The aim of this essay is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of combining the two methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, when designing research in relation to the study of drug use
What are the strengths and weaknesses of combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies when designing research? Relate your answer to the study of drug use in particular. The aim of this essay is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of combining the two methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, when designing research in relation to the study of drug use. Qualitative methods of research and data focus more on the context and integrity of the material and produce research findings that are not arrived at by statistical summary or analysis. The methods used in qualitative research include participant observation, intense interviewing and focus groups which provide researchers with in depth information, unlike quantitative method. Quantitative refers to studies whose findings are mainly the product of statistical summary and analysis. In criminological research the quantitative research methods used are generally surveys and questionnaires. The rise of drug use in recent decades has prompted more research into this area using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies not only to attempt to evaluate the extent of drug use in individual areas but also to seek to understand the reasons behind it. A great number of researchers are more frequently using a mixed method research design now to try and increase the credibility of their findings. Individually each
Dermatology and Microbiology - The Growth of Nails.
Dermatology and Microbiology a. The Growth of Nails The actual nail is made up of the nail body, nail root and the free edge and the main function of a nail is to protect the ends of your fingers and toes, and to help to grasp and manipulate small objects. Within the actual nail there are more parts that are needed to help in the production of nails, one of these parts is called the MATRIX. The diagram above shows where the matrix is situated inside the nail. The matrix is situated underneath the nail root and extends as far as the lunula. It is the most important part of the nail unit. The matrix is where the most work goes on, as this is where the start the nail develops from. The nail will grow outwards towards the tips of the fingers and toes. The nails will grow when the top layer of cells are transformed into nail cells by keratinisation. The cells within the matrix will be divided up, the upper ones will become thickened and toughened through the keratinisation process. As more cells are produced the old ones are pushed outwards and flattened, they then become transparent and form part of the nail plate. The matrix also determines the shape and thickness of a nail so the longer the matrix is the thicker the nail will be. If however the matrix is damaged it can result in temporary loss of the nail or permanent damage to the nail plate. The cells in
What causes Anorexia
What causes Anorexia? For people with anorexia, it really is true that one can never be too thin. Despite being dangerously underweight, anorexics see a fat person when they look in the mirror. What they don't see is the tremendous physical and emotional damage that self-starvation inflicts, so they continue to diet, fast, purge, and over-exercise. While people with anorexia often deny having a problem, the truth is that anorexia is a serious and potentially deadly eating disorder. Fortunately, recovery is possible. With proper treatment and support, you or someone you care about can break anorexia's self-destructive pattern and regain your health and happiness. What exactly is anorexia nervosa? An example; (Maria's Story) Seventeen-year-old Maria has been on one diet or another since she was in junior high. She recently lost 10 pounds from an already slender frame after becoming a strict vegetarian. Her parents are concerned about the weight loss, but Maria insists that she's just under stress at school. Meanwhile, her vegetarian diet is becoming stricter by the day. Maria obsessively counts calories, measures food portions, and weighs herself at least twice a day. She refuses to eat at restaurants, in the school cafeteria, or anywhere else in public, and she lives on salad dressed with vinegar, rice cakes, and sugar-free Jell-O. Maria also has a large stash of
An experiment to see if clustering of words improves word recall.
Title: An experiment to see if clustering of words improves word recall. Abstract This study tried to replicate the work of Cofer, Bruce and Reicher (1966), however the results of our data analysis for no significant difference between the groups, this may be explained choice of sample. Introduction Memory, one of the most important processes the brain conducts, it tells us everything about ourselves, what we know, how we do things. Much work has been done into the study of memory, its process and how to improve ones own memory. This side of psychology is of keen interest to cognitive psychologist. In the context of psychology memory is the capacity to retain and recall information. This in itself is further divided two main types of memory, long term memory (LTM) or short term memory (STM) Theories of memory processing such as the multi-store model, which is based on the assumption that there are three 'stores,' which make up human memory, these stores are the sensory register, short term memory and long term memory. The difference between them is how much memory is stored by each. The sensory register is a short acting memory store for the sensory record of the stimulus. There is no meaning to the stimulus at this point. From this store the stimulus information passes to the next store, the short term memory store. Peterson and Johnson (1971) showed that information
Should Steroids be banned from all Professional Sports?
Firakh Patel Patel 1 Mr. Broan Lit & Lang /25/04 Should Steroids be banned from all Professional Sports? It's amazing what athletes will do to achieve higher levels of performance and to be better than the competition. Often people do not realize the long-term effects that result from using steroids. Steroids spread to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950's. The use of steroids among athletes became clear when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the 100-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics. Now a fifteen year old can just walk down to the local gym and find sellers to get the drug that will make him the best of all his classmates. Being an attractive drug, the user forgets about the effects it has on the body. Steroids should be banned from all professional sports because they can cause physical problems and can cause emotional and mental problems. Steroids should be banned from all professional sports because they can cause physical problems. How would you feel of you were taking steroids for athletic purposes and found out that you had liver cancer? You would never be able to play your sport at a high skill level ever again. With one mistake you can change your life completely around. With continued use of steroids you can jeopardize your career and
Investigation of the Effect of Bystander Behaviour on Helping Behaviour in a Non-Emergency Situation
Investigation of the Effect of Bystander Behaviour on Helping Behaviour in a Non-Emergency Situation Abstract One model explaining whether people offer assistance in emergency situations is diffusion of responsibility: the greater the number of bystanders present, the less personal responsibility is felt by each bystander. A second model, the normative theory, suggests that people comply with social norms, being more likely to help if an appropriate helping response is modelled by others. To investigate which model best accounts for helping behaviour, a naturalistic study was conducted in which participants were able to offer help in a minor emergency. The participants were 1122 undergraduates from Monash University. Most helping was demonstrated when no bystanders were present. The results supported the diffusion of responsibility theory more than the normative theory. In 1964, a New York city woman Kitty Genovese was brutally stabbed to death outside her apartment block. Of the 38 witnesses, none offered assistance, not even the simple act of notifying the police (Latane & Nida, 1981). This failure to help stimulated research into understanding why bystanders often fail to give assistance in emergency situations. Latane and Darley (1970) wondered why people were unwilling to offer assistance in emergencies when they were quite happy to help in non-emergencies. They
Personality Characteristics. Psychodynamic theory, made popular by Sigmund Freud, makes personality a completely biological construct. Freud believed that the building blocks of personality existed in the individuals drives and within the unconscious
Running head: PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS PAPER Personality Characteristics Paper ANTHONY STAMATOURAS UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX PSYCH 504 July 13, 2009 Personality Characteristics Paper Many theories exist on the development of personality. To some theorists, personality is built on purely biological factors. Other theorists consider personality to be a construct built entirely on environmental factors. Still other theorists believe that while personality development is based in biology, it is influenced by environmental factors. Even more confusing is that each one of these viewpoints can be effectively argued. Psychodynamic theory and trait theory are two of these personality development theories. The development of my own personality will be discussed in terms of these theories, psychodynamic theory and trait theory Psychodynamic theory, made popular by Sigmund Freud, makes personality a completely biological construct. Freud believed that the building blocks of personality existed in the individual's drives and within the unconscious and subconscious workings of the human brain. Psychodynamic theory relies on subjective decisions being made based on observations made by the therapist. On the other hand, trait theory is an objective theory that extends from testing done on measurable criteria. These criteria, the Big Five proposed as being consistent traits
What evidence is there for cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease? What brain systems might be affected in these patients to cause these deficits?
What evidence is there for cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease? What brain systems might be affected in these patients to cause these deficits? Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease, characterised by resting tremors, rigidity, slowing of physical movements (bradykinesia) and reduced or nonexistent voluntary movement (hypokinesia) (Ramírez-Ruiz). Although depletion of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra are predominantly the cause of these symptoms, the damage is not isolated as the peripheral, central, and enteric nervous systems are also affected (Braak and Braak 2000). The disease affects the neuronal cytoskeleton and as only selective cells can form this cytoskeleton abnormality, the damage caused by Parkinson's disease creates a particular pattern of lesions, making the symptoms and cognitive deficits roughly consistent between patients (Braak and Braak 2000). The dopamine depletion is continual, but for the symptoms to be sunstantial enough to be noticed the levels must have been reduced by around 90% (Gazziniga, Ivry and Mangun, 2002). Although Parkinson's disease has been linked to drug abuse and genetic factors, in most cases it is idiopathic (Gazzaniga et al, 2002). When Parkinson's disease was first described it was not appreciated that it had any affect on the mental state of the individual, with the original statement regarding
In the statement "All of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language", there are implications of language being superior to other
All of the other Ways of Knowing are controlled by language. What does this statement mean and do you think it is a fair representation of the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language? In the statement "All of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language", there are implications of language being superior to other aspects of knowledge - perception, reason and emotion. Language does not necessarily "control" all the other ways of knowledge, but leans more towards "can heavily influence" the other ways of knowledge. Whether the two terms are synonyms or whether this statement is a fair representation of the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language relies heavily on the definition of the word control, which is as each individual would interpret it. Therein lies one of the more important problems of knowledge in language; how would one know what the true definition of a word is? In this sense, what is true? In a society, through consensus gentium we determine the general "true" definition of a word; if so, the essentially the meaning of a word is only what we determine it to be. Control could arguably mean impact, influence, dictate all at the same time. What is the true meaning? In essence, the general meaning of control lies somewhere around "has a great deal (approx. 95% influence) over". Regarding the relationships between
Punishment is when a response is followed by a stimulus that suppresses the frequency of a response in the future and this stimulus is called the punisher.
Punishment is when a response is followed by a stimulus that suppresses the frequency of a response in the future and this stimulus is called the punisher. Bandura and Walters (1959) stated that children who are made to suffer grow up to be adults who make others suffer (as cited in Chance, 1999). They begin to deal with their problems in later life with troublesome behaviour and inflicting pain on others just like their punishers did to them when they were younger. Skinner suggested that it is possible to construct a society in which punishable behaviours occur infrequently or never. 'Basically if behavioural technology was used to control behaviour in nonpunitive ways, good behaviours would be common, and there would be little or no need for punitive measures' (Nye, 1993, pg. 104). Skinner's earliest work shows that punishment only has a temporary suppressive effect, rather than permanently decreasing responding. Conclusions form Estes' (1944) work shows that within limits more intense and frequent punishment produces greater response suppression providing that the punishment stimulus is reliable and immediately follows the response (as cited in Leslie, 1996, pg. 256). Misbehaviour persists in spite of punishment because it is also reinforced. This happens when the alternative of other behaviours are so daunting and unknown that they think they may receive more
