Final Team Paper

Business Research Method I Timothy Trautman, Kawaun White, Guillermo Lecca, and Germaine Washington QNT/561 January 15, 2013 Dr. Anthony Matias Abstract The research statement and motivation that will be analyzed is how to recycle at Starbucks in the most cost effective and efficient method. The company is facing multiple challenges but barriers from municipalities and training employees are two of its most difficult challenges. The methodology and research is based on the action research design and will detail how we get our results.The result of our research indicates that recycling will be successful depending on the belief of the employee and customers. The conclusion of the analysis will show that recycling may be a personal preference but if the company can produce data that verifies it’s environmental and financial benefits people may support the idea. Starbucks – Business Research Method I The objective of this analysis is to research a question that applies to a chosen organization.The research will include an explanation of the operational definitions, dependent variables, independent variables, and characteristics specifics to our research. In addition, the analysis will also identify, analyze and research these objectives while conveying how they relate to real life applications. Starbucks will be the focus of the research and the operational dilemma will be recycling and how to implement it as effectively as possible. Organizational Dilemma Research Question Starbucks is a company that believes in the importance of recycling.Although, the process seems to possess a straight forward initiative in reference to recycling, there is a vast amount of material wasted that have some employees disgusted with Starbucks as an organization. â€Å"But while recycling seems like a simple, straightforward initiative, it’s actually extremely challenging. Not only are there municipal barriers to successful recycling in many cities, but it take s significant changes in behavior to get it right. One wrong item in a recycle bin can render the entire can unrecyclable to the hauler. (Starbucks 2012) Research Design In performing research for Starbuck’s recycling efforts, staff members will study a variety of methods that will incorporate information to ensure that the appropriate cycling is performed. The action research design would best describe the type of research to perform for this case study. This type of research design follow a characteristic cycle whereby initially an exploratory stance is adopted, where an understanding of a problem is developed and plans are made for some form of interventionary strategy.Then the intervention is carried out (the action in Action Research) during which time, pertinent observations are collected in various forms (Types of Research Design, 2013). This research will help the staff understand why and how the recycling method for Starbucks could be a good benefit for the company a nd the customers. Characteristics 1. Use for work or community situations. 2. Look to find a solution rather than testing out the main subject of the possible problem. 3.This will show how recycling is well known to use whether on a personal or business level in order to reserve and gain. 4. The researcher will not leave out any information whether bias or not. The type of research utilized allowed the staff of Starbucks will to show customers how recycling is very important to the company and the environment. Expressing the honest beliefs to recycling will let the public see how each cup sold should be recycled and in return the concerns of high pricing for Starbucks items would have the advantage to have a reduction. Dependent variableThe concern of making certain that the correct technique of recycling is taking place, this will involve each person. The research will show dependent variables because every customer will have the initiative to take part in a life-changing event. Ev en if Starbucks makes recycling a requirement to customers, in place of service, the customer still has the right to want to participate. When the process of recycling is in process the location that takes up the bins at that time will have the opportunity to make sure that each item is put into the correct place.Operational definition The data to collect from those customers recycling versus the customers who are not choosing to recycle will lead to a strong belief to Starbuck’s company that those customers who are passionate about the environment may not care to recycle. While there will be the data to collect from the customers that do not have the understanding of how recycling will help high prices for the cup of coffee purchased every morning. Conclusion The researcher for Starbucks should always take into consideration that every customer has his or her own opinion.Whether he or she wants to take a part of making sure that every recyclable item is done properly Starbuc ks is wasting the effort of what the company is doing for the environment. He or she will have to show customers and give more feedback as to why the customer and the company can continue to profit from recycling. References Starbucks (2012). Recycling and reducing waist. Retrieved form: http://www. starbucks. com/responsibility/environment/recycling Types of Research Design. (2013). Retrieved from http://libguides. usc. edu/content. php? pid=83009&sid=818072

Acetate department Essay

1) What were the objectives of the production reorganization at Acetate? The main objective of the production reorganization at Acetate Department was to improve production capacity, to increase productivity. 2) Why do you think the objectives of the reorganization were not realized, even though no employees lost their jobs, and salaries were increased? Even though no employees lost their jobs and salaries were increased, we can note that the productivity of the output productions of the company faced a colossal slowdown in the several months after the construction of work and technical training were completed. 3) Would the company have been better served leaving the production system as it was ? Yes, because if the company didn’t change the organizational structure of the Acetate Department, the firm would not be facing losses as a result of the mistakes made by some of the operators. 4) Imagine you were hired as an external management consultant to come up with a plan to address the problems at Acetate. How would you go about developing a strategy, and what would that strategy involve? Production was almost identical under the old technology, absenteeism had increased markedly, and several judgemental errors by operators had resulted in substancial losses. The principal reason for these is the lack of motivation, as work in this department became a routine for the employees. Even though no one was dismissed, the workforce in the department was reduced. Working became boring, and the department was not a pleasant place in which to work anymore for them. The Acetate Department was completely

A Study Of A Caucasian Preschool Student

however, they spell Cherokee as Tsalagi. Tsalagi was an Iroquoian language invented by a Native American Scholar. Moreover, a scholar named Lizette Peter published a scholarly journal article called â€Å"Our Beloved Cherokee: A Naturalistic Study of Cherokee Preschool Language Immersion.† In this article, she mentioned how and why the Cherokee language speakers have decreased over the years. â€Å"Since sustained contact with the British in about 1700, Cherokee people have struggled with social, political†¦ dieting to technology to study habits. The following literature review will take a look at four surveys that were taken place on college campuses to see what is needed to properly collect data. In spring of 2009 between April and May, The Project Information Literary team decided put out a survey to further understand the usage of Wikipedia among college students and here is how they did it. First they had to create the question on the survey. They did this by creating an 11 student focus groups across†¦ David S. Kreiner. â€Å"Student Perceptions of Study Time.† Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research 19.1 (2014). Google Scholar. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. The first part of the research focuses on the difference between perceived study time and actual study time as well as how this affects students’ progress. A few interesting hypotheses were brought up in the research. Basically, they state that students overestimate the time needed to complete arbitrary academic tasks and that students, who practice time†¦ read to your child. What are your personal biases? (if you feel uncomfortable mentioning a few, just let me know by stating that) †¢ I would say before reading this book that I had similar biases that were stated in the book. That young non-Caucasian students struggle greatly in school. This book helped me realize and see how important my teaching and other teachers teaching really is! †¢ Last year, when I got stuck in Freshman Seminar as a 24-year old and already college graduate, I definitely†¦ Data This research study takes place in a private preschool that is located in the middle of a semi-rural area. The town that the preschool resides is home to less than three thousand residents (By Type, 2016). In the county the school is placed in, there are just under three-hundred thousand residents (By Type, 2016). Of all whom reside in the county, there are over one-hundred thousand unemployed persons, and less than twelve-hundred students are enrolled in a private preschool (By Type, 2016). The†¦ are two different groups of participants in the study who were chosen for the study arbitrarily. The goal of the study was to find the best way to help students learn better. The researcher chose to use quizzes that were given on a weekly basis. Since the quizzes are only a very small part of the students ' final grade, it is more logical to conclude that the investigator would use the exams that were given to the students as a better measure of student learning than their marks on the weekly quizzes†¦ As an international student study abroad, everyone will face lots of challenges when we came to the United States. We should overcome the language problem, loneliness, suit for the local food and etc. Now I have been the United States near two years, and I am going to give some suggestions for freshman to solve these challenges. The language challenge is the most common problem, it include daily talking and academic language. It was really hard for me when I arrived the United States, I cannot†¦ of the Social Studies class. This will be done by a more creative, pro-active, attentive, participating matter. Teacher should be able to observe the difference of students participating, successfully identifying amendments within the first 10 and comparing/contrast each. They will assist making sure students is on task, and actively socializing among peers. This is called terminal performance objective. Basically is describing what the target goals and intentions of what students have learned toward†¦ How Should Students Study? Learning is a challenging process and learning habits have always been an intriguing topic for researchers, but this topic is the greatest concern to us, the students. Students learn a variety of things in a limited time, and they would benefit from the so-called learning strategies. It appears that how information is presented not only changes what we have learned but also affects how well we have acquired it. Thus, I am going to talk about two learning strategies – the†¦ Measurement of this performance will be ascertained by separating students into two diverse classrooms. This study will examine the effects of child-directed play, teacher-directed play, and strenuous physical activity on the achievement of preschool students. For the first test, Classroom A will remain as a control group and receive a standard lesson with no activity. Classroom B will receive this same lesson after a period of child-directed play. A second lesson will be taught, but the control†¦

Final exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Final exam - Assignment Example with some decrees and cannons, some of which included the Biblical canon, sacred tradition, the concept of salvation in church, sacraments, the order to manner of conducting the mass as well as the veneration of saints. After the council, the Catholic administration elected Sixtus V as its head, in 1585, this new pope did all he could to avoid any confrontation and protect the decrees and ways of the Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church, several instruments came up in order to strengthen the practice of spiritual matters and the working of church. One of this was the introduction of the Jesuits, who were a priestly order created in the 1500s by the then Saint Ignatius of Loyola. This was group was said to be soldiers of Christ, since their main mandate was to clean the church off some evil practices, just like Jesus did during his time. They advocated for the dismissal and indulgence in Simony, besides emphasizing on the need for prayer among the Catholic faithful. This Group was very instrumental at that time, since they were able to bring back spirituality in the Catholic Church, something that had long been forgotten and bypassed with other events. In order to make prompt inquiries and solving many disagreements in the Catholic Church, Roman inquisition came about. Roman inquisition, as used in the Catholic Church, was a special scheme of different tribunals, which came about in the 16th Century, and were brought about by Holy See. Its main functions in the Catholic Church were to make prosecutions to individuals that were found guilty and responsible for a series of crimes in the church and the areas that were served by the church (OMalley 67). Among some of cases that they dealt with included that of Galileo as well as Giordano Bruno, which saw Galileo placed under house arrest and all his works banned, as they were considered a heresy. On the other hand, Giordano Bruno faced a different fate as compared to Galileo, after his investigations, he was

Human Resource Management - recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Resource Management - recruitment - Essay Example Then, the next step is to select an appropriate channel or media to advertise the job vacancy. An appropriate media would be the one that could reach the potential candidate for this vacancy. With that then the resume received shall be screen through and only those short listed will be call for psychometric test1 and some job related exercise ie. planning2 and analysis3 exercise (UTS, 2003). Such test and exercise would help to eliminate unsuitable candidates to the interview. The interview is administered by the immediate supervisor or the human resource committee. Interview questions are prepared corresponding to KASO (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics) criteria. Thus the interview could be considered structured. Besides the KASO assessment, an understanding on the responsibilities and expectations should be communicated with the candidate during the interview. Sometimes a second interview might be necessary for the interviewer to make a decision of recruitmen t. Finally, appoint the most suitable candidate to the vacancy. (6-5 points) : Response covers in detail all of the elements listed. The situation described is highly complex, similar to what may be encountered in this position. Response indicates that the candidate fully understood and considered the issues involved, and that he/she took proactive steps to ensure timely completion of the assignments. (4-3 points) : Response covers 3 of the elements listed, but is less thorough than an exceptional response. The situation described is similar in complexity to what is routinely encountered in this position. Response indicate

External and Internal Environments Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

External and Internal Environments - Term Paper Example This also indicated that this firm is the 14th most profitable when compared with many other firms of its size (Kurtz & Boone, 2011). Upon considering further metrics, Forbes Global 2000 ranked General Electrics as the third largest company in the world. This paper seeks to discuss the internal and external environments of General Electrics Company. Segments of the general environment The general environment revolves around every condition in the outside or external environment, which is part of a background context of a managerial decision-making. In simple terms, the general environment of an organization is generally the outer layer that widely affects the organization indirectly and in many ways (Heide, 2008). Typically, environmental issues that may affect an organization consist of the social cultural conditions, economic conditions, technological conditions, political and legal conditions and demographic conditions. With reference to the General Electrics Company, two segments of the general environment would rank highest in their influence on this corporation. They are technological conditions and economic conditions (Griffin, 2012). Particularly, every company that chooses to invest heavily in technological advancements stands to benefit a lot especially when it outshines its competitors. General Electronics deals with products and services wherein technology plays a huge role in their success or failure. For instance, General Electrics offers healthcare products (P&Ls) for surgical operations (Kurtz & Boone, 2011). In this business, General Electrics offers a market-leading healthcare in interventional imaging and intra-operative that facilitates guidance for minimal invasive surgical procedures. Imaging products for surgery are integral in more than one sector as they are also pragmatic in other fields, which include orthopedics, general surgery, neurosurgery, cardiology, urology, GI and for specified processes such as management of pain (Heide, 2008 ). Indeed, technological conditions rank highest in its influence on the General Electrics operations. This is so because the world is today flooding with different ways of meeting the same goal but with different means indicating that technology is playing a huge role in influencing the functioning of many corporations (Ireland, Hoskisson, R. & Hitt, 2008). Economic conditions would also rank highest in their influence on the General Electrics provision of services since economic conditions change with time. Profoundly, a company’s performance and operations depend highly on the economic conditions of the time (Ireland, Hoskisson, R. & Hitt, 2008). Economic conditions would rank highest in influencing the operations and performance of this corporation because uncertainty regarding current global economic status poses great risk as its core consumers may continue postponing their spending decisions (Kurtz & Boone, 2011). This could be in response to negative financial news, u nemployment, tighter credit and/or deterioration of the asset or income values. Hence, economic conditions would rank highest in influencing the service provision of this corporation given such uncertainties could cause material negative effects on demand of the company’s products and services (Griffin, 2012). General environmental factors like the economic conditions and technological state have a heightened rank in the operations an

International Organisational Behaviour - What is meant by culture Essay

International Organisational Behaviour - What is meant by culture shock - Essay Example The role of culture is significant as culture is the core values of the individual (McLaren, 1998). Moreover, culture has a significant role in the overall personality and how one acts, behaves, how he is motivated, how he feels about different situations, how capable he is to manage difficult situations, how he or she speaks, how one acts and reacts etc. All these characteristics are highly critical for every individual and these characteristics for the individual in either making him a successful individual or making the individual an unsuccessful person. So it reveals that culture has a significant role in the life of the individual. Moreover, culture varies from one society to another as people live their lives and therefore it is important to understand and analyze the differences among different culture and how different people behave (Bochner, 2001). So this report would discuss such important aspects of humans. The aim of this assignment would be to provide a clear definition of the term cultural shock along with the elements and symptoms of cultural shock. Furthermore, this assignment would highlight the understanding of international organizational behavior with examples from daily life. In addition to all these, some of the ways to bridge the cultural confusion or differences are also mention in the assignment. Cultural Shock Cultural shock or culture shock is a common term that indicates the confusing and nervous feelings of an individual after leaving an environment that he/she was familiar with. The best example that could be observed regarding the cultural shock is the migration of people from one country to another. This migration often leads to psychological distress due to the unfamiliar environment and culture (Bochner, 2001). Culture shock aims to describe the unfamiliarity that an individual may have or face when entering different culture (Paige 1993). In addition, Kalervo Obe rg (1960) indicated that this term was to be applicable only on those people that travel from one place to another into new cultures. According to Adler (1975), cultural shock is a combination of emotional reactions when an individual is provided with a new culture which has no or little meaning and can lead to misunderstanding of new culture and experiences. The definition provided by Weaver (1968) indicates the concept of cultural shock in daily life. According to Weaver (1968), cultural shock is much like common cold as there is no particular way or approach to prevent it as a person may catch it over and over again. Each time a person tries to adjust or readjust his culture according to the place and environment, he/she go through cultural shock. Cultural shock is referred as a distress experience of a person as a result of unfamiliarity with the culture. Losing of all those factors that made the person a part of the society and community is one of the major reasons of cultural shock (Oberg, 1960). Furthermore, six aspects of cultural shock were identified by Oberg (1960) that includes i. Psychological adjustments that leads to strain ii. Sense of loss and unfamiliarity which leads to deprivation iii. Lack of social recognition iv. Confusion in terms of role and loss of self-identity v. Awareness regarding cultural differences followed by surprise and anxiety vi. Low morale as the person might not be able to cope with the new

Earthquakes in the Xi Chuan Province Research Paper

Earthquakes in the Xi Chuan Province - Research Paper Example Being near an active fault, the area regularly experiences light tremors due to the constant movement of the plates. However, there are instances where big, catastrophic earthquakes hit the region. An example of which happened on May 12, 2008, 06:28:04 (UTC) which according to official reports, seventy thousand people were killed, three hundred seventy four thousand people were injured, and about seventeen thousand more were reported missing. (Chen, Qiao, and Liu 809) To make a good equivalence, the Xi Chuan province is like Charleston of the United States. These places when they were established were not really plagued by catastrophe but, throughout the years, they became known to be the â€Å"center of calamity† for their respective countries. (Steinberg 5) For most people, inside and especially outside China, we only hear about these great catastrophes through the reports given by media. Although those in the media are sworn to present news in the most accurate way possible , it is hard for get such an accurate representation. There will always be bias and only snippets of the catastrophe can be recorded at one time. The perspective from which the report was derived is important in determining how a catastrophe will be seen by viewers inside and outside the immediate areas affected. Responses from these reports will ultimately determine how people will act with regard to the needs and situation of those struck with the calamity. There are several perspectives that a disaster report might come from. A disaster can be seen through the eyes on a local who has experienced the tragedy first hand, or through the eyes of an outsider, a foreign journalist perhaps that was tasked to report on the case. Another and more prevalent perspective, especially in a socialist country like China, is the perspective given by the government. These perspectives are the key that determines how locals as well as the policy makers will prepare their disaster management and pre paredness plan in for future catastrophes. Loopholes in the presentation of facts or exaggerations in the number of lives lost or damage to property can adversely affect these efforts to reduce damage and mortality for earthquakes. Aside from the perspectives, there are also a lot of ways wherein the reports on the disaster can be expressed. Newspapers and Blogs carry text and images regarding the aftermath of the disaster. Television and radio broadcasts also carry video and audio information about the activities and current situation of those affected. Incorporation different types of media and harnessing different modes of getting information disseminated can create a big effect on how a disaster is perceived and might well be the key determinants to the immediacy as well as the appropriateness of the actions instigated in response to the catastrophe. In this regard, the study intends to analyze how the Xi Chuan earthquakes are represented in media through text, videos, photo doc umentaries, and press releases. The study tries to connect how these reports affect the views of the locals, and even the rest of the world regarding earthquakes in the Xi Chuan province and will also try to determine the implications of these reports on the disaster management and preparedness plans for the area, the conduct of the rescue and relief operations as well as its effect on other relevant sectors. Literature Review A brief history of the study of seismic activity in the Xi Chuan basic region was detailed in the study of Han and Jiang (231). The Xi Chuan –

Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic Essay

Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic - Essay Example Also weekly charts will be created so every dentist can see how many appointments he or she will have this week. Information about previous appointments and treatment also will be stored in Information System. So when returning patient comes dentist will have information about his or her problems even if patient has forgotten it. A data flow diagram (DFD) for the Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system. A data flow diagram can also be used for the visualization of data processing (structured design). It is common practice for a designer to draw a context-level DFD first which shows the interaction between the system and outside entities. This context-level DFD is then "exploded" to show more detail of the system being modeled. Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are one of the three essential perspectives of SSADM. Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) is a method used in the Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic for analysis and design of system development. The method was launched in 1981 and is open standard. (Wikipedia, 2006) The sponsor of a project of the Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic and the end users will need to be briefed and consulted throughout all stages of a systems evolution. With a dataflow diagram, users are able to visualize how the system will operate, what the system will accomplish and how the system will be implemented. Old system dataflow diagrams can be drawn up and compared with the new systems dataflow diagrams to draw comparisons to implement a more efficient system. Dataflow diagrams can be used to provide the end user with a physical idea of where the data they input, ultimately has an effect upon the structure of the whole system from order to dispatch to restock how any system is developed can be determined through a dataflow diagram. (Wikipedia, 2006) A data flow diagram of the Information System for Lawrence Dental Clinic illustrates the processes, data stores, and external entities in a business or other system and the connecting data flows. The four components of a data flow diagram (DFD) are: External Entities/Terminators/Sources/Sinks (represented by a square or oval) Processes (represented by a circle or rounded rectangle) Data Flows (represented by an arrow) Data Stores (represented by two parallel lines, sometimes

Economical Development of Chine Literature review

Economical Development of Chine - Literature review Example From the 1979 to 2005, the GDP of China has grown at an average of 9.6% annually (Morrison, 2006, p.3). At this pace at the end of the year 2010 China has became the second largest economy of the world after the United States. Before the year, the economy of Japan was the second largest economy. During the financial crisis, the export business of Japan has decreased but in the other hand the manufacturing industry of China has grown. The pace of economic growth of China has made the analysts to forecast that China will replace the United States as the largest economy of the world (BBC, 2011). The economic prosperity of a country can measure by the per capita personal income of the people of the country, the employment growth of the country, the population growth of the country, the average educational qualification of the people of the country (Muskegon Area Sustainability Coalition, 2012). For developing a country, it is necessary to develop all the parameters, which has mentioned e arlier by the researcher. Therefore, for developing all these parameters the banks and the government have to take necessary steps like to form some policies, which would help to increase the income of the fellow citizens. China has taken such steps for improving the financial condition of the people and the country. In the decade of 1960 and 1970s, the banks acted as the cahier of the Chinese government. There was no equity market that time in China. In the decade of 1980s, two major reforms changed the structure of the Chinese economy. The commercial banking function of the country has separated from the central banking function. The mono-banking system of the country also broke by the government. There are three tiers in the banking system. The first tier of the banking system comprises of the policy banks of China, which includes the Agricultural Development Bank, Import and Export bank and the state development banks. The objective of these banks is to provide the needed financ e to the government for various projects. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Construction Bank of China and Bank of China are among the second tier banks of China. During the reform period, the second tier banks have provided a large amount of loan to the government and the people also. The third tier banks of China include Huaxia bank, Shenzhen Development Bank, Pudong Development Bank, which are the regional banks of China, and the main financer of the state owned enterprises. There are also the financial institutions like the urban credit cooperatives and the rural credit cooperatives. The third tier banks and the non-banking financial institutions of China are more profit-oriented organizations. The loan rate of these organizations is more flexible and they are not there to lend to the government like the first and second tier banks. The first and second tier banks i.e. the policy banks and the four main banks (which are of the second tier) owne d by the central government completely, where, the third tier banks are owned by the states, or the large state owned enterprises or they owned by multiple shareholders. From the year 2001, the Chinese government has agreed to list minority stakes of the commercial bank in the stock market and the stakes are there for the foreign investors. Though it has been reported that the development was not so successful; but

Postmodernism Essay Example for Free

Postmodernism Essay Different material, methods and media’s have been used in postmodern art, such as painting fine art, technology, architecture and fashion. A study of various types of powerful societal changes through time is tackled through art. These changes comprise of gender identity, globalisation growth, political power etc. Introduction The expression of Art has always been influential; many artists use it as a tactic to exploit political truths and ideas. Postmodernism is a â€Å"movement reacting against modernism, especially by drawing attention to former conventions† (pg821). This form of art allowed a new way of looking at reality in a society that is constantly reassessing its culture and values. Postmodern art focuses on a mixture of high and low cultures and dominant ideas; it went against repression, sexism, racism, political power, and violence. Deconstructing truths criticises and analyses contemporary issues. These deconstructionist feed on controversy, artists such as Alessandro Mendini, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer create colourful and ruinous, luxurious and outrageous artwork. The art allowed radical freedom to design, funny gestures confrontation and occasionally absurd. It was a style that has new self-awareness. Postmodernism rebelled against modernism; it was an attack on what had come before as it explored and disparaged any unspoken leading concepts and social customs. The disillusionment from World War II heavily influenced postmodern art. The style doesn’t have a clear central hierarchy or organising principle; it uses melancholy, extreme complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, diversity and interconnectedness. Loud colours, bold patterns, historical quotation and whit are used. During the 60s, critical practices of postmodernism were applied mainly in Italy. The idea of ‘Function follows form’ is abandoned. Exaggerated proportion and outrageous texture for the sake of decoration. Designers such as Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini who challenged social norms and the traditional taste of design. Italian born designer and architect, Alessandro Mendini played a part in postmodern design. He creates graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architectures. His work of ‘Destruction of the Monumento da Casa (Household Monument) is an enlarged photograph of a modernist chair. This literally displays the destroying of the past, the end of modernism and the beginning of postmodernism. It was an attack on what had come before, Mendini brought the chair to a stone quarry and set the chair on fire, photos were captured during the process in 1974. Popular culture, irony, historicism, eclecticism and pluralism are embraced by postmodernism. The artist believed that something new design would grow from the burning remains. One of the most iconic post-modern designs is the Proust armchair by Alessandro Mendini. He chose to add Signac painting as the pattern on a ready-made replica of an 18th century armchair. American language conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer is famous for her short statements. The postmodern fashion in the 80’s was a time when women were in power and this was mirrored in physicality and clothes. The artist uses modern information to expose and address the politics of discourse. The ‘Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise’ by Hozler is one of her many controversial artworks. Jenny Hozler worked outside the regular conventions, as she believed that simplified phrases are the quickest way for everyone to comprehend. A lot of Jenny Hozler’s work victimises the woman, this method allows the audience to basically read the violence male dominance against women. Words such as ‘Crack the Pelvis so she lies right, this a mistake. When she dies you cannot repeat the act†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ the brutal yet vivid words suggest male power over women. In order to communicate to foreign countries, her work was translated multiple times. Hozler’s techniques include a range of multimedia, posters, hats, T-shirts and L. E. D signs on large architecture. She received many negative feedbacks by the public, therefore, withdrew from her career until 1993. The postmodern artist came back with a new approach to immaterial; she is still driven against murder plus sexual pleasure, hence initiated a new series named ‘Lustmord’. Fine Art is also found in post modernism. Techniques found in painting were super-realism, mannered, academic, neoclassical, decorative, and self-conscious stylization. Originality had ended and there is a lot past styles referencing. Postmodern artist, David Ligare paintings looked extremely realistic. He focused on still life painting, Ligare believes that there is no limit and virtually anything now could be considered art, hence makes him a postmodern artist. David Ligare does narrative paintings based on Greco/Toman culture. Marcel Duchamp’s artwork incorporated jokes to add humour to his visual. Duchamp has made numerous pastiche works; his most famous is the ‘L. H. O. O. Q’, which stands for ‘Elle a chaud au cul’. It was a rebel against traditional art was the dominant idea of the time. Duchamp’s added moustache and beard to the postcard with the Mona Lisa, which contradicts regular conventions of the time. He wanted to take artistry lightly; it was an act of rebel against convention. This technique became known as ‘appropriation’, it is the idea of manipulating famous historical art pieces. This practice has become common in today’s art. Andy Warhol works exemplifies the final stage of postmodernism. Warhol’s paintings had always had something controversial, as theorist Fredric Jameson states, ‘they ought to be powerful and critical political statements’ Andy Warhol is a contemporary artist, which expresses the postmodernism of society though his artistry. Through his artwork, his expression seems to be very anarchy and chaotic, especially the major use of the primary and bold colours whereas in the mainstream artistry it is very subtle due to the dark or complimentary colours which can often be seen as conservative. Warhol’s ‘Dollar Sign’ from 1981 deconstructs the truth about money. The painting suggest money’s strength, its addiction and tactic for conspiracy, His artwork were powerful and held critical political statements because they were billboard-like images. One of his pieces was of the North Korean leader, Kim John IL. Normally in society Kim John IL would not be even spoken of due to the high political power he has over North Korea. And the fragility between other nations that Kim John IL has. Andy Warhol has done a piece of this leader using contrasting and chaotic colours that seemed random and unusual. Warhol used appropriation, taking and creating pastiche references. As Andy Warhol states, â€Å"Art is what you can get away with†. Yasumasa Morimura uses humour with referencing to historical art. His postmodernist artworks have the idea of rejecting a single fixed meaning in an image or artwork. He is a controversial Japanese artist who displaces societal currents in Japanese culture. Western assimilation, capitalism and gender values are shown in his designs. Yasumasa is an illusive creator with no boundaries; this sets his work off to a guttural response. He is best known for mimicking great subjects, in particular western art. One of his works uses historical art as reference is the ‘Blinded by the Light’ 1991, which was inspired by the ‘ Parable for the Blind’ by Pieter Brueghel in 1568. Morimura symbolises a satirical message on Western invasion. Yasumasa Morimura caused controversy by highlighting historical influences and transforming into the postmodern art world with eastern and western culture, sexuality and gender identity. His background influenced Morimura’s, he was an outsider dominated by western culture and art. Technology advancement such as digital editing allowed his work to become flawless. In the racist imagination of western culture, they perceive Asian men with weak physically, equivalent to a little white girl. Morimura embraces his influences and mixes his sexual influence with modern culture. This is reflected in his series of self-portraits, e. g. Morimura as Monroe. Throughout the postmodern period, globalisation had become widespread, the artist felt as if he was invaded by foreign ideas and culture. In response, he invaded western culture through their art, by slapping his face on the Mona Lisa or the Infanta Margarita. Famous artist, Barbara Kruger exploited truths through her works of being a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor. Rather than creating her own images, she uses images and juxtaposes them. She used her techniques and skills of being a graphic designer and worked on political, social feminist provocations, religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes, consumerism, corporate greed, and power. Her techniques consist of using media sources and words and directly collaging them over each other. Her signature look comprises of cropped, large-scale, black and white photographic pictures against black, white and red sans serif letterform. They hold raucous, pithy, ironic sayings. The poster, ‘Your Body is a battleground’ proposes the idea of re-conditioning gender stereotypes. Originally, the image was used in Washington DC to advocate a pro-choice position and reproductive rights for women. This raises the issue of power, patriarchy, stereotyping and consumption. The poster has a black and white image of a woman’s face that is split symmetrically with direct eye contact. The positive and negative space could highlight ‘good vs. bad’. Judging from the woman’s hair and makeup, she appears to be a housewife. The image represents that women cannot be sold, it illustrated a political setting and subsequently their identities are favourably polished.

Religion, Poverty and Wealth Essay Example for Free

Religion, Poverty and Wealth Essay Describe how followers of this religion may put their ideas into practice. Helping others is a big part of being a Christian, because of the importance of the commandment Love thy neighbour. Since the 19th Century, Christians have been setting up homes for the poor and needy. However recently there has been an increase in awareness of poorer people, putting more pressure on people to help others. A very popular way of helping others is by setting up, and giving to charities. There are many different charities, both Christian and non-Christian, which offer a wide range of help. The Church of England Childrens Society helps to better the lives of underprivileged children; The Hospice Movement aims to help the dying spend their last days in a loving, caring environment; the LArche Community helps disabled people. Christian Aid is one of the most famous Christian charities. It was set up in Britain and Ireland at the end of the Second World War, with its main aims being to improve the quality of peoples lives, particularly those of refugees who were struggling to cope with the aftermath of World War II. It also funded Churches to help repair damage caused by the war. Gradually over time, the work of Christian Aid began to involve other countries around the world. It now has an income of approximately à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 million a year, and there are forty churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland who are a part of Christian Aid. Most of the money, which they make through door-to-door collections and donations from members of the public and various churches, is put towards development work to help people in the long term. Another famous charitable organisation is The Samaritans. The Samaritans was set up in 1953 when Chad Varah, a priest, was horrified to find out that three suicides took place every day in London. He believed that the best way to help someone who was contemplating committing suicide was to talk to them. So he set up a phone in his church and advertised that people could phone for helpful advice if they were feeling suicidal. Today The Samaritans speak to 2 250 000 people a year. Aside from charities, many Christians feel that they should give a small percentage of their wages to help the less fortunate. Sir John Templeton grew up in a poor family on a farm in Tennessee. He was educated at both Yale and Oxford University, after which he became a financial consultant in New York. Throughout his life he gave 10% of his earnings to help the poor (a process called tithing). Eventually he became very wealthy running a multimillion dollar investment company, where he successfully managed funds for over two million people worldwide. In 1972 he started the Templeton prize to be awarded for progress in religion, which is worth more money than the Nobel Peace Prize. Fifteen years later he was knighted for services to philanthropy. In 1992, he sold his investment company for a colossal $400 million. He still gives money to support projects around the world which further understanding of spirituality and the importance of the human character. George Macleod felt so strongly about helping others that, in 1938, he formed a Christian Community on Iona, an island off of Scotland. He found volunteers to learn building, stone masonry and carpentry skills and together they rebuilt Ionas ruined abbey. After that he opened a centre to provide shelter for young people from across the world, and to allow them to live in a close community. The people of the community feel it is more important to live like this and share everything than to be rich and not live as closely. They take it in turns to cook, clean, garden and work away. When they are not working, they pray. This is very similar to the ideas expressed by Jesus according to the Bible. The first Christians followed Jesus teachings very closely. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Not only are there many passages in the Bible that tell Christians how to treat the poor, there are also some in the Old Testament. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear. Isaiah 58:6-8 Another example of how Christians helped the poor was the Liberation Theology movement. This started in the late 1960s when the poorer inhabitants of South American countries decided that they didnt want to be exploited any more. They made a decision to stand against the corrupt governments, with inspiration from the words of Jesus: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has appointed me to preach good news to the poor. The Christian followers of Liberation Theology try to fight out against poverty, lack of human rights and the exploitation of certain peoples. Many Priests, especially Oscar Romero, involved in this endanger their lives by speaking out against their government. Romero knew he was in danger, but felt that it was his Christian duty to fight against oppression and injustice. He was shot dead in March 1980 whilst conducting mass. In South America, many people see him as a great martyr. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them. All Christians feel it is their duty to God to help the poor and needy, and to be kind to those who need their kindness.

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI