Social Indicators

Genskow, Kenneth and Prokopy, Linda Stalker (2010) Lessons Learned in Developing Social Indicators for Regional Water Quality Management, Society & Natural Resources, 23: 1, 83 — 91

This article explored the problem of developing suitable Social Indicators for a region, similar to a watershed.  Often watershed issues involve multiple states, cities and other federal and local regulatory bodies, similar to the Great Lakes region discussed in this article.

Academically Adrift

Arum, Richard; Roksa, Josipa.  Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses University Of Chicago Press (January 15, 2011) ISBN-10: 0226028569. 272 pages

This article describes how American public education is still in the toilet.  Once again American corporations are questioning whether schools teach any writing or critical thinking skills at all.  College graduates must be able to think critically and analytically with sustained logical thinking.  Schools need to be creating new social capital where student gain the knowledge and skills that are rewarded in the market place, before all industries are outsourced to other countries.  The article then jumps into some history on the educational system.

The first passage addresses how college bound freshman anticipate the parties, fraternities and social functions of college long before considering any requirements necessary to begin studies or any serious career pursuits.  Students are perceived as adrift, unprepared and devoted to personal and social interests before academics.  There now has developed an abundance of evidence that academic efforts have declined further in recent decades.  Studies discussed in the article indicated that full-time college students worked a full forty hours a week in pure academics in the 1960s while todays’ students complete only 27 hours, which is less than the typical high school student.  This is true for all students in all disciplines, demographics and locations.  Students are finding easier and faster ways to get through with less and less true academic work.

Interesting enough this problem with true learning is not only on the student side.  George Kuh’s research found a general willingness of faculty to “disengage” through a “compact” described as a faculty student agreement of “I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone.”  Thus, faculty have become more willing to allow students to get by with good grades with very little academic effort.  The funding shortfalls and cutbacks in education, while billions are given to corporate subsidies and defense conglomerate, has essentially guaranteed this.  Colleges and universities are allowing more adjuncts and graduate student teachers to replace tenured faculty for undergraduate training.  Another statistic discussed is that tenure faculty taught 78% of classes in 1970 while only 52% in 2005.

The majority of full tenured faculty must pursue scholarship, research and publications instead of education training or thoughtful attention to undergraduate classes.  As mentioned in this article Ernest Boyner noted that in 1969 21% of faculty agreed tenure was difficult without publishing, while in 1989 42% agreed.  Additionally, in regards to other important elements for college faculty tenure including classroom observation, student recommendation, student academic advising, and course syllabi the levels of importance of these were 13%, 9%, 5% and 5% respectively.  The only significant element for tenure regarding students was how they complete teacher evaluations.  This is completely contrary to education, since the best teachers should be challenging the students instead of making it easy and convenient for the students to give a good evaluation.  This was further expanded on by the article saying how student evaluations actually tended to encourage faculty to “game the system by replacing rigorous and demanding classroom instruction with entertaining classroom activities, lover academic standards and generous distribution of high course marks.”

Additional distractions leading to lower efforts in undergraduate teaching for tenured faculty include such activities as “output creep,” “academic ratchet,” the “academic revolution” and the “commercialization of higher education” initiated by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 which allowed universities to patent work completed with federal grant funding.  Thus, faculty are encouraged to publish and excel in professional development to support new research funding.  Research work leading to patent development has also shifted the administrative functions of universities.  The typical administrator moving up from teaching positions is a thing of the past.  One example expressed in the article is how one in seven university presidents now comes from outside academia.  Professional search consultants are used by more than 50% of the institutions today while only 12% in 1984.  This had resulted in university presidents earning salaries over $1 million which continues to significantly shift the function and identity of these institutions.

Review: Academically Adrift: A Must-Read. By Richard Vedder

January 20, 2011, 10:53 am

http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/academically-adrift-a-must-read/28423

Developing research questions

Morrison, Jill (2002). Developing research questions in medical education: the science and the art. Medical Education. 36(7):596-597.

This article got very specific on the issues of defining research questions.  If you do not ask the right question then regardless of the measurements and results the answers found might be totally useless.

A related study found that research lacking a sound clear problem statement was the 2nd most common problem cited.   This included no problem statement at all, nothing focused, misleading statements and.or totally inappropriate statements.  The article started with a statement that the journal rejects 75% of the articles submitted.  40% are simply poor science while the remaining 35% fall into three catagories:

1. not original, old news not worth publishing.
2. no general interest, not providing suitable information that readership will respond to.
3. no international relevance, self explanatory.

Thus having a good question is critical.  In this article Morrison spoke about how to define the research questions and then how to check to see if it is worth investigating at all and to define if it has not been investigated already.  It started with a very basic formula.  If we have a problem to investigate we will begin with these six basic questions:

1. who
2. what
3. where
4. why
5. when
6. how

From this list everything else follows.  The formula she used was very simple.  First we select the question above that we really want to get answered.  Then we phrase the question to answer all the other six components, leaving only one for the research question.  Like the problem with blogging?  How does it teach us anything?  That is a place to start where my question is only interested in item number 6 above, so let's try this:

HOW  do students (the who) learn good writing skills (the what) in the expository writing class (the where) by publishing their work (the why) before graduating (the when) ???

For this question above I started with "HOW" from my question about the blogging problem then filled in the sentence in the order above answering all the other questions listed.  So How (6) is what I wanted to know while (1-5) were covered in the question statement itself.  That represents a neat little formula for getting very specific on the research question.  This is not everything we need to begin research yet, because we now need to test the question to see if it will result in anything useful.  For this we check to see if it meets all of these:

1. Interest - is anyone interested in the answer?  If it takes 3 years of research to get the answer do you think it will still be interesting for you?
2. Importance - is it something that will be valuable to anyone?  If you still care in 3 years, what about 10 years?  Will it matter to anyone then?
3. Generalizability - is it something that applies to anyone else?  Will the results help in any other situation beyond the one example you are exploring?
4. Feasible - is it even possible to test and measure this?  What does it cost to get meaningful results and suitable measurements to come to any conclusion?  Is 3 years enough?  What if it will take 30 years?  What is the point then?

Now let me explore this a bit more "How do students learn good writing skills in the expository writing class by publishing their work before graduating???"

1. Interest?  Yes, I am interested, I want to know if bloggin is a suitable means, as I am sure we all do in this class!  Many teachers might like to know too.  Most bloggers are online for their own reasons, but I'm sure there are many who are trying to learn something or share something, beyond just writing skills.
2. Important?   Yes, I need to know how to learn good writing skills.  Or I'm wasting my time writing and wasting my time trying to publish. Good writing is necessary if I'm venturing into a career and graduate program to research and publish insights.
3. Generalizable?  Sound writing skills is something the whole population should possess, especially in academia. 
4. Feasible?  Well it is easy to study whether this research is feasible.  I guess we could have a class survey at the end.  Do you write better after the class?  We 'll see!  I'm sure someone knows, as this class has been taught before!

Research Questions and Designs

Bohannon, Richard W. (1999). Research Questions and Designs. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation. Activities Related to Clinical Research. 14(3):53-59.

This article provided an overview of research theory and design.  When someone begins their own research, what questions do they ask and how do they use these questions to develop a viable research plan?  Any research activity will be an expensive undertaking.  Most will require institutional support or specific measurable results that are viable for product development or sales.  Measurable results are the key element in any case.   Thus, developing a suitable research plan that will yield specific measurable results is fundamental for any research activity design.

Some very basic research questions are given in the article and discussed including:

1. How good are the measurements of the variable or problem of interest?
2. What is the extent and nature of the problem?
3. To what is the variable or problem of interest related?
4. What are the effects of interventions on the problem?

These very basic questions seemingly will apply to everyone everywhere doing research.  The key elements are the variables of measurement for the problem of interest.  What can be measured regarding the problem?  How does the measurement vary with how big or severe the problem is?  And more importantly for researching: how are the measurements related to the problem, and how can these measurements change with an outside influence or implementing an intervention that affects the problem.  These questions further bring out the importance of measurements and how variable measurements are central to an analysis.

The specific qualities of measurements introduced included reliability, validity, sensitivity, and responsiveness. These terms each have significant meanings related to measurements. I found it interesting how it took me a while to find links that defined these points similar to the article definitions.   Everywhere we can find definitions online, but finding something appropriate to what this author was trying to say took a bit of an effort. 

This discussion leads us further into the basic design elements that were also addressed in the article.  Each of these elements can be used to derive different measurements.  They provide different ways of looking at the same problem and finding the measurements differently.  The options specifically defined and reviewed with examples in the health industry include:

1. Quantitative versus qualitative - measurements
2. Prospective versus retrospective - analysis
3. Cross-sectional versus longitudinal - periods of data reviews
4. Non-experimental versus experimental - research design elements

These options are discussed and defined similar to the measurement qualities linked above.   Instead of going to the web and trying to find links that fit each word as Bohannon discussed in the article, I will simply paraphrase the main points he made below. 

1) Quantitative research is looking at the specific numbers measured for the defined variable only, while qualitative is looking more at the big picture and looking for the overall meaning and conceptual understanding the research shows instead of just a measurement quantity.  Qualitative is often open-ended observations and perceptions like using a survey to getting peoples' feelings, believes and values.  2) Prospective is designing a planned experiment to gather data specifically during an event or time period, while retrospective it reviewing data someone else has already collected elsewhere.  3) A cross-sectional analysis would be done at one moment in time, while the longitudinal investigations are carried out over a period of time.  4)  Non-experimental options defined in the article included "case-studies, surveys and secondary analysis" while experiments are specific actions done to measure the results.

"Case-studies, surveys and secondary analysis" were explained in more detail again with examples.  Here is another quick clip directly from the article:

1. Case studies are in-depth descriptions of one or more subjects.
2. Surveys are used to obtain information from respondents via written questionnaires or interviews.
3. Secondary analysis of archived material - or other sources collected by others.

Finally the article discusses the "randomized controlled trial" as the "gold standard" for experimental research.  This is when a random representative sample is taken from the population where measurements are taken before and after the intervention.  The sampled populations are blind to whether they are in the control group or not.  This is the research type that is most respected.  It should be designed to reduce the variables and outside effects so that the only thing the sample is affected by is the variables affected by the intervention.  All the other pieces reviewed in the article lead up to this and this is what researchers should be heading for.

The article did describe a few other techniques that can be used.  The random control trial is the best though, so I will only list the others here:

• quasi-experimental designs
• sequential medical trial
• explicatory experiment
• single-case experiment

New Corporate Environmentalism (NCE)

Forbes, Linda C. and Jermier, John M. (2010) The New Corporate Environmentalism and The Ecology of Commerce. Organization Environment. 23: 465

. . . 100 years ago it may not have mattered how much we understood about business—what makes for healthy commerce—but today it does because I think that we can say in no uncertain terms that business is destroying the world.
. . . I don’t believe that there’s any choice about this. Either we see business as a restorative undertaking, or we, business people, will march the entire race to the undertaker. Business is the only mechanism on the planet today powerful enough to produce the changes necessary to reverse global environmental and social degradation.
—Hawken (1992, pp. 94-95)
The NCE can be defined as rhetoric concerning the central role of business in achieving both economic growth and ecological rationality and as a guide for management that emphasizes voluntary, proactive control of environmental impacts in ways that exceed or go beyond environmental laws and regulatory compliance. (Jermier et al., 2006, p. 618)

space for rent in Saint Petersburg Florida

Hi this is Rafé, another empty-nester sharing my space. This is my home. It starts at $25/day for a tent space in the urban farm, then $75/d for a bunk, $150/d for a bedroom, $250 for a bedroom and bath within house, and $350 for master bedroom and private bath suite!

yes, you can walk downtown, and that’s Saint Paul’s Catholic School at far left in this pic ;-)

I have several spaces here that are now setup to rent in this 4br/3ba home, Mama Maria’s Mansion, my private family home. This page will show you the spaces and then the prices I have set. Further, this page also gives you the AirBnB Links for you to rent now, without even talking with me. You can reserve the space with ABB and pay all their fees, or you can contact me and get a longer term deal. Please, start with the ABB and meet me to discuss longer-term options as needed. ABB contract sets all the terms for the complete length of your visit here, including price shifts to your term.

Let's start with this single bed in a shared space for 250/wk or 900/month. . . Shown below

yes, you can see the TV and there is a crib, coffee maker, VCR, We Games, and toaster oven too, as it started as a family space. This combined all these single beds, tables, and appliances with a separated queen suite all included in the complete family space rental for 3500/month

. 

There is a bathroom, mini fridge, microwave, and toaster oven that are all shared with other guests except when the complete Family Space is rented together . . .

 

Here is the queen suite for 1800/month with the same bath and fridge, with a locking door:

yes, this is the other half of the Family Space above. . . nearly half price for this one room!  And now you have a private room.

 Now, if this might not be enough for you. Maybe you love the space and the location but need to access the kitchen and everything else. . . well here's what's included and these rooms below that are priced and listed to be rented separately from above . . .

yes there's a nice wooden rocker and hammocks in the backyard too. . . 

Most everyone in the house can access these, but the kitchen is only reserved for the rooms upstairs. Yes, these next two rooms are upstairs. NO SHOES, NO PETS, and no food upstairs. This whole section of the house can be reserved together, and include all the bunks and extra bed and bath described separately above.

I'm renting out my private space . . . This is A FAMILY HOME, not a cheap hotel room.

Yes, renters on AirBnB often have this Hotel idea where they are paying enough to take the towels and sheets or destroy whatever.

Wow, do I need to get regular renters. . . These rooms require leases, and a months rent as a deposit. Once again, please read all of this information provided. I'm offering the spaces at the rent values posted here, NOT the ABB rates. . . So renters will replace ABB, as needed.

Sure you can pay the ABB rates and reserve it now to checkout the space. A regular renter is a lease and a responsible professional who can follow through. 

 

First is The Kaptian Kabin is $2500/month. 

yes you get the kitchen and laundry room too. 

this room also has an empty closet and dresser, a TV and ceiling fan for your use and comfort, with this shared bathroom across the hallway. 

this next room has all that described above plus a private bathroom . . . 

so of course this is more expensive . . . 

Please just skip this if you want a cheap deal. Cheap crap disappeared with C0V!D. . . 

Lastly is The Xena Suite for $4000/month

again same kitchen and backyard access with this Laundry room too. . 

. . but now also all this below is for your Private use:

Yesss, with this double sink bathroom and big tub can come a complete healing experience. 

Yes, DawnXena experienced and planned to hold future healing retreats here too!

Ask me about her awareness and awesome healing experiences!

home jobs -*-*-stars***

 Ok, home jobs -*-*-stars*** need to be scheduled with me, the rest you can do.

1. Clean floors in front rooms, vacuum, then mop
2. Clean bathroom set with paper, towels
3. Clean, dust, all rooms make big bed, ( sheets under fridge*)
4. *Carpet cleaner upstairs for doggie stains*
5. I will mark out plants with a small green flag*, to be moved into the front yard to plant. Set them into an open space you like, and return all the green flags, I’ll mark* again if they are ready to plant.
6. Move, chop, and stack the wood and brush from the front yard to be put by the fire pit out back
7. *Cement fire pit blocks
8. *Cement steps front ramp, back deck, and tool box steps
9. *Paint posts and deck 
10. *Cement front post to fix front fence and hammock.
11. *Assemble new gate locks, hinges, wood for front and Back gates
12. Chop up all the brush in bath tub.
13. Cover bathtub brush with layer of dirt from wheelbarrow 
14. Fill three compost tanks with layers, cardboard, leaves, dirt => break out from existing compost tank, oak leave bags and torn up cardboard paths
15. Reset new cardboard paths, with clear white trim, weeding all the beds along fences
• Fences line with tile edge
• Only edible plants on east fence line
• Three foot white trim reset. 
• *Layout waterpipes to fit along white edge
• *WaterPipes to outside shower and sink at rabbit hutch
• *Rebuild/remove rabbit hutch
16. *Cut line along house for lava rock - use dirt in compost and tub layers
17. *Build new seeding beds
18. *Build new soil/compost building beds
19. *Build fermentation building beds
20. Move all empty pots to shed
21. Move all gardens boards to trailer
22. Remove boganvillia thorn plants in corner to get all torpedo grass out