Thursday, November 28, 2019

Sampling and Households free essay sample

Senturia et al. (1994) describe a survey taken to study how many children have access to guns in their households. Questionnaires were distributed to all parents who attended selected clinics in the Chicago area during a one-week period for well or sick child visits. Suppose that the quantity of interest is percentage of the households with guns. Describe why this is a cluster sample. What is the psu? The ssu? Is it a one-stage or two-stage cluster sample? How would you estimate the percentage of households with guns, and the standard error of your estimate? What is the sampling population for this study? Do you think this sampling procedure results in a representative sample of households with children? Why, or why not? Solution: This is a cluster sample because all the elements within the clusters are selected. (Example: All parents who attended selected clinics in the Chicago). The primary sampling unit (psu): Clinics in the Chicago. We will write a custom essay sample on Sampling and Households or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The secondary sampling unit (ssu): Households with guns (parents who attended selected clinics in the Chicago area during a one-week period for well or sick child visits). This is a two stage cluster sample because subsample only some of the element within a sampled cluster. We can estimate the percentage of households with guns based on the information available but in this study, the information is not available. We can assume in the case of selecting clinics, the sample size is 10 and the population size is 100, and those are the parameters that define the probability, 10/100. For households, calculation of the percentage is slightly different because we do not know, in advance of the study, how many households are to be selected in each sample clinic. We are simply instructed to select 1 in 5 of all of them, so that if there is a total of 100 in Clinic A and 75 in Clinic B, we would select 20 and 15 respectively. Still, the percentage of selecting a household is 1/5, irrespective, of the population size or the sample size (20/100 = 1/5 but so does 15/75). By the formula, we simply estimate( t) ? unb= N/n ? t_i. When the population value is known, we can know the sampling error and we use this error for the purpose of our statistical test. The standard error of a percentage is always pq/n. Standard error (( t) ? unb) = Nv((1-n/N) (S^2 t)/n) . The sampling population for this study is households with guns in the Chicago. Yes, this sampling procedure results in a representative sample of households with children because where there is sub-sampling within the clusters chosen at the first stage, the term multistage sampling will applies. The population is regarded as being composed of a number of first stage or primary sampling units (PSUs) each of them being made up of a number of second stage units in each selected PSU and so the procedure continues down to the final sampling unit, with the sampling ideally being random at each stage. Using cluster samples ensures fieldwork is materially simplified and made cheaper. That is, cluster sampling tends to offer greater reliability for a given cost rather than greater reliability for a given sample size. With respect to statistical efficiency, larger numbers of small clusters is better. All other things being equal than a small number of large clusters.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Your 8 Biggest Job Search Fears and How to Conquer Them

Your 8 Biggest Job Search Fears and How to Conquer Them You absolutely hate your job. Or perhaps you’re between jobs- or even just starting out. The first rule of job hunting is this: you’ll never find a job unless you start. But putting yourself out there can be hard, and the fear is often real. Here are a few of the most common job hunting fears and how you can overcome them. 1. Confirming Your Worst Feelings About YourselfIf you’re not really searching, then you can tell yourself that if you only put your back into it, you would find a job no problem. Actually searching means facing rejection.  But you can’t get a yes without putting yourself out there. And what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll get a â€Å"no,† maybe a resounding one. So what? Then you’ll brush yourself on and move on to the next one.2. Risking EmbarrassmentYou don’t really want to broadcast to your friends and contacts that you’re looking for work. It makes you feel like a failure. Take comfort , instead, on the fact that literally everyone has not had a job at some point in their lives, and has been rejected from one.3. The Grass Not Being GreenerYou hate your current job. But what if you go through all the stress of finding a new one and getting established in a new company- and it turns out that job is just as bad? The best way to handle this is to make sure to enter the interview with a good set of questions for the employer- about workplace culture, job responsibilities, etc. This will help you make sure you’re not going to be just as miserable in a new place.4. Selling YourselfYou feel a little like a used car salesman on the job market- Dressing up in outfits you don’t usually wear and having to pedal yourself like wares for sale. Just remember: you’ll find the best job for you when you put the best version of yourself forward, not a fake version. Try to be honest and still make a fine first impression, and you shouldn’t feel too uncomfor table with the process.5. Asking for HelpNo one is an island. And this, by the way, is the whole point of networking. You built up a robust group of colleagues and contacts- now go work them. If this makes you too uncomfortable, just imagine how you would feel being approached by someone in your network for advice or help. Generous, right? Happy to help out if you can! Now treat yourself as nicely as you would treat your contacts.6. Not Measuring UpWhether you’re most afraid of imperfection, or of being un-or-under-qualified, and/or a little out of your league, relax. First of all: nobody’s perfect. Second of all: if your resume and experience match the requirements in the job posting, then you are exactly in your league. Now take a deep breath and go after what you want.7. Time DrainMaybe you’re afraid that job searching will take up every last ounce of free time you have and make you even more miserable. It is a time consuming process, but it doesn’t ha ve to eat up your life. Try scheduling little job search sessions for yourself, with lists of goals and tasks. Then leave it for the day. Little by little, you’ll get the work done.8. You Won’t Stand Out from the CrowdWhile it’s true that the market has become much more saturated of late, that doesn’t mean there aren’t easy ways to distinguish yourself among a list of candidates. Try making sure to go the extra mile- write the handwritten thank you note, do the extra research, ask the better question. If you focus on proving you’re the best one for the job, you’ll be set up quite well to show your unique strengths.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Relationship between Academia and Practice Essay

Relationship between Academia and Practice - Essay Example In a clear scenario, it is supposed that a person needs academic training in Medicine to be a doctor; whereas another person needs training in Education to be a teacher. However though, the issue of whether or not people explicitly apply the knowledge they acquire in school to their occupation is a debate that will continue for good. The same phenomenon exists with the conduct of research. A lot of people argue that a person does not need personal experience or academic knowhow to conduct research in a particular area of operation. To others though, without personal experience and academic qualification, it is not possible to undertake a research in a said area of practice. This essay seeks to examine these two points of view. Do you have to have personal experience of a specific area of practice in order to be able to conduct research into it? According to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online (2003), a research is â€Å"a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (n ew) information or reach a (new) understanding.† From this definition, it can be established that research is conducted purposely to come out with or identify new area of knowledge. To this effect, it can be said that there would not be the need for a research if the researcher embarking the research is sure of what the result of the research would be. This therefore makes it logically right to argue that research is in itself an act of learning as learning also concerns itself with the acquisition of new ideas (Boateng, 2001). For this reason, it is possible to conduct research in a specific area of practice even in the absence of personal experience. This is because we all start learning specific concepts without any person experiences in the said concept. However though, the need to have some level of personal experience in the area of research only gives the researcher additional benefits though it does not serve as prerequisite condition to enable one undertake a research in a particular area. With personal experience and having learnt about a specific area of practice, the researcher is put in a position to easily understand occurrences in the field of research. Personal experience in the conduct of research also makes the handling, analysis and use of data collected very easy, meaningful and useful. Do you have to fully understand the theory of research in order to conduct research in a business environment? It has been said earlier that research is in itself an act of learning and so as we all start learning without any foreknowledge of the concepts to be taught but we most of the time end up excelling in the courses we started learning about. However, there can be a school of thought that would argue that one also needs to know how to learn because successful learning can take place. Going by the latter argument, it can be said that if one does not have total understanding of the theory of research, conducting research in the business environmen t would be a fiasco especially as the business environment has been identified to be very volatile. It must be noted that business research involves a lot of technical calculations and manipulation of figures, which require only people with background. As noted by Jenlink (2009), â€Å"There is a blurring of boundaries in the knowledge-practice and inquiry-practice relationships that define both the learning to lead and the practice of leading in the educational setting.† Therefore, the absence of a full understanding of the theory of research (as an academia) would make research in the business environment (as practice) extremely challenging. Does research that is designed by practitioners, with little or no influence of academic theory incorporated, of any value in assisting practitioners