Job Satisfaction And Quality Of Work Life Psychology Essay

Job Satisfaction And Quality Of Work Life Psychology Essay Job satisfaction and quality of work life go hand in hand when talked about real satisfaction since one is the outcome of other .The present paper attempts to examine the impact of job satisfaction and its attribute on quality of work life of employees working in management colleges in Faridabad region The basic objective of the study was to determine the difference in job satisfaction based on gender and its relation with quality of wok life between male and female workers. Also attempt is made to measure the level of quality of work life among the employees. Also the paper focuses on role of different demographic variables on job satisfaction and quality of work life with respect to male and female employees. .Data was collected using questionnaire. Data was analyzed using tools like t-test, chi-square, ANOVA, and regression analysis to test the hypothesis and reliability of the collected data. From the findings it is clear that there exists a positive relationship between job sati sfaction and quality of work life. Also it is seen that as the feeling of quality of work life increases satisfaction from job also gets enhanced. The results indicate that academic industry which demands high quality people in term of intellect and knowledge and are considered to be the turners in economy of any country require a qualitative work life first in order to be satisfied and give their best. Thus focus on measures like job monotony, unclarity in goals, employee attrition, and role stress need to be properly handled. Key words- Job satisfaction, Job stress Quality of work life, Academics JEL Classification INTRODUCTION India has been witnessing an upsurge in the departure of technical expertise in virtually all sectors over the last five years (Stilwell, 2003). This has resulted in qualified personnel seeking greener pastures abroad. Movement of people from developing countries towards the developed world especially Europe and the Americas has been conspicuous. Anecdotes show that during the 1990s, total migration of professionals towards Western Europe and North America accounted for 30% of the flows registered throughout the world (ILO, 1996). It is estimated that in 2000 approximately 175 million people, or 2.9% of the worlds population, were living outside their country of birth, compared to 100 million, or 1.8% of the total population, in 1995 (Stilwell, 2003). Assistant Professor, Lingayas University, Department of Business Administration, Faridabad *Assistant Professor, Lingayas University Whilst a number of factors such as the inimical macro-economic environment could explain the loss of human resources in the country, job satisfaction and quality of work life is often identified as one of the factors that influence the decision to quit. Various studies (Onu et al., 2005; Sur et al., 2004; Tutuncu and Kozak, 2006; Knowles, 1978, Salmond, 2006; Wiedmar, 1998; DeVaney and Chen, 2003; Greenberg, 1986) have identified factors that influence job satisfaction and quality of work life. These include inter-personal relationships, conditions of service, type of social insurance possessed, supervision, promotion, job design, organizational environment, age, gender, equal treatment by management, income and attitude. Much of the discussion on job satisfaction and work quality has been done in the context of the developed countries with few studies in the developing countries. The broad objective of this study is to ascertain the association between job satisfaction and quality o f work life among academic professionals teaching in management colleges in Faridabad region. The job satisfaction of an employee is a topic that has received considerable attention by researchers and managers alike. The quality of work life is concerned with type of work environment and its resulting impact on overall effectiveness of organization and equally on individuals as employees. This includes all such dimensions and parameter which are having an impact on employees decision to remain in organization and level of performance. There are several measures and means by which organization attempts to augment their performance like participative leadership style, job autonomy, clarity in career graph, equity based decision, good physical conditions, merit based promotion etc. The present study attempts to find role of different job satisfaction attributes like- Stressful nature of work, unclarity in direction and overall satisfaction from job that also affects quality of work life with respect QWL factors like- Compensation structure, policies of organization, role of trade union, security benefits, facilities, growth opportunities, Work load ,reward structure, type of supervision ,participation, recognition and reward and whether is relevance of these factors in making employees satisfied, making work life more qualitative. REVIEW OF LITERATURE According to study conducted by DeVaney and Chen (2003) on impact of different demographic variables as leading factors of job satisfaction affecting employees and its impact on quality of work life. They found that with respect to demographic factors like age, gender and education job satisfaction and feeling towards quality of work life varied. The findings of their study inferred that with increase in age employees satisfaction towards job also increased and similar such result were seen with education where highly educated workforce felt more satisfied than less qualified employees. Male workers were found to be more satisfied than female workers. Thus it could be inferred from the study that demographic factors affect to large extent the job satisfaction leading to a highly satisfied quality of work life. It was also found that certain attributes related to work like relations with management, job security (permanent or contract jobs), higher pay, a sense of control over ones wo rk were identified as main attributes of quality of work life and made employees more productive and satisfied with their jobs when these attributes as a tool for improving quality of work life were worked upon. Bharati T; Nagarathnamma B; Viswanatha Reddy S(2008) studied the impact of selected variables causing job satisfaction like retention ,higher performance, support, team work and task characteristics on job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life on 266 Israeli prison guards. It was found that extra organizational factors, especially clarity in direction, low stress level, low burnout, clear communication, timely feedback, career advancement were found to be strong predictors of job satisfaction and led to strong satisfied feeling towards quality of work life. It could be inferred from this study that job satisfying factors largely affects feeling of quality of work life. Thus job satisfying factors should be properly worked upon so that a better quality of work life can be felt by employees. Tett, R. Meyer, J. (1993) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life with reference to faculty members found that management style in form of leadership, 2-way feedback,informal climate setting, participation in organization decision making to large extent caused greater satisfaction towards job and employees perceived a better quality of work life when these attributes were worked upon by management to enhance quality of work life amongst employees. Management leadership was found to be major factor leading satisfaction towards job and improving quality of work life. Cooper and Marshal (1976) also in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life found that certain variables like work overload, role ambiguity, role conflict and poor working conditions associated with a particular job which reduces job satisfaction and affects low feeling towards quality of work life as well In their study majority of employees agreed that with less satisfying job, employees performance and initiative taking ability also reduces to a large extent. Thus management should focus on factors that lead to job satisfaction sine it also affects feeling towards quality of work life to large extent. Theoretically Lawler (1982) also identified QWL in terms of job characteristics and work conditions. He highlighted that the core dimension of the entire QWL in the organization is to improve employees well-being, satisfaction and productivity. An employee with high job satisfaction enjoys a qualitative work life in comparison of employees who are dissatisfied with job. Thus job satisfaction to a large extent is a strong predictor of quality of work life. Pelsma et al(1989).and Hart(1989) in their study on impact of selected QWL attributes found that psychological distress and morale contributed equally to teachers QWL. A balanced workload level, regular feedback, opportunities for training and improvement along with provision of suitable financial and non financial motivators largely enhanced employees satisfaction towards their job as well as improved employees quality of work life. These factors largely improved functional outcomes like improved productivity, better retention and initiative taking ability of employees. This also helped in improving occupational role and performance of employees. Winter et al(2000) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life with reference to academicians studied the role of selected variables like role stress, job characteristics, and role of supervision job characteristics, feedback, compensation structure, participation of employees and work environment as factors affecting job satisfaction and affecting quality of work life as well. They viewed QWL for academicians as an attitudinal response to the prevailing work environment and posited five factors that affected job satisfaction including role stress, job characteristics, type of supervision, structural characteristics that directly and indirectly shaped academicians experiences, attitudes and behaviour and resulting positive feeling of quality of work life. Rice (1985) tried to focus on relationship between work satisfaction and Quality of peoples lives. His study also focused and found a strong relationship between certain job related factors like work experience and work outcomes that affect persons general Quality of life. He also found that certain factors like family interactions, leisure activities and levels of health and energy also to a large extent affect employees satisfaction towards job and quality of work life that employees view and perceive and feel towards their job Thus this study emphasized the role of work related characteristic and employees experience as major determinant of job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life. Bhatia and Valecha (1981) studied the absenteeism rates of textile factory and recommended that closer attention should be paid to improve the Quality of Work Life since due to low feeling of work quality due to high stress, unclarity in direction, low participation workers derived low satisfaction from job and that affected efficiency. It is thus clear from this study that work related factors like high stress, unclarity in direction, low participation of workers caused low feeling of satisfaction towards their job and they perceived low quality of work life towards their core task..Thus studies like these focus on role of emphasizing job satisfying factors on quality of work life to make employees more productive, involved and committed towards work at large. In a study, Sirota (1973) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life found that underutilization of workers skill and abilities either due to lack of interaction or lack of instruction in performing job causes perception of low Quality of Work Life and suggested job enrichment program to correct the problems of workers skill and abilities to make them feel highly satisfied towards job. This study also emphasizes the role job satisfaction plays significantly in improving quality of work life. Thus studies like these focus on role of job satisfaction and feeling towards work life quality on employees satisfaction at large. Smith and Bourke (1992), also in their study on factors causing stress in teachers in academic institutes found that there were four major sources of stress and these work related factors created feeling of low work quality namely unclear instructions and work environment , time pressures and low opportunities for rewards and recognitions. These factors not only reduced satisfaction towards job but also caused dissatisfying feeling towards quality of work life. In a similar study determining impact of work related factors causing job satisfaction and its impact on quality of work life Kenneth, R. (1977),reported that unclarity of roles creates difficulty and was negatively associated with job satisfaction which makes satisfaction generated from qualitative work life quite low , especially among women. Thus impact of unclear directions, feedback, blocked communication channels and job misfit affected satisfaction towards job and quality of work life also. In another study conducted by Fraser, Draper and Taylor (1998) on factors affecting job satisfaction and its resulting impact on quality of work life among school teachers it was found that female teachers felt less satisfied with their influences over school policies which they considered as a major factor affecting quality of work life compared to male teachers. They also reported significant differences in work satisfaction based on work experience it was found that teachers who stayed longer at the job consistently had greater ratings of dissatisfaction. Thus this study gives a clear indication that work related and demographic factors like work experience and employees involvement to a larger extent affects employees satisfaction towards their job and resulting feeling towards work life quality. In a similar study conducted in Malaysia by Che Rose et al (2006) further concluded that the most important predictor of QWL is organizational climate, followed by career achievement, career satisfaction and career balance which all lead to job satisfaction. This study also focused on role of job satisfying factors on employees feeling towards his work life quality. Thus, management of organization should focus on identifying important job satisfaction causing variables and design policies, procedures and management style in such a way so that employees feel high and positive about quality of wok life. OUTCOMES OF LITERATURE REVIEW- The above selected studies focus on role of job satisfaction on quality of work life. Most of the studies irrespective of different work related variables helped in determining impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life. It can be concluded from these studies that when employees feel highly satisfied from their jobs their feeling towards quality of work life also becomes high which results into better productivity, performance , commitment , involvement and initiative taking ability of employees. It was found in most of the studies that when employees feel less or dissatisfied with their jobs either due to organization related, work related or individual factors the quality of work life also gets negatively affected. Thus irrespective of the sector management should strive harder to make jobs more enriching thus employees getting higher satisfaction and resulting into highly satisfying feeling towards quality of work life as well. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY To assess the level of quality of work life among men and women To determine the association between job satisfying factors and attributes of quality of work life(Nature of work, level of participation, working condition, work schedule, Grievance procedure. To identify the impact of different demographic factors on quality of work life and job satisfaction. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY For the present study 15 different management colleges were selected in and around Faridabad region. Employees including lecturer, Assistant Professor and Professor between age group 25-55 were selected for the study. The data was collected through structured questionnaire which was personally administered by researcher. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.76 which is good enough for study. The questionnaire consisted of close ended question (Likert scale) to gauge the reaction of employees. A pilot study was conducted with 25 respondents (faculty members) to check the reliability of questionnaire. Total 250 questionnaire were distributed out of which 238 were returned and usable questionnaire were 220 in total .So sample of 220 is considered for present study. Details about Questionnaire The scale used for measuring attitude of employees for present study is LEA (Long employee attitude scale) developed by Dr.H.C Ganguli which is a 26 item job satisfaction scale. The items of LEA were earlier standardized on Indian employees on Nepalese female subject working as Bank officers, college teachers and Nepal government officers. The areas covered are Nature of work 2 items Income 5 items Security 1 item Organization aspect 5 items Personal aspect 1 items Colleagues /co-workers 2 items Promotion and training opportunities 3 items Welfare facilities, health and canteen facilities 2 items Union management relation 1 item Company policy and practices 4 items Scoring of responses The present scale is scored according to Likert scale of summated rating .The total score of a subject is an addition of score value of respondent from the alternative choosen.25 items of LEA scale has 5 response alternative( 1,2,3,4,5) and 1 item has 3 alternatives (2,3,4) higher is the score greater is the satisfaction. The subject has to answer all the 26 items and no omission is allowed. If there is any omission then a score of 3 has to be provided as the middle value Validity Reliability of scale used About the scale Dr. H.C Gangulis job attitude scale which helps in assessing job satisfaction of employees at different level has test retest reliability of r = 0.90 and odd even reliability after Spearman -Brown correction was r = 0.81 and has proved validity. The validity of this scale was checked through internal consistency method, by way of item analysis which requires low correlation between items and high correlation between item scores and total scale scores TOOLS USED In order to analyze the collected data SPSS 16.0 was used. In order to determine significant relation between satisfaction with QWL attributes) between male and female t-test was used. .Further, Chi-square test was used to determine the association between level of job satisfactions (job characteristic factors) and quality of work life dimensions. Also regression analysis was used to determine impact of different variables like overall job satisfaction, unclarity in direction and job stress on quality of work life. Further, to determine significant difference between demographic factor and job satisfaction (job characteristic) t-test ANOVA and Levens test for equality of variance was used. Hypothesis formulated Null hypothesis 1 -There is no significant difference between male and female with respect to feeling towards quality of work life in academic industry Null hypothesis 2 There is no association between job characteristic /satisfying factors and QWL Null Hypothesis -3 There is significant impact of demographic variables like age and nature of work on feeling towards quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.1 Employees of higher age groups expect more qualitative work life Null Hypothesis 3.2 Employees with stressful nature of work require high quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.3 Employees with long tenure needs more quality of work life ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Null hypothesis 1 -There is no significant difference between male and female with respect to feeling towards quality of work life in academic industry. As clear in Table -1 t-test was used to determine the significant difference between genders with regard to feeling towards dimension of QWL feeling. Table-1 t-test showing significant difference between gender with regard to feeling towards dimension of QWL feeling QWL dimension Male Female t- value P value Mean S.D Mean S.D Satisfaction from job 31.25 3.65 29.34 4.23 2.04 0.035* Unclarity in direction 44.65 5.84 42.45 5.35 2.76 0.002** Job Stress 20.45 2.98 18.67 2.65 2.68 0.004** Overall QWL feeling 96.53 10.87 91.46 11.12 3.24 0.001** ** denotes significance at 1% level * denotes significance at 5% level It is clear from the table-1 that since the value of P is less than 0.01 with respect to unclarity in direction, level of stress in job and overall feeling of QWl thus null hypothesis is rejected and it can be inferred that there is a significant difference between feeling towards QWL dimensions between male and female workers. Also since the value of P is less than 0.05 with respect to feeling of job satisfaction it is clear that null hypothesis is rejected. Female workers are more affected by feeling of lack of satisfaction, unclarity in direction and job stress than male workers. It is due to the fact that female workers need to create a balance between a good professional as well as a good homemaker so the burden is more on them to manage. This is the reason they expect and require more quality in work life that will result into effective performance. Thus, if organization provides them with certain provisions like flexi timing, suitable arrangement of crà ¨ches and safe work environment with less stress the feeling of qualitative work life will definitely enhance. Null hypothesis 2 There is no association between job characteristic /satisfying factors and QWL From Table -2 it is clear that value of P is less than 0.01 thus rejecting the null hypothesis at 1% level, thus there is a significant association between job satisfying dimension and quality of work life. Table-2 Chi-square showing association between job characteristic and quality of work life Level of job characteristics Level of QWL Row total Chi-square value P value Low Average High 91.503 0.000** Low 39 12 6 57 Average 10 74 40 104 High 13 17 29 59 Column Total 62 103 55 220 It is clear from the table that as the level of quality of work life increases job satisfaction among employees also gets increased .Thus it becomes imperative that if the organization works for introducing innovative ways to make work life more qualitative then job satisfaction will also increase which will result into improvement in performance and in development of a desired behaviour in individuals. Further to confirm the relation between job characteristic and quality of work life multiple regression model was applied. From Table -3 it is clear that in this model quality of work life is taken as dependent variable and job satisfaction(X1), unclarity in direction(X2), job stress(X3) are taken as independent variable and predictor variables .The calculated value of multiple R was found to be -0.342 ,R squared value was -0.124.The calculated F -value was -10.120 and P value was -0.000**.. The estimate of model coefficient is 109.136 for ao, for a1 is 0.821, a2 is -0.182 and for a3 is -0.258.So the estimated model becomes 109.136 = 0.821 (X1) 0.182 (X2) 0.258 (X3) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (I Table-3 Multiple regression table Variable Unstandardized coefficient Standardized coefficient t-value P-value B Std. error of B Beta X1 0.821 0.165 0.311 3.284 0.000** X2 -0.182 -0.132 0.102 1.213 0.161 X3 -0.258 0.281 -0.062 -0.812 0.342 Constant 109.136 5.525 14.304 0.000 The R squared value of 12.4% indicates that predictor variable explains 12.4 % variance in QWL. From the ANOVA table (Table -4) it is quite clear that F-value 10.120 and P value 0.000 is highly significant less than 0.01. Table-4 ANOVA Table Sum of Squares d.f Mean square F Sig. Regression 4163.414 3 1326.162 10.120 .000** Residual 31257.612 216 138.420 Total 35421.026 219 It can be interpreted from this that the estimated model line is not equal to zero indicating linear relationship between the predictor variable and QWL. It is also clear that Beta value for job satisfaction is highest (0.311) followed by unclarity in direction (0.102).The Beta value of job stress has made least contribution in this (-0.062). The value of p is less than 0.01, so the independent variable job satisfaction is highly significant for the stated model. The rest of independent variables are not significant at 95% confidence level. Thus it can be concluded that as quality of work life will increases job satisfaction will also increase whereas with unclarity in direction and job stress it will reduce. Null Hypothesis -3 There is significant impact of demographic variables like age and nature of work and tenure on feeling towards quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.1 Employees of higher age groups require more quality in work life Null Hypothesis 3.2 Employees with stressful nature of work require high quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.3 Employees with long tenure needs more quality in work life In order to determine impact of demographic variables on quality of work life t-test ANOVA and Levens test for equality of variance was applied .This was applied to see whether there is any impact of demographic variable on response of employees towards quality of work life . From table 5, 6 and 7 it is quite clear that demographic variable except gender did not have a significant influence on quality of work life. The significant value for age which is 0.854 reveals that all age groups exhibited similar kind of behaviour with respect to quality of work life. This clears that irrespective of age each employees looks for better quality of work life which definitely increases job satisfaction. Table-5 Independent sample test for determination influence of age on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig(2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. -.180 .854 -..0302 .15076 QWL Equal variance not assumed .002 .956 Equal variance not assumed -.180 .854 -.0302 .15071 The significant value of nature of work which is 0.972 and its influence on quality of work life indicates that nature of duty and work do not influence quality of work, this further indicates that whatever may be the nature of work in academic industry with respect to different position, qualitative work life is most required. Table -6 Independent sample test for determination influence of nature of work on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. .032 .972 .0047 .15792 QWL Equal variance not assumed .113 .735 Equal variance not assumed .032 .972 .0047 .15765 With regard to tenure of employees it is again seen that the significant value is 0.842 whether the tenure is long or whether the employee is a newcomer. Thus demographic factors (age, tenure, nature of work) do not influence quality of work life particularly with any higher age, long tenure or with stressful work. Table-7 Independent Sample test for determining influence of tenure on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig.(2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. .178 .842 .0220 .11701 QWL Equal variance not assumed .206 .638 Equal variance not assumed .175 .844 .0220 .11746 FINDINGS OF STUDY Based on the objectives and hypothesis formulated for the study the following findings were observed With respect to gender male and female differed significantly towards feeling of quality of work life and job satisfaction. Male employees were found to be more satisfied and feeling towards quality of work life was higher in comparison to female counterparts ,it may due to the fact that women folk has to perform dual responsibilities and with increase in work pressures and expectations from organization it is quite obvious that they feel less satisfied in terms of unclarity in direction, communication gap, flexibility, timings and different facilities provided by the organization which is not too satisfactory and leads to comparably low feeling of quality of work life. On the basis of regression analysis and Chi-square which was used to assess association between job satisfying factors and quality of work life, it was found that among different selected factors of job related aspects level of job satisfaction consisting of different attributes like compensation structure, reward structure, a administrative policies, flexibility, participation of employees, challenging work assignment were considered to be affecting job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life much more than factors like unclarity in direction, job stress etc. Maximum variance was explained by job satisfying factors towards quality of work life, establishing that job satisfaction contributes utmost towards making work life more qualitative. Further the impact of different demographic factors like age, tenure, and nature of work on quality of work life was also studied. After analysis it was found that except gender there was no significant difference between feeling and significance of quality of work life among employees. Thus, irrespective of the age group, nature of work and tenure each empl

How to do qualitative research Essay

Introduction: Qualitative research is about asking questions and gathering information through words, to then later analyze. One way of doing this is through ethnography. But before any research can be done, there must be a research question. In this case, â€Å"Do the Olympics cause their audience to act differently than when they are watching any other popular TV show? † This question was chosen to clearly outline the process of ethnography, and how it is useful in finding out the information needed to answer this research question. Methodology: An ethnography is â€Å"A Research approach to understanding the culture of a group (patterns of behaviour/attitudes, how they create meaning), by immersing oneself in the activities of the specific group over a period of time and then writing up a descriptive summary. † (Savage 3). An ethnographic approach includes being engaged in and listening to conversations, taking regular notes and collecting â€Å"artifacts† of the group being studied (Savage 7). All of these things later help in writing up a summary of findings that where gathered from the ethnography. There are two main types of ethnography, first there is an overt ethnography where the participants are told they are being observed. This type of ethnography is most commonly used and is less risky because the participants are aware of the study that is taking place. The other type is covert. This is where the researcher is unknown by the participants (Savage 10). The ethnography done about whether the Olympics change the way an audience acts is a covert ethnography. The subjects were unaware of the researcher and the fact that they were being studied and just watched TV as they normally would. Although this study was in a closed setting, there is always a chance of a risk when doing a covert study, because one of the participants may not want to be studied (Savage 9-10). Another important aspect of doing an ethnography is gaining access. Gaining access all depends on whether it is a closed setting or an open setting. Open settings are public settings are are fairly easy to gain access to. They include places like a street corner, or a movie theatre lobby, or city council meetings (Savage 9). Closed settings are non-public settings that are harder to gain access to because they usually require a contact, or permission to get into. Closed settings include families, firms, doctors offices and political parties (Savage 9). These are places that access is only granted to people who have permission. Although, in most cases, a lot of groups that are in a closed setting, have both open and closed settings, so if permission was not granted, then there would still be an opportunity for an ethnography when the group is in an open setting. The ethnography that was done took place in a closed setting and access was granted due to it being at the researchers house. This made it easy to gain access without having to worry about any limits that can sometimes come with closed settings. Summary of Findings For this topic, one would find that using ethnography would be the best way to go about making a research project about the Olympics causing an audience to act differently then when they watch other popular TV shows. This is because the study was about to view two different settings, one of subjects watching a popular TV show (American Idol), and one of subjects watching the Olympic Games. This allowed for a very good comparison between the two, and made answering the research question fairly easy. While doing the ethnography in both settings, being a â€Å"fly on the wall† allowed the researcher to observe how the subjects acted in both situations without being noticed. The setting also helped in disguising the researcher, because the subjects were just told it was homework, or they were used to the researcher being on the computer anyways. If this study were to be conducted as an in-depth interview, the results would be quite different. The interviewee may not know how they react when they’re watching television, or may not notice that they act differently and vise versa, which would then make it difficult to get the desired information. This would put the study at a halt because no relevant information would have been gathered. Conducting an ethnography is the only real way to go about answering this research question. There is a certain level of control that comes with doing an ethnography for this question because the researcher is unknown, this also ensures that the subjects are acting the way the normally would and not acting the way the think they should act. Which is sometimes the case when people are told they are being studied. Also, (in this case) the subjects are somewhat being forced to watch the desired television show. This ensures that the subjects are being exposed to the same show and can allow for more specific research. Ethnography is also useful because it allows for change. If the ethnography were to go on, there would most likely be more television shows to compare the Olympics to, but in this case, the research question could be narrowed down to â€Å"Do the Olympics cause their audience to act differently than when they are watching American Idol? â€Å". If the study were to continue, because it is an ethnography with multiple subjects for each show, there is room for change, and the data that was already collected would still be useful. Whereas if an in-depth interview was to done, and data was collected there is no guarantee that each subject watches the same television shows to be able to compare among the different subject that were interviewed. Key Learnings After choosing to use an ethnography to answer this research question, some things became quite clear. First, when conducting a covert ethnography, sometimes it is not so easy to remain unknown to every subject, and it is difficult to judge what they are thinking or what they will do if they were to find out. This raised the question of what should the researcher do if they are in a closed setting that they cannot leave and a subject did not want to be studied and was very angry? In most closed setting situations, the chances are that it will not be a covert ethnography, but after this covert closed setting ethnography, it was made clear that the position of research should not be made known for the safety of the researcher. This leads to another question about ethics and who should be harmed in that case. If the researcher is in danger of being harmed if they were to tell the subject that they were being studied, and if the researcher did not tell the subject, then it is considered unethical because the subject is being lied to. Does this issue then become an issue of choosing the greater good? In which case, who decides what the greater good is? Second, when doing an ethnography there is not always something useful to take note of. This causes ethnography to be very time consuming because the research must wait until they have all the information needed which may take a very long time if nothing is happening. This causes a problem because there is no guarantee that anything will happen at all that would help the researcher answer their research question. Conclusion: In discussing using ethnography to answer the question of â€Å"Do the Olympics cause their audience to act differently than when they are watching any other popular TV show? † and what was learned, it is safe to conclude that ethnography is the best way to approach a question like this. This is largely due to the method being more successful at gathering information than it’s alternative, and because there are a number of way that is can be performed to ensure that the researcher is able to get the information needed.

Technology: Sociology and James Stacey Taylor

Kenneth Hunter Dr. Carpenter PL401 13 November 2012 James Stacey Taylor â€Å"In Praise of Big Brother† This essay will argue the point on why we should learn to stop worrying and love (some) government surveillance. James Stacey Taylor’s idea about government surveillance monitoring each state will blow you away or open your eyes. I will draw attention to some good points, bad points, and my beliefs and why I think this way about his view. By the end of this essay I hope to have answered your entire question on this topic of interest. Which is government surveillance could be a positive or negative problem for people?The first inquiry to be address is how Dyson explained his pessimistic doubts that technological innovations frequently serve to increase social oppression and inequality. I will answer this in a two part answers, in which I will tell you how Dyson look at technology was used and who benefited from the changes. Dyson started addressing his pessimistic doub ts with examples from history and his own life. He talked about how technology started out in the fourteenth century with printing becoming the first technology transformation in Europe.With this new invention, people all through Europe had the able to have books to read and educate themselves as well as their fellow countrymen by educating themselves. The technology of printing gave power to the reproduction of the Bible which led directly to the Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe. By using the technology the Protestant ethic carried it with perpetual striving for social justice a vision that was seldom achieved. The next things Dyson begin pointing out was the sensibleness of technology which led the way for social justice during the next two centuries.Dyson talked about how public services such as clean water, sewage treatment, antibiotics and vaccines helped with bring the gap between rich and poor closer. The reason for this as he pointed out was these technologies were effective in protecting the rich from contagion and sickness if also available to poor. So, with being said in some countries where public health technologies are in enforced by law there is no large gaps. He also talked about how technologies starting making synthetic materials to bridge the gaps by introduced fake furs, brilliant colors and silk.By doing this everyone was able to afford clothes of fashion and no was able to tell a person social class by the clothes they wore. So where does the social oppression exactly begin for people? Will I believe it start with new technology and gadgets introduce to social as new a improve way to something done. What I mean by this statement for example the IPhone or any smartphone. While everyone has a cellphone to communicate with friend and family a simple function so we think. Then technology comes along a change the game with apps, internet, and built-in cameras all in a phone that cost about $600 in the beginning.Only people that could afford this new slack technology were the people with money and then newer one hit the social world pushing the older version to be affordable for everyone. So, point is like a new toy we get at Christmas time that you didn’t want your friends to touch because we have to keep it for self. Until we are bored and no longer wanting to play with it and the newest has wears off, we are more apt to allow others to enjoy it, as long as there is something better or newer to replace the old one. So, gaps are made with each turn of new technology pushing the way.In conclusion, Dyson hope technology is used to equally by everyone rich and poor. I believe he pointed out everything that would equally shared by all people no matter their social status. Technology and Social Justice will always have some type of gaps between people because money is driving force behind new technology. Dyson never pointed this out but know these gaps were between rich and poor. At the end of his essay said t here was no harm to hope. I can see your point on this because Kurzweil took you on ride on many things.From a computer storage stand point look at what we start with 250mb and now we are at 3Tb for storing information. We are growing at a rate that could way out of control or in our control that is the question? We have to understand what direction these things are taking us because it will be a limit to our growth. Kurzweil know that with growth in time bad things would follow and would have to be ready to protect our self. While reading the case against perfection by Michael Sandel he pointed out a lot of thing we do as humans to modify ourselves by technology. Things like muscles in nhancement to improve our muscle loss from old age but when technology is used for performance enhancement, running, weight lifting, and home slugger are just to name a few. The able to change person genes before even being born is wrong on so many levels. The ethics surrounding this theory wouldnâ⠂¬â„¢t allow humans to humans anymore. Everyone is born different for a reason and everyone is given their on gift at birth. By using this type of technology to change who we are would cause more chaos then good. Like Sandel pointed with the cloned sheep Dolly which died prematurely with abnormalities was unsafe.The sad truth behind all this type of technology is no matter how we try to change or improve it the cycle death in the end. Sandel point I believe is we have a right to choose our own path in life and should only everything to change our unique able to be different. In â€Å"Preventing a Brave New World† (pp. 317-329), Leon Kass concludes that reproductive and therapeutic cloning of human embryos is unethical. What are the exact steps in Kass's argument for this conclusion? What is your assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this argument?

Human Error, The Real Cause Behind Accidental Data Loss

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