Decision Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Decision Analysis - Essay Example The essay refers to â€Å"Case Study of Rural Health Care in the Economic Downturn" by North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center. Healthcare facilities have energy-intensive buildings and use more energy than other forms of buildings per square meter. Energy efficiency is critical to freeing capital trapped within conventional hospital infrastructure. Approaches to energy efficiency will provide clean, cheap, and abundant to Ashe Memorial Hospital in the delivery of immediate hospital savings. The hospital will improve financial performance through making advanced decisions to energy management. Ashe Memorial Hospital should focus on achieving sustainable utility cost reductions and savings across the building’s life cycle (Borkowski & Deckard, 2013). The approach generates new cash and increased capital continuously. It is important to note that hospital investment in efficient procedures has appreciable impacts on hospital financial performance. However, there is a need to have consistency in implementing the stability of cost per case and cash flow. The reduced of penalties and carbon taxes grows the energy efficiency in the future while Ashe Memorial Hospital endorses the ability of full compliance with regulators and accreditation organizations in its operations. The reduced potential for preventable adverse events includes infant abductions as well as unexpected patient departures for improved security of patients, staffs, and assets without extra costs (Twaddle, 2002). Lower levels of power failure and patient injuries as well as death due to electrical fires or power failure reduces the potential for higher costs. The application of intelligent healthcare solutions provides Ashe Memorial Hospital with an opportunity of improving hospital’s financial performance. Other benefits of automation include higher productivity level and overall patient satisfaction, safety, and security. In addition,

A FORMAL ANALYSIS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A FORMAL ANALYSIS - Assignment Example paper will offer a formal analysis of this painting, exploring its formal properties, subject matter, historical context and describing any symbolism exhibited in the work. In 1907, Henri Matisse did a painting on canvas using oil that he named â€Å"Blue Nude.† Notably, he relied on his use of bright colors in this painting and a high level of primitivism. Henri Matisse had earned recognition as one of the 20th century artists who produced colorful artworks. This preference is exhibited in this painting. His primitivism has been described through his use of strokes in the painting. Moreover, the strokes were sketchy like as he did his painting (Bohm-Duchen 55). The sketch like strokes is more evident in the shading of the underside of the woman’s breasts as well as the inner side of both her face and thighs. In these areas, Matisse relied on sketchy strokes to place emphasis on the undersides. Moreover, Matisse relied on color and such sketchy lines in his evident efforts to exhibit shadows and other physical details on the woman’s body. Notably, this painting has been considered as an abstract and not real because the artistic el ements used to highlight shadows and other physical details of the woman prove to be unrealistic. Moreover, Matisse missed out in giving clear details of the feet and the toes as well as the fingers. Notably, the painting appears to be hard and rough because of the style used. The faint details that define the painting as well as the roughness implied serve to emphasize the abstract nature of the painting. Moreover, Matisse does not present specific details of the background, although the audience can identify some plants and flowers. Moreover, Matisse’s primitivism of style is also exhibited by the evident exaggerations as he tried to outline the woman’s body (DSouza 70). For example, he makes her look like she has muscle, a body that is uncommon among women. The pores of the woman are also revealed by his sketchy lines and

China Social Classes

China Social Classes The social class structure of China has a long history, ranging from the feudal society of imperial times to the industrialising and urbanising society of today. The traditional Chinese social structure was distinct in many ways from the Western societies. Not only has the Peoples Republic by far the largest population ruled by a single government, and has lacked an institutional church or otherwise powerful religious elite, it has also always had a unique and highly developed lineage system operating alongside a centralised bureaucratic political structure. The former disparities have led Whyte et al (1977) to conclude that modern processes of social change would proceed differently from both the West and other developing economies. The main aim of this essay is to describe and account for the changes in Chinas social classes since 1949. It is important, however, to firstly define this term so that a clear distinction of the social groups within the Chinese society can be drawn. It will become apparent, that not only have the changes for the various classes been vast, but also that the Maoist government had been hugely occupied with stratifying their people as a means to abolish the class structure to ultimately reach an egalitarian society. The principal line of reasoning of this paper is that these conflicting events have created the greatest divide amongst Chinese society, i.e. between the rural and the urban population, whose consequences are still omnipresent today more than thirty years after Maos death. â€Å"Class, at its core, is an economic concept; it is the position of individuals in the market that determines their class position. And it is how one is situated in the marketplace that directly affects ones life chances.† (Hurst, 2007) This was theorized by Weber in his three-component theory of stratification which includes wealth, prestige and power on the basis of unequal access to material resources.† (Weber, 1964). One of the most prominent Chinese sociologists and author of Xiangtu Zhonguo, Fei Xiaotong, argues that Chinese society consists of a meticulous ranking of people, who are classified according to distinct categories of social relationships. While western societies are made up of an organisational mode of association (tuantigeju), Chinese society is created by applying logic of chaxugeju, i.e. an egocentric system of social networks linking people together in multiple ways through moral demands on each person in a specific context. As such, Fei argues, China should not be viewed as a class-based but a net-work based system. This notion is a harsh contrast to the Marxist interpretation and to the use of class-analysis that Mao and others applied in an attempt to change Chinese society and to mobilise the peasantry, rather than as a way to understand it. Maos idea was to use Marxism to break through the old relational bonds of society, which he labelled feudalistic, and to create new ca tegories for rebuilding the social order. Much of the difficulties in understanding the Chinese concept of class stems from the tumult within the society it is intended to analyse. As Kraus (1981) notes first revolution, then rapid industrialisation have compressed a broad range of radical social changes within a single generation. And most of all, â€Å"changing Chinese approaches to the class system of the PRC are themselves elements in the social conflict which they prescribe, illuminate and obscure† (ibid). The Party had a great interest in class analysis, which was purely strategic, never academic. Maos 1926 essay â€Å"the Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society† opens with the question â€Å"Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?† (Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, 1967). In order to reach one day the desired egalitarian society that Marx had proposed for the future the party had to specify the social order of the present time and of each individual c itizen. That way, potential support could be identified and mobilised, the enemies isolated and the intermediate classes be persuaded to join sides with the revolutionaries. In an attempt to identify the people who should receive benefits and those who should lose them, the Party applied a complex system of over sixty class designations which ranged from categories that were clearly bad such as capitalists and landlords, through to intermediate designations of petty bourgeoisie and middle peasant, to the workers and poor peasants in whose name the revolution had been made.1 The unfamiliarity of the ordinary people and many cadres with the Marxist notion of class categories led Mao to demand the press to publish the categories in newspapers so that all persons could understand the significance of their new class designations. Since the revolution was based in rural areas, the semi-feudal set of class designations was more elaborate than others. Kraus (1981) suggests that the differen tiation of rural classes was complex both because of the wide-ranging relationships which they encompassed and because of the Partys experience with them. It is for this reason that the designation of strata within classes was particularly rich, including e.g. hired agricultural labourer, poor peasant, middle peasant, rich peasant etc., while the varieties of landlords are even more impressive and contain a certain connotation, such as enlightened landlord, bankrupt, tyrannical, reactionary, hidden or overseas Chinese landlords. Although the Party worked systematically in applying the theories of Karl Marx in designating the different classes, and although Marxs theory of class has been subject to considerable controversy among academics and practicing revolutionaries, it is certain that Marx never understood class to be what twentieth-century western social science calls stratification. Unlike the latter, which is essentially a static concept, class is embedded in history, is dynamic and is centred upon the question of change. Dahrendorf (?) adds that, for Marx â€Å"the theory of class was not a theory of a cross section of society arrested in time but a tool for the explanation of changes in total societies.† Social Change under Mao: During empirical times prestige was generated from education, abstention from manual labour, wealth expended on the arts and education, as well as a large family with many sons and an extensive personal network. In summary, there was no sharp divide between the elite and masses, and social mobility was possible and common. Chinese society since the second decade of the twentieth century, has been the subject of a revolution intended to change it in fundamental ways. As the model shows, Chinese society now has a peasant class, a working class (which includes urban state workers and urban collective workers as well as urban non-state workers and peasant workers), a capitalist class (about 15 million), a cadre class (about 40 million and a quasi-cadre class (about 27 million). According to Li Yi the basic pattern of Chinese society was established by 1960, and all changes since then, including the economic reforms in the 1980s have only been modifications and adjustments to the pattern. Li describes this pattern as â€Å"cellular†, i.e. most people belong to one large, all-embracing unit such as a factory, government office of village. The main transformation of the society was carried out by the party during the 1950s in a series of major campaigns. Society was organised â€Å"vertical†, i.e. each individual and social group was put into a hierarchically organised system as opposed to belonging to social institutions that were organised horizontally by their members. On the macro-level one could find the pervasive system of the cerntralised buraucracy (xitong) which itself was organised according to the ‘branch (tiao) principle. The micro-level was represented by work-units (danwei), state-enterprises and rural collectives, which encompassed each individuals live comprehensively. As White (1993) notes, this â€Å"system of verticality has led to social encapsulation† , which means that individuals and groups were â€Å"encloistered† within their units and separated from other units at the same level. Cadres after 1950s: After 1949, the Communist Party cadres became the new upper class in China, with the revolutionaries ruling the country. Their status allowed them access to materials and options that werent fairly distributed or otherwise reachable. Especially housing, which was in great demand particularly in the larger cities, was easily accessible for cadres who were protected from the intense competition for the scarce living space. Countryside: When the communists came to power in the 1950s, the social hierarchy changed fundametally. The communist party held peasants and those people in esteem who had joined the communist revolution. In an attempt to reduce rural inequalities, resources were confiscated from the wealthy, and since wealth consisted primarily of agricultural land, the landlord families were the target of harsh punishment campaigns. Many of the latter as well as educated elites lost their land and other properties and many were executed in retribution for the exploitation of tenant farmers. From 1951 one, the initial land reform redistributed the confiscated land equally and foremostly to those families who didnt own any for them to farm privately. In 1953, however, a series of reformes were implemented in which the government began taking back this land, designating it as community property. â€Å"Families were required to work larger plots of land collectively, in groups of twenty to forty households† (bookrags.com, 2008) and the harvest was split between the government and the collective. At the same time, local governments took over commerce, shops, markets and other forms of private trade and replaced them by supply and marketing cooperatives and the commercial bureaus of the local governments. Thus, instead of using the farmed produce for themselves and instead of selling of the surplus on local markets, individuals were â€Å"paid† for their efforts in points by the newly established supply cooperatives, which then periodically traded the grain for money. On the whole, the size of the unit was increased and the role of private ownership as well as inherited land was decreased. By the early 1960s, an estimated 90 million family farms had been replaced by about 74,000 communes. Maos overall vision was to capitalise on the sheer number of peasants and effecitvely produce a surplus harvest that would help industralisation. This was known as the Great Leap forward, which is now widely regarded as a failure since it had resulted in the death of more than twenty million peasants. Urban life after 1950: At the same time as the land reforms were implemented in rural areas, large industries and in fact virtually all privately owned business were nationalised in the cities and craft enterprises and guilds were reorganised into large-scale cooperatives which became the branches of the local governments. Just as farmers were put into communes, state workers were placed in large work units called danweis. In an effort to ensure full employment, market competition in these firms was eliminated. People leaving school were assigned jobs bureaucratically, and once matched a job, employees could not quit voluntarily. But they could not be fired either, and thus had a job guaranteed in the same company for life with their children inheriting their position. In fact, there did not exists such a word as ‘unemploment in the Chinese language, according to the idea that there exist no unemployment in socialist countries, only individuals â€Å"waiting for work† (Imamura, 2003). Mobility within the danwei mostly only consisted of gaining administrative promotions. Since most of the alternative routes to social mobility were closed off, formal education continued to be the primary avenue of upward mobility. But since the urban education reform grew at a rate much faster than in rural areas, more and more workers were high school graduates. The slowing of state industries and the increasing number of qualified middle class candidates contributed to the fact that it became increasingly difficult to obtain a position as a state worker. Hence, urban youths not selected for further eduaction and those looking for work were often sent to rural areas to work in agriculture. This flow has been increased by more intensive mobilisation and a new law was passed that demanded secondary school graduates to work in agriculture for at least to years before becoming eligible for further schooling. In this mode, a total of 12 million urban youths were moved to the countryside betwee n 1968 and 1975 (Whyte et al, 1977). These large transfers of urban people to rural areas were made possible by the state monopoly over employment and urban housing, by the hukou registration and rationing, and by the impressive political network that had alrady been established in all neighbourhoods. On the whole, one can say that this rural settlement has been accomplished by social pressure rather than by incentives to move. It is debatable whether this massive programm of population transfers was intended primarily to â€Å"avoid having large numbers of ‘unemployed people living in cities parasitically† (Bernstein, 1977), or whether this was meant to be part of a more positive effort to close the rural-urban gap by supplying villages with well-educated and more scientifically sophisticated personnel. Urban inequalities were further reduced through salary compression in firms. Differences in the salary paid for high-skill, high-prestige occupations such as doctors and other professionals, and blue-collar work such as unskilled factory employees was decreased dramatically. Efforts were also maid to downplay the social importance of the former and to increase the prestige of the latter. Ever concerned about economic inequalities, the government also appropriated wealth and abolished labout markets in urban areas. Privately owned housing was seized and subdivided into much smaller living spaces. Effectively, families could rent apartments but never purchase them, which abolished a key element in wealth inequalities because properties could not be perpetuated from generation to generation any longer. Communist overall: position? It is readily distinguishable that communism has brought about far-reaching changes in China with the rural population having to adjust to the shifting ideological currents. Traditionally, the average citizen, and especially the more than eighty percent rural population, had little or nothing to do with the central of local government. Most peasants lives were centred on their home village or township, while the family was the main unit of economic production and social activity. The Maoist revolution, however, injected the Communist party into every sphere of rural and urban life and every institution of society. Thus, for the average Chinese citizen, whether rural or urban, Communism has brought about an almost intrusive role of governmental element into the daily life and embedded itself in the operations of all significant facets of the economy and society. The formerly local, small-scale and fragmented power structure was replaced by a national and well-integrated bureaucratic s ystem. The unpredictable consequences of market forces were replaced by administrative allocation and changing economic polices enforced by the government. Rural-Urban-Divide Marx did, moreover, make out the elimination of the distinction between city and countryside as one of the major goals of the future Communist society. In the 1950s, however, and ironically enough in light of Marxist pretensions the Party drove a wedge between rural and urban areas that was novel in Chinese history. Solinger (1999) explains that its chief purpose was to lock onto the land a potential underclass, ready to be exploited to fulfill the new states cherished project of industrialisation. The party used administrative orders and resource controls to isolate the urban population, not just geographically but socially as well. Although Marx had predicted that only capitalist states would do so, the party hoped to be to be able to draw upon the peasantry as an industrial reserve army. The Hukou-System By the 1960s the Chinese government had implemented their policy of household registration which was different from anything that had previously existed both in China and in the rest of the socialist world. The aim of the hukou system was to avoid over-urbanisation, to make distribution of state services through the work units and communes easter and to better prepare the population for a possible invastion by the Sovjet Union. It eliminated geographical mobility entirely since it â€Å"fixed people permanently on the basis of their birth place or their husbands residence† (Cheng and Selden, the City) and thus made it illegal to migrate from the countryside into cities.Accordingly, all persons were required to register their place of residence officially, with records maintained by the public security office of the higher agricultural cooperative in the countryside and in the neighborhood in cities. From then on, residence status became an ascribed, inherited one, which determ ined an individuals entire livelihood and welfare based on the location of the registration. Since rations of grain, cloth and other needed articles were tied to ones hukou, individuals living in urban areas without permission had to live off friends, relatives or the black market. Although a class system in the usual sense was abolished, a new set of categories, if not precisely a new class system supplanted the dismantled class hierarchy of the past. There were 6 different levels of ranks, in descending order: peasants, non-peasants, city and town residents, urbanities, those in large cities, and those in cities directly administered by the central government. â€Å"Just after liberation, peasant households did not fell lower rank (diren yideng) and urban ones did not feel higher Later, a great difference in interest came from the differences in where one lived†¦ A ranking structure was gradually established with the peasant household at the lowest level.† (Ging, Zhongguo xianxing). Therefore, one can conclude that the hukou system did actually set up a new class distinctions between the rural and urban populace. This understanding of class draws upon Honigs work on the ethnicity of native place in China, in which she offers the rich insight that native-place identity, and thus the urban-versus-rural-identity can well serve as â€Å"a metaphor for class† (Honig, Creating Chinese Ethnicity). The boundaries placed around the rural population as a whole rendered the peasantry as a separate, inferior class or status group in comparison to urban residents. Because the generic peasant was not legally prohibited from migrating, when the Hukou was destroyed in (?), migration took on a totally state-determined and ‘class-based dimension. As Kraus rightly states, â€Å"the CCP first set boundaries around peasants, marking them off as a separate, ascribed status group almost a pariah class and then barring them from entering urban areas.† Or if they did enter, it was never as citizens, but as subjects, who were not supported with the rationed food or access to welfare services. When peasants and semi-peasants entered the city, the often felt comparatively deprived by the tightly locked city walls. Whereas everyone was poor in the country side, differences in wealth were readily obvious after entering the city. Impact of Economic Reform on Chinese Society On the eve of reform, the structure of Chinese civil society was similar to a typical less-developed country of the third world, despite Maos efforts to make certain industrial and technological advancements, which were most notable in the nuclear armaments sector. As Chinese social statistical data (Zhongguo shehui tongji ziliao) states, in 1978 eightytwo percent of the population were rural, 71% of the countrys labour force worked in agriculture or related activites, 93.3% worked in manual labour as opposed to mental ones and the private sector was negligible so that the main destinction was between state and collective sectors. The vast majority of the people, i.e. 76% worked in rural collectives, and only 5.1% in urban collectives. 18.6 % of the people worked for state enterprises. White (1993) concludes, that this institutional devide reinforced the rural-urban distintion because levels of income and conditions of work were generally superior in state firms. Since the rise of ot her classes such as self-employed or private entrepreneurs was prohibited, Chinas social structure on the eve of reform was relatively homogenous. According to White, the ‘official structure only contained two classes (workers and peasants) and one stratum (intelligentsia). In an attempt to further homogenise the members of each social group, uniform conditions of work were imposed upon them and the emergence of internal differences limited. The economic reforms, on the whole, have affected the specific social classes in different ways and have led to changes in the existing groups and have even led to the rise of new ones. This has created a new political environment which may affect the fundamental credibility of the communist regime and may influence the policy process in the future. The main impact of the reforms on society can be described as its shift â€Å"away from the state and its ancillary agencies† (ibid) towards individuals, households, firms and groups. The change in the relationship between the state and society has brought about an uneven redistribution of economic power for the latter and this dispersion of greater social power has opened up the potential for a new social sphrere with greater social autonomy from the state. One can possible observe the shoots of an incipient civil society which also brings about crucial implications for Chinas long-term political future. These shifts were part of a broader process of rapid social differentiation. Chinese social structure has become more complex both in terms of structure and attitudes because the existing classes have itself become more internally complex due to diversification in the different economic sectors, in the forms of ownership and the levels of income. Some of the new classes and strata that have emerged are: The nuveau-riche peasant, who have made money quickly in recent years through specialised agricultural production or diversification into the local industries, trade and services. (see Song article); Private entrepreneurs in the cities, who have accumulated small fortunes through personal initiatives, specialised skills or good guanxi-networks; A growing number of entrepreneurial managers in state-owned enterprises who are well attuned to the spreading logic of market competition. Moreover, Chinese society has become more fluid and dynamic again and there has been a rapid increase in horizontal mobility within the countryside, between urban and rural areas and between regions. Conclusion: The political apparatus used to destroy the old inequalities has itself given rise to a new set of social distinctions. Political power has been employed to transform Chinese society but it seems that the Party changed society faster than it has been able to modify its comprehension of a dynamic social structure. As Wallerstein concludes, â€Å"classes do not have some permanent reality. Rather, they are formed, they consolidate themselves, they disintegrate or disaggregate, and are reformed. It is a process of constant movement, and the greatest barrier to understanding their action is reification.† In the capitalist society movement between classes is a possibility. Hence the use of the term â€Å"The American Dream† to show the ability of people to ascend to a higher class through hard work and ingenuity. â€Å"Class composition is forever changing, to the point where there may be a completely new set of families.† (Schumpeter, 165) Furthermore, Chinas leaders wanted to change some aspects that were found in the traditional society such as the content of education and rural tenure, but they left other aspects, e.g. the family structure, largely untouched. In the villages the army offered the only reasonable alternative to a lifetime spent in the fields, and in fact, demobilised soldiers staffed much of the local administrative structure in rural areas. Systematic attempt by the regime to contain society within a limited number of categories. 1 see handout about social classes References: Hurst, Charles E. (2007). Social Inequality Forms, Causes, and Consequences Sixth Edition. Allyn and Bacon Boston, MA. Weber, Max. (1964). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. edited by Talcott Parsons. New York, NY: The Free Press Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1967, 1:13 (Wallerstein, I. (1975) ‘Class-Formation in the Capitalist World-Economy, Politics and Society, Volume 5(3) p. 369) White, G. (1993), Riding the Tiger The Politics of Economic Reform in Post-Mao China. London: Macmillan. http://www.bookrags.com/research/social-stratificationchina-ema-05/ as at 3rd. April 2008. Imamura, H. (2003) ‘Unemployment Problems and Unemployment Insurance in China Far Eastern Studies Vol.2 (March), pp.45-67. Whyte, M.K., Vogel, E.F., and Parish, W.L. (1977) ‘Social Structure of World Regions: Mainland China Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 3, pp. 179-207. Bernstein, T. (1977) The Transfer of Urban Youth to the Countryside: Revolutionary Change in China. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. Zhongguo shehui tongji ziliao (ZGSHTJZL; China Social Statistical Data

Rita Dove Literary Analysis Essay -- essays research papers

Rita Dove: Literary Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rita Dove has written many different kinds of poetry. She also wrote books, short stories plays and all types of literature. This essay will focus on specifics of her writing by analyzing three pieces of poetry that Rita Dove has written. The works we will be looking at are In the Old Neighborhood, My Mother Enters the Work Force, and The Bistro Styx. Through these three works you will see examples of Rita Dove’s use of home in her poetry, her use of figurative devices such as similes and metaphors, and you will see Dove’s view on children coming of age in different ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By looking at the poem “In the Old Neighborhood'; we can deduce a number of things from the overall poem. Dove seems to go back in time to view her home as a child from a newly shifting and surreal location. The speakers in Dove’s poems are not usually at ease with their surroundings, and they tend to look upon scenes of home as seen through a distant and dispassionate eye. Dove’s home seems alien to her. Even the flowers are strangers there. Analyzing the poem farther we can see that Dove uses her views on home to further alienate from our familiar picture of that typical suburban home. She seems to be talking about the house in a manner that would indicate it is a photographic negative; this emphasizes race as an alienating factor. Dove’s writing usually charts a sense of displacement and this seems to be the case in “The Old Neighborhood';. In My Mother Enters the Work Force Dove does not use her home theme, but in The Bistro Styx, which is a small ex cerpt from a works entitled Mother Love, Dove does make references to home. This poem is a recasting of the story of Demeter and Persephone from ancient Greek mythology. In short, Hades kidnaps Persephone from her home, and Demeter, her mother goes insane trying to get her back. Demeter is able to go after Persephone only to find that too late Persephone has already “adapted'; to life in the underworld, and must remain there because she ate the fruit of the dead. Dove’s version is much the same and takes place in Paris. It deals with loss of home and a home coming that was not to be. Many of Rita Dove’s works deal, approach, define, or scrutinize the i... ...he mother, is insanely worried about her daughter. Persephone is unmindful of her mother’s fear and is off having a great time partying in Paris. Although Persephone is having a great time, what she doesn’t realize is that she can never really return home. The end of the poem symbolizes the mother realizing her daughter’s sexual awakening, and with that the realization that things are out of her control. Dove delves deep into these kinds of relationships in many of her poems, not just the examples given. The works we looked at were In the Old Neighborhood, My Mother Enters the Work Force, and The Bistro Styx. Through these three works we saw examples of Rita Dove’s use of home in her poetry, her use of figurative devices such as similes and metaphors, and her views and themes on children coming of age in different ways. These three elements do not fully encompass all that is Rita Dove. In fact, with a poet as diverse as she is it is hard to pick three main ideas when really they aren’t as main as you might think. Rita Dove is a complex and fascinating individual who will continue to write her style of poetry for many years to come.

Statistics Course Notes

†¢ Defining What Statistics Really Is 1. 1 Nature of Statistics The term â€Å"Statistics† came from the Latin word ‘status’ which could be translated as ‘state’. The usage of this term only became popular during the 18 th century where they defined Statistics as â€Å"the science of dealing with data about the condition of a state or community†. The practice of statistics could be traced back even from the early biblical times where they gather figures related to governance of the state for they realized the importance of these figures in governing the people.Even until today, worldwide, governments have intensified their data gathering and even widen the scope of their numerical figures due to the rise of more cost-efficient methods for collecting data. Some of the most popular figures that are being released by almost all countries are Gross National Product (GNP), Birth rates, Mortality Rates, Unemployment Rate, Literacy Rates and Fore ign Currency Exchange Rates. Also, the use of Statistics is not limited to government use only. Right now, almost all business sectors and fields of study use statistics.Statistics serves as the guiding principle in their decision making and helps them come up with sound actions as supported by the analysis done in their available information. Indicated below are some of the uses of Statistics in various fields: Medicine: Medical Researchers use statistics in testing the feasibility or even the efficacy of newly developed drugs. Statistics is also used to understand the spread of the disease and study their prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment (Epidemiology).JDEUSTAQUIO 1 Economics: Statistics aids Economists analyze international and local markets by estimating some Key Performance Indicators (KPI) such as unemployment rate, GNP/GDP, amount of exports and imports. It is also used to forecast economic fluctuations and trends. Market Research: derives statistics by conducti ng surveys and coming up decisions from these statistics through feasibility studies or for testing the marketability of a new product.Manufacturing: use statistics to assure the quality of their products through the use of sampling and testing some of their outputs Accounting/Auditing: uses sampling techniques in statistics to examine and check their financial books. Education: Educators use statistical methods to determine the validity and reliability of their testing procedures and evaluating the performance of teachers and students. 1. 2 Basic Concepts We normally hear the word â€Å"statistics† when people are talking about basketball or the vital statistics of beauty contestants.In this context the word â€Å"statistics† is used in the plural form which simply means a numerical figure. But the field of Statistics is not only limited to these simple figures and archiving them. In the context of this course, the definition of â€Å"Statistics† is mainly abou t the study of the theory and applications of the scientific methods dealing all about the data and making sound decisions on this. Statistics is the branch of science that deals with the collection, presentation, organization, analysis and interpretation of data. Sometimes, gathering the entire collection of elements is very tedious, expensive or even timeconsuming.Because of this data gatherers sometimes resort to collecting just a portion of the entire collection of elements. The term coined for the entire collection of elements is called Population while the subset of the population is referred as the Sample. JDEUSTAQUIO 2 Population is the collection of all elements under consideration in a statistical inquiry while the sample is a subset of a population. THINK: Could you say that the entire population is also a sample? The specification of the population of interest depends upon the scope of the study.Let’s say that if we wish to know the average expenditure of all hous eholds in Metro Manila, then the population of interest is the collection of all households in Metro Manila. If there is a need to delimit the scope of the study due to some constraints, we could redefine the population of interest. We could delimit the scope of the study to only specific city in Metro Manila. With this the study would only include the collection of all households in ________ City. The elements of the population is not only limited to individuals, it can be objects, animals, geographical areas, in other words, almost anything.Some examples of possible populations are: the set of laborers in a certain manufacturing plant, the set of foreigners residing on Boracay for a certain day, set of Ford Fiesta produced in the entire Philippines on a month. In any studies involving the use of Statistics, there would be at least one attribute of the element in the population which we would be studying. This attribute or characteristic is what we call variable. Just like in the f ield of Mathematics, we normally denote a variable with a single capital letter i. e. A, X, Z.The variable is a characteristic or attribute of the elements in a collection that can assume different values for the different elements. While an observation is a realized value of the variable, and the collection of these observations is called the data. Example: The Department of Health is interested in determining the percentage of children below 12 years old infected by the Hepatitis B virus in Metro Manila in 2006. Population: Set of all children below 12 years old in Metro Manila in 2006 Variable of Interest: whether or not the child has ever been infected by the Hepatitis B virus.Possible Observations: Infected, Never Infected Regardless of whether every element of the data on the population or sample is used, it is often still difficult to convey meaning to these observations is not summarized. This is the JDEUSTAQUIO 3 reason why it is important to condense these observations to a single figure to completely describe the entire data. This condensed value is what we call summary measure. The parameter is a summary measure describing a specific characteristic of a population while a statistic is a summary measure describing a specific characteristic of the sample. . 3 Fields of Statistics There are two major fields in Statistics. The first one is (i) Applied Statistics, this deals mainly with the procedures and techniques used in the collection, presentation, organization, analysis and interpretation of data. On the other hand, the second one is (ii) Mathematical Statistics, which is concerned with the development of the mathematical foundations of the methods used in Applied Statistics. In this course, we would mostly deal with the basics of Applied Statistics. This field could also by sub-divided into two areas of interest.These two are Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. Both are definitive of their names. Descriptive Statistics includes all the techni ques used in organizing, summarizing, and presenting the data on hand, while Inferential Statistics includes all the techniques used in analyzing the sample data that will lead to generalizations about a population from which the sample came from. To clarify, we may use descriptive statistics for population data or sample data. If we are dealing with population data, then the results of the study are applicable only to the defined population.In the same manner, if we use descriptive statistics to sample data, then the conclusions are applicable only to the selected sample. JDEUSTAQUIO 4 1. 4 Statistical Inquiry Statistical Inquiry is a designed research that provides information needed to solve a research problem. Oftentimes, researchers can now find an appropriate statistical technique that will help them answer their research problems. This is because o the wide array of applications of the various statistical techniques used in a statistical inquiry. Below is the diagram depictin g the entire process of statistical inquiry.Step 1: †¢ Identify the Problem †¢ Plan the Study †¢ Collect the Data †¢ Explore the Data †¢ Analyze Data and Interpret the Results †¢ Present the Results Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 JDEUSTAQUIO 5 †¢ Theory without data is just an Opinion 2. 1 Measurement The data used for statistical analysis should always be accurate, complete, and up-todate because the information that we would get is only as good as the data that we have. Good quality data comes at a cost but if we have the assurance of obtaining essential information that answers our research problem then it is all worth it.Measurement is the process of determining the value or label of the variable based on what has been observed. Naturally, our interpretation of the values in our data will depend on the measurement system or the rule that we used to assign the values to the different categories of the variable. In particular, it will depend on the relationship among the values used in the system. The general classification used to describe the types of relationship among these values or categories is what is known as â€Å"levels of measurement†. The four levels of measurement are nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio level.It is necessary to know the level of measurement used to measure a variable because this will help in the interpretation of the values of the variables and choosing the suitable statistical technique to use in the analysis. Ratio level of measurement has all of the following properties : a) the numbers in the system are used to classify a person/object into distinct, nonoverlapping, and exhaustive categories; b) the system arranges the categories according to magnitude; c) the system has a fixed unit of measurement representing a standard size throughout the scale; and d) the system has an absolute zero.JDEUSTAQUIO 6 Some examples of variables with ratio level of measurement are: 1. Distance t raveled by a car (in km) 2. Height of a flag pole (in metres) 3. Weight of a whole dressed chicken (in kilograms) Now we will discuss each of the properties that is required for a measuring scale to have in order for it to be considered as having a ratio level of measurement: a) The numbers in the system are used to classify a person/object into distinct nonoverlapping, and exhaustive categories. This first condition requires that we use categories that would place the observations logically into one and only one category.This means that two objects assigned the same value must belong in the same category and be placed in a different category if the characteristics of interest is really different. b) The system arranges the categories according to magnitude. This second property requires that the measurement system must arrange the categories according to either ascending or descending order. c) The system has a fixed unit of measurement representing a standard size throughout the s cale. The third property requires the scale to use a unit of measure that depicts a fixed and determinate quantity.This means that a one-unit difference must have the same interpretation wherever it appears in the scale. d) The system has an absolute zero. The fourth property requires the measurement system to have an absolute zero or the true zero point. This means that the scale considers the value, â€Å"0† (zero) as the complete absence of the characteristic itself. One example of this is any monetary measurement where zero means that there is absolutely no money. Interval Level of Measurement satisfies only the first three conditons of the ratio level of measurement.The only difference of the interval level of measurement to the ratio level of measurement is the absence of the absolute zero value. This means that the interval level of measurement considers â€Å"0† (zero) as a value like any other numbers and not as the absence of JDEUSTAQUIO 7 the characteristic of interest. The most common example of this is measuring temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit where the value â€Å"zero† does not mean that there is no temperature. Ordinal Level of Measurement satisfies only the first two conditons of the ratio level of measurement.The ordinal level of measurement only uses a scale that ranks or orders the observed values in either ascending or descending order. The interval or simply the difference of the scale from one point to another does not need to be equal all throughout the scale. For example the ranking of the student in class according to their grades could be tagged as 1 st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on. The difference of the grade between the 1st student and the 2nd placed student does not need to be of the same gap between the 4 th placer and the 5th placer.Nominal Level of Measurement satisfies only the first property of the ratio level of measurement. The nominal level of measurement is the weakest level of measurement among the four. This is because its only aim is to classify the values into separate categories without regards to the ordering of these categories in ascending or descending manner. Most often, this level of measurement uses non-quantifiable categories like the different religions, zip code or the student number. 2. 2 Collecting Data 2. 2 . 1 Data Collection Methods The most commonly used methods for collecting data are: i. Use of Documented Data, ii. ) Surveys, iii. ) Experiments, and iv. ) Observation. Use of Documented Data It is not necessary to use original data in conducting studies; sometimes it would make things easier if the researcher uses the data that is already available if there is such one suitable for the study. The only dilemma with using documented data is its reliability and veracity. Therefore, the researcher must look closely on the source of this data to have a measure on the reliability JDEUSTAQUIO 8 of the data that would be used.Also, these documented data can be cat egorized in to two, the primary data and the secondary data. Primary Data are data documented by the primary source, meaning, the data collectors themselves documented the data. Secondary Data are data documented by a secondary source, meaning, an individual/agency, other than the data collectors, documented the data. Surveys Another common method of collecting data is the survey. The people who answer the questions in a survey are called the respondents. This method is much more expensive than collecting data using documented stuff.Another problem of using surveys is that reliability of the data depends mainly on the survey process itself, either from the respondent, the survey design, questionnaire or if it is a personal interview there might be a problem with the interviewer if he/she lacks training. The Survey is a method of collecting data on the variable/s of interest by asking people questions. When data came from asking all the people in the population, then it is called cen sus. On the other hand, when the data came from asking a sample of people selected from a well-defined population, the it is called a sample survey.Experiments If the researcher is interested in something that involves cause-and-effect relationship, conducting the experiment is most likely the suitable way of collecting data. The most common experiment that is normally conducted during the primary level is the mongo seed experiment. The aim of this experiment is to see the relationship of the growth of the mongo in relation with sunlight exposure, amount of water and the type of soil. The Experiment is a method of collecting data where there is direct human intervention on the conditions that may affect the values of the variable of interest.Observation Method The Observation Method is a method of collecting data on the phenomenon of interest by recording the observations made about the phenomenon as it actually happens. JDEUSTAQUIO 9 The observation method is useful in studying the reactions and behavior of individuals or groups of persons/objects in a given situation or environment as it happens, For example, a researcher may use the observation method to study the behavior patterns of an indigenous tribe which is difficult to be gathered using the other methods. 2. 2. 2 The QuestionnaireThe questionnaire is an instrument for measuring which is used in various data collection methods (commonly used in surveys). The questionnaire may either be selfadministered or interview-based which are both explanatory of their names. 2. 2. 2. 1 Type of Questions ? A Closed-ended question is a type of question that includes a list of response categories from which the respondent will select his/her answer. ? An Open-ended question is a type of question that does not include response categories. Comparison of Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions Open-Ended ?Respondent can freely answer ? Can Elicit feeling and emotions of the respondent ? Can reveal new ideas and views tha t the researcher might not have considered ? Good for complex issues ? Good for questions whose possible responses are unknown ? Allow respondents to clarify answers ? Get detailed answers ? Shows how respondent think ? ? ? ? Closed-Ended Facilitates tabulation of responses Easy to code and analyze Saves time and money High response rate since it is simple and quick to answer ? Response categories make questions easy to understand ?Can repeat the study and easily make comparisons JDEUSTAQUIO Advantages 10 Disadvantages ? Difficult to tabulate and code ? High refusal late because it requires more ? ? ? ? ? Increases respondent to burden when time and effort on the respondent Respondents need to be articulate Responses can be inappropriate or vague May threaten respondent Responses have different levels of detail there are too many or too limited response categories ? Bias responses against categories excluded in the choices ? Difficult to detect if the respondent misinterpreted the q uestion 2. 2. . 2 Response Categories for Close-ended Questions 1. Two-way Question – provides only two alternative answers from which the respondent can chose Example: Have you ever traveled outside the country by any means of transportation? Yes No 2. Multiple-choice Question – provides more than two alternatives from which the respondent can only choose one. Example: What is your marital status? Never Married Divorced/Separated Married Widowed 3. Checklist Question – provides more than two alternatives from which the respondent can choose as many responses that apply to him/her.Example: What kind/s of novel do you like to read? Comedy Romance Fantasy Sci-Fi Horror Non-fiction Mystery Others, please specify ____________ JDEUSTAQUIO 11 4. Ranking Question – provides categories that respondents have to either arrange from highest to lowest or vice versa depending upon a particular criterion. Example: Below is a list of considerations in choosing and buyin g a new laptop. Put number (1) beside the quality that you prioritize the most, (2) for the second priority and so on. Prize Brand Quality Durability Style Novelty Warranty [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . Rating Scale Question – provides a graded scale showing all possible directions and intensity of attitude of a respondent on a particular question or statement. Example: How satisfied are you on the teaching method of your instructor in this course? 1 Very Dissatisfied 2 Dissatisfied 3 Neutral 4 Satisfied 5 Very Satisfied 6. Matrix Question – a type of question which places various questions together to save space in the questionnaire. It is like having any of the five earlier types of questions and squeezing more than one question in a form of a table.Example: For each statement, please indicate with a checkmark whether you agree or disagree with it Statements Statistics is a very difficult subject Only few people could understand Statistics I would rather sleep than s tudy Statistics at home Agree Disagree JDEUSTAQUIO 12 2. 2. 2. 3 Pitfalls to Avoid in Wording Questions 1. Avoid Vague Questions – State all question clearly. All respondents must have the same interpretation to a question. If not, their answers will not be comparable, making it difficult to analyze their responses. Example: How often do you watch a movie in a movie theatre?Very Often Often Not too often Never Problem: The word â€Å"often† is vague. Instead, you may ask how many times did he/she watched a movie last month. 2. Avoid Biased Question – A biased question influences the respondents to choose a particular response over the other possible responses. Whether the bias is caused accidentally or intentionally, the data would become useless because it still failed to reveal the truth. Example: There are many different types of sport like badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling and tennis. Which type of sport d you enjoy watching?Problem: The sports menti oned in the first sentence will be in the top of the minds of the respondents. It is likely for the respondents to choose from among these sports. This will result in a bias against the sports not mentioned in the list. 3. Avoid Confidential and Sensitive Questions – These questions usually offend the pride or jeopardize the prestige of the respondent. Example: Do you bring home office supplies? If yes, how often do you bring home office supplies? Problem: The question may sound offensive to the pride of the respondent. 4.Avoid Questions that are difficult to answer – Do not ask questions that are too difficult for the respondent to answer truthfully. Such questions would only encourage respondents to guess their answers, if not totally refuse to answer the question. Example: If you are the president of the nation, what are you going to do to attain economic recovery? JDEUSTAQUIO 13 5. Avoid Questions that are confusing or perplexing to answer – Sometimes a poor ly written question can confuse the respondent on how to answer the question Example: Did you eat out and watch a movie last weekend?Problem: This is a double-barreled question, where you combine two or more question in to a single question. You should opt to separate this question into two to avoid confusion. 6. Keep the Questions short and simple – Long and complicated question can be difficult to understand. The respondent may lose interest in the question because of its length or might have problem comprehending very long statement needed to understand the question. 2. 3 Sampling and Sampling Techniques 2. 3. 1 Basic Concepts As we have discussed on the previous Chapter 1, sample is the subset of a population.Some people think that if we are basing our analysis on samples, why don’t we just guess our analysis entirely without any data? This question could be partially answered by a quote from Sir Charles Babbage, the Father of the Computer who said that, â€Å"Err ors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all†. So now, before we can talk about the different sampling selection procedures, we need to familiarize ourselves first with some terms. The target population is the population we want to study The sampled population is the population from where we actually select the sampleIt is good if the target and the sampled population have the same collection of elements. The problem is that often times in life, expectations do not jive well with reality. One example where the target and the sampled population would be different from each other is the case where the target population is the collection of all the residents of Metro Manila. If we would be using a telephone directory to select our sample, this collection would be very different from the target population since this would exclude all the residents that have no landline.JDEUSTAQUIO 14 The sampling frame or frame is a list or map showing all the sampling u nits in the population. In any statistical inquiry, whether the data will come from a census or from a sample, it is important that we are conscious of all the possible errors that we introduce (hopefully not intentionally) in the results of the study. In order for us to do this and reduce these errors, we need to understand the possible sources of errors, namely, the sampling errors and the nonsampling errors.Sampling error is the error attributed to the variation present among the computed values of the statistic from the different possible samples consisting of n elements. Nonsampling errors is the error from other sources apart from sampling fluctuations Note that the ONLY TIME that the sampling error would not be present is if we have conducted a census. However, census results are NOT ERROR-FREE. Census and samples can both have nonsampling errors (simply the errors not brought solely by sampling). Total Error Nonsampling Error Error in the implementation of the sampling desig n Measurement Error Sampling ErrorSelection Error Instrument Error Frame Error Population Specification Error Response Error Processing Error Interviewer Bias Surrogate Information Error Diagram of the Various Sources of Error JDEUSTAQUIO 15 2. 3. 2 Methods of Probability Sampling Probability Sampling is a method of selecting a sample wherein each element in the population has a known, nonzero chance of being included in the sample; otherwise, it is a nonprobability sampling method. ? A nonzero chance of inclusion means that the sampling procedure must give all the elements of the sample population an opportunity of being a part of the sample.All of the elements that belong in the sampled population must be included in the selection process. ? Another requirement of probability sampling is that we should be able to determine the chance that an element will be included in the selected sample. Take note that the probability of each element in the sampled population need not be equal t o each other. 2. 3. 2. 1 Simple Random Sampling Simple Random Sampling (SRS) is a probability sampling method wherein all possible subsets consisting of n elements selected from the N elements of the population have the same chances of selection.In simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWOR), all the n elements in the sample must be distinct from each other. In simple random sampling with replacement (SRSWR), the n elements in the sample need not be distinct, that is, an element can be seleceted more than once as a part of the sample. The most apparent example of SRSWOR that we could see every day on mass media is the National lottery where the numbers that would be drawn must be distinct and every number should have an equal chance of being selected in the draw. JDEUSTAQUIO 16 Visual representation of Simple Random Sampling without Replacement. 2. 3. 2. 2 Stratified SamplingStratified sampling is a probability sampling method where we divide the population into nonoverlappi ng subpopulations or strata, and then select one sample from each stratum. The sample consists of all the samples in the different strata. Stratified sampling, in general, simply requires the division of the population into nonoverlapping strata, wherein each element of the population needs to belong to exactly one stratum. Then each sample would be selected form the strata using any probability sampling method. If simple random sampling used for each sample in the strata then this sampling is called stratified random sampling.JDEUSTAQUIO 17 Visually, it might look something like the image below. With our population, we can easily separate the individuals by color. Once we have the strata determined, we need to decide how many individuals to select from each stratum. The most common practice is that the number selected should be proportional. In our case, 1/4 of the individuals in the population are blue, so 1/4 of the sample should be blue as well. Working things out, we can see th at a stratified (by color) random sample of 4 should have 1 blue, 1 green and 2 red. JDEUSTAQUIO 18 2. 3. 2. 3 Systematic SamplingSystematic sampling is a probability sampling method wherein the selection of the first element is at random and the selection of the other elements in the sample is systematic by taking every kth element from the random start, where k is the sampling interval To select a sample using systematic sampling, we need to perform the following steps: 1. Decide on a method of assigning a unique serial number, from 1 to N, to each one of the elements in the population. 2. Choose n = sample size so that it is a divisor of N = population size. Compute for the sampling interval k = N/n. 3.Select a number from 1 to k, using a randomization mechanism. Denote the selected number by r. The element in the population assigned to this number is the first element of the sample. 4. The other elements of the sample are those assigned to the numbers r + k, r + 2k, r +3 k, and so on, until you get a sample size of n. 5. In case that k = N/n is not a whole number; the first element would still be r but would be a randomly chosen number from 1 to N instead k as used on the previous step. By visual explanation, so to use systematic sampling, we need to first order our individuals, then select every kth.In our example, we want to use 3 for k? Can you see why? Think what would happen if we used 2 or 4. JDEUSTAQUIO 19 For our starting point, we pick a random number between 1 and k. For our visual, let's suppose that we pick 2. The individuals sampled would then be 2, 5, 8, and 11. 2. 3. 2. 4 Cluster Sampling Cluster sampling is a probability sampling method wherein we divide the population into nonoverlapping groups or clusters consisting of one or more elements, and then select a sample of clusters. The sample will consist of all the elements in the selected clusters.To select a sample using cluster sampling, we need to perform the following steps: 1. Divide t he population into nonoverlapping clusters. 2. Number the clusters in the population from 1 to N. 3. Select n distinct numbers from 1 to N using a randomization mechanism. The selected clusters are the clusters associated with the selected numbers 4. The sample will consist of all the elements in the selected clusters. Cluster sampling is often confused with stratified sampling, because they both involve â€Å"groups†. In reality, they're very different. In stratified sampling, we split the population up into groups (strata) based on some characteristic.In essence, we use cluster sampling when our population is already broken up into groups (clusters), and each cluster represents the population. That way, we just select a certain number of clusters. JDEUSTAQUIO 20 With our visual, let's suppose the 12 individuals are paired up just as they were sitting in the original population. Since we want a random sample of size four, we just select two of the clusters. We would number t he clusters 1-6 and use technology to randomly select two random numbers. It might look something like this: JDEUSTAQUIO 21 2. 3. 2. 5 Multistage SamplingMultistage sampling is a probability sampling method where there is a hierarchical configuration of sampling units and we select a sample of these units in stages. Unlike all the other previously presented sample selection procedures where the process of sampling takes place in a single phase, we accomplish the selection of the elements in the sample under multistage sampling after several stages of sampling. We first partition the population into non-overlapping primary stage units (PSUs) and select a sample of PSUs. We then subdivide the selected PSUs into non-overlapping second-stage units (SSUs) and select a sample of SSUs.We continue the process until we identify the elements in the sample at the last stage of sampling. For example, consider a light-bulb example using two-stage sampling procedure. Let's suppose that the bulbs come off the assembly line in boxes that each contains 20 packages of four bulbs each. One strategy would be to do the sample in two stages: Stage 1: A quality control engineer removes every 200th box coming off the line. (The plant produces 5,000 boxes daily. (This is systematic sampling. ) Stage 2: From each box, the engineer then samples three packages to inspect. (This is an example of cluster sampling. 2. 3. 3 Methods of Nonprobability Sampling All sampling methods that do not satisfy the requirements of probability sampling are considered as nonprobability sampling selection procedures. These methods do not make use of randomization mechanism in identifying the sampling units included in the sample. It allows the researcher to choose the units in the sample subjectively. And since the sample selection is subjective, there is really no way to assess the reliability of the results without so much assumptions (remember assumptions are very prone to mistakes). JDEUSTAQUIO 22Despit e this drawback of nonprobability sampling, these methods are still more commonly used since it is less costly and easier to administer. Here are some of the most basic nonprobability sampling selection procedures: 2. 3. 3. 1 Haphazard or Convenience Sampling In haphazard or convenience sampling, the sample consists of elements that are most accessible or easier to contact. This usually includes friends, acquaintances, volunteers, and subject who are available and willing to participate at the time of the study. The most common example that we could see on the television is the text polls about a certain issue.This type of sampling the opinion of the people doesn’t involve randomization mechanism in the selection of the units in the sample. This is sometimes referred to as the nonprobability counterpart of simple random sampling. 2. 3. 3. 2 Judgement or Purposive Sampling The elements are carefully selected to provide a â€Å"representative† sample. Studies have demons trated that selection bias can arise even with expert choice but nevertheless the method may be appropriate for very small samples when the expert has a good deal of information about the population-elements. The two common features of the method are: a. sampling units often consist of relatively large groups; and, b. ) sampling units are chosen so that they will provide accurate estimates for important control variables for which results are known for the whole population and its hoped that it will give â€Å"good† estimates for other variables that are highly correlated with the control variables. This sampling method may be considered as the nonprobability counterpart of Cluster sampling. 2. 3. 3. 3 Quota Sampling This is considered as the nonprobability counterpart of stratified sampling. In this method, interviewers are assigned quotas of respondents of different types to interview.The quotas are sometimes chosen to be in proportion to the estimated population figures fo r various types, often based on past census data. The researcher also chooses the groups or strata in the study but the selection of the sampling units within the stratum does not make use of a probability sampling method. JDEUSTAQUIO 23 2. 4 Presentation of Data After data collection, we organize and analyze the data, and then we present the results of our analysis in some form that will allow us to reveal and highlight the important information that we were able to extract.Unless we do this, we will only get lost in huge mound of numbers and labels that we have collected. Our grade school teachers already taught us this various kinds of presenting the data so why do we need to study this again? We may be familiar with the line chart and the bar chart but we need to learn or review the basic principles of constructing a good table and a good graph. With good data presentation, we can discover, and even explore possible relationships. Poor data presentation will only mislead, deceiv e, and misinform.It is therefore essential that we remember to put a more conscious effort to use these different methods of presentation properly in order to maximize data description and analysis. 2. 4. 1 Textual Presentation Textual Presentation of data incorporates important figures in a paragraph of text. In textual presentation, it aims to direct the readers’ attention to some data that need particular emphasis as well as to some important comparisons and to supplement with a narrative account from a table or a chart. It could also show the summary measures like minimum, maximum, totals and percentages.We do not need to put all figures in a textual presentation; we just have to select the most important ones that we want to focus on. Example: The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index lost 7. 19 points to 2,099. 12 after trading between 2,095. 30 and 2,108. 47. Volume was 1. 29 billion shares worth 903. 15 million pesos (16. 7milliondollars). The broader all share in dex gained 5. 21 points to 1,221. 34. (From: Free mandated March 17, 2005) When the data become voluminous, the textual presentation is strongly not advised because the presentation becomes almost incomprehensible.JDEUSTAQUIO 24 2. 4. 2 Tabular Presentation Tabular Presentation of data arranges figures in a systematic manner in rows and columns. Tabular presentation is the most common method of data presentation. It can be used for various purposes such as description, comparison, and even showing relationships between two or more variables of interest. We will discuss three types of presenting in tabular form, namely; Leader Work, Text Tabulation and Formal Statistical table which is categorized according to their format and layout. Leader WorkLeader work has the simplest layout among the three types of tables. It contains no table title or column headings and has no table borders. This table needs an introductory or descriptive statement so that the reader can understand the given figures. The Population in the Philippines for the Census Years 1975 to 2000 is as follows a 1975 1980 1990 1995 2000 a b 42,070,660 48,098,460 60,703,206b 68,616,536b 76,498,735 National Statistics Office The 1990 and 1995 figures include the household population, homeless population, and Filipinos in Philippines embassies and mission abroad.In addition, the census comprise institutional population found living quarters such as penal institutions, orphanages, hospitals, military camps, etc. As you can see, the above table would not be clear without the introductory statement. Likewise, both have no table numbers that we can use to refer to these figures. Thus, we use the leader work when there are only one or two columns of figures that we can incorporate as part of the textual presentation for a more organized presentation. Text Tabu lat io n The format of text tabulation is a little bit more complex than leader work.It already has column headings and table borders so that it is easier to understand than leader work. However it still does not have table title and table number. Thus, it also requires an introductory statement so that the readers can comprehend the given figures. Similar to leader work, we can place additional explanatory statement in the footnote. JDEUSTAQUIO 25 The Population in the Philippines for the Census Years 1975 to 2000 is as follow a Year 1975 1980 1990 1995 2000 a b No. of Filipinos (in thousands) 42,070. 66 48,098. 46 60,703. 21b 68,616. 54b 76,498. 4 National Statistics Office The 1990 and 1995 figures include the household population, homeless population, and Filipinos in Philippines embassies and mission abroad. In addition, the census comprise institutional population found living quarters such as penal institutions, orphanages, hospitals, military camps, etc. Form al Statistical Table The formal statistical table is the most complete type of table since it has all the different and essential parts of a table like table numbe r, table title, head note, box head, stub head, column headings, and so on.It could be a stand-alone table since it does not need any accompanying texts and it could be easily understood on its own. Heading consists of the table number, title and head note. It is located on top of the table of figures. i. Table number is the number that identifies the position of the table in a sequence. ii. Table title states in telegraphic form of the subject, data classification, and place and period covered by the figures in the table. iii. Head note appears below the title but above the top cross rule of the table and provides additional information about the table.Box head consists of spanner heads and columns heads. i. Spanner head is a caption or label describing two or more column heads. ii. Column head is a label that describes the figures in a column. iii. Panel is a set of column heads under the same spanner head. Stub consists of row captions, center head, and stub head. It is located a t the left side of the table. i. Row caption is a label that describes the figures in a row. ii. Center head is a label describing a set of row captions. iii. Stub head is a caption or label that describes all of the center heads and row captions.It is located on the first row. iv. Block is a set of row captions under the same center head. JDEUSTAQUIO 26 Table number Stub head Title Head note Table 10. 9 Employed Persons by Major Industry Group January 2008 – October 2010 (in thousands) Panel Heading Spanner head Column head Industry Group Oct Total Agriculture Center head Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry Fishing 36,488 12,265 10,769 1,496 5,375 197 3,058 163 1,957 18,550 2010 Jul Apr 36,237 12,244 10,760 1,484 5,409 194 3,003 141 2,071 18,585 35,413 11,512 10,073 1,439 5,487 212 3,063 137 2,075 18,414 Jan 6,001 11,806 10,351 1,455 5,322 193 3,009 157 1,963 18,872 Oct 35,478 12,072 10,563 1,509 5,154 169 2,937 160 1,888 18,250 2009 Jul Apr 35,508 11,940 10,476 1,464 5,273 17 7 2,947 145 2,004 18,294 34,997 12,313 10,841 1,472 5,088 166 2,841 130 1,951 17,595 Jan 34,262 11,846 10,446 1,400 4,856 152 2,849 134 1,721 17,560 Oct 34,533 12,320 10,860 1,460 5,078 176 2,897 123 1,882 17,135 2008 Jul Apr 34,593 12,103 10,695 1,408 5,130 154 2,960 146 1,870 17,360 33,535 11,904 10,450 1,454 5,000 151 2,883 123 1,843 16,630 Jan 33,693 11,792 10,409 1,383 4,981 152 2,963 126 1,740 16,919Industry Mining nd Quarrying Manufacturing Electricity, Gas and Water Construction Services Wholesale & Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles, Motorcycles & Personal & Household Goods Hotels and Restaurants Transport, Storage and Communication Financial Intermediation Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities Public Administration & Defense, Compulsory Social Security Education Health and Social Work Other Community, Social & Personal Service Activities Private Households with Employed Persons Extra-Territorial Organizations & Bodies 7,158 7,030 6,885 7,064 6,901 ,725 6,681 6,6 35 6,528 6,599 6,322 6,333 1,119 2,711 412 1,239 1,037 2,704 420 1,166 991 2,741 383 1,061 1,104 2,735 384 1,119 1,012 2,735 375 1,100 1,064 2,694 376 1,090 976 2,628 389 1,023 988 2,660 337 1,044 941 2,587 373 985 984 2,525 369 969 924 2,575 366 953 964 2,674 364 904 BLOCK 1,771 1,165 465 855 1,954 1 1,835 1,238 457 866 1,831 1 1,959 1,156 447 984 1,804 3 1,823 1,146 432 949 2,114 2 1,771 1,168 412 868 1,908 0 1,772 1,157 428 876 2,110 2 1,794 1,068 408 907 1,718 3 1,659 1,157 435 857 1,785 3 1,690 1,096 406 796 1,733 * 1,741 1,076 386 847 1,863 1 ,661 1,028 384 843 1,572 2 1,612 1,083 390 846 1,747 2 Notes: 1. Data were taken from the results of the quarterly rounds of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) using past week as reference peri od. 2. Details may not add up to totals due to rounding. 3. The definition of unemployment was revised starting the April 2005 round of the LFS. As such, LFPRs, employment rates and unemployment rates are not comparable with those of previous survey roun ds. Also starting with January 2007, estimates were based on 2000 Census-based projections. 4. Data are as of January 2012. / – preliminary source note Source: National Statistics Office (NSO). footnote JDEUSTAQUIO 27 2. 4. 3 Graphical Presentation Tabular Presentation of data portrays numerical figures or relationships among variables in pictorial form. The graph or statistical chart is a very powerful tool in presenting data. It is an important medium of communication because we can create a pictorial representation of the numerical figures found in tables without showing too many figures. We construct graphs not only for presentation purposes but also as an initial step in analysis.The graph, as a tool for analysis, can exhibit possible associations among the variables and can facilitate the comparison of different groups. It can also reveal trends over time. The different types of statistical charts are line chart, vertical bar chart, horizontal bar chart, pictograph, pie chart, and statistical map. It is important to know when and how to use these different charts. The selection of the correct type of chart depends upon the specific objective, the characteristic of the users, the kind of data, and the type of device and aterial on hand. Line Chart The line chart is useful for presenting historical data. This chart is effective in showing the movement of a series over time. As shown in the figures below, the movement can be increasing, decreasing, stationary, or could be fluctuating. Title at Top Scale figures for y-axis 20 No. of Accidents involving Company B during their Years of Service No. of Accidents Scale label for y-axis 15 10 Grid lines 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Footnote Source Note Years of Service Scale label for x-axisScale figures for x-axis JDEUSTAQUIO 28 NEVER use line charts/graphs that are too stretched either horizontally or vertically, for it may mislead the person looking at the graph and interpret it as something that it is not r eally representing. JDEUSTAQUIO 29 Types of Line Chart Simple Line Chart – This has only one curve and is appropriate for one series of time data. Multiple Line Chart – This type of line chart shows two or more curves. We use this if we wish to compare the trends in two or more data series.Although the use of Multiple Line Chart is now commonly used, it should be taken notice the number of series that you include in a graph, if there are a lot of series in a single chart, it might become too confusing to see. Number of Daily Responses (Example of Single Line Chart) JDEUSTAQUIO 30 Co lu m n Chart We use the column charts to compare amounts in a time series data. The emphasis in a column chart is on the differences in magnitude rather than the movement of a series. ? We can also use the column chart to graph the frequency distribution of a quantitative variable.We call this chart a frequency histogram. ? For time series data, we arrange the columns on the horizontal axis in chronological order, starting with the earliest date. Title at Top Grid lines Scale label for y-axis Scale figures for x-axis Scale figures for y-axis The proportions of the columns must be just right. Columns must not be too wide or too narrow. The space between the bars must also be just right. Usually, the space between bars is around one-fourth of the width of the column. It is also advisable to use scale figures that are multiples of 5.If the observed values are so small, we can use multiples of 1 or 2. JDEUSTAQUIO 31 Horizontal Bar Chart Its use is appropriate when we wish to show the distribution of categorical data. We use the horizontal bar chart so we can compare the magnitudes for the different categories of a qualitative variable. We place the categories of the qualitative variable on the yaxis. This will be more practical than placing the categories on the x-axis because there is more space for text labels on the y-axis. Just like the column charts, the bars should not be too wide, too narrow, too long and nor too short. Arranging the bars according to length usually facilitates comparisons. It may be decreasing or ascending order. ? If there are â€Å"Others† category, we always place this as the first or the last category. ? If the categorical variables have a natural ordering, such as a rating scale, then we should retain the order of the categories in the scale instead of arranging the bars according to length. ? We should always choose appropriate colors or patterns for the bars. We should avoid selecting wavy and weird patterns since this will only produce an optical illusion.JDEUSTAQUIO 32 Pie Chart It is a circle divided into several sections. Each section indicates the proportion of each component or category. This is useful for data sorted in to categories for a specific period. The purpose is to show the component parts with respect to the total in terms of the percentage distribution. The components of the pie chart should b e arranged according to magnitude. If there’s an ‘Others’ category, we put it in the last section. We use different colors, shading, or patterns to distinguish one section of the pie to the other sections.We plot the biggest slice at 12 o’clock. If we want to emphasize a particular sector of the pie chart, we may explode that slice by detaching it from the rest of the sectors. The pie chart is applicable for qualitative rather than quantitative data. However, if the variable has too many categories (more than 6), we should use the horizontal bar chart rather than the pie chart. JDEUSTAQUIO 33 Pictograph o It is like a horizontal bar chart but instead of using bars, we use symbols or pictures to represent the magnitude. o The purpose of this chart is to get the attention of the reader. The pictograph provides an overall picture of the data without presenting the exact figures. o Usually, we can only show approximate figures in a pictograph since we have to round off figures to whole numbers. It still allows the comparison of different categories even if we just present only the approximate values. o The choice for the symbol or picture should be apt for the type of data. It should be selfexplanatory, interesting, and simple. Statistical Maps ? ? ? ? ? This type of chart shows statistical data in geographical areas. This could also be called as crosshatched maps or shaded maps.Geographic areas may be barangays, cities, districts, provinces, and countries. The figures in the map can be ratios, rates, percentages, and indices. We do not use the absolute values and frequencies in statistical maps. JDEUSTAQUIO 34 Types of Statistical Maps ? Shaded Map – map that makes use of shading patterns. The shading pattern indicates the degree of magnitude. It usually runs gradually from dark to light (Darker shading of the map usually means larger magnitude). ? Dot map – chart that gives either the location or the number of establishme nts in a certain geographical area.The example below is a dot map of the number of people with Hispanic decent in the US. JDEUSTAQUIO 35 2. 5 Organization of Data The first step in data analysis is organizing the collected data. In its organized form, important features of the data become clear and apparent. The two common forms of organized data are the array and the frequency distribution 2. 5. 1 Raw Data and Array Raw Data are data in their original form. The actual data that we collect from surveys, observation, and experimentation are what we call raw data. Raw data have not yet been organized or processed in any manner.Example: Raw Data of the Final Grades of 100 Selected Students who took Stat 101 79 62 74 79 81 65 79 94 75 52 73 85 78 82 83 79 73 81 88 81 74 60 92 86 86 60 90 64 57 63 88 63 87 69 77 53 76 52 72 89 66 56 57 92 82 66 70 72 73 63 88 77 60 97 70 92 67 92 50 65 72 74 79 51 86 55 67 66 79 95 60 93 66 99 89 94 97 78 55 79 77 92 93 92 50 65 79 62 56 77 53 72 57 62 8 0 79 76 82 74 76 Array is an ordered arrangement of data according to magnitude. We also refer to the array as sorted data or ordered data Arranging the observations manually according to magnitude is very tedious especially if we are dealing with voluminous data.Thus, it is more convenient to use computer programs to sort the data. The array is not a summarized data set. It is simply an ordered set of observations. We consider both the raw data and array as ungrouped data. JDEUSTAQUIO 36 Example: Array of the Final Grades of 100 Selected Students who took Stat 101 50 50 51 52 52 53 53 55 55 56 56 57 57 57 60 60 60 60 62 62 62 63 63 63 64 65 65 65 66 66 66 66 67 67 69 70 70 72 72 72 72 73 73 73 74 74 74 74 75 76 76 76 77 77 77 77 78 78 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 80 81 81 81 82 82 82 83 85 86 86 86 87 88 88 88 89 89 90 92 92 92 92 92 92 93 93 94 94 95 97 97 99 2. 5. Frequency Distribution (FDT) The frequency distribution (FDT) is a way of summarizing data by showing the number of obs ervations that belong in the different categories or classes. We also refer to this as grouped data. The frequency distribution is another way of organizing the data. It is a summarized form of the raw data or array wherein we do not see the actual observed values anymore. The two general forms of frequency distribution are single-value grouping and grouping by class intervals: 1. Single-value grouping – is a frequency distribution where the classes are the distinct values of the variable.This is applicable for data with only a few unique values. 2. Grouping by Class Intervals – is a frequency distribution where the classes are the intervals. Example: Suppose we have data on the number of children of 50 married women using any modern contraceptive method. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 JDEUSTAQUIO 37 Since there are only 6 unique values in the data set, then we use single-value grouping, Distribution of Married Women Using Any Modern Method of Contraceptive by Number of Children No. of Children 0 1 2 3 4 5Number of Married Women 7 8 11 14 8 2 Concepts related to Frequency Distribution 1. Class Interval – is the range of values that belong in the class or category. 2. Class Frequency – is the number of observations that belong in a class interval. 3. Class Limits – are the end numbers used to define the class interval. The lower class limit (LCL) is the lower end number while the upper class limit (UCL) is the upper end number. 4. Open Class Interval – is a class interval with no lower class limit or no upper class limit. 5. Class Boundaries – are the true class limits.If the observations are rounded figures, then we identify the class boundaries based on the standard rules of rounding as follows: the lower class boundary (LCB) is halfway between the lower class limit of the class and the upper class limit of the preceding class while the upper class boundary (UCB) is halfway between the upper class limit of the class and the lower class limit of the next class. 6. Class size – is the size of the class interval. It is the difference between the upper class boundaries of the class and the preceding class; or the difference between the lower class boundaries of the next class and the class. . Class Mark – is the midpoint of a class interval. It is the average of the lower class limit and the upper class limit or the average of the lower class boundary and upper class boundary of a class interval. JDEUSTAQUIO 38 After learning the concepts that we need to construct a frequency distribution table, we can now list down the steps in constructing a frequency distribution table. †¢ Determine the adequate number of classes denoted by K Step 1: †¢ We can use the Sturges's rule to approximate the number of classes which is given by K = 1+ 3. 322(log n) Determine the range, R = highest observed value – s mallest observed Step 2: value †¢ Compute for the pre-class size C' = R/K Step 3: †¢ Determine the class size, C, by rounding-off C' to a convenient Step 4: number †¢ Choose the lower class limit of the first class. Make sure that the smallest Step 5: observation will belong in the first class. †¢ List the class intervals. Determine the lower class limits of the suceeding classes y adding the class size to the lower class limit of the previous class. The last lass Step 6: should include the largest observation. Step 7: †¢ Tally all the observed values in each class interval Sum the frequency column and check against the total number of Step 8: observations After constructing the basic frequency distribution table, we could now add some other components to it that would help us in the analysis of the data. o o Relative Frequency – is the class frequency divided by the total number of observations Relative Frequency Distribution Percentage (RFP)  œ is relative frequency multiplied by 100. JDEUSTAQUIO 39 The relative frequency and RFP show the proportion and percentage of observations falling in each class. The RFP allows us to compare two or more data sets with different totals.The sum of the RFP column is one hundred percent (100%). Another component that could be added to the FDT is the cumulative frequency distribution which is comprised of two components. o o The less than cumulative frequency distribution (CFD) shows the number of observations with values higher than or equal to the lower class boundary. Example: Using the data of the Grades of 10o Students who took Stat 101, we would construct the frequency distribution table with the extra components; RF, RFP CFD. First, we will compute for K using the Sturges’ rule, K = 1 + (3. 322*log n) = 1 + (3. 322*log 100) = 1 + (3. 322 *2) = 7. 644 ? Secondly, we compute for the range, R R = max. value – min. value = 99 – 50 = 49 Third, compute for Câ€℠¢ and eventually C C’ = R / K = 49 / 8 = 6. 125 ? 7 Now we can create the FDT for the data set, Class Limits LCL 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 UCL 56 63 70 77 84 91 98 105 Class Boundaries LCB 49. 5 56. 5 63. 5 70. 5 77. 5 84. 5 91. 5 98. 5 UCB – 56. 5 – 63. 5 – 70. 5 – 77. 5 – 84. 5 – 91. 5 – 98. 5 – 105. 5 Frequency f 11 13 13 19 19 11 13 1 n=100 Class Mark x 53 60 67 74 81 88 95 102 RF f/n 0. 11 0. 13 0. 13 0. 19 0. 19 0. 11 0. 13 0. 01 RFP % 11 13 13 19 19 11 13 1 ; CFD 11 24 37 56 75 86 99 100 CFD ; CFD 100 89 76 63 44 25 14 1JDEUSTAQUIO 40 Graphical Presentation of the Frequency Distribution We can effectively interpret the frequency distribution when displayed pictorially since more people understand and comprehend the data in graphic form. In this section we would discuss the various method of presenting the frequency distribution in graphical form. 1. Frequency Histogram The frequency histogram shows the overall pictu re of the distribution of the observed values in the dataset. It displays the class boundaries on the horizontal axis and the class frequencies on the vertical axis. The frequency histogram shows the shape of the distribution.The area under the frequency histogram corresponds to the total number of observations. The tallest vertical bar shows the frequency of the class interval with the largest class frequency. 2. Relative Frequency/ Relative Frequency Percentage Histogram The RF or RFP histogram displays the class boundaries on the horizontal axis and the relative frequencies or RFPs of the class intervals on the vertical axis. It represents the relative frequency of each class by a vertical bar whose height is equal to the relative frequency of the class. The shape of the relative frequency histogram and frequency histogram are the same.JDEUSTAQUIO 41 3. Frequency Polygon For the frequency polygon, plot the class frequencies at the midpoint of the classes and connect the plotted p oints by means of straight lines. Since it is a polygon we need to close the ends of the graph. To close the polygon, add an additional class mark on both ends of the graph wherein both ends have the frequency of 0. The advantage of the frequency polygon over the frequency histogram is that it allows the construction of two or more frequency distributions on the same plot area. This facilitates the comparison of the different frequency distributions.The frequency polygon also exhibits the shape of the data distribution. JDEUSTAQUIO 42 4. Ogives The ogive is the plot of the cumulative frequency distribution. This graphical representation is used when we need to determine the number of observations below or above a particular class boundary. The less than ogive is the plot of the less than cumulative frequencies against the upper class boundaries. On the other hand, the greater than ogive is the plot of the greater than cumulative frequencies against the lower class boundaries. Connec t the successive points by straight lines.If we superimpose the less than and greater than ogives, the point of intersection gives us the value of the median. The median divides the ordered observations into two equal parts. JDEUSTAQUIO 43 †¢ Summary Measures Part 1 3. 1 Measures of Central Tendency The average is the popular term that is used to refer to a measure of central tendency. Most are already accustomed to thinking in terms of an average as a way of representing the collection of observations by a single value. For instance, we often use the average score to represent the scores in the exam of all students in a class.We can say that if the average score is high, then we conclude that the class performed well. The average could also be used to compare the performance of two groups based on the average of both groups and comparing which one has the higher average. The most common measure of central tendency is the arithmetic mean. The two other measures of central tende ncy that we will present in this section are the median and the mode. All of these measures aim to give information about the ‘center’ of the data or distribution. 3. 1 . 1 Summation NotationThe summation notation provides a compact way of writing the formulas for some of the summary measures that would be discussed in this section. The capital Greek letter â€Å"sigma†,? is the mathematical symbol that represents the process of summation. The symbol, ? is equal to X1 + X2 + X3 + †¦ + Xn where Xi = value of the variable for the ith observation i = index of the summation (the letter below ? ). 1 = lower limit of the summation (the number below ? ). n = upper limit of the summation (the letter above ? ). We read ? as â€Å"summation of X sub i, where I is from 1 to n†.JDEUSTAQUIO 44 S

Humanism and Secular Humanism

The question has been raised: who is in control of curriculum in our school? Not just the choosing of the precise books, but who is in charge of the contents of the books that curriculum directors can choose from? Once the answers to these questions are found, what should be done if they point to one group? So many problems in the United States have arisen when the people discover that one group is violating the people†s rights in some way by not allowing others power, that it would be logical to conclude that it would be perceived by many to be unfair if it is found that one interest group chooses what all American children learn, especially if that interest group is furthering their own interests by doing so. However, finding out the answers to these questions is quite difficult at best. The subject has been written about extensively, and since there are so many opinions, the unbiased truth is virtually impossible to come by. In this topic, it has been at least suggested by others that everyone is biased, including our Supreme Court, so one must tread carefully in stating so-called â€Å"facts.† Humanism and secular humanism and what they have to do with present educational curriculum will be discussed for the remainder. Though human nature tends to make all humans biased in some way, both sides of the argument have been researched and will be documented until fair conclusions can be made. First, the term â€Å"humanism† must be defined. To do this fully, the definition of â€Å"humanism† will be given from the dictionary, and then humanists themselves will have a turn to define themselves. Merriam Webster†s Collegiate Dictionary terms â€Å"humanism† as â€Å"a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values; esp.: a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual†s dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason.† The same dictionary defines â€Å"doctrine† as â€Å"a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief: DOGMA.† To understand fully what this is pointing to, one must then look at the definition of â€Å"dogma†-â€Å"a doctrine or body of doctrines concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church.† Most will agree that an accredited collegiate dictionary is an acceptable place to look for information, and here it is shown that humanism can be tied to a religion. People who claim to be humanist would also seem to be a good place to look for a formal term for humanism. Rebecca Bushnell writes of early humanist pedagogy when she says, â€Å"This is a humanism based on belief that people are largely responsible for what happens on this earth; committed to tolerance, attention to the differences among people and the need to treat them with equal respect; shaped by a cheerful acceptance of ambivalence and contradiction; and informed by an almost painful historical consciousness, which sees the past as estranged yet able to illuminate present concerns (8).† This explanation definitely sounds like what most people want to feel, or at least what they claim to, but humanism is more than this. Humanism is also defined by the worship of man; Curtis W. Reese writes, â€Å"There is a large element of faith in all religion. [Christianity has faith] in the love of God; and Humanism in man as the measure of values†¦Hypotheses, postulates, and assumptions in their proper realm are comparable to faith in the realm of religion. In this way I speak of the faith of Humanism.† Another humanist deals with the humanistic beliefs in right and wrong: â€Å"In humanism right and wrong are defined in terms of consequence to human life (10).† To further clarify what humanists believe, more writings of humanists will prove that they consider humanism to be their religion. Gerald A. Larque, a man who signed the Humanist Manifesto II, writes, â€Å"Our religion is based upon the best that we know about our cosmos, our world, and ourselves†¦We recognize our oneness with the cosmos and our spatial and temporal minuteness†¦We see ourselves as the highest life-form the evolutionary process has developed†¦(11).† The 1979 Humanist of the Year, who co-founded and edited The New Humanist, also believes humanism to be a religion: â€Å"†¦Humanism in a naturalistic frame is validly a religion†¦(7).† A Humanist Manifesto, also known as the Humanist Manifesto I, continually describes humanism as a religion. â€Å"The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs†¦In every field of human activity, the vital movement is now in the direction of a candid and explicit humanism†¦religious humanism (13).† From the Humanist Manifesto II, one can see that Kurtz thinks of humanism as † a philosophical, religious, and moral point of view† and that it offers a believer a formula for salvation and a future sanctuary (12). Other humanists who claim humanism as their religion illustrate what â€Å"religion† means to them. Julian Huxley says in Religion Without Revelation, â€Å"There are whole religions which make no mention of God. The most notable example, as already mentioned, is that of Buddhism (14).† Furthering this thought, â€Å"Religion, then,†¦will mean a ruling commitment practiced by a community of individuals to what they believe creates, sustains, saves, and transforms human existence toward the greatest good (15).† With this, one has sufficient information concerning basic humanism beliefs. Besides the fact that humanists themselves admit to being a religious organization, there are several examples of how the American legal system treats humanism-as a religion. In a Supreme Court case, Torcaso v. Watkins, a Notary Public from Maryland was reinstated after being fired for refusing to proclaim a belief in God. The Court recognized religions that do not believe in God as â€Å"real† religions when it wrote, â€Å"Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others (7).† This statement will be considered later in the discussion. All formal humanist membership organizations in America claim 501(c )3 religious tax exempt status or deem themselves expressly religious. Dr. Paul Kurtz states, â€Å"Even the American Humanist Association (3,500 members)†¦has a religious tax exemption (7).† An editor of The Humanist magazine, Paul Blanshard says, â€Å"There has been another victory for those who would interpret the word â€Å"religion† very broadly†¦the appellate court reversed by a unanimous decision. Now the F.O.R. [Fellowship of Reconciliation] is established as a â€Å"religious† organization, with full right to tax exemption (7).† Tax-exempt status is serious business. In an article titled â€Å"The Religion of Democracy: Part II,† Rudolph Dreikurs argues that humanism should be thought of as religious because of the form and content. â€Å"The new religion will probably be humanistic. It will be concerned with man and not with God.† This â€Å"new religion† will have new principles, new rituals, and new symbols (16). Those involved in the humanist religion also have their own ministers, and â€Å"minister† is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as â€Å"one officiating or assisting the officiant in church worship.† Harvard University has its own Humanist chaplain, Thomas Ferrick, who is also â€Å"one of the 34 full- and part-time chaplains that make up the United Ministry at Harvard and Radcliffe, and he also serves as executive director of the Humanist Association of Massachusetts† local chapter (17).† In Auburn University†s Student/Faculty Directory, under â€Å"Auburn Pastors and Campus Ministers-Humanist,† there is a Humanist Counselor for the students (7). The University of Arizona†s Student Handbook for 1990-1991 lists â€Å"Humanists† under the title â€Å"Religious Services† (7). These facts should only prove further that Humanism is a religion. Now that humanism is understood, it is time to link humanism with present-day educational curriculum. Paul Vitz conducted research on the censorship of student†s textbooks, funded by the National Institute of Education, a part of the federal government, and came to the conclusion that they are strongly biased for the Secular Humanist worldview. â€Å"Whether one calls it secular humanism, enlightenment universalism, skeptical modernism, or just plain permissive liberalism, the bottom line is that a very particular and narrow sectarian philosophy has taken control of American education (18).† This seems to be a documented conclusion from an recognized institute, but yet it has not been fully discussed with the American public at large. Humanists themselves have admitted to the fact that they use the classroom to further their religion. John J. Dunphy states in his A Religion for a New Age, â€Å"[T]he battle for humankind†s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being (19).† Another man who calls himself a â€Å"Humanist minister†, Charles Francis Potter, says: â€Å"Education is thus a most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday-schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching? (20)† He then continues, â€Å"So very Humanistic is modern education that no religion has a future unless it be Humanism (20).† These men obviously believe very strongly not only that humanism is being taught in American public schools, but also that it should overpower other religions. John Dewey, who signed the Humanist Manifesto I, wrote a book, Education Today, in which he voices many opinions about education and how humanism should be implemented. â€Å"I believe that†¦it is the business of every one interested in education to insist upon the school as the primary and most effective instrument of social progress and reform†¦(21)†. On page eighty he says, â€Å"We certainly cannot teach religion as an abstract essence. We have got to teach something as religion, and that means practically some religion.† He also believes public education to be the vehicle by which this â€Å"deeper religion† is promoted (21). Now that it has been documented that the humanist religion is being funneled into public schools, it is time to give a few examples of the things in school curriculum that are humanist in nature. First, homosexuality is being pushed as acceptable behavior to students. The schools are teaching that it should be looked at as positive to have â€Å"full sexual adjustment without any hang-ups caused by outdated religious concepts. And our schools are the main tool used to teach the young people this human freedom (6).† Not only is homosexuality taught as â€Å"okay,† but they are also teaching the theory of evolution in full force. Teachers are not allowed to present any kind of argument for creationist theory; Jerry Bergman, Ph.D., states, â€Å"In fact, it is often considered inappropriate to criticize evolution, let alone present the creationist position (6).† This occurs without much argument, despite the fact that there are many books very critical of evolutionary theory â€Å"written by either evolutionists or by individuals who at least do not agree with the creationist perspective (6).† The biology textbook Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon was included by the trustees in Plano, Texas, in the school curriculum, and humanist educators lost all pretense of â€Å"tolerance† because the book â€Å"acknowledges the abundance of design manifest in the natural world and thus reasonably postulates an intelligent Designer (7).† Homosexuality and evolution are just a couple examples of humanist perspective in the schools. The logic these humanists use, that schools are the best place to push their beliefs, makes complete sense, even â€Å"falls in line† with some of the basic thoughts of sociological theory: that â€Å"no knowledge is value-neutral; no knowledge is free of presuppositions. All knowledge is rooted in the social structure in particular ways and reflects (even if indirectly) the particular interest of different sectors of the population (4).† Reasonably, this idea is also true for knowledge given to children in public schools. Even John Dewey said (as quoted earlier) that the teaching of religion is inevitable in schools, that â€Å"some religion† would have to be taught. Is this what the American Constitution allows? It is wrong, and very punishable, for public schools to advocate Christianity or to teach any of its beliefs, but the teaching of humanism†s beliefs remains untouched. Humanists tend to label certain â€Å"unpopular† ideas (those that they do not agree with) as religious, and those they do support as non-religious. For instance, schools are free to teach â€Å"thou shalt not steal, lie, or murder† but not â€Å"thou shalt not commit adultery or take the name of God in vain.† What is the difference between the two statements, which are both from the Ten Commandments, the most basic Western religious law? Other concepts taught presently that have a religious origin are â€Å"the goal of treating others as one would like to be treated, the need to take an occasional break from one†s work, to be balanced in all things, and the attempt to be fair to all people (6).† One of the biggest objective of liberals in recent years has been to insure equal rights for all people, yet this idea was adopted as a religious goal over 2,000 years ago in the Christian Scriptures. Bergman states, â€Å"Incidentally, the source of the belief in the equality of man is the Bible, few ancient books espouse this concept, and it is foreign to most non-Christian peoples (6).† Since these concepts are biblical in origin, why are the students not told this? What about the fact that abortion, homosexuality and fornication are talked about in school, but teachers are not allowed to discuss the religious side of the issue, only the side deemed non-religious? Though the public schools are teaching a type of religion, obviously, the students are not informed about it; in fact, the topic of religion is not deemed important (6). Community schools, before federal aid was instigated, were to reflect the values of those who lived in it. â€Å"What happened to â€Å"community public schools† that were to reflect the values of the community? They disappeared when federal aid was approved. Now only what is approved by secularists [humanists] in Washington is ‘neutral† (22).† As James David Hunter documents, â€Å"Public education arguably shares a common ethical orientation with modern humanism, particularly to the degree that these perspectives are advanced without respect for cultural traditions that might dissent (4).† Community†s values are no longer taken into account when curriculum is chosen. In recent times, the idea of choice in education has come to life with a system of tuition vouchers, but criticism of this choice has been rampant among the educators who believe in humanism. Richard A. Baer, Jr. writes: â€Å"The point is this: Education never takes place in a moral and philosophical vacuum. If the larger questions about human beings and their destiny are not being asked and answered within a predominantly Judeo-Christian framework, they will be addressed within another philosophical or religious framework-but hardly one that is â€Å"neutral.† The arrogance and philosophical implausibility of secular humanism are demonstrated by the insistence of many humanists that their position possesses such neutrality, lack of dogma, and essential rationality. It is an arrogance that also quickly becomes coercive and imperialistic, as is clearly seen in the widespread opposition among such educators toward genuine choice in education, for instance, the kind of choice that would be possible through a system of education tuition vouchers (23).† If America is a land of freedom, one would assume that Americans could choose where to send their children to school and what they are taught. However, not all Americans can afford private schools, so beyond their local public school, there is no choice. With all of this discord, it would be surprising if no one had taken this matter to the courts. They have, in some aspects. First one must look at the history of the First Amendment. The First Amendment was written to guarantee that the interest of certain faiths would not be expanded by direct or indirect benefaction of the government, at least not to the hindrance of smaller, minority faiths. When originally written, its intention was to curb the â€Å"deep and long-standing tensions† between various inter-Protestant competitions (4). Of course, they also encompassed conflicts between Protestants and Catholics and between Jew and Christians, whose beliefs are quite different, though these conflicts were minor because Catholics and Jews comprised less than two percent of the population at the start of the nineteenth century. When these populations increased, their full religious liberties were still restricted, continuing past the beginning of the twentieth century (4). This failure to fully perfect the ideals of the First Amendment is important because â€Å"many of the social dynamics taking place in the present find a parallel in the past (4).† Not only have the numbers of Muslims, Mormons, Hindus, and Buddhists grown, but the secular humanists have increased from two percent in 1962 to about eleven percent in 1990. Though humanism is not the same kind of religion as Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism are determined to be, how should they be perceived for First Amendment purposes? The Supreme Court held a strict definition of religion-â€Å"Our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian†¦Ã¢â‚¬ -until the early 1940s, when it broadened the definition: â€Å"Religious belief arises from a sense of the inadequacy of reason as a means of relating the individual to his fellow men and to his universe-a sense common to men in the most primitive and the most highly civilized societies†¦It is a belief finding expression in a conscience which categorically requires the believer to disregard elementary self-interest and to accept martyrdom in preference to transgressing its tenets†¦Conscientious objection may justly be regarded as a response of the individual to an inward mentor, call it conscience or God, that is for many persons at the present time the equivalent of what has always been thought a religious impulse (4).† This expanded the criterion from the nature of belief in a divine being to the psychological function of belief (4). In 1961 the Supreme Court decided that a Maryland law violated the no establishment clause because it put â€Å"the power and authority of the State of Maryland†¦on the side of one particular sort of believers-those who are willing to say they believe ‘in the existence of God† (4).† This new functional definition was not used with the no establishment clause by opponents until the case Smith v. Board of School Commissioners. The plaintiffs believed that most of the textbooks in the county public school system promoted secular humanism†s religion, which would violate the no establishment clause of the First Amendment. The first judgment in the case favored the plaintiff; however it was eventually overturned. A Washington Post columnist, Colman McCarthy, wrote: â€Å"A careful reading of the decision, as against a skimming of news accounts of it, reveals that Mobile families had a fair grievance: That what was taught in classrooms about religion was impeding the teachings of mothers and fathers at home about religion. What†s wrong with that complaint? (4)† What is wrong with that complaint? Surely every parent has the right to teach their children what they want to. It seems confusing to find that the Supreme Court did not believe humanist religion to be in school curriculum, especially when humanists themselves have admitted to the fact, as documented earlier. However, humanists have backtracked from their earlier, outspoken works. Paul Kurtz, quoted earlier, wrote his 1989 book, Eupraxophy: Living Without Religion, to â€Å"take back† all the earlier writings of humanists that claimed it a religion. He even coined a term-eupraxophy-to describe humanism without using the word religion. â€Å"Eupraxophy†¦provides a coherent, ethical life stance†¦it presents a cosmic theory of reality†¦defends a set of criteria governing the testing of truth claims†¦advocates an ethical posture. And it is committed implicitly or explicitly to a set of political ideals. Eupraxophy combines both a Weltanshuung and a philosophy of living.† Now, why would Kurtz do this after he had decided already that humanism was, in fact, a religion, his religion? Why? Kurtz realizes that if humanism is religion, then it will not be allowed in the schools: â€Å"For if humanism, even naturalistic and secular humanism, is a religion, then we would be faced with a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or the free exercise thereof.† (24).† It causes more confusion in the whole topic when different people claim different things. The whole argument comes down to this: That academic freedom seems to be unequal among educators. There are many different religious beliefs in America, and most teachers would claim to have some kind of religion or world view. â€Å"Academic freedom is the ability of the instructor to teach what he/she feels is the truth about reality in an intellectually honest and reasonable way (6).† Teachers in the present day are not allowed to teach what they believe and why, because of the First Amendment. Humanists and Christians have both agreed that religion will be taught in the schools in one manner or another, and this causes a great problem because someone must choose which religion will be taught. Noebel writes in his Clergy in the Classroom: â€Å"Imagine a child enrolled in a public school and learning only what that public school imparted (with no outside interference from family, church, Christian teachers or Congressional chaplains). When he graduated, what would he believe? Without divine intervention, he wouldn†t have much choice: Secular Humanism would be all he knew. This situation is idyllic, as far as the Humanists are concerned. Because their doctrines are every bit as dogmatic as Christian doctrine, and because they view Christianity as a ‘rotting corpse,† they use their established position to censor any hint of positive Christian influence in the classroom. Though they posture as ‘open-minded,† ‘tolerant† folks, Humanists eagerly discriminate against Christianity in the classroom (7).† This is not fair, just as it would not be fair if America†s public schools taught strictly Christian doctrine. Excluding religion from the classroom, when the whole purpose of school is to teach the entire body of knowledge, is â€Å"censorship of the worst sort (6).† Many parents, Humanist or Christian, Buddhist or Catholic, are rightfully worried that their children†s teachers will indoctrinate their children with some specific religious belief. However, students are bright, reasoning people and do not gullibly believe everything a teacher says. Children who have strong prejudices against certain groups do not let go of them easily, even when a teacher tries to help that child overcome the prejudice. Also, a teacher†s ideas may spark a child†s desire to further research the topic so that the child comes to his own conclusions. If students are to become those who can debate important topics, it seems that removing all religious questions would hinder that which is significant for living a well-rounded life (6). Jerry Bergman gives the example of Australia to clarify whether it is possible to bring religion into the classroom. Only three percent of Australia†s population attends church regularly, but the schools still have classes in religious education as an â€Å"integral part of the school curriculum at all grade levels (6).† This brings the conclusion that religion in schools is feasible, and not just the religion of one group. In conclusion, the questions asked at the beginning have been answered, but not fully. It has been proven that Humanism is a religion, by quotes of many influential Humanists and by the Supreme Court, and that there is evidence of Humanist beliefs in our school curriculum, by a federal government study and by Humanist†s admittance. Many men, Humanist, Christian, and those with unknown beliefs, have agreed that education cannot occur without some religious worldview†s influence, and the topic does not seem to be dormant in their minds. The battle is not over; the writer is quite convinced that there will be more court battles concerning this issue. To have an education system that treats each person†s beliefs equally, there needs to be a change. Either separate all children into schools of their respective religions, or treat them as intelligent individuals with minds that deserve to learn about all religious views and the immense amount of history that goes with them. Shujaa, Mwalimu J. Too Much Schooling, Too Little Education: A Paradox of Black Life in White Societies. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc., 1994. This book covered many areas of African-American education, and was a great background knowledge source. The topics most valid to my interests were the African experiences in schools, the analysis of African-American males† response to schooling, exploring exemplary African-American teachers† views, and African-Americans† communal nature of learning. Also I got great information concerning different school environments, and their effect on African-American students† education, which I then used to get strategies for teaching African-Americans from.