Concluding Case †Custom Coffee & Chocolate Essay

Billions of people across the globe choose to have a cup of coffee each morning to start the day or as a morning work break but coffee has become more than just a drink. Coffee has become an ingrained part of various cultures and coffee shops can be found in most every city around the world. It is little wonder that coffee ranks among the world’s largest commodity markets second only to oil (â€Å"Dangerous Grounds: About the Show†, 2013). Given diversity and competition in the market, the small startup company of Custom Coffee & Chocolate will require a clear mission statement, detailed business analysis, and tactical plans that will help it to increase market share within the Seattle community. A mission statement describes a company’s fundamental purpose and how that company is unique within its product and services offerings. In writing of the company’s mission, each word must be carefully selected for consistency and there must be a commitment from the stakeholders to focus resources in the accomplishment of this mission (Ireland & Hitt, 1992). Bonnie Brewer and Stacy Kim have passed a milestone having developed regular customers within the five months of opening the first coffee house. As a statement for moving forward, â€Å"Custom Coffee & Chocolate’s mission into the community is to provide the highest quality, socially ethical coffee and chocolates while serving to keep the Seattle community connected and invigorated. † The next step towards developing a tactical business plan is to identify internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats. A common challenge among small startup companies is finance. Within the first six months, Brewer and Kim have exhausted both their savings and initial small-business loan placing the company in a precarious position. For further development of the business, these proprietors will need to seek further investment capital through another partner, reduction in salary, or incur more debt with another small-business loan. Being located near a university is a strength that entails a surrounding population that is educated and can appreciate socially and environmentally sustainable coffee and chocolate. Coffeehouses for this type of customers are not only a place to purchase caffeine but also a social gathering place for study and recreation. Many coffeehouses are able to differentiate themselves from larger chains such as Starbucks by creating a more inviting environment that encourages guests to stay longer and experience the ambiance (Grant, 2005). Custom Coffee provides currently provides quality product but needs to improve the service it provides to the area. Companies such as Starbucks, Tully’s, and Seattle’s Best have made their starts in the Seattle community and in some cases grown to be national and multi-national organizations. In some cases such as Tully’s coffee, the competition was too much and have gone into bankruptcy (â€Å"McDreamy’ saves Seattle coffee chain,† 2013). The tactical plan for Custom Coffee & Chocolates will comprise of two milestone events. Within the first year, the company will take out another small-business loan to improve its utilization of technology. The store will install high-speed wireless for its guests as well as invest in improving its website and web search analytics. Brewer and Kim will implement an in-dorm delivery service while also standardizing hiring and training practices for the new, part-time staff that will be required. The hours of operation will be lengthened to better serve students’ late night study habits as well as an increase in marketing to the university clubs and organizations. This will lead into an event schedule that may include coffee and chocolate tastings as well as an open mike night. The goal of these changes will result in the company being financially stable within the first year and better positioned for expanding into a few other locations within the second or third year. In conclusion, a company must identify its reason for existence, analyze the market, and then make a plan based on both that mission and market analysis. The Custom Coffee & Chocolate store has many challenges that lay ahead but with clear vision and planning, it is positioned to become an ingrained part of Seattle’s university communities having successfully passed the first six months of operation. A key to this success will be for the company to focus into a niche where many of the nationally franchised coffee shops lack (Grant, 2005). Custom Coffee will exceed with socially and environmentally responsible products as well as providing a friendly, social gathering point for the local community.

Comparison and Contrast of the Movie and the Novel Essay

The following paper gives a comparison and the contrast on the novel â€Å"The Body† by Stephen King and the movie that is based on this novel, i. e. â€Å"Stand by Me† by Rob Reiner. The Body is a short story from Stephen King’s compilation of Different Seasons. Later on a movie was prepared of the story of the novella; called Stand by Me. Comparison and Contrast of the Movie and the Novel: Starting with the screenplay of the movie, as portrayed in the novel, the movie did extreme justice to it. A few differences those were quite noticeable. These include the time of the film which is publicized 1959 rather than 1960, the location of the story which in the book was Maine and in the movie it was Oregon. A number of scenes were edited from the movie. The movie involves more scenes that revolve around the older gang. Scenes likes where Ace stealing Gordie’s cap, the gang plays ‘mailbox baseball’, while discussing the body of Ray Brower when sitting together or racing on the highway are not included in the book. The movie also ignored a few short stories regarding Gordie and adds a few flashbacks which were no where present in the novel. The factors that make the movie a bit boring are the repeating elements such as singing the theme song again and again, Vern’s obsessions, Gordie and Chris showing of their friendship on certain points. Adding further more to this, Gordie’s association with his brother is a lot stronger in the film, where as in the novel, Denny and Gordie were not close to each other. A number of characters are new in the film as compared to the book. A few actions are also there which make the story to go on a different side. In the book, it was Gordie, not Chris, who fought Teddy off the roadway ahead of he possibly will endeavor a train move, whereas in the book it was Chris who dragged away the gun, but Gordie accomplishes it in the picture. In addition, the team member who endangered the boys with a dagger in the book was in fact Jackie Mudgett, and not Ace. A number of appearances of conversation are spoken by diverse characters. In the book, the line â€Å"†¦going to see a dead kid, maybe it shouldn’t be a party† was spoken by Vern, (King, Stephan, Pp 75) and the line â€Å"you won’t mind if we check the seat of your jockies for Hershey squirts† was spoken by Teddy. In the picture, these dialogues are conversed by Gordie. (King, Stephan, Pp 75) The picture presents a number of characters that were not a part of the book and vice versa. For example, in the book there were two extra young men in Gordie’s â€Å"mob name John and Marty DeSpain who were out of town during the story, but they are never mentioned in the movie. Consequently, the book didn’t present a variety of components in the mob throughout the pie competition that the picture categorizes. A number of the distinctiveness of the people in the narration is distorted. For example, both of Teddy’s ears had been flamed in the volume, but in the picture only his left one is. The name of the mongrel dog was Chopper, whereas in the picture he is a golden retriever. The first name of the mayor who hands round as the presenter throughout the pie competition is altered from â€Å"Charbonneau† to â€Å"Grundy† and Vern’s nickname â€Å"Penny† is not at all conveyed up. Gordie was moreover an enormous Red Sox admirer in the volume, and his respect for Ted Williams was renowned. This attribute is in no way affirmed in the picture, and given that Gordie is eager to be dressed in a New York Yankees cap, it is extremely improbable (IMDB, pp. 1). An additional distinguished dissimilarity flanked by the book and the picture is the nature of the store clerk. In the volume, he was an irritable individual who attempts to deceive Gordie of his cash two times and shouted heatedly at him as he left the supermarket. In the picture, he is a mannered and understanding man who is inquisitive about Gordie’s individual existence, and who identifies with with Gordie over Denny’s termination, as he himself misplaced a brother throughout the Korean War. On the other hand, in the film it can be seen that the grocer endeavors to place his thumb on the level, until learning of Gordie’s relation to Denny. The event hands out as an additional illustration of Gordie’s world, wedged among not to be relied on adults and dependence on the reminiscence of his brother Denny. Stand by Me founds a great deal concerning Gordie’s relations than the novel does. In the volume, the era of Gordie’s parents are stated during the instance the boys investigated for the remains and the age of Gordie’s mother was when she happened to be expecting a child with Dennis is also revealed; none of this was revealed in the film. In the volume, Denny was in the armed forces at the instance of his decease. The film doesn’t institute this, even though props in Denny’s area provide the thought that he was almost certainly out of high school and perhaps even in school when the misfortune took place. Considerably, the volume offers an epilogue that murder off not just the character’s best pal, but all of the sustaining characters. In the King’s volume the smallest amount illustrious of destinies are assembled by the two characters whose fortunes are overlooked in the picture. Vern puts in flames when he passes out on a cigarette and Teddy is murdered in a car collide at some stage in a competition although he was sitting in the decease place (passenger side front seat with no airbags). In the manuscript and picture Chris Chambers is the disastrous number. Chris is recognized as supernaturally and fundamentally superior character by King. More for the reason that of his â€Å"diamond in the rough† temperament for his relations was serene of criminals and at that instance and municipality. Chris is rough and well-grown, but makes use of his adulthood to be a negotiator to a certain extent than a fighter. His appeasing propensity and ripeness are well-known constantly: He is all the way through the book and movie the influence of a cause, protecting his friends from equally substantial and affecting damage. Chris’s bereavement is an untimely but appropriate surrender: in a fast food eating place, he impulsively steps among two men who have occupied in a knife-fight. Chris is cracked in the gullet, being contracted an immediate fatality. Gordie is the solitary survivor, a deliberately translucent demonstration of King himself, who exists on and engraves, but with none of his friends. Note that in a vision succession subsequent the notorious parasite progression in the volume King demonstrates his ambivalence to early day’s friends,envisioning his associates as acquisitive to his appendage and covering him, and announcing that acquaintances simply â€Å"hold you down. † The defeat of his best companion Chris take him back that he will â€Å"in no way have associates like that once more. † The final penalty is just exposed in the novel: the destiny of the rival, Ace. To a certain extent than the rapid bereavement decided to Chris, Teddy, and Vern, Ace is observed by Gordie years afterward in a restricted inn: his jagged features become softer by fat, grown-up old earlier than his time. Gordie’s conquest is that of existing well. Conclusion: From the above comparison and contrast, it is quite evident that there were a number of differences in the book and movie that portrayed it. The plot, characters, sequences all had one or another difference. On the whole the movie is an average illustration of the book giving the moral of loving and helping friends and how a group of friends can move on. The book is very near to the life of Stephen King as he sees himself in Gordie and tries to give him such a character in which Stephen King saw him in his life. References IMDB (the Internet movie database) Stand by me, 1986. (2009)Retrieved on 30th January 2009 from : http://www. imdb. com/title/tt0092005/ King, Stephen. The Body. Published by Recorded Books, LLC. Pp75 (1984)

What Is the Immigrants American Dream?

?NANA YAA DWUMAAH ENG 102 B PROPOSAL What Is The Immigrants American Dream? If one is asked the future of this country, it is going to be a long debate and an unending talk about the failures and achievements of America. This is because different people see the same subject in different light. The phrase â€Å"American Dream† has made thousands of people leave their native country boldly in search of all that they deem impossible in their country to be possible here. This is why when asked, what the future of this country holds for its people, it will leave the people divided. Dr. Martin Luther King best defines the American dream when he exquisitely explains the Declaration of Independence. He highlights the fact that the American dream is not for a specific race or religion and that all its benefits, that is a right to life and right to liberty includes all mankind. These majestic words within which lies the American dream is what people everywhere search for in their country. They thirst for this dream, making the American dream a dream for all mankind and not only its natives. This is why America is country of people from so many racial and national backgrounds in search of a dream. Whereas Americans do not see how far this country has come, it takes only the immigrants to have them truly value their country. Being an American, yet growing up in Africa makes this issue very interesting since I can relate to both sides. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence which states that â€Å"all men are created equal†. This statement is also backed by James Truslow Adams interpretation of the American Dream which states that, citizens of every rank should be able to achieve a â€Å"better, richer, and happier life. † Hence there are no exceptions to who can and cannot pursue the American dream. In the American dream, Dr. Martin Luther King states, â€Å"Never before in history of the world have so many national backgrounds assembled together in one nation. And somehow if we can’t solve the problem in America the world can’t solve the problem, because America is the world in miniature and the world is America writ large. And God set us out with all of the opportunities. † He then further states, â€Å"Are we taking this seriously? ‘All men are created equal. ’† (Juchartz 105). This is what I also question. This dream, I feel has been misinterpreted by immigrants, or better still immigrants have been lured at the forefront to hold on to this dream because it states â€Å"All men are created equal,† and perceive themselves as equal citizens of America. In reality, there are so many barriers rooted in the American system including racism, strict immigration laws that have prevented immigrants from sharing in this dream. It should be taken into account that if an individual is not a citizen he or she cannot benefit from what the country has to offer. Though the dream includes all men, race and religion, immigrants or the person outside the white American mainstream are perceived as threats to empire building and remain outsiders. This is what I mean when I retort that, the dream has been misinterpreted across various levels of people in America. I believe that the upper class and the lower class do not have the same benefits from this dream, but have similar notions of what it should be, equality for everyone. Even though some immigrants might have managed to make a better life out of this dream some immigrants living in this country can barely make ends meet just because the American dream no longer provide a hope for a better, richer and happier life. In today terms it is just about living in a western country and experiencing perhaps modernity. It beats my imagination when I think about the forces that drive immigrants to leave their native country in search of this dream sometimes risking their lives, leaving loved ones behind irrespective of the difficulties ahead. Maybe it is just to pursue a better education like myself or to earn money.

The Murder of President John F. Kennedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Murder of President John F. Kennedy - Essay Example Although, many of them surfaced with slanted hypotheses and responses, there has been no exact ending of the assassination of JFK. In the course of their studies however, they have significantly subjected the way the Americans think what had occurred during the JFK murder through their prejudiced interpretation similarly. Past sequence of events whether published or in cinema cover same the features - as they all are prone to the analyses of the history writers; the explanations of the whole story and incidents; naming of the hero and villain; and they all are predisposed to the common reception of the public. That's why, any sequential part of storyline is helpless without a hodgepodge of representation (or the communication) and the reception (of the communication) by the public. In its place there are some logicians who are vigilantly prejudiced in the curiosity of the psyche of the publics. Therefore these theorists are more worried about the past exactness and portrayals of the historical incidents - they are the same who consider themselves that are in charge of bearing a "great civilization" to the next generations. The countless films and published stuff created by them not only have created the resources of knowledge of the past but also a support to accept the incidents they present as our right inheritance. They maybe named themselves as the "makers" of narrative accounts but how do we evaluate their alleged "genuineness" One of the leading ways to evaluate is to study expert views regarding a specific event and then ponder on the end results of it. For instance, in Mark C. Carnes (1995) "Past Imperfect", the author summarized this very reality by spelling out a variety of past episodes evaluated by professional views. He interviewed sixty two renow ned historians, press, and other establishment to remark on past movies that pat upon their field of skills. Convinced that past movies have become "a great storage area of past awareness in this U.S. of Amnesia," these professionals evaluate the movies' past exactness and scrutinize how their portrayals of past incidents and figures compare with modern historiography. However, through the professional views one can not only evaluate of the accuracy of the specifics represented in "selective past papers" but also whether the exact representation had strayed the interviewer's insight too. As said by Carla Rahn (Mark 1995, p. 60), though many academics have pursued the past stature of Christopher Columbus yet only the 1949 movie version by Frederic March looks like to fit the whole story relating to his personal life. In history movies therefore, past exactness is evaluated by the change in literary incident, transcendence of the legend into myth, analysis of the history as well as the strength of the history that may make the reality. Even though it's an observable fact that people who are not au fait with the history are liable to trust history writers to wean past information so as to re-enact the specifics and incidents (p. 64). Take the incident of JFK's murder for instance; several would believe that, Lee Harvey Oswald, is a psychopath and a nuts held guilty for JFK's shooting while there are others who are significant of the whole story and experiences adjoining the shooting. As David Lubin

Reasearch Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reasearch - Research Paper Example Over the years, humans have become quite adept of getting the resources that they need to the places that they are required in the shortest amount of time possible. The process of spatial interaction also helps to explain why some areas of the world have a deficit in some areas of need, while others have a surplus. This can be seen in the case of most of West Africa not receive an equal distribution of food and vital resources to sustain its populace, while the countries of Western Europe seem to have more than enough (Anselin, 2008). If spatial interaction can be used to better examine how to more equally distribute these goods and services via a complex web of transportation networks, then the global population can perhaps become more balanced in terms of the ‘haves and have nots’. Spatial interaction is directly related to economic growth. The distribution of goods and services is predicated on the economic model of supply and demand. There continues to be a wide gulf in terms of relative wealth between the respective regions of the world. In fact, much research is currently focused on better understanding the regional disparities that exist between one country and the next, and much of this focus in on spatial interaction. In considering this issues, it is helpful to discuss the long-run economic growth model present by Solow. This particular model discusses the gap in spatial interaction by looking at the variables of educational capital, health capital, migration, and certain spillovers in knowledge (Anselin, 2008). Where these variables converge or diverge deterring how countries and regions differ in terms of their ability to provide the populace with a steady flow of the goods that are required to sustain a balanced and normal life. There are various external factors related to investment in infrastructure and logistics that affect the economic

Case Studies and Readings in Sports Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Studies and Readings in Sports - Coursework Example When Under Armour started to enter the market, it had to face huge challenges from the existing players like Nike, Adidas. The increasing acceptance of Under Armour products and the suitable marketing strategies adopted by Plank helped the company to penetrate the apparel segment of the sports industry and gain considerable market share. Critique The case study of the Under Armour could be analyzed to highlight the growth of a product lifecycle under the brand name of its company from a very obscure position to a market leadership position by virtue of quality and ability to meet the demands of the customers. Under Armour is a company in the sports industry that manufactures and sells performance wears that are not only strong as compared to the earlier one but also comfortable for the sportspersons as its regulates body temperature and keeps them agile during the time of sporting events. The company was founded by Kevin Plank who was himself a footballer in the college days and had faced difficulties due to the performance wears or the shirts that they wore during their playing days. Those shirts were of inferior qualities and caused difficulties as those absorbed due to bodily perspirations which made them heavy feel heavier at the time of playing. The Under Armour which became synonymous with the brand name of the company with the increasing acceptance of the performance wears by the sportspersons acquired high market shares in a short span of time which posed threat to the existing market players like Adidas. The sportswear sold by Under Armour was of high quality due to the high quality cotton and fabric used in the process of production. The sportswear manufactured by Under Armour could regulate the body temperature and wipe off the sweat and body perspirations that helped to keep the footballers and the athletes free from external disturbances due to their bodily activities. The inner wears of Under Armour were highly elastic and could fit the skin smoot hly thereby giving comfort to the players which helped in improving the sports performances. When Under Armour decided to enter the market with the growing acceptance of its products, they faced huge challenges from the market leaders Like Nike, Adidas who ruled the athletics apparel industry. At that point of Nike was the market leader in the athletic apparel market with 21.3% market share followed by Adidas. This prompted Under Armour to adopt several marketing strategies to penetrate the potential market segment for athletic apparels for men and women. The various marketing strategies included endorsement by the target users, word of mouth, buzz marketing and product placement strategies (Kraft and Lee, 2009). The company realized that the athletic apparels and inner wear for sports are manufactured to meet the needs of the athletes and improve their performance through provision of comfort offered by better quality of fabric. Under Armour was used by athletes and the endorsement by these sports celebrities provided the marketing communication to the other athletes and sports lovers. This increased the likelihood of brand recall and provided more credibility to the users of the athletic apparel. The spread of word of mouth among the customers who were the sports lovers and the athletes, footballers themselves led to the increase in the increase

Impact Of Cultural Intelligence On Job Performance Coursework

Impact Of Cultural Intelligence On Job Performance - Coursework Example In addition to CQ studies also focused on organizational perspective. Cultural intelligence can be explained on organizational perspective. Organizational cultural intelligence is the capability of an organization to function and manage successfully in the host diversified culture, Koen. Organizational cultural intelligence reflects how responsive organizations are and how they work in the cross-cultural environment. Organization CQ helps firms to effectively adjust in the diversified environment and achieve organizational goals. Based on different theories of cultural intelligence, irrespective of their focus on domestic culture or multinational cultural perspectives relating to diversity in companies; research suggests that cultural intelligence and be developed or learned through education, training, interaction. Furthermore, research findings also show that higher level of cultural intelligence can be achieved by working on different cultures. Therefore, employees can improve CQ by proper learning and exposure to different culture. Furthermore, motivation is the important factor for improving CQ because the role of motivation in improving CQ involves personal and cultural values of employees Mol, Tulder, & Beige. Personal and cultural values establish the general benchmark for employees to access their perceived desirability of different outcomes and actions. Efficacy and expectation also play their role by providing the ability to set individual goals and achieve those goals.

Globalization, Gentrification and Migration Impact to New York Coursework

Globalization, Gentrification and Migration Impact to New York - Coursework Example There has been an argument as to whether the processes of gentrification, globalization, and migration lead to involuntary displacement of the low-income residents in a city. For instance, in New York City, the low-income residents are not likely to move out of a gentrifying suburb than they are to move out of a non-gentrifying suburb. On the other hand, the process of globalization in New York is explained in terms of the strategic sites where various global processes materialized and the various linkages that join them. Among the above-mentioned sites are the off-shore banking facilities, export processing areas and the global cities (Hamnet 1994, p.422). According to Sassen, the rapid growth of the global economy in New York City has led to the modern geography of marginality and centrality. The above mentioned modern form of geography causes inequalities, nevertheless, it leads to the formation of dynamic economic growth, where the city operates from the development of the employment structures to the distribution of telecommunication. New York as a global city possesses a lot of economic powers and various financial services, which offer super-profits. The level of transactions in New York specifically through the trade in services, financial markets and investments have rapidly increased, therefore, the orders of magnitude involved have also increased.

Do the facial features of a child with Down Syndrome impact on their Assignment

Do the facial features of a child with Down Syndrome impact on their inclusion in society - Assignment Example For many years, disabled people have faced stigma and discrimination. Shildrick (2009) denotes that during the ancient eras, a child born with any defect was either killed, or left in the wild. Shildrick observes that the Down syndrome phenomenon causes disability among children (2009). This problem makes children to feel inferior and this result to their exclusion from the various social affairs within the community (Shildrick, 2009). DePoy et al (2011) denotes that the Down syndrome phenomenon disfigures the face of a child. This condition has a direct influence on a child’s perception in the society (DePoy et al, 2011).This condition leads to the notion of social identity, which is a perception or attitude an individual or a group has towards another person or group. On this note, children with this condition place themselves within a specific social group that identifies with their needs and problems (DePoy et al, 2011). The social identity theory, developed by John Turner and Henri Tajfel best explains this problem (Tajfel, 1982). The social identity theory denotes that socialization is a process, and social identity is a process within socialization (Frances, 2004).According to Frances, for an individual to gain acceptance by a particular group, the same individual must portray similar characteristics with the particular group (2004). Frances further denotes that these shared characteristics provide a legitimate reason for the individual to gain acceptance within the particular group under consideration (2004). The social identity theory, as advocated by Henri Tajfel and John Turner denotes that a disabled person withdraws from the various activities within a society, because of the social environment in which they operate on. According to Giddens (2009), this withdrawal emanates from their inability to engage effectively with other social groups that operate within a community. Giddens introduces an aspect of the gaze theory in explaining the prob lems of the disabled within a community. Giddens (2009) denotes that the gaze theory measures the level of interaction between a child with disability, and a normal child. He further observes that the theory provides a solution that will address the various difficulties that disabled children suffer from, but this depends on the acceptance by the disabled person that he or she needs the help of a society (2009). The social identity theory emphasizes on limiting certain freedoms of these people, such as of movement and association (Oliver, 1990). Bluhm (2009) observes that the theory groups these people into a social group, this for purposes of identifying their needs and effectively satisfying them. This precipitates the construction of a social group, because the disabled are grouped according to their characteristics. This construed identity increases the level of discrimination and stigma in the society (Tremain, 2006). Raiser denotes that the social identity theory places people into groups, basing on their physical and social characteristics (1995). Bluhm et al (2009) introduces the notion of the gaze theory. He denotes that the theory observes the image of a person, and makes its comparison with a visual text (Bluhm et al, 2009). After analyzing the results of the comparisons, an individual is placed within a

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Example for Free

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Abstract Opini dan masukan untuk peningkatan pengajaran membaca kepada pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing, baik yang didasarkan pada hasil penelitian maupun pengalaman, tersedia sangat banyak dalam kepustakaan pengajaran bahasa. Tulisan ini merupakan sebuah rangkuman atas berbagai teori, temuan dan pendapat tentang pengajaran membaca. Pemahaman terhadap topik-topik tersebut, terutama tentang teori top-down, bottom-up, dan meta-cognitive, diharapkan dapat dijadikan landasan untuk meningkatkan teknik pengajaran membaca. Dengan demikian, kemahiran membaca para pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing dapat ditingkatkan secara signifikan. Kata Kunci: top-down, bottom-up, schemata, meta-cognitive, pre-reading, during-reading, after-reading Introduction Among the four language skills, reading is possibly the most extensively and intensively studied by experts in the field of language teaching. The results of the researches conducted for many decades on nature of reading—how people learn to process textual information—have contributed contrasting theories about what works best in the teaching of reading. As a result, language educators can choose among a wide variety of teaching methods and techniques for students learning to read in their second language (SL) or foreign language (FL). For students who are learning a SL/FL reading is the most crucial skill to master due to several reasons. First, students can usually perform at a higher level in reading than in any other skills. They can quite accurately understand written materials that they could not discuss orally or in writing with equivalent accuracy or thoroughness. Such condition will undoubtedly enhance their motivation to learn. Second, reading necessitates very minimum requirements. Different from speaking which requires opportunities to interact with sparring partner, or from writing which needs a lot of guidance and time to practice, reading necessitates only a text and motivation. Third, reading is a service skill. After learning how to read effectively, students will be able to learn effectively by reading. Realizing how crucial reading is for our students, we can see the great importance of developing their reading ability. To achieve it, we should improve our reading lessons by implementing the best method and techniques provided by theories. This article aims to describe principal theories of reading and examine some tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help us develop our learners abilities. Theories of Reading So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottom up processing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page. Third, the metacognitive view, which is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizes the involvement of the reader’s thinking about what he is doing while reading. 1. The traditional bottom-up view. The traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known as phonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25),  the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In other words, language is viewed as a code and the reader’s main task is to identify graphemes and convert them into phonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce it. The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and give little or no importance to the reader’s knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is with the basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical and grammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension. This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced. 2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing) In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the new cognitive theory represented the mind’s innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humans acquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explained â€Å"how such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learner’s mind† (Omaggio, 1993: 57). Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. An example of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the information becomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information is presented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated into one’s existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis on meaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner. These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn to read (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between the reader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding print to sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth. Schema Theory Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how  the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) calls schemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving, organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993). Content and formal schemata. Schema theorists differentiate formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text), and a reader’s prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events and meaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context. Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work, a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of these genre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith 1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction, Theoretical Basis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article and boost comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could lead to improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects. Content schemata refers to the message of the text. One’s familiarity with the content will make more productive and efficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Activating and building schemata Since the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture are important considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994) notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readers may not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able to comprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be ready to engage in â€Å"building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge† (Carrell, 1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lack of background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activate preexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated â€Å"parcels† of knowledge into a schema or to build a new one. If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the student’s, the issues of formal and content schemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the target culture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner. His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events with unfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assume common schemata for will also face the same problem.) Applying schema theory to L2 reading Based on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teacher’s role to activate and build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students’ needs, preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand the message, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, he needs to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students’ schemata. (1) Pre-reading activities, in which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniques such as prediction, semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevant schema for understanding the text. (2) During-reading activities, in which the teacher guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students’ adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that â€Å"readership† must be respected as long as the writer’s intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students’ initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacher about what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on reading comprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as â€Å"devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata†. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforce concept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employing devices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata will be activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits in with their previous knowledge. One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists is prediction. According to Goodman (1988: 16), prediction is important because â€Å"the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs†. Smith (1994, 19–20) defines prediction as â€Å"the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives†. According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. He emphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subject matter. â€Å"Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevant alternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print† (Smith 1994, 18). Another pre-reading activity is previewing, where students look at titles, headings, and pictures, and read the first few paragraphs and the last paragraph; these activities can then help students understand what the text is about by activating their formal and content schemata and making them familiar with the topic before they begin reading in earnest. Semantic mapping is another pre-reading activity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto (1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teach vocabulary and to â€Å"provide the teacher with an assessment of the students’ prior knowledge or schema availability on the topic†. This activity asks students to brainstorm about the reading topic as the information is displayed on a graphic â€Å"map. † As students make associations, the map becomes a thorough summary of the concepts and vocabulary that they will encounter in the reading. It can also help build schemata and vocabulary that students do not yet possess. Again, it is important to know something about the students so the selected texts contain the type of material that is likely to be familiar and interesting to them. Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled reading lesson, which reverses the sequence presented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questions from the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at the end of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes to fluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge) information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata. 3. The metacognitive view According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i.e. before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text—such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the authors purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous  predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. Guidelines for Effective Teaching of Reading After discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arranging tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learners abilities. These tips are arranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Pre-Reading Tips Before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structures familiar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-reading activities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words. Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, and background culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the class members brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know. The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very long time to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. 1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce because texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students’ familiarity with the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Such familiarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in presuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author. 2. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information deemed necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. 3. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, Why am I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal to read, later—in during reading activities—they can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, reading for details, or critical reading. During-reading tips The activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significant information, questioning the writer’s position, evaluating, and placing a text within one’s own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active reading. Practicing them will help the students be active readers. 1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. 2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. 3. Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. 4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. 5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. 6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. 7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word. 8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. 9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. 10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify what was comprehended. 11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading tips Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an authors point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7) role-playing. Conclusion Researches, opinions, and suggestions regarding the teaching of the reading exist in extensive amount, and this summary of reading theories is by no means exhaustive. However, with a basic understanding of the theoretical basis of top-down and bottom-up processing, teachers can better take advantage of the most useful methodologies associated with the different approaches. What is important to bear in mind is that relying too much on either top-down or bottom-up processing may cause problems for beginning ESL/EFL readers; therefore, to develop reading abilities, both approaches should be considered, as the meta-cognitive approach suggests. Considering my own experience in teaching reading to Indonesian students, I have found that the students who managed to read English text effectively are those who approach texts in a painful, slow, and frustrating word-by-word manner. By improving their decoding skills, they are freed to concentrate on global meanings. So, both the psycho and the linguistic† aspects must be emphasized in EFL reading classes. Bibliography Barnett, M. A. 1988. â€Å"Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language. † ERIC Digest. Anderson, R. 1994. â€Å"Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. † In Ruddell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 469–82. Anderson, R. , and P. D. Pearson. 1988. â€Å"A schematheoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 37–55. Block, E. L. 1992. â€Å"How They Read: Comprehension Monitoring of L1 and L2 Readers. † TESOL Quarterly 26(2) Bransford, J. 1994. Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 483–95. Carrell, P. L. 1984. The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly 18 (3): 441–69. _______ 1988. Interactive text processing: Implications for ESL/second language reading classrooms. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 239–59. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Carrell, P. L. , B. G. Pharis, and J. C. Liberto. 1989. Metacognitive strategy training for ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly 23 (4): 647–78. Chen, H. , and M. Graves. 1995. Effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on Taiwanese college students’ comprehension of American short stories. TESOL Quarterly 29 (4): 663–86. Goodman, K. 1988. The reading process. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 11–21. Kucer, S. B. 1987. â€Å"The cognitive base of reading and writing. † In The dynamics of language learning, ed. J. Squire, 27–51. Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English. Mcdonough, S. H. 1995. Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Omaggio, M. A. 1993. Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. Reutzel, D. R. 1985. â€Å"Reconciling Schema Theory and the Basal Reading Lesson. † The Reading Teacher 39 (2): 194–98. Rigg, P. 1998. â€Å"The Miscue-ESL project. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 206–220. Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994, Theoretical models and processes of reading. 4th ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Samuels, S. J. , and M. L. Kamil. 1988. â€Å"Models of the Reading Process. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey, eds. 1988. 22–36. Smith, F. 1994. Understanding Reading. 5th ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Stanovich, K. E. 1980. â€Å"Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in The Development of Reading Fluency. † Research Reading Quarterly 16 (1): 32-71. Tierney, R. J. , and P. D. Pearson. 1994. â€Å"Learning to learn from text: A Framework for Improving Classroom Practice. † In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994. 496–513.

The Classification Of Outliers Psychology Essay

The Classification Of Outliers Psychology Essay The concern over the outliers is one of the challenge existed for at least several hundred years. Outliers are the observations those are apart from the bulk of data. Edgeworth (1887) wrote that discordant observations those appeared differently from other observations with which they are combined. Almost every data set has the outliers in different percentages. Grubbs (1969) said that an outlier is one that appears to deviate significantly from other values of data. Sometimes outliers may not be noticed but most of the times they can change the entire statistical data analysis. As Peter (1990) explored those observations which do not follow the pattern of the majority of the data are called outliers. At the earlier stage of the data analysis, summary statistics such as the sample mean and variance, outliers can cause totally different conclusion. For example a hypothesis may or may not be rejected due to outliers. In fitting regression line outliers can significantly change the slope. The detection of outliers before analyzing the data analysis is not done then it may lead to model misspecification, biased parameter estimation and incorrect results. It is therefore important to identify the outliers prior to proceed further for analysis and modeling. An observation (or subset of observations) that appears to be inconsistent with the rest of data set is called an outlier (Barnet1995). The exact definition of an outlier depends on the assumption regarding the data structure and the methods which are applied to detect the outliers. Outliers are observations that appear to be unusual with respect to the rest of the data. Classification of Outliers Outliers are classified into one of four classes. First, an outlier may arise from procedural error, such as a data entry error or a mistake in coding. These outliers should be identified in the data cleaning stage, but if overlooked, they should be eliminated or recorded as missing values. Second, an outlier is the observation that occurs as the result of an extraordinary event, which is an explanation for the uniqueness of the observation. In this case the researcher must decide whether the extraordinary event should be represented in the sample. If so, the outlier should be retained in the analysis; if not, it should be deleted. Third, outliers may represent extraordinary observations for which the researcher has no explanation. Although these are the outliers most likely to be omitted, they may be retained if the researcher feels they represent a valid segment of the population. Finally, outliers may be observations that fall within the ordinary range of values on each of the var iables but are unique in their combination of values across the variables. In these situations, the researcher should be very careful in analyzing why these observations are outliers. Only when specific evidence is available that discounts an outlier as a valid member of the population should it is deleted. Outliers may be real or ericaceous. Real outliers are observations whose actual values are very different from those observed for rest of the data and violate plausible relationships among variables. Erroneous outliers are observations those are distorted due to misreporting errors in the data-collection process. Data set either come from homogeneous groups or from heterogeneous groups, have different characteristics regarding a specific variable, outliers occurred by incorrect measurements including data entry errors or by coming from a different population than the rest of the data. If the measurements in correct, it represent a rare event. Outliers are often caused by human error, such as errors in data collection, recording, or entry. Data from an interview can be recorded incorrectly, upon data entry. Outliers may cause from intentional or motivated misreporting. Many times the outliers come when participants purposefully report incorrect data to experimenters or surveyors. A participant may make a conscious effort to sabotage the research or may be acting from other motives. Depending on the details of the research, one of two things can happen: inflation of all estimates, or production of outliers. If all subjects respond the same way, the distribution will shift upward, not generally causing outliers. However, if only a small sub sample of the group responds this way to the experimenter, or if multiple researchers conduct interviews, then outliers can be created. Another cause of outliers is sampling error. It is possible that a few members of a sample were inadvertently drawn from a different population than the rest of the sample. Outliers can be caused from standardization failure like the weak research methodology, unusual phenomena; faulty equipment is another common cause of outliers. By these causes data can be legitimately discarded if the researchers are not interested in studying the particular phenomenon in question. One type of data entry error is implausible or impossible values, for they make no sense when considering the expected range of the data. An out-of-range value is often easy to identify since it will most likely lie well outside the bulk of the data. Another common cause for the occurrence of outliers is the rare event. Extreme observations that for some correct reason are just fine, but do not fit within the typical range of other data values There are many possible sources of outliers. Firstly, purely deterministic reasons those include: reading or measurement error, recording error and execution error. Secondly, some reasons are pointed out by Beckman and cook (1983) they arrange the reasons of outliers into three broad categories. These are global model weaknesses, local model weaknesses and natural variability. When we replace the present model with a new are revised model for the entire sample. Measurement of response variables are in the wrong scale is called Global model weakness. Local model weaknesses are applied only on the outlying observations and not to the model as a whole. And Natural variability is the variation over the population rather than any weakness of the model. These reasons are uncontrollable and reflect the properties of distribution of a correct basic model describing the generation of the data. The outliers occurs due to entry error or a mistake in coding should be identified in the data cleaning stage, but if overlooked, they should be eliminated or recorded as missing values. 1.3 Problematic effects of outliers Outliers of either type may influence on the results of statistical analysis, so they should be identified by using some suitable and reliable detection methods prior to performing data analysis. When potential outlier(s) is encountered, the first suspicion may be that such observations resulted from a mistake or other extraneous effect, and should be discarded. However, if the outlier in real it may be contained some important information about the underlying population of real values. Non judicious removal of observation that appears to be outliers may results in underestimation of the uncertainty present in the data. In the presence of outliers, any statistical test based on sample means and variances can be distorted. There will be Bias or Distortion of estimates and it will give wrong results. The inflated sum of squares makes it unlikely and will partition sources of variation in the data into meaningful components. The decision point of a significance test, p-value, is also distorted. Statistical significance is changed due to presence of a few or even one unusual data value. The strong building of the statistical methods is based on weak legs of assumptions. Incorrect assumptions about the distribution of the data can also lead to the presence of suspected outliers. If the data may have a different structure than the researcher originally assumed, and long or short-term trends may affect the data in unanticipated ways. Depending upon the goal of the research, the extreme values may or may not represent an aspect of the inherent variability of the data. Outliers can represent a nuisance, error, or legitimate data. They can also be inspiration for inquiry. Before discarding outliers, researchers need to consider whether those data contain valuable information that may not necessarily relate to the intended study, but has importance in a more global sense. . The considerable effects of outliers are bias or distortion of Estimates, inflated sum of square and ended analysis of the entire data set at faulty conclusions. The key features of descriptive data analysis like the mean, variance and regression coefficient are highly affected by outliers. 1.4 Aspects of outlier There are two considerable aspects. The first aspect explains that, outliers have a negative effect on data analysis. Outliers generally cause to increase error variance and reduce the power of statistical tests. Outliers violate the assumption of normality. Outliers can seriously influence estimates. The second aspect of outliers in that they are correct, and they may be provides useful information about data set. It the outliers are most information points they should not be automatically discarded without justification. In this case the analyses perform the analysis both with and without these outliers, and examine their specific influence on the results. If this influence is minor, then it may not matter whether or not they are omitted. If their influence is substantial, then it is probably best to present the results of both analysis, and simply alert the researcher to the fact that these points may be questionable. The data set may contain outliers and influential observation. It is thus important for the data analyst to be able to identify such observation; if the data set contains a single outlier or influential observation then identification of such an observation in relatively simple. On the other hand, if the data set contain more than one outlier or influential observations the identification of such observation becomes more difficult. This is due to the marking and swamping effects. Masking occurs when an outlying subset goes undected because of the presence of adjacent subset of outliers. Swamping occurs when good observations are incorrectly identified as outliers because of the presence of other outliers. An outlier is the observation that occurs as the result of an extraordinary event. In this case the researcher must decide about that event. If it represents the sample then that outlier should be retained in the analysis. If that event should not represent the sample it should be deleted. Some time outliers may represent extraordinary observations but the researcher can not explain it. These types of the outlier may be omitted but sometime the may be retained if the researcher feels that they represent a valid segment of the population. Both the detection and the suitable treatment of outliers are therefore important. In the present scenario of modern sciences where the messy data sets are generated, potentially troublesome outlier detection method(s) should be researched and presented at one place The main feathers of such identify criteria is that imperative to correctly identify outliers amongst large masses of data, so that experts can be alerted to the possibility of trouble and investigate the matter in detail. Outliers can provide useful information about the process. An outlier can be created by a shift in the location (mean) or in the scale (variability) of the process. Though an observation in a particular sample might be a candidate as an outlier, the process might be shifted. Numbers of treatments are taken in order to deal with outlier(s) involved studies. Accommodation of outliers uses techniques to mitigate their harmful effects. One of its strength is that accommodation of outliers does not need to precede identification. These techniques can be used with prior information that outlier exist. One very effective way to work with data is to use nonparametric methods which are robust in the presence of outliers. Nonparametric statistical method fit into this type of analyses and should be more widely applied to continuous or interval data than their current use. Often the observed data set do not follow the any of the specified distribution then it is better to transform the data by applying appropriate transformation(s) so that data set could follow the specific distribution. Only as a last resort should outliers be deleted, and then only if they are found to be errors they can not be corrected or lie so far outside the range of the remainder of the data that they distort statistical inferences Our goal in this thesis is firstly to collect the outliers detection methods in univariate and bivariate/ multivariate studies followed the Gaussian and Non-Gaussian distributions and secondly to modify them accordingly. 1.5 Univariate Outliers In unvariate data sets, the study of outlier(s) is relatively simple but demands careful attention. Outliers are those values located distant from the bulk of the data and can often be revealed from simple plot of the data, such as scatter plot, stem-and-leaf plot, QQ-plot, etc. Sometimes univariate outliers are not easy to identify as would appear at first sight. Barnet and Lewis (1994) indicate that an outlying observation, or outlier, is one that appears differently and deviate markedly from other members of the sample, in which it occur. A common rule for outlier identification might be to calculate the sample mean and standard deviation, and classify all those points as outliers which are at 2 or 3 standard deviations away from the mean. It is an unfortunate reality that the presence of two or more outliers could leave some or most of the outliers invisible to this method. If there is one or more distant outlier and one or more not so distant outlier in the same direction, the more distant outlier(s) could significantly shift the mean in that direction, and also increase the standard deviation, to such an extent that the lesser outlier(s) falls less than 2 or 3 standard deviations from the sample mean, and goes undetected. This is called the masking eff ect, and results in this particular method and all related methods being unsuitable for use as outlier identification techniques. It is illustrated with an example, borrowed from Becker and Gather [1999]. Consider a data set of 20 observations taken from an N (0, 1) distribution: -2.21, -1.84, -0.95, -0.91, -0.36, -0.19, -0.11, -0.10, 0.18, 0.30, 0.31, 0.43, 0.51, 0.64, 0.67, 0.72, 1.22, 1.35, 8.1, 17.6, where the latter two observations were originally 0.81 and 1.76, but the decimal points were entered at the wrong place. It seems clear that these 2 observations should be labeled as outliers; let us apply the above method. The mean of this data set is 1.27 while the standard deviation is 4.35. Two standard deviations from the mean, towards the right, would be 9.97, while three standard deviations would be 14.32. Both criteria regard the point, 8.1, as expected with reasonable probability and do not consider it an outlier. Additionally, the three standard deviation boundary for detecting outliers seems rather extreme for an N (0, 1) dataset, surely a point would not have to be as large as 14.32 to be classified as an outlier. The masking effect occurs quite commonly in practice and we conclude that outlier methods based on classical statistics are unsuitable for general use, particularly in situations requiring non-visual techniques such as multivariate data. It is worth noting, however, that if instead of the sample mean and standard deviation, robust estimates of location and scale were used (such as the sample median, and median absolute deviation, MAD), both outliers would be detected without difficulty. 1.6 Multivariate Outliers Multivariate outliers are the challenges that do not occur with univariate data sets. For instance, visual methods simply do not work in case of multivariate case studies. Even plotting the data in bivariate form with a systematic rotation of coordinate pairs will not help. It is possible (and occurs frequently in practice) that points which are outliers in bivariate space, are not outliers in either of the two univariate subsets. Generalization to higher dimensions leads to the fact that a multivariate outlier does not have to be an outlier in any of its univariate or bivariate coordinates, at least not without some kind of transformation A successful method of identifying outliers in all multivariate situations would be ideal, but is unrealistic. By successful, we mean both highly sensitive, the ability to detect genuine outliers, and highly specific, the ability to not mistake regular points for outliers.

Benefits of Women Entrepreneurship

Benefits of Women Entrepreneurship Jump to: Advantages of Female Entrepreneurs | Disadvantages of Female Entrepreneurs | Challenges for Female Entrepreneurs | Schemes to Develop Female Entrepreneurs | Leading Female Entrepreneurs in India | Differences between Male and Female Entrepreneurs Women constitute around half of the total world population. So is in India also. They are therefore regarded as the better half of the society. In traditional societies, they were confined to the four walls of houses performing household activities. In modern societies they have come out of the four walls to participate in all sorts of activities. The global evidences prove  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  that women have been performing exceedingly well in different spheres of activities like academics, politics, administration, social work and so on. Now they have started plunging into industry also and running their enterprises successfully. Therefore while discussing on entrepreneurial development of women entrepreneurs in the country. Al through small businesses owned by women have traditionally focused on fashion , fond and other services sector, but recently women entrepreneurs have been moving rapidly into manufacturing, construction and other industrial filed. Women owned business are lightly increasing in the economics of almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potential of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensivity to the role and economic status in the society. It means women have the potentials, skill, knowledge and adaptability to run a business successfully. Meaning And Definitions Women entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal need and become economically independent. There are economical, social, religious, cultural and other factors existing in the society which responsible for the emergency of the entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneur refers equally to someone who has started a one women business to someone who is a principal in family business or partnership or to someone who is shareholder in a public company which she runs.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  The Government of India has defined  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  a women entrepreneur is an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to women . Advantages Of Female Entrepreneurs Social Networking.   Lets face it-women are natural networkers. They love to talk, mingle, and rub elbows. This is the very reason why husbands rarely ever manage the social calendar. In todays business environment, mastering social media is mandatory, and the ladies absolutely have a leg up! Intuition.   They call it womens intuition for a reason.   Women in general can size up another person much faster than her male counterpart. In todays ultra-fast paced business environment, you need the ability to quickly identify the allies and the enemies. Regardless if you are a male or female, you need to trust your gut. Pain Tolerance.   Okay, initially I would have said this is irrelevant. But after watching my children be born, there is no question that my wife can handle  a lot  more pain than I can. And I am not just talking physical pain, I mean emotional, too (have you seen how tough children can be on their mothers?). In business, there are a lot of painful moments. A lot. Women definitely have an advantage in this area. Multi-tasking.   Women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still being able to produce excellent results. Conversely, the guys are masters at focusing on one thing. Still, the advantage in todays distracting environment goes to women. Patience.   Women inherently seem to have more patience. And in todays business environment, patience is key! Aggressive business strategies are not paying off like they once did. Slow and steady wins the race in this category. Listening.   A friend of mine went to buy a new bed at a small bedding store owned by a husband and wife team. The female owner approaches my friend and asked all kinds of questions about why they needed a new bed, if they could fix their old bed, what else they were considering, etc. She asked questions and listened closely. She clearly showed that she cared about helping to meet their needs. My friend was moments away from buying any bed that she recommended. But just then, the frustrated husband on the sales team ran up and said let me handle this. Then he just tried to hard close the sale. He was pushy, telling them what he recommended and what they had to have. Guess what? The sale was lost the second he began speaking! They walked out. I am sure he blamed her, but it was him. The key is to ask questions and really listen. Quite frankly, any great sales person knows this, man or woman, it just seems that the ladies are naturally better at doing it. Problem/Disadvantages Of Female Entrepreneurs Women Entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems i.e. general problems entrepreneurs and problems specific to women entrepreneurs. These are discussed follows Finance Finance is regarded as life blood for any enterprise be in big or small. However women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts. Firstly women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for obtaining funds from external sources. So that access to the external sources funds is limited. Secondly the banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage women barrowers on belief that they can at any time leave their business.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Scarcity Of Raw Materials Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw materials and necessary inputs. Added to this are high prices of raw materials, on the one hand and getting raw material at the minimum of discount on the other. The failure of many co-operatives in 1971 engaged in based making is example how the scarcity of raw material sounds the death knell of enterprises run by women. Male Dominated Society The constitution of India speaks of equality between sexes. But in practice women are looked upon as abla i.e.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Weak in all respects. In male dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This turn serves as a barrier to women entry into business.   Lack Of Education In India around 60% of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the root cause of socio- economic problem. Due to the lack of education women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge. Also lack of education causes low achievement motivation among women.   Market Oriented Risk A number of women have to face the challenges of market because of stiff competition. Many business women find it difficult to capture the market and compete with their product. They are not fully aware of the changing market conditions. Motivational Factors. Successful businessmen can be self motivated through setting up a mind and taking up risk and accepting social responsibilities on shoulder. The other factors such as family support government policies financial assistance etc. are also important to set up business. Lack of Confidence Women lack confidence in their strength and competence. The family members and the society and reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial growth Training Programs Training programs are essential to new rural and young entrepreneurs who wish to set up a small and medium scale unit. The programs enrich the skill and potential of women entrepreneur. Present Position Of Women Entrepreneurs Out of the total 940-48 million people in India in the 1990s of the female comprise of 465% of the total population. There are 126.48 million women work force (representing 28.9% of the female population) but as per the 1991 census only 185900 women accounting for only 4.5% of total self employed persons  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  in the country were recorded. Majority of them are engaged in the un organized in the unorganized sectors like agriculture, agro based industries, handicrafts, handloom and cottage based industries. As per the 2001census report, there are of women workers of the total working population including formal as well as informal sector. In the era of L.P.G (Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization) the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Indian women entrepreneurs are very fast entering the non -traditional sectors. Which indeed is in response to their greater awareness. Five Business Challenges Women Entrepreneurs Face and How to Overcome them Cultural Value The first entrepreneurial challenge women entrepreneurs face is that of cultural value or tradition. This challenge is more profound on women entrepreneurs in Africa; where the cultural value entails that the man/husband be the bread winner. A woman exhibiting her entrepreneurial prowess is presumed as wanting to take over the leadership role of the husband. This challenge also surfaces in families where the husband/father is an entrepreneur. The male children are usually groomed on  running the family business  and carrying on after the demise of the father while the female children are usually left out of this entrepreneurial grooming process. To overcome this entrepreneurial challenge,  you must be prepared to breakthrough this limiting tradition; you must stick to what you believe in. Societal Discrimination The next challenge women face in business is societal discrimination. Most people still live with the mentality that certain businesses or tasks are better handled by men.  Have you ever come across a female auto mechanic, plumber, mason or welder? What was your first reaction? You must have screamed what the hell is a woman doing with such occupation. Well, I have done it countless times. The truth is that we often assume women are generally incompetent in certain fields of life. People would rather deal with a business man than a woman. Why? The reason is because its believed that the men are born to do it. You might think this challenge is uncommon; wait until you lose a business deal or contract just because you are competing with male counterparts. The only solution to handling the challenge of societal discrimination is to develop a tough skin towards criticism. Stop seeing your feminine gender as a weakness; see it as a strength, and prove yourself by striving to outperform your male competitors. Lack Of Investors Confidence The third challenge women entrepreneurs face when starting a business is the challenge of raising capital. Investors naturally give less consideration to business women and I cant really pinpoint the reason for this. Its easier for business man to raise capital than a woman; except such a woman has proved her competence and credibility over time. Women entrepreneurs generally find it difficult to raise capital or obtain a bank loan because investors and bankers would rather risk their venture capital with male entrepreneurs than females. Now how do you overcome such challenge? The answer is persistence. You must keep asking for what you want;  irrespective of the amount of rejections you get. You must press on while selling yourself on why you should be trusted. Balancing Business And Family The fourth business challenge women entrepreneurs face is that of balancing business and family. Women naturally are the backbone of the family; they lay the building blocks on which the family foundation is built. So often times, women entrepreneurs usually find themselves torn between commitment to the family and business. Now how do you handle such challenge? The answer lies in  time management and delegation. These two keys are  essential to balancing your act and building a successful home alongside a family. Stress Due To Competition And Business Routine The last but not the least challenge women face in business is the stress and stiff competition associated with running a business.  The entrepreneurial process of building a business from scratch entails hard work, commitment and persistence. Business is a game of dog eat dog; to survive, you have to be tough. As a woman in business, you might find yourself going head to head with competition and fulfilling your business tasks; and this might lead to fatigue. When confronted with such challenge,  you have to use the art of delegation and time management to your advantage. Get the tedious business tasks off your neck and concentrate more on the core issues at hand. How to Develop Women Entrepreneurs   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs. Consider women as specific target group for all developmental programmers. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from government part. Adequate training programmed on management skills to be provided to women  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  community. Encourage womens participation in decision-making.   Vocational training to be extended to women community that enables them to understand the production process and production management.   Skill development to be done in womens polytechnics and industrial training institutes. Skills are put to work in training-cum-production workshops.   Training on professional competence and leadership skill to be extended to women entrepreneurs.   Training and counseling on a large scale of existing women entrepreneurs to remove psychological causes like lack of self-confidence and fear of success.   Counseling through the aid of committed NGOs, psychologists, managerial experts and technical personnel should be provided to existing and emerging women entrepreneurs.   Continuous monitoring and improvement of training programmers.   Activities in which women are trained should focus on their marketability and profitability. Making provision of marketing and sales assistance from government part.   To encourage more passive women entrepreneurs the Women training programmed should be organized that taught to recognize her own psychological needs and express them. Leading Business Women In India Chanda Kapoor Executive Director ICICI Bank. Ekta  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Kapoor Creative Director Balaji Telefilms Jyoti Naik President Lijjat Papad Lalita .D. Gupte Jt.Managing  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Director (MD) ICICI Bank. Preeta Reddy Managing Director   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  (MD) Apollo Hospital Rashree Pathy Chairman Rashree Sugar and Chemicals Ltd. Ravina Raj Kohli Media Personality and Ex- President Star News Renuka Ramanath   CEO ICICI Ventures Tarajani Vakil Former Chairman and MD EXIM Bank. Ritu Nanda CEO Escolife Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs 1. Seed Capital Scheme 2. National Equity Fund 3. Prime Ministers Employment Guarantee Scheme 4. Single Window Scheme. 5. Bank Schemes for Women Entrepreneur 6. Mahila Artik Vikas Mahamandal What Makes Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men? Over the past few years, there has been a surge in business startups by female entrepreneurs. Today Im going to discuss how the way women run things may be a bit different from how men play the game. Strong Focus On Values Its not that men dont put values in the front lines of their company, but most women entrepreneurs make it the number one priority over everything else. According to Margaret Heffernan, who recently wrote How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business, women think about what their business will stand for before they start planning anything else. Will Ask For Help Many men (not all) have difficulty asking for help when it comes to something like their very own business. Pride can sometimes get in the way. But most women dont have a problem admitting that theyre not sure how to accomplish a certain task or what needs to be done next in the building-a-business game. This can sometimes provide an advantage in a well-spring of knowledge from sources that help ground their business more quickly. Focused On The Working Environment According to Heffernan, male entrepreneurs see their businesses as a machine, while female entrepreneurs see it as a living organism. I can see where shes coming from. Men may be more likely to take the position that bad parts (employees) can easily be replaced with new and better functioning ones. Many male entrepreneurs may overlook the fact that the parts are going bad because the machine as a whole is not in great condition. Some may take the position that a new employee here or there will help to make the business function better, rather than examining the whole business under a microscope to see if there may be underlying problems. Women entrepreneurs tend to be on the other end of the spectrum with the perspective that, if the environment their employees are in isnt working, then the entire ecosystem of the business, if you will, could collapse. Basically, women entrepreneurs focus more on making sure the work environment is comfortable to obtain the best performance from their employees, rather than expecting the best from their employees despite the work environment. Strength Of The Business Women entrepreneurs tend to focus on building a business so strong that it could function completely and successfully without them. Men build strong businesses, but often want to make sure they are always part of the central element that keeps things going. According to Heffernan, women entrepreneurs are more like the conductor of the symphony the person who doesnt make the noise, but pulls it all together.