Melody in the Middle Ages Essay

In the early Middle Ages, melodic or textual embellishments added to plainchant were referred to as prosulae. In your own words, summarize the types of plainchant to which prosulae were most often added and the reasons for those additions. The Book of Hymns is one prime example of a prosulae. Plainchant was being sung day in and day out by the monks, who had already added some slight melody, but was still not easy to memorize. By adding some rhythm and separation in syllables throughout the melody, a new way to not only memorize the verses, but also present them, was born. In the early Middle Ages, melodic or textual embellishments added to plainchant were referred to as prosulae. In your own words, summarize Notker’s description of how and why he came to add words to melismas, and his teacher Iso’s response. Notker realized as a young child that he wanted to find a way to remember the words to certain melodies, but with them being so long, he could not. When he came across a man with sequenced verses he was at first excited, but soon disappointed as they did no better than the long, monotonous melodies he remembered as a child. When he decided to add words to these verses and took them to his teacher, Iso, he both appreciated and pitied Notker. He went back and corrected some mistakes pointed out by his teacher, and these changes proved to be successful. The new verses were deemed worthy and copied to a roll for the all of the boys to sing.

What Actions Might Be Taken Limit Price Fluctuations?

Title: Distinguish between price elasticity of demand, cross elasticity of demand and income elasticity of demand. What actions might be taken by countries and companies to reduce or limit price fluctuations? Class: Business J Student: Ibrokhim Parviz Student ID: 99592 Tutor name: Sally Word account: Introduction: Nowadays in modern developed market change in prices and other factors are very expected. The change in one of the factors for instance price and effect of it on another factor like demand or supply are measured by elasticity. Elasticity is the measure of how the change in one of the factor will be affected on the other factors.Elasticity measures extent to which demand will change. Measure easily can be calculated in percentage (Anderton 2008). After a calculation of elasticity, it’s divided into three types which are classified by values of elasticity: perfectly elastic-infinity; elastic – if value is greater than one; perfectly inelastic- equals zero; inela stic – if the value of elasticity less than one; unitary elasticity – if the value is exactly one (Anderton 2008). There are four basic types of elasticity measure: Price elasticity of demand; Income elasticity of demand; Cross elasticity of demand and Price elasticity of supply.In this essay will be discussed types of elasticity and government intervention in the open market, benefits and negative impacts (Anderton 2008). Note: New quantity demanded – ^Q; New price – ^P; Original Demand – Q; Original Price – P; Percentage change in quantity demanded-%Q; Percentage change in quantity of supply-%S; Percentage change in Price-%P Formula: P (times) ^Q (over) Q (times) ^P Price Elasticity of Demand: Price Elasticity of Demand or also known as Own Price Elasticity of Demand (PED), measures the responsiveness of change in quantity demanded to change in price.The formula is: percentage change in quantity demanded over the percentage change in price . PED has – (negative) sign in front of it; because as price rises demand falls and vice-versa (inverse relationship between price and demand). Determinants of PED are the availability of substitutes and time. PED have some links with changes in total expenditure (Anderton 2008). Example: After increasing price from P1 to P percentage change in price was 10, demand for good X is decreased from Q1 to Q and percentage change in quantity demanded is 60, what is price elasticity of this good?Solution: Formula is %Q / %D, so 60/10=6. PED is greater than one so its elastic good. Elastic demand curve of the Good X Price P P1 0 Q Q1 Quantity Income Elasticity of Demand: Changes in real income of individuals can change the spending pattern of consumers. For instance if the consumer use to buy ketchup made by supermarket which is Normal good, after the increasing of income he can buy a Heinz ketchup so, Heinz will come as normal good, and the ketchup of supermarket production will be i nferior good (Anderton 2008).This change measured by Income Elasticity of Demand (Anderton 2008). The formula is percentage change in quantity demanded over percentage change in income. If the answer will be positive sign it means its normal good; if negative sign, inferior good. Difference between inferior good and normal is by their income elasticity of demand. For instance holidays and recreational activities are with high income elasticity of demand, whereas washing up liquid have a low income elasticity of demand. If the value of income elasticity is lies between +1 and -1 so its inelastic.If it greater +1 or less than -1 so it is elastic. Example: Demand for housing increase by 10 per cent, simultaneous income of consumers rises by 5 per cent. Calculate income elasticity of demand. Solution: Formula is percentage change in quantity demanded over percentage change in income, so 10/5 = 2. The value of income elasticity of demand is greater than one, so it is elastic. Cross elast icity of demand: As it knows change in price of good can affect change in demand of that good. However, if the goods are substitute or complements, the change of price in one of them, may lead to change in another.Cross elasticity of demand measures this kind of changes (Anderton 2008). Good which are substitutes will have a positive cross elasticity, and if goods are complement, it will have a negative cross elasticity. If the goods have a small relationship between each other the may have a zero cross elasticity. For instance a rise in demand for luxury cars, likely may have no effect on Tipp-Ex. Demand is cross elastic if it is between +1 and -1, if cross elasticity is greater than +1 or less than -1, then it is elastic.Example: Price of macaroni was increased by 10 per cent. Quantity demanded for cheese was increased by 20 per cent. What is cross elasticity of demand. Solution: The formula is Percentage change in quantity demanded of Good X over percentage change in price of Goo d Y. So, 20/10=2. Value is greater than one, so it is elastic. Price elasticity of supply: Also can be measured the responsiveness of quantity supplied to changes in price, this is called Price Elasticity of Supply (Anderton 2008). The formula is: percentage change in supply over percentage change in price.The curve of supply is upward sloping; it means an increase in price leads to an increase in quantity supplied. An elasticity of supply equal one can have a straight line which passes supply curve. For instance if the price of shoes goes up, producers to make more profit produce more shoes which leads to increase the supply. Example: The percentage change in price is 10, the percentage change in quantity supplied is 20. Calculate the price elasticity of supply. Solution: 20/10=2, so product is elastic. Elastic demand curve of the Good X P P1 Price / Q Q1 Quantity The prices of commodity goods are going up and down. The reason of price fluctuation is changes in supply or demand. Eq uilibrium in price find when supply and demand will intersect each other. The change in one of them will cause price fluctuate. For instance the problem with supply may cause poor harvest or loss in production. Change in demand can be caused by change in technology, income or substitutes (Parkin 2010). Mostly in agricultural or commodity markets there is large price fluctuation in price in very short time.This can give negative impact on producers, for instance they may have over or under production in short term; or calculate over or under investment in long terms. Also prices can be too high for essential goods, like bread or rice, problem with this goods can cause a disorder in country caused by young adults which not satisfied with high prices, similar situation was in Egypt in 2011. On the other hand prices can be too low, for instance cigarettes, its generally known that smoking harms health, governments to protect citizens making new rules, for which they spend money, for tha t reason it can make negative impact on governments economic.Another example can be farmers, if the incomes of farmers will be too low, they can leave the land and stop production, so governments needs to decide to increase their incomes (Parkin 2010). Although there is also other motives of intervention government to market. Government can intervene market for benefits of their citizens or themselves. For instance, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC, this organization is a group of countries which sets prices high in long term to increase their revenues (Parkin 2010). By the way theoretically it can increase living standard of citizens that country.Stable prices: The reason why stable prices are important for companies or government is that big firms can have a plan on a long term basis; if consumer spend on one good more than on another it may cause problem for other part of economy of country. Governments of each country decide how to reduce or limit fluctu ation. There are few ways that government can equalize the price and keep it stable. For instance: maximum/minimum prices; encourage the development of substitutes; establish buffer stock; use of subsides; devote more factor resources; export bans or changes in import tariffs.Now will be discussed they ways of intervention with the positive and negative sides. Maximum prices: Government can intervene market and set up new maximum price which will be lover then previous to help consumers in short term be available to purchase that good. In long term in can cause problem, because consumer will demand more, but sellers will supply as usually, so there may be arise problem with excess demand. Minimum prices: Minimum prices are usually to help producers increase their incomes.Negative impact of this change is that consumers can react on higher price of good, and decrease the demand, so in the end there will be excess supply (Parkin 2010). However, there is two solutions for excess supply . One of them is to buy the extra production by the government and sell it back in low prices, sale it to farmers for their animals, offering it to those who in need this good in EU or to sell it to Third World countries at rock bottom prices (Parkin 2010). Another way to solve it is to restrict the production. The government can force the farmers to leave the part of their land uncultivated(Parkin 2010).This can lead to shifting the supply curve to the left. Reducing output to achieve higher prices is the way in which OPEC works(Parkin 2010). New substitutes: Government can encourage new substitutes. For instance substitutes for coal energy can be solar energy or wind energy (Parkin 2010). New substitutes can increase supply, by shifting it to the right and decrease the price. These substitutes at beginning need a lot of investment. They need to be invested in long term to keep it working. Also there is other factors which can decrease or increase spending.For instance if it is dus ty country government need to keep clean the solar energy equipment. So there is needed machinery and people who will keep it clean in every period that needed. Buffer stock: Buffer stock is an organization which buys and sells goods in the open market to stable price in the market. If the price of goods goes down, buffer stock, buys the goods for stabilizing price, if the price goes up, buffer stock sells good, to take price down. The way buffer stock theoretically seems to be easy in practise, but actually it needs a lot of investment (Sloman 2006).First needs in money is for the goods that must be bought in market. Secondly goods must be stored at condition that can keep it over long time for use. For instance rice must be kept in place with access to fresh air in +15 +20 temperature. Thirdly goods must be under security. On the other hand, theoretically buffer stock can bring profit, because the goods are bought in low market price where was intervention and sold below the inter vention. This is mostly with primary products, such as gold, tin and agricultural-wheat and beef. This mainly due to supply side influences.For instance demand and supply for canned tomatoes can be staying same for long term, nearly one year. If there excess in supply, canned tomatoes can be stored, if demand increase they can sell from stored. However, this is different for fresh tomatoes, for instance supply in summer time is great and price relatively low, but in winter time the supply is low and prices are high. Example for intervention of buffer stock on market can be olive oil. In European Union there is excess supply and prices of oil going down. Farmers are disappointed because they lose profits. European Union decided to buy olive oil for 24$ million dollars.Use of subsidies: Government to stabilize the price can use of subsidies. Subsidies is the money which is granted to producers to reduce the production, or to decrease the price. For instance producers of the rice have excess supply over long term which leads to decreasing the price. Next time government gives money for farmers to leave a piece of land uncultivated so there will be no excess supply. The different interventions are likely to be: The different interventions are likely to have some advantages and disadvantages. Government should make a research before starting intervention on market (McDowell 2012).It must be taken into account every question which can be come up in realisation of the project. For instance before encourage new substitutes how it can effect market, is it effective, or how much needed investment for start-up. All this question must be seem from every sides so in the future there will not be problem. Bibliography: Anderton, A (2008). Economics Fifth Edition AQA. 5th ed. Essex: Pearson education. P30-132. McDowell, M. (2012). Economics. London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p45-62. Parkin M. (2010). Economics. 9th ed. US: Pearson. p56-60. Sloman, J. (2006). Economics. 6t h ed. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall. p89-104.

India: A Socialist, Secular and Democratic Country Essay

SOCIALIST The word socialist was added to the Preamble by the 42nd amendment act of 1976, during the Emergency. It implies social and economic equality. Social equality in this context means the absence of discrimination on the grounds only of caste, colour, creed, sex, religion, or language. Under social equality, everyone has equal status and opportunities. Economic equality in this context means that the government will endeavor to make the distribution of wealth more equal and provide a decent standard of living for all. This is in effect emphasizing a commitment towards the formation of a welfare state. India has adopted a mixed economy and the government has framed many laws to achieve the aim. SECULAR The word secular was inserted into the Preamble by the 42nd amendment act of 1976, during the Emergency. It implies equality of all religions and religious tolerance. India, therefore does not have an official state religion. Every person has the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion they choose. The government must not favour or discriminate against any religion. It must treat all religions with equal respect. All citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs are equal in the eyes of law. No religious instruction is imparted in government or government-aided schools. Nevertheless, general information about all established world religions is imparted as part of the course in Sociology, without giving any importance to any one religion or the others. The content presents the basic/fundamental information with regards to the fundamental beliefs, social values and main practices and fesitivals of each established world religions. The Supreme Court in S.R Bommai v. Union of India held that secularism was an integral part of the basic structure of the constitution. DEMOCRATIC India is a democracy. The people of India elect their governments at all levels (Union, State and local) by a system of universal adult franchise; popularly known as ‘One man.

What ideas about gender and sexuality are communicated by contemporary Essay

What ideas about gender and sexuality are communicated by contemporary fashion images - Essay Example (Pleck, 1981) This is the point where ideas about fashion depict society’s gender relations. These ideas will be examined in detail in the subsequent portions the essay. Brod (1995) asserts that in the past, masculinity was clearly defined in the workplace. In the twentieth Century, most men were considered as breadwinners and women were expected to be home makers. However, industrialisation changed this as work became more mechanised. Men were not the only ones who could provide labour. With time, more and more women began penetrating into positions that were previously considered masculine. They started doing clerical jobs and others even took over as the main providers in their families. Eventually, what was considered a male domain had now been changed/. Many philosophers have suggested that this is the source of gender struggles that have been become a common feature in today’s society. Kimmel (1996) explains that the shift in masculinity has created unclear images about the male gender. For instance, one may expect men to show elements of their emotions yet at the same time claim that there should be strong and heroic. Men who may not depict these types of behaviour may be considered a socially deviant. This gender crisis has been depicted in fashion images. Before the crisis, fashion images mostly focused on women as objects of consumption while men on the other hand were objects of production. Most fashion items concentrated on women as their most important clients. However, with the introduction of technology, there was a shift from that point of view. Men were now considered as important consumers. Marketing plans and depictions also depicted masculine fashion items. Perhaps the most outstanding aspect of the corporate world can be seen in the ‘suit’. The male suit is box in shape and creates a regular shape of any wearer hence hiding some of the natural curves associated with individuals.

Managing the library and its staff Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing the library and its staff - Essay Example umerous types of information but still, many of them cannot be verified or has not passed critical academic review that would be valuable for the academe. The library has to cope up with these technological changes. Indexing or cataloguing of references need not be prepared only in index cards but in digital formats as well that can be accessed not only at site but also even at home. OPAC or Online Public Access Catalog enables users to access bibliographic list of a library online (Smith 2005). It is not uncommon that many hard copies of published materials are also published in digital formats. Moreover, libraries exert effort to convert hard copies into digital formats for preservation and posterity, as well as facilitate access by users. Despite the onset of alternative libraries in cyberspace or home libraries in digital formats (e.g. CD, DVD), the traditional institution of the library and librarians will remain important in the academic sphere (The three 2010). However, to maintain the importance of the library, the librarians themselves must be fully equipped to deliver the appropriate services to the users. The librarians should be instilled with the knowledge on the technological developments and skills. To have an efficient library, the staff must be properly managed. A library usually survives on a limited budget, with a larger percentage to be allotted to acquisition of materials. The budget must be considered in order to properly manage the whole system. The complement includes the administrative personnel, the frontline staff and technical services. The technical personnel work â€Å"behind the scenes† and consist of the â€Å"selection, acquisition, cataloguing, classification, typing, binding, conservation, and related services† (Nwalo 2003, cited in Oyelude & Ola 2008, para. 1). Budget cuts can result to reduction in library hours, or decrease in the number of personnel, acquisition of materials, and the needed training of personnel. An annual

Polio Vaccine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Polio Vaccine - Research Paper Example Polio victims constitute the vulnerable members of the population such as young children, pregnant women and people suffering from low immunity weakened by other medical conditions. Other risk factors associated with polio transmission include visiting polio prone areas, living with people suffering from the infection, working in the laboratory where scientists have kept live polio virus and removing tonsils. Poliovirus enters the environment through feces of an infected person. Transmission occurs through fecal-oral route via contaminated food and water. Additionally, direct contact with a victim can cause the transmission of poliovirus. People who stay close to one another for some time can experience the transfer of the virus from the infected to the new victim since it is highly contagious. The worst symptoms of polio are paralysis and death. Nonparalytic polio causes flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and sore throat, vomiting, back and neck pain and muscle spasms, which last for a few days (John & Vashishtha, 2012). Forms of Polio Vaccines The forms of polio vaccines that have been recommended include inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and oral polio vaccine (OPV). Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine IPV consists of a series of injections, which begin at two months after birth and continue until a child attains the age of four to six years. The reason for administering three spaced dozes is to generate adequate levels of seroconversion. Most countries consider adding a booster dose during adulthood. The inactivated poliovirus vaccine is created from inactivated poliovirus. Inactive poliovirus is safe and effective, thus cannot cause polio. Inactivated polio vaccine is made from killed wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype. Doctors recommend lone dissemination for IPV or

How Sexuality is Simultaneously a Personal, Social, Structural, Essay

How Sexuality is Simultaneously a Personal, Social, Structural, Historical and Culturally Specific - Essay Example â€Å"Children sent the wrong message about sex† by Ann Whittaker, dated 6 June 2006, published in Western Morning News (Plymouth), this paper seeks to examine how sexuality is simultaneously a personal social, structural, historical and culturally specific. The paper will discuss how society views these young people and attitudes towards their sexuality. The language used when discussing the context of their sexuality along with the role of sex education and the role of family and society will be discussed. Hormonal changes and social attitudes are key drivers of sexuality. For many young people, sex is something that excites them and an area they wish to explore. The sexual behavior of adults to influences children. Today’s teenagers and children are aware that many adults have sex outside marriage and are often not committed to a single partner. They take a cue from such behavior and believe that it is alright to lead a promiscuous life. (BBC) Driven by advertising images, social communication and other inputs on sexual behavior, young minds are keen to experiment with sex. All the articles accept that social values are fast changing. In the contemporary society, it is generally accepted that young people are likely to indulge in sexual activity before marriage and in sex without commitment. However, the writers of these articles seem to view children and teenagers as vulnerable and immature. While they understand that sexual behavior is an issue of personal choice, as a society they express their concern for these young people and the urgent need to take adequate steps to prevent them from indulging in immature and irresponsible sexual behavior that could leave them scarred for life.

Cybersecurity Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Cybersecurity - Coursework Example This is because it is distinctive to a message, small changes to a message causes a different has, therefore, warning of interference. Symmetric methods may be the most suitable for securing movie videos from unlawful viewing while kept on servers in the cloud. A sender may use a key to program a message into cipher text. The receiver may employ the identical key to decipher it. This will permit only individuals who have authorization to the movie videos to view them. (Delfs & Knebl, 2007). Yes. The American government can employ a cloud-based model to enhance its operations. This is because applications of cloud technology do not rely on on-site staff or agency servers. A cloud-based computing model is beneficial in several ways. One, it will reduce governmental cost. Payments are made incrementally. Two, the government can save more information than on private systems. Third, government officials can access data from any place. Fourth, government agencies can collaborate and communicate efficiently (Rabkin & Zaharia, 2010). Community cloud model should be utilized for inter-agency connections. This is because this model shares resource among a number of organizations from an area with mutual interests, for example, jurisdiction, compliance, and security, whether managed by a third-party or internally and hosted outwardly or inwardly. The expenses are shared among less people than a public cloud (Zittrain, 2008). Meaning, only certain cost savings ability of cloud computing are fulfilled. Hybrid Cloud should be utilized for the public-private partnership critical infrastructure. A hybrid cloud entails a blend of a private and public cloud that work together, but remain sole units. This provides the advantage of numerous deployment models. Public-private partnerships are able to get levels of locally immediate usability and fault tolerance without depending on the connectivity of the internet when they use hybrid cloud for its critical

Deploying military values in the classroom to promote the goals and Dissertation

Deploying military values in the classroom to promote the goals and fidelity of the TTT program - Dissertation Example The military personnel get stipends or bonuses and agree in return to teach for three years in public schools. Military personnel who have a college degree are eligible to begin the process of getting the teaching certification so as to become an academic subject teacher. The paper will look at how deploying military values in the classroom help in promoting the goals and fidelity of the TTT program. The teacher shortage has continued to grow and school districts are increasingly turning to TTT to overcome the shortage Bank, (2007). The realization is that School districts that hire one military veteran through TTT most of the time always come back looking for more similar TTT teachers The Military veterans working as the TTT teachers have established a reputation as excellent teachers and exemplary role models for today’s students.   The breadth of experience, dedication, leadership skills, maturity and commitment that former marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen bring to t he classroom are attributes sought by public school administrators and parents Bank, (2007). This has led the TTT teachers to build a very good reputation to both administrators and principals in schools where they serve. The TTT programme headquarters office sent out recently a survey to 1,000 principals regarding the teachers who have come from the program. There were more than 800 replies from the survey. 17 percent from the survey received an average for performance, and more than 75 percent scored above average and higher. This shows how the school systems are finding former military members to be very valuable assets. They bring leadership skills, something they practiced with their troops. Bringing a lot of leadership experience to the classroom which is helpful to the students. The cultural diversity experience the former military personnel bring to the class room is of great importance. It comes as an added bonus which the program is providing the students who also come fro m various backgrounds. What comes with this is a strong male presence which schools are looking for. This is particular important due to the fact most of the low income schools have students with no male presence in their lives. The TTT program provides a stronger presence of male and minority teachers at the elementary level. In a study carried out in Florida, 6,500 students took part in the study. Their reading and mathematics performance was checked after being taught by the TTT teachers. Results from the study indicated that students taught by the TTT teachers performed equally well in reading and also achieved a marginal significant advantage in mathematics. The study focused on the issues such as accountability and achievement which are key values in the military. Clodfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, and Diaz (2004) note that school based accountability has become a problematic problem in recent year. This in return has led to poor performing among students making it difficult to attract high quality teachers. The TTT program has now made that possible. The fact that the TTT teachers, demonstrate the willingness to work in those particular settings has ensured success of the programme. Teacher Quality and Student Achievement Educational research found out that there is a correlation between the quality of the classroom teacher affects the outcome of students learning. The study continues to say that the teacher quality is the most important school factor in predicting

Criminological research Essay Example for Free

Criminological research Essay Longitudinal Approach to Chicago Crime Research The Project on Human Development in Chicago Research conducted a research regarding the historical origins of crime using the statistical longitudinal approach — eight-year-follow-up from 1993 to 2001 on 11,000 individuals with equal male to female ratio in nine different age groups selected at random from 70 different communities— and the developmental crime analysis using multi-field approaches from various related studies in criminology, sociology, psychology and biology. The Project is based at Harvard School of Public Health and is jointly sponsored by National Institute of Justice and MacArthur Foundation. The project attempted to explain the psychological and criminological determinants of the city in response to the mounting crime rates from the years 1960’s to current. In lieu with this, the project also aimed to find ‘solutions’ through the aforementioned multi-disciplinary analysis combined with therapeutic intervention analysis. Understanding criminal behavior entails identification of the source (from birth to adulthood), the developmental origin and environmental influences. Main areas for the study include individual differences, influences from family, school, peer and community, criminal careers, predictions of dangerousness. Data collection is by multistream STORI approach—self-reports tests and examinations, observational procedures (surveys and interviews), existing records, and informant reports. Community, as a determinant, is analyzed through systemic social observation. Changes in family structure is measured at several factors including the individual and/or mixed effect of household environment, care providers, key figures , presence of extended family, quality of upbringing, and the relationships within. The impact of racism on construction of identity of the samples was also considered. Gender-specific roles was also investigated–— why males tend to be more violent and the females more into sexual and property offenses  ¬Ã¢â‚¬â€ their differential response to developmental determinants, individuality, and social behavior with focus between adolescence-adulthood period. Antisocial behavior as exhibited by criminal behavior is evaluated at traumatic stress (and PTSD), abuse and child development; the coping mechanism and resilience and cycle of violence hypotheses is evaluated in line with this. Aside from exploring the history and patterns of anti-socialism, the project maimed at creating intervention programs at the following age group to prevent recidivism: 0-6 (improved social skills and cognitive stimulation); and young adolescents (modeling, peer leader and educ films); young adults (probation and diversion programs). Testing persistence-desistence hypothesis by using various theories [ (bio-psych development, social learning and control, social organization, network, rational choice and deterrence theory)] with focus on peer relations will also be included in the Project. The Project also aimed at creating a pragmatic, large-scale approach for crime prevention by testing their hypothesis on differential social organization, individual differences, peer groups and social networks. The Project’s scheme is rather ambitious considering that it requires an 8 year statistical analysis, only 200 field experts and one co-sponsor (aside from the federal). While it is true that ‘meta-analysis’ can be applicable for such types of study, there are problems in statistical method sampling especially if the test samples ‘migrated’ or ‘died’ before the end of the project. Would the Project resort to attrition analysis? The investigation may also be weak because it relies on questionnaires and interviews, and most criminals, in reality, rarely talk about their life. Technology should also be assessed for the study. Additionally, the methods used, although very extensive, may be very tiring to the staff. Although the objectives of the study are great, the methods require extensive staffing and careful management and (detached) association with the samples in the study. Reference Earls, F. J. and Reiss, A. J. (1994). Breaking the Cycle. NIJ Research Report. 91 pp.

Mobile commerce | An introduction

Mobile commerce | An introduction CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Mobile Commerce (m-commerce) can be widely defined as â€Å"any transaction, involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods and services, which is initiated and/or completed by using mobile access to computer-mediated networks with the help of an electronic device†. (R. Tiwari, and S. Buse. 2007)Business-to-consumer (B2C) mobile commerce (m-commerce) refers to consumers sharing information and purchasing products and services from sellers with their mobile devices (Balasubramanian et al. 2002). With the continuous development of telecommunication technology, mobile services ranges from email receiving and sending, shopping for goods and services, playing online interactive games, trading stocks and shares, reserve tickets, conduct banking and monetary transactions and even link to social networking sites to connect with friends.Mobile commerce constitutes payment for such goods, services and information. Users access a website or wireless access protocol (WAP) by entering the web address (URL) of the particular products required via the mobile phone browser. Text messaging (SMS) is another way users can ‘communicate with third party service provider. Depending on the tangibility of the product, the delivery of the product can be in the form of physical collection or downloaded digitally into the mobile devices. 1.1 Evolution of Mobile Commerce Finland is the ‘birthplace of Mobile Commerce. In 1997, the first SMS-activated Coca Cola vending machines was installed in Helsinki. Same year, mobile-based finance and banking service were also launched. Finland is also the place where the first sales of digital content, ring tones were downloaded to mobile phones, were made. In 1999, Philippines and Japan commenced a national commercial platform for mobile commerce, known as SMART and i-Mode respectively. Subsequently, mobile commerce associated services begun to sprout rapidly in other markets, from mobile parking in Norway, to sales of train tickets via mobile phones in Austria to the purchase of airline tickets in Japan. From 2002, public transportation commuters in Helsinki are able to purchase tram and undergrounds train tickets via mobile phones. The cost of the tickets is the same as those bought from a machine but without the queue. In Colorado, it is one of the first few places whereby one can order movie tickets and pay via mobile phone. A dedicated counter is arranged for the pick-up. Mobile vouchers or coupons are visible in many countries from Finland, Spain, Germany, and United States to Japan. The promotional items offered on discounts ranges from laptops to McDonalds. Ring tone and wallpaper downloading have been one of the first widely used mobile commerce services. Some mobile services providers offer mobile news services, such as headlines, sports, weather, sports to mobile subscriber, sometimes free when sponsored by mobile advertiser or at a monthly subscription cost to the user. Small-scaled mobile commerce doesexist in most markets, from SMS voting in reality shows like ‘American Idol to participate in promotion lucky draws to downloading mobile ringtones. External environmental factors do play a part in promoting the mobile commerce growth. Worldwide expansion of digitalisation and automation of sales proceduresin the e-business and e-commerce on the Internet allow easier transference to the mobile commerce environment. 1.2 Technology Mobile commerce is actualised by a series of interlinked technologies such as networking, embedded systems, databases and security. (Siau et al, 2003). Mobile devices, wireless systems and softwares enable a faster transmission of data, along with reliability and security. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is the second generation (2G) after the analogue cellular era. It is the basic circuit-switched system whereby users need to dial in to maintain connection. The 2.5G technologies consist of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data GSM Environment where they make used of existing infrastructure but faster in terms of sending speed. This generation of mobile technology is meant for transference of multimedia and broadband applications. The third generation (3G) uses the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), which strives to provide higher bandwidth, faster transmission of voice, text, video, and multimedia for data-concentrated applications. UMTS allows users to be constantly connected to the Internet and its services worldwide, regardless of the devices (mobile or computers) used. As such, the mobile device can be integrated with functions of other equipment such as television, newspaper, organiser, computer and even credit card. In order to access web information to the mobile devices, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was designed. As an open and global standardisation for mobile applications, WAP aimed to connect and communicate mobile devices with other devices over wireless network on an interactive and real-time interface. Global Positioning System (GPS) uses a satellites system orbiting around the earth and is particularly useful location technology. It is essential to location based mobile commerce based applications, as it offers relevant information dependent on location. 1.3 Role of channel provider The roles of the 3G operators are more obvious than the voice-centric 2G. In fact, how these operators facilitate their roles will determine the adoption of mobile commerce. The carrier or Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the entity that delivers the data to and from the user. The initial stage of 3G-standardisation process started with dual layer model, the pure carrier and service and/or connection provider. It is viewed that this model will continue with carriers bring the main subscription provider. The gateway or portal is the entity centred to the services range. It is still unclear whether carrier will control it wholly. Regardless, it is definite that the number of content provider will increase. The role of banks in mobile commerce is considered critical since ease of payment is one of the determinant factors in adoption of mobile commerce. Certification authority is the entity that guarantees the transactions between the origin and destination. In addition to the above mentioned infrastructure requirements, a smartcard called UMTS Subscriber Identity Card (USIM) is compulsory in every device n order to make phone calls. The basic functions for USIM are security via shared secret key, personal information manager, and SIM toolkit applications. USIM is also a platform for applications or features such as public key security content copyright control, specification and cookies, data or application cache, authentication of users and plastic roaming. 1.4 Development of Mobile Commerce The extensive availability of Internet-accessible mobile phones is slowly creating a community of mobile commerce users. It is expected that this community might exceed the PC community. (Ahonen, 2002) With technology such as WAP or 3G, it is believed that electronic commerce information and/or interactive content will be adapted to the mobile commerce environment. While the majority of mobile commerce opportunities and purchases are business-to-consumer (B2C), the possibility of business-to-business (B2B) still stands. It is predicted that business users and their requirements will be fulfilled by the 3G services. A report by Accenture in 2001 â€Å"Future of Wireless†, has suggested that most business activities are easily accommodated for mobile commerce. With the rapid spread of mobile commerce, mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola and LG had began to develop WAP-enabled smart phones to exploit on the market potential. Interestingly, it was the introduction of Apples iPhone mobile commerce based systems like FanGo that the platform started to move into actual applications instead of SMS systems. The key advantage of mobile commerce services is the mobility of conveniences. Mobile commerce allows users the ability to execute transactions regardless of the location and time. With such uniqueness, mobile commerce has experienced relatively greater success in markets like Japan in regards to individual adoption rate. In comparison, this novelty technology has yet to achieve widespread popularity in other markets like the USA, Australia and Singapore. Mobile commerce actualise the possibility of accessing information at anywhere and anytime. It provides users the chance to access the Internet regardless of location (subject to the network coverage of mobile internet operators), the ability to identify a single mobile devices location (Global Positioning System) and to retrieve and/or update information whenever needed. The features of mobile commerce can be categorised into the following: Ubiquity. The most distinct advantage of mobile commerce is its ubiquity. With internet-enabled mobile devices, users can obtain any information required. Also, the emerging mobile commerce applications allow users to engage in activities such as instant messaging, linking to social networking websites, conducting financial transactions or looking up for weather news. Dissemination: The wireless infrastructure that support instantaneous delivery of data to mobile devices allows an efficient distribution of information to a population. Personalisation. With the massive amount of information available on the Internet, it is important that the content users receive is relevant. Mobile commerce companies can create applications that allow customizable information and services applicable to users. Localisation. Another significant feature will be the ability to identify users physical location with prompted the creation of location-based applications. The Sekai Camera created by Tonchidot is one example of how far such applications can go. (Figure) Source: http://popupcity.net/2009/01/tag-the-world-share-spaces/ CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND 2.1 Mobile Commerce in Singapore Mobile commerce innovations were also introduced. June 2001, Coca-Cola partnered with SingTel on a Dial-a-Drink scheme to enable consumers to buy drinks from the vending machines via SMS, cost of the drinks will be credited to their phone bills. M1 has a similar development with Yeo Hiap Seng too. The largest taxi fleet company, ComfortDelgro, started a free SMS taxi booking service. This service, aimed to better match demand and supply, offers commuters an alternative channel to book a taxi apart from the â€Å"call-a-cab† scheme. Another interested application of mobile commerce will be the audience polling. When television station and/or web-based TV reality contests was newly introduced into the local media scene, audience support through SMS voting was a common trend. Although the hype is fading, SMS voting is still an alternative for media contests on top of online voting. It is evident in the Singapore Blog Awards 2009 where Rednano Mobile, the mobile platform of rednano.sg, powers SMS voting. Increasingly, real-time SMS service like messageLIVE provided by SingTel are used at events where audience can participate in lucky draws, comment, etc via SMS and it will be instantaneously reflected on screen. SMS transaction has been seen in local television charity shows such as the President Star Charity Show. It is observed that mobile payment method plays an important part to the success of mobile commerce. There had been several mobile payment initiatives launched in Singapore. Local banks have started rolling out mobile banking services way back in 2001. TELEMONEY by [emailprotected] Pte Ltd has also implemented mobile payment systems for retail and parking charges at Suntec City. NETS, too, phase in YW8 whereby moviegoers can reserve and purchase Eng Wah cinema tickets. However, the demand for these services was so low that some services ceased to exist. One of the main reasons for the unpopularity then was the complex usage procedure for mobile payments. Users first have to register and remember a sixteen-digit personal identification number. After which, users will be required to either send Short Message Service (SMS) or dial a specific number to confirm any purchase. Such inconveniences make mobile payment schemes difficult to gain prevalence. Nonetheless, there have been ongoing efforts to improve the telecommunication technology such as Near Field Communications (NFC) and mobile scan technology to facilitate mobile commerce. NFC allows users to make payment by tapping their mobile devices against a reader. Mobile scan technology involves the using of camera in mobile phone as barcode reader. Mobile barcodes are commonly used for information or service request or content from a website. It can be promotion details, discount voucher or code via SMS or MMS, or ring tone, MP3, or game download or activation, or click to buy human agent, or purchase concert or travel ticket. The set up costs is usually the responsibility of the products company while partnering with a mobile payment service provider. While Mobile commerce now remains at infant stage, there are a myriad of companies looking into SMS-based applications and WAP. The InfoComm development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has on-going research to identify the current local mobile commerce industry status and thereafter implemented several initiatives to encourage and support companies on mobile applications and/or platform development. At the official opening of imbX 2009, it was announced by Minster Lui Tuck Yew that the government intend to allocate $1.73 billion for new infocomm projects. Part of these projects will include the deployment of contactless point-of-sale terminals via NFC to promote electronic payment adoption and developing of applications on mobile commerce platform, location-based services and novel original mobile services. It is observed that service provider in the mobile commerce value chain, such as the wireless application providers, mobile operators, and other players, have been swift to introduce applications to the mass-market. However, the rate of adoption has been somewhat pale. 2.2 Statistics As of June 2009, Singapore has a mobile penetration rate of 130.6%. It is very common to for consumers to own more than one mobile device each. The mobile penetration rate has been on a steadily increase since 1997. 2009 also indicate an uprising trend lest for the stark drop of 3.2% in June 2009. While the mobile subscriptions averaged around 64000, the number of 3G subscriptions has increased over the past six months. Despite the positive increment, the market share of mobile commerce has yet to pick up similar pattern. Singapore pales comparison to Japan wheremobile commerce is a huge success, attributing more than $400 million in revenues yearly. NTT DoCoMos popular i-mode service allows users to buy soft drinks from vending machine, pay for food at fast food restaurants, and shop at online shops like Amazon.com, and buy most of goods via DoCoMos billing system. Companies like Visa also offer m-commerce services in Japan. Chart 2.1: Mobile Penetration Rate of Singapore, Q1-Q2 2009 Source: Statistics on Telecom Services for 2009 (Jan Jun), IDA Singapore. http://www.ida.gov.sg/Publications/20090304182010.aspx Chart 2.2: Singapore Mobile Market Source: Statistics on Telecom Services for 2009 (Jan Jun), IDA Singapore. http://www.ida.gov.sg/Publications/20090304182010.aspx Chart 2.3: Mobile Penetration Rate of Singapore, Annual, 1997-2008 Source: Statistics on Telecom Services for 2009 (Jan Jun), IDA Singapore. http://www.ida.gov.sg/Publications/20090304182010.aspx CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Mobile Commerce Process Mobile commerce consists of users participation in transactions via mobile terminals. From a users point of view, retrieving and sending information and purchasing products are regarded as the basic steps to mobile commerce. Most mobile commerce studies focused mainly on the purchasing stage but customers are involved in receiving and transferring information at the pre-purchase stage. Receiving information consists of conveying of information from seller to users mobile device. As it is important for customers to know about the products, make comparison between products and then make buying decision. Transferring information represent the directing of information from user to sellers. The information can be used to describe product and services requirements, registering, providing feedback and offering payment and/or delivery details. Purchasing is the act of buying products and services via mobile devices in return of monetary returns. The act of placing orders can be done through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) properties of mobile device. It does not include making order by calling the seller from mobile phone. 3.2 Mobile Commerce Adoption Activators and Inhibitors There are a significant number of studies carried out to identify and predict the upcoming activators and inhibitors of mass-market mobile commerce adoption. As seen in the review here, different authors have highlighted different factors as key activators/inhibitors to the adoption of mobile commerce. Gillick and Vanderhoof (2000) suggest five broad-natured inhibitors, namely the technology, standardization of industry, the business case, expectations of consumers, security and reliability. The last factor is one of the most commonly quoted. Most authors have quoted the lack of security and privacy could be the main obstacle to the growth of mobile commerce. E-Mori conducted a multi-market study for Nokia Networks and it was found that the lack of perceived need (Signorini, 2001), conservatism, and perceptions relating to the reliability and security of the technology are the main hurdles to adoption of mobile commerce; while convenience and control are found to be the key determina nts of demand. Buellingen and Woerter (2002) emphasize four vital success factors for the use of mobile services transmission rate, personalisation, data security, and user friendliness. Based on a survey by Strong and Old (2000) propose that ease of having ubiquitous Internet access will be the most essential for customers to engage in mobile Internet applications. The authors noticed substantial obstacles to rapid adoption to mobile Internet in the future are lack of awareness in content and application, high operating costs and the unfavourable comparison towards mobile Internet in terms of small screen size, awkward input, poor search functions, unstable or expensive connections, etc. On the other hand, many studies disputed on the fact that mobile commerce may encounter considerable growth with non-Internet adopters because of the lower costs and ease of usage with mobile devices involved. (MÃÆ' ¼ller-Versee, 1999; Vittet- Philippe and Navarro, 2000; Ropers, 2001) Vittet- Philippe and Navarro (2000) and Green (2000) believe that ‘user-friendly is the main point for mobile commerce adoption. As such, the limitations like small screen size, low bandwidth and the basic functions of mobile devices influence the design of mobile commerce applications interface. Likewise, the survey conducted by Carlsson and Walden (2002) noted that slowness in speed of service and small screen size of mobile phones attributed to the hindrance in mobile commerce adoption. On the other hand, Langendoerfer (2002) assumes that technological matters such as technical environment and mobile devices will not be the main reason for the slowness in widespread usage of mobile commerce. Rather, the concerns of users such as privacy and security have a larger influence on the slow take off. Shuster (2001) hypothesize that pricing will definitely have an influence on mobile commerce adoption. â€Å"Improved mobile devices, user-friendly shopping interfaces, effective applications and services, reduced prices, secure transactions, high bandwidth and network coverage† are the list of key success factors for escalating mobile commerce adoption from the online survey by Vrechopoulos et al (2002) It is also highlighted from a consumer survey (Anckar, 2002b) that mobile commerce adoption is driven by â€Å"convenience and flexibility to daily routines rather than excitement and entertainment†. It is also found out that consumers regard the function to fulfill instantaneous and time-sensitive needs as important adoption drivers of mobile commerce. Prior research has somewhat indicated that the main factors influencing the decision to adopt mobile commerce related to the services or device features has gone beyond the traditional function of a mobile phone, i.e. one-to-one voice communication. In line with this theory, consumer will be encouraged towards mobile commerce based on the fact that mobile device in transforming into a personal device, via which various transactions and activities can be carried out. 3.3 Traditional models Several studies have been carried out using conventional adoption theories and models like the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TBP). However, the main conclusion drawn by many authors was that traditional models are lacking to derive significant deduction on the determinants of individual adoption or rejection of mobile commerce. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), the behaviour prior to any act (behavioural intentions) is established by variables like Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). A users attitude linking to using mobile device to obtain, transmit information and purchase is believed to influence the users intention to carry out the three behaviours. Subjective norm is believed to have the same effects on users too. PBC is a factor of intended users behaviour via increasing insight of control, assurance and ease of performing act. Based on the research by Pavlou et al, (2007), the model of m-commerce adoption emphasize largely on â€Å"technology adoption (perceived usefulness and ease of use), technological characteristics (mobile device display features, mobile device portability, and mobile site navigability and download delay), information characteristics (mobile site informativeness, information protection, and personalization), and consumer characteristics (mobile users skills)†. TAM has influence many information system based findings (such as Lee et al., 2002; OCass and Fenech, 2003) pertaining to information technology adoption in set or mobile environment. Although many studies are in favor of TAM as a model to explain the decision of acceptance, it is still uncertain if the model is entirely appropriate with regards to different channels. The decisions to adopt mobile commerce are very different from the decision to adopt technology for carrying reasons. Firstly, users adopt mobile commerce as a new channel of commerce rather than as technology per se. Second, mobile commerce may consist of transactional and non- transactional element. This means that adopters intent to engage in mobile commerce should be viewed holistically. (Pavlou, 2002) As such, we need differentiate between the various levels of mobile commerce adoption as we study consumer adoption decision. Third, Eikebrokk and Sorebo (1998) pointed out that TAM is generally applied to singular target situation, based on the assumption that potential users are only faced with one specific technology. It is therefore argued that to acquire valid forecasts and justifications of technology acceptance with TAM since users are presented with situation whereby they can choose among alternative channels. Fourth, it is argued that TAM itself is imperfect as it does no t considered the influence of social factors in the adoption and usage of new technology or system. This shortcoming has to be taken into consideration when examining the adoption factors. Last, TAM assumes that usage is free and voluntary, that there are no obstacles to prevent user from adopting any technology as long as wanting to do so. This has lead to criticism from several researchers (Mathieson et al, 2001) and prompted some authors to supplement TAM with theories that hypothesize perceived risks as a pre-condition to the mobile commerce adoption. Pavlou (2002) emphasizes that the proliferation of the Internet has brought uncertainty and risk in the adoption of system. It therefore require the integration of variables that capture concepts in current technology adoption models by reflecting that trust and perceived risk are directly linked to the intent to transact via mobile devices. One reason for the inadequacy of traditional models is that the relationship between users and mobile commerce has not been clearly defined. Past methods only analysed the interaction between the users and the technology or between people in a network connections. On the contrary, mobile commerce users interrelate in three directions, in technological aspect, as members of networks and as consumers. These three roles need to be incorporated in order to achieve a greater understanding of mobile commerce adoption. The adoption of mobile commerce the interaction of consumers and sellers via mobile transactions is different from the usual electronics commerce due to the nature of location-independence, instantaneous real-time exchanges, the distinctive interface of mobile devices, and the unique aspect of mobile devices like small screen size and low bandwidth. Therefore, mobile adoption is not merely an issue of usability of system or acceptance of technology. It should include several consumer pre-purchase actions such as researching for information, providing details and act of purchasing using mobile devices. This paper will re-examine present literature of voluntary adoption of m-commerce services by individuals to emphasize the need to approach the three aspects of mobile commerce together in order to attain a holistic comprehension. The current mobile commerce industry of Singapore will be evaluated based in this research. It will enable stakeholders of the mobile commerce industry to gain informative insight on the acceptance of mobile services. Hence, this will result in wiser decision-making in terms of business strategies and provision of the product and services. CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 4.1 Survey The self-administered survey was hosted online on speedsurvey.com, under the domain http://mobilecommercesingapore.speedsurvey.com/. The reason for having such an unsupervised survey technique was that the 16 questions were simple to understand and followed a direct logic. The respondents are made up of 12 females and 24 males and all the respondents own a mobile phone. They survey instrument covered 16 questions pertaining to the users insight and purpose associated to mobile commerce and also their experience with the mobile commerce and mobile Internet. In this paper, there is a section in the questionnaire where the respondents were requested to specify to what extent does they agree or disagree with the statement related to the considered significance of different proposed benefits and obstacles to mobile commerce. The data collected were used to identify the activators and inhibitors that cover critical or non-critical factors that impact consumers decision in adoption or not adopting mobile commerce. 4.2 Results and Discussion Over 41% of the respondent have a bachelor degree and about 50% of them holds a master or doctorate degree. All the respondents own a mobile phone and about 75% have Apple iPhone. This will mean that their service provider is SingTel since the Telecommunication Company has a monopoly on the distribution of the Apple iPhone until 2010 when the other 2 Telecommunication Company will also have the distributor rights. Incidentally, it is reflected from the data collection that the most common item purchase via mobile is the phone applications. Also known as widgets, these applications can be downloaded on the iApps or iTunesstore via the phone Internet browser. In terms of frequency, it is has the most recent item purchase. More then 40% of the respondent has purchase widgets for the past 1 week. Out of the 36 respondents, 34 of them has purchased (buy/order/reserve/download) item at least once for the past 12 months. None of them has bought items off the vending machine via the mobile p hone. The purchase of other items such as requesting for information and buying multimedia content by SMSto a specific 5-digit number are rather sporadic. Over 40% of the respondents agree that using mobile commerce saves them time, with the other 30% strongly agreeing. There are about 70% of them who see that using mobile commerce is fashionable and trendy. With regards to the mobile commerce being an invasion of privacy, there are equal responses from those who agree, strong agree and disagree. However, about 80% of the respondents think that it is safe to make purchases using mobile commerce. The majority of the respondents agree that they have the necessary means and resources to use mobile commerce. Same, the respondents also agree that they will seek information about the new product or services. Among those that had never performed a mobile transaction before, the reasons mainly evolved around unawareness. Mostly, they are do not possess enough information to get started or use it, or no idea how much it will cost. It is much preferred to use other devices such as computer or payment kiosks such as SAM or AXS to perform the transaction. It is commonly believe that mobile commerce is expensive and will cost too much. However, it is indicated that they are willing to try to mobile commerce mainly if it was easier to obtain information from the Internet via mobile phone. This will also comprise of ease of access to rich media on mobile devices and user-friendly navigation on their mobile devices. 4.3 Limitations of the survey The data collected from the survey is highly non conclusive for several reason. Firstly, the size of respondents is less than 50; therefore the results are not substantial. Secondly, the profile of the respondents is too skewed towards certain segments; mainly male that has Apple iPhone. Hence, the data is not representative enough. Thirdly, the structure of the survey was not well organised. The lack of logic and guided instructions, which is critical in self-administered survey, may somewhat confused respondent. 4.4 Suggestions for future research It is seen that Apple iPhone may be a boosting factor for the future mobile commerce phenomenon. The intuitive design and ease of navigation of the iPhone may propel more and more users to perform mobile commerce transaction. Also, with the fact that all three Telecommunication Companies are offering iPhone from 2010, it is believe that the market share of iPhone will expand rapidly. It is therefore suggest that an iPhone focus study may be undertaken in the future to better understand the effect of iPhone, iPhone applications, iApps, and iTunes store on mobile com Qualitative and Quantitative Research on Fear of Crime: Rape Qualitative and Quantitative Research on Fear of Crime: Rape Research Portfolio Introduction The beginning of this portfolio will be introduced by two main types of crime data. They come in the form of qualitative and quantitative. They both show and represent crime in different way, and it also gives a clear idea of how crime has a big impact. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but this portfolio will examine their differences along with their similarities. They both have something to offer researchers and can also be mutually exclusive. Following this, the portfolio will include a personal observational experience that explores the process of effective data collecting. The method of observation has many strengths yet many flaws, and obtain qualitative data. This final part of the portfolio will also examine the sexual violence in relation to gender, with research to support it. It will use statistics to weight up and support the argument. Portfolio Part 1: The Difference Between Qualitative and Quantitate Research. There are two types of data when it comes to research; Qualitative and Quantitate. Quantitative data is the process of managing the natural world through a mathematical formula, especially statistics. Crowther (2007, p.72) suggests that ‘Quantification is, inescapably, about counting the number of cases. There is a belief that the number of cases provides a reliable measure of a particular aspect of the social world’. Quantitate data is fact and cannot be questioned; in contrast to this qualitative data is more difficult to define as it focuses on getting quality rich data that gives great understanding. One major debate of Qualitative research is whether statistics and numbers can tell us anything of important or substantial about social life. Crowther (2007, p.76) proposed that ‘Quantitative data does not capture the complexity of human experience. It is not possible to deal with human emotions and subjectivity. Statistics are not facts that exist independently o f human interpretation: they can only be made meaningful as part of an interpretive process.’ Quantitate research tends to be on a relatively large scale, having large amounts of numerical data and using statistical procedures to analyse the data and reach conclusions; it tries to find ‘representative samples and generalizable finding’. In contrast to this qualitative research tends to have much smaller samples, and therefore is on a much smaller scale (Newburn, 2007, pp.898-899).Qualitative data is ‘large, unwieldy database of transcripts, fieldnotes and/or documents and the aim of this discussion is to explain how these data can be managed and analysed. However, unlike quantitative data, there can be no clear-cut and widely accepted ‘rules’ or procedures for qualitative analysis’ (Crowe and Semmens, 2006, p.176). A Quantitative research method is surveys. They are extremely large scale and can be sent out to almost anyone, most people have participated in a survey in their lifetime. Surveys obtain data through a standardised questionnaire and although they are primarily used for large amounts of quantitative data, they can also have a qualitative element (Newburn, 2007, p.899). One of the most common form of survey is postal survey, they are extremely easy, cheap and simple. Postal surveys are self-completed, which may explain why the response rates are very low; even if someone may be interested in completing the survey they may just forget, as it is not a top priority. In contrast face-to-face interviews have a much greater compliance and also they can sort out any misunderstandings the participant may have about the questionnaire (Newburn, 2007, p.900). Telephone surveys are in the middle postal and interview surveys, as they are more personal than postal but less expensive than face to fa ce. This method has practical issues, such as how will the researcher obtain the numbers to have generalised data? Even after overcoming this obstacle there is still the issue of mobile phones being turned off and going through to voicemail. The last type of survey of internet based surveys, they are also cheap and easy but like telephone surveys if depends on whether the researcher has the appropriate contact information like emails; internet based surveys also compare to postal surveys as the response rate is very low (Newburn, 2007, p.901). Surveys are known for being easy but Crowe and Semmens (2006, p.131) suggest that ‘this apparent simplicity can, however, be deceptive since your chosen means of administration is not guaranteed to produce reliable results, or a high response rate’. There are three types of interviews; structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. Structures falls into the quantitate category whereas semi-structured and unstructured fall into the qualitative category. Structured interviews are planned out with set questions without deviation and are ‘good at finding number of time an individual has been a victim of crime over the past 12 months. But cannot tell the subjective experience of victimisation’ (Crowther, 2007, p.100). Unstructured research allows the investigator an understanding of depth and detail and how participants perceive matters. Each question is open ended with no structure and the interview is very much like a conversation, but with the interviewer steering the interview with a topic guide (Newburn, 2007, p.904). Semi-structured falls in-between structured and unstructured, as t is fairly formal with a basis of questions, but can deviate and explore in further detail; the interviewer does not feel bound and lea ves room for the respondent to talk. Both semi-structured and unstructured ‘give more room to express own values and attitudes’ (Crowther, 2007, p.101). These methods are extremely time consuming and tend to have small samples, making it hard to generalise the findings. Portfolio Part 2: A Reflection on the Experience of Conducting an Observation Crowe and Semmens (2006, p.101) suggested that ‘knowledge of natural world is gathered through systematic objective and repeated observations of naturally occurring phenomena’. This form of data collecting is largely a product of qualitative data. We place ourselves in an environment and simply watch the behaviours of others; taking into consideration the context we detect how an individual in behaving and why they are behaving like that. This gives us incredibly rich and vivid information that simply cannot be oppressed into stats and figures. Kawulich (2005) states that ‘observations enable the researcher to describe existing situations using the five senses, providing a â€Å"Written photograph† of the situation under study’. The observation was conducted in a bus station over a one hour period on the Saturday 2nd May 2015. The main topic of the observation was to examine what behaviours people were doing and scrutinise why. In terms of weather, the afternoon of the 2nd was cold and raining, as a result of this the majority of people were wearing larger winter coats with hoods; a lot of people were carrying umbrellas and had damp clothing and hair. As the bus station is in the centre of Leeds we can assume that the majority of people there did not live in the centre and were possibly having a Saturday shopping day or a ‘day out’; and were travelling home. The bus station was very busy and full with constant movement, and what was interesting was that it seemed quiet from what you would expect of a heavily crowded room. Upon observing the room it was noticed that the atmosphere of the bus station was calm and patient. Many of the individuals were seated quietly waiting for their bus or checkin g the times and showed no elevated emotions, they gave off a sense of cool and composed. There seemed to be a social expectation of behaviour when others entered and exist the bus; Individuals in the bus station waited for those to exit the bus, but always formed a line at the door in a ‘first come first serve’ mentality; it appeared that everyone followed the ‘rules’. Upon arriving at the bus stop it was noticeable that the room was very large and long, so deciding a place to conduct the observation proved to be difficult. In order to try and get a full experience and be in equal distance to everything, the observation was carried out in the centre of the bus station, seated as if waiting for a bus; and as the observation was open and unstructured there was no behaviours that were expected. In the observation it was conducted as the investigator was a participant-as-observer; this included sitting waiting for the bus, but not participating with the behaviour of everyone surrounding, such as getting on an off the bus (Crowe and Semmens, 2006, p.101). Data was collected in the form of note taking, balancing observation and writing equally. To make the note-taking for efficient, abbreviations were used; and only words that were contained necessary information and words that were necessary for the sentence to make sense were used. Because the bus stat ion was so busy it made it impossible to see and record every event and behaviour that happened. Because the room was in constant movement, it was difficult to record certain patterns of behaviour (Crowe and Semmens, 2006, p.110). In terms of success, the method of note-taking proved to be well organised and easy to refer back to, but one thing that could have been improved was how much information could have potentially been recorded. If the observation was to be repeated a possible improvement could be move around the bus station after certain time lapses, to ensure the full bus station was covered and recorded in comparison to sitting in the centre doing a 360 ° surveillance. Another possibility would be to bring an assistant observer(s) that recorded an area designated to them; this method may cover a much larger range of qualitative data. Observation as a data collecting method can be very time consuming, having it been said that to have a valid observational research study, it should have a minimum of a year of research, but meanwhile it does generate rich qualitative data. This method arises certain ethical issues, recording and using information of their behaviour can be seen as an invasion of their privacy; as researches, in an open observation, do not ask for consent. It can be argued that if an individual knows they are being recorded, then they will change their behaviour to what they think is ‘right’ and ‘acceptable’, wanting to please the researcher. This concludes that the data gathered is unreliable and unusable as it is not genuine (Crowe and Semmens, 2006, p.114). Portfolio Part 3: Analysing Crime Statistics Describe Sexual Violence in relation to gender. Newburn (2007, p.818) suggested that men have a much greater risk of being a victim of violent crimes than women do. A survey study in 2004 recorded that ‘women had a 6.3% chance of becoming a victim whereas men had a 14.6% chance’. Although these studies suggest men are more likely to become the victim of all violent crime, it has been found that women have a much greater risk to ‘intimate violence’ (Newburn, 2007, p.819). According to the Office for National Statistics (2013) a CSEW Survey, similarly found that ‘young women were much more likely to be victims of sexual assault in the last year’. The British Crime Survey found 6% of women reported non-sexual partner abuse, 3% reported sexual assault and 9% reported stalking; And in 1991 a survey discovered that one in four women had experienced rape-attempted rape in their lifetime (Newburn, 2007, pp.819-820). The Guardian (2013) states that between ‘2009/10 and 2011/12 there were an esti mated 78,000 victims of rape per year in England and Wales – 69,000 females and 9,000 males’. In the last 30 years there has been a significant increase in the awareness of rape. Studies that were conducted in the 70’s have shown that women who reported rape were seen more as complainants than an individual making a serious claim; Officials were highly unsympathetic. Women were given a list of things not to do, such as ‘don’t go out alone at night’, ‘Don’t use public transport at night’, ‘Don’t take shortcuts’, ‘Don’t cross commons or parks on your way or use alley’, and finally ‘don’t walk down badly lit streets’ (Newburn, 2007, p.822). This advice has been highly criticised with many stating it takes away the woman’s independence and implies that women are the ones at fault if they do not follow the ‘rules’. These rules, although are a precaution, make women feel that if they do any of these things, then they will surely be a victim on sexual assaul t. This can be seen in the SPSS graph below as in both columns ‘very worried’ and ‘fairly worried’, it is significantly higher than in the men’s column; presenting that there is a distress in women that they have been subjected to. In correlation with this theory Russell Pond (1999, p.82) states that victim surveys have opened up a whole new line of enquiry, leading to the fear of crime debate. This concept has become a serious tool of social control, and has become more of a problem than crime itself. One major aspect of the fear of crime is the assumption that men are less likely to admit fear. Maguire et al (2007, pp.387-389) suggested that in terms of society men have a pressure telling then to be ‘masculine’ to be strong and brave and have little fear. This is carried onto the crime world, men are expected to be dominant and reject abuse. This idea can be seen in the SPSS Graph below; the vast majority of males are either not very worried or not worried at all. This can imply that men feel they will be judged if they admit to fear so they chose their answer based on what is expected of them. The Level of Worry That Males and Females Have on Being Raped. One issue with the fear of crime debate is defining fear, how do we measure fear? Fear usually correlated with risk and danger which can be seen with men going out and consuming alcohol; this is a risk, but men will admit to little fear (Pond, 1999, p.82). Men are more likely to act in risk-seeking behaviours than women. Walklate (1995) suggests that fear is a ‘gendered phenomenon’. She states that the fear of crime is ‘†¦rooted in a male defined rationality based risk management view of fear which cannot tap the kinds of experiences that underpin women’s responses’. Pond (1999, p.83) also refers to Farrel et al who suggested that crime was significantly misinterpreted in the way it is recorded. He said ‘Their suggestion is that quantitative methods based on surveys give a greater incidence of fear than qualitative methods based on interview’. In an extremely controversial argument made in Patterns in Criminal Homicide (1958) by Wolfgang, he defined victim-precipitated offences as those ‘in which the victim is a direct positive precipitator in crime’. Amir suggested that one fifth of rapes were victim precipitates where: ‘the victim agreed to have sexual relations but retracted; or did not resists strong enough; or entered vulnerable situations sexually charged’ (Pond, 1995, p.78). At the time was a new emerging feminist movement, of which was highly critical of this approach. Conclusion In conclusion we can see the clear differences between qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative focuses on numeric data and with what is countable, whereas qualitative tends to focus on words and meaning. These two types of data are very different but the measures and methods we use to obtain them can occasionally go hand in hand, complimenting each other. The data obtaining method of observation was very educational as it displayed a personal experience of what went right and also how improvements could have been made, for example moving around and creating a large radius of observation would have improved and made diverse data. The final chapter it was found that women have a much greater chance of rape and sexual violence happening to them. But it also showcases that women are more worried about it; as more pressure and attention is placed upon them to avoid it, creating a slight sense of paranoia. Bibliography Crowe, I. and Semmens, N. (2006) Researching Criminology. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Crowther, C. (2007) An Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillian. Kawulich, B. (2005) Participant Observation as a Data Collection Method. 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