Methodology and procedures Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Methodology and procedures - Research Proposal Example The survey used deductive, primary and secondary research, carried out by a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection (Bryman & Bell, 2003). The main aim of the research was to investigate marketing strategies for low cost airlines. Apart from that, the study also investigated low cost airline customer behavior in different demographic aspects With the use of quota sampling and random sampling this research also included the collection of primary data. Quota sampling was chosen because it facilitates the choice of the group of participants which can be interviewed, for example: 60 males and 60 females between the age of 19-25, 25-45 and 45-65. In contrast random sampling helped to select participants based on pure chance. Simple random sampling was chosen because it removes the bias that may occur in the selection of the sample. It was helpful in making sure that the data was accurate and portrayed the aspirations of the whole population. The investigation of the ra ndom sampling showed that some students did not have enough experience to answer the questionnaire and it took the surveyor some time to guide them filling the questionnaires. Some students held discussions on their own project papers and therefore did not have enough time to answer the low cost airline questionnaire. The nature of this research mainly consists of qualitative questions. These questions assisted the researcher to study the marketing strategies of low cost carriers in Europe.... More questionnaires were collected from College Lane than De Havilland because De Havilland students spent more time on the discussion of their assignments and therefore did not have much time to answer the questionnaires. The primary research included both male and female students. Specific responses about travel offers will be supported with opinions and thoughts from electronic journals and websites. The questionnaire comprised of seventeen questions. There were 13 close-ended and 3 open-ended questions. Close-ended questions limit the responder's choices and specify certain options which the responders have to choose. It is also considered useful because if responders see too many questions in which they have write their opinion they feel like not filling the questionnaire. This was the reason why the majority of the questions in our survey were close ended. However, since these questions do not answer the problem and does not ask for opinion they are not very helpful in reaching the conclusions. As a result, we opted for four open ended-questions. Open-ended questions are those questions which normally ask for the responder's opinion rather than giving them choices to choose from. The greatest advantage of these questions is that it removes the bias that may occur due to limited choice and it gives greater freedom of expression. However, the reasons why the less open ended questions were asked than the close-ended questions were because they are time consuming and the survey may mi sinterpret the response. A subtle mix or balance of open-ended and close ended questions is necessary when designing a questionnaire for primary research. As a result, a lot of time was given to designing the questionnaire and

Socially Responsible Marketing

Socially Responsible Marketing Drawing on the readings below and your own literature review outline and discuss the concept of social marketing. How does this differ from societal marketing or socially responsible marketing?. Provide examples of each of the three approaches to marketing and comment on the extent to which these represent a departure from traditional marketing practice. Social marketing Nowadays, social marketing is very common in lots of places, for example government agencies, private nonprofit organizations, private for-profit firms and university. However, many people dont know what does social marketing is and how it differs from similar fields such as communications and behavior mobilization, it is being confused with generic marketing like societal marketing and socially responsible marketing. There are some practitioners are doing social advertising but they think they are doing social marketing. Even some of the literature has defined social marketing improperly. Social marketing is to understand how to influence peoples behavior in a good way and make better standard of living for human, so it is necessarily to make all these marketing concept clear and to understand them more deeply. To discuss the concept of social marketing, we first have to know the definition of it, there are different versions of definition of social marketing, the original one defined it as: the design, implementation and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution and marketing research. (Kotler and Zaltman, 1971), then, there is a revised definition is proposed by Alan R. Andreasen, he proposes the following definition: Social marketing is the adaptation of commercial marketing technologies to programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their personal welfare and that of the society of which they are a part. His definition let the social marketers focus on the result that they influenced and keep the discipline of social marketing distinguishable for the others and also separate social marketing from the areas that is easy to fail. The idea of social marketing is to use the same marketing principles to propaganda ideas, attitudes and behaviors as that were being used to sell products to consumers. There is confusion whether social marketing was limited to public and nonprofit marketers. Actually, they are not necessarily social marketing, this can be very important that public sector bodies to improve the promotion of their relevant services and organizational aims by using standard marketing approaches, it influence social behaviors not to benefit the social marketer, but to benefit either individuals or society as a whole in long run. There are also some private sector hold many activities aim to change beliefs, attitudes and values, but the only reason they are doing that is to increase sales by prevent change e.g. customers switching to another brand. Social marketing can improve the behavior and life style of the public to achieve a social good, but there are some difficulties while doing it, the problem is not the lack of information that people receive but the confusion of getting too much different information from different sources which are inconsistent or uncoordinated. For some small firms, their managers think that they are also part of the social marketers, then it will be difficult for them to keep their eye on the bottom line to change behavior, and also some firm get into trouble because they see the action side of social marketing instead of the planning side and also social marketing effectiveness may be limited if the marketer apply the concept wrongly, and people may blame the social marketing for failures. To apply the social marketing concept, social marketers also need to know the key features and the 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion) in order to help them achieve their social marketing goals. Key features: Customer orientation A key element of all forms of marketing, understand the situation of the target customer, where they start from, their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, also their background of where they live and work. It can make the progress easily and smoothly. An exchange Defined as an exchange of resources or values between two or more parties with the expectation of some benefits. Social marketers really have to know what is being expected of people and what is their cost to exchange, otherwise, there may be no one are willing to exchange and lead to failure of social marketing. Long-term Planning Approach Continuing programs for a long time instead of one-off campaigns, it should be strategic rather than tactical. Starts and finishes with research and use a long time to plan, because we have to know that behavior is not easy to change, people are used to it in their daily life, so we need to understand why people act as they do and therefore how best to support them in their life choices, therefore, we can reeducate them to change their mind. Moving Beyond the Individual Consumer It will be pointless if we change the behavior or lifestyle of an individual consumer if they are still operating in the same environment, so, it might be very useful to change a group of people or the entire society to achieve the aim of social marketing. How does social marketing differ from societal marketing or socially responsible marketing? Many people confuse the meaning of social marketing, societal marketing and socially responsible marketing. Social marketing is more difficult than generic marketing, because it involves changing intractable behaviors. To make it easier to distinguish social marketing from societal marketing and socially responsible marketing, it is better to know more about them. Societal marketing Societal marketing is a different concept for a different topic, it is an approach that company stake when they are socially responsible, they make good marketing decisions by considering first, the potential clients wants or needs, second, their companys philosophy and spend and the third is at approach of launching products or services in marketing be socially responsible. It is closely linked with the principles of corporate social responsibility and of sustainable development. Societal marketing and social marketing should not be confused. The societal marketing concept was a pioneer of using commercial marketing strategies from sustainable marketing in integrating issues of social responsibility. On the other hand, social marketing uses commercial marketing theories, tools and techniques to social issues. Societal Marketing actually included the concept of sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility, so the companies will go beyond delivering their work and products for the benefit of the consumers and the society and it is more than just having an exchange relationship with customers. Socially responsible marketing Socially responsible marketing is a marketing philosophy; it suggests that a company should considerate what is in the best interest of society in the present and long term. Socially responsible companies should produce desirable products fervently. Consumers immediate gratification can obtain from this kind of products and this kind of product can also benefit consumers and society in the long term. Special features of social marketing There are some special features to distinguish social marketing, it is the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good, it is an over-simplification although it sometimes seen only as to achieve non-commercial goals by using standard commercial marketing practices Social good is the primary aim of social marketing and it is its first outcome while financial is the primary aim in commercial marketing. But social good can still be contributed to achieve by commercial marketers. Gradually, people describe social marketing as having a social parent which is social sciences and social policy, and a marketing parent which is commercial and public sector marketing approaches. Kotler and Andreasen define social marketing as differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Example of social marketing Social marketing applies a customer orientated approach, it can be applied to promotion by making the society to buy merit goods and dissuade the use of demerit goods and also to tell the society that they consider the societys well-being as a whole, for example ask people not to smoke in public areas, reducing cigarette smoking, ask people to use seat belts, prompt them to follow speed limits, encouraging condom use etc. Social marketing knows that commerce brings many benefits, but it can cause harm to individual and society. Tobacco is an extreme example of this, it kills half of its long term users, as Wiebe famously argued, you can sell brotherhood like soap. So, social marketing can do the reverse like tobacco company use marketing to encourage people smoke. Health-related social marketing is widely used in this marketing concept, it is systematical, the behavioral goal is to improve health and reduce health inequalities. There is a specialistÂÂ  team in the Department of Health.ÂÂ  The Social Marketing and theÂÂ  team have been established to support work to integrate a social marketing approach in key work streams.ÂÂ  For example: Health Trainers NHS LifeCheck Health Literacy Skilled for Health Drug Misuse Alcohol Misuse Tobacco Sexual Health Nutrition Physical activity 5 A Day Obesity Health Inequalities Healthy Schools and Children and Young Peoples Public Health Example of societal marketing Nowadays, many organization such as MacDonalds, Unilever and Procter gamble are following the societal marketing concept, they can give out positive message to the government, public, partners, stakeholder and their customer that they are not only working for the profits but also for the well-being of the society. For example: McDonalds: McDonalds stop using their one time innovative Styrofoam packaging and replaced it with a more environmentally paper packaging and bring the message that they are environmentally aware, by using their various forms of packaging to remind us not to litter and be environmental friendly. British American tobacco Company: BAT participates in many society activities all around the world. Their societal marketing strategy is tree plantation. Body Shop: Body Shop is a cosmetic company. All of its products use vegetable based materials. It is also against animal testing, supports community trade, activate self-esteem, defend human rights, and overall protection of the planet. It is a company that completely follows the societal marketing concept. Societal marketing has become more and more important and profitable marketing strategy for companies. It often focused on environmental issues, but it can also focus on promoting healthy behavior while discouraging unhealthy behavior Example of socially responsible marketing An example of socially responsible marketing would be the advertising of alcoholic drinks when there are no rules or regulations. If a beer company is following the socially responsible marketing concept, it would avoid advertising its products to young person under the drinking age, they can advertise their products on TV at late night or in adult magazines, then minors are less likely to see them. Another example of socially responsible marketing is that a catalogue company uses recycled paper to make its catalogues, then this can be shown in the catalogue and it could help persuade customers that the company is environmentally conscious. By doing this, the company can gain market share by differentiate themselves from their competitors. Social marketing represent a departure from traditional marketing practice To a large extent social marketing is different from traditional marketing, it is depend on the type of target audience that social marketers would like to convey their message to. Following are some of the main differences between traditional marketing and social related marketing. Improved response time in social marketing. There is no real contact between customers and the company in traditional marketing, so if the customer got any inquiries, the company needs to go through few parties to get the answer and it lead to a slow responses but in social marketing, they usually response very quickly and some of them use auto-responders to answer customer. Content availability. In this modern world, it is very easy to use the internet to access information about anything and obtain any answer that consumer wants to know. In traditional marketing, the information available is only provided by the distributor from the company, and it might be fabricated. Price Social marketing is much cheaper than traditional marketing, because social marketing can use countless resources from the internet and different ways to advertise, educate and communicate people but traditional marketing have to pay for every single minute of every type of media such as TV advertisements, newspaper and magazines etc. A more level playing field. In social marketing, any company in any size can compete for client with any larger company which is very difficult for traditional marketing to do so, because in social marketing there are no restriction and it is just a matter of using available resources. The ability to changing. It is very In social marketing, it is very easy and cheap to change your message or to provide additional information regards to the product, but in traditional marketing, it is not easy for the television and radio commercials to change. Conclusion In conclusion, social marketing is a very innovative and good idea to promote any idea in a good way, so I think government and health organization should use it more often, but government should also set up more rules and regulations of using social marketing, because there are some company use social marketing to increase their sales by encourage customers buy demerit goods e.g. make people think smoke is healthy.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless. Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless.

Sports Participation and Academic Success

Sports Participation and Academic Success Kurtis Arnold Grand Valley State University As an increasingly relevant part of society, sports seem to find a way into many parts of our everyday lives from the global stage to our own individual experiences and feelings towards them. Not only are sports and athletic competition used for the purpose of entertaining, but the core values of athletic competition are reflected also in the mainstream cultural values in society (Snyder & Spreitzer, 1974).Some of these values include striving for excellence, fair play, sportsmanship, hard work, and commitment to a goal, and all are applauded in virtually every area in society outside of sports. Another interesting point to be made about athletics in society is that those who seem to excel in an area of athletics, and participate competitively in sports, seem to be held to higher status than those who are not viewed to be athletic.This trend can occur as early as middle school (Eder & Kinney, 1995), and often continues through high school (Zentner & Parr, 1968), college (Finkenberg & Moode, 1996), and even beyond college in professional sports as many dream of one day becoming a professional athlete (Stiles, Gibbons, Sebben, & Wiley, 1999). Much has been written about the relationship of sports and society in a broader sense, but little has been discovered through about the role of athletics as it relates to academic outcomes for adolescents.Even less is known about the specific benefits of athletic participation that may exist for various students of different racial backgrounds. What is currently assumed in the literature is that participation in sports benefit adolescents academically in a number of important ways. First, it seems that sports participation enhances students feeling of connectedness to one’s school. Secondly, sports participation seems to promote its own intrinsic value on students.That is, students who are able to find structured activities within sc hool settings that capture their attention will be more likely to assimilate to the philosophy of schooling (Jordan, 1999) Participation in sports may also foster an extrinsic motivation for students to do well in their academic studies so that they may stay eligible to participate in athletics. Although the literature illustrates some of the reasons participation in sports may facilitate higher academic achievement, the question still remains.Does sports participation in fact have a positive effect on academics? This may be an easy enough question to ask, but the difficulties in answering this question seem to be extensive. Many past studies have sought to answer this question by conducting regression analyses of cross-sectional data sets collected from students throughout the country in order to determine if sports participation is correlated with higher academic outcomes.It seems from a review of the literature that no one has been able to conduct an experimental study which test s the effects of sports participation verses non-participation on some form of academic outcome. The difficulty in conducting a truly experimental study of the relationship of sports participation with academic outcomes comes from a number of different problems that come with the design of such a study. One such difficulty is the voluntary nature of sports participation.Sports participation occurs on a voluntary basis in which student athletes choose whether or not to participate in sports. Because of this, it becomes difficult to design a study in absence of self-selection biases among participants (Jordan, 1999). Another difficulty in designing an experiment testing sports participations effects on academic outcomes is the vast number of participants that would be needed to participate in the experiment. The benefit of using data from national longitudinal surveys is the vast amount of data that can be obtained in a relatively simple and inexpensive fashion.Also, in the analysis o f this data, researchers are able to statistically control for a number of variables such as socioeconomic status, risk factors, and parental education level that may contaminate the effects of sports participation on academic outcomes. In contrast, an experimental study would have to offset these variables through random selection, and random assignment to conditions. Both of these processes require a large population in order to truly eliminate these confounding variables. It is for these reasons, among others, that research n the topic of sports participation and academic outcomes remains in its early stages of development, and tend to rely heavily on the analysis of data. Although the research on the relationship between athletics and academic outcomes remain in its early stages, current research has made important contributions to our understanding of how participation in sports may have an impact on academic outcomes. One such interesting finding from the research is that in g eneral, an extremely few number of students participate in organized sports (Jordan, 1999).According to the National Educational Longitudinal Study conducted in 1988 (NELS: 88) only about 21% of students participated in teams sports, and 15% of students were involve in individual sports when students who participated in both team and individual sports were included. This finding suggests that whatever impact sports participation may have on students’ academic outcomes, very few students have the opportunity to receive these benefits. Jordan (1999) also found that participation in sports did have a positive relationship with students GPA, self-concept, academic preparedness, and standardized test scores.Although the relationship between sports participation and the academic improvement in these areas may be small, the relationships remain both positive and consistent for students across gender, and racial lines. It is also noted that these types of improvements may not be limi ted only to sports participation, but may also be expanded to other school related extracurricular activities as well (Jordan, 1999). Another study, also analyzing data from the NELS: 88 surveys, found similar effects of sports participation on academic outcomes.According to Broh (2002) student participation in athletics does help to facilitate success in the classroom. This facilitation of increased success may be for a number of reasons, and Broh attempts to explain the findings in this study according to three different theoretical models. The first, and most popular of these theoretical models is the developmental model. For a number of years it has been the belief of researchers, educators, and the public that involvement in athletics helps to socialize students in ways that promote academic success.While participating in athletics, students learn important skills such as a strong work ethic, self-discipline, respect for authority, and perseverance which can all be used for aca demic success as well (Miracle & Rees, 1995). Also, repeated success in athletics through the learning of a new skill, and also in winning a competition helps students to develop a higher level of self-esteem, and confidence which can be carried over into academics. In Broh’s (2002) study, the developmental model accounted for one third of sports participations effects on academic outcome.Sports participation does in fact seem to help to improve students’ self-esteem, locus of control, and time spent on homework. It is assumed that these habits eventually translate into better academic outcomes. Another model used by Broh (2002) to explain why sports participation may be linked to academic outcome is the leading-crowd theory. For many years the developmental theory dominated popular beliefs of the relationship between sports participation and academic outcomes.So much in fact that little attempt was given to make an alternative argument for it. Recently however, the le ading-crowd theory has offered some challenge to the developmental theory. According to the leading-crowd theory, participation in sports offers a higher social status to those who participate and facilitates a membership into the â€Å"leading-crowd. † Consisting of the most popular students in high school, this leading-crowd is disproportionately comprised of college oriented, high achieving students (Rehberg & Schafer, 1968).Although the argument may be indirect, there is some evidence that suggests that high school athletes are among the students with the highest status in high schools (Zentner & Parr, 1968), and they also seem to be part of a college oriented peer group (Wells & Picou, 1980). In Broh’s (2002) study, only a small effect was found between being in a high status, college oriented peer group and higher academic outcomes. This may be the case because students do not gain as much from being a part of a high status, college oriented group of peers as the y do from the social connections made by participation in sports.The third model used by Broh (2002) was the social capital theory. The social capital theory is the idea that people have the ability to accrue benefits through membership in various social networks. According to Coleman (1988), the family is the greatest source of social capital for students. Students whose parents are well educated, and spend a significant amount of time interacting with their children, often tend to have higher educational outcomes than those who do not. Sports may also serve as a way for students to have greater amounts of interaction with highly educated adults.Because high school sports are often coached by administrators, teachers, or highly respected members of the community, an increased amount of interaction with these authority figures may in fact help to encourage athletes to not only be successful on the field, but also in the classroom (Portes, 2000). In Broh’s (2002) study, there was some evidence that a social capital exchange may be taking place among students and the adults they interact with in their athletic activities.It seems from this study that social capital had an effect on student’s grades, but did not have an effect on standardized test scores. What is important to note is that when each of the theoretical models were analyzed individually in Broh’s (2002) study, the results indicated only small, if any, effects on academic outcomes. The best results of analysis occurred when all three models (developmental theory, leading-crowd theory, and social capital theory) were analyzed together.Even when all three models were analyzed, there is still a great deal of variance left unexplained when it comes to the effects of sports participation on academic outcomes. This has been consistent with much of the literature involved with sports participation and academic outcomes (Broh, 2002). Other research in the area of sports participation foc uses on the types of people who participate in sports. As previously described, research in the area of sports participation has mostly come from cross-sectional data analysis.This has made it difficult to determine a causal order between sports participation and academic outcomes. Although sports participation may in fact be the reason for higher academic outcomes, it could also be the case that higher achieving, disciplined, determined, and goal oriented youth are the ones choosing to participate in sports (Spreitzer, 1994). It is for this reason that some researchers have sought to discover more about the types of people who participate in sports.According to a study conducted by Videon (2002) participation is athletic activities may be associated with a student’s socioeconomic status, siblings, family structure, year in school, attendance at a private school, size of school, region of the country, and whether or not the school was located in an urban area. After analyzing data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health), it was discovered that a number of the variables previously mentioned could be used to predict whether or not a student would participate in athletics.Variables contributing to the influencing of students towards sports participation may be referred to as socialization into sport. One of the major factors contributing to the socialization into sport has been found to be parental influence. Often times, a child’s parent, or parents are the first to expose their child to athletics and their encouragement to participate strongly influences a student’s decision to start playing sports, and continue to play them throughout their schooling (Videon, 2002). Another key factor in predicting which students will play sports and continue to play them is a student’s socioeconomic background.It is a known fact that participating in sports often comes with its expenses. Although some school s may offer the use of equipment for some of the sports offered, often times this does not include all of the equipment needed to play the sport. At a minimum, most parents will have to purchase cleats, special gloves, bats, and numerous other types of equipment in order for their child to play any given sport. Along with the expense of equipment, most schools have a â€Å"pay to play† policy for sports in order to subsidize their lacking in the sports budget.It is for these reasons that those students who participate in sports also tend to come from a higher socioeconomic background (Videon, 2002). Another import thing to note from research is that sports participation tends to be much lower for girls than it is boys, especially among African American students (Videon 2002, Jordan 1999, Zentner & Parr 1968). Although the passing of title IX has encouraged more female participation in sports, over thirty years later the number of girls participating in sports is still far les s than the number of boys.This especially true in suberban, and rural areas where the number of girls participating in sports is only about three for every five. These numbers are compared to those of urban schools where the number of girls participating is three for every four (Videon, 2002). It may be the case that because of lower participation rates among girls that fewer benefits of athletic participation are being experianced by girls. This may or may not be the case. Some research suggests that the effects of sports participation among boys on academic outcomes may be stronger for boys than it is for girls (Snyder & Spreitzer 1974, Videon 2002).There are a number of explanations for boys benefitting more from athletic participation. One such explanation is that by being involved in a sport, boys will be less likely to skip class in order to avoid not being allowed to play. Also, boys are more likely to respond to the high expectations of coaches in order to stay eligible to p lay (Videon, 2002). These relationships may not be showing up as strongly for girls, because on average girls have higher academic outcomes than boys, and skip class less often regardless of whether or not they participate in sports (Jacobs, 2009).Although from the research conducted by Videon (2002) indicates that some of the reason for athletes having higher academic outcomes may be contributed to other factors (student’s socioeconomic status, siblings, family structure, size of school, region of the country, and whether or not the school was located in an urban area), the net result of the analysis still showed that some of the varience can be explained by the sports participation itself.In this study (Videon, 2002), in Brohs study (2002), and in Jordan (1999), none were able to show that sports participation could explain more than about nine percent of the variance for any type of academic outcome. In all three, however, the results seemed to be consistant and positive. In spite of the small amounts of varience explained, it still seems that sports participation could be a contributing factor for positive academic outcomes.What is important to remember when making a judgment on the variance explained by sports participation on academic outcomes is that there are innumerable variables that may contribute to a student’s academic outcome. It is difficult to narrow down an explanation for academic outcomes to only a few variables that explain a great deal of the variance. So, when we see that sports participation can only explain about three to five percent of the variance for various factors contributing to academic outcomes this is in fact a considerable amount.Although the findings of these studies were able to find significant positive effects of sports participation on academic outcomes, these findings do not seem to be representative of the public’s perception. It has long been the belief of the public that sports participation has strong influences on academic outcomes. Various studies have investigated public perceptions of sports participation and its relationship to academics and found that it is strongly believed by the public that athletics and academics are strongly related (Goidel & Hamilton, 2006; Fairweather, 1988; Finkenberg & Moode, 1996).Regardless of these beliefs, there has yet to be a study that shows a strong relationship between athletics and academic outcomes that is representative of the public’s perceptions. It is unknown as to why the public so strongly believes in this relationship, but the fact still remains that the effect of athletics on academics remains too small to make an argument for encouraging students to participate in sports in order to achieve higher academic outcomes.Instead, encouragement for students to participate in sports should be done on the basis of improving student’s health and wellness, and should not be used as an alternative to proven methods for improving academic outcomes among students. Works Cited Broh, B. A. (2002). Linking Extracurricular Programming to Academic Achievement: Who Benefits and Why. Sociology of Education, 69-95. Eder, D. , & Kinney, D. A. (1995). The effect of middle school extracurricular activities on adolescents' popularity and peer status.Youth and Society, 298-324. Fairweather, J. S. (1988). Reputational Quality of Academic Programs: The Institutional Halo. Research in Higher Education, 345-355. Finkenberg, M. E. , ; Moode, F. M. (1996). College students' perceptions of the purposes of sports. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 19-22. Goidel, R. K. , & Hamilton, J. M. (2006). Strengthening Higher Education Through Gridiron Success? Public Perceptions of the Impact of National Football Championships on Academic Quality. Social Science Quarterly, 851-862.Jacobs, J. A. (2009). Review of The gender gap in college. Gender & Society, 722-724. Jordan, W. A. (1999). Black High School Students' Participation in Sc hool-sponsored Sports Activities: Effects on School Engagement and Achievement. Journal of Negro Education, 54-70. Miracle, A. W. , ; Rees, C. R. (1995). Lessons of the Locker Room: The Myth of School Sports by. Journal of American Studies, 292. Portes, A. (2000). The Two Meanings of Social Capital. Sociological Forum, 1-12. Rehberg, R. A. , ; Schafer, W. E. 1968). Participation in Interscholastic Athletics and College Expectations. American Journal of Sociology, 732-740. Snyder, E. E. , ; Spreitzer, E. (1974). Sociology of sport: An overview. The Sociological Quarterly, 467-487. Spreitzer, E. (1994). Does Participation in Interscholastic Athletics Affect Adult Developement? A Longitudinal Analysis of 18-24 Cohort. Youth and Society, 368-387. Stiles, D. A. , Gibbons, J. L. , Sebben, D. J. , ; Wiley, D. C. (1999). Why adolescent boys dream of becoming professional athletes.Psychological Reports, 1075-1085. Videon, T. M. (2002). Who Plays and Who Benefits: Gender, Interscholastic Athl etics, and Academic Outcomes. Sociological Perspectives, 415-445. Wells, R. H. , ; Picou, J. S. (1980). Interscholastic Athletes and Socialization for Educational Achievement. Journal of Sport Behavior, 119-128. Zentner, H. , ; Parr, A. R. (1968). Social status in the high school: An analysis of some related variables. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 253-264.

Dramatic point Essay

This is the pivotal moment in the play, as it is when John realises he would rather die than have his name blackened. John does not want his sons to have a name associated with witchcraft, â€Å"I have three children – how may I teach them to walk like men in the world†¦?†Ã‚  He also does not want his friends and family to think that he had dealt with the devil. He says that he has confessed to God, and that is enough, â€Å"God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!† John then rips up the parchment. This is a very dramatic point in the play as the ripping of the parchment can be seen as a metaphor for his own life; being destroyed at his own will, as he has chosen to die at this point. Therefore John takes back his confession and is condemned to death. This shows how John has great courage, as he feels he only has to answer to God.  The relationship between John and Elizabeth it at its peak, during the end of the scene. Their relationship is at the highest point in the play, as they are saying goodbye for the very last time. John and Elizabeth are very emotional at this point, as a result this causes dramatic tension on stage, which is felt by audience causing them to become further engaged in the couple’s relationship. During this scene, when the couple realises that it is their last moment together, Elizabeth expresses the guilt she had suppressed for so long. She blames herself for the affair, because she thinks she did not show love to John, â€Å"myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me†¦ it were a cold house I kept†. John asks Elizabeth for her forgiveness however she insists that she is in no place to forgive him, only God can do so. This can be quite a shock to the audience as they would expect her to forgive John. However it shows how they have both united in the belief of Gods Judgement, not of any man or woman’s. Elizabeth expresses tells John how in heaven God will forgive him â€Å"He have his goodness now.†Ã‚  Throughout the play there are many points at which tension is created which leads to a very dramatic overall effect. Stage directions, language and punctuation and effects are all key elements in creating tension in this novel. This engages the audience and can help them to empathise with characters and understand the plot. For example dramatic tension if effectively created during the scene in which Elizabeth is called to the court room and asked why she sacked Abigail. John and Abigail have their backs turned, so Elizabeth cannot communicate with either of them, Elizabeth’s actions show how she is uncertain whether she should tell the truth or not and therefore blacken her husband’s name, or commit a sin by lying to save her husbands integrity.  There are many different ways in which tension is effectively created in the Crucible, all of which have a dramatic impact on the audience. for In the Crucible Miller uses allegory which helps the themes run throughout the play and to comment indirectly to the events happening during America in the 1950’s.