Robert Frost’s Poem, The Road Not Taken Essay - 535 Words

Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, is a descriptive poem about a person’s conflict with the right path to take throughout life. The choice that this person makes can affect him forever. There are lots of choices like this throughout a person’s life that are made that piece together the future. What they do with these choices and the decisions they make are up to them. Although the narrator of this poem is faced with a dilemma, he still makes the best decision possible and takes the best road, which happens to be one that no one else has chosen to take. The title, â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, symbolizes the decision that he must make to take a path throughout life that no one else has or would choose to take. The majority will always†¦show more content†¦He knows that he has made a good decision, whatever it may be. In making his decision, the narrator has no example set before him. Like lots of times in our own lives, there is no one there to tell or show him what the consequences are. â€Å"And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no trodden black (11-12). He only has his gut instinct to go with and in doing so he chooses a path completely different from that of what others around him have chosen. He comments â€Å"Oh, I kept the first for another day!† (14), knowing that he shouldn’t regret his decision of not following the pack because he’ll have his chance another time to chance his fate. However, knowing how things will turn out if he ever makes the choice to take the other road, he doubts he would ever turn back anyway (15). Finally, the narrator looks back on the time when he was forced to make a life changing decision. After seeing and living the consequences of the choice he made that day to take this road less traveled by, he is satisfied. That decision, he says â€Å"has made all the difference† (20). There are so many instances in ones life that this poem reminds us of. There will always be the choice to follow the pack and do what everyone else is doing versus the choice to be one’s own self and be different. The poem is a prime example of how things turn out. People will always look back and appreciate theShow MoreRelated Robert Frosts Poem The Road Not Taken Essay1056 Words   |  5 PagesRobert Frosts Poem The Road Not Taken The poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost addresses the idea of decision-making and choosing what direction life will take you. The poem is about the speaker arriving at a fork in the road, where both paths are carpeted with leaves. The persona, who is believed to be Frost himself, chooses to take the road less traveled by. He tells himself that he will take the other road another day, although he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunityRead MoreRobert Frost s Writing Style1589 Words   |  7 Pages Robert Frost once said, â€Å"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom... in a clarification of life - not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion† (Robert Frost Quotes). This same kind of thinking opened the door for metaphorical poetry that helped to show the poets transparency. His love for the social outcast and the struggles of his life are exhibited greatly in his poems. Robert Frost helpedRead MoreEssay on The Intricate Meanings of Robert Frost s Poetry784 Words   |  4 PagesRobert Frost is considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Frost’s work has been regarded by many as unique. Frost’s poems mainly take place in nature, and it is through nature that he uses sense appealing-vocabulary to immerse the reader into the poem. In the poem, â€Å"Hardwood Groves†, Frost uses a Hardwood Tree that is losing its le aves as a symbol of life’s vicissitudes. â€Å"Frost recognizes that before things in life are raised up, they must fall down† (BloomRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Road Not Taken 849 Words   |  4 Pagesitself in Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† poem, and is present in the poetic piece of Blanche Farley’s â€Å"The Lover Not Taken.† A large percentage of the stanzas in each poem harmonize each other, and they both use similar words. For example, in the first stanza of each poem and be one traveler, long I stood (Frost), and and mulling it over, long she stood. (Blanche). Both lines are two peas in a pod, and they are a five stanza poem that identically rhyme. Although both poems share manyRead MoreEssay on Robert Frost1443 Words   |  6 Pages Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874 and died in Boston on January 29, 1963. Frost was considered to be one of America’s leading 20th century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He was an essentially pastoral poet who was often associated with rural New England. Frost wrote poems of a philosophical region. His poems were traditional but he often said as a dig at his archrival Carl Sandburg, that â€Å"he would soon play tennis without a net as write free verseRead MorePoems of Robert Frost Essay1556 Words   |  7 PagesRobert Frost was an American poet, and playwright who became one of the leading pioneers in poetry in the late 1800’s into the 1900’s. Frost grew up in rural New England in the early twentieth century and experienced many hardships in his life including losing his father at the young age of eleven and losing two children at very young ages. He used his experiences of growing up in a rural area in most of h is poems. Another major them in his poems are decision-making poems usually based off of hisRead MoreThe Road Not Taken and Neither Out Far Nor in Deep by Robert Frost1436 Words   |  6 PagesThe Road Not Taken and Neither Out Far Nor in Deep by Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost is an American poet who is known for his verse concerning nature and New England life. He was born in San Francisco in 1874. When his father died in 1885, his mother moved the family to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Frost attended college sporadically after graduating high school and made a living by working as a bobbin boy in a wool mill, a shoemaker, a country schoolteacher, editor of a rural newspaper, andRead More The Other Road in Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken Essay1653 Words   |  7 Pages The Other Road in Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his celebrated poem The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost describes the decision one makes when reaching a fork in the road. Some interpret Frost as suggesting regret on the part of the traveler as to not choosing the path he forgoes, for in doing so he has lost something significant. Others believe he is grateful for the selection, as it has made him the man he is. The diverging roads are symbolic of the choices society is facedRead MoreUse Of The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost980 Words   |  4 PagesThe Use of â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† has been examined time after time by teachers, professors, students, and even those willing to go even farther for entertainment but many people evaluate the poem in their own ways. There are the scholarly who delve deep into the mysteries of Frost’s poem and their critique containing a broader range of vocabulary. There are also the people who understand the meaning beneath Frost’s poem and seek to educate those who do notRead MoreThe Road Not Taken By Robert Frost1297 Words   |  6 Pagesfamous poems are popular because of their versatility – the ones whose messages are valid beyond their era. Of course, our personal experiences shape the way we perceive things, which is why one artwork can have multiple different interpretations. Though there may not be any singular correct meaning, having contextual knowledge of a poem certainly helps us understand the thoughts and feelings that inspired the poet at the time. The poem I’ll be unveiling is â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost,

Ethnography Free Essays

AN ETHNOGRAPHY â€Å"When used as a method, ethnography typically refers to fieldwork (alternatively, participant-observation) conducted by a single investigator who ‘lives with and lives like’ those who are studied, usually for a year or more. † –John Van Maanen, 1996. â€Å"Ethnography literally means ‘a portrait of a people. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnography or any similar topic only for you Order Now ‘ An ethnography is a written description of a particular culture – the customs, beliefs, and behavior – based on information collected through fieldwork. † –Marvin Harris and Orna Johnson, 2000. â€Å"Ethnography is the art and science of describing a group or culture. The description may be of a small tribal group in an exotic land or a classroom in middle-class suburbia. † –David M. Fetterman, 1998. Ethnography is a social science research method. It relies heavily on up-close, personal experience and possible participation, not just observation, by researchers trained in the art of ethnography. These ethnographers often work in multidisciplinary teams. The ethnographic focal point may include intensive language and culture learning, intensive study of a single field or domain, and a blend of historical, observational, and interview methods. Typical ethnographic research employs three kinds of data collection: interviews, observation, and documents. This in turn produces three kinds of data: quotations, descriptions, and excerpts of documents, resulting in one product: narrative description. This narrative often includes charts, diagrams and additional artifacts that help to tell â€Å"the story† (Hammersley, 1990). Ethnographic methods can give shape to new constructs or paradigms, and new variables, for further empirical testing in the field or through traditional, quantitative social science methods. Ethnography has it roots planted in the fields of anthropology and sociology. Present-day practitioners conduct ethnographies in organizations and communities of all kinds. Ethnographers study schooling, public health, rural and urban development, consumers and consumer goods, any human arena. While particularly suited to exploratory research, ethnography draws on a wide range of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, moving from â€Å"learning† to â€Å"testing† (Agar, 1996) while research problems, perspectives, and theories emerge and shift. Ethnographic methods are a means of tapping local points of view, households and community â€Å"funds of nowledge† (Moll Greenberg, 1990), a means of identifying significant categories of human experience up close and personal. Ethnography enhances and widens top down views and enriches the inquiry process, taps both bottom-up insights and perspectives of powerful policy-makers â€Å"at the top,† and generates new analytic insights by engaging in interactive, team exploration of o ften subtle arenas of human difference and similarity. Through such findings ethnographers may inform others of their findings with an attempt to derive, for example, policy decisions or instructional innovations from such an analysis. VARIATIONS IN OBSERVATIONAL METHODS Observational research is not a single thing. The decision to employ field methods in gathering informational data is only the first step in a decision process that involves a large number of options and possibilities. Making the choice to employ field methods involves a commitment to get close to the subject being observed in its natural setting, to be factual and descriptive in reporting what is observed, and to find out the points of view of participants in the domain observed. Once these fundamental commitments have been made, it is necessary to make additional decisions about which particular observational approaches are appropriate for the research situation at hand. VARIATIONS IN OBSERVER INVOLVEMENT: PARTICIPANT OR ONLOOKER? The first and most fundamental distinction among observational strategies concerns the extent to which the observer is also a participant in the program activities being studied. This is not really a simple choice between participation and nonparticipation. The extent of participation is a continuum which varies from complete immersion in the program as full participant to complete separation from the activities observed, taking on a role as spectator; there is a great deal of variation along the continuum between these two extremes. Participant observation is an omnibus field strategy in that it â€Å"simultaneously combines document analysis, interviewing of respondents and informants, direct participation and observation, and introspection. In participant observation the researcher shares as intimately as possible in the life and activities of the people in the observed setting. The purpose of such participation is to develop an insider’s view of what is happening. This means that the researcher not only sees what is happening but â€Å"feels† what it is like to be part of the group. Experiencing an environment as an insider is what necessitates the participant part of participant observation. At the same time, however, there is clearly an observer side to this process. The challenge is to combine participation and observation so as to become capable of understanding the experience as an insider while describing the experience for outsiders. The extent to which it is possible for a researcher to become a full participant in an experience will depend partly on the nature of the setting being observed. For example, in human service and education programs that serve children, it is not possible for the researcher to become a student and therefore experience the setting as a child; it may be possible, however, for the research observer to participate as a volunteer, parent, or staff person in such a setting and thereby develop the perspective of an insider in one of these adult roles. It should be said, though, that many ethnographers do not believe that understanding requires that they become full members of the group(s) being studied. Indeed, many believe that this must not occur if a valid and useful account is to be produced. These researchers believe the ethnographer must try to be both outsider and insider, staying on the margins of the group both socially and intellectually. This is because what is required is both an outside and an inside view. For this reason it is sometimes emphasized that, besides seeking to â€Å"understand†, the ethnographer must also try to see familiar settings as â€Å"anthropologically strange†, as they would be seen by someone from another society, adopting what we might call the Martian perspective. METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES Following are three methodological principles that are used to provide the rationale for the specific features of the ethnographic method. They are also the basis for much of the criticism of quantitative research for failing to capture the true nature of human social behavior; because it relies on the study of artificial settings and/or on what people say rather than what they do; because it seeks to reduce meanings to what is observable; and because it reifies social phenomena by treating them as more clearly defined and static than they are, and as mechanical products of social and psychological factors (M. Hammersley, 1990). The three principles can be summarized under the headings of naturalism, understanding and discovery: 1. Naturalism. This is the view that the aim of social research is to capture the character of naturally occurring human behavior, and that this can only be achieved by first-hand contact with it, not by inferences from what people do in artificial settings like experiments or from what they say in interviews about what they do elsewhere. This is the reason that ethnographers carry out their research in â€Å"natural† settings, settings that exist independently of the research process, rather than in those set up specifically for the purposes of research. Another important implication of naturalism is that in studying natural settings the researcher should seek to minimize her or his effects on the behavior of the people being studied. The aim of this is to increase the chances that what is discovered in the setting will be generalizable to other similar settings that have not been researched. Finally, the notion of naturalism implies that social events and processes must be explained in terms of their relationship to the context in which they occur. 2. Understanding. Central here is the argument that human actions differ from the behavior of physical objects, and even from that of other animals: they do not consist simply of fixed responses or even of learned responses to stimuli, but involve interpretation of stimuli and the construction of responses. Sometimes this argument reflects a complete rejection of the concept of causality as inapplicable to the social world, and an insistence on the freely constructed character of human actions and institutions. Others argue that causal relations are to be found in the social world, but that they differ from the â€Å"mechanical† causality typical of physical phenomena. From this point of view, if we are to be able to explain human actions effectively we must gain an understanding of the cultural perspectives on which they are based. That this is necessary is obvious when we are studying a society that is alien to us, since we shall find much of what we see and hear puzzling. However, ethnographers argue that it is just as important when we are studying more familiar settings. Indeed, when a setting is familiar the danger of misunderstanding is especially great. It is argued that we cannot assume that we already know others’ perspectives, even in our own society, because particular groups and individuals develop distinctive worldviews. This is especially true in large complex societies. Ethnic, occupational, and small informal groups (even individual families or school classes) develop distinctive ways of orienting to the world that may need to be understood if their behavior is to be explained. Ethnographers argue, then, that it is necessary to learn the culture of the group one is studying before one can produce valid explanations for the behavior of its members. This is the reason for the centrality of participant observation and unstructured interviewing to ethnographic method. 3. Discovery. Another feature of ethnographic thinking is a conception of the research process as inductive or discovery-based; rather than as being limited to the testing of explicit hypotheses. It is argued that if one approaches a phenomenon with a set of hypotheses one may fail to discover the true nature of that phenomenon, being blinded by the assumptions built into the hypotheses. Rather, they have a general interest in some types of social phenomena and/or in some theoretical issue or practical problem. The focus of the research is narrowed and sharpened, and perhaps even changed substantially, as it proceeds. Similarly, and in parallel, theoretical ideas that frame descriptions and explanations of what is observed are developed over the course of the research. Such ideas are regarded as a valuable outcome of, not a precondition for, research. ETHNOGRAPHY AS METHOD In terms of method, generally speaking, the term â€Å"ethnography† refers to social research that has most of the following features (M. Hammersley, 1990). (a) People’s behavior is studied in everyday contexts, rather than under experimental conditions created by the researcher. (b) Data are gathered from a range of sources, but observation and/or relatively informal conversations are usually the main ones. c) The approach to data collection is â€Å"unstructured in the sense that it does not involve following through a detailed plan set up at the beginning; nor are the categories used for interpreting what people say and do pre-given or fixed. This does not mean that the research is unsystematic; simply that initially the data are collected in as raw a form, and on as wide a front, as feasible. (d) The focus is usually a single setting or group, of relatively sma ll scale. In life history research the focus may even be a single individual. (e) The analysis of the data involves interpretation of the eanings and functions of human actions and mainly takes the form of verbal descriptions and explanations, with quantification and statistical analysis playing a subordinate role at most. As a set of methods, ethnography is not far removed from the sort of approach that we all use in everyday life to make sense of our surroundings. It is less specialized and less technically sophisticated than approaches like the experiment or the social survey; though all social research methods have their historical origins in the ways in which human beings gain information about their world in everyday life. SUMMARY GUIDELINES FOR FIELDWORK It is difficult, if not impossible, to provide a precise set of rules and procedures for conducting fieldwork. What you do depends on the situation, the purpose of the study, the nature of the setting, and the skills, interests, needs, and point of view of the observer. Following are some generic guidelines for conducting fieldwork: 1. Be descriptive in taking field notes. 2. Gather a variety of information from different perspectives. 3. Cross-validate and triangulate by gathering different kinds of data. Example: observations, interviews, program documentation, recordings, and photographs. 4. Use quotations; represent program participants in their own terms. Capture participants’ views of their own experiences in their own words. 5. Select key informants wisely and use them carefully. Draw on the wisdom of their informed perspectives, but keep in mind that their perspectives are limited. 6. Be aware of and sensitive to the different stages of fieldwork. (a) Build trust and rapport at the entry stage. Remember that the researcher-observer is also being observed and evaluated. b) Stay alert and disciplined during the more routine middle-phase of fieldwork. (c) Focus on pulling together a useful synthesis as fieldwork draws to a close. (d) Be disciplined and conscientious in taking detailed field notes at all stages of fieldwork. (e) Be as involved as possible in experiencing the observed setting as fully as possible while maintaining an analytical perspective grounded in the pur pose of the fieldwork: to conduct research. (f) Clearly separate description from interpretation and judgment. (g) Provide formative feedback as part of the verification process of fieldwork. Time that feedback carefully. Observe its impact. (h) Include in your field notes and observations reports of your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. These are also field data. Fieldwork is a highly personal experience. The meshing of fieldwork procedures with individual capabilities and situational variation is what makes fieldwork a highly personal experience. The validity and meaningfulness of the results obtained depend directly on the observer’s skill, discipline, and perspective. This is both the strength and weakness of observational methods. SUMMARY GUIDELINES FOR INTERVIEWING There is no one right way of interviewing, no single correct format that is appropriate for all situations, and no single way of wording questions that will always work. The particular evaluation situation, the needs of the interviewee, and the personal style of the interviewer all come together to create a unique situation for each interview. Therein lie the challenges of depth interviewing: situational responsiveness and sensitivity to get the best data possible. There is no recipe for effective interviewing, but there are some useful guidelines that can be considered. These guidelines are summarized below (Patton, 1987). 1. Throughout all phases of interviewing, from planning through data collection to analysis, keep centered on the purpose of the research endeavor. Let that purpose guide the interviewing process. 2. The fundamental principle of qualitative interviewing is to provide a framework within which respondents can express their own understandings in their own terms. 3. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of interviews: the informal conversational interview; the interview guide approach; and the standardized open-ended interview. . Select the type of interview (or combination of types) that is most appropriate to the purposes of the research effort. 5. Understand the different kinds of information one can collect through interviews: behavioral data; opinions; feelings; knowledge; sensory data; and background information. 6. Think about and plan how these different kinds of questions can be most appropriately sequenc ed for each interview topic, including past, present, and future questions. 7. Ask truly open-ended questions. 8. Ask clear questions, using understandable and appropriate language. . Ask one question at a time. 10. Use probes and follow-up questions to solicit depth and detail. 11. Communicate clearly what information is desired, why that information is important, and let the interviewee know how the interview is progressing. 12. Listen attentively and respond appropriately to let the person know he or she is being heard. 13. Avoid leading questions. 14. Understand the difference between a depth interview and an interrogation. Qualitative evaluators conduct depth interviews; police investigators and tax auditors conduct interrogations. 5. Establish personal rapport and a sense of mutual interest. 16. Maintain neutrality toward the specific content of responses. You are there to collect information not to make judgments about that person. 17. Observe while interviewing. Be aware of and sensitive to how the person is affected by and responds to different questions. 18. Maintain control of the interview. 19. Tape record whenever possible to capture full and exact quotations for analysis and reporting. 20. Take notes to capture and highlight major points as the interview progresses. 1. As soon as possible after the interview check the recording for malfunctions; review notes for clarity; elaborate where necessary; and record observations. 22. Take whatever steps are appropriate and necessary to gather valid and reliable information. 23. Treat the person being interviewed with respect. Keep in mind that it is a privilege and responsibility to peer into another person’s experience. 24. Practice interviewing. Develop your skills. 25. Enjoy interviewing. Take the time along the way to stop and â€Å"hear† the roses. SITE DOCUMENTS In addition to participant observation and interviews, ethnographers may also make use of various documents in answering guiding questions. When available, these documents can add additional insight or information to projects. Because ethnographic attention has been and continues to be focused on both literate and non-literate peoples, not all research projects will have site documents available. It is also possible that even research among a literate group will not have relevant site documents to consider; this could vary depending on the focus of the research. Thinking carefully about your participants and how they function and asking questions of your informants helps to decide what kinds of documents might be available. Possible documents include: budgets, advertisements, work descriptions, annual reports, memos, school records, correspondence, informational brochures, teaching materials, newsletters, websites, recruitment or orientation packets, contracts, records of court proceedings, posters, minutes of meetings, menus, and many other kinds of written items. For example, an ethnographer studying how limited-English proficient elementary school students learn to acquire English in a classroom setting might want to collect such things as the state or school mandated Bilingual/ESL curriculum for students in the school(s) where he or she does research, and examples of student work. Local school budget allocations to language minority education, specific teachers’ lesson plans, and copies of age-appropriate ESL textbooks could also be relevant. It might also be useful to try finding subgroups of professional educators organizations which focus on teaching elementary school language arts and join their listservs, attend their meetings, or get copies of their newsletters. Review cumulative student records and school district policies for language minority education. All of these things could greatly enrich the participant observation and the interviews that an ethnographer does. Privacy or copyright issues may apply to the documents gathered, so it is important to inquire about this when you find or are given documents. If you are given permission to include what you learn from these documents in your final paper, the documents should be cited appropriately and included in the bibliography of the final paper. If you are not given permission, do not use them in any way. ETHICS IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Since ethnographic research takes place among real human beings, there are a number of special ethical concerns to be aware of before beginning. In a nutshell, researchers must make their research goals clear to the members of the community where they undertake their research and gain the informed consent of their consultants to the research beforehand. It is also important to learn whether the group would prefer to be named in the written report of the research or given a pseudonym and to offer the results of the research if informants would like to read it. Most of all, researchers must be sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among whom the research is done. ANALYZING, INTERPRETING AND REPORTING FINDINGS Remember that the researcher is the detective looking for trends and patterns that occur across the various groups or within individuals (Krueger, 1994). The process of analysis and interpretation involve disciplined examination, creative insight, and careful attention to the purposes of the research study. Analysis and interpretation are conceptually separate processes. The analysis process begins with assembling the raw materials and getting an overview or total picture of the entire process. The researcher’s role in analysis covers a continuum with assembly of raw data on one extreme and interpretative comments on the other. Analysis is the process of bringing order to the data, organizing what is there into patterns, categories, and basic descriptive units. The analysis process involves consideration of words, tone, context, non-verbals, internal consistency, frequency, extensiveness, intensity, specificity of responses and big ideas. Data reduction strategies are essential in the analysis (Krueger, 1994). Interpretation involves attaching meaning and significance to the analysis, explaining descriptive patterns, and looking for relationships and linkages among descriptive dimensions. Once these processes have been completed the researcher must report his or her interpretations and conclusions QUALITATIVE DESCRIPTION Reports based on qualitative methods will include a great deal of pure description of the program and/or the experiences of people in the research environment. The purpose of this description is to let the reader know what happened in the environment under observation, what it was like from the participants’ point of view to be in the setting, and what particular events or activities in the setting were like. In reading through field notes and interviews the researcher begins to look for those parts of the data that will be polished for presentation as pure description in the research report. What is included by way of description will depend on what questions the researcher is attempting to answer. Often an entire activity will be reported in detail and depth because it represents a typical experience. These descriptions are written in narrative form to provide a holistic picture of what has happened in the reported activity or event. REPORTING FINDINGS The actual content and format of a qualitative report will depend on the information needs of primary stakeholders and the purpose of the research. Even a comprehensive report will have to omit a great deal of the data collected by the researcher. Focus is essential. Analysts who try to include everything risk losing their readers in the sheer volume of the presentation. This process has been referred to as â€Å"the agony of omitting†. The agony of omitting on the part of the researcher is matched only by the readers’ agony in having to read those things that were not omitted, but should have been. BALANCE BETWEEN DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS In considering what to omit, a decision has to be made about how much description to include. Detailed description and in-depth quotations are the essential qualities of qualitative accounts. Sufficient description and direct quotations should be included to allow readers to understand fully the research setting and the thoughts of the people represented in the narrative. Description should stop short, however, of becoming trivial and mundane. The reader does not have to know absolutely everything that was done or said. Again the problem of focus arises. Description is balanced by analysis and interpretation. Endless description becomes its own muddle. The purpose of analysis is to organize the description in a way that makes it manageable. Description is balanced by analysis and leads into interpretation. An interesting and readable final account provides sufficient description to allow the reader to understand the analysis and sufficient analysis to allow the reader to understand the interpretations and explanations presented. Try It Yourself Why do people see things differently? The importance of ethnographic research Apple Example Thomas Kuhn suggests that what people see depends on what â€Å"previous visual and conceptual experience has taught† them. This suggests that what we look at and what we see are two different things. Anthropologists Anne Campbell of Washington State University and Patricia C. Rice of West Virginia University give an excellent example of how what we look at and what we see can be different things, depending on who perceives a situation or thing. Try this: * gather two to three people and mentally place an apple on a table in front of the group. * Without any prior discussion, each group member should take a moment to individually write down what it is he or she sees. * After a few minutes, compare notes. What do you find? Did everyone see the same thing? What color was the apple? Are there specific colors given to the apple? What about the type of apple on the table, did anyone acknowledge if there was a difference between a golden delicious and a Macintosh? What about the size of the apple? Did anyone include size as a characteristic of the apple? What this example shows is that no two people see the same thing. We may understand what an apple is, but in terms of describing it and â€Å"seeing† it much of our sight comes from pervious â€Å"visual-conceptual† experiences. Someone knowledgeable in produce may know that there are many types of apples, just as someone interested in quantities of food may take note of the size of the apple. How to cite Ethnography, Essay examples

Workplace Safety free essay sample

This is celebrated as the first time this number is coming below 1 million. Also reported is the incidence rate which decreased by 6 percent to 106 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in the private sector-a decline from 113 in 2008. There is really a momentum on workplace safety! Interestingly, the need to reduce incident at the work place is as important as reducing cost and growing the bottom-line of the business. The free online resource, WIKIPEDIA (2011), writes that workplace safety is the responsibility of management who will have the duty to establish a focus by ensuring commitment, accountability, education, and awareness among others. In an article by Health and Safety Executives UK (2010), it was noted that employees also have great role to play in ensuring that the work place is safe. People that do the job can recognize potential risks based on experience, put or suggest practical controls and make a commitment to safety in their workplace. We will write a custom essay sample on Workplace Safety or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some roles that we will need to play to make the work place safer include but not limited to the following 1. Discussions with our team to identify risk and measures to manage the risks. 2. Inform appropriate personnel about potential risks to safety during regular meetings or on an informal basis. 3. Support our team by developing their personal work skill and allowing some level of control and initiative so as to prevent stress which might increase the risk of incidents. 4. Actively review and ensure maintenance of Personal Safety Action Plan as agreed by the teams Some Roles I will play include 1. Objectively report abnormal and unsafe workplace behaviours and activities so as to find ways to prevent the occurrence of incidents. 2. The use of PPE as required by any task 3. I will ensure that permits are issued or available for high risk jobs. Where permits are not available for work requiring it, I will discuss with the units supervisor to understand the perceived gap and discuss ways to manage it. Reference 1. BUREAU FOR LABOUR STATISTICS. (2010).

How to Teach the Future - ESL Education

How to Teach the Future - ESL Education Teaching the future in English is relatively simple in the beginning. Students understand the future with will and learn the form quickly. However, the problems begin when discussing the future with going to. The key issue is that the future with going to is logically a better fit when speaking about the future. The future with going to tells us about our plans, whereas the future with will is mainly used to discuss reactions that occur at the moment of speaking and speculation about the future. Of course, there are other uses, but this main issue leads to a lot of confusion among students. Choosing when to introduce the future with will and going to carefully can make all the difference in comprehension. It is recommended to delay introducing these forms until students are comfortable with some basic tenses. Start by Speaking about Plans and Hopes To help students become familiar with both forms, discuss your future plans as well as your thoughts about the future. This will ensure that you use both the future with will and going to. If you are teaching beginning level students, separating the two forms will help students understand the difference. If your students are intermediate level, mixing the forms can assist in teaching the fluidity between the forms in everyday usage. Beginners I have some predictions for next year. I think that you will all speak better English at the end of this course! Im sure I will have a vacation. However, I dont know where. Ill probably visit my parents in Seattle in the summer, and my wife will ... Intermediate Next year, Im going to take up the guitar. It will probably be very difficult for me, but I love music. My wife and are going to fly to New York in September to visit some friends. While were in New York, the weather will probably be good... In both cases, ask students to explain the function or purpose of the different forms. Help students understand that the future with will is used for making predictions, or what you think will happen. The future with going to, on the other hand, is used to state future intentions and plans. Future with 'Will' for Reactions Introduce the future with will for reactions by demonstrating various scenarios that call for reactions: John is hungry. Oh, Ill make him a sandwichLook its raining outside. OK, Ill take my umbrella.Peter doesnt understand the grammar. Ill help him with the exercise. Explaining Future Forms on the Board Use a future with will for promises and predictions timeline to illustrate the future used for speculating about the future. Contrast this timeline with future  with going to for intentions and a plans timeline to illustrate the difference between the two forms. Write positive sentences of both forms on the board and ask students to change the sentences into both questions and negative forms. Point out that will not becomes wont in most everyday use. Comprehension Activities Comprehension activities focusing on specific functions will help cement the understanding of differences between these two forms. For examples, a reading comprehension on the weather can help students use the future with will. This can be contrasted with a listening comprehension discussing future plans with going to. More extended dialogues and reading comprehensions can be used to mix the forms once students understand the differences between the forms. Quizzes asking to choose between future with will or going to also help to solidify understanding. Challenges with the Future As discussed above, the main challenge is in distinguishing between what is planned (going to) and what is a reaction or speculative (will). Add to that the fact that many native speakers mix the forms themselves, and you have a recipe for trouble. I find it helpful to boil teaching down to two questions: Was a decision made about this statement BEFORE the moment of speaking? - If yes, use going toAre you thinking about future possibilities? - If yes, use willIs this a reaction to what someone has said or done? - If yes, use will Not all uses of these two forms can be answered with these simple questions. However, raising students consciousness of these key points will help them become more accurate in their use of these two future forms.

Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson When Shirley Jacksons chilling story The Lottery was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker, it generated more letters than any work of fiction the magazine had ever published. Readers were furious, disgusted, occasionally curious, and almost uniformly bewildered. The public outcry over the story can be attributed, in part, to The New Yorkers practice at the time of publishing works without identifying them as fact or fiction. Readers were also presumably still reeling from the horrors of World War II. Yet, though times have changed and we all now know the story is fiction, The Lottery has maintained its grip on readers decade after decade. The Lottery is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and American culture. It has been adapted for radio, theater, television, and even ballet. The Simpsons television show included a reference to the story in its Dog of Death episode (season three). The Lottery is available to subscribers of The New Yorker and is also available in The Lottery and Other Stories, a collection of Jacksons work with an introduction by the writer A. M. Homes. You can hear Homes read and discuss the story with fiction editor Deborah Treisman at The New Yorker for free. Plot Summary The Lottery takes place on June 27, a beautiful summer day, in a small New England village where all the residents are gathering for their traditional annual lottery. Though the event first appears festive, it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson seems unconcerned about the tradition until her family draws the dreaded mark. Then she protests that the process wasnt fair. The winner, it turns out, will be stoned to death by the remaining residents. Tessie wins, and the story closes as the villagers- including her own family members- begin to throw rocks at her. Dissonant Contrasts The story achieves its terrifying effect primarily through Jacksons skillful use of contrasts, through which she keeps the readers expectations at odds with the action of the story. The picturesque setting contrasts sharply with the horrific violence of the conclusion. The story takes place on a beautiful summer day with flowers blossoming profusely and the grass richly green. When the boys begin gathering stones, it seems like typical, playful behavior, and readers might imagine that everyone has gathered for something pleasant like a picnic or a parade. Just as fine weather and family gatherings might lead us to expect something positive, so, too, does the word lottery, which usually implies something good for the winner. Learning what the winner really gets is all the more horrifying because we have expected the opposite. Like the peaceful setting, the villagers casual attitude as they make small talk- some even cracking jokes- belies the violence to come. The narrators perspective seems completely aligned with the villagers, so events are narrated in the same matter-of-fact, everyday manner that the villagers use. The narrator notes, for instance, that the town is small enough that the lottery can be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner. The men stand around talking of ordinary concerns like planting and rain, tractors and taxes. The lottery, like the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program, is just another of the civic activities conducted by Mr. Summers. Readers may find that the addition of murder makes the lottery quite different from a square dance, but the villagers and the narrator evidently do not. Hints of Unease If the villagers were thoroughly numb to the violence- if Jackson had misled her readers entirely about where the story was heading- I dont think The Lottery would still be famous. But as the story progresses, Jackson gives escalating clues to indicate that something is amiss. Before the lottery starts, the villagers keep their distance from the stool with the black box on it, and they hesitate when Mr. Summers asks for help. This is not necessarily the reaction you might expect from people who are looking forward to the lottery. It also seems somewhat unexpected that the villagers talk as if drawing the tickets is difficult work that requires a man to do it. Mr. Summers asks Janey Dunbar, Dont you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey? And everyone praises the Watson boy for drawing for his family. Glad to see your mothers got a man to do it, says someone in the crowd. The lottery itself is tense. People do not look around at each other. Mr. Summers and the men drawing slips of paper grin at one another nervously and humorously. On first reading, these details might strike the reader as odd, but they can be explained in a variety of ways for instance, that people are very nervous because they want to win. Yet when Tessie Hutchinson cries, It wasnt fair! readers realize there has been an undercurrent of tension and violence in the story all along. What Does The Lottery Mean? As with many stories, there have been countless interpretations of The Lottery. For instance, the story has been read as a comment on World War II or as a Marxist critique of an entrenched social order. Many readers find Tessie Hutchinson to be a reference to Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons. (But its worth noting that Tessie doesnt really protest the lottery on principle- she protests only her own death sentence.) Regardless of which interpretation you favor, The Lottery is, at its core, a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order. Jacksons narrator tells us that no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. But although the villagers like to imagine that theyre preserving tradition, the truth is that they remember very few details, and the box itself is not the original. Rumors swirl about songs and salutes, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be. The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some indication of the villagers priorities (and perhaps all of humanitys). Jackson writes, Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. One of the starkest moments in the story is when the narrator bluntly states, A stone hit her on the side of the head. From a grammatical standpoint, the sentence is structured so that no one actually threw the stone- its as if the stone hit Tessie of its own accord. All the villagers participate (even giving Tessies young son some pebbles to throw), so no one individually takes responsibility for the murder. And that, to me, is Jacksons most compelling explanation of why this barbaric tradition manages to continue.

Economic problems of the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economic problems of the USA - Essay Example AS-AD model will be used to determine the aggregate demand and supply of the country. The report also highlights measures taken by the government to recover from the economic problems along with the reasons behind government’s decisions for such measures. The evaluation of effectiveness and shortcomings of government measures is done to explore the net benefit of the measures to economy. The report will attempt to suggest the solutions of US economic crises of manufacturing concerns, balance of imports and exports and economic sustainability of the country. SUMMARY The Article reports about economic problems faced by the U.S. since almost past decade. The United States is going through the economic adversity or disaster on a very high scale for the last decade. The article refers that despite suffering, majority of people of U.S. are giving less or no attention to the sources of the current economic decline (Heffner, 2012). The article states that U.S. nation has become a seco nd class country in many aspects Reasons cited in the article for the above statement includes facts that United States no longer produce what they require to sustain their selves; the extensively increased imports than exports resulting in selling off U.S. assets and taking on huge debts to maintain a living standard. The article also refers to an important aspect of the US condition in international context. IT refers that it is the game plan of the US global challengers is to make the US totally reliant on overseas manufacturing, modernization and financing. In losing domestic self-reliance, nationalized security and power – the foreign affairs of a country will suffer to a great extent. Referring to impact of the current situation, the author of the article states that US is getting weakened even to admit greedy foreign trade practices bringing in depression US industry. Instead the economic players are giving confidence to US manufacturers to plan, engineer, and manufact ure in third world markets to minimize the production cost like Mexico and China. The article in addition to the problems being highlighted has also referred to the solution such as carefully managing access to market, re-assessing trade practices etc. (Economy in Crisis, n.d.). DISCUSSION OF THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ISSUES: Causes of Problem: High labor wage rates in U.S.: U.S. is facing challenge of high labor wage rate for the last few years due to which the cost of production or manufacturing in the US increased. To survive competitively in this situation U.S. started to shift its production or manufacturing plants in low wage rate countries like China and Mexico where cost of production is significantly cheaper as compared to U.S.. This prevailing situation in the economy bringing down the US manufacturing sector continuously giving rise to import and pressuring the import bill. Service sector growth downsizes the manufacturing and production industry: In the last two decades a bi g portion of investment in the U.S. have been shifted towards the service industry sector because of high manufacturing cost and low margin profits. The service industry of US is contributing 79.7% in the economy, 1.2% is the contribution of agriculture industry and 19.1% by manufacturing industry (CIA, 2012). With this huge side transferred to service sector it has made the manufacturing side weaker in the US and hence large number low wage labor force in US has become unemployed. Higher imports from china and other countries because of low cost: the prevailing situation in the economy of US for the last two decades has increased the percentage of imports over exports in the economy. The final manufactured goods are the major imports of

Religion and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion and the Media - Essay Example Whereas the framework of television as a gathering place is characterized by limitations, it is, however, suitable for this research and will be helpful in interpreting the material. Television as a place of gathering means that it is considered a hemmed in system in which figurative interaction between people takes place. When talking about television as a place of gathering, one considers two main things. First, one must first consider its integration with the society; secondly, one must consider it as a source of meaning (Lotz 3). As an integration with the society, the television has a place in the society and people must watch it if they need to access information. The television is also a source of meaning because it enables human beings to understand events as they occur in the natural world. These two main aspects help us in understanding that television is largely a place that does not have any specific location. Religion, thus, capitalizes on the theoretical framework of television as a gathering place to reach out to people from different parts of the world. Television as a gathering place is more suitable to explain the relationship between religion and media. It is a good fit for this research as it helps to show or indicate how the media presents religion. It also helps in explaining why, televangelism has continued to grow by day. The main aim of televangelism is to reach out to as many people as possible (Clarke 618). There are few chances of survival of Christianity if it lacks popularity. Christianity, for example, aims to reach to those people who live in countries where churches have been banned and Christianity is outlawed. In order to reach out to many people, Christians or missionaries turned to television as a place to spread religion. The television has a wide coverage because it reaches vast populations over a short period of time. All people in the