Definitions of Indexes and Scales in Research

Indexes and scales are important and useful tools in social science research. They have both similarities and differences among them. An index is a way of compiling one score from a variety of questions or statements that represents a belief, feeling, or attitude. Scales, on the other hand, measure levels of intensity at the variable level, like how much a person agrees or disagrees with a particular statement. If you are conducting a social science research project, chances are good that you will encounter indexes and scales. If you are creating your own survey or using secondary data from another researcher’s survey, indexes and scales are almost guaranteed to be included in the data. Indexes in Research Indexes are very useful in quantitative social science research because they provide a researcher a way to create a  composite measure  that summarizes responses for multiple rank-ordered related questions or statements. In doing so, this composite measure gives the researcher data about a research participants view on a certain belief, attitude, or experience. For example, let’s say a researcher is  interested in measuring job satisfaction and one of the key variables is job-related depression. This might be difficult to measure with simply one question. Instead, the researcher can create several different questions that deal with job-related depression and create an index of the included variables. To do this, one could use four questions to measure job-related depression, each with the response choices of yes or no: When I think about myself and my job, I feel downhearted and blue.When I’m at work, I often get tired for no reason.When I’m at work, I often find myself restless and can’t keep still.When at work, I am more irritable than usual. To create an  index of job-related depression, the researcher would simply add up the number of yes responses for the four questions above. For example, if a respondent answered yes to three of the four questions, his or her index score would be three, meaning that job-related depression is high. If a respondent answered no to all four questions, his or her job-related depression score would be 0, indicating that he or she is not depressed in relation to work. Scales in Research A scale is a type of composite measure that is composed of several items that have a logical or empirical structure among them. In other words, scales take advantage of differences in intensity among the indicators of a variable. The most commonly used scale is the Likert scale, which contains response categories such as strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Other scales used in social science research include the Thurstone scale, Guttman scale, Bogardus social distance scale, and the semantic differential scale. For example, a researcher interested in measuring prejudice against women could use a Likert scale to do so. The researcher would first create a series of statements reflecting prejudiced ideas, each with the response categories of strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. One of the items might be women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, while another might be women can’t drive as well as men. We would then assign each of the response categories a score of 0 to 4 (0 for strongly disagree, 1 for disagree, 2 for neither agree or disagree, etc.). The scores for each of the statements would then be added for each respondent to create an overall score of prejudice. If a respondent answered strongly agree to five statements expressing prejudiced ideas, his or her overall prejudice score would be 20, indicating a very high degree of prejudice against women. Compare and Contrast Scales and indexes have several similarities. First, they are both ordinal measures of variables. That is, they both rank-order the units of analysis in terms of specific variables. For example, a person’s score on either a scale or index of religiosity gives an indication of his or her religiosity relative to other people. Both scales and indexes are composite measures of variables, meaning that the measurements are based on more than one data item. For instance, a person’s IQ score is determined by his or her responses to many test questions, not simply one question. Even though scales and indexes are similar in many ways, they also have several differences. First, they are constructed differently. An index is constructed simply by accumulating the scores assigned to individual items. For example, we might measure religiosity by adding up the number of religious events the respondent engages in during an average  month. A scale, on the other hand, is constructed by assigning scores to patterns of responses with the idea that some items suggest a weak degree of the variable while other items reflect stronger degrees of the variable. For example, if we are constructing a scale of political activism, we might score running for office higher than simply voting in the last election. Contributing money to a political campaign and working on a political campaign would likely score in between. We would then add up the scores for each individual based on how many items they participated in and then assign them an overall score for the scale. Updated by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

Ronald Reagan - Psychological Eval - 1080 Words

He has been called the most significant President of the 20th century. Ronald Reagan’s devotion to the American people and his unwavering commitment to managing both domestic and foreign affairs with sincerity, composure and efficiency provided a beacon of hope in an era that was marked by economic turmoil on the homefront and an impending threat of nuclear war. An analysis of Reagan’s life history, from a psychological standpoint, seeks to reveal the significant factors and influential events that may shed light on how he acquired the distinctive characteristics and how the interplay of how these factors subsequently shaped the extraordinary person he became. It is necessary to consider the influence of heredity, certain†¦show more content†¦The Reagan family moved many times as a result of Jack’s inability to maintain work. This made it difficult for Ronald to build friendships which inevitably took a toll on his social skills as a boy and his ability to have meaningful relationships as an adult. As a child, Ronald Reagan was an introverted child with low self esteem (Gilbert, 2007). This is highly characteristic of children with alcoholic parents. Many individuals in Reagan’s close knit inner circle observed his reluctance, even inability, to sustain intimate and meaningful relationships with very many individuals. This is consistent to what research suggests about children who grow up in families in which at least one of the parents is an alcoholic. According to an article in the International Journal of Social Sciences and General Studies, â€Å"since the family is the context in which children usuall y learn to express their feelings, to love and express affection and to trust and share intimate aspects of their lives; it is understandable that many adult children of alcoholics have significant problems with psychosocial adjustment. They show extreme difficulty in sharing themselves in intimate ways with other people† (2010). It seems unlikely that Ronald Reagan, or any child who endures such unfortunate experiences, would ultimately be an actor or the president of the United States! However, the attention that Reagan sought was passive attention. He did not necessarily have to interact with

The Ethics Of Engineering A More Socially - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss aboutThe Ethics Of Engineering A More Socially. Answer: Introduction The failure in engineering ethics can result in industrial accidents, which is hazardous for the human lives. The engineering ethics is a discipline which can apply the moral principles to the practice of engineering. The codes of engineering are applicable to the moral principles and the obligations to the society. The engineers have a commitment for the ethical and professional conduct towards the society. The engineers should have a responsibility of making decisions, which can provide safety, health and the welfare of the public (Burges, 2017). It is also the responsibility of the engineers to safeguard the interest of the public and make them aware of any potential hazard or accident. In this regard, the present report will shed light on the engineering ethics and its role in prevention of accident hazards. Responsibility of Ethics The engineering ethics identifies the engineering professionals should be committed towards the society and they should focus on welfare and progress of the society. The motivation for the engineering profession is to transform the mankind, increase the awareness towards the interest of the society. The engineers should forbid any action, which is hazardous to the environment, life or other rights of the human beings. It is the responsibility of the human beings to maintain the prestige of the profession and maintain a professional demeanor regarding the ability, honesty, and the social good (Han, 2015). The engineer and the employer must focus on improving his knowledge regarding the profession, disseminate his knowledge, share his experience and return the benefits and opportunities to his employer. The engineer should conduct his responsibilities dutifully and provide recognition and material support. Engineering Accidents An accident can be defined as an unwanted and unplanned event. There are several factors, which results in the industrial accidents such as losses, and bodily injury to the people. However, despite efforts from the government and other bodies, these kinds of accidents occur. The accidents in the man-made constructions are caused by the human errors. They usually occur in unsafe environment. All the major causes of industrial accidents can be categorized under unsafe conditions and unsafe acts (Andrews, 2009). The unsafe conditions encompass the conditions such as insufficient workplace lighting, excessive noise, extreme temperature and inadequate protection. The unsafe acts encompass the unsafe acts which results due to employee negligence. Prevention of the industrial accidents The industrial accidents refer to any accident, which occurs in the industrial site during the industrial operations. The primary causes of the industrial accidents are the negligence of the workers, employee fatigue, faulty machinery and improper supervision. The industrial accidents can be controlled by safety training, enforcement of the safety regulations and controlling the production design of the products (Lynch Kline, 2000). The industrial prevention approaches revolve around the safety principles and policies of the organization. The industrial accidents prevention procedures are associated with the safety of the industrial site. If the contractors or subcontractors are not able to enforce the industrial rules, their negligence can result in severe workplace accidents (Ghani, Kamruzaman, Sulaima Othman, 2014). It is challenging for the engineers to prevent the industrial hazards. The terms engineering and the risk goes hand in hand as several risks persist in the construction of the structures, products, processes and the use of materials. The innovation and the invention of new products introduce an additional element of risk as there is lack of information about the operational performance of the new products. The engineers can prevent this risk to a significant extent. In order to ensure an appropriate safety level in the organization, the engineers can adopt several preventive steps. The foremost measure in controlling the industrial accidents is anticipating or predicting all the failure modes which can result in an accident (Harris Jr Pritchard, Rabins, James, Englehardt, 2013). The engineer should consider all the operational experiences evaluating all the causes such as the human or the design errors and considering them in the new product development. The engineers are bound by the laws and the professional ethics to consider the risk in their professional ethics. The engineers should be informed about the risks in the design, follow the risk policies in an organization. It can be critiqued that there is no safe technology regarding the risks and they cannot be completely eliminated. There are chances that different accidents occur; however, they should be covered in an appropriate manner. There should be legal actions which can control the product failures or the flaws in the engineering design. Ethical and Professional Code of Conduct It can be stated that safety is given a prominent place in all the engineering professional codes. It is an important responsibility of the engineers to uphold the safety, health and welfare in the public places. The entire national and the local bodies for the engineering conduct states that the engineers should give the safety, health and welfare of the engineers paramount importance. Most of the engineers should design the engineering structures within the accepted standards of engineering (Schmidt, 2014). In the above case study, there were some issues in the training and development and the security of the organization. If I would have been the engineer, I would have makes additional efforts for training and development of the employees. The engineers should ensure that they design safe, which relate to the public health and welfare. These bodies also instruct the engineers that if their professional judgement states the engineers should not indulge in the circumstances wherein the safety, health, property and the welfare of the public is endangered. Fundamental Principles of Engineering Ethics There are some fundamental principles of engineering ethics, which emphasize on the integrity, honor, and dignity of the engineering profession. It is important that the engineers use their knowledge and skills to enhance the human welfare. The engineers should use the honesty and impartiality while establishing the relations between the employer and the clients (Borenstein, Arkin, 2016). The engineers should strive to enhance the competence and prestige of the engineering profession. Case Study of Engineering Ethics Although the engineering ethics are given the paramount importance in the engineering ethics, there are several incidents in which due to the negligence of the engineers, financial loss and human lives loss. In 2001, the largest oil production sank due to a series of explosions. There were several causes, which lead to the failure such as mixture of a water, which leaked into an emergency drain tank. It was a result of several underlying issues such as compromise in quality as part of cost-cutting, poor design, component failure and the lack of training and communication among the employees. There was a significant role of the failure of the engineering practices in the engineering hazard. The air pressure was very high, which occurred in the inner emergency tank of the organization. The oil workers lacked training to handle the emergency and other issues. The operator does not make the employee familiar with the handling practices, which created challenges in handling the situation. It can be critically analyzed that although efficiency and evaluation of performance has been conducted in the organization. However, it cannot always guarantee the safety and security of the organization and safe operations. Technically, there should a more thorough analysis of the failure modes and identified modifications should be immediately applied to the organization (Kline, 2001). The operating personnel should be trained and they should understand the component, equipment, and they should affect the operations of the industry. In the present case, the engineers should be responsible for maintaining the environment clean with the invention of the new technology. There should be minimal possibilities for the environmental damage and they should find a solution to a social problem with the modern technology. In engineering practices, several situations are encountered, which results in ethical dilemma and confronting situations. Therefore, the ethics in the study of moral issues, which can maintain the operations of the organization engaged in engineering (Ghani, Kamruzaman, Sulaim, Othman 2014). There were several challenges in identifying the relevant information. There is limited information availability on the internet. Moreover, there were issues in the authenticity of the information; therefore, the information is collected from the authentic sources such as journal articles or books. Other than that, there are several other instances such as issues in testing, hazardous waste, government engineers and public safety. The conflicting interest can occur due to several issues such as issues related to engineers and the company owners. Conclusion and Recommendations It can be concluded that the engineering ethics are very important in the maintaining the safety and security of the employees. There are several reasons, which lead to issues in the workplace accidents. The major causes of the workplace hazards are unsafe environment and the unsafe practices. The accidents should be prevented through efficiency and the performance of the engineering practices. In the present case, the engineering hazards can be prevented by the continuous pursuit of the safe operations. There should be appropriate system engineering outlook, which can prevent the engineering failures in the organization (Doorn, 2015). The personnel must be trained to understand the operations and prevent accidental hazards. References Borenstein, J., Arkin, R. (2016). Robotic nudges: the ethics of engineering a more socially just human being.Science and engineering ethics,22(1), 31-46. Burgess, R. (2017). The Different Source of Codes Ethics and the Implications of these Origins.Journal of the Texas Tech University Ethics Center,1(1). Doorn, N. (2015). The blind spot in risk ethics: managing natural hazards.Risk Analysis,35(3), 354-360. Ghani, O. A. A., Kamruzaman, M. Z., Sulaima, M. F., Othman, M. N. (2014). An engineering ethics case study review: petrobras p-36 accident.The International Journal of Engineering and Science,3(6). Han, H. (2015). Virtue ethics, positive psychology, and a new model of science and engineering ethics education.Science and engineering ethics,21(2), 441-460. Harris Jr, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., Rabins, M. J., James, R., Englehardt, E. (2013).Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning. Kline, R. R. (2001). Using history and sociology to teach engineering ethics.IEEE Technology and Society Magazine,20(4), 13-20. Lynch, W. T., Kline, R. (2000). Engineering practice and engineering ethics.Science, technology, human values,25(2), 195-225. Andrews, G.C. (2009). Canadian Professional Engineering and Geoscience: Practice and Ethics. Cengage Learning. Schmidt, J. A. (2014). Changing the paradigm for engineering ethics.Science and engineering ethics,20(4), 985-1010.