Life satisfaction across different cultures - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 19 Words: 5779 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? ABSTRACT Defining culture by reference to deeply situated societal values and beliefs, this study makes three contributions to the growing field of satisfaction research: first, it tries to uncover the relationship between international students life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction across different cultures; Second, it explores whether and to what extent a range of cultural values serve as important moderators of international students life satisfaction; Finally, it explains the Life Satisfaction differences between international students across five nations (India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey). A total of 100 international students from the University of Northampton participated in this study. Analysis of the present study is based on data from two surveys. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Life satisfaction across different cultures" essay for you Create order The first is the Dieners Satisfaction with Life Survey (SWL) to measure international students overall satisfaction with life across nations. The second is the cultural satisfaction survey which includes the six determinants of cultural factors: satisfaction in general, job, social relationships, health services, authority services and public safety. Using both Pearson and Partial correlation coefficient, statistical analysis showed that except for the General Satisfaction section p value is more than 0.05 (p0.05) for each of the subsections. In addition, hypothesis one showed that there is not any correlation between Life Satisfaction and Cultural Satisfaction amongst International Students. Therefore, null hypothesis is accepted. One-Way between subjects ANOVAs enables us to partially accept hypothesis 2, which states there will be a difference in CS between International Students from different countries. Statistical results of one-way ANOVAs also accepted Hypothesis 3, which stat es there will be a difference in LS between International Students from different nationalities as well. According to these results, Hypothesis 2 is partially accepted because four out of the six subsections of the CS (General and Job Satisfaction) showed these differences. These results show the importance of the cultural determinants of the social relationship, health, authority and public safety satisfaction play a particularly prominent role on individuals Life Satisfaction. Finally, based on the Dieners SWL (Diener et al, 1984) and cultural life satisfaction survey, the empirical results show that several cultural values are indeed very significant influences on individuals assessment of their life satisfaction. INTRODUCTION Psychological research during the past two decades has revealed cultural differences across a wide range of domains. These studies focus on several factors such as what are peoples desires, wants, and needs, and which life domains are decisive in an overall evaluation of living conditions? Does the quality of a society in which a person lives play a significant role? As a result most psychologists are now keenly aware that the way people in different cultures think, feel, and act are, in varying degrees, different. International students have in recent years come to constitute a large proportion of the world-wide student body in higher learning institutions. There are hardly any countries that are unaffected by the presence of international students in its institutions of higher learning, or the pressure to send some of its own students to study abroad (Paige, 1990). Current estimates suggest that up to 1 million students annually study in countries other than their own (Open Doors, 1996/97). One rationale behind the increasing number of international students is the assumption that students can serve both as cultural ambassadors and resources (Klineberg, 1970; Mestenhauser, 1983; Paige, 1990), and as links between cultures (Eide, 1970). It has also been assumed that these cultural links could help reduce inter-group tension, prejudice, hostility and discriminatory behaviour, and to help increase international understanding and co-operation (Amir, 1969; Baron and Bachman, 1987; Fulbright, 1976) . These assumptions, however, have not always been supported. On the contrary mental health problems such as depression, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and paranoid reactions (Jou and Fukada, 1997a and b; Sam and Eide, 1991; Ward, 1967; Ying and Liese, 1991) have been suggested to characterise international students. These are in addition to socio-cultural problems (e.g., language difficulties, difficulties in negotiating day-to-day social activities and, racial and ethnic discrimination) (Furnham and Bochner, 1982; Kagan and Cohen, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1993) and academic problems such as failure (Aich, 1963; Barker et al., 1991) have been documented as characterising international students overseas sojourn. Life Satisfacion (LS) has been defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her life (Pavot et al., 1991, p. 150), and has been identified as a key aspect of quality of life and Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Mannel and Dupuis 1996). SWB is a way of defining a good life, and is often referred to as happiness. People who experience abundant SWB have many pleasures and few pains, and they feel satisfied with their lives (Diener, 2000). Satisfaction also refers to the cognitive/judgemental aspects of SWB (Neto, 1995). Diener and his colleagues (1999) argued that, SWB and happiness, has both an affective (i.e., emotional) and a cognitive (i.e., judgmental) component. The affective component consists of how frequently an individual reports experiencing positive and negative effects. In addition to this, previous research (Diener et al., 1999) has found college students consider happiness and LS to be extremely important, and there is evidence that increased LS impacts upon academi c performance in college students (Rode et al., 2005). Research has shown that increased LS and happiness may be related to goal progression (Emmons, 1986), close social relationships (Myers, 2000), and being involved in flow activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Moreover, Veenhoven (1991) uses the definition of LS as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life as a whole favourably. (1991: 10). This idea emphasises satisfaction with ones life, implies contentment with or acceptance of ones life circumstances, or the fulfilment of ones wants and needs for ones life as a whole. Furthermore, the need satisfaction model (Maslow, 1970; McClelland, 1961) and the spill over (Diener, 1984;Wilensky, 1960) theories provide useful frameworks to conceptualise the processes that underlie happiness in a life domain. The basic premise of the need satisfaction model is that people have basic needs they seek to fulfil in each life domain. Individuals derive satisfaction in a particular life domain when events and experience related to that domain fulfil their needs. Therefore, this model seems to suggest that people who are successful in satisfying their needs are likely to enjoy greater SWB than those who are less successful. For example, a person reports high satisfaction of her health life domain based on positive experiences concerning health-related activities such as a healthy diet, regular exercise and attention to medical needs. Moreover, the spill over theories of quality of life are viewed as having two broad types; bottom-up and top-down theories. Firstly, bott om-up theories assume that LS is a summary evaluation of aspects of ones life. For example, one is satisfied with life because one has good social relationships, enough money, weight under control, and an interesting job (Choi et al., 2007; George and Landerman, 1984; Larsen, 1978). Secondly, top-down theories assume that LS is due to personality influences. For example, a neurotic individual is more dissatisfied in general with his or her job, social relationships, weight, and income in particular ( Shepard, 1974; Kremer and Harpaz, 1982). Although there may be some agreement about the important qualities of the good life, with considerations like health and successful relationships, each individual assigns different values to these factors (Diener et al., 1985). Each person has his or her own values, criteria, and basis for evaluation. Furthermore, considerable research effort has been devoted to the study of adults perception of the quality of their lives, including LS judgements. LS research is supported by the variety of measures appropriate for adults, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot and Diener, 1993), Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1992), Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten et al., 1961), and the Salamon-Conte LS in the Elderly Scale (Salamon and Conte, 1984). Several studies have been carried out regarding LS and the results of these studies emphasise that LS is related to different factors. A great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. Due to variation in the characteristics of the included samples such as age, gender or culture questions which are commonly found in questionnaires as well as included indicators, different factors have been found to be associated with LS. Campbell (1981) indicates that there are at least 12 domains involved in contributing to LS. These are health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreational activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation, and education (Campbell, 1981). Specific cultural and social factors also have been found to play an important role in determining LS and happiness (Triandis, 2000). LS is used worldwide in research including adults, young people, students, older people etc. (Baiyewu and Jegede 1992; H illeras et al. 2001b,Neugarten et al. 1961; Vitterso et al. 2002; Wood et al. 1969) and is supposed to be a useful outcome variable in different countries. Cultural context is an important element that influences an individuals cognitive evaluation of ones life. Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains, including self-concept, attribution and reasoning, interpersonal communication, negotiation, intergroup relations, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). Sociologists and social psychologists are interested in socio-demographic patterns that emerge when people evaluate their overall living conditions (Veenhoven 1984; Argyle 1999; Headey and Wearing 1992; Hagerty et al. 2000; Glatzer and Zapf 1984). However, socio-demographic factors account for less than 20% of the variance of SWB, a finding confirmed in several studies (Campbell et al. 1976; Andrews and Withey 1976; Diener and Suh 1997). Many efforts have been made to analyse determinants of LS and researchers from several disciplines illuminate this subject from different perspectiv es. The study revealed that the standard of living, access to employment, job satisfaction, marriage, social relationships, social networks, and health were the most decisive factors when explaining variations in LS within countries. Previous research also indicate that these factors have a positive impact on individuals LS (Diener et al. 1999) with results also showing that individuals with high LS have such benefits including physical health, mental health, good interpersonal relationships, and educational and vocational success (Frisch, 2000; Park, 2003, 2004; Veenhoven, 1989). More recently, economists have shown an interest in explaining LS outcomes with respect to reported SWB as a proxy for individual utility. They primarily focus on cross-country comparisons, the question of marginal utility of income, and the relationship between absolute and relative levels of income on SWB (Frey and Stutzer 2002a, b; Oswald 1997; Layard 2005). Moreover, LS differs a great deal between individuals and between European countries. The previous study within the enlarged European Union shows average LS in 2003, measured on a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied), ranged from 8.38 in Denmark to 4.41 in Bulgaria. In every country high income goes hand in hand with higher LS scores. However, poor people in Denmark are nevertheless more satisfied than rich people in Bulgaria. The large differences in the overall level of LS between old and new member states have so far been explained with reference to the level of economic prosperity in each country (Fahey and Smyth 2004). Moreover, several studies have pointed out that poorer countries tend to possess lower LS than richer ones. To support this idea, Leelakulthanit and Day (1993) compared the LS scores of Americans and Thais. The results showed that Americans were more satisfied with their lives than Thais. Similarly, Diener et al., (1995) investigated LS among American, Korean, and Chinese college students. The results of the study illustrated that American college students scored more highly on LS, positive feelings and influential factors (e.g., income and wealth of the countries) than both Chinese and Korean college students. The results of these studies emphasized that the countries with high qualities (such as income, wealth, education) have higher LS scores than the countries who have low quality of standards . Conversely, Heady et al. (2004) instead analysed household panel data for five countries and found the happiness measure to be considerably more affected by economic fac tors than found in most of the earlier literature. The economic factors in the study include wealth and consumption expenditures and among the findings are that wealth has a stronger impact on happiness than income and that non-durable consumption expenditures are as important for happiness as income. Recent cross-country studies have therefore returned to this issue, questioning the insignificance of economic factors, which led to a heated debate in Social Science Indicators between Richard Easterlin, who defended the standard conclusion that average income does not matter, and Michael Hagerty and Ruud Veenhoven, who opposed this and argued that positive happiness trends in most nations were caused by income growth (Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003; Easterlin 2005; Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006). Moreover, a number of previous studies exposed evidence about health playing a critical role in overall LS. In fact, health has long been viewed as one of the major factors to LS as previous studies have found that health plays a crucial role on individuals LS (Linn et al., 1988; Michalos, Zumbo, Hubley, 2000; Okun et al., 1984; Parkerson, Broadhead, Tse, 1990). Additionally, a number of previous studies have examined the relationship between LS and health factors such as obesity, alcohol use, suicidal thoughts, physical activity, stress, and academic performance in different populations. For example, the study of the Moum (1996) found that people who score high on LS measures are less likely to attempt suicide. Lewinsohn et al., (1991) also pointed out that people who score high on LS are less likely to become depressed in the future . Several researches have also examined that LS is related to healthy behaviours in a number of different populations (Kelly, 2004; Rudolf Watts, 20 02; Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b). To support this idea, Statistics Canada Web Site (2009), found that Canadians LS was related to their health. The statistics showed that people who were satisfied with their lives reported that their health was excellent (62.5%) and only 8.4% of people who were satisfied with life reported poor health. Conversely, of those people who were not satisfied with their lives, 54.2% reported that their health was poor. As a result, this study found that weak levels of health are directly related to low levels of satisfaction with life, low levels of morality, and low levels of satisfaction. This study also stresses that public health provisions have an important role on the improvements of individuals quality of life. For example, Life expectancy in France or Germany has risen sharply. However, this improvement is not due to high-technology. These countries attach importance to improve the quality of health in urban sanitation. The main aim here is relatively low-cost treatment (for example; antibiotics for childrens ear infections) (Deaton, 2008). From the past to the present, a great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. These sources include ones overall wealth, whether one is single or married, male or female (Gold et al., 2002; Murtagh Hubert, 2004), or young or old (Diener, 1984; Mercier et al., 1998; Prenda Lachman, 2001) A few studies have investigated international undergraduate students Satisfaction with Life (SWL) in the pattern of culture associates. Definition of the SWL emphasises the individuals own Quality of Life (QoL) based on their selected standards (Shin and Johnson, 1978). Each individuals decisions about their own particular criteria of their QoL can help them to judge and establish their own SWL (Diener et al., 1985). This shows that ones SWL is not a universally determined criteria of QoL, because each individual is judging their SWL by their own evaluation of the QoL. This is one of the important reasons to focus on people of diverse ethnic background and their differ ent values and perceptions of what may characterise the good life (Diener et al., 1985). Another important reason to study SWL and Culture across different nations is based on cultural factors (such as ones quality of life) that play an important role on individuals happiness. Veenhoven (1991) found that living in an economically prosperous country where freedom and democracy are respected; political stability; being a part of a majority rather than a minority; being toward the top of the social ladder; being married and having good relationships with family and friends; being mentally and physically healthy; being active and open minded; feeling in control of ones life; having aspirations in social and moral matters rather than money-making and being politically conservative are significantly related with individuals happiness rather than unhappiness. Moreover, other researchers have established that individuals from different cultures have different levels of economic and social satisfactions with their Jobs. For example, people who have the same jobs but who live in different countries might have different levels of job satisfaction because of cultural influences (Cranny et al., 1992; Gallie Russell, 1998). This signifies that both economic (money) and social (interest) satisfaction with work, such as individuals quality of their working styles, experiences and achievements, is another very important component of individuals overall SWL (Frijters et al., 2003; Kraft 2000). Furthermore, health is a subjective phenomenon manifested as the experience of wellness/illness based on individuals evaluations of how they are feeling and doing. There are variety of factors on an individuals health satisfaction which have been related to their LS such as weight (Ball et al., 2004), alcohol use (Murphy et al., 2005), stress (Schnohr et al., 2005), and physical activity (Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b) These have been shown to be related to life satisfaction in different populations. The relationship between LS and various aspects of perceived health has been investigated in different nations because in different cultures people have different health institutions and services which can affect both their QoL and SWL. Previous researchers found that there is a positive relationship between subjective health and LS (Arrindell et al., 1999; Lohr et al., 1988; Rapkin Fischer, 1992; Willits Crider, 1988). The information above supports that to study both SWL and culture have been useful in illuminating how individuals differ in their SWL from different nations and the role of culture. A Number of studies emphasize that culture affects individuals from several basic psychological domains. For example, attribution and reasoning, intergroup relations, interpersonal communication, self-concept, negotiation, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Lehman et al., 2004; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). From the theory and research presented in this review, it can be seen that cultural factors are the integrative parts of the LS. According to this, this study will focus on the Culture and LS amongst international students to see whether culture plays an important role on the undergraduate students LS from five different cultures. The specific aims of the study are three-fold. Firstly, it determines whether there is a relationship between international students LS and CS amongst five different countries. Secondly, it specifies whether the international students have differences in CS in general factors (i.e. quality of services/ city/life etc.), social relationships, job satisfaction, health, authority and public safety across five different countries. Thirdly, it explores whether there is an LS difference between International Students from five different countries which are China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. In this study, I will focus on more cross-cultural phenomenon of the st udents satisfaction as well as its link with cross-cultural differences in the bases of LS (Schimmack et al., 2002; Suh et al., 1998) and provide tests of an empirically supported explanation for the differences. When people construct judgments about their overall LS, different cultural members place relative emphasis on different aspects of life. Therefore the hypotheses for this study are: There will be correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students from five different countries . There will be a difference in CS between International Students from five different countries There will be a difference in LS between International Students from five different countries. METHOD SECTION Participants A total of 100 students from the University of Northampton (UCN) in Northampton participated in the study. The sample for the current study comprised of 100 students, with twenty participants from each of the five nations India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey. Participants were selected from these five countries because many students from these countries came across to study in the University of Northampton. All participants were more than 18 years of age. Both males and females between the ages of 18-25 were selected. Each participant was required to complete both Questionnaire Section A of Life Satisfaction and Section B of the Cultural Satisfaction (see Appendix 2). All student participation was voluntary. Apparatus/Measurements The measures for the study were either taken directly or with modification from existing scales as described below. With the exception of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, all the items reported here were answered on a 5-point Likert Scale. Life Satisfaction : Global life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) to measure the life satisfaction of the international undergraduate students. The SWLS is a five-item inventory with a 7-point scale. The five items used to measure satisfaction with life are : (a) In most ways my life is close to ideal; (b) The conditions of my life are excellent; (c) I am satisfied with my life; (d) So far I have gotten the important things I want in life; and (e) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Participants respond to each item on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), yielding a possible total score ranging from 5 to 35 (see appendix 2). Satisfaction With Culture: Participants cultural life satisfaction was measured by questions both from Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey (2003) (QLS) (cited in Delhey, 2004) and the 2006 General User Satisfaction Survey (GUSS) (Torbay Council, 2006). Researcher also prepared some of the questions. The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction within six cultural life domains: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety were considered important influences on individuals life satisfaction. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see appendix 2). General : The general questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of twenty-three out of the 70 items, was added to the beginning of the Cultural life satisfaction scale in order to measure general life satisfaction about the cultural factors. The researcher also prepared the questions from 1 to 19. However, questions 20 to 23 from the general section were obtained from QLS. Students were expected to respond to each item based on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of items are It is a good place to live, overall quality of life in the city, water quality, noise etc. However, nine items were measured on an ordinal scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of general services (e.g. health services, public transport, education system etc.). Participants again respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (very high). Higher values indicate higher LS. Social Relationships : To achieve a high level of joy and happiness in life, people must be socially involved with people. This involves getting along well with others, having friends and companions, and offering help to those who need it. This part evaluates international students social relationships in their home countries through sixteen items. However, five questions about the tensions between different groups were obtained from QLS. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer Very many tensions and 5 to No tension at all. Moreover, eleven questions consisted of general problems about parents, children, teenagers etc. These eleven questions were also prepared by the Researcher. Statements such as parents not taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children, noisy neighbours or loud parties and people being attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion etc. The items were also based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (a very big p roblem) to 5 (not a problem at all). Job Satisfaction: In this section questions asked students to evaluate their overall Job satisfaction and financial situation. Questions in the Job Satisfaction section were adapted from QLS. A list of seven items was constructed to measure the job satisfaction variable. Items were presented on a 5- point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items included My work is dull and boring , I am well paid, and My job offers good prospects for career advancement etc. Health Perception : The health perception variable was measured on a Likert scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of health services in international students countries. This section consisted of eight items. Questions 1 to 4 from the health section were obtained from QLS. However, questions from 5 to 8 were obtained from GUSS. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied where 1 corresponds to the answer very dissatisfied and 5 to very satisfied, and included statements such as waiting time to see doctor on day of appointment, Quality of Hospitals and Deal with patients etc. Authority: The authority section consists of seven items. Question 1 and 7 from the authority section were adapted from GUSS . Also, questions 2 to 6 were prepared by the researcher . The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and included statements such as how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with each of the following services provided or supported by your country City Council such as; Sports/leisure facilities and events, libraries, museum, galleries, theatre etc. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer strongly disagree and 5 to strongly agree. Public Safety: Public safety questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of nine items. Questions in the Public Safety section were prepared by the researcher. Questions include how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood during the day? and how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood after dark? etc. The responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe to very safe, and 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Procedure Before the experiment participants were asked to read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 ) and to give their consent verbally. According to the standardised instructions, participants were fully informed what the study was going to investigate. The standard instructions informed the students of the purpose of the study; that participation was voluntary and the responses were going to be treated confidentially. Also, it explained the details of what participants would have to do and were allowed to ask any questions. Experimenters informed the participants that the aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a relation between participants general life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction. By giving their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved in this study and were then asked to sign the consent form (see appendix 4) and read the brief (see appendix 4). After that, participants were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The que stionnaire consisted of two sections; section A and section B. Section A was about the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) to measure life satisfaction. The scale comprises of five-items and the responses were made on a 7-point agree-disagree Likert scale (Diener et al., 1985). On the other hand, section B was about cultural life satisfaction (Questions were obtained from QoL). The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale and was designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction. The scale provides scores for six dimensions namely for the participants satisfaction with their nations. The six sections of the cultural satisfaction are: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety considered important on individuals cultural life satisfaction. According to participants responses, negative scores indicate dissatisfaction, whereas positive scores indicate satisfaction of the specific domain for the individuals life satisfaction. In this experiment, participants were not timed. Therefore, all the participants had the same life satisfaction and cultural satisfaction scale. Participants were also aware that they were allowed to withdraw at anytime without giving reason. After the experiment, the experimenter gave the participants a cue sheet which consisted of a brief explanation of what the study was about and the experimenters e-mail address (see appendix 5). Also, each Life satisfaction scale had the participant number recorded on the top of the paper so, if the participants changed their minds and wanted to retract their results from the study, they could email the experimenter and give their paper number by 01-01-2010. Also, participants were allowed to ask any questions. There was no deception of the participants in this study. Finally, no personal data was requested. As a result, the participants were anonymous . Questionnaires will be kept confidential and securely kept in the locked answers cupboard. Design This study was performed to determine the relation between culture and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of the study was the life satisfaction and the independent variable was culture. In this experiment, participants were sampled around the university campus and each participant received only one questionnaire. All experimenters rated using the same grading criteria. In this experiment, participants used to conduct this study were divided into five groups. These groups were formed according to the students nations which were China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria (Africa). Ethics A standard ethics form was completed prior to the study (see appendix 1) and approved by the ethical committee of the University of Northampton. The participants were asked for their consent prior to taking part in the study. Once they had read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3) and the participants were also given the chance to ask any questions. After this, participants were asked to sign their consent (see appendix 4). By giving their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved and to follow the instructions from the study. There was no deception to the participants in this study. They were fully informed of what the study was investigating and what they would have to do. The participants were also given the chance to withdraw at any point while they were taking part. They could also have their data removed. This is essential as the participants need to feel at ease and should not be held against their will. They were informed of this on the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 and 4). To ensure that the participants were comfortable and understood the study that they were taking part in, they were debriefed. This was done both verbally after the study had concluded to give the participant a chance to ask any questions and given a handout which they could keep for reference. This also included a contact email address (see appendix 5). The questionnaires that were completed by the participants involved them answering some questions that, unless they were assured of confidentiality, they may not have wanted to answer. In this study, this is done by there being no personal data requested that could link the participant to the data and researcher keeping the data safe. By taking part in a psychological experiment, some people may be affected and this is why there was a contact email on the debrief for the participants (see appendix 5). There had also been no personal data requested; therefore, the participants could no t be contacted or found even if there was a leak in confidentiality. RESULTS Descriptive Statistics were used to summarize the main features of a collection of this studys data in quantitative terms to see the differences between International Students Life Satisfaction (LS) scores from five different nations (India, China, UK, Turkey and Nigeria). A Pearsons r product moment correlation coefficient test was carried out to test if the correlation between Life Satisfaction and the six subsections of the Cultural Satisfaction (General, Social Relationship, Job, Health, Authority and Public Safety Satisfaction) were statistically significant or not with data at interval/ratio level. Partial correlation also used for International Students from five different nations to describe the association between LS and the six subsections of the Cultural Satisfaction (CS) whilst taking away the effects of nationality on this relationship. An analysis of One-Way between subjects ANOVA was also used to see whether international students from five different nations differed i n any six subsections of the CS. A Post-Hoc Tukey test, which is generally used in conjunction with an ANOVA, was also carried out to see whether each nations mean differences between the six aspects of the CS were significantly different from one another. Descriptive Statistics In this study, descriptive statistics are used to describe the main features of a collection of data in quantitative such as mean, median, standard deviation that summarize and interpret some of the properties of a set of data. The participants score from the Life Satisfaction (LS) questions on the LS survey, were collected and entered into SPSS. (see appendix 6). Descriptive statistics were calculated for each of the five nations to obtain the mean scores of Life Satisfaction. Descriptive statistics for five countries are presented in Table 1 below. The descriptive statistics showed that Turkish (Mean= 5.70, SD=0.92) and UK (Mean=5.15, SD= 1.46) students reported the highest life satisfaction scores, and these groups in turn reported higher mean life satisfaction scores than Indian students (Mean=4.40, SD=1.18), Chinese students (Mean=4.75, SD=1.11) and Nigerian students (Mean=4.85, SD=1.22). Indian (Mean= 4.40) and Chinese (Mean=4.75) students were the least satisfied with life. Descriptive statistics also show that Indian students reported the lowest mean scores; these students were less satisfied with their life satisfaction than students from the other four countries. Moreover, it is obvious that Turkish students were the most satisfied with their life satisfaction than the other four countries. Pearsons (r) product moment correlation coeffient In order to test the hypothesis 1, that there will be correlation between Life Satisfaction (LS) and Cultural Satisfaction (CS) amongst International Students from five different countries, a Pearsons (r) product moment correlation coefficient tests (calculations obtained from the SPSS program is shown in Appendix 6) was used to find strength of the correlation between Life Satisfaction and the six aspects of the cultural satisfaction with data at interval/ratio level (see Table 2). Pearsons correlation coefficients results showed that there was no statistically significant correlations between Life Satisfaction and any other subsections of the Cultural Satisfaction because P value is more than 0.05 (p0.05) for each of the subsections. Results from both Pearsons and Partial correlation coefficient indicates that we accept the null hypothesis which is there is not any correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students. One-way between subjects ANOVA test An analysis of the data using One-way between subjects ANOVA was carried out to see whether there were differences in any subsections of the cultural satisfaction (CS) across the five nations (see appendix 6 for calculations). Seven one-way ANOVAs were conducted between the international students from five nationalities (India, China, UK, Turkey, and Nigeria) and subsections (general, social relationships, job, health, authority and public safety satisfaction) of the CS domains. Results can be seen in table 4. A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the international students scores from five different nations (India, China, Turkey, UK, Nigeria) to see whether there were differences in Life Satisfaction (LS) and each of the cultural satisfaction variables, which are general satisfaction, social relationship satisfaction, job satisfaction, health satisfaction, authority satisfaction and public safety satisfaction. One-way ANOVA found a statistically significant difference in the level of LS in relation to the four aspects of social relationship satisfaction (F(4,95)= 2.89, p

Utilitarianism A Man Named Joe Is Dying Of Aids

Dan Simons Ethics Mill Paper 10/28/14 Utilitarianism The Topic that is have chosen is Topic #1 which is â€Å"What is utilitarianism? Suppose a man named Joe is dying of AIDS. He requests that his doctor prescribe him a lethal dose of medication in order to end his life now, before the worst suffering from AIDS begins. His family objects to this. How would Mill advise the doctor? What sort of questions would he ask? What facts would be relevant to evaluating the case and why would they be relevant?† in the following I will be presenting what utilitarianism is, how Mill would advise the doctor, and why he would advise the doctor, and what evidence would he use to persuade the doctor. Along with what the difference is between act and rule†¦show more content†¦Gay’s belief was that God had created humans to be happy, and that his will is that humans are to be happy. Bentham expanded upon these ideas. Bentham introduced the idea of the Hedonic Calculus, which is meant to determine the value of bot h pleasures, and pains. Mill then further defined utilitarianism by the quality of the utility rather than the quantity of it. He argued that intellectual (higher) pleasures where better than physical (lower) pleasures. Mill argues that pleasures aren’t to be considered happiness, and that they are a means to an end known as Virtue, which in the beginning wasn’t the end, however it can become so. The idea of ideal utilitarianism brought into light by G.E. Moore who goes into depth of what ideal utilitarianism means. G.E. Moore suggests that hedonistic utilitarianism was not ideal, however that there are ranging ideas, and values that could be maximized. Moore argues that is impossible for pleasure to be the only measure of what is ideal. These values although all come from different backgrounds, and have different theories argue that what benefits society are moral actions, which will cause happiness. Though some actions maybe considered immoral for some others they ar e considered moral such as mercy killing. Consider the following, a man by the name of Joe is dying of Aids, due to the severity of his condition he asked his doctor to give him a lethal dose of

Specific User System Requirements Free Essays

Specific Requirements This section provides comprehensive details on all requirements. It should include all of the details which the designer will need to create the design. The details that is shown below should be defined as individual specific requirements such as User Requirements and System Requirements. We will write a custom essay sample on Specific User System Requirements or any similar topic only for you Order Now It also contains all of the software requirements to a level of detail sufficient to enable designer to design a system to satisfy those requirements and testers to test that the system satisfies those requirements. User Requirements The user must enter the correct username and password otherwise they cannot access through the system. The system should reports invalid log in errors. The system shall provide a facility in changing user accounts: Username and Password allowing the users to modify their accounts. The system should report any violation. The system should automatically generate bills and receipt, and other functional reports. The system can also void purchase order and should include search facility on different products information. The system should keep records on every actions that has been made. System Requirements 1. Log in and log out a. Users must be able to log in and log out b. The users must enter correct user accounts to access the system c. The users can change their accounts 2. Viewing the system main menu a. The system should have a clear and user friendly interface. 3. Rendering order transaction a. The system should provide bills and receipt 4. Viewing / Retrieving / Modifying records a. The user must be able to create and update records 5. Viewing and evaluation of records How to cite Specific User System Requirements, Papers

Billy Budd Essay Research Paper Joyce Carol free essay sample

Billy Budd Essay, Research Paper Joyce Carol Oates writes that Herman Melville? s novels have artistic trouble because he uses fiction composing as a preachy parable. Oates believes that Melville? s authorship is raging for the modern reader to construe because of modern-day outlooks that composing be entertaining and less like a heavy discourse. Oates believes a modern-day reader must go educated in the fact that Melville? s characters are word picture of thoughts, non characters in a play, in order to do sense of his work. Additionally, Oates thinks Melville? s bulky, extended sentences and exalted vocabulary about prevents a reading of his work for pleasance. Any beauty of the narrative is hidden in a tangle of large words. This is a true analysis of Melville. It can be confirmed and explained by a brief illustration of modern-day outlooks from a novel, a speedy expression at the life of Melville, and some existent samples from the novel, Billy Budd. We will write a custom essay sample on Billy Budd Essay Research Paper Joyce Carol or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Today? s reader? s know Melville best from the fresh Moby Dick. Movies were made of this narrative. It is a narrative synonymous with sea escapade to most people. Contemporary readers buy and read a narrative that moves through a clear beginning, center and terminal. Best selling books on the Internet site, Amazon.com. are The Hours, by Michael Cunningham and The Pilot # 8217 ; s Wife by Anita Shreve. These are interesting, fast paced narratives. Melvile didn? T seem to desire to compose narratives. He was excessively serious a adult male for narratives. Herman Melville helped his female parent raise a big household and overcome deep debt left from his male parent? s decease. This undertaking left Melville depressed. Throughout his life, he held a pessimistic position. Bad intelligence caught his attending quicker than cheerful intelligence. Calamities and trials at sea were his favourite intelligence points and inspired some of his Hagiographas. One of Melville? s foremost poems was called # 8220 ; Billy in the Darbies # 8221 ; . In it he wrote of a existent crewman who had been apprehended, tried, and sentenced to han g over a mutiny secret plan. This verse form expanded into the prose work, Billy Budd. The rubric character is a immature crewman who murders a average master-at-arms in a tantrum of justifiable rage. The struggle between the good Billy Budd and the evil character, John Claggart eventually centres on Captain Vere. The Captain has the duty in finding right from incorrect. Readers may look up to or disapprove of Captain Vere for his determination to condemn Billy Budd to decease by public hanging, if they care plenty at the terminal of their reading labour to hold an sentiment. While seeking to screen out the moral inquiries in Billy Budd, the reader must read through elaborate and hard authorship. Melville? s authorship is excessively descriptive. Describing one minor character? s sentiment of an Admiral Nelson, near the beginning of the book, this sentence shows the chief job with Melville for the modern-day reader ; They may add, excessively, Trafalgar it was in consequence nil less than a challenge to decease ; and decease came ; and that but for is bravado the winning admiral might perchance hold survived the conflict, and so, alternatively of holding his perspicacious deceasing injunctions overruled by his immediate replacement in bid, he himself when the competition was decided might hold brought his tattered fleet to ground, a proceeding which might hold averted the distressing loss of life by shipwreck in the elemental storm that followed the soldierly 1. ( Melville 306 ) In decision, Melville is hard to read due to his complicated sentence construction and vocabulary. The complex moral inquiries in the novel Billy Budd is one with no immediate reply. The modern reader attacks Melville with the outlook for a quick paced play that leads to a decision and finds slow, difficult reading that leads to an unfastened ended issue of right and incorrect. The modern reader concerns about happening significance in the tangle of slippery words instead than considers the art and beauty of good authorship.