Research Korner: Environmental Economics

Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan

Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 2.1 Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan             The service industry has greatly contributed to the economic growth of Taiwan. Basically, Clark, H. (2001) stated that the hospitality and tourism industry is expected to continue growing within the succeeding years. Actually, the success of the industry is partly attributed to the external factors providing an environment suitable for business such as the political and economic stability of the market and tourism efforts of the government to encourage and draw visitors from other countries and partly from the management and business practices developed and maintained by the individual businesses conducive to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.             The vibrant hospitality industry developed after passing through an industry cycle due to both external and internal factors affecting the number of tourists whose needs the industry meets. The hotel industry in Taiwan is delineated into international and domestic hotels based on business ownership and domestic hotels are also subdivided into domestic company owned hotels and family owned hotels depending on the scale of operation and ownership of the hotel (Dennis et. al, 2003). These hotels differ in a variety of ways according to the manner that they utilize their available and created resources and business strategies to actualize their business goals.             Despite the differences in the scale of operation, organizational structure and business strategies of international and domestic hotels, the common objective is to utilize and maximize their resources to achieve a high brand equity founded upon efficient and excellent quality of service that results to customer satisfaction and eventually to customer loyalty.  According to Nguyen and Leblanc, (2001), international and domestic hotels build a strong industry through their ability to cater to the diverse needs of customers in terms of price, customer relationship, accommodation arrangements, and other diverse hospitality needs of customers. Although there is competition among international hotels, international and domestic hotels, and among domestic hotels it cannot be denied that these hotels provide distinct hospitality services giving customers options for their service preferences.             As discussed, the Taiwan hospitality industry developed after experiencing a business cycle with its initial high during the implementation of the Six-Year National Development Plan applicable for the years 1991 to 1996, but becomes low with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, and a rise again in the performance of the hospitality industry at present (Global Hospitality News Archive, 2003).             During the initial high of the hospitality industry in the mid 90s, the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan reported that building the hospitality industry requires leadership on the part of the government and the leading hotels within the industry to provide both administration and guidance to direct the industry towards growth; comprehensive and holistic facilities planning for the industry; and sufficient goal-oriented training for the employees of the hospitality industry (Chen, 1996).  The result of the Six-Year National Development Plan is the increase in the gross domestic product of the country by 1.1 percent for the period 1990 to 1994 (Bailey, 1996) and .7 percent in 1997 (Hsieh, 1998). The economic growth spurred the development of the hospitality and tourism industry in Taiwan. The 1997 Annual Report on Tourism showed that the composition of the visitors to Taiwan were mostly from other Asian countries who were also experiencing growth. Close to 76 percent of the tourists in Taiwan were Asians with the remaining percentage from North America, Europe and other regions. Apart from international tourism, the economic growth that Taiwan experienced also proved helpful to the hospitality industry by encouraging domestic tourism (Wise, 1993). In 1996, the average number of trips within Taiwan was 2.99 increasing to 3.2 in 1997 as a result of economic growth and the policy of declaring public holidays (Hsieh, 1998). Economic growth translates to income for households and the empowerment to spend not only on their needs but also for leisure activities such as travel. The five-day workweek implemented in 1998 limited the time available for international travels resulting to the consumption of domestic hospitality and tourism industry services. The Tourism Bureau is strengthening international tourism through innovative leisure resorts and tourism packages. The visitor expenditure of foreign tourists amounted to 3.4 billion in 1997 with a US $193.56 average daily spending for every visitor. The cost of hotel accommodations amounted to around 50 percent of the daily spending. (Lu, 1999) The bureau also sought to create an environment conducive to the hospitality business by releasing a promotional brochure in different languages, using the internet as a marketing strategy, and participating in organizations for international tourism cooperation such as the East Asia Travel Association, American Society of Travel Agents and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. The industry expects to gain external support through government efforts to help the industry grow. In 2003, the industry experienced a rapid decrease in the occupancy rates because of the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS in the region.  In the May 2003 new report of the China Post, around 84 percent of hotels in Taiwan had a lower than 30 percent occupancy rate and 96 percent of the hotels in Taiwan incurred losses. In the survey made by Pan Asia Human Resource Corporation, 79 percent of the 2,452 hotels questioned viewed the effect of the SARS outbreak as very severe. The quarantine measure implemented in the Ho Ping Hospital resulted to the deterioration of 79.01 percent of hotels represented by 50 to 60 percent drop in occupancy rates resulting to losses. In an effort to prevent further losses, many of the hotels requested some of their employees to take unpaid leaves or take their annual leave, implemented salary cuts, and suspended the payment of salaries until business performance improves. The owners of firms have asked the government for a bailout plan. (Global Hospitality News Archive, 2003)             In just a few months, the industry development that the government and business owners sought to achieve was brought down by the SARS epidemic. Between April and May, all hotels tried to alleviate their losses by offering large discounts up to 70 percent of the original price in an effort to maintain the operations of the industry. Inter-industry collaborations were also in place such as the offer of a package that includes hotel accommodations as well as air fare for a discounted price. (Dennis et. al, 2003)             The government held an emergency meeting to develop a plan to help the hospitality and tourism industry. A plan to rescue the ailing airline transportation sector was implemented through the reduction of the fees for local airlines at the expense of government revenue. Tax cuts and exemptions were also planned for the other sub-sectors of the tourism industry. The legislature also approved the proposal preventing the local banks from not approving loans needed by the businesses within the tourism industry for short-term financing. (Dennis et. al, 2003)             In 2004, the SARS outbreak has been controlled leaving behind bankruptcies for the hotels and other businesses unable to cope up with the economic cost of the epidemic. By the end of 2004, the hospitality industry in Taiwan is still in the verge of development but fairing well because of the growth in economy with the vibrancy in the different industries after the arrest of the SARS epidemic.             At the end of 2005, the November 12 issues of Asia Times reported that the tourism industry in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong continue to grow as observed through the rampancy of hotel construction in the different business and tourism centers of the country. The rate of arrival of international visitors increased by 16 percent as a result of the increase in occupancy in the hotel industry. The growing hotel industry in Vietnam is expected to grow with China hosting several international events such as the 2005 Miss World and the upcoming 2008 Olympics. With a favorable business environment, the competition is expected to heat up requiring the management of the different hotels to develop and establish management and operations strategies to draw customers and achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty.               2.2 Building Brand Image             International and domestic hotels will be able to keep up with the demands of a growing market for the industry by making the industry service-based instead of price-based. International and domestic hotels set their respective prices based on service and not on price alone. The key component to brand management is the implementation of an integrated approach where companies are able to say what they can offer relative to their competition, do what they offer and promise to customers and confirm it through consistent practice. The value of saying, doing and confirming should be internalized in the company culture. (Cai and Hobson, 2004)             Building brand image to achieve competitive advantage in the hotel industry requires management to treat the service as experience goods (Nguyen and Leblanc, 2001).  In treating hospitality service as experience goods, establishments focus on providing a pleasant experience for customers to create the image that the hotel wants to portray to the market. However, the image is only established once the hotel is able to consistently do what it says to the satisfaction of the different needs of customers. Management will then direct all efforts of the company towards the creation of a company culture that provides a satisfactory service that meets the experience requirements of customers and eventually to achieve customer loyalty. It is after the achievement of a good brand image that the hotel can justify its price. The brand image justifies price and not the other way around.             Brand image is one of the factors that hotels should consider if they plan to achieve consumer-based brand equity. Brand image affects the development of a customer base of the hotel and the consequent improvement in financial performance (Kim, Kim & An, 2003). The development of a brand image should be based on the customer’s viewpoint. This means that a hotel should initially have updated information on the current trends in market demand before the company can formulate a plan to develop its brand image through customer satisfaction. The practice of providing total customer satisfaction was developed within the industry from knowing that customers require a hotel service that integrates accessibility and delivery of material needs with service.             Brand image is dependent upon the feelings that consumers and other establishments have about the organization in relation to the evaluation of other competing brands. Marketing activities, such as advertising and promotions, falls under the general image of the organization. Once the organization has built its brand image, it should maintain this image because a negative change in the way that the brand name is regarded reflects on a decrease in customers and consequently of revenue. It takes twice as hard to rebuild a good brand image rather than initially building it. There are different management areas that the business should focus on in developing a good brand image. The people tasked to build brand image should think of two things in planning a strategy. These things are first is to sell the service of the organization as a short-term goal and second is to build image in the long run. During the process of promoting the brand name, the company should apply integrated marketing communications to ensure the efficient introduction of the quality of service that the organization stands for. Image is related to the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. The company should integrate all available resources and recognize opportunities such as combining a strong image with an external opportunity to create a strategic advantage. A comprehensive analysis of the image of the organization and its strengths and weaknesses should be integrated to solidify the connection with customers. The brand image should consider the different consumer behavior to be able to introduce a consistent message with the target market. To be able to effectively communicate the brand image to the public, it is important that within the organization the message and the brand image are clearly defined. The image should identify the values or principles of the organization and the extent that the organization has established its position. The purpose of communicating brand image is to instill a consistent and stable impression among customers. The general impression that hotels should develop is quality of service in terms of amenities, personnel and meeting the particular needs of customers for the market to develop an impression of the organization. The significant perception is that of the consumers rather than the view of the managers about the organization. Brand image is consumer-based because their perception about the organization determines their propensity to make decisions in choosing a particular hotel and in enlisting again the services of the hotel in the future. Brand image in the hotel industry has different components, which are tangible and intangible. The tangible components include the services offered by the organization; the different hotel branches in terms of location and accessibility; the marketing communications strategy of the organization; the name and logo of the organization representing the brand image; and the employees of the organization who are the forerunners of brand image. The intangible components include the operational and human resource policies of the organization; the organizational culture determining the beliefs and practices of company personnel; the external environment and location of the company such as the accepted personal and business practices of the particular country where the organization operates; and the publicity that the organization gets especially from the media. Brand image plays an important role in the perspective of the consumer. The brand image gives an assurance to the customer that the decision to obtain the services of the chosen organization in unfamiliar settings is worth it. Brand image also assures the customer of quality service when the latter has no previous experience of the organization. The image perceived of the organization also lessens the time spent looking for accommodations when the image meets the experience needs of the customer. The brand image also determines the nature and extent of connection that the customer develops with the organization based on the perceived openness of the organization.                          Brand image also plays an important role from the point of view of the organization. A good brand image ushers the acceptability of change and developments within the organization such as the introduction of new services and the putting up of new branches in different locations. The brand image determines the ability of the organization to determine the price of its services. A consistent brand image and consistently meeting the needs of customers results to the return of customers and positive endorsements through word-of-mouth. The brand image not only attracts customers but also qualified employees willing to work to maintain the brand image. A good brand image attracts favorable reviews from industry experts. 2.3 Delivering Quality Service             Competitive advantage is achieved by many organizations through their offer of superior service quality (Schmenner, 1995), which is a harder thing to do than offering product quality because there are a lot of service factors that are intangible and cannot be completely controlled such as the decisions and actions of employees and the result of the interaction between employees and different customers. Moreover, the customer judgment on the quality of service is based on the perceptions of the service recipient’s perceptions and expectations causing a difficulty in identifying and correcting service failures. (Hays and Hill, 2000).             Achieving service quality requires the organization to focus on building and transmitting the importance of service quality to the members of the organization. The efforts and contributions of management and personnel should be directed towards a clear vision of delivery of superior service quality. Employees should be motivated to provide quality service in all aspects of the operations of a service organization such as hotels. Outstanding service organizations have strong vision, initially market their offered service internally, evaluate service and publish results. (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985) There are two factors that affect perceived service quality, which are employee motivation and vision and organizational learning (Hays and Hill, 2000).             Quality is a significant predictor not only of profitability but also of the respective market share of organizations in the market (Buzzell and Gale, 1987).  The primary actors involved in ensuring quality are the personnel of the organization. The attributes of the personnel of the organization directed towards the achievement of quality plays an important role in consequently achieving customer satisfaction. The attributes emphasized in the field of service are commitment (Farber and Wycoff, 1991), organizational culture (Collier, 1994), and service delivery environment (Schneider, 1980). Employee attributes in the achievement of quality service is significant because service quality starts with people (Hostage, 1975).             The qualities of empathy, courtesy and responsiveness of employees in service delivery when combined in the interaction of personnel and customer influence the perceptions of customers on quality. Service personnel plays a significant role in service delivery that they are perceived to be an integral part of the service. Service employees not only create service but they also form part of service delivery (Czepiel et. al, 1985). This highlights the importance of motivating employees to become conscious of improving their performance and maintaining a standard quality of service based on organizational goals.           Developing a standard quality of service of the organization requires the determination of the goals of the company and the process of learning and improvement until such that the organization is able to establish a service quality that substantiates its brand image. Learning can be done in two ways, which are learning from employees and learning from customers. The organization should implement both an internal and external approach to learning (Marquardt and Reynolds, 1994). The rate that organizations learn constitutes a competitive advantage for the organization (Senge, 1990).              The organization should consider feedback from the employees in evaluating the effectiveness of a service because it is the personnel who directly observe the reaction and hear the complaints and praises of customers. Organization should also consider the views of customers by integrating a feedback system in service delivery. On the part of employees, the regular meetings and evaluations may be considered as the venue for collating employee experiences and comments on the service delivered and the system of delivery. On the part of customers, quality control is a system of getting the feedback of customers (Argyris and Schon, 1978). The hotel can establish a customer service booth or provide a form or a telephone number where their complaints can be voiced and addressed. The organization should use the records of complaints to assess and investigate the validity of claims, determine areas requiring change and device the most effective manner of making the change within a reasonable span of time.             In the delivery of quality service requires both internal and external consideration.  Internal consideration involves the creation of an organizational vision, the motivation of employees towards the realization of the visions and the establishment of a system for evaluating performance to facilitate learning. External consideration refers to information on the service expectations of customers, the integration of these expectations in the goals of the organization, and the establishment of a feedback system to solicit the participation of customers in evaluating the quality of service of the organization and enhancing organizational learning. Offering quality service to substantiate the brand image of the organization is primarily used to achieve customer satisfaction and eventually customer loyalty. 2.4 Achieving Customer Satisfaction             Customer satisfaction is what sustains the operations of the organization because an unsatisfied customer will not do business with the organization again and dissatisfaction may also dampen potential referrals to the friends and business associates of the unsatisfied customer. Even if the organization implement the newest technology in building the hotel and designing individual  rooms, offer the most expensive items for the use of customers, and train their personnel but if these do not meet the particular needs of customers, then satisfaction is not attained. The measurement of customer satisfaction is through the perception of customers and their propensity to engage the service again.             There is a direct connection between service, satisfaction, sales and profit (Gerson, 1993). However, these cannot be achieved without the imposition of measurements for performance. Measuring the customer satisfaction is important because everything that the organization measures are completed, improved and mastered. Having a measure of customer satisfaction also provides a detailed learning of the factors considered by customers as crucial to their satisfaction that will form the basis for identifying areas for improvement and the efficient change management. Every aspect of customer satisfaction should be centered on the customer.             The definition of customer satisfaction is based on the service that the customer expects to receive to become satisfied. A customer is satisfied whenever an expectation, whether real or perceived, is met or superseded (Gerson, 1993).  It is important for the organization to know the expectations of the customer and to know this the organization should ask the customer. This is the reason why in all service organizations, the personnel always ask for the preference of the customer. Starting from the reservation of hotel accommodations, the customer is asked about his or her preferences from the type of rooms, the amenities that comes with the room and other special arrangements. During the receiving and stay of the customer, there may be particular requests that the service personnel have to meet. An organization is able to provide satisfactory service by knowing the preferences of customer and anticipating the possible requests that customers may make.             For the organization to measure the value of customer satisfaction, the company must first measure the cost of delivering a poor service. There are several measures for determining the cost to the organization of poor service. First is lost customer revenue, which refers to the money that the organization will loose because of the loss of customer to a competitor because of poor service. Second is lost opportunity revenue that is the loss of money because of the decrease in the revenue that could have been achieved when the customer engages the services of the organization again and when the satisfied customer refers the service organization to friends and business associates. Third is customer replacement cost, which refers to the expenses that the organization will incur in looking for new customers. If the organization full comprehends the implications of these losses, then the company will start to recognize the role of customer satisfaction and profit.  (Gerson, 1993)             In the hospitality industry, customer satisfaction is based on the expected ultimate hotel experience of the customer (Sigala and Leslie, 2005). People no longer engage the services of hotels for board and lodging but customers seek a hotel experience that includes the amenities of the hotel, the services offered, the attitude of personnel, the completeness of service, and the manner that the organization values its customers. Although price still remains to be the consideration of customers, there are customers who are willing to pay a higher price for hotels with an excellent brand image but they also expect top service in return.              A hotel experience becomes measurable in terms of revenue when it is deemed a memorable. The organization increases the value of its services by including memorable experiences to service delivery. This is because the decisions of customers to consume and choosing a particular hotel are determined by hedonistic and psychological aspects (Gretzel and Fesenmaier, 2003). The ultimate hotel experience is that which satisfies the hedonistic expectations of customers. The experience creates a connection between the organization and its brand image and the lifestyle of the customer in the context of the intentions of both parties. There are physical and psychological considerations in achieving the ultimate hotel experience, which are the physical components of the service such as amenities and comforts and the psychological components such as the ambiance of the hotel, attitude of personnel and the drive to fulfill the emotions that people want to feel in a hotel. 2.5 Achieving Customer Loyalty             A loyal customer is a client that engages the hospitality services of a hotel every time an opportunity arises. Customer loyalty refers to the fidelity that a customer has for a particular organization as a result of a consistent experience of satisfaction from the services of the particular hotel. (Bowen and Shoemaker, 1998). Mutual trust develops based on the expectation on the part of the customer that the hotel will consistently meet the needs of the customer and on the part of the organization that the customer will patronize its services.              Achieving customer loyalty and retention involves the implementation of plans that prevent customers from changing their hotel preference. There are three considerations in preventing customers from changing their preference. First is the context of the engagement of the services of the organization. The needs and requirements of customers change depending upon the change in their circumstances and it is important that a hotel can accommodate the expectations of customers despite the changes in the context of the service engagement. The quality of service should still be consistent despite the fact that the customer previously visited the hotel on business and returns for leisure. Second is the control that the organization has on the marketing mix to efficiently maximize resources to provide a pleasurable experience to the satisfaction of customers. Price, location, promotions and services are the different aspects of hotel operations that the organization can control. Management should ensure that the operation of the hotel is synchronized in the direction of achieving customer loyalty.  Third is the consideration of the customer in terms of the background and the demographics of the customer. The background of the customer determines the service expectations of the customer, the fulfillment of which determines the propensity of the customer to return to the hotel in the future. Hotels should customize their services to accommodate cultural differences. There are cultures that require separate accommodations for men and women or the particular preparation of food. These aspects should be known and considered by the organization in providing service to international customers. (Morgan and Dev, 1994)                Service considerations include the physical and psychological aspects. The physical aspects include the accessible lay out of the rooms, elevators and stairs, bathrooms, foyers, restaurants and bars, and other significant aspects that contribute to the achievement of loyalty. The technical aspects of functionality also includes cleanliness and orderly placement of furniture in the room, the size and comfort of the bed, wall paper and decorations, quality of bathroom, facilities of the room. The functional aspects of the service include the style of service delivery, the presence of a customer service area, cleaning service and food delivery service. The psychological aspects of service delivery are the friendliness of the service personnel, speed of service, the attitude of employees towards customers, the ambiance of the hotel and the overall service reputation of the establishment. (Lewis and Pizam, 1981)             Price is a factor that contributes to customer loyalty. Pricing a hotel service is difficult because of the intangibility of the thing being valued (Dearden, 1978) Price that the organizations impose for their services primarily depends upon their official rating. A five star hotel has a higher price than a two star hotel. Generally price setting is cost-based. However, there are instances where price can be used as a competitive advantage for some sectors of the market. Whether the pricing system is cost or competition based or both, the organization should consider their target customers and decide based on the pricing that would effectively draw customers and maintain their loyalty. Price is also based on a good brand image that contributes to the motivation for customer loyalty.                          The location of the hotel is another factor that contributes to customer loyalty. Hotel location is a significant consideration depending on whether the customer is traveling for business or leisure purposes. A customer engaging the services of a hotel because of a business engagement in the area looks for a hotel that provides all his or her services especially the proximity to the venue of the business engagement. Businessmen travel with considerations for time and they would not ordinarily engage then services of a hotel that is far from the business areas. Leisure customers on the other hand consider the proximity of the hotel to the tourist locations and leisure activities that they want to experience. Location also matters to customers who are passing by the place and merely looking for transient accommodations. The smaller, more homely hotels located near major routes are usually the choice of accommodation for travelers and the small budget groups. (Hall, 1999)              Promotion is the other factor that contributes to customer satisfaction. Promotions in the hotel industry are classified into loyalty strategies, branding and relationship marketing. The common loyalty strategy is the issuance of loyalty cards that represents perks for frequent customers. This may work for some and not for others but if it works then the company expects to gain profit. Retaining 5 percent of customers will increase profit by 100 percent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). This is an excellent incentive for organizations to find a promotional program that efficiently retains at least 5 percent of customers for it to gain profit.

Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan

Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 2.1 Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan The service ind...

Influence of an Individual’s Perceptions and Interpretation In Decision-Making and Judgments

Every single day, people are faced with decisions whether be it as simple as what to do or what to wear for the day. Every single minute is characterized by choices, choices that people make, rationally or irrationally.  decision making is as essential process in the human nature. Much has been learned about the psychology of human decision making as well as decision making within organizations. This paper will examine and assess the extent by which people’s judgments and decisions are influenced by one’s perception and interpretation of the world.             There are many factors affecting our choices in life. The field of judgment and decision making is concerned on how people combine desires and beliefs to choose a course of action. There are three components in the conceptual design for a decision. It includes courses of action or choice options and alternatives; beliefs about objective states, processes and events in the world including outcome states and means to achieve them; and desires, values or utilities that describe the consequences associated with the outcomes of each action-event combination. Decision making is central to every human activity; thus, everybody is a decision-maker. It must be noted though that good decision making begins with a consecutive, purposeful, strategic-thinking process. In addition, good decisions are those that efficiently choose or select means that are available in a given circumstance or situation to attain the goals of the decision maker.             Defines a decision as “the act or process of deciding; a conclusion or resolution reached especially as to future action, after consideration; the settlement of a question; a formal judgment; tendency to decide firmly; resoluteness”. Many theories of decision making exist in disciplines for both scientific and social science paradigms. In statistics, decisional theory is a strategy of measuring the decision-making process, or making it into mathematical form to make the most efficient and effective choice. In early economic theories, there is also a decision-making model of economic utility wherein people choose the best option that provides the maximum positive utility. The aforementioned early theories are also referred to as classical decision-making which basically shows how decisions are made in ideal situations. In psychology, the highlight of the process of decision-making has been a primary area of focus and study. In Janis and Mann’s Conflict Model of Decision-making, the process of decision=making is viewed as a stressful process which involves an assessment of risk and an assessment of success and time availability to make a decision. This model hypothesize that people make a decision through a decision balance sheet wherein individuals evaluate the gains and losses of a decision on the basis of tangible gains or losses for oneself and for significant others and approval or disapproval from the self and from significant others as well.             Usually though, our decisions and judgments are primarily affected and influenced by how we perceive and interpret the world. In psychology, perception is a “neurological process of observation and interpretation; any neurological process of acquiring and mentally interpreting information from the senses”. It is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to what happens in their environment perceptions are essential because individuals act upon their interpretation of events and at other times fail to act because of perceptions. People are sometimes faces with the same events; however, there are different perceptions and views on such same events. Comments that perception is like beauty. It is in the eye of the beholder.             It must be noted that an individual’s behavior is based upon their perception of what reality, not on reality itself actually. The world as it is perceived or viewed is the world that is behaviorally important. Each one of use the five senses to experience our surroundings. They are the senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. Organizing all these information that we receive from these senses is called perception states that perception is a cognitive process. Perception actually helps individuals select, organize, store and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and rational picture of the world. As each person gives one meaning to stimuli, different individuals “see” the same things in different ways.  Obstacles in Making Accurate Perceptions             Sims has outlined some obstacles that hinder individuals from making accurate perceptions. They are stereotyping, first impression error, halo effect, contrast effect, selective perception and implicit personality theories. Each of these obstacles will be examined and discussed in the proceeding part of this paper. Stereotyping. Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, actually held by one social group about another. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are usually used to justify certain discriminatory behavior . The basis for commonly held stereotypes may be associated to one’s sex, race, ethnic group and age. An example of stereotyping may be: the belief or perception that older workers are not capable of being trained for new tasks or younger workers cannot handle responsibility. Even though stereotyping may seem inaccurate and worthless, in some cases, there be “kernel of truth” in the basis of stereotyping; Stereotypes are sometimes based on actual group characteristics. It must be noted though that as stereotypes are some typical beliefs based on the element of truth wherein the beliefs are derived from observations that hold true for the entire group but do not hold much truth and accuracy for given individuals in the group. First Impression Error. As the saying goes, “first impressions last”. First impression errors mean that a person may observe a very brief bit about another person’s behavior in their first encounter and conclude that this behavior mirrors what the person is really like. Such impressions may be dangerous in interviews for work as these first impressions become the lasting impressions in the basis for their long-term employment relationships.    The Halo Effect. The halo effect is described as when a person good at something is assumed to be good at something else. This positive assumption creates a halo.  Gives two instances for this type of obstacle in making accurate perceptions. Example one: Let us say that you are a supervisor in a machine shop. An employee, let us call him John, has been one of the best drill operators in your section for the last ten years. A lathe operator is in need in another section. So, you recommend John, assuming that he will do superb at the lathe as he does in drill pressing. However, John fails; he may be very good in the other task but it doesn’t mean that he will definitely be great with the other task as well. He lacked the necessary skill and the training for the other task. Figuratively speaking, you have somehow placed a halo over John’s head. Another example may be when two people have a violent fistfight on the job. One is rather a personal friend of yours with whom you socialize off the job. There may be a tendency for you to place a halo over your friend’s head by assuming that the other person must have been the cause of the fight and conflict . Projection. Projection happens when an individual credit our own feelings and attributes to others. People engaging in projection have the tendency to perceive others according to what they themselves are like instead of according to what the person observed is really like. It must be noted that the observations may be accurate as they make observations of people who are actually like them; however, accuracy don’t always happen as they might have observations on people who are not like them. So, when engaging in projection, one must respond to individual differences. Contrast Effects.  Contrast effect can distort perceptions. A very common example is when illustrated in an old saying among entertainers that states never to follow an act which has kids or animals in it. There is a common belief that majority of the audience just love and adore kids and animals that the entertainer will look bad in comparison. This specific example portrays how contrast effects can affect and distort perceptions. States that people don’t assess a person in isolation. A person’s reaction to one person is influenced by other people we have just encountered. Selective Perception. Selective perception happens when perceptions arise from influences by one’s own interests. When individuals can longer take in all stimuli received, one has the tendency to select out certain elements. For instance, as one purchase a car, for some unknown reason you just begin to notice the same type of car every now and then on the streets compared to before purchasing the car . Implicit Personality Theories. As people have individual mini-theories on how people look and behave, this will result to inaccurate perceptions. These theories, helps each one of us to organize our perceptions and take shortcuts rather than incorporating new information all the time. Adds that people are cognitive misers. As the world becomes more complex and confusing and as people have only a limited mental capacity, people try to make sense of the world by grouping traits and appearances into clusters that may seem to go together. The discussion on what hinders making accurate perceptions have enlightened us on the issue of how much one’s perceptions and interpretation of the world can affect and influence decision-making as well as making judgments. We have seen how perceptions are distorted by stereotyping, first impression error, halo effect, contrast effect, selective perception and implicit personality theories. Researches on judgment and decision making have recognized important limitations in cognitive and emotional processing. It must be noted that errors in decisions occurring due to biases have widespread effects. Many scientists, economists and psychologists are driven to make behavioral assumptions in the market place as a result of real-world violations of the rational choice theory. In psychology, many examinations are made in the concept of rationality. Psychologists are further examining different and alternative frameworks and theories to explain ways of how people make decisions and what influences them upon making their decisions. The future of judgment and decision-making research within psychology lies in its capability and capacity to develop other theories and frameworks that make associations with research on emotions and cognition, in addition to social and institutional factors. Such associations will definitely influence and affect our views in decision making and adjustability and provide good foundations for research in many years ahead.

Influence of an Individual’s Perceptions and Interpretation In Decision-Making and Judgments

Every single day, people are faced with decisions whether be it as simple as what to do or what to wear for the day. Ev...

Proposal

Effects to Muslim Community of American Fight against Islamic Fundamentalism Background             Post 9/11 America showed the US government bent towards the reassertion of the integrity of the American nation after its sovereignty has been breached by terrorist attacks on its own territory. The terrorist attacks were attributed to Islamic fundamentalism espoused by anti-western imperialist groups such as the Al Qaeda network. (Hayajneh, 2004) However, as the war against terrorism continued, the US government expanded its military ‘defensive’ action to encompass Islamic fundamentalism through the launch of preemptive war in Iraq but sending a strong message throughout other predominantly Muslim countries. While the international battle against international terrorism has not been put to question, the preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism has been subject to debate in the international political arena. Advocates of the preemptive war cite Article 51 of the UN Charter providing for the right of states to self-defense against armed attacks and allowing for defensive actions until the Security Council deals with the matter. Iraq’s alleged nuclear weapons were considered a threat to the national security of the United States because of its anti-western ideology justifying the self-defense based preemptive war launched by the United States against the country. Critiques of the preemptive war provide that targeting the wider sphere of Islamic fundamentalism instead of focusing on terrorism is uncalled for because there is no sufficient justification for unifying Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism or even equivocating Islam and terrorism. The war launched by the United States government against Islamic fundamentalism has greatly impacted Iraq. This has also affected Muslim communities around the world. (Chernus, 2006)     Research Problem             The continuing US-led fight against Islamic fundamentalism has affected Muslim communities around the world. The research investigates the nature, characteristics and extent of the effect of the preemptive action against Islamic fundamentalism to Muslim communities across the globe. Significance             As the preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism persists, the debate over the morality and legality of this US-led action remains unsettled. The research would provide informational support as contribution to academic efforts to clarify the various aspects of the issue in order to develop policy recommendations on the continuing preemptive fight against Islamic fundamentalism recognized to have effects on Muslim communities. The study would also elicit information on an area that lacks research but has great implications to the future of the fight against Islamic fundamentalism.    Review of Related Literature             From the perspective of states having significant pockets of Muslim communities, the continuing war against Islamic fundamentalism could result to breach in domestic security and economic instability. This is the reason why India and Pakistan have distanced from the US-led war against Islamic fundamentalism despite their recognition of the United States as an important political and economic ally. Their participation in the war against Islamic fundamentalism could stir uprising in the more than 120 million Muslims living in India and Pakistan because of the incessant media portrayal of Muslims and Islamic fundamentalists as terrorists. A civil conflict of this proportion could render the governments unstable that could result to the overthrowing of current political leaders. Political instability in these countries would negatively affect economic activities resulting to the flight of foreign investments and losses in domestic businesses, comprising consequences that these countries are not willing to risk. (Malkin, 2004)             From the perspective of Muslim communities, the most blatant effect of the U.S. fights against Islamic fundamentalism is the sowing of stereotyping among cultural groups and communities because of the barrage of negative media portrayals of Islam. The continued linking of Islam and Islamic fundamentalism to terrorism has created a negative image for Muslim communities. The result is the development of a disparity in the definition of Islamic fundamentalism in western and Muslim communities. Among Muslims, Islamic fundamentalism refers to the movement to reinforce Islamic values and the rule of Shari’a law amidst the growing influence of western ideologies, inconsistent with Mohammedan teachings. Islamic fundamentalism has been expressed in predominantly Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, North Africa and Pakistan, although in varying degrees of fundamentalism and areas of implementation. The goal of Islamic fundamentalism is the achievement of social justice through the application of the teachings of Islam. (Jansen, 1997)             The long-term move of Muslim countries to reassert Islam and Islamic teachings in political governance and societal life has been perceived by western governments as Islamic fundamentalism. With the intensification of the US-led preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism, the movement has been linked to images of terrorist activities such as hostage takings, siege of embassies, hijackings, and suicide bombings. This created a negative image of Islamic fundamentalism and Islam to the extent that Muslim communities experienced various forms of discrimination and violence. (Malkin, 2004)             Muslim communities have experienced the consequences of stereotyping. Muslims experience discrimination in the areas of employment and housing. In the workplace, Muslim employees may experience threats from co-workers and employers with strong reactions towards terrorism. Some find it difficult to find jobs because they are perceived differently by some employers or employers may hesitate to hire Muslims as employees or employers may impose different standards and requirements towards Muslims. In terms of housing, some Muslim families and communities find it difficult to seek the approval of zoning boards and even neighbors to in establishing places of worship. Muslims also experience varying levels of violence from harassment to assault and even death. (Fekete, 2004)   Methodology To obtain primary and secondary data needed to complete the study, the descriptive research is the appropriate approach because this tries to explore the causes of a particular phenomenon, present facts concerning the nature and status of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study, and portray an accurate profile of persons, events or situations (Creswell, 1994; Robson, 2002). Descriptive approach includes the data gathering tools of interview and observation. For this study, the interview method guided by a questionnaire will be used in data collection to allow more control over the research process and obtain wide-ranging data (Rubin and Rubin, 1995). In analyzing research data, the qualitative method works efficiently in eliciting detailed verbal and written descriptions or accounts of characteristics, cases and situations (Alasuutari, 1998) presented through tabulations, means and variances in the answers given by Muslim research participants, from Muslim communities in the United States, to the interview. Sunni-Shiite War in Iraq: What’s the Real Score? Background              After the establishment of a new government in Iraq following the US-led invasion of the country resulting to the capture of Saddam Hussein, limited sovereignty was transferred to the Interim Governing Council in 2004 followed by the ratification of the country’s constitution in 2005. The political change has spurred the division between the majority Shiite and the minority Sunni Islam religious factions. The conflict between the two factions commenced as sectarian violence until it worsened into a full blown civil war towards the middle of 2006. (Nasr, 2006) Based on the survey conducted by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2006), a conservative estimate of the deaths arising from the civil war totals 654,965 and less than one third of these deaths are attributed to military actions by coalition forces. Although, claims of undue violence by coalition forces comprise another issue altogether, statistics show that there are more people dying from the Sunni-Shiite conflict when compared to deaths brought about by coalition forces in Iraq. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2006), there were at least 365,000 Iraqis displaced during the US attacks on Iraq but with the civil war the number escalated to 1.6 million displaced individuals.             The civil war evolved from the insurgency movement of the Sunni minority based on social, economic and political oppression translated into the dominance of the Shiite religious beliefs in the community, limited economic opportunities, and lack of political representation. The root of the problem seems to emanate from the desire of a minority group to assert itself in the community in order to derive similar, equivalent or even proportional opportunities and benefits as experienced by the majority.   Research Problem             The civil war in Iraq appears to be similar to other civil disturbances in other states. However, the difference is that the primary groups involved in the civil are different Islamic religious factions adding a religious twist into the conflict different from the political, economic and socio-cultural bases of conflicts in other countries. The study seeks to investigate in depth the real reason or root cause of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq in order to draw significant implications on the manner of arresting the civil war.  Significance             Academic research and society in general have been engrossed in the results of the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Iraq and the links of the US-led attacks in the country causing the establishment of a new government to the civil war together with the implications of these factors to the stability of the country and international peace and order. However, the root cause of the civil war have been given limited attention despite the significance of this information in determining ways of deterring the further intensification of the conflict and achieving peace in Iraq. The research would closely investigate the historical roots of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in order to trace the reason or reasons resulting to the persistence of the conflict and the difficulty faced by the Iraqi government and peace-keeping troops in averting further violence and deaths. Review of Related Literature             Although, 95 percent of the population of Iraq are comprised of Muslims and the remaining 5 percent are Christian and Yezidi, a civil still occurred dividing the majority Muslim population. The conflict emerged between the majority Shiite Islamic faction comprising 65 percent of the Iraqi population and the minority Sunni Islamic faction comprising 35 percent of the total population in Iraq. However, apart from the division of the country into religious factions, these factions are further divided according to ethnic strands. Three-fourths or 75 percent of the Iraqi population are Arabs adhering to either Sunni or Shiite Muslim tradition, twenty percent are Kurdish with majority adhering to the Sunni tradition but expressed through secular governance, 3 percent are Assyrians and the remaining 2 percent are Turkoman playing no significant role in the conflict. Based on this religious and cultural delineation of the Iraqi people, the primary players in the conflict are the Arab-Sunni and Arab-Shiite factions with the Kurdish Sunni and Shiites trapped in between the conflicting factions. (Tripp, 2001; Marr, 2004)             Due to the uneven distribution of the population among the religious and cultural factions, this would inevitably lead to the existence of minority groups. Depending upon the manner that the majority manages governance determines the existence of harmony or conflict between the minority and majority groups (Zubaida, 2005). In terms of religious practices, the assertion of the majority of its Islamic tradition to the minority would result to the resistance of the minority groups adhering to a different Islamic tradition. The extent of resistance could range from the development of dual identities of complying with the majority tradition but practicing the minority tradition in a secretive manner to the segregation of the minority in a guarded territory and then to the radical armed struggle against the majority. A civil war is the conclusion or the totality of a protracted conflict between two groups so that the Sunni-Shiite conflict has been brewing for some time. This only escalated due to the opportunity for assertion of rights that the change in political governance opened to the minority groups.             Religious and cultural underpinnings of a civil war cannot be removed from its political and economic aspects. Iraq is an oil rich country able to support its needs for the next decade with the efficient management of its oil refineries. These refineries provide employment as well as fuel the establishment of employment producing industries providing income to households and individuals. With the majority Shiite Islamic faction having control of the government, it also gained control of oil refineries and other linked economic activities. In policy formation and decision-making, the direction targeted by the majority group gets to be implemented. As a result, minority groups are pushed towards the fringes of society in terms of government welfare support, economic opportunities and political representation. Minority groups fail to gain access to channels where they can assert their interests. (Nasr, 2006)   Methodology Secondary data required for the research will be collected through the descriptive approach, aimed at capturing the nature of a situation and explore the cause/s of particular phenomena (Holloway, 1997). The descriptive approach is quick and flexible giving rise to three advantages: first, when new issues and questions arise during the duration of the study, this approach allows a further investigation; second, when there are unproductive areas from the original plan of the study, the researcher can drop them; and third, the approach is more practical in terms of time and money (Creswell, 1994). Data requirement for the research covers the analysis of existing secondary sources on the root cause/s of the Sunni-Shiite conflict and determine information or research gaps.

Proposal

Effects to Muslim Community of American Fight against Islamic Fundamentalism Background Post 9/11 America showed the US g...

A Sample Theoretical Framework : Input-Process-Output Model

Chapter 3 Methodology             Methodologies are outlooks on research; they set out an image for what research is and how it should be carried out. Basically, axioms and methods are connected to each other. Methods are tools or techniques of gathering of data, techniques of analysis, and techniques of writing. Since it is a tool, then a scrupulous method can often be used by many different methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative). Therefore, methodologies are at a more abstract (or general) level than are methods. Apparently, www.encyclopedia.com defined ‘methodology’ as a strategy or plan for achieving some goal. In contrast to this, methods are the tactics that can be used to service the goals of the methodology. In essence, methodologies provide the blueprints that prescribe how the tools should be used. Those prescriptions can be traced to the axioms -- beliefs about how research should be conducted. According to Saunders, Mark; Lewis, Philip & Thornhill, Adrian (2004), all research will possibly involve categorical or numerical data or data that can be use for analysis to help the researcher answer the research questions.  In connection to this, Saunders, Mark; Lewis, Philip & Thornhill, Adrian (2004; p.327) defined quantitative as a type of empirical knowledge. Actually, qualitative data are described in expressions of quality. Qualitative is the converse of quantitative, which more precisely describes data in terms of quantity (that is, using 'formal' numerical measurement).             In connection to this, this chapter will discuss the research design, significance of the study, conceptual framework, participants & the methods course, data sources, historical thinking skills, data collection, data analysis, validation of the data, ethical consideration and summary of the chapter. The Research Design             In order to come up with the most suitable research approaches and strategies for this study, the research process “onion” is undertaken. This is because conducting a research is like peeling the back layers of an onion—in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the necessary data needed to answer the research questions and objectives, important layers should be first peeled away. With the said process, the researcher was able to create an outline on what measures are most appropriate to be applied in the study. Saunders et al (2004) said that while it is not unusual for a researcher to first think of his research undertaking by considering whether one should, for instance, administer a questionnaire or conduct interviews, thoughts on this question should belong to the centre of the research ‘onion’. That is, in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the data needed to answer one’s research questions, there are important layers of the onion that need to be peeled away: the first layer raises the question of the research philosophy to adopt, the second considers the subject of research approach that flows from the research philosophy, the third examines the research strategy most applicable, the fourth layer refers to the time horizon a researcher applies to his research, and the fifth layer is the data collection methods to be used. Figure 1 shows how the researcher conceptualised the research approach to be applied in this study by Saunder, Lewis, and Thornhill (2003), in order to come up with the pertinent data needed to answer the research questions stated in the first chapter, as well as to arrive to the fulfilment of this research undertaking’s objectives. As shown in Figure 1, the research philosophy that is reflected in this study is positivism. With this research philosophy, a researcher prefers to work with an observable social reality in order to come up with law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists (Remenyi et al, 1998), and in this tradition, the researcher becomes an objective analyst, coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have been collected in an apparently value-free manner (Saunders et al, 2004). Meanwhile, the second layer shows that this study has undertaken a deductive approach. Accordingly, this approach has five sequential stages: deducing a hypothesis; expressing the hypothesis in operational terms; testing this operational hypothesis; examining the specific outcome of the inquiry to either confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification; and finally, modifying the theory in the light of the findings (if necessary) (Robson, 1993, p. 19). Significance of the study In recent years, historians and history educators have concluded that historical literacy requires children in grades four through twelve learn and refine historical thinking skills (National Standards for History in School, 1996; National Council for the Social Studies Standards, 1994). Therefore, young people in high school history classes should become increasingly adept at analyzing and interpreting primary sources such as diaries, old photographs, government documents, and other artifacts from the past. Furthermore, students should demonstrate increased historical literacy. They should be able to compose more refined and coherent narratives of what happened and why. To demonstrate historical literacy, students must also be able to properly cite evidence on which they base their historical narratives and interpretations. The requirement of documenting claims about the past, in part, distinguishes historical literacy from other kinds of literacy skills. History teachers could help students improve the above skills by helping students comprehend broad historical themes. They could help them to weave historical materials from various historical sources into coherent historical narratives (Fehn & Koeppen, 1998). This could be done because effective history teachers have a deep understanding of how historians investigate and reconstruct the past and understand that historical knowledge is always open to revision and interpretation (Yeager & Davis, 1994; Wineburg, 1991, 2001). These teachers are comfortable with the ambiguity of conflicting evidence and are aware of the sources of bias in historical documents. History teachers who possessed a deep understanding of history and the historiograghic principles are the ones who will become successful teachers of history (National Standards for History in the Schools 1996).                          This study joined the  lines of research that have investigated the nature of historical thinking skills among professional historians, secondary social studies teachers, elementary school teachers, high school students and elementary school students (Yeager & Wilson, 1997; Fehn & Koeppen 1998; Wunder, 2002; Wineburg, 1991 & 2001.) It explores the historical thinking skills of pre service teachers so far neglected by previous researchers (Wunder, 2002; Seixas, 1998). In order to do so, this study investigated the historical thinking skills exhibited by five would-be history teachers in a, mid western public university in the United States and how they planned their teaching strategies to teach the thinking skills. This study shed some understanding on the similarities and differences between these individuals. This study managed to identify, describe and compare the historical thinking skills of the participants and described and analyzed the instructional strategies that they utilized to teach historical thinking skills. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework The theoretical framework that will be used in the study is the Input-Process-Output Model. In the IPO model, a process is viewed as a series of boxes (processing elements) connected by inputs and outputs. Information or material objects flow through a series of tasks or activities based on a set of rules or decision points. (Harris & Taylor, 1997) Flow charts and process diagrams are often used to represent the process. (Harris & Taylor, 1997) What goes in is the input; what causes the change is the process; what comes out is the output. (Armstrong, 2001) Figure 1.1 illustrates the basic IPO model:                      The IPO model will provide the general structure and guide for the direction of the study. Substituting the variables of this study on the IPO model, the researcher came up with the following: Participants and The Methods Course             The researcher enlisted five would be secondary education social studies teachers in a mid western public university in the United States. The participants were going through the social studies methods course when they were enlisted, and they volunteered to take part in this study. Data Sources The data sources consisted of five historical documents and the lesson plans that were developed by the participants. Historical Thinking Skills             To elicit and detect historical thinking skills, the researcher presented the participants with five different categories of historical documents. They depicted an overarching theme of slavery. Those documents were: a.                  an etching from the 1700s illustrating a coffle of slaves in Africa marching under guard towards the sea, b.                  a painting of the “Amistad” depicting a slave revolt at sea (based upon an actual event), c.                  an excerpt from the 1852 Alabama Slave Code, d.                  a letter from James Henry Hammond, and e.                  a photograph of armed African American in the Union army uniform in front of a barrack.              The documents were selected to simulate a professional historian’s task of weaving together a coherent historical narrative from a mix of historical sources: a painting, an etching, a photograph, a letter, and printed documents. This mix of historical materials offered the participants opportunities to interpret non-written materials as well as written materials. Both type of materials are essential in elucidating historical thinking abilities (Wineburg, 2001 and Levstik & Barton, 2001). The task given to the participants potentially enabled inter-textual comparisons between historical sources. On the back of each source was printed the author of the source and the date it was produced. If the respondents checked the date and source of the document, they would exhibit their historical heuristic skills which is to evaluate the attribution of the source, assess the author’s stance and its truthfulness by examining the date and source of the documents, relate it to the historical background that represents that period, and assess the truth of the author’s biases and intentions (Wineburg, 1991). The five historical sources provided the participants the chance to reconstruct a rich portrait of slavery in the United States. Each of the five selected historical sources for this study was chosen for specific reasons: <ul type="disc" style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Slave coffle (1700). This etching is an indication that slavery was a terrible system of exploitation. Together with the other sources, the etching could suggest an overarching theme of exploitation and oppression that the respondent could narrate in their story. This generalization would cohere with the respondent’s previous understanding about slavery (Fehn, et.al.1997). The etching, through the subtext, also could direct the participant’s attention to the fact that Africans were implicated in the enslavement of other Africans, portraying a complex view of slavery. It shows that slavery happened everywhere and the researcher intends to discern whether the participants will include these notions in their narratives. Furthermore, the researcher wanted to detect if the participants evaluate etching as more or less reliable historical evidence than other types of historical sources, thus displaying their sourcing heuristic skills described above.</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Amistad (1841). The painting was selected to see whether the participants are aware that slaves rebelled violently against their captors. The painting should motivate the participants to explore the theme of slave resistance and detect whether they can weave the theme of resistance into a more complex history of slavery. The Armistad tested the sourcing heuristic skills of the participants by inviting them to ponder its validity since it was painted more than a hundred years after the actual rebellion (Fehn, et. Al. 1997).</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Alabama Slave Code (1852). The excerpts from the code gave the opportunity to the participants to form diverse possibilities of interpretations and to an overarching theme of a legally sanctioned and rigid system of slave control. The code provided specific evidence portraying restricted lives experienced by the slaves. This document allowed the participants to identify a “subtext” an inference that slaves tended to rebel or flee for their freedom. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">James Hammond’s Letter. James Hammond’s Letter provided the participants the opportunity to analyze the thoughts of a slave owner justifying slavery to an English abolitionist staying in England. The researcher could detect whether the participants provided valid interpretations about the thoughts of the slave owner in the context of the period the letter was written, particularly with regards to the other sources that were presented to them. With hope, the participants will evaluated the letter in terms of its reliability as a historical source (Fehn, et.al. 1997).</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">African-American Soldiers (1864).  A photograph of Civil War soldiers will be included to elucidate the theme of resistance in the narrative of the respondents. The researcher wanted to know if the respondents could weave a narration from the photo to include discussions about the slaves’ participation in their own liberation through armed struggle. The researcher also wanted to see if the participants regarded photograph as a reliable historical event. </li></ul>             Lesson Plan. On the other hand, the lesson plan of the participants was chosen to identify the ability of the participants to develop effective lessons for teaching historical thinking skills. Each participant was required to develop a lesson plan using primary sources as part of the course requirement. The teachers’ lesson plans were collected and photocopied as a data source for this study since the purpose of this study is also to describe the instructional strategies that the participants developed. The content of the lesson plans were viewed, analyzed, and coded for characteristics of an effective history lesson.             Furthermore, lesson plans were chosen to analyze effective history teaching strategies because lesson plans revealed information such as teacher activities and how they communicated with the students. Generally an effective lesson plan has an introduction, body, opportunity for questions, and summary. These components are bound together with time cues, media cues and practice (Toney, 1991).             According to Cramer, R. & Schwartz, R., (1989), lesson planning can be divided into three types; content, process, and context. Each type helps to organize classroom activities, and together they establish the ambiance of the learners’ learning process. Content plans focus on information students should know. Instructional strategies designed to introduce or elaborate the content should be included in the plan.             Apparently, process plans help student learn how to perform cognitive skills or procedures. Process skills include procedural knowledge that supports independent learning. Context plans set the larger framework in which content and process lessons occur. Context plan can include decisions about grouping, discipline, and grading. The lesson planner can develop process lesson plans in six steps: a) decide what process would improve student performance, b) help student understand the purpose of the lesson, c) help students connect prior knowledge to process new information, d) break instruction into incremental steps to help students develop their performance theory, e) provide meaningful practice in the process, f) extend the lesson by making applications to other areas (Cramer &Schwartz, 1989).  Well structured content plans and process plans will help insure that all students make progress in acquiring the knowledge and skills set by the lesson objectives (Cramer, & Schwartz, 1989). Data Collection The Interview For the face-to-face interview part, open-ended questions will be used to obtain as much information as possible about how the interviewees feel about the research topic. The researcher will interview 5 purposively selected individuals. The researcher will design a semi-structured interview. Using this type of interview enables the researcher/interviewer probe deeper on the issues of biracial identity development. Unlike structured interviews which are standardised and do not allow the interviewer to deviate from the questions (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2004), this type of interview does not limit response of the interviewees. Open questioning, in addition, will help me explore the topic and produce a fuller account. In this case, interviewees are encouraged to clarify vague statements and to further elaborate on brief comments. The researcher will not also share her own beliefs and opinions so as not to influence the answer of the interviewee. Importantly, the researcher will avoid leading questions and showing personal bias as these may result to interviewee or response bias (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2004). In the face-to-face interview, the distribution and collation methods that will be used to manage the process will ensure anonymity. A cover letter will explain to them what the research is all about and how the researcher intends to regard the survey with high confidentiality. The results from the interview will be given in question and answer format. Moreover, content analysis will be drawn from the interviews to identify the development of biracial identity. Actually, the best way to understand a respondent’s past experience, thoughts, and attitudes are through interviews and document analysis (Guba & Lincoln, (1981). Data was gathered and recorded through one 30 minute semi-structured interview session with each participant. Semi-structured interviews allow for flexibility, therefore obtaining optimum information regarding a topic from the participant, and they are more likely than other forms of inquiry to provide a complete picture (Guba and Lincoln, 1981). The recorded interviews were transcribed by the researcher and the content was analyzed for the presence of historical thinking skills. The member check procedure was used to validate the accuracy. The participants were given the transcript to confirm the authenticity of its content. The interview began with a warm up phase to familiarize the participants with the exercise. The participants were shown the photograph of a slave with horrendous whipping scars on his back and were asked questions about this photograph stands out to you? What grabs your attention?” These questions elicited from the respondents what they considered the central elements that provide an overarching theme for the documents or sources. Then they were asked, “What does the photograph convey to you about slavery? What was slavery like?” These questions guided the respondents to initiate reconstruction of historical narratives with regard to slavery. Then the participants’ attention was directed towards the reverse side of the photograph that was printed with the photograph’s title, the person who took it and when it was taken. This procedure encouraged them to exhibit their sourcing heuristic capability. The warm up phase usually lasted about five minutes. After the warm-up session, the participants were presented with the five historical sources mentioned before. The participants were instructed to examine the five sources and were asked the same questions as during the warm-up session. Following that, the participants were asked to tell a narrative that tied all the sources together while emphasizing that there is no right or wrong answers. The participants were encouraged to take notes and make an outline of the narrative. The participants were allowed to refer to their notes while voicing their narratives to the researcher but none of them did. After examining the sources, the participants shared their narratives with the researcher without any interruption. Then, the participants were asked to identify the most important source for their narrative and the reasons they considered the source importance. Subsequently, the participant’s historical heuristic ability was assessed by asking the following questions: “Which documents are the best ones for writing an accurate history of slavery? Which document is the best source of information? Which is the least reliable source of information?”  This phase lasted for about 15 minutes. Throughout each session, the researcher acted as a naïve listener and accepting anything the participants said and declining to interpret any responses. The researcher from time to time however offered clarification or prodded the participants to elaborate on a comment or observation they had made. Lesson Plan The lesson plans that the participants developed were collected over duration of the course and analyzed to detect characteristics of effective history teaching. Data Analysis The qualitative method of data analysis utilized in this study consist of making sense of raw data by identifying sign posts that determine the presence of characteristics of historical thinking skills and effective teaching strategies to teach those skills. The content was analyzed in order to make sense out of a phenomenon. In this study the phenomenon was historical thinking skills and effective teaching strategies to teach these skills. The data allowed the researcher to describe historical thinking skills and effective teaching strategies after analyzing interview transcripts and the lesson plans. These characteristics were explicitly analyzed to detect sign posts of historical thinking skills and of effective teaching strategies. Basically, Mays & Pope, (2000) believes that qualitative research uses explanatory methods in describing the variables wherein the data, situations, or other facts collected will be explained or correlated with other data. According to them qualitative research methods are useful when conducting a study wherein the data are immeasurable, such as feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and others. Moreover, Yin (1984) stated that qualitative methods is important to management analysis, organisation studies and even to business development since it assist the researchers who desire to understand complex social phenomena. They are appropriate when seeking knowledge about the fundamental characteristics of a phenomenon being studied before theorising about it. This knowledge often surfaces through close contact with subjects of a study, allowing the researcher to understand their points of view about and experiences with the phenomenon. Researchers even disagree on the definition of "qualitative." For example, some researchers use terms such as naturalistic and descriptive, as well as field, product, and case study. Perhaps the best way to clear up some of the confusion about qualitative research is to examine some its most accepted methodologies and characteristics. On the other hand, Wolcott (1992) proposes that there are but three general types of data-gathering techniques in qualitative studies: experiencing, enquiring, and examining. These three techniques are used, Wolcott argues, in such diverse qualitative approaches as case studies, non-participant observed studies, interviews, participant observation, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, enography, and ethnology. As Wolcott (1992) notes, most qualitative research is based on a case study that uses one or several of these qualitative techniques, enabling researchers to immerse themselves within a culture or a context and producing questions to pursue for further research and understanding of phenomena. As an extension of the qualitative technique of interviewing, Byers and Wolcott, H. F. (1992) proposed that focus groups offer researchers a rich source in which to gather genuine information about participants' perceptions, experiences, and attitudes which provide a basis from which to build theory. Another variation of interviewing techniques proposed by Martin and Chaney (1992) is the Delphi technique, which can be valuable in gathering data on a subject from a panel of experts. In connection to this, the collected and analyzed data were checked for accuracy by a social studies professor who teaches social studies methods course. He was selected because of his knowledge and familiarity with conducting similar research on a similar topic and similarity in reporting such research. This expertise is necessary so that he is able conduct an informal examination of the data. The expert examined the raw data, transcripts, data that have been coded and analyzed, and reconstructed and synthesized items. For this study, a participant was considered to exhibit interpretive skills if he or she focused on aspects of a historical source in deriving meanings about slavery or slave owners. As part of the analysis, the participants were assessed for whether or not they provided elaborate or circumscribed interpretations of the sources. Numerous possible interpretations and detailed analysis of the sources indicated a higher level of interpretation skill (Wineburg, 1991, 2001; Fehn, 1997).  The researcher also checked the ability of the participants to recognize overarching themes or generalizations to provide a coherent relationship among the sources. The participants’ ability to construct a sophisticated narrative, such as the ability to weave the themes of oppression and resistance in their narrative, was also assessed.  The researcher assessed if and how the participant used all or a few of the sources as authentic evidence in support of his or her generalization or theme. Finally the researcher analyzed interview transcripts to determine the usage of historical heuristic as the participants narrated their stories. Historical heuristic is the ability of the participants to critically evaluate and distinguish between a more reliable source and less reliable source with substantive arguments or reasons (Wineburg, 1991, 2001 ; Fehn, 1997). The researcher compared the similarities and differences between the participants because the individual differences affect an individual teacher’s perception of historical thinking and learning (Larsson, 1998). In identifying effective teaching strategies for teaching historical thinking skills the researcher analyzed and evaluated the lesson plan based on three principles derived from the literature review on chapter three with regard to teaching and learning history. The principles are; (a) history is interpretive and is explained through narratives; (b) learning history is through in depth understanding; (c) history is learned through disciplined inquiry. History is interpretive and is explained through narratives suggested that a single historical account is not entirely objective. The historical events were over and cannot be directly observed. The only way to find out what happened is through using primary sources and artifacts which students can interpret and develop into narratives of what might have happened. In other words, an effective history lesson should utilize historical documents and artifacts that are relevant to the topic and objectives of the lesson. Learning history through in depth understanding means that students should know how to interpret history and write narratives about history. Just knowing historical facts such as dates, events, and people does not mean greater historical understanding. To attain in depth understanding, teachers should use teaching strategies that help students to organize ideas and engage them in sustained activities so they have enough time to understand and reflect on the meaning and significance of what they are studying.  This could be achieved by encouraging students to interrogate the primary sources, collecting data, questioning, interpreting, explaining, developing historical narratives and organizing a community of critical learners History learned through discipline inquiry means that students should learn history through a process of systematic inquiry that is specifically historical.  They should be taught the historian’s craft of interrogating primary sources. They have to learn how to evaluate sources, how to reconcile and explain conflicting accounts, and how to properly narrate their own account of historical events. In conclusion, this chapter provides the explanation on the methodical procedures that the researcher followed to collect, analyze and validate the data for this study.  The findings, conclusions, and recommendations of this study were derived from the guidelines presented in this chapter for the purpose of producing a responsible and thrust worthy research findings. Validation of the Data According to Stewart and Kamins (1993), the use of secondary data is advantageous for a researcher since one can already evaluate the suitability of a data as it is already in existence, thus, much time can be saved. Needless to say, an evaluation of potential secondary data is very important before one incorporates it in his/her study. In this study, the researcher adopted the three-stage process devised by Saunders et al (2004, p. 205): The first stage is assessing the overall suitability of data to research questions and objectives. During this stage, the researcher paid particular attention to measurement validity (measuring / estimating whether the secondary data will result to a valid answer to the research questions and objectives) and coverage (this includes ensuring whether or not the data is wanted and can be included, as well as making sure that sufficient data remain for analyses to be undertaken once unwanted data have been excluded). The second stage is evaluating precisely the suitability of data for analyses needed to answer and meet the research questions and objectives. In this stage, the researcher made sure of the validity and reliability of the secondary data by assessing how it was previously gathered, who are its sources, and the likes. Also, the researcher was cautious not to commit measurement bias (which can occur due to deliberate distortion of data or changes in the way data are collected) had been paid close attention. Finally, the researcher judged whether to use data based on an assessment of costs and benefits in comparison with alternative sources. Ethical Consideration The data generated will be used solely to understand the development of teaching and learning theories. The researcher is solely responsible for conducting the whole research process and shall abide all the policies regarding the organization as well as the university. The data will not be transferable for any means in person or organization. The research is being done according to the guidelines and rules and regulations of the university. The researcher does not belong to any professional bodies to share the outcome of the research results. The four stages of ethics in doing research are followed by the way of a good design, modes of data collection, analysis of data and for proper dissemination. Both confidentiality and anonymity will be maintained of the informants who have participated or shared information in the research. There will be no Coercion or force to take advantage from the informants. Full voluntary guarantee will be taken from the informants. Due consideration and approval will be taken from the organization which is being studied. Prior objectives and motive of the research will be intimated. There shall be no misrepresentation or misuse of the data collected from the organization. Strict confidentiality shall be maintained. Finally, the university for dissemination of academic purposes might take the data collected. Summary             As stated in this chapter, the researcher will undergo stages. In the research design, the researcher will collect secondary data and will formulate and develop an interview. In this stage, this instrument will be subjected to approval and validation. During the data collection, the researcher will collate and summarize the data obtained from the literatures and survey. The researcher will then analyze these data and from these, findings and recommendations will be presented. In summary, the researcher will have taken four major phases to complete the study. Phase 1: Problem Identification for Research             In the first phase, the researcher identifies the specific focus of the problem to be researched. This involves reviewing existing theory, research, and practices from professional literature. This process helps me integrate theoretical perspectives and empirical findings with my own understanding of the problem, and discern the aspect of the problem the researcher want to research and learn more about. Phase 2: Administration of the Instrument             After reviewing literature, the researcher formulates questions for the survey and makes a set of guide questionnaires for the interview. These are then presented to the advisor for validation purposes. Phase 3: Data Collection and Analysis             In the third phase, the researcher will collect and analyse data for the purposes of identifying critical variables specific to their setting. These data will enable me to achieve a specific understanding of the problem. Phase 4: Data Synthesis and Generation of Recommendations             In the fourth phase, the researcher will synthesise findings from the previous phases and relevant previous research. The focus of this stage is to synthesise these data to modify existing hypotheses and account for different factors, as well as generating recommendations based on new understandings. During this phase, research-based, culture-specific recommendations for action will be generated.

A Sample Theoretical Framework : Input-Process-Output Model

Chapter 3 Methodology Methodologies are outlooks on research; they set out an image for what research is...