Monday, January 27, 2020

The Importance Of Online Reviews

The Importance Of Online Reviews In the wake of digital age, the internet offers a relatively complete and comprehensive environment for people all over the world to communicate and share information. The form of film review is reforming as well. From traditional critics of experts to review of ordinary audience (Awad, Dellarocas Zhang, 2004), cyber world offers a newly effective channel for audience sharing their comments about movies; cinema industry also encounters more challenges on box office from consumers (Boatwright, Kamakura Basuroy, 2005). For film industry, online review of critical audiences plays an important role. On one hand, the good comments of a movie can attract more audiences in general. On the other hand, the good comments do not necessary mean high box revenue and vice verse. The impact of film review has been proved by previous study on motion pictures (Litman, 1983; Eliashberg, Shugan, 1997; Basuroy, Chatterjee, Ravid, 2003; Desai, Basuroy, 2005; Gemser Gerda, 2007). However, most study tends to research film review from traditional critic review of journals or other form of articles while less study approach to the impact of online review on box office success. Within this paper, I approach to explore the correlation between the online review of new social media and the box office success of different types of movie. Although there are previous researches about the influence of online review on box office, those researches tend to study the whole catalog of film. In differ from previous research, the target of this paper is to find out to what extent online review could influence box office success and whether the impacts of different types of movies are the same. According to Gino and Ferrian research (2006), new social media can reflect the successful of the movie to a great extent. Audiences preferences and tastes can and stimulate final box office as much as the most positive comments from newspaper. Comparing with traditional media, such as articles written by critics or reporters on influential newspaper and magazine, obviously new social media is more powerful and covers a lager scope of audiences. By offering the opportunity to share preferences among ordinary audience, online movie database has established (www.IMDb.com). In the next couple of years, IMDb has expanded fast and became the best known platform for sharing information of the movie. The famous TOP 250 Movies list represents the best movies around. By cooperating with major film company and convenient operating platform, it has been recognized by both experts and audiences. The online ranking order of movies in IMDb, as the most direct and transparent approach to reflect th e positive or negative review of movie, is decided by normal audience worldwide. Due to the reliability and authoritative data of IMDb, this paper focus on online ranking order of IMDb. By dividing the first 100 movies of TOP 250 Movies into different catalogs which are artistic film and commercial film, the paper tests the correlation between the box office and the four independent box office drivers that are production budget, awards obtained, MAPP rating and online ranking order. In order to explore the correlation, this paper uses two equations for multiple regression analysis to test the possible difference between artistic film and commercial film by running SPSS. Comparing the results of outputs, there is statistical significance of both kinds of film. However, for artistic film, online ranking order has relatively less impact on box office while the most important determinant is awards. Meanwhile, the result of commercial film shows the strongest correlation between online ranking order and box office success comparing with other determinants. Thus, I con clude that higher online ranking order indicates higher box office of commercial film. As for artistic film, how many awards it obtained is the most important reason for box office. To be admitted, there are some limitations of the paper due to the small sample size of the research. Literature review 2.1 Artistic film and commercial film Film industry as an important part of creative industry has created huge fortune in both material and psychological of human contemporary history. Although there are plenty of types of movie and different catalog involved, considering the high marketing participation, film industry classifies two catalogs which can generalize all are types of movie. The two catalogs are labeled as major and independent films (Zuckerman Kim, 2003), or art house and mainstream films (Gemser, Oostrum Leenders, 2007). The reason of the different names attributes to the slightly difference about definition and criteria. However, those differences reflect the degree of artistic and commercial of a film (Bagella Becchetti, 1999). Thus, artistic and commercial film can be summarized as the most applicable assortment for film industry. Within this paper, I apply the concept of artistic film and commercial film on my research target since it is a relatively comprehensive classification. According to the author of Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, who had interviewed dozens of independent director and film researcher, whether a film could be defined as artistic or commercial film can be judged from two aspects. One is based on the way indies1 are financed, the other focuses on their spirit or vision (Emanuel Levy, 1999). The former concept refers to marketing issues including distribution and budget. While the latter one tends to be a abstract definition which is the fresh perspective, innovative spirit and personal vision that are determining factors. Since the concept is too ambiguous, the distinction between artistic film and commercial sometimes to be blurred to a great extent. Even a number of insiders of film industry tend to ignore the difference between artistic film and commercial film. Joseph Burstyn, a film distributor offered his point of view about artistic film. He said, I hate the expression art filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ there are o nly two kinds, good films and bad films. Based on his opinion, there is no fixed meaning of art film. And obviously the concept of art film and commercial is flexible because of the increasing complexity of producing a film due to the financial issue of the film. Nevertheless, there still are certain standards for distinguishing artistic film and commercial film according to previous study. The factors might determine whether a film belongs to artistic film or commercial film refers to several more practical elements that contain production budget and advertizing effect (Geer, 1998), the participation of super stars and award-winning situation (Bagella Becchetti, 1999), the number of released screen (Reinstein Snyder, 2005), or the story line and the narrative structure of the movie (Bordwell Thompson, 2001). Those elements construct the standards of judging whether a movie is an artistic or a commercial one. And the two types of film construct the success of movie industry. Since there are different criteria of artistic film and commercial film, the box office success, the potential influence, and the reputation are distinct. Traditional concept about artistic film tends to be closed to the definition of independent movie which indicates independent production without any financial support of the eight major film company, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount, 20th century Fox, Warner Brothers, RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum), Universal, United Artists, Columbia Pictures (Levy, 2001). However, throughout the development of the century, the eight companies have been through broken, emerged and rebuilt. The concept is not suitable anymore. In my research, I only focus on the distinction of box office success between the artistic film and commercial film by texting different determinants of box revenue. In order to research the correlation between online review and different types of film, which are artistic film and commercial, I consider three elements which ar e production budget, language (English/non-English) and the number of released screen as the criteria that can classify all the films preciously into artistic film and commercial film. Since I conduct quantitative research in this paper, the three factors could offer a clarity standard for classifying artistic film and commercial film. 2.2 The function of film review First of all, film as information good has an important characteristic, which is experience good. The feature of experience good is that consumers must experience it before they know what it is (Hal, 1998). This factor results in a permanent problem which is incomplete pre-purchase information. Thus, reviews of film help overcoming this problem to a great extent. By providing evaluations and comments to potential consumers are ubiquitous in digital age (Hal, 1998). Although it is still a limited access for consumers getting to know the product, reviews play a curial role in the whole film industry, especially before video image became popular. Due to the importance of review in film industry, there are plenty of studies and researches about the influence of film reviews. To be more specific, most researches discover the relationship between reviews and box office success. And the result proved to be positive in most cases (Wyatt, 1991). Nevertheless, there are a number of different study implies opposite result of the correlation between box office success and positive review. Negative or positive review does not indicate the significant relationship between box office success and the movie performance. For instance, Transformer as one of the best known profitable series of film history did not earn too much positive review from professional experts or public. However, the worldwide box office of Transformer reached 836,297,228 US dollars worldwide, four times more than production budget, according to official data collection of IMDb. Most study about how review impacts box office tends to have the similar conclusion that there is significant-but-weak association between judgments of reviewers and box office success (Holbrook, 2007). Based on previous research, there is a significantly positive correlation between the average of ratings in two critical guidebooks and distribution rentals (Prag Casavant, 1994). On the other hand, there are evidence indicating a negative relation between the earnings of selected films and their critical evaluation, which could be explained by the application of technical and analytical considerations and stringent artistic standards in critical evaluations, whereas audiences looked simply for enjoyable entertainment (Hirschman Pieros, 1985). To explain the different result, there is the assumption that ordinary consumers like more accessible, realistic forms of entertainment, while professional critics give higher ratings to more complex, abstract, and intellectually demanding artwork (Holbrook, 1999). Despite of previous research on correlation between box office success and review, the perspective of the research is prone to focus on favorability of journalistic reviews or judgments of film experts (Prag Casavant, 1994). There are relatively less researches concerning about publics review. Due to the popularity of internet, audiences are able to share their review and preference through the internet instantly. Holbrook concludes audiences opinion towards motion picture as popular appeal which contains online rating and review. The popularity of online review is the nature consequence of digital age. Neoclassic theory emphases the importance of demand induces. As for film industry, companies pay attention on the importance of marketing power even more than products themselves (Belaux Marteaux, 2007). Thus, there has been a growing increase in the emphasis of web-related promotion for nowadays film industry (Zufryden, 2000). Zufryden (2000) did the research on the development and empirical testing of a variable mathematical model approach for predicting a films box-office performance as a function of film website activity, as well as other relevant explanatory variables. The results of his study support the relative importance and statistical significance of website activity as a predictor of a new films box-office performance. In accordance with promotion of website, variables including screens, film grade, time from film release, production budget and seasonally were also found to be significant covariate s in the prediction of ticket sales during a films life cycle. Obviously, online review and ranking system account for an important part of variables that can influence box office success according to Zufrydens research. Moreover, Holbrook (1999) summarizes different types of film review according to multiple cultural markets of distinction (Hall, 1992): professional critics versus ordinary consumers, expert judgments versus popular appeal, extensive training versus naive appreciation, emphasis on aesthetics versus entertainment, genuine or pure versus commercial or commoditized art, highbrow versus lowbrow standards, elite versus mass tastes, legitimation versus market success, dominance via cultural capital versus economic capital, autonomous versus heteronomous principle, and restricted versus large-scale production. Own to those different concepts, film reviewers have their own opinions about certain film. The ordinary audience in question does not share in the relevant habits governing the dispositions that guide the professional critics standards of evaluation. Therefore, the different judgments from ordinary consumers are quite personal. However, the influence of those judgments can be differe d according to different tastes. Holbrook (1999) compared popular appeal representing ordinary consumers and expert judgment in order to analyze the most importance variable for box office success. The data Holbrook collected for conducting research focus on polls of film viewers. Since his paper has published in 1999, one year from the establishment of IMDB, the best popular internet movie database, which involves film grade and audiences review. Therefore, there is a gap of studying to what extent online review system can impact a films box office success. My research in this paper would try to fulfill this missing part. The development of IMDB The IMDB has become one of the most popular forums for on-line interaction. The popularity of a movie can be gauged by the number of votes. The establishing of IMDB can be trace back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Col Needham, the founder of IMDB, created a database that sought to provide useful and up to date movie information online across as many platforms as possible (Dodds, 2006). Since the year of 1990, the technology of constructing web site has developed speedy. Col Needham as a big fan of movie believed that there should be a place in cyber world to offer a free land for sharing ordinary audiences comments2. Therefore, IMDB has been created and expanded quickly since then. Firstly, the IMBD includes new features such as votes awarded to individual films. Later in 1995, it was formally launched and the Amazon.com Company subsequently bought it in the 1998. The site has been further enhanced to allow for greater on-line interaction as well as additional features providing updates on movie releases and film gossip (Dodds, 2006). Till now, IMDB import Metacritic, a similar movie database but focus on judgment of professional movie review like authoritative movie magazines and journals. Although there is increasing number of competitive online movie database, IMDB is still the most reliable, recognizable, professional and comprehensive online movie community containing the largest users and offering the best platform for sharing information and interaction. The ranking system of IMDB represents audiences opinion. The famous Top 250 list indicates the best movie in the history throughout time, culture and races. And the option belongs to ordinary audience. The top 250 films are also based on a weighted rating formula referred to in actuarial science as a credibility formula (Norberg, 2007). In order to create a fair and reliable grading system, IMDB sets a formula to calculate the final result of the movie as the following equation: This formula is equivalent to a Bayesian posterior mean3. In this equation, represents weighted rating, which means final score of the movie. means rating, represents average for the movie as a number from 0 to 10 (mean). refers to number of votes for the movie, more votes represents more influence. indicates minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250, the current entrance is 3000 votes. is the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.9)4. Because of my research focus on box office success and online review while IMDB includes all the official data and information, I introduced the brief history of IMDB and rating equation in order to convince people the reliability of this database. Determinants of the successful box office success Investing film industry has been considered as higher risk business even more than stock. Pervious study indicates that only three to four out of ten movies could reach breaking even point, and about one out of ten becoming profitable at the box office success (Valenti, 2004). Although film producers make profit through various channels such as DVD sales and sound track CD or any other related business. Box office still accounts for the largest part of gross revenue for the film market. Furthermore, box office success has been related to the successful of the movie itself to a great extent. Talking about the standards of a good movie, there are diversity of criteria according to different scholar and the era they lived in. In the last century, three indicators of judging success of a movie which are the reviews of professional critics, the size of audience and industry recognition via awards (Hirschman Pieros, 1985). The relationship among the three indicators has certain order. Fir stly reviews of critics come out, followed by amount of audience and finally awards prove the success of the movie. Besides, the three indicators have inside impact on each other as well. As for the determinants of motion picture in the 21st century, there are a number of detailed factors from several disciplines have been used in the literature to understand and explain various aspects of motion picture success (Hennig-Thurau, Houston Walsh, 2007). In general, there are three groups of movie-success drivers have been recognized in this century. The three determinants are movie characteristics, post-filming marketing studio actions, and non-studio factors (Elberse Eliashberg, 2002; Hennig-Thurau, 2001). Movie characteristics refer to star power, director power, cultural familiarity, genre, and certification. However, the research of questioning whether star power related to a successful movie has been published (De Vany Walls, 1999). As for director power, so far there is no empi rical evidence about a successful movie on economy can be decided by director. The second determinant studio actions are the term including the production budget, marketing expenditures, timing, and the number of screens. Finally, non-studio factors contain reviews, awards, consumers perceived movie quality, and early box-office information. The Academy Awards tend to represent a compromise between art and commerce (Caves, 2000). Audiences review does ascend the movies opportunity on obtaining an award. In another word, audiences voice has equal importance as experts judgment. Sony picture indicates that the insiders of film industry believe that movie review is important for box office success (Terry, Butler Armond, 2005). Combining the indication of Sony, one of the largest film companies in the world, the output of commercial film tends to prove Sonys standpoint. Firstly, there is statistic significance according to the output. And R-square is 0.694 which indicates 69.4 percentages dependent variable, in this case, box office, can be explained by the four box office drivers. In another words, the four determinants are major drivers of box office for commercial film. Production budget still has less importance comparing with other independent variables. Meanwhile, awards have positive and strong impact on box office of commercial film as artistic film. However, table 6 shows that among the four elements, the strongest correlation exists between box office and online ranking order. For commercial film, online ranking is the strongest box office driver, f ar more than artistic film. Comparing the outputs of artistic film and commercial film, online ranking order has less influence on artistic film while the strongest determinants of commercial film. Meanwhile, the higher online ranking order do result in better box office success in both artistic film and commercial film. Especially, for commercial film, the recognition from audience attributes to box office to the largest extent. Although there are some distinguish cases, the tendency of impact of online ranking order is quite clear according to the research. Conclusion Summary Online ranking order as the direct and clarify symbol of online review provides important information for audience. This paper tests the correlation between online ranking order and box office success by comparing online ranking order with other determinants of box office. Throughout running multiple regression analysis in SPSS, the result indicates online ranking order has stronger impact on commercial film while less important for artistic film. However, high online ranking order contributes to higher box office in general for any kinds of movie. Limitations This paper only includes four major determinants of box office success. However, other determinants such as released screen, released date, star power and region are also contributing to the box office success. Due to the limited words and research time, there are more important indicators are excluded. Besides, the result could be less trusted and accurate because of relatively small sample size. Furthermore, due to the producing time of some movies are quite old, the lack of some data and currency rate might lead to different results slightly.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Critique Of Research Article Essay

The nursing profession comprises of various dimensions. These dimensions however have not been appreciated by the society by understanding the complexity of the nursing profession. The role of nurses has changed over times and is dynamic. To many, nursing profession is solely for physical health provision. This is not exactly the case as nurses are also involved in provision of other aspects of care such as social and spiritual care. The role of nurses as care givers is unique and needs to be appreciated. Nurses all over the world are connected by the technical skills that they posses. These professional goes beyond the mare health care provision by the technical skills only. (Nieswiadomy, 1998 pp. 97-135) This paper is a critique of the article â€Å"Dimensions of caring: A qualitative analysis of Nurses’ Stories’’ by Sharon Hudacek. In this article Hudacek has written on a research conducted carried out in a qualitative manner to identify the dimensions of nursing profession. The research focused at analyzing the stories that were obtained from nurses around the world where analysis was done using Giorgis methodology which assisted in deducing the multidimensional and complex of the roles of nurses in provision of care. This essay consists of two major parts in criticizing the article. The first part of the paper will criticize the significance of the research to nursing and the clinical practices in general. It will also examine the reason as to why the research was based on qualitative methodological approach. (Streubert & Carpenter, 1999 pp 67-89) In the second part of the essay, the research will be criticized in details through qualitative research critique methods. This critique will look on both the weakness and the strengths of the research based on the following components: ? Definition of the research problem ? Literature review ? The research design ? Data collection strategies ? Data analysis strategies ? Interpretation of the result finding ? Ethical consideration PART ONE Rationale for research area Nurses are entrusted in the provision of health care and are available to assist the sick in their most needy times. This unique responsibility brings about a unique relationship between the nurse and the patient. Hudacek’s article is on research about the stories of nurses in their day to day duties which are of different nature and challenging. The nurse plays the role of a life saver yet nurses also witness their patients pass inevitably. In establishing what the nurses have to say to the public and to other professionals in their work of care giving. Hudacek collected stories from nurses from various parts of the world about the uniqueness of their job through experiences in care provision. These stories are an important base in understanding the role of nurses and appreciating the multidimensional complex essential care provided by the nurses. The work of nurses should be acknowledged and through their stories it is easy to understand the specialty of this profession in the society. (Beanland et al. 1999 pp 57-107) Leaders in nursing stress on nurses telling on their stories to better understand the practice of nursing. It is obligatory and persuasive to share and the human experiences in daily life activities. In nursing telling stories of personal encounter with patients is a reflection on clinical practice and the essence of working at the bedside. The essence of this research is to encourage nurses to tell there stories through written or oral means to the public and to the professionals. This is necessary in generating critical thinking and review which connects and illuminates the complexity and great inherent within the nursing profession. The narrative stories of nurses about their experiences in bedside care with their patients take the nurses back to a deep etched memory at one time in their care giving activity. This is necessary in motivating the nurses in the provision of care that constitutes more than health care provision as the research identified. The stories enhance the relationship between nurses and their patients through touching of each others life. (Polit, & Hungler, 1997 pp 102-156) There are times when the nurse may touch the heart of a patient and make a change to their lives and the patients also may touch the life of a nurse and bring about change which improves the provision of health care and other services in the care giving practice of nurses. According to Crookes and Davies 2005, it is the story of the nurses which unfold the trusting relationships between nurses and their patients. This research is also important in revealing of the unique nature of nursing profession which can create a good public relation. The care giving practice of nurses is special and innovative which integrates analysis, interpretation and the technical skills possessed by nurses. The research identified seven dimensions care giving in the nursing practice which helps us to appreciate the critical contribution of nurses in the society. These dimensions are as follows. ? Compassion ? Caring ? Community outreach ? Providing comfort ? Crisis intervention ? Spirituality and ? Caring the extra distance. This research assisted nurses to break the silence after many years of service which is more personal and meaningful. It has brought into light the true aspect of nursing through the written narratives they provided for this research to be able to come out with conclusive results of the various dimensions of care giving in the nursing practice. (Parahoo, 1997 pp 56-114) The research is also helpful for further research in the care giving practice of nurses. The finding of this research are useful and can open further research studies in the field of nursing by assimilating theories and the results of this research in conducting useful research that brings the true meaning of care giving within the nursing profession as well as improving the relationship between nurses and patients in all aspects of care giving established in this very research by Hudacek. Methodological approach Research is essential in every aspect of life. In nursing various researches have been carried out in improving and demystifying the care provision in the nursing profession. Various research methods are applied depending on the type of research and the aim of the research. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods have been widely used in research in nursing. These two methods of research can contribute to useful knowledge in nursing. In research it has become useful to use multidimensional research that includes both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Therefore the polarization of this two research methods is no longer in existence and one cannot entirely work on its own. In the research article by Hudacek, qualitative research was used and analysis performed through Giorgi’s methodology for existential methodology which is a qualitative research design. This research method is focused on the experiences of people in their day to day activities. (Giorgi, 1985 pp 111-142) This research allows individuals to describe their experiences. In the research by Hudacek, questionnaires were sent through mail to different individuals in different countries serving in the nursing profession. The question was not open ended question as it directed the nurse on the type of response one was required to provide. The stories collected all were expected to tell of an experience in care giving that touched the life of the nurse or that of the patient. This is one of the weaknesses of this research methodology which uses closed ended questionnaires as it limits the nurses on telling stories about the challenges they face in providing care to their patients which also may touch their lives or change the life of the patient. However qualitative research is appropriate in the study of human behavior through experiences. It involves interactive process instead of linear. This is essential in asking a general question which refines the intended meaning of results of the research as the research continues. The qualitative research tries to understand the whole phenomenon in the context of the research field. This is done through inductive reasoning with no preconceived ideas about the study outcomes as it involves the investigation of individual experiences of the nurses in a naturalistic setting that put meaning to the theory and practice of nursing and for further research work. (Streubert & Carpenter, 1999 pp 80-165) The qualitative phenomenological research is common and is interested in descriptive data rather than numerical data. The phenomenological qualitative research is flexible and people centered which enhances the respondents in the research to be true to their story, that is, it increases the credibility of the data obtained through questionnaires. Considering that the nurses are emailed from a foreign country and are given a guideline question is important in producing reliable research result. Qualitative research is holistic and has continuous analysis of data to invent successive strategies. The quantitative research however has strengths over qualitative research as it applies deductive reasoning. It offers numerical data that allows the researcher to reject or accept the data in relation to the formulated hypothesis. In the research article by Hudacek, there was no null hypothesis to guide the information collected during the research. The questionnaires sent to Australia, Argentina, United States, Slovakia, Cuba, Tekrik, Tokyo and other parts of the world including Africa may have been taken in a different way. Considering that the different nurses come from different societies and have differing personal attributes could have brought about controversy in answering the question. This might be the reason unto why out of all the sent mails to the respondents; only two hundred were mailed back. (Burns and Grove, 2007 pp 90-198) Qualitative research fails to give an analysis of the real data. It does not break down data into meaningful conclusion. Out of the two hundred responses or stories that were received, they are not specified where they came from. There is a possibility of the responses coming from one region or state which can not be reliable for drawing out a general conclusion. Quantitative research and analysis of data could have been applied in this research article to address such shortcomings that the article failed to consider. In quantitative research data is numerical and therefore statistical data analysis methods are deployed to come out with a information emphasizing objectivity. In the research article by Hudacek, qualitative research has been singly used in establishing the role of nurses in health care provision in the named countries. The response obtained within twelve months time span from two hundred nurses was used to determine the heights of care giving practice of nurses. The Giorgi’s phenomenological research analysis was applied to give meaningful evaluation of the two hundred stories received. This qualitative method of data analysis used four major steps that helped in giving meaning to these stories in connection to the research topic. (Giorgi, 1985 pp 34-102) These steps assisted in the study of data obtained and were applied as follows; ? The general reading of the narrative stories for general sense of the whole work. ? The re-reading of the narratives to filter the meaningful section ton be used in the drawing conclusive meaning to research. ? The reflection and focusing of each story to the phenomenon under investigation. ? The final synthesizing of meaning units into reliable structure of learning. Generally the qualitative research used in this research were appropriate to the investigation of the phenomenon of care giving by nurses and helped in deducing seven dimensions of care giving by nurses who share a common technical skill despite the boundaries, race, religion, gender age and most important the level of development of the countries they live or give services in. PART TWO Problem definition Research in the field of nursing is endless and is important in filling in gaps in knowledge that is needed for care giving in nursing practice. The purpose of a research is a clear and concise statement of a specific goal, aim or objective of the research study generated from the research problem. There are three major characteristics which a good problem should hold; ? The problem statement should clearly identify the variables under consideration. ? Should specify the group of population to be studied ? Should involve the possibility of empirical testing. The article by Hudacek the statement of the problem in the research is clearly stated in the very first paragraph of the article in the abstract. It has also been expounded into more than just a problem by describing the methodology of research that would be applied in the research. The problem states, â€Å"The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to describe dimensions of caring as they relate to and clarify the practice of professional nursing† This definition of the research problem is descriptive of the nature of research that one expects and the purpose of carrying the research is vivid to the reader. In fact the articles abstract is a summary of every aspect of the research which puts the reader toes. The reader also gets to know the extent at which the research goes into investigation of the problem. (DePoy, & Gitlin, 1994 pp. 58-94) The statement of this problem is clear and eliminates the possibility of ambiguity to the reader. The statement gives the summary of the article. The article puts it clear of the nurses stories obtained telling of the great experiences the nurses encounter in their day-to-day activities of health care provision. The article also explores the fact that nurses have not been telling their stories about their unique care giving practice. Literature review In research, literature review is usually a written summary of the position of the existing knowledge on a research problem. Literature review is the use of theoretical and empirical sources to form a clear picture of what is known and what is not known in regard to the statement of the problem which gives the basis of the conducted study. In simple terms, literature review is the process by which the researcher takes account of the known knowledge about a given research topic. In the present research by Hudacek, the scope of the nursing profession in health care provision has been screened and analyzed deeply from different sources. These sources include both secondary and primary sources. The research problem of the nurses’ silence about their daily experiences has been supported from other works. Hudacek has also used evidence of other available knowledge about the leaders in nursing encouraging nurses to give narrative stories in written form to express their day-to-day experiences in care giving practice. He uses evidence from books of various writers that the use of story telling to understand the nursing practice of care giving has been endorsed. Of all of the articles and books used are current. The research used very recent scholarly works in the literature review which gives the research a sense of validity. (Hudacek, 2005 pp 89-153) Research design Research design is the recipe for conducting a research study and is responsible for optimizing control over factors that could get in the way with the validity of the findings. The research design controls and guides planning and implementation of a research study in order to achieve the desired results and findings. (Crookes & Davies, 2004 pp 89-130). In Hudacek research, the research design used is too weak to draw out conclusions. The mailing of questions to nurses was not random in the first place. The names were provided from the University for the Research Group. This could have led to biasness of the respondents in writing their stories. The time span given to the respondents was quite enough in the research and amazingly only a small number of two hundred out of over thousand were received. The study design was not efficient in conducting this research and could not be valid to conclude the research. The narratives were not controlled from the place of source. That is, there was no criterion for picking up stories for example at least ten from each state as most of them could have come from the same state. Therefore in the current research by Hudacek, the research design is generally poor. Sampling Sampling is the selection of the elements from the entire population to be studied. These elements can be people, behaviors or events among any other element that can be researched on. (Beanland et al. 1999 pp 45-123) In Hudacek article, a global database was used to provide names of nurses to be invited in the research. The participation was also voluntary. In this non probability non purposive sampling, results are credible and fit for research study. Here the subject is not hand picked by the researcher. Data collection strategies This is the process by which information to be used in study of the research problem is gathered. The method of data collection is determined by the research method or the aim of the study. In the article by Hudacek, self report data was found appropriate. Structured self report data was collected by means of written form in stories that were mailed to the respondents. The respondents sent back the written stories via mails. In the research study by Hudacek, the question was formed to guide the respondent on the orientation of the study by just writing a narrative story on ones experience with a patient who changed the life of the nurse. Approval was sought from the University of Scranton nursing department review board which approved the study. Data analysis strategies This is the systematic organisation and synthesis of research data. It is aimed at giving meaning to the data or information collected. In the current article Giorgi’s phenomenological methodology of data analysis was used. The stories were read and interpreted to give meaning to the research problem using the three steps reviewed earlier in this essay. Interpretation of findings, Conclusion and Recommendations Findings of a research are the result of the analyses of the study information obtained from the research question. Conclusion on the other hand is the synthesis and explanation of the research findings. Result interpretation takes into account the objectives or goals of the study and the existing body of knowledge related to the research study. In the research by Hudacek it was found that practice of nursing is meaningful to them and goes beyond the health care provision, i. e. , care giving practice is a multidimensional practice. From the findings seven dimensions of care in nursing practice were identified. These are, Caring, compassion, spirituality, providing comfort, crisis intervention, community outreach, and going the extra distance. (Parahoo, 1997 pp 98-134) Hudacek also encourages more research in his article on matters pertaining care provision by nurses. The research helped in liberating nurses from the traditional restraints that may have caused them to feel unappreciated. Ethical issues Every research should be guided by ethical principles which ensure respect for person, beneficence and justice. Beneficence is entails the protection of the participant from harm which can either be psychological or physical. Ethical considerations in a research study outweigh the possibility of risks to the participants. In the research by Hudacek, ethical issues were considered in the best way. The mailing of the questions was personal and never involved a third party. In giving information, anonymous was used to ensure that the stories were neutral and safe to be published in the article by Hudacek. Participants were not named neither did there stories were published with names of the patients. Professional code of ethics has been respected in the Hudacek research article i. e. Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality were observed during the research. (Roberts & Taylor, 2002 pp 34-69) The essay criticized the article on the dimensions of nursing: A qualitative analysis of nurses’ stories by Hudacek. In the critique all aspects have been looked into clearly and weaknesses and strengths pinpointed during the critique. The abstract of the article defines the research problem statement and gives a summary of the whole article at a glance. The research was effective in achieving its goals all the same despite the pinpointed methodological shortcomings in the research. References Bailey, P. H. , & Tilley, S. (2002). Storytelling and the interpretation of meaning in qualitative research. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 38, 574-583 Burns, N. & Grove, K. (2007). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. (4th ed. ). Philadelphia: WB Saunders. Burns, N. & Grove, K. (2007). Study Guide for understanding nursing research – building an evidenced-based practice. (4th ed. ). Philadelphia: WB Saunders. Beanland, C. et al. (1999). Nursing research methods. Critical appraisal and utilisation (1st Australian ed. ). Sydney: Mosby. Burns, N. & Grove, S. (2005). The practice of nursing research, conduct, critique and utilisation. Missouri: Elsevier Saunders. Crookes, P. & Davies, S. (2004). Research into practice: Essential skills for reading and applying research in nursing and health care. Sydney: Balliere Tindall. DePoy, E. & Gitlin, L. (1994). Introduction to research: Multiple strategies for health and human services. Sydney: Mosby. Giorgi, A. (1985). Phenomenology and psychological research. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press. Hudacek, S. (2004). Making a difference: Stories from the point of care (Vol. 2). Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International. Hudacek, S. (2005). Making a difference: Stories from the point of care (Rev. ed. , Vol. 1). Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International. Maher, J. (2003). The use of narratives in nursing. Whitireia Nursing Journal, 10, 11-16 Nieswiadomy, R. (1998). Foundations of nursing research (3rd ed. ). Connecticut: Appleton & Lange. Parahoo, K. (1997). Nursing research: Principles, processes and issues. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Polit, D. & Hungler, P. (1997). Essentials of nursing research: Methods, appraisal and utilisation (4th ed. ). JB Lippincott. Roberts, K. & Taylor, B. (2002). Nursing research processes: An Australian perspective. Victoria: Nelson. Streubert, H. , & Carpenter, D. (1999). Qualitative research in nursing: Advancing the humanistic imperative (2nd ed. ). Philadelphia: Lippincott.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Computer Science Essay

Internet Information Services (ISS) has become one of the mostly used technologies in the Information Systems to handle Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests. However, hackers have greatly targeted these IIS. Moreover, some viruses such as the Nimbda and Code Red have caused severe damages on IIS servers. This paper highlights on the various steps which IIS administrators ought to put into consideration in order to ascertain security for their corporations’ IIS servers by locking down their IIS web servers. Securing the IIS Web Servers The IIS is used to create, manage and secure websites and is included in the Windows New Technology Operating Systems. To ensure that the IIS server is secured, firstly, the IIS administrator must make sure that he has the system installed with latest updated service pack and the most current IIS packets. Additionally, other packets that are necessary for Windows 2000 must also be availed. In order to maintain the server operating steadily, the administrator has to register for the automatic security updates. Afterwards, the HiSecWeb package has to be unpacked in order to configure the computer well for IIS security. The IIS configuration settings are located in metabase, which is a data storage area. The metabase has a hierarchical organization structure, which depicts the IIS installation structure. After successful installation of the latest updated operating system and the IIS, the process of securing then gets on the move. This process begins at the network layer (Novick, 2010). In order to lock the network, the router, firewall and switch have to be configured to specifically allow external networks’ traffic pass to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port. In the web server’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, the TCP is port 80 but when using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), it is port 443. This configuration, though not complicated, bars the attack of the web server by any malicious external intruders. Securing the network only protects the web server. Therefore and as aforementioned, after testing the security updates of the operating system and the IIS patches, automatic updates is scheduled. In adding security and removing vulnerabilities to the IIS application, the administrator has to rename, disable or delete the IUSR account and recreate it. The IUSR account refers to an anonymous user in the web. For faster and straightforward securing of this account, the IIS Lockdown Tool, which is a product from Microsoft, is run. This tool uses the New Technology (NT) and IIS existing facilities in protecting the IIS server from the earlier mentioned viruses and other known and mysterious attacks. The use of this tool qualifies the account to become a member of the local group of the web anonymous users. Moreover, the Lockdown tool involuntarily dispenses the web anonymous users’ local group Deny Write or Deny Execute authorizations to the corporation’s directories on the web. Likewise, adding these group users to be members of the local group will give the same results. UrlScan Security tool is also found within the Lockdown tool and it helps, in conjunction with the former tool, in eliminating web extensions that are considered to be dangerous and of no consequence and checking any attempts to run EXE, IDA and HTA file extensions that are restricted. Furthermore, they put a ceiling on the HTTP request types to be processed by the IIS server (Novick, 2010). Disabling socket pooling also plays a pivotal role in IIS securing. The technique of connection pooling allows many sites to share TCP sockets. Consequently, disabling this enhancement will ensure that the IIS server is not in a position run services that are using ports with similar port numbers. Since the socket pooling option is by default enabled, the administrator renders it inoperative by configuring the DiasbleSocketPooling, an option in the llisWebServer classes and llsWebService. The IIS web server can further be secured by implementing various logon methods by applying basic authentication realms. For instance, web server user privileges. This strategy assigns a user name and password that ensures only the users having them are the ones who can physically access the server. Another logon procedure is the use of password pass through. The server only authenticates the user after having entered his/her credentials which have to be entered for each subsequent page in the web (Kozicki, 2003). To further the security of the server, an encryption connection may also be used. However, this option of securing the IIS server has some loopholes since the username and the password are passed over the internet in each log in thus becomes exposed to hackers. Therefore, in order to increase the security levels of the IIS server, modification can be made. These include employment of authentication methods that are interactive, application authentication and authentication of the network that has the capability to preserve the user credentials. Since IIS servers are highly exposed to public internet, the IIS security checklist provided by Microsoft is also reliable. This provides an extensive security function to the server through the numerous steps of installation and application settings for maximum functionality. However, most of the implementation procedures and steps are more or less similar to those of the UrlScan and the IIS Lockdown tool.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Factors That Affect The Timeliness Of Financial Reporting...

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Investment options are very diverse and complex currently. An investor can invest their fund into every investment that attracts them. One of the investment options in Indonesia is share investment in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). An investor can do investment by purchasing shares from listed company. Before the investors make decision, they need relevance and timely information to analyze the targeted company’s performance. Investors gain the company’s information from the issuance of audited financial statements. Information will be useful if the information is presented accurately, precisely, and in timely manner. This research is conducted with the purpose to study about the factors that affect the timeliness of financial reporting. The factors that will be examined in this research are profitability, total debt to total asset, debt to equity, public accounting firm size, committee audit, total asset, company’s age, and market capitalization. Profitability measures the company’s ability to generate profit in their business. If the company experiences losses, management tends to delay the releasing of annual financial statement in order to avoid the discomfort of communicating as a bad news (Modugu et.al 2012) and if the company experiences profits, management tends to issue the annual financial statement as soon as possible. Total debt to total assets measured the proportion of total assets financed by the company’s creditors. IfShow MoreRelatedThe General Purpose Financial Reporting And The Background Of The Iasb Essay1329 Words   |  6 PagesExecutive summary In this report, the introduction introduces the origin of the general purpose financial reporting and the background of the IASB. 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