Examination Paper Essay Example for Free

Examination Paper Essay 1. Discuss potential cross-ethnic, cross-cultural, and cross-class factors that may affect interview validity. How would you handle such an interview? Validity, as applied to cross-ethnic, cross-cultural, and cross-class interview, is a judgment of how well the interview measures what it purports to measure in a particular context. More specifically, it is a judgment based on evidence about the appropriateness of inferences drawn from the interview. Interviews are a very powerful tool. Hence it should be handled correctly to allow full exploration of the subject at hand, including follow-up questions (which take practice and skill to develop). I should do the following: 1. I should â€Å"stick with the program† and address only the intended topic, but sometimes, however, an interview subject will bring up a relevant idea that the researcher had not considered or had discounted. So I should have the ability to pursue this line of reasoning with the subject while maintaining academic rigor is an important skill to have. 2. I will look for patterns of responses that repeat themselves over many different respondents. I should use the mirror questions use an earlier response as a way to generate a follow-up question. Let’s say my interviewee commented, â€Å"I like my job a lot most of the time, but sometimes it’s really a struggle.†So my mirror question back to the respondent would be, â€Å"You said that you like your job most of the time, but sometimes it’s really a struggle. What it is that sometimes happens that makes your job a struggle for you?† This technique accomplishes two very important goals: It lets the subject   know that you are actually paying attention, which will perhaps encourage further interaction with you, and it allows you to delve deeper into the subject’s feelings. Most people aren’t grammarians, but they do tend to use words carefully. 3. Also I should be alert for a difference in the articulateness of the subject. If one participant answers a question much more smoothly than other participants, it could mean that that person has been asked the question several times before, or it could mean that the person has given a lot of thought to the topic. It might help to ask a follow-up question to that effect. It’s recommended that you ask the â€Å"You’ve given this a lot of thought!† question, because it gives the participant credit and makes him or her feel empowered. These hypothetical questions give the opportunity to ask interviewees about how they would react to or feel about an event that could happen. It could be as simple as the following: After you discover that a worker has taken advantage of on-site child care, you ask other employees about possible consequences for them if that service were to no longer be provided free of charge or at all. 4. Finally, I will use summary questions to signal a transition to a new topic area or the end of the interview. They are usually very simple, such as â€Å"Do you feel there’s anything else we should discuss about (the topic) before we move on?† This lets interviewees know that you realize you’re not perfect, that they might know something you don’t, and that you welcome their bringing it to your attention. 2. Given what you read in Chapter 8 in our textbook, design a training program for law enforcement officers teaching interrogation techniques that reduce the errors associated with interviewing. Interrogations are considered to be one of the most important phases of the investigation process. Once a confession statement is obtained during an interrogation it is not easily retracted. In most cases criminal investigators are not trained to believe that false confessions occur and can be easily obtained from suspects but can be prevented given a training program on teaching interrogation techniques that reduce the errors associated with interviewing. Hence, I will design a novel training program with which a highly intense psychological interrogation techniques on the elicitation of true and false confession. First, the interview should begin with confronting the suspect`s guilt by telling the suspect that there is no doubt that he or she is involved in the crime. Next, the enforcement officers should developed â€Å"themes† that would justify the criminal act- a way to rationalize for the crime. An example is the interrogator should suggest to the suspect that the victim was responsible for the crime because of his or her behavior. The third step teaches the interrogator to try and interrupt all efforts at denial during the interview. The fourth step of the program advices that the officer should overcome the suspect`s factual, moral, and emotional objections to the charges. At the next step, the interrogator should ensure that the passive suspect does not withdraw. Once the officer detects any indication that the suspect is starting to withdraw, they should immediately act upon it. During this stage on the interview, the investigator should show sympathy and understanding toward the suspect and advises him/her to tell the truth. Next, it is to recommend that the interrogator offer the suspect an alternative explanation for the criminal act. Research question could be â€Å"Did you blow the money on booze, drugs, and women and party with it, or did you need it to help out your family? In step 8 of the program, I suggest that the officer should attempt to get the suspect to describe the details of the crime. If the oral confession from step 8 is successfully obtained during the interrogation, then the step 9 serves to convert the statement just given into a full confession statement. 3. Discuss the 3-level hierarchical model of the modern Binet and compare it to Spearman’s concept of general mental ability. The 3-level hierarchical model of the modern Binet represents a basic theoretical and empirical model of cognitive abilities pursued the dual goal of retaining as many item types as possible from the earlier editions while incorporating current ability constructs. The modern Binet determined the four areas of cognitive ability: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, and short-term memory. The modern Binet also provide a global index of functioning that would represent what is commonly known as ‘g’ or general reasoning ability. These separate areas are the united in a 3-level hierarchical model of intelligence which provided their theoretical model of human intelligence. While Binet assumes that a unitary or pervasive factor (i.e., judgment or adaptation) was the common denominator of human intelligence, Spearman viewed it as a hypothesis yet to be tested. He found that the arrangement of general human abilities could be expressed by a definite mathematical equation (i.e., tetrad) and comparing it to Binet, he has the famous two-factor theory of intelligence. The â€Å"general factor† and denoted by the letter g. The second is known as the â€Å"specific factor† and is denoted by the letter s. Spearman`s main conclusion relating to the presence of g have proved to be sound and its presence in the theoretical model hypothesized for the modern Binet can be tentatively accepted. Further, Spearman recognized that problem solving speed and intelligence were correlated. He did, however, disagree with Binet and Simon`s theoretical position that their tests worked because they measured individually patterned intelligences. For Spearman, a general factor along with specific factors of different magnitudes explained intelligent behavior. 4. Choose one of the WAIS-III subtests and describe possible non-intellective factors that may influence an individual’s performance. The WAIS-III consists of 14 subtests. The WAIS elicits three intelligence   quotient scores, based on an average of 100, as well as subtest and index scores. WAIS subtests measure specific verbal abilities and specific performance abilities. The WAIS elicits an overall intelligence quotient, called the full-scale IQ, as well as a verbal IQ and a performance IQ. The three IQ scores are standardized in such a way that the scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Wechsler pioneered the use of deviation IQ scores, allowing test takers to be compared to others of different as well as the same age. WAIS scores are sometimes converted into percentile ranks. The verbal and performance IQ scores are based on scores on the 14 subtests. The 14 subtest scores have a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of three. The WAIS also elicits four indices, each based on a different set of subtests: verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed. Tasks on the WAIS include questions of general knowledge, traditional   arithmetic problems, a test of vocabulary, completion of pictures with missing elements, arrangements of blocks and pictures, and assembly of objects. picture completion, picture arrangement, block design, object assembly, digit symbol, matrix reasoning, and symbol search. Matrix reasoning and symbol search are new subtests and were added to the most recent edition of the WAIS (WAIS-III). I would like to discuss the picture completion subtest. Here, the test taker is required to complete pictures with missing elements. The picture arrangement subtest entails arranging pictures in order to tell a story. The block design subtest requires test takers to use blocks to make specific designs. The object assembly subtest requires people to assemble pieces in such a way that a whole object is built. In the digit symbol subtest, digits and symbols are presented as pairs and test takers then must pair additional digits and symbols. 6. Discuss the implications of testing infants. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such procedures? In infancy (the period from birth through 18 months), testing consists primarily of measurement of sensorimotor development. This includes, for example, the measurement of nonverbal, motor responses such as turning over, lifting the head, sitting up, following a moving object with the eyes, imitating gestures, and reaching for a group of objects. Hence, the examiner who attempts to assess the intellectual and related abilities of infants must be skillful in establishing and maintaining rapport with examinees who do not yet know the meaning of words like cooperation and patience. Typically, measures of infant intelligence rely to a great degree on information obtained from a structured interview with the examinee’s parents, guardians, or other caretakers. Infant testing, combined with other information (such as birth history, emotional and social history, health history, data on the quality of the physical and emotional environment, and measures of adaptive behavior) have proved useful to health professionals when suspicions about developmental disability and related deficits have been raised. The tests have also proved useful in helping to define the abilities, as well as the extent of disability, in older, psychotic children. Furthermore, the tests have been in use for a number of years by many adoption agencies that will disclose and interpret such information to prospective adoptive parents. Infant tests also have wide application in the area of research and can play a part in selecting infants for specialized early educational experiences or in measuring the outcome of educational, therapeutic, or prenatal care interventions. What is the meaning of a score on an infant intelligence test? Whereas some of the developers of infant tests (such as Cattell, 1940; Gesell et al., 1940) claimed that such tests can predict future intellectual ability because they measure the developmental precursors to such ability, others have insisted that performance on such tests at best reflects the infant’s physical and neuropsychological intactness. The research literature supports a middle ground between these extreme positions. In general, the tests have not been found to predict performance on child or adult intelligence tests—tests that tap vastly different types of abilities and thought processes. The predictive ability of infant intelligence tests does tend to increase with the extremes of the infant’s performance. The test interpreter can say with authority more about the future performance of an infant whose performance was either profoundly below age expectancy or significantly precocious. References Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications and Issues (7th ed.) by Robert M. Kaplan and Dennis P. Saccuzzo. Published by Thomson Wadsworth.

The Old Man and the Sea Essay -- essays research papers

In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway describes an old fisherman and the unfortunate trials he faces as his "luck" runs out. Through the novel, the fisherman, Santiago, replicates Hemingway's ideal man, a noble hero. Hemingway had a Code of Behavior that he himself followed. He had morals that were strict and an appreciation for instinct and human nature. He had a specific way of living life and an understanding of time. He believed in taking risks and acting upon instinct. He believed that a person who followed his Code of Behavior was a noble hero. In Hemingway's Code of Behavior, a noble hero is a master craftsman. This means that he is not dependent on other people or on technology. It also means that he is a master at his art and he keeps practicing it in order to better himself. The second characteristic of a noble hero is that he struggles in order to remain undefeated. This means that he does anything possible to reach his goal. He struggles and suffers in order to perfect his art and therefore, himself, "No matter what kind of suffering and trial he has to go Kapadia 2 through he has to fulfill his destiny†¦"(Harada 270). The third characteristic of Hemingway's noble hero is that he accepts defeat. Once he is defeated, once he can better himself no more, he should stop trying because, "He lives in time. And the goal of time is death and destruction"(Harada 276). He should accept that he is no longer useful and that he has been defeated. These three characteristics define Hemingway's ideal man. In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago exemplifies Hemingway's Code of Behavior for a noble hero. In the novel, Santiago is a master craftsman. He is only dependent on himself. While the other fishermen use motor boats, Santiago uses his skiff. While the other men have many workers and helpers who hold several lines, Santiago has three lines all operated by his own hand. He is an expert, "†¦the old man goes much farther out than the other fishermen and casts bait in much deeper water"(Gurko 66). Because he knows the waters and the movements of the fish, he has a better chance of catching the fish. Although he is taking a greater risk by going out deeper, he has a better chance of catching the bigger fish. Another thing that makes Santiago a master craftsman is his experience. He has bee... ... craft to the task Kapadia 5 of playing the fish well"(Rovit 86). He knows tricks and occupies himself with bettering his ability to fish. He struggles and suffers in order to stay undefeated. He beats all odds and fights all battles with the thought that he can and will win. And so he does. He goes far out and acts on what he thinks is right. He does not fear his actions nor does he regret them. He fights every battle as if it is his last and therefore comes out on top. Third, he accepts defeat. This is the most honorable characteristic. No matter how hard he has fought, once it is over, he does not look back wishing he could have acted differently. He accepts his mistakes and recognizes that, "He has overstepped the boundary of man's finite and limited nature"(Harada 275). He went out too far and this is what he gets. In these ways he is much like Hemingway, a noble hero. His actions and the consequences of them are easily notable and should not be look down upon. In the long run, Santiago answered his calling, fought his battles, and when he was finally defeated by his own pride, he recognized it and accepted it. This makes Santiago a noble hero.

Jose Rizal’s Retraction Controversy Essay

The debate still continues if Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero, really retracted? This has been the greatest controversy which is most talked about Rizal. He is recognized for the novels he had written during the Spanish period. Because of these courageous acts of rebellion against the said colonizers, he became our National Hero. But what if our national hero, at the last moments of his life retracted everything he had ever said and written? In 1935, a letter was found by Father Manuel Garcia. The said letter contains that Jose Rizal declared himself as a Catholic and that he retracts everything he had said, written, published and did against the Catholic Church. Opinions regarding this issue would not be the same because some may agree and some may not. There so many questions speculating his retraction if in the first place, all of this is what he really fought for. From Fr. Balaguer’s version, Rizal, on the 29th day of December 1896, wrote and signed the retraction papers in front of him and with the other Jesuit priest present at the death cell. Rizal asked for a confession twice and for a rosary from the priest between the two confessions. In Balaguer’s memorandum-record, Rizal asked for a mass and a request for Holy Communion, this was readily approved by the Jesuits and assigned Fr. Villaclara as the officiating priest of the mass inside the cell. He also mentioned that Rizal asked for the image of the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus which he carved when he was just 14. Balaguer described the scene as heart-warming because Rizal kissed the image that he had requested from the Jesuits. While kneeling and surrounded by the religious authorities in the death cell, Rizal read the retraction document. Balaguer also claimed that there was a servant-messenger for Josephine Bracken to prepare for the marriage at the San Ignacio Church where Fr. Simo will conduct the confession and other things needed for the ceremonies, which will be materialized on the morning of the 30th. Lastly, before the execution and in the presence of the Archbishop and the Jesuit superior Reverend Fr. Pio Pi, Rizal kissed the image of the cross presented to him and has a rosary entwined in his hand. But how did Father Balaguer convinced Rizal to be converted into Cathloic before his execution? This is one of the big unanswered questions of today. In addition to this, Rizal wrote a poem entitled â€Å"My Last Farewell† which was written on the eve of his execution, there was a line there saying,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’ll go where there are no slaves, tyrants or hangmen where faith does not kill and where God alone does reign (Rizal, 1896).† With this, he mentioned God in this poem. Before he was executed, he wrote an undated letter to his family when he was in Fort Santiago: â€Å"Bury me in the ground, place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my brith and of my death. Nothing more. If you later wish to surround my grave with a fence, you may do so. No anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok.â€Å" Now, what do he mean by this? He wanted a cross over it. He died as a Catholic and was buried inside the sacred grounds of Paco Cemetery. Unfortunately, his instructions were not granted. It was also argued that Rizal retracted in order to save his family from further persecution, to give Josephine Bracken a legal status as his wife and to assure reforms from the Spanish government. Speaking of Josephine as his wife, there was an article from Jose Rizal University that one day of early March 1896; Rizal played a practical joke on Josephine, which frightened her terribly. As a result, she prematurely gave birth to an eight-month baby boy. The baby was very weak and can hardly breathe. With this, Rizal immediately baptized him Francisco in honor of his father. He tried to save the life of his son but all his knowledge and skill as a physician could not save little Francisco. Sorrowfully, Rizal saw his child die three hours after birth then he drew a sketch of his dead son and he buried him under a shady tree near his home. He prayed†: â€Å"Oh, God, I give you another tiny angel. Please bless his soul.† Again, this is one proof that even before the exile in Dapitan, he practiced being a Catholic. On the other hand, the copy of the retraction paper that was allegedly signed by Rizal that was even kept secret and was only published in newspapers. It was said that the paper was lost when Rizal’s family requested for the original copy. Are the Jesuits too irresponsible for not knowing the importance of the document? Or was it just hidden? But 39 years later, the original copy was found in the archdiocesan archives. Ricardo Pascual Ph. D, who was given permission by the Archbishop Nozaleda to test the document and later concluded in his book, â€Å"Rizal beyond the Grave† that the papers shown was a falsification. The common contradiction of this argument was either Father Balaguer or Father Pi had made errors in reproducing another copy of the original. The manuscript was also allegedly  misplaced from 1922 – 1935. Trinidad challenged the Jesuits to show to her the manuscripts so that she could validate that it was Rizal’s handwriting and signature. With this, finding out that there were several copies of it, some may imitate Rizal’s handwriting and signature. Another proof that Rizal did not retract is that when Father Balaguer claimed that Jose and Josephine, however, there were no marriage certificate or public record shown that could prove Father Balaguer’s accounts. In addition, he performed the ceremony between 6:00 – 6:15 AM of December 30, 1896 with the presence of one of the Rizal’s sisters but Rizal family denied that none of them were there and Dr. Jose Rizal was martyred at 7:03 AM. Also, nobody had reported that Bracken was in the area of Fort Santiago in the morning of the execution. Consider also the three priests (Fr. Jose Villaclara, Fr. Estanislao March, and Fr. Vicente Balaguer) to negotiate the expanse of the walk to give spiritual care to the condemned Dr. Jose Rizal, why is it that, only Fr. Balaguer stated that there was a wedding? Furthermore, where were Fr. Villaclara and Fr. March to verify the manifestation of a marriage ceremony? Or was there really even one at all? Showing the two sides, where do you stand? Do you believe that Rizal really abjured or not? It’s up to you but this controversy should not eradicate Rizal’s works for our country. He awakened our knowledge of nationalism and patriotism. Jose Rizal’s writings helped in motivating the Filipinos to fight for our freedom against the Spanish colonizers and inspired a lot of Filipino revolutionaries to stand up for a cost. In my opinion, I still believe that his contributions to our country are far greater than the issue brought by this letter. I stick to his advocacy that war is not the solution for independence. If you’re going to ask me if he really retract, I would say yes, because he really wanted to have peace and to stop the chaos during that time, he abjured everything due to the pressure to his family and became a Catholic. I stated earlier that he has some requests to his family for his burial that there should be a cross over his grave, with this, he died as a Catholic and his family, on the 11th day after his death, was informed that early of the next day, a mass was to be celebrated for the eternal rest of his soul. Adding to this, he experienced hardships in writing his third novel entitled â€Å"Makamisa† because he is not fluent in  Filipino language. How could he state: â€Å"A man who doesn’t love his native language, is worse than all animals and a smelly fish.†, if he, himself, can’t apply it. And let’s understand that he retracted for the sake of his family’s persecution and wanted a reform for our country against the Spanish government. I’m sure all of us really love our family and will do such extraordinary things just to save them and would love to have peace on earth. But all this and more will retract nothing from his greatness as a Filipino.

Planning for Security Essay

Introduction Security is the degree of protection that is usually against danger, damage and loss. Security is a form of protection and has structures that implement the same. According to ISECOM, security is a form of protection whereby a separation is created between the assets and the threat. It includes elimination of the asset from the threat or elimination of the threat from the asset in question. Planning is the procedural way of organizing events. It involves laying down all the requirements for a particular event and then establishing the procedure at which they are to be executed. Security planning is therefore the ac t of having all measures of security and then laying down the systematic way of handling them. Security is necessary in every environment in order to realize the well-being of the society. Different institutions are face with different threats and each will be successful only if proper security measures are put in place. In the field of information technology, the threats received there are different from the threats that are received in homes. The information technology field or computers for instance, are exposed to threats like attack by viruses, theft, loss of information, crushing of hard discs and unpredictable system failure. Necessary steps are to be taken in order to ensure that the problems are avoided at all costs and in case they occur, there are devised ways of handling them. In our study, we are going to have a look at security planning and the way two different books handle the issue of security planning.   A comparison is to be done on the two books and we are going to establish whether which book is better than the other. The two books to be handled in our case are planning for Security: Principles of Information Security by Steven Covey and Mark Egan (CIO at VMware). The two books at a glance Planning for Security: Principles of Information Security by Steven Covey The text, planning for security offers a systematic approach on the concept of information security. It does so by defining the role of management in developing, maintaining and the enforcement of information security policy. The procedure involved here includes creation of information security program or the review of an organization’s information security policies, standards and practices. The second procedure is the selection of information security architecture and then the development of the policy. In summary the text handles all aspects of information security detail by detail procedurally until everything is unearthed. Mark Egan (CIO at VMware) This text is based majorly on the analysis of the risks involved. The analysis are done and represented graphically. This text offers a better understanding of the process of information security planning as everything is done quantitatively. Similarities The two books address the security as being an important aspect to be taken into consideration. They address risk as being affected by probability, vulnerability and threat. They further go ahead to show that risk is the major cause of insecurity in the information technology field and therefore has to be handled with care in case the ultimate security is to be achieved. Both books look into detail the use of conceptual framework to analyze threats and measures to be taken in order to improve the security. Mark Egan (CIO at VMware) addresses risk using a diagrammatic representation which has graphs and charts. Planning for Security: Principles of Information Security by Steven Covey on the other hand uses textual representation which is procedural and easy to understand. The two books have a similar approach towards assessing information security and how planning can be done in order to ensure that there is proper security to the information systems in question. Their approach is based on probability of occurrence and they devise ways of dealing with them. Both of them consider risk to be uncertain and can occur at any time and therefore security has to be tightened at all times so that incase anything happens, no major damages are caused. The two books lay a major weight on discussing the risk of information systems and the vulnerabilities of each information system. In this case, a detailed account is given on how to avoid the occurrence of a risk. It is stated categorically that Information security, management and users, and information technology all must work together in order to achieve better results at the end of the study. The security of all the information systems in place depend on the cooperation of all the stakeholders involved. Differences Planning for Security: Principles of Information Security by Steven Covey has a systematic approach by introducing and defining different aspects of information security. Mark Egan’s text on the other hand, is based majorly on the analysis of security. Most of the analysis involved here are done quantitatively. It easy to understand Steven’s way of presenting information due to its systematic and easy to understand approach. Mark Egan’s text on the other hand is not very easy to understand or interpret the information. It is therefore only suitable for professionals who can interpret all the information represented. Work cited List Planning for Security: Principles of Information Security by Steven Covey Mark Egan (CIO at VMware)