researchers would need to obtain permission from a responsible party. Say we wanted to analyze the love letters written by soldiers serving overseas and then try to predict relationship stability. Given the personal, even intimate nature of these letters, we would need permission from each person involved before proceeding with the study. However researchers manage to obtain access to private records, protecting the privacy and anonymity of the people involved is paramount. This would mean, for example, using pseudonyms and/or removing names and other identifiers from published excerpts of personal letters.

Step 2—Sample From the Archives

In Weigel’s research on race relations, the most obvious choice of archives comprised snippets of both television programming and commercials. Yet this decision was only the first step of the process. Should the researchers examine every second of every program ever aired on television? Naturally not; instead, their approach was to take a smaller sample of television programming. Chapter 4 (4.3) will discuss sampling in more detail, but the basic process involves taking a smaller, representative collection of the broader population to conserve resources. Weigel and colleagues (1980) decided to sample one week’s worth of prime-time programming from 1978, assembling videotapes of everything broadcast by the three major networks at the time (CBS, NBC, and ABC). The research team narrowed its sample by eliminating news, sports, and documentary programming because the hypotheses centered on portrayals of fictional characters of different races.

Step 3—Code and Analyze the Archives

Content analysis’ third and most involved step is to develop a system for coding and analyzing the archival data. Even a sample of one week’s worth of prime-time programming contains a near-infinite amount of information. In the race-relations studies, Weigel et al. elected to code four key variables: (1) the “total human appearance time,” or time during which people were onscreen; (2) the “Black appearance time,” in which Black characters appeared onscreen; (3) the “cross-racial appearance time,” in which characters of two races were onscreen at the same time; and (4) the “cross-racial interaction time,” in which cross-racial characters interacted. In the original (1980) paper, these authors reported that Black characters were shown only 9% of the time, and cross-racial interactions only 2% of the time. Fortunately, by the time of their 1995 follow-up study, the rate of Black appearances had doubled, and the rate of cross-racial interactions had more than tripled. However, depressingly little change occurred in some of the qualitative dimensions that they measured, including the degree of emotional connection between characters of different races.

This study also highlights the variety of options for coding complex behaviors. The four key ratings of “appearance time” consist of simply recording the amount of time that each person or group is onscreen. In addition, the researchers assessed several abstract qualities of interaction using judges’ ratings. The degree of emotional connection, for instance, was measured by having judges rate the “extent to which cross-racial interactions were characterized by conditions promoting mutual respect and understanding” (Weigel et al., 1980, p. 888). As Chapter 2 (2.2) explained, any time researchers use judges’ ratings, it is important to collect ratings from more than one rater and to make sure they agree in their assessments.

A researcher’s goal is to find a systematic way to record the observations most relevant to the hypothesis. This is particularly true for quantitative research, where the key is to start with clear operational definitions that capture the variables of interest. This involves both deciding the most appropriate variables and the best way to measure these variables. For example, if someone who analyzes written communication might decide to compare words, sentences, characters, or themes across the sample. A study of newspaper coverage might code the amount of space or number of stories dedicated to a topic, while a study of television news might code the amount of airtime given to different positions. The best strategy in each case will be the one that best represents the variables of interest.

Qualitative versus Quantitative Approaches

Archival research can represent either qualitative or quantitative research, depending on the researcher’s approach to the archives. Most of the examples in this section represent the quantitative approach: Frank and Gilovich (1988) counted penalties to test their hypothesis about aggression, and Stirman and Pennebaker (2001) counted words to test their hypothesis about suicide. However, the race-relations work by Weigel and colleagues (1980; 1995) represents a nice mix of qualitative and quantitative research. In the initial 1980 study, their primary goal was to document the portrayal of race relations on prime-time television, learning from the ground up (i.e., qualitative). In the 1995 follow-up study, though, the researchers primarily wanted to determine whether these portrayals had changed over a 15-year period. That is, they tested the hypothesis that race relations were portrayed in a more positive light (i.e., quantitative). Another way in which archival research can be qualitative is to study open-ended narratives, without attempting to impose structure upon them. This approach is commonly used to study free-flowing text, such as personal correspondence or letters to the editor in a newspaper. A researcher approaching these from a qualitative perspective would attempt to learn from these narratives, without attempting to impose structure via the use of content analyses.

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Be mindful of the tone and length of your posts.  Please avoid overly personal and overly lengthy comments.  See ranges posted below.   

To prepare for your first post, watch the following video on executive function. 
Executive function was briefly introduced in Chapter 1, then more thoroughly discussed in Chapter 7 (section 7.1.3). It is addressed again in Chapter 8, as well as several other chapters.  

https://youtu.be/efCq_vHUMqs

In your first post, respond to one of the following prompts: 

1. Describe something new you learned, or something you found especially interesting, in the video. 
2. Do you recall any childhood games you played that may have served to enhance executive function?  If so, what specific games? What aspects of the games do you believe served to help in executive function development?  For example, Manis (2020) mentions the game, Simon Says.

Scoring: 

• Your first post is worth 30 points. To earn full points, first posts should be thoughtful, substantive comments, in the range of 75-100 words

• Which training and education programs are vital for health care managers? Provide details.
• Which training and education programs do you believe would be most important for you? Why?

Discussion: Pros and Cons of Interest Groups, Lobbyists, and Corporations

Option 1: What are the pros and cons of lobbyists as a tool for special interest groups? Should former members of Congress be allowed to become lobbyists? Explain your answer.

Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources)

Textbook: Chater 7, 8

Title: The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition Revel Access Code

Authors: EDWARD S. GREENBERG, Benjamin I. Page

Publisher: Pearson

Publication Date: 2018-12-31

Edition: 12th

APA Citation

Greenberg, E. S & Page, B. I. (2018). The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition. (12th ed.). Pearson.

This textbook is available as an e-book and can be accessed from the module view.

Using in-text referencing and a reference list, submit your initial discussion post.

Discuss your individual critical analysis of the posted article with in-text referencing to support your thoughts and ideas and with a reference list.

Critique the posted QI article and respond to the following items:

1.      Analyze and discuss why a QI project was needed.

2.      What initial steps were assessed by the QI team? Discuss their findings including the data.

3.      Why was the focus of the QI project on a specific population?

4.      Analyze the QI model used for this project. Name and discuss an alternative QI model that could have been used in this project.

5.      Evaluate the findings of the QI project. Were the findings relevant? How did the RNs utilize and integrate the findings into their nursing practice?

6.      What is your cosmic question?

• Why should health care managers know about specific recruitment strategies? Explain your answer.
• Which recruitment strategies do you believe would be most effective? Why? 

1. What are the biggest problems facing the criminal justice system in the area of computer crime?

2. How can the criminal justice system and law enforcement prepare for the future of cybercrime?

250 words per question with two scholarly references.

DQ1:    Please answer the following Discussion Question. Please be certain to answer the three questions on this week DQ and to provide a well-developed and complete answer to receive credit. Your main discussion answer needs to be at least 3 paragraphs in length with 3 references to justify your answer. 

       1. A person of Mediterranean descent may have low blood levels of hemoglobin.

a.   Describe why this is true and why nurses need to be aware of these differences in hemoglobin levels.

b. Explain how hemoglobin levels may affect a person’s health.

DQ2:  Please answer the following Discussion Question. Please be certain to answer the three questions on this week DQ and to provide a well-developed and complete answer to receive credit. Your main discussion answer needs to be at least 3 paragraphs in length with 3 references to justify your answer. 

1. What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic values?
2. Give an example of a belief system.
3. Give an example of a ethical issues you have been involved in your workplace.

DQ3:  Please answer the following Discussion Question. Please be certain to answer the three questions on this week DQ and to provide a well-developed and complete answer to receive credit. Your main discussion answer needs to be at least 3 paragraphs in length with 3 references to justify your answer. 

1. What is empowerment in Nursing?
2. Describe types of power in Nursing.
3. How does a good leader use their power?

Some organizations have implemented bring your own device (BYOD)  policies. This enables organizations to save money on equipment costs  because employees are now using their personal computers. At the same  time, BYOD policies also present challenges for organizations. Now  organizations are in the business of supporting personal computers.

Go to Basic Search: Strayer University Online Library  to locate and integrate at least two quality, academic resources (in  addition to your textbook) on BYOD policies and the challenges  associated with them. You may also use government websites, such as Cybersecurity from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Please respond to the following in a post of at least 200 words:

• Describe some of the specific challenges (for example, risks of  employees going to various websites, viruses, and legal implications)  associated with BYOD policies.
• Recommend methods organizations can use to address the challenges associated with BYOD policies.
• Provide full citations and references, formatted according to Strayer Writing Standards. 
  • For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing  Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your  professor for any additional instructions.

In 60 to 75 words, please respond to at least one other post. Choose to respond to those who have few or no responses.

The book “October Birds” by Jessica Smartt Gullion published in 2014 is a fictional book that describes the possible scenarios in a pandemic. In its 143 pages, Gullion describes a town in Texas that tries to maintain control during a pandemic. The author has an experience as an epidemiologist and puts her knowledge into what she thinks the challenges for the health system would be during a pandemic. Even though the book is fictional, it is pretty close to what we encountered when we just started the global pandemic.

The viruses share a lot of similarities. That’s one of the reasons that H7N1 and COVID-19 don’t differ much from each other. Especially in the way, the book describes the first one. While reading the book, the reader can’t really differentiate one from the other. Memorial Hospital represents every hospital in the world as well as the bureaucracy that they have to deal with.

The city of Dalton represents the whole world dealing with emergency management and the healthcare system. The whole city struggles to control the outbreak of infected people as same as happened when COVID-19 started around the world. The book scarily reflects how the world reacted during the pandemic and the problems they had as well.

The shortage of health workers, medicine, and food as well as the struggles that the companies and businesses were exactly how the book described them. The only difference that I don’t think was the same was the vaccination requirements since kids weren’t the first ones to get vaccinated and also another difference was the explosion of the bomb outside the vaccination center. I think that situation is more an analogy of the protests that the antivaccination people did around the world and how this segment of the population reacted to the mask requirements.

I thought this book was just telling the reality of the pandemic. It’s incredible that the book was written before the pandemic and that almost if not all of it is exactly what we all encountered when the global pandemic happened. For weeks, Covid-19 was spreading quickly, people were afraid of the uncertainty. Hospitals and Institutions were full in their capacity with not so many supplies and equipment, shortage of healthcare personnel, and the stress and circumstances under which the healthcare workers were working. The most important as well as the hard part was the decision of who was treated and who wasn’t.

Dr. Cromwell considered this. He nodded and wished that he had thought of it.

“Save the ventilators for the healthy patients. Patients who are the most likely to survive the H7N1.” Dr. Kiriarti said.

“I am not comfortable with this.” a young pulmonologist at the table spoke up, “Denying treatment? What is this, the Memorial eugenics program?

“We have to deny treatment, one way or another,” Cromwell said. “No one likes it. No one is happy about it. But what choice do we have?” (Gullion, 64). This probably was one of the hardest parts for healthcare professionals as well for people who didn’t have the economic means.

The author succeeds in making the characters of the book close to reality. The struggles and the huge emotional rollercoaster that these characters faced in the book are probably the same as people did and felt during Covid-19.

One of the main characters, Dr. Eliza Gordon made me think of the situations that most women that have families and careers deal with in everyday life. She represents every single mom that is a nurse, a doctor, a teacher, a driver, etc. In the book, she is trying to make things work the way she wants them so it can be more effective but the bureaucracy that she faces in the healthcare system and in the city makes her rethink her choices. She is a mom, a mom that wants to spend time with her kid but because of her busy carrier at Memorial Hospital and also because of H7N1, she barely sees her kid or husband. She decides to quit her job and dedicate more time to her family. Julia Campos, Lucy, Valarie, Cassandra, and a lot of women in the book are trying to survive the epidemic, and deal with bureaucracy, along with the fact that most of them have families. The idea of kids running at the Memorial Hospital because the schools and daycares are closed, makes me have a better appreciation for women that are mothers and trying to compete with men in the professional world either if they’re bus drives or doctors.

I definitely think that COVID-19 prepared us a little bit more. Institutions and people are adjusting to a new way of working and functioning. A lot of people are working from home and most of them are not planning to go back to an office. People that have to be physically at work are also trying to make changes after the pandemic. Even with all of these changes after COVID-19, I don’t think we will be completely prepared for another pandemic. We have so much division between us. The bureaucracy, sadly, is not changing for the better. The healthcare system still doesn’t have the capacity to deal with pandemics. They don’t have enough supplies and equipment but they also don’t have enough healthcare workers. We’re also more divided as a community, if we don’t learn how to change our individualistic mentality for a more community-oriented mentality we’re never going to be prepared for the next or more global pandemics.

“Cassandra? Do you know the difference between terror and horror?” He fingered the black beads of the rosary in his hand.

She assumed that he asked rhetorically, and didn’t answer.

“They are not the same thing. When a person feels terror, the response is to run. In the movie with the chainsaw character in the room, everyone flees. It is fear of immediate bodily harm. Horror is different. When you see horror, you can’t leave. You are glued to the spot, your mouth hanging open in shock, your blood cold, filled with dread. You can’t help but look, even though you want to turn away. It’s worse for parents. They don’t worry as much about their own safety. It’s the kids that get them. Tell a parent of a gruesome crime against a child, they’ll dwell on it for days. Sometimes they never really get it out of their head. This, Cassandra, “ He held his arms out wide, the rosary dangling between his fingers, “this is horror.” (Gullion, 120)

In a growing global marketplace, companies can provide products, services, and jobs that promote economic development around the world.  However, as globalization has prompted firms to shift jobs abroad (offshoring or offshore outsourcing), some governments (and employees) have become increasingly concerned with protecting jobs and industries at home.  Additionally, the past few years, the global economy has experienced a tightening of the global supply chain, impacting product availability and prices of goods, causing governments to question their reliance on foreign markets to supply goods and raw materials.   What are your views on these issues?  Should an interwoven global economy continue to expand or should countries take steps to protect themselves?  Explain your view?  Just a page.

 Why is it critical for company managers to have a clear strategic vision regarding their organization? 

APA format 350 words

Watch the video featuring Larry Burns in this module. Then consider this: Larry Burns’ vision for the future of computer enhanced cars was first described in 2005.  

How much of this vision have we realized today? Identify the players in this progress (people, companies, etc.) and discuss how object-oriented programming has factored in that development.  How do you see object-oriented programming enabling current and future trends in the automotive industry?

Around 200 Words

 How would you characterize the impact of myth in early medieval life?  To start us off, would you say the intent of myth was a source of unification or separation? When thinking about this, think of the variety of themes, characters, and even audiences often incorporated into the teaching of myths. 

I DON’T NEED TOO MUCH OF A RESPONSE ( SIMPLE & SHORT)

After reviewing both videos on communication and how everyone can incorporate better ways to handle the various situations reflect on the following;  

1.  Describe two takeaways gained from listening to the TED Talk on establishing better ways to communicate? 

2. Reflect on how watching the videos and reviewing the articles on nursing attire increase your knowledge and awareness? 

Think about the last time you utilized a mobile application or attempted to build your own mobile website.  What planning process did you go through before you began your project?  You may have considered the steps or tasks you needed to perform.  You may also have considered the resources and platforms needed for your outcome.  For example, which model fits your business domain needs?  Do you have time constraints that will make completing the web application/site difficult within a reasonable period of time?  You may also have considered the myths that surround developing mobile apps and the difficulties generally associated with mobile app development.

• Why is mobile development difficult?  Explain
• How does design & utility make a difference between good vs great websites? Explain
• How is deciding between a mobile application vs a mobile website an important consideration by developers? Explain.

• You must apply and use the basic citation styles of APA.
• Do not claim credit for the words, ideas, and concepts of others.
• Use in-text citation and list the reference of your supporting source following APA’s style and formatting
• Do not copy and paste information or concepts from the Internet and claim that is your work.  It will be considered Plagiarism and you will receive a zero for your work.

To prepare for this discussion, read the instructor guidance and watch the videos 

Creating Your Research Proposal

 (Links to an external site.)
 and 

How to Write a Research Proposal? 11 Things to Include in a Thesis Proposal

 (Links to an external site.)
. Your initial post should be 250 to 300 words. Utilize a minimum of two peer-reviewed sources that were published within the last 10 years and are documented in APA style, as outlined in the Writing Center.

The purpose of this discussion assignment is to familiarize you with the purpose and components of a research proposal, and to allow an opportunity for you to get some feedback on your ideas for the Final Paper.

In your initial post,

· Briefly describe the purpose of a research proposal and its components.

· Present your research question and/or hypothesis.

· Give some background information on the topic, including citing one or two previous related studies with their references.

· Name the research design you would like to use.

· Defend why you feel it is the most appropriate way to study your research question.

· Discuss potential ethical issues that might arise and what you would do to address them.

Document your sources in 
APA style (Links to an external site.)
, with in-text citations and references listed at the end of the post. For additional guidance see the 
Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
 and 
Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.)
 resources from the Writing Center.

The purpose of this week’s discussion is to actively discuss with your classmates the topic of your first marketing decision. Before you can make your first marketing decision, you need to understand who your customer is. In the lesson from this week, the following statement was made: The customer is the most important resource to any new start-up. It was initially proposed for you to think about. Now, you need to put your thoughts into action. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Defend your position.

How do anomie and social disorganization theories explain crime, and what crime control policies do they purpose?  

300 MAX

Week 2 Discussion: Connection Between Our Culture and the News Media

Option 2: Many experts see the media as biased and more like infotainment. In fact, many people have turned to social networks as an outlet for news instead of CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN and other news stations. Do you see this as an issue? Do you see the news as biased or unbiased? Should there be more restrictions on the news stations?

Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources).

Be sure to make connections between your ideas and conclusions and the research, concepts, terms, and theory we are discussing this week.

Textbook: Chapter 5, 6

Title: The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition Revel Access Code

Authors: EDWARD S. GREENBERG, Benjamin I. Page

Publisher: Pearson

Publication Date: 2018-12-31

Edition: 12th

APA Citation

Greenberg, E. S & Page, B. I. (2018). The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition. (12th ed.). Pearson.

This textbook is available as an e-book and can be accessed from the module view.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

• Why is compliance so critical in the health care industry?
• How will you ensure compliance? Provide examples.

To prepare for this discussion, read the instructor guidance, and Sections 
2.2
, 
2.3
, 
2.4
, 3.3, “Steps” in Section 
3.4
, 
3.5
, 
4.3
, and 
Chapter 5
 of the Newman (2016) textbook.

In contrast to qualitative designs, which are all basically non-experimental and descriptive, quantitative research designs may be either experimental or non-experimental. Within the non-experimental category, descriptive and correlational research are sub-categories.

Using the University of Arizona Global Campus Library databases, look for a scholarly/peer-reviewed quantitative research study on the topic you selected in Week 1. In your initial post,

· Appraise the differences between experimental and non-experimental research.

· Differentiate between a correlational study and an experimental study.

· State the hypothesis being tested in the selected quantitative research study.

· Identify the major variables and categorize them as independent or dependent.

· Describe the methods and results of the study.

· Determine whether the study is descriptive, correlational, or experimental, and explain why it fits this classification.

Leadership

Turnitin Assignment Content

1.

Top of Form

*********** INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT***********

For this research paper describe the importance of leadership style as a Nursing Leader.

Requirements:

Word Count—Minimum 1500-1800 words

References—Minimum 3 reviewed references, the oldest being no more than 5 years old.

*********APA FORMAT IS REQUIRED **************

Bottom of Form

2.2 Reliability and Validity

Each of the three types of research designs—descriptive, correlational, and experimental—has the same basic goal: to take a hypothesis about some phenomenon and translate it into measurable and testable terms. That is, whether researchers use a descriptive, correlational, or experimental design to test predictions about income and happiness, they still need to translate (or operationalize) the concepts of income and happiness into measures that will be meaningful for the study. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that research measurements will always be influenced by factors in addition to the conceptual variable of interest. Answers to any set of questions about happiness will depend both on actual levels of happiness and the ways people interpret the questions. The meditation experiment may have different effects, depending on people’s experience with meditation. Even describing the percentage of Republicans voting for independent candidates will vary according to characteristics of a particular candidate.

These additional sources of influence can be grouped into two categories: random and systematic errors. Random error involves chance fluctuations in measurements, such as when a participant misunderstands the question, or shows up in a terrible mood after walking through a blizzard to get to the study. Although random errors can influence measurement, they generally cancel out over the span of an entire sample. That is, some people may overreact to a question while others underreact. Heavy snowfall might put one person in a terrible mood and make another appreciate the joy of winter. While both of these examples would add error to a dataset, they would cancel each other out in a sufficiently large sample.

Systematic errors, in contrast, are those that systematically increase or decrease along with values of the measured variable. For example, people who have more experience with meditation may consistently show more improvement in a meditation experiment than those with less experience. Or, people who have higher self-esteem may score higher on a measure of happiness than those with lower self-esteem. In this case, the happiness scale does not do a good job of homing in on the concept of “happiness” and will end up instead assessing a combination of happiness and self-esteem. These types of errors can cause more serious trouble for a researcher’s hypothesis tests because they interfere with the attempts to understand the link between two variables.

In sum, the measured values of a variable reflect a combination of the true score, random error, and systematic error, as the following conceptual equation shows:

Measured Score = True Score + (Random Error + Systematic Error)

For example:

Happiness Score = Actual Happiness + (Misreading the Question + Self-Esteem)

So, if our measurements are also affected by outside influences, how do we know whether our measures are meaningful? Occasionally, the answer to this question is straightforward; if we ask people to report their weight or their income level, these values can be verified using objective sources. Many research questions within psychology, however, involve more ambiguity. How do we know that our happiness scale is accurate? The problem is that we have no way to objectively verify happiness beyond people’s self-reports of their own happiness. What researchers need, then, are ways to assess how close they are to measuring happiness in a meaningful way. This assessment involves two related concepts: reliability, or the consistency of a measure; and validity, or the accuracy of a measure. This section examines both of these concepts in detail.

Reliability

The consistency of time measurement by watches, cell phones, and clocks reflects a high degree of reliability. People think of a watch as reliable when it keeps track of the time consistently—an hour should take the same amount of time to pass, 24 times per day. Likewise, the scale is reliable when it gives the same value for weight in back-to-back measurements—an individual’s weight should be the same if he steps off the scale and right back on, provided he stays away from the fridge in the meantime.

Reliability is defined as the extent to which a measured variable is free from random errors, and it is best understood as the degree of consistency in research measurements. As the chapter discussed previously, researchers’ measures are never perfect, and five main sources of random error threaten reliability:

1. Transient states, or temporary fluctuations in participants’ cognitive or mental state; for example, some participants may complete a study after an exhausting midterm or after a fight with their significant others.

2. Stable individual differences among participants; for example, some participants are habitually more motivated or happier than other participants.

3. Situational factors in the administration of the study; for example, an experiment conducted in the early morning may make everyone tired or grumpy.

4. Bad measures that add ambiguity or confusion to the measurement; for example, participants may respond differently to a question about “the kinds of drugs you are taking.” Some may take this to mean illegal drugs, whereas others interpret it as prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

5. Mistakes in coding responses during data entry; for example, a handwritten “7” could be mistaken for a “4.” (Happily, these types of errors have been minimized by the increasing role of computers in data collection. If someone clicks the number “7” in an online survey, the computer will record it as a “7” almost every time.)

Researchers naturally want to minimize the influence of all of these sources of error, and the text will touch on techniques for doing so throughout. However, researchers are also resigned to the fact that all measurements contain a degree of error. The goal, then, is to develop an estimate of how reliable measures are. Researchers generally estimate reliability in three ways.

1. Test–retest reliability refers to the consistency of the measure over time—much like the examples of a reliable watch and a reliable scale. A fair number of research questions in the social and behavioral sciences involve measuring stable qualities. For example, if someone were to design a measure of intelligence or personality, both of these characteristics should be relatively stable over time. An individual score on an intelligence test today should be roughly the same as the score when tested again in five years. A person’s level of extroversion today should correlate highly with his or her level of extroversion in 20 years. The test–retest reliability of these measures is quantified by simply correlating measures at two time points. The higher these correlations are, the higher the reliability will be. This makes conceptual sense as well; if measured scores reflect the true score more than they reflect random error, then this will result in increased stability of the measurements.

2. Inter-item reliability refers to the internal consistency among different items on a measure. Think back to the last time you completed a survey. Did it seem to ask the same questions more than once? (Chapter 4 [4.1] will discuss this technique.) The repetition is included because a single item is more likely to contain measurement error than the average of several items will—remember that small random errors tend to cancel out each other. Consider the following items from Sheldon Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983):

· In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?

· In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?

· In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?

· In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

Each of these items taps into the concept of feeling “stressed out,” or overwhelmed by the demands of life. One standard way to evaluate a measure like this is by computing the average correlation between each pair of items, a statistic referred to as Cronbach’s alpha. The more these items tap into a central, consistent construct, the higher the value of this statistic is. Conceptually, a higher alpha means that variation in responses to the different items reflects variation in the “true” variable being assessed by the scale items. Alpha levels range from zero to one, with higher numbers indicating more internal consistency. As a general rule, researchers want this index to be above 0.70 to have any confidence in the measure.

3. Interrater reliability refers to the consistency among judges observing participants’ behavior. The previous two forms of reliability were relevant in dealing with self-report scales; interrater reliability is more applicable when the research involves behavioral measures, which involve direct and systematic recording of observable behaviors. Imagine a researcher is studying whether alcohol consumption makes people behave more aggressively. One way to tackle this hypothesis would be to have a group of judges observe participants after drinking and rate their levels of aggression. In the same way that using multiple scale items helps to cancel out the small errors of individual items, using multiple judges cancels out the variations in each individual’s ratings. In this case, people could have slightly different ideas and thresholds for what constitutes aggression. To determine how much these differences matter, the researcher can evaluate the judges’ ratings by calculating the average correlation among the ratings. The higher the alpha values, the more the judges agree in their ratings of aggressive behavior. Conceptually, a higher alpha value means that variation in the judges’ ratings reflects real variation in levels of aggression.

Validity

Recall the watch and scale examples. Perhaps some people set their watch 10 minutes ahead to avoid being late. Or perhaps certain individuals adjust their scale by 5 pounds to boost either their motivation or self-esteem. In these cases, the watch and the scale may produce consistent measurements, but the measurements are not accurate. It turns out that the reliability of a measure is a necessary but not sufficient basis for evaluating it. Put bluntly, measures can be (and have to be) consistent, but they might still be worthless. The additional piece of the puzzle is the validity of measures, or the extent to which they accurately measure what they are designed to measure.

Whereas reliability is threatened more by random error, validity is threatened more by systematic error. If the measured scores on the happiness scale reflect, say, self-esteem more than they reflect happiness, this would threaten the validity of the scale. The previous section explained that a test designed to measure intelligence ought to be consistent over time. And, in fact, these tests do show very high degrees of reliability. However, several researchers have cast serious doubts on the validity of intelligence testing, arguing that even scores on an official IQ test are influenced by a person’s cultural background, socioeconomic status (SES), and experience with the process of test-taking (for discussion of these critiques, see Daniels et al., 1997; Gould, 1996). For example, children growing up in higher SES households tend to have more books in the home, spend more time interacting with one or both parents, and attend schools that have more time and resources available—all of which correlate with scores on IQ tests. Thus, because all of these factors could increase scores on an intelligence test, they amount to systematic error in the measure of intelligence and, therefore, threaten the validity of a measured score on an intelligence test.

Researchers have two primary ways to discuss and evaluate the validity, or accuracy, of measures: construct validity and criterion validity.

Researchers evaluate construct validity based on how well the measures capture the underlying conceptual ideas (i.e., the constructs) in a study. These constructs are equivalent to the “true score” discussed in the previous section. That is, how accurately does the bathroom scale measure the construct of weight? How accurately does an IQ test measure the construct of intelligence relative to other things? The validity of measures can be assessed in a couple of ways. On the subjective end of the continuum, researchers can evaluate construct validity by assessing the face validity of the measure, or the extent to which it simply seems like a good measure of the construct. The items from the Perceived Stress Scale have high face validity because the items match what we intuitively mean by “stress” (e.g., “How often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?”). However, if we were to measure an individual’s speed at eating hot dogs and then state it was a stress measure, the participant might be skeptical because hot-dog eating speed would lack face validity as a measure of stress.

Although face validity is nice to have, it can sometimes (ironically) reduce the validity of the measures. Imagine seeing the following two measures on a survey of attitudes:

1. Do you dislike people whose skin color is different from yours?

2. Do you ever beat your children?

On the one hand, these are extremely face-valid measures of attitudes about prejudice and corporal punishment—the questions very much capture our intuitive ideas about these concepts. On the other hand, even people who do support these attitudes may be unlikely to answer honestly because they recognize that neither attitude is popular. In cases like this, a measure low in face validity might end up being the more accurate approach. Chapter 4 will discuss ways to strike this balance.

On the less subjective end, researchers can evaluate construct validity by examining measures’ empirical connections to both related and unrelated constructs. Imagine for a moment that we are developing a new measure of liberal political attitudes. If we think about a person who describes herself as liberal, she is likely to support gun control, equal rights, and a woman’s right to choose. And, she is less likely to be pro-war, anti-immigration, or anti-gay rights. Therefore, we would expect our new liberalism measure to correlate positively with existing measures of attitudes toward guns, affirmative action, and abortion. This pattern of correlations taps into the metric of convergent validity, or the extent to which our measure overlaps with conceptually similar measures. But, we would want to ensure that the new measure captures something distinct from other constructs. In this case, we might want to demonstrate that we have developed a true measure of political attitudes, which does not simply correlate with religious beliefs. That is, we would want to show that liberal political views could be independent of religion. This hypothesized lack of correlations taps into the metric of discriminant validity, or the extent to which a measure diverges from unrelated measures.

To take another example, imagine someone wanted to develop a new measure of narcissism, usually defined as an intense desire to be liked and admired by other people. Narcissists tend to be self-absorbed but also very attuned to the feedback they receive from other people—especially feedback about the extent to which people admire them. Narcissism somewhat resembles self-esteem but differs enough; perhaps it is best viewed as high and unstable self-esteem. So, given these facts, a researcher might assess the discriminant validity of the measure by making sure it does not overlap too closely with measures of self-esteem or self-confidence. This approach would establish that the narcissism measure stands apart from these different constructs. The researcher might then assess the convergent validity of the measure by making sure that it does correlate with things like sensitivity to rejection and need for approval. These correlations would place the measure into a broader theoretical context and help to establish it as a valid measure of the construct of narcissism.

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Criterion validity can be used to predict a future behavioral outcome like management success.

Criterion validity involves evaluating the validity of measures based on the association between measures and relevant behavioral outcomes. The “criterion” in this case refers to a measure that can be used to make decisions. For example, if someone developed a personality test to assess an individual’s management style, the most relevant metric of its validity is whether it predicts a person’s actual behavior as a manager. That is, we might expect people scoring high on this scale to be able to increase the productivity of their employees and to maintain a comfortable work environment. Likewise, if someone developed a measure that predicted the best careers for graduating seniors based on their skills and personalities, then criterion validity would be assessed using people’s actual success in these various careers. Whereas construct validity is more concerned with the underlying theory behind the constructs, criterion validity is more concerned with the practical application of measures. As might be expected, researchers are more likely to use this approach in applied settings.

That said, criterion validity is also a useful way to supplement validation of a new questionnaire. For example, a questionnaire about generosity should be able to predict people’s annual giving to charities, and a questionnaire about hostility ought to predict hostile behaviors. To supplement the construct validity of the narcissism measure, a researcher might examine its ability to predict the ways people respond to rejection and approval. Based on the definition of the construct, the researcher might hypothesize that narcissis

 Initial Postings: Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding in each assigned textbook chapter.

Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

1. Despite increases in diversity training programs, outcomes are not consistently leading to increases of diversity within upper management. What might be the reason for this phenomenon and how might it be addressed? 

[Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student’s own words – do not provide quotes!]

 [Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced) 

Book: 

 Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2022). Essentials of organizational behavior. Student Value Edition. Pearson 15th Edition.  

Questionnaire:

1. 1-What are Genes?
2. 2-Describe what a chromosome is and how are present normally in human beings?
3. 3-Concepts for: Euploid cells, Diploid Cells, Aneuploid Cells? What is a Polyploidy?
4. 4-What is a Trisomy and an example of it?
5. 5-What means Homozygous and heterozygous in Mendelian Heritance?
6. 6-Which are special features of X Linked genetic diseases?
7. 7-What is a risk factor?
8. Also, what is a congenital disease?
9. Epigenetics and Mental Health.
10. 10-DNA Methylation: why is important?

 Describe the importance for your future as an APRN in the primary care setting to use and manage the levels of prevention appropriately in your practice and put an example of the different levels.   word limit is 500 words 

2.3 Scales and Types of Measurement

One of the easiest ways to decrease error variance and thereby increase reliability and validity is to make smart choices when designing and selecting measures. Throughout this book, we will discuss guidelines for each type of research design and ways to ensure that measures are as accurate and unbiased as possible. This section examines some basic rules that apply across all three types of design. We first review the four scales of measurement and discuss the proper use of each one; we then turn our attention to three types of measurement used in psychological research studies.

Scales of Measurement

Whenever researchers perform the process of translating conceptual variables into measurable variables (i.e., operationalization; see Chapter 1, section 1.2), they must ensure that their measurements accurately represent the underlying concepts. In Chapter 1, the discussion of validity explained that this accuracy is a critical piece of hypothesis testing. For example, if researchers develop a scale to measure job satisfaction, then they need to verify that this is actually what the scale is measuring.

However, measurement accuracy has an additional, subtler dimension: We also need to be sure that the numbers used in our chosen measurement accurately reflect the underlying mathematical properties of the concept. In many cases in the natural sciences, this process is automatically precise. When we measure the speed of a falling object or the temperature of a boiling object, the underlying concepts (speed and temperature) translate directly into scaled measurements. In the social and behavioral sciences, though, this process is trickier; researchers have to decide carefully how best to represent abstract concepts such as happiness, aggression, and political attitudes. As researchers take the step of scaling variables, or specifying the relationship between a conceptual variable and numbers on a quantitative measure, they have four different scales to choose from, presented below in order of increasing statistical power and flexibility.

Nominal Scales

Nominal scales are used to label or identify a particular group or characteristic. For example, we can label a person’s gender as male or female, and we can label a person’s religion as Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. In experimental designs, researchers can also use nominal scales to label the condition to which a person has been assigned (e.g., experimental or control groups). The assumption in using these labels is that members of the group have some common value or characteristic, as defined by the label. For example, everyone in the Catholic group should have similar religious beliefs, and everyone in the female group should be of the same gender.

Research studies commonly represent these labels using numeric codes in a data file, such as 1 to indicate females and 2 to indicate males. However, these numbers are completely arbitrary and meaningless—that is, males do not have more gender than females. We could just as easily replace the 1 and the 2 with another pair of numbers or with a pair of letters or names. Thus, the primary limitation of nominal scales is that the scaling itself is arbitrary, which prevents us from using these values in mathematical calculations. One helpful way to appreciate the difference between this scale and the next three is to think of nominal scales as qualitative, because they label and identify, and to think of the other scales as quantitative, because they indicate the extent to which someone possesses a quality or characteristic. The next sections explore these quantitative scales in more detail.

Ordinal Scales

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An ordinal scale can place these three women in first, second, and third, but it cannot tell you how far apart they finished in their race.

Researchers use ordinal scales to represent ranked orders of conceptual variables, such that higher numbers reflect increasing magnitude of the underlying variable. For example, beauty contestants, horses, and Olympic athletes are all ranked by the order in which they finish—first, second, third, and so on. Likewise, movies, restaurants, and consumer goods are often rated using a system of stars (i.e., 1 star is poor; 5 stars is excellent) to represent their quality. In these examples, we can draw conclusions about the relative speed, beauty, or deliciousness of the rating target. Even so, the numbers used to label these rankings do not necessarily map directly to differences in the conceptual variable. The fourth-place finisher in a race is rarely twice as slow as the second-place finisher; the beauty-contest winner is not three times as attractive as the third-place finisher; and the boost in quality between a four-star and a five-star restaurant is not the same as the boost between a two-star and three-star restaurant. Ordinal scales represent rank orders, but the numbers do not have any absolute value of their own. This type of scale, then, is more powerful than a nominal scale but still limited in that it does not allow performance of mathematical operations. For example, if an Olympic athlete finished first in the 800-meter dash, third in the 400-meter hurdles, and second in the 400-meter relay, we might be tempted to calculate her average finish as second place. Unfortunately, the properties of ordinal scales prevent us from doing this sort of calculation, because the conceptual distance between first, second, and third place would be different in each case. (That is, the runner might have won the 800-meter dash by 5 seconds, but the 400-meter relay by less than a second.) To perform any mathematical manipulation of variables requires one of the next two types of scale.

Interval Scales

Interval scales represent cases where the numbers on a measured variable correspond to equal distances on a conceptual variable. For example, temperature increases on the Fahrenheit scale represent equal intervals—warming from 40 to 47 degrees is the same increase as warming from 90 to 97 degrees. Interval scales share the key feature of ordinal scales—higher numbers indicate higher relative levels of the variable—but interval scales go an important step further. Because these numbers represent equal intervals, we are able to add, subtract, and compute averages. That is, whereas we could not calculate the athlete’s average finish, we can calculate the average temperature in San Francisco or the average age of participants.

Ratio Scales

Ratio scales go one final step further, representing interval scales that also have a true zero point, that is, the potential for a complete absence of the conceptual variable. Physical measurements, such as length, weight, and time represent ratio scales, because it is possible to have a complete absence of any of these. Most behavioral measures also represent ratio scales, as it is possible to have zero drinks per day, zero presses of a reward button, or zero symptoms of the flu. Temperature in degrees Kelvin is measured on a ratio scale because 0 degrees Kelvin indicates an absence of molecular motion. (In contrast, 0 degrees Fahrenheit is merely a center point on the temperature scale.) Contrast these measurements with many of the conceptual variables featured in psychology research—no such things as zero attitude toward gun control or zero self-esteem exist. The big advantage of having a true zero point is that it allows us to add, subtract, multiply, and divide scale values. When we measure weight, for example, it makes sense to say that a 300-pound adult weighs twice as much as a 150-pound adult. Likewise, it makes sense to say that having two drinks per day is only one-fourth as many as having eight drinks per day.

Choosing and Using Scales of Measurement

The take-home point from the discussion of these four scales of measurement is twofold. First, researchers should always use the most powerful and flexible scale possible for their conceptual variables. In many cases, no choice is possible; time is measured on a ratio scale and gender is measured on a nominal scale. But some cases permit researchers a bit more freedom in designing their study. For example, if someone were interested in correlating weight with happiness, the researcher could capture weight in a few different ways. One option would be to ask people their satisfaction with their current weight on a seven-point scale. However, the resulting data would be on an ordinal or interval scale (see discussion below), and the degree to which the researcher could manipulate the scale values would be limited. Another, more powerful option, would be to measure people’s weight on a bathroom scale, resulting in ratio-scale data. Whenever possible, it is preferable to incorporate physical or behavioral measures. But it is also preferable—actually, required—to represent data accurately. Most variables in the social and behavioral sciences do not have a true zero point and must therefore be measured on nominal, ordinal, or interval scales.

Second, researchers should always be aware of the limitations of their measurement scale. As discussed above, these scales lend themselves to different amounts of mathematical manipulation. It is not possible to calculate statistical averages with anything less than an interval scale and not possible to multiply or divide anything less than a ratio scale. What does this mean for researchers? If they have collected ordinal data, they are limited to discussing the rank ordering of the values (e.g., the critics liked Restaurant A better than Restaurant B). If they have collected nominal data, they are limited to describing the different groups (e.g., percentages of Catholics and Protestants).

One prominent grey area for both of these points is the use of attitude scales in the social and behavioral sciences. If we were to ask people to rate their attitudes about the death penalty on a seven-point rating scale, would the scale be ordinal or interval? This consideration turns out to be a contentious issue in the field. From the conservative point of view, these attitude ratings constitute only ordinal scales. We know that a 7 indicates more endorsement than a 3 but cannot say that moving from a 3 to a 4 is equivalent to moving from a 6 to a 7 in people’s minds. From the more liberal point of view, these attitude ratings can be viewed as interval scales. A researcher’s perspective is often driven by practical concerns—treating these as equal intervals allows us to compute totals and averages for our variables. Chapter 4 will return to this issue in discussing the creation of questionnaire items. For now, a good guideline is to assume that these individual attitude questions represent ordinal scales by default.

Types of Measurement

Each of the four scales of measurement can be used across a wide variety of research designs. In this section, we shift gears slightly and discuss measurement at a more conceptual, less mathematical level. The types of dependent measures used in psychological research studies can be grouped into three broad categories: behavioral, physiological, and self-report.

Behavioral Measurement

As mentioned earlier, behavioral measures are those that involve direct and systematic recording of observable behaviors. If a research question involves the ways that married couples deal with conflict, the researcher could include a behavioral measure by observing the way participants interact during an argument. Do they cut one another off? Listen attentively? Express hostility? Behaviors can be measured and quantified in one of four primary ways, as the scenario of observing married couples during conflict situations illustrates:

· Frequency measurements involve counting the number of times a behavior occurs. For example, researchers could count the number of times each member of the couple rolled his or her eyes as a measure of dismissive behavior.

· Duration measurements involve measuring the length of time a behavior lasts. For example, researchers could quantify the length of time the couple spends discussing positive versus negative topics as a measure of emotional tone.

· Intensity measurements involve measuring the strength or potency of a behavior. For example, researchers could quantify the intensity of anger or happiness in each minute of the conflict using ratings by trained judges.

· Latency measures involve measuring the delay before onset of a behavior. For example, researchers could measure the time between one person’s provocative statement and the other person’s response.

John Gottman, a psychologist at the University of Washington, has been conducting research along these lines for several decades, observing body language and interaction styles among married couples as they discuss an unresolved issue in their relationship (read more about this research and its implications for therapy on Dr. Gottman’s website, 
http://www.gottman.com/
). What all of these behavioral measures provide is an unobtrusive way to measure the health of a relationship. That is, the major strength of behavioral responses is that they are typically more honest and unfiltered than responses to questionnaires. As Chapter 4 will discuss, people are sometimes dishonest on questionnaires to convey a more positive (or less negative) impression.

Behavioral responses offer a particular benefit for researchers interested in unpopular attitudes, such as prejudice and discrimination. If we were to ask people the extent to which they dislike members of other ethnic groups, they might not admit to these prejudices. Alternatively, a researcher could adopt the approach used by Yale psychologist Jack Dovidio and colleagues and measure how close people sat to people of different ethnic and racial groups, using this distance as a subtle and effective behavioral measure of prejudice (see 
http://www.yale.edu/intergroup/
 for more information). But the primary downside to using behavioral measures may be evident: We end up having to infer the reasons that people behave as they do. Suppose that in one of these experiments, European-American participants, on average, sit farther away from African-Americans than from other European-Americans. This could—and often does—indicate prejudice; however, for the sake of argument, the farthest seat from the minority group member might also be the comfortable recliner with great lighting next to the window. To understand the reasons for behaviors, researchers have to supplement the behavioral measures with either physiological or self-report measurements.

Physiological Measurement

Physiological measures are those that involve quantifying bodily processes, including heart rate, brain activity, and facial muscle movements. If we were interested in the experience of test anxiety, we could measure heart rates as people complete a difficult math test. If we wanted to study emotional reactions to political speeches, we could measure heart rate, facial muscles, and brain activity as people view video clips. These types of measures’ big advantage is that they are the least subjective and controllable. It is incredibly difficult for people to control their heart rate or brain activity consciously, making these a great tool for assessing emotional reactions. However, as with behavioral measures, we also need some way to contextualize physiological data.

The best example of this shortcoming is the use of the polygraph, or lie detector, to detect deception. The lie-detector test involves connecting a variety of sensors to the body to measure heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and sweating. All of these are physiological markers of the body’s fight-or-flight stress response, and the test’s goal is to measure whether someone shows signs of stress while being questioned. But here is the problem: Being falsely accused is also stressful. A trained polygraph examiner must place all of the accused’s physiological responses in the proper context. Is the individual stressed throughout the exam or only stressed when asked whether he pilfered money from the cash box? Is the person stressed when asked about her relationship with her spouse because she killed him or because she was having an affair? The examiner has to be extremely careful to avoid false accusations based on misinterpretations of physiological responses. (For a recent commentary on the use of the polygraph in the courtroom, see 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/04/the-polygraph-has-been-lying-for-90-years.html
). The same cautions apply to using these measures in psychological research: Does heart rate increase because participants are stressed by a political message, or because the experiment is taking too long, and they are late to another appointment? The researcher should always include additional measures in the study to help sort out the reasons behind physiological change.

Self-Report Measurement

Digital Vision/Photodisc/Thinkstock

A self-report measure might be used to determine how likely voters are to support a candidate.

Self-report measures are those that involve asking people to report on their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If we were interested in the relationship between income and happiness, we could simply ask people to report their income and their level of happiness. If we wanted to know whether people were satisfied in their romantic relationships, we could simply ask them to rate their degree of satisfaction. The major advantage of these measures is that they provide access to internal processes. That is, if we want insight into why people voted for their favorite political candidate, the only option is to ask them. However, as the text has suggested already, people may not necessarily be honest and forthright in their answers, especially when dealing with politically incorrect or&nbsp

  Nursing Leadership and Management class.

Please be certain to answer the three questions on this week DQ and to provide a well-developed and complete answer . Your main discussion answer needs to be at least 3 paragraphs in length with 3 references to justify your answer. Use APA format.

1. Describe the difference between a Manager and a leader.
2. What are attributes you admire in a leader?
3. What leadership attributes do you see in yourself?

  Culture in Nursing Class

1.  A nurse on a surgical unit mentions that she would like to know more about various cultures and how to take care of patients with diverse cultural backgrounds.

a.   How could you use the Andrews/Boyle TIP Model to support her wish to provide culturally competent care?

b. Give an example of how the surgical nurse might use the Andrews/Boyle TIP Model in her everyday practice.

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. 
• All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 1 of your Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow course text.

Complete Self-Assessment 1.1 (Destructive Leader Behavior Scale) from your textbook. In at least one paragraph, supported by evidence from your text and from other research:

• Report the results of the assessment.
  • Do not provide the leader’s name. You may identify the individual by position only.
• Explain what the score of the destructive leadership scale reveals about the chosen leader.
• Describe how you can use this information in your real-world experience.

Discussion 1 (100 words)

Select one of the assigned poems for this week. Identify three key images that most reveal that poem’s subject. How does the poem’s use of imagery help reveal that subject?

Keep in mind that imagery can convey more than just visual images. Seek details that help describe the other four senses, as well. How can incorporating descriptions of sound, touch, taste, and smell, add to the imagery in a piece of writing, as well? What impact might that have on a poem?

use poem below

Metaphors

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

https://allpoetry.com/Metaphors

 Initial Postings: Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding in each assigned textbook chapter.

Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

1. You are working as a manager of a financial planning office where you require your employees to have a presence on social media. One of your financial advisors posts to his Twitter account that he needs $500 to pay his rent for the month. Would you punish him? Why or why not? 

[Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student’s own words – do not provide quotes!]

 [Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). 

Book:  

Title: Essentials of Organizational Behavior, Student Value Edition

ISBN: ISBN:13: 9780135468890

Authors: Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge

Publisher: Pearson

Edition: 15TH

Post an explanation of the costs and benefits of personality tests compared to other quantitative predictors that a personnel consultant may have considered using in the employment context. Explain two potential consequences of faking a personality test. Finally, explain whether or not you consider faking personality tests to be a serious problem and why.

Class,

From the humdrum of the mid-2000s web apps, Apple radically changed the mobile world with the iPhone, offering well-designed apps of their own and curating apps that were accepted into the App Store.  That influence has been far reaching, prompting Google to push their boundaries and develop material design, a design language that has become the distinctive hallmark of Android apps.  When compared to the web world where some popular apps could get away with mediocre design, why do mobile apps face a higher design bar? 

• When compared to the web world where some popular apps could get away with mediocre design, why do mobile apps face a higher design bar?
• Compare and contrast native mobile app design versus standard desktop app design.  Discuss considerations for choosing one over the other.  Elaborate on main advantages vs disadvantages.

• You must apply and use the basic citation styles of APA.
• Do not claim credit for the words, ideas, and concepts of others.
• Use in-text citation and list the reference of your supporting source following APA’s style and formatting
• Do not copy and paste information or concepts from the Internet and claim that is your work.  It will be considered Plagiarism and you will receive a zero for your work.
• Use this link to access the Discussion Board

This discussion board includes a video and a math question.

· Post by answering course related questions and doing as directed: 

0. Watch the 
Mindset Theory 
video Practice

· List a skill that you learned that required a great deal of practice. Could you have learned that skill without practice? How can you apply this to your math course?

1. Probability evolved out of practical application, and as noted in our textbook, probability arose from the gaming rooms of western Europe!  Additionally, it is noted that probability is practically found in every field.  Find how probability will play a role in your chosen career path and share with the class.

· Use the web to do your investigation and post should be shared in paragraph form with a minimum of 50 words, and insert a photo(s) within the post (not a link) referencing your discovery.

Main Post

· Reflect on strategies that you can pursue in developing portfolios or portfolio elements that focus on academic achievements.

· Review one or more samples from your own research of resources focused on portfolio development.

Post an explanation of at least two strategies for including academic activities and accomplishments into your professional development goals. Then, explain how those goals may align with the University’s emphasis on social change. Be specific and provide examples.

Supported by at least three current, credible sources. Apa format

Then peer responses:

apa and two credible sources

Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ posts by offering additional ideas regarding academic achievements to include or offering alternative ways of presenting the current achievements.

Peer 1

An academic portfolio is a snapshot of one’s research, accomplishments, licensures, and professional work.  The portfolio is a way to house many important aspects of our career in one central place.  This is important while seeking initial employment or when you are looking for advancement (Phillips, 2022).  A resume is only a quick summary of your history and accomplishments while a portfolio can give potential employers a more intimate look at your success.  Portfolios can include things like actual competencies and certificates as well as letters of recommendation.  This gives you a much larger platform to introduce yourself and set the stage for how you would really fit the position that is open.  In a world where competition is fierce, anything that gives you a leg up is certainly worth pursuing. 

Things to include in my own academic portfolio would be my academic progression.  I have advanced from LPN to Associate of Art’s degree to Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness to Registered Nurse to BSN and now onto MSN.  I have created a focus on health maintenance and disease prevention within the community by doing several things: First, I have established a working relationship between our clinic and the schools by creating health-based classes that I teach during after school programs.  Second, I have advertised health promoting behaviors such as skin checks, sunscreen use, and tick identification at local health fairs. 

I believe that all of my own accomplishments align with Walden’s view on social change.  The basis of social change is creating change within your community through education (Walden University, n.d.).  My pursuit of further education has given me the opportunity to network with people and create these educational events within my own community.

Peer 2

Having a professional portfolio is essential. The professional portfolio showcases the nurse’s skills, achievements, and professional experience (Burns, 2018). Having a solid academic foundation is critical and helps determine placement for competitive jobs. Having a well-rounded portfolio shows academic achievements and accomplishments in professional development.

Academic Strategies

A strategy to build a strong portfolio is to start with academic accomplishments. Academic achievements are a reflection of the skill transferred from the classroom to clinical practice (McMillan et al., 2014). As nurses, we dedicate a great deal of time to our education, so showcasing our educational accomplishments in our portfolio is critical. Adding educational achievements such as academic awards, diplomas, and degrees gives us an advantage and proves that learning has occurred and educational requirements have been met (Casey & Egan, 2013).

Professional Goals  

When your dream job is on the line and your application is within several other candidates, it is vital to stand out. Showing evidence of past professional experiences is critical in achieving professional developmental goals. Your professional portfolio represents you as a practitioner and exhibits your skills and past experiences during your nursing career. This information can land you the job or make you stand out from other applicants. Providing evidence of skills, knowledge, and experience is a strategy that can support career changes and meet professional requirements (Casey & Egan, 2013).

Social Change. Walden University caught my attention because of its strong focus on social change. Walden’s goal is to empower students to make a difference by providing several opportunities for professionals to transform themselves into scholar-practitioners to contribute to positive social changes (Walden University, 2022). Walden’s emphasis on social change aligns with my goals because it gives us the platform, education, and experience to prepare ourselves to be strong and successful professionals. Walden university’s (2022) mission is to transform professionals into scholar-practitioner with the ultimate goal of affecting positive social change. Positive social change has always been a goal of mine. I genuinely enjoy helping others and making the world a better place.

rnsg

Explain how the body receives and circulates oxygen.  Identify one disease process that interrupts this exchange or circulation of oxygen.  

300 words

To write about self

· Reason why I chOse the school for my masters

· Still currently enrolled

· Been in medical field for over 17 years

· Worked as volunteer during covid outbreak

· Getting my masters in order to open an outpatient clinic to give back to my community YOU CAN ADD GOOD STUFF ALSO

To prepare for this discussion, read the instructor guidance, Chapter 12 by Levitt (2016), and Sections 
3.1
, 
3.2
, “Pros and Cons of Observational Research” and “Types of Observational Research” in 
Section 3.4
 of the Newman (2016) textbook. View the following videos: 

Different Qualitative Approaches

 (Links to an external site.)
 and 

When to Use a Qualitative Research Design? Four Things to Consider

 (Links to an external site.)
.

Then, determine from the list below your assigned qualitative research design based on the first letter of your last name:

· A-F: Ethnography

· G-L: Grounded theory

· M-R: Narrative research

· S-Z: Phenomenology

Using the 
Research Methods (Links to an external site.)
 research guide’s list of suggested articles, look for information about your assigned qualitative research design. You may also search the Library databases for articles about the research design. In your initial post:

· Evaluate the features of the design and what kinds of research topics it is suitable for.

· Explain the data collection and data analysis methods used in the design.

· Cite at least one scholarly/peer-reviewed article about the design and one published research study that used the design, for a total of at least two scholarly/peer-reviewed journal articles.

Prompt: Take the opportunity to engage with classmates on all matters regarding Java. Asking for and providing assistance are solid ways to build your coding skills. You are required to provide at least one of the following:

· A question regarding how to accomplish a certain task from this week’s assignment or NEXT WEEK’s project (look ahead as there are no extensions beyond the last day of class).  Start planning your project now.

· A response that aids a student’s aforementioned question

· An interesting article with a brief synopsis that details an interesting aspect or capability of Java

· A link to, and a short description of a tool, technique, plug-in, IDE, and any other useful resource you run across

Each student has been assigned to a group and each group is to research an industry. The group will then pick two publicly traded companies within the industry to investigate, noting both the similarities and the differences of the companies.  The companies must provide a similar type of product.  Please note how the industry influences these similarities and differences.  

Example:  you might choose the oil industry and pick Exxon-Mobil and Chevron.  These are both major oil companies.  You might choose the Auto Industry and choose GM and Toyota.  Both are publicly traded companies on US stock exchanges.

Your companies MUST be publicly traded.  There are a number of resources online that can help you find publicly traded companies.  Some of these are Yahoo Finance, CNN money, CNBC, Bloomberg and many more.  The library has an assignment guide to help you with your research.

No two groups may use the same industry. Industries will be assigned on a first requested, first assigned basis. SO, send me an email with your group’s choice of industry as soon as you decide and I will let the rest know what is no longer available.

You and your group decide which companies within your industry to analyze. The two companies must provide similar products or services, but may be different in size. In other words, compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

Some suggested industries are below, but there are many more you can choose from:

1. Airline

2. Oil

3. Pharmaceutical

4. Auto

5. Computer/Information Technology

6. Steel

7. Retail

8. Entertainment

9. Agriculture

10, Banking/Finance

11. Health Care

12. Trucking

13. Railroads

14. Communications

15. Defense/Aerospace

Each group will turn in a written paper of five to ten pages.  The paper must to cover all 14 points listed below. (first 12 and two from second list).  Each paper must include a cover page and a works cited page in addition to the five to ten pages required.  Grammar and spelling are important and will be considered in your grade, but your paper will be assessed based on how well you explain the material.  Remember that all work should be in your own words—NO QUOTES or COPYING.   

Each group should include a power point presentation of 5 to 10 slides that supports your paper with bullet points, graphs, or pictures – NO PARAGRAPHS on the slides.   If you do something creative and innovative in your presentation, you and your group can earn extra credit.

REQUIRED FOR ALL PROJECTS:

Briefly explain the importance of each item.   Some items can be covered in one or two sentences; some will require more detail. 

1. An explanation of the industry and the companies within it, as they exist currently.

2. A brief history of the industry and the companies you are investigating.

3. The type of product/products that is provided by this industry/companies and the type of customers. 

4. What influence the industry/companies have on the US economy and conversely, the influence of the economy on the industry/companies.

5. How the industry/companies and their decisions have a bearing on the lives of the average American.

6. The form of competition found in this industry (pure competition, monopolistic, oligopoly, monopoly)

7. The published mission or vision statement of each corporation.

8. The most recent fiscal year’s sales, expenses, and net profit for each company and how those figures compare with the industry as a whole.

9. The price per share of common stock for each corporation at the end of the fiscal year and for the first 2-3 quarters of the current fiscal year. Be sure to compare the same time periods. 

10. Pick at least three financial ratios and compare each company to the industry standards.  Are the companies better or worse than the industry standard? 

11. A brief discussion on the amount of government regulation for this industry.

12. The types of jobs or careers most frequently found in this industry and the amount of education/training needed for those jobs/careers.

PICK AT LEAST TWO OR MORE ITEMS from the following list to include in your presentation.  It is preferable to use those items that best apply to your industry or companies.  These items need to be discussed in more detail than those above. 

1. Any serious ethical problems/questions faced by the industry.  Explain how each company dealt with those problems/questions.

2. Whether or not the industry/companies are involved in international trade and global business – in what way?  and with which countries?

3. Any major mergers or diversifications that have/had a serious bearing on the industry.

4. A comparison of the levels of management within the two companies and the styles of management of the two companies.

5. The use of a Total Quality Program or a Just in Time Inventory system within the companies.

6. An overview of the production/operations process within the companies.

7. The development and implementation of the human resource process.

8. The presence and importance of unions in the industry.

9. The presence and importance of small business in the industry and any use of franchising.

10. The importance and use of technology within the industry and how each company uses technology. 

11. Marketing strategies used by each company and the industry including the research and development of new products, how each arrives at pricing decisions, and how products are distributed.

12. The importance and type of advertising and promotions used by the companies/industry.

13. The governmental agencies (other than IRS) that have a bearing on this industry and how each company deals with this regulation.

14. Any other major issue that applies to your industry.  (TO USE THIS CATEGORY AS ONE OF YOUR TWO, YOU MUST CLEAR IT WITH YOUR INSTRUCTOR).

In order to make an A, groups need to do something creative or add extra value to the paper or presentation.  All basic requirements for the paper and presentation must be completed before added value will be considered.  See your instructor for more information.

Your group should: 

· Set a goal that is Realistic; Measurable; Specific

· Develop a time frame for work due.

· Develop rules for what to do if someone does not turn in work to the group on time.

· Exchange contact information outside of the classroom.

· Pick an industry with at least two publicly traded companies 

2

Melis

Risk management is a vital part of any healthcare setting, typically in a healthcare setting, there is a position dedicated to risk management practices. Effective risk management includes identifying areas where various types of risks may occur and identifying what outcomes may occur. If needed plans will be put into action – in my facility we call it a plan of action. When an item is deemed high risk – either something that could affect patient safety or noncompliant with federal and state regulations – a plan is put together with steps outlined to minimize the risk. Identifying risks comes from “near misses & good catches” (Catalyst), these are things that occur over the course of a workday that could have resulted in some kind of negative impact. Risk management professionals will use this information to decide if action needs to be taken. A common example of this is needlestick injuries. There are safety devices that can be implemented to limit the number of needlestick injuries within the healthcare setting. So if there are a few reports of near misses – meaning it almost happened – where a staff member may have sustained a needlestick injury, then the management team should implement some of these safety devices to limit that risk – this is also in compliance with OSHA (federal regulations). An example that I have come across was the placement of a paper towel machine, it was across the bathroom. Meaning patients are walking across the bathroom to get paper tows dripping water that they could potentially slip on – RISK!! So to eliminate this I worked with our facilities director to move all the paper towel holders by the sink. In addition, risk management has a lot to do with federal and state regulations, which outline acceptable and unacceptable actions. So risk management professionals have to understand these guidelines and apply them to their healthcare setting. There is a legal risk for noncompliance, as well as a safety risk. The idea around risk management is that you are making the setting a safer place for patients and staff and ensuring compliance with regulations. 

Catalyst, N. E. J. M. (n.d.). What is risk management in healthcare? NEJM Catalyst. Retrieved from https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0197 

Healthcare executives’ role in emergency management. American College of Healthcare Executives. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ache.org/about-ache/our-story/our-commitments/policy-statements/healthcare-executives-role-in-emergency-management

Lisa

· Risk Management: Risk management in healthcare includes both the clinical and administrative systems and their processes and reports which are used to detect, monitor, assess, mitigate, and prevent risks. By utilizing risk management, healthcare organizations proactively and systematically safeguard patient safety as well as the organization’s assets, market share, accreditation, reimbursement levels, brand value, and community standing (Catalyst, 2018).

· Terms-The American College of Healthcare Executives believes healthcare executives should actively participate in disaster planning and preparedness activities. In doing so they ensure their emergency operations plan fits within the overall community plans and anticipates the approach to risks an organization might face (Catalyst, 2018).

To be prepared management needs to:

· Maintain a Relevant/Current Emergency/Disaster Plan- Using the National Response Framework and Hospital Preparedness Program

· Address the Safety of Staff/Patients/Families

· Focus the Plan to Address the Most Likely Scenarios

· Develop an Incident Command System

· Assess Resource Availability

· Plan for Continuity of Operations

· Develop Protocols to Ensure Appropriate Resource Allocation

· Design Appropriate Communication and Coordination Protocols for Both Internal and External Audiences

· Enhance Disease Surveillance and Reporting

· Planning -Managers acknowledge that anticipating uncertainty is challenging to recognize. By using data and industry knowledge, and including all stakeholders, healthcare risk managers can uncover threats and potentially compensatory events that otherwise would be hard to guess (Healthcare executives’ role in emergency management. 2020). This is where reporting comes in handy so that we can learn from mistakes.

· Patient safety – When mistakes or adverse events are avoided due to luck or intervention, “near misses” and “good catches” occur. These are often the best way to identify and prevent risk. Healthcare providers should develop a culture that encourages reporting so that prevention measures and best practices can be instituted (Healthcare executives’ role in emergency management. 2020).

· Regulations.- Regulatory bodies, such as The Joint Commission, Federal, state, and other oversight bodies mandate reporting of certain types of incidents including sentinel events, medication errors, and medical device malfunctions. Incidents such as wrong-site or patient surgery, workplace injuries, and medication errors need to be documented and reported (Healthcare executives’ role in emergency management. 2020).

Resources

Catalyst, N. E. J. M. (2018). What is risk management in healthcare? NEJM Catalyst. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from 
https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0197
 

Healthcare executives’ role in emergency management. American College of Healthcare Executives. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2022, from 
https://www.ache.org/about-ache/our-story/our-commitments/policy-statements/healthcare-executives-role-in-emergency-management

Walden 2

Leila Walden

Dr. Christie Rinck

HUN 1020

3/28/2022

Looking Deeper- Contextual Analysis 2

Kara Walker is an artist known for her paper silhouettes based on topics in race, gender, sexuality, and violence. Kara was born in Stockton, California in 1969, but was raised in Atlanta, Georgia from 13 years old. She attended the Atlanta College of Art where she received an Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, and then Rhode Island School of Design where she received a Master’s in Fine Arts (Biography).

Kara was introduced to art at a very young age by her father, Larry Walker, who became a big motivator to her future career. “Walker says some of her earliest memories were watching her father draw and thinking that she also wants to be able to do that for her job,” (Rinck, 2022). Larry Walker was an artist and a chair in the art department at the University of the Pacific, although he was not the only inspiration to Kara’s artistic ambitions. When she and her family moved to Atlanta, she began to recognize issues of race, and after receiving art degrees, she began working on art forms that would raise awareness of slavery, violence, and sex (Britannica).

In this contextual analysis, I will discuss one particular piece of art by Kara Walker called A Subtlety. This was Kara Walker’s first large scale public project, and one that she notes to be one of her most ambitious. A Subtlety was built in an abandoned Domino Sugar factory. This factory was dripping in molasses. It seeped through the wood and pillars of the building, and at other times in the year, molasses would come out from under the floor and the walls. This was the result of the sugar from the refining process leaking into the air and into the wood of the factory. Kara does not focus her project on any of the factory’s recent history, but instead focuses on the overall troubled history of the sugar industry especially relying on slave labor (Rinck, 2022). The factory displaying A Subtlety was in Williamsburg, New York and was demolished only months after Kara Walker created this thought-provoking piece.

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/16/313017716/artist-kara-walker-draws-us-into-bitter-history-with-something-sweet

As one might be able to guess, A Subtlety was a sculpture built from a form of sugar called Marzipan, or sugar paste. Its creation was much more complicated than just sugar, however. A Subtlety is considered a full round sculpture, or a three-dimensional piece. This means that the viewer could walk around the piece, seeing different proportions, articulations, focal areas, and dimensions. She created the three-dimensional look by adding layers of foam, shaving them, and then adding sugar to the surface (Rinck, 2022). A Subtlety sculpture is around 70 feet long and 35 feet tall, and it depicts a “mammy sphinx” completely naked except for a scarf around her head, with bare breasts and genitalia exposed. The term mammy means mother, or protector, but it also was a derogatory term used for black nannies in charge of white children in the early Southern U.S. Walker created this piece to represent this idea of an over-dramatized and sexualized African woman’s body, and the body that would have been laboring in the Southern sugar plantations. Kara goes on to add this same symbolism in the left hand of the sculpture, where the “mammy sphinx” is holding a thick sign, or a symbol of fertility and ridicule in some cultures.

This figure also disrupts the idea that black woman can’t be sexual on their own terms, and that they need to suppress their right to be sexual. Walker not only creates this to be fierce symbolism of oppression and sexuality, but she also adds symbolism of power and strength. The “mammy sphinx” is both political and complex. It has been a representation of sexuality throughout history, but Walker also uses it in a way to show the difference between what is considered the ideal white woman and the unattractive black woman, showing the oppression that women have seen for years and the power and strength they possess (Rinck, 2022).

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/16/313017716/artist-kara-walker-draws-us-into-bitter-history-with-something-sweet

The social angle that I most apply to this sculpture is colonialism. A Subtlety incorporates this theme of race, sex, and history throughout every aspect of the sculpture, including the materials used to build it. Sugar was a luxury product, and the “backbreaking toil and dangerous labor” required to manufacture refined sugar was given to slaved laborers. The factory workers who worked in the assembly-line were generally slave children, who had to work night and day to keep up sugar production at its highest efficiency (Muhammad, 2019). Sugar itself was even highly racially stigmatized, and the kind of sugar you used would be tied to your race. It was seen that Europeans would consume crystallized white sugar, whereas brown sugar was consumed by dark-skinned, usually African, people (Rinck, 2022).

Kara Walker created A Subtlety inspired by her own experience as an African American woman living in the Southern U.S, which goes to show that the piece contains many social, cultural, and historical implications. This piece has major historical implications in the way that it represents the dark history of sugar and slavery. It reminds people about what was and what never should be again. It also contains major cultural and social implications, especially for African American women, as it raises awareness to the idea that women today are still sexualized, still powerful and still strong. Although the sculpture was only up for a few months, it had a major impact on the way people view sugar production not only as racial, but also a reminder on how humans should treat each other moving forward.

The aspect of A Subtlety that I will go more into depth on is the full round technique that Kara Walker uses. As mentioned before, a full round sculpture is one that is created to be three-dimensional and can be looked at from any angle. This also means that the viewer has to walk all the way around in it order to see the whole piece, as well as see how different aspects of the piece play with the overall theme. Artists may use this technique to encourage the viewer to follow the parts of the sculpture that seem to disappear or lead to the next aspect (Rinck, 2022).

Kara Walker had many aspects of A Subtlety that could not be seen at a first glance, including the brown sugar babies surrounding the sculpture, the importance of the exposed genitalia, bare breasts, and sphinxlike structure of the main sculpture. The full round technique played important roles in pushing the viewer to become a part of the piece, experiencing it in real life and not just from one angle. I think this full round technique could also symbolize looking for a deeper meaning. While the piece is of a “mammy sphinx” it also represents history, race, and sex, things that may not be recognized at first glance.

The second piece I chose to compare to A Subtlety was The Statue of Liberty. This statue is one that I’m sure most have heard of and many have seen. I chose this piece as another example of a full-round sculpture technique, but also as a representation of forgotten history and deeper meaning.

https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm

The Statue of Liberty was created by French sculptor Fredric-Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. It was given to the United States as a gift of friendship and was dedicated by President Cleveland in 1886. This statue is on a small island, Liberty Island, in Upper New York Bay. It is known to symbolize freedom and democracy, although many forget its true origin and first symbol (History.com Editors).

The Statue of Liberty was given as a gift from the French towards the end of the American Civil War to celebrate the United States building an efficient democracy. It was a joint effort, as the French built the statue, and the Americans built the pedestal- creating a symbol of friendship between the French and Americans. It’s not often that we speak about this Franco-American friendship, but I thought this symbol was an interesting one to bring up as a comparison to other forgotten history (Symbolism).

I think the Statue of Liberty can represent postcolonialism, the opposite of A Subtlety. The Statue of Liberty represents new times, liberty, and freedom, and I find it interesting that it was also created towards the end of the war that also began the end of slavery in the United States, another definition of a new time. I see it as representing new friendships, that with the French, and the African Americans.

Post colonialism refers to changes in culture, which I believe the Statue of Liberty represents perfectly. Not only was this statue created at the end of the Civil War, but it was also created at the same time as the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, another major contributor to the changes in culture for America. We all know that the American Civil War had major social, cultural, and historical implications. The first being the beginning of the end of slavery, which was social, cultural, and historical. While the Statue of Liberty was not created because of the end of slavery, it still represents the idea that new friendships, freedoms, and liberties can be created through the combined efforts of people with different backgrounds.

https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Statue-of-Liberty/Photos-of-statue-of-Liberty.php

The Statue of Liberty represents the opposite of what A Subtlety does, and I think that’s why both have such major impacts today. The Statue of Liberty represents what should be, what could be, and the history that change is entirely possible. A Subtlety, on the other hand, shows that just because change happened once, doesn’t mean that the issue was resolved, or that it can’t be resolved further.

Both impact the idea of postcolonialism, and that there should be a change of culture. Women of all races should be treated with respect and should be allowed to express themselves in whatever way they want. Friendships should be built across races and peoples, and the history of those friendships should not be forgotten. This symbolism contained in art has such an incredible impact on people and how they view history as well as how they move forward in their being. It inspires people to change their behaviors and thoughts for the better and pushes those who experience things like racism and sexism to take a stand or reach out. In the case of these two art pieces, both symbols, one of friendship and one of slavery, represent times in American history where times changed. Hopefully both pieces can be a reminder to us to remember our history and make some not so subtle changes going forward in standing united with all peoples.

Word Count: 1772

References:

“Biography.” Kara Walker, http://www.karawalkerstudio.com/biography.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Kara Walker”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Nov. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kara-Walker.

History.com Editors. “Statue of Liberty.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Dec. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/landmarks/statue-of-liberty.

Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. “The Barbaric History of Sugar in America.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html.

Rinck, Christie. “Representation and Power in Art.” Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety”: Lectures and Readings, 2022, https://usflearn.instructure.com/courses/1643138/pages/kara-walkers-a-subtlety-lectures-and-readings?module_item_id=24621757.

“Symbolism of the Statue of Liberty.” Wonders of the World, https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Statue-of-Liberty/Symbolism-of-the-statue-of-Liberty.php.

Definitions of Maturity Stages and Dimension Variables in the Middle Manager Best Practices Arc

Maturity Stages

1. Technology implementation competence and recognition: This first stage represents the middle manager’s capacity to learn, conceptualize, and articulate key issues relating to cogni- tive business technological skills, organizational interactions, management value systems, project management ethics, and management presence.

2. Multiplicity of business implementation of technology: Indicates the middle manager’s ability to integrate multiple points of view during technical project implementations. Using these new perspectives, the middle manager augments his or her skills with business implementation with technology career advancement, expands his or her management value system, is increasingly motivated to act ethically during projects, and enhances his or her management presence.

3. Integration of business implementation of technology: Maturing middle managers accumulate increased understand- ing of how business and technology operate together and affect one another. They gain new cognitive skills about technology and a facility with how the organization needs to interact, expand their management value system, perform business/technology actions to improve ethics about busi- ness and technology, and develop effective levels of manage- ment presence.

4. Stability of business/technology implementation: Middle manag- ers achieve stable integration when they implement projects using their cognitive and technological ability; have organi- zation interactions with operations; have management values with their superiors, peers, and subordinates; possess project ethics; and have the management presence appropriate for performing job duties, not only adequately, but also competi- tively (with peers and higher-ranking executives in the orga- nization hierarchy).

5. Technology project leadership: Leadership is attained by the middle manager when he or she can employ cognitive and technological skills, organization interactions, management, a sense of business ethics, and a sense of management presence to compete effectively for executive positions. This middle manager is capable of obtaining increasingly executive-level positions through successful interviewing and organization performance.

Performance Dimensions

1. Business technology cognition: Pertains to skills specifically related to learning, applying, and creating resources in busi- ness and technology, which include the necessary knowledge of complex operations. This dimension essentially establishes the middle manager as “operationally” proficient with tech- nology and forms a basis for movement to more complex and mature stages of development when managing technology projects.

2. Organizational interactions: This focuses on the middle man- ager’s knowledge and practice of proper relationships and management interactions during technology projects. This pertains to in-person interactions, punctuality of staff, work completion, conflict resolution, deference, and other protocols in technology projects.
3. Management values: Measures the middle manager’s ability

to articulate and act on mainstream corporate values credited with shaping technology project work ethic: independent ini- tiative, dedication, honesty, and personal identification with technology project goals, based on the philosophy of manage- ment protocol of the organization.

4. Project ethics: Reflects the middle manager’s commitment to the education and professional advancement of other persons in technology and in other departments.

5. Management presence: Involves the middle manager’s view of the role of a project-based manager during a technology project implementation and the capacity to succeed in tandem with other projects. Aspects include a devotion to learning and self-improvement, self-evaluation, the ability to acknowl- edge and resolve business conflicts, and resilience when faced with personal and professional challenges during technology implementations.

Figure 12.7 shows a graphic view of the middle management tech- nology best practices arc. Each cell in the arc provides the condi- tion for assessment. The complete arc is provided in Table 12.4. The challenge of the middle management best practices arc is whether to emphasize executive management concepts (more organizationally intended) or event-driven concepts (project oriented). This arc focuses on project implementation factors and deals with best practices that can balance executive pressures with implementation realities. I sug- gest that senior middle managers, at the director level, who do not participate in implementation, set their best practices, based on the CEO maturity arc. Indeed, creating a separate arc for upper manage- ment would contain too many overlapping cells.

Summary

The formation of best practices to implement and sustain ROD is a complex task. It involves combining traditional best practice methods (i.e., what seems to work for proven organizations and individuals)

with developmental theory on individual maturation. The combina- tion of these two components provides the missing organizational learning piece that supports the attainment of ROD. Another way of comprehending this concept is to view the ROD arc as the over- arching or top-level model. The other maturity arcs and best practices

towArd best prACtICes333

represent the major communities of practice that are the subsets of that model. This is graphically depicted in Table 12.5.

Thus, the challenge is to create and sustain each community and, at the same time, establish synergies that allow them to operate together. This is the organizational climate created at ICAP, where the execu- tive board, senior and middle managers, and operations personnel all formed their own subcommunities; at the same time, all had the abil- ity for both downward and upward communication. In summary, this particular model relies on key management interfaces that are needed to support ROD.

May 2

Andrea May

Dr. Rinck

Introduction to Humanities

14 March 2022

Not So Subtle

Kara Walker was from Stockton, California and was born in 1969. She was inspired by her father to become an artist while also being inspired by obstacles on who she was as a person. One of her works, entitled A Subtlety, especially expressed her views on the obstacles she faced when she moved to Georgia. The statue I have chosen is called Attendant to the King of Hell by an unknown sculptor in Korea to compare it to A Subtlety by Kara Walker. A Subtlety explored the social angles of colonialism, post-colonialism, race and ethnicity and gender and sexuality.

Growing up, Kara Walker’s father was a painter and a professor. From witnessing this, Kara was inspired to take on becoming an artist as a part of her daily life as a career. However, because of the work that her father encountered, her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia when she was 13 years of age. There, she witnessed the profound impact of racism that became prevalent in the American South. She encountered moments of what is now known as the Klu Klux Klan around the years of the 1980s. In school, she was called profanities due to her race. As she grew as an artist, she became particularly interested in showcasing her experiences and standpoint on the racism she faced and read about. For her masters in art, she received the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1997 and used it to express more of herself through her art and along with it, her views on racism. An idea standing beside the works she created was the thoughts of other people being full of fears and longings, and that people were trying to steal the power that other people held within them. The ongoing theme of her work was that of melodrama, outrageous characters, pain, guts, glory, research and histeria (Fig. 4). In past works these themes went from silhouettes expressing racism’s effects to her creation called A Subtlety (“A Subtlety”).

Kara Walker’s A Subtlety explores the social angles involving colonialism, post-colonialism, race and ethnicity, and gender and sexuality. The work incorporated a sugar paste that was from sugar cane as well as corn syrup. The sugar paste, called marzipan, that was holding up the large sculpture was a symbol of slave trade. Marzipan was devoured in the medieval era after the main course as a fondant during the time of King Henry II. The piece was made out of 35 tons of sugar. The sugar was harvested by child workers during the slave trade, which were presented at the bottom of A Subtlety with children made out of brown sugar into statue form. The children at the bottom of the work dripped and oozed as a result of the sun in the Domino Sugar Factory (Fig. 1). The work was made to be ephemeral, which means that it would only last a short while for the exhibition. This was due to Kara Walker’s intention of showing how black lives had been neglected in the presence of slave owners in history. The sphinx was a representation of how women’s bodies were not their own and was a large reason as to why Kara had overly sexualized it based in the form of the body A Subtlety (Fig. 2). The formation of the body was inspired by the sphinxes in Egypt. Kara had researched many different components on sugar prior to the building of the statues. For example, the type of sugar that a person would consume back when slave labor was occuring had to do with their race. Europeans would consume crystal white sugar, while dark skinned people would consume brown sugar. The head of the Sphinx was inspired by the Mammy character which stood for a woman that would be political, asexualized, a protector, but would be an undesired woman on top of that. It was manifested in the movie called “Gone with the Wind.” Putting the Mammy character on the sphinx’s body expressed that they can be sexual as well, according to Kara. (“A Subtlety”) The meaning of A Subtlety to me meant that being oppressed for the meaning of the color of skin only leads to destruction of people, and does not lead to peace. It may lead to feelings of shame between individuals, and maybe an extreme frustration within to bridge the gap between the misunderstandings of people who may still think of colored skin as something to be segregated when there should be unity.

In comparison to the work that I chose, which was called Attendant to the King of Hell, and A Subtlety both had their similarities and differences. For instance, in A Subtlety and Attendant to the King of Hell (Fig. 3) both show an ephemeral quality. For example, the sugar in A Subtlety only lasted for a short amount of time for the exhibition for Kara, but in Attendant to the King of Hell, it held the message for the short lives that people lead because it discusses what may happen to someone after they die. Physically, both statues depict their eyes being open as well as front facing. Although the ethnicities are different between the two works, both have the social angles of race and ethnicity as well as gender playing a part in the messages they are trying to express. A Subtlety discusses slave trade and it’s impact while Attendant to the King of Hell discusses the after life and is based in Korea. On another note, the attendant figure from Attendant to the King of Hell physically doesn’t last a brief time like A Subtlety does because it is made of wood. There is no known artist for the attendant statue, but it was created in the 19th century. The full description of Attendant to the King of Hell comes from Buddhist beliefs such as trying to mitigate the punishments of the people who had passed away by the usage of prayer. On top of the usage of the statues in the subsidiary halls for Buddhists, paintings of the King of Hell would hold the same meanings for them. In the wooden figure depicted in figure 3, he is holding a scroll. Within the scroll holds the names of humans and how they are judged and it is recorded. The demographic background of the statue dates back to Korean folk sculpture artwork. It contains a mixture of religion with the beliefs held, is dressed in robes, and lacquered hat of a Confucian scholar official. (Korea) I discovered the artwork of Attendant to the King of Hell on a website called Jstor. What spoke to me about the artwork was that I am interested generally in Asian culture and different beliefs held. I think that having the belief of helping to save a passed beloved family member by prayer helps them to have peace afterwards.

In summary, A Subtlety depicts the social angles of race and ethnicity, post-colonialism, colonialism, and gender and sexuality and it thoroughly goes over the impacts of slave trade. Slave trade even lasted years after slavery ended and had an impact on Kara when she moved to Georgia. The inspiration from her father of being an artist drove Kara to become an artist and helped to express these firmly held beliefs she had on the topic of oppression against people who were black. Attendant to the King of Hell was another statue discussed and had many similarities as well as differences. Both shared the same social angles like that of gender, race and ethnicity being held in the messages. Both had an ephemeral quality, but it was not a physical quality, in the Attendant to the King of Hell it was in the message of life not lasting forever that made it brief, while in A Subtlety the physical statue was brief in how long it lasted because it was made of sugar that would soon ooze and turn into molasses.

(Word Count: 1309)

Figure 1:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/arts/design/a-subtlety-or-the-marvelous-sugar-baby-at-the-domino-plant.html

Figure 2:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/arts/design/a-subtlety-or-the-marvelous-sugar-baby-at-the-domino-plant.html

Figure 3:
https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/stable/community.15649675?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dattendant%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bking%2Bof%2Bhell%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Adb5776a20049dac1c8781012dff70af8&seq=1

Figure 4:
https://studiomuseum.org/article/silhouettes-relieved-kara-walkers-new-drawings

Works Cited

“Kara Walker ‘A Subtlety.’” https://usflearn.instructure.com/courses/1643138/pages/kara-walkers-a-subtlety-lectures-and-readings?module_item_id=24621757. Accessed 14 Mar. 2022.

Korea. Attendant to the King of Hell. https://jstor.org/stable/community.15649675. The Minneapolis Institute of Art;Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA;Gift of funds from Fred and Ellen Wells;97.122.2;http://www.artsmia.org/.

Fleming Mwashako Mwalugho

Sheffield Hallam

Research

Introduction

High sodium content is a global issue. Most countries have enacted laws to help curb the sodium content in food. However, some of the enactments are not fully enforced exposing the food industry to high food sodium especially in processed food and in certain cuisines. It is now established that high salt content leads to an increase in blood pressure and greatly increases the risk for cardiovascular diseases. According to (Du et al., 2022) cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in most western countries accounting for more than 30% of the deaths. It is widely accepted that the consumption of high sodium foods is above the Food Standard Agency (FSA) recommended levels in the United Kingdom.

The WHO targets a 30% of salt reduction by 2025 with an adult consumption recommendation of fewer than 5 grams of salt per day. The United Kingdom set a target to reduce salt content for more than 85% of food categories ten years ago and this resulted in more than 20% reduction in high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease-related deaths. In China, intake of sodium is very high ranging from 12-14g/d, this is accompanied by the increase in the consumption of sauces like soy sauce which account for the highest rates, and processed food that also has high sodium content. This is also witnessed in the UK where most urban populations indulge in foreign cuisines. In developed countries, it is estimated that processed foods account for more than 75% of the salt consumed (Tan et al., 2019). Studies have shown that Chinese food, ingredients, and accompaniments in the United Kingdom contain higher levels of sodium than recommended by the FSA 2024 (Tan et al., 2019). Further in a study that was conducted in 2017 most UK products met the FSA standards but only 13% of Chinese products met the recommended FSA standards for sauces and Ingredients. Studies have demonstrated that it is possible to reduce salt content in Chinese food. Following the enactment of policies in past on salt regulation in the UK, there is a substantial decrease in the sodium content in Chinese cuisines this is in comparison to china where the same products are consumed. The most important strategy in reducing salt consumption is identifying the amount of salt consumed and how it is consumed. The aim of the study was to establish the sodium content in Chinese meal components, ingredients, and sauces and to determine if they are in line with the FSA 2024 standards. The final report provides actual values of salt content and helps in reviewing targets and informing consumer decisions. This was achieved by systematically collecting data on sodium levels on the UK processed Chinese products and comparing the sodium values against the UK FSA 2024 standard on salt content.

Literature review

He & MacGregor (2018) in a research on the relationship between high salt intake and cardiovascular diseases propose that a high level of sodium in food is highly detrimental and takes a toll on the life of a person. They explain that high sodium in foods increases the risk of hypertension which is dangerous, especially for people with comorbidities. The above argument is further supported by Bandy et al (2021) in research on U.K food safety and sodium levels found that high sodium levels increased the risk of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, renal diseases, and stroke by 55% in a sample population of 1045 on a study conducted between 2019 and 2021. A study conducted by (Barton et al., 2011) raised blood pressure accounted for 47% of strokes and this is linked to evidence that high consumption levels of salt consumed in diets is the leading cause for high blood pressure.

Elsewhere Rippin et al., (2019) in a research on the effects of high sodium levels in energy foods in the UK by use of urinary sodium surveys, also found that the risk of hypertension and stroke was increased by 49% in a study sample size of 2200 drawn from various age groups. Additionally, the study also revealed, that 76% of the sodium taken was drawn from processed foods. The above therefore creates the need to investigate sodium levels in foods in the UK if they are in line with the F.S.A 2024 standards.

Antúnez et al., (2019) in a research on the F.S.A guidelines and standards on foods, explains various standards. Among the main findings is that there are various subcategories of targets to be met by food manufacturers by 2024. For instance, slices of bacon are set at 1035 sodium (2.59g of sodium) per 100 grams of bacon and 430mg sodium (1.08g sodium) per 100 grams of sausages. Tan et al., (2019) in research on the same, support the above findings by further giving more targets as set out by the F.S.A. further, the author lists and explains the targets like meat pies with a target of 370 mg sodium (0.93 sodium) per 100 gram of meat pie and standard of 320mg sodium (0.8g salt) for meat-based pasties by 2024.

Menyanu, Russell & Charlton (2019) further in their discussion they expound more on the above standards by discussing several standards and their anticipated importance. Among the foods standards the writers discuss are the above and more such as pizza, soups, crisps, snacks and biscuits. Sampling the standards, the target for biscuits is 220 mg sodium (0.55g salt) and for children’s main meals is 685 mg sodium (1.71g salt) per 100 mg of their food. The authors further posit that the above targets are part of the campaign started in 2003 by the F.S.A to reduce salt intake to 6mg per day per person by 2024.

Zhang et al., (2020) in research on Chinese processed foods, argues that Chinese processed foods are among the most popular cuisines in the U.K. additionally the writer argues that Chinese foods are four-fold saltier and higher in sodium in the U.K. Tan et al., (2019) further agree with the above by discussing that Chinese foods have high salt levels with an average of 13 g per day. Additionally, he explains that Chinese products such as sauces account up to 6% of total salt levels.

He et al., (2018) in their research reaffirms the above findings through research on Chinese salt and sodium levels research conducted in 2018-2019. In the study findings, the Chinese cuisine had more salts than the U.K foods. Specifically, from the researcher’s findings on instant noodles, of 10 sampled, 4 had more salt levels as compared to 2 of the U.K noodles. Additionally, 8 out of 11 food groups in China had more salt and sodium content compared to the same sampled in the UK. On average the writer affirms that Chinese products mostly non-processed had 4.5 times more salt than those from U.K. The comparison was done largely on non-processed and large groups of processed foods with little focus on processed foods.

In the longitudinal study conducted by (Ni Mhurchu et al., 2010) there was high sodium content in the food served in UK households. More than 50% of the salt consumed was added as table salt (Ni Mhurchu et al., 2010). The other 50% was mainly salt added at the point of processing ready meals. With the increase in ready meal consumption, there has been a substantial increase in dietary sodium levels in the UK (Ni Mhurchu et al., 2010). The intake of Chinese food from supermarkets has also increased over time reducing the gains that were instituted by the FSA in 2004.

In the UK the FSA recommends the reduction of salt intake to 6 grams in adults, it is also estimated that 75% of salt intake is derived from the consumption of processed foods retailed in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury with 27.5% and 16% respectively. This project was aimed at assessing the salt content in Chinese food, sauces, ingredients, and accompaniments sold in the above supermarkets.

Methodology

Data collection

The chosen method for this study was a systematic sampling of main Chinese food from two outlets, Tesco and Sainsbury. The outlets were chosen based on the number of Chinese cuisines available on their menu. One of the advantages of using systematic sampling is its convenience and the ability to single out samples and access the desired sample size and characteristics (Elfil & Negida, 2017). However, this is limiting as it may not be representative of the entire population. Further, there was a risk of data manipulation which was countered by ensuring the data was collected randomly (Elfil & Negida, 2017)..

A systematic survey was conducted in Tesco and Sainsbury with a primary goal of establishing the mean average sodium concentration in the main Chinese cuisine categories that contribute to salt in the diet bearing in mind most Chinese food uses soy products and other refined oils (Diez-Simon et al., 2020). Data was collected to include mainly Chinese cuisines, however, there was data from Thai and Japanese cuisines that had similar formulations. The data include quality ranges from top middle and bottom, this also included chilled, frozen, and ambient cuisines from across all the categories. For each cuisine, the data also included the weight of the product, price, brand name, serving size, and the amount of salt/100g. Not all products had salt contents, therefore, those that had nil or missing data were rounded up to zero for consistency.

Data analysis

The data was collected and stored in an excel datasheet. It was then imported to the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26, where descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted. Out of the 49 observations surveyed, the Chinese ready meal was 82 % followed by the Chinese ready sauces which were 8% of the total product category, and lastly, the Japanese ready sauces and Thai ready meal sauces had 2% each. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the mean value, frequency, standard deviation, and median.

An independent t-test was used to investigate if the mean of the two unrelated groups statistically differed where Salt g/100g was used as the dependent variable and the product subcategory was used as the independent variable. Seven observations were used to conduct the T independent t-test which produced 46 observations as the degrees of freedom. The total number of observations in Tesco was 23 while the total number of observations in Sainsbury’s was 25.

ANOVA test was used to determine the analysis of variance where more Chinese products were selected (89%) as compared to other products from Japan and Thai cuisines. Further, the One-way ANOVA analysis involved three groups that include the complete Chilled meal, complete ambient meal, and complete frozen meal. The product subcategories were used as the independent variable and the Salt g/100g was used as the dependent variable. A subsequent post hoc test was done to detect any significant difference in means between the groups. The average salt content was measured against the FSA 2024 guidelines on sauce-based foods (≤6 g/100 g). (Reference)

Results

Below are the results as analyzed using the SPSS 26 statistical tool. They included descriptive and inferential analysis.

Table 1.1: frequencies product category

The total number of valid observations was 49 with 0 missing values for all product categories.

Table 1.2: frequencies product subcategory

There were four categories of Chinese cuisine processed foods products (n=4). There were 8.2% (n=4) Chinese ready sauces, 85.7% (n=42) Chinese ready meals, 4.1% (n=2) Japanese ready meal and 2% (n=1) Japanese ready sauces.