Introduction of Aeon Essay

Aeon CO. (M) BHD was incorporated on 15 September 1984 in response to the Malaysian Government’s invitation to Aeon Japan to help modernise the retailing industries in Malaysia. Nowadays, Aeon CO. (M) BHD is a leading retailer in Malaysia with a total revenue of RM3.26 billion for the financial year ended 31 December 2012 and it is well established among Malaysians as well as foreigners, especially due to its association with the international Aeon Group of Companies. The Aeon Group of Companies consists of Aeon Co., Ltd. and about 200 consolidated subsidiaries and affiliated companies. Not only focus on its core GMS, supermarkets and convenience store operations, Aeon is also active in specialty store operations and shopping centre development, operations, credit card business and services. Although Aeon Group of Companies is an integrated Japanese retailer, it is active throughout Southeast Asia and China but not just in Japan. As a leading chain of General Merchandise Stores (GMS), Aeon designs a constant interior refurbishment of stores to satisfy the ever changing needs and desires of consumers. The management’s acute understanding of target market needs and the provision of an optimal product-mix has also further enhanced the company’s performance. In order to cater to Malaysia’s vast middle income group, Aeon stores are mostly situated in suburban residential areas. Besides ,Aeon activities are guided by its unchanging ‘Customer First’ philosophy at all the times and it aims to surpass expectations by combining excellent products with unique personal services that enhance the shopping experience to make customers smile whenever they are shopping in Aeon.

Gender Roles in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Essay

During the 1900’s, women, specifically black women, were considered to be property of men in the United States, especially down south, in states such as Florida and Georgia. Legally, women had no voice. For example, if a woman was abused by her husband, the court system would not acknowledge it even if it did really happen. In the article â€Å"Sexism in the Early 1900’s†, Becca Woltemath states that â€Å"†¦a woman’s job is to take care of the house and to bear children. She’s no good for anything else. She’s just a simple thinker.† Women were forced into submission and there was nothing they could do about it. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston shows the issue of gender roles through the story of a young woman named Janie, who struggles through an arranged marriage. Through multiple characters, as well as the plot, sexism comes to the surface. As soon as the novel begins, it is evident the roles of men and women play a very big part in this novel: â€Å"Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever†¦Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget† (Hurston 1). In this opening paragraph of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston compares the wishes and dreams of men and women in a particularly interesting way. By using the sea as a symbol, she is saying that men can never really control their dreams, just wait for them to come true. While women on the other hand, can take their dreams into their own hands, molding them as they see fit. Making this comparison establishes the theme of gender difference throughout the novel, and ultimately foreshadows the fact that Janie is going to struggle, yet will stop at nothing to achieve what she sets her mind to. After first setting the tone, Nanny is introduced. Her traditional values of womanly roles such as cooking and cleaning lead us to believe that Janie will be the same way. But when Janie kisses Johnny Taylor, her view of men changes after seeing â€Å"a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to  behold a revelation† (Hurston 11). This paragraph is one of the most important, if not the most, in the whole book. Comparing love to the relationship between a bee and its flower, Janie suddenly craves, love, passion, and above all, someone she can consider her equal. Unfortunately, though, equality was a foreign concept during this time period. Men were seen as â€Å"all-powerful†, considered the sole providers and the only ones allowed to hold any sort of office or high-status job. Women, on the other hand, were the complete opposite. In an article written by Dorothy W. Hartman, a historian, she states: Women’s God-given role, it stated, was as wife and mother, keeper of the household â€Å"Women’s God-given role, it stated, was as wife and mother, keeper of the household†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Many people, including blacks, believed in this sort of household: the men being on top, with the women considered far inferior. In Janie’s first relationship, it is clear this is not the equality she has hoped for. Logan Killicks- an elderly, black man her grandmother has arranged for her to marry- treats Janie like a servant and not like a wife at all. There is no love present, and every day is a chore. Even though Nanny knows Janie is not happy, she insists the marriage is a good one: â€Å"’Heah yo is wid de onliest organ in town, amonst colored folks, in yo’ parlow. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road†¦Lawd have mussy! Dat’s de very prong all us black women gits hung on’† (Hurston 23). In Nanny’s speech, Hurston is trying to emphasize that the female’s only role is to marry and look good, and let the man do all the work. Also in her article, Hartman says that â€Å"†¦due to the fact that the man was almost always working, little room was left to develop a connection between husband and wife; love was a foreign concept.†, which describes what Janie and Logan have together exactly. Despite being given all she should want, Janie seeks more. When Joe â€Å"Jody† Starks appears out of nowhere, Janie feels like her dreams have finally come true. But after a while, the marriage turns out to be little more than the stint with Killicks. Starks, like Killicks, treats her as property and not as someone he actually loves. One example is how Jody makes Janie put her hair up in a wrap while working in the store, rather  than leave it down. Another is when he publicly criticizes her appearance, saying she is starting to show her age, when he is clearly at least ten years older: â€Å"’ You ain’t no young courtin’ gal. You’se uh old woman, nearly fourty’† (Hurston 79). Joe feels the need to tear down Janie, in order to make himself feel more important, which was an important part of being a man during this time. By reading the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, one could immediately pick up on the difference gender played during the late 1800’s and into the early 1900’s. While women were expected to stay at home and clean and take care of children, men worked to provide for their families and were considered far superior. While these prejudices have slowly gotten better over time, most of them still exist to a small extent in today’s society. Through the characters’ attitudes and narratives, especially Janie’s relationships, and the society’s feelings as a whole, Their Eyes Were Watching God clearly displays the social issues of sexism and gender roles. Works Cited Hartman, Dorothy W. â€Å"Women’s Roles in the Late 19th Century.† Conner Prairie Interactive History Park. Conner Prairie, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. Woltemath, Becca. â€Å"Sexism in the Early 1900s.†Worldbook Encyclopedia. Worldbook, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.

Placebo Effect

Feda Aziz Amy Blitchok ENG 1060-0013 April 30, 2012 Placebo over Mind For years, scientists and researchers have sought to find an explanation for the placebo effect. What many scientists and researchers do not realize is that placebo or â€Å"fake medicine† has been used as early as the revolutionary period in the seventeen hundreds. The mind is a powerful organ, in which controls all our body’s functions and thoughts. Everyday functions such as breathing and walking relies heavily on the most important part of our organ: the mind.However, through the use of placebos, it is becoming clear that the mind may have an even greater influence on our daily lives, influencing our perception of well- being. The placebo, which is Latin for â€Å"to please,† is a sugar-pill that can be taken in many different forms such as injection, liquid intake or by pill. Research conducted by physicians and scientists on placebos revealed that patients who receives treatment for asthm a, irritable bowel syndromes, knee surgery and much more showed improvements and are symptom free which in turn demonstrated how mind is more powerful than the body.The Placebo effect is when the administration of some entirely harmless or inactive drug or pill seems to make people better. It can also reduce the experience of pain by blocking pain signals in the spinal cord from arriving at the brain in the first place. When patients expect a treatment to be effective, the brain area responsible for pain control is activated, causing the release of natural endorphins. The endorphins send instructions down to the spinal cord to suppress incoming pain signals and patients feel better whether or not the treatment had any direct effect.This article explained how the mind and placebo work together in sending messages from the brain to the area of pain. Other problems exist in testing placebos' effectiveness. They cannot be used in studies on life-threatening or degenerative illnesses, si nce taking an inactive treatment rather than a real one could do patients real harm. Tests in which patients know they may be taking placebos show different results from tests in which they are given only a drug.Patients have been shown to react less to real medicine if they know there is a fifty percent chance they are actually getting sugar pills (Amaral) . Very few doctors are this open about prescribing placebos, but most of them do not outright lie to their patients, either. In general, doctors who prescribe placebos often say that they have something that they believe can help, but they do not know exactly how it will work, either. Supporters of the use of placebos point out that this is not lying; placebos are known to be beneficial in some cases.The American Medical Association (AMA) policy suggests that doctors could explain the placebo effect to their patients and receive consent to prescribe them in the course of treating any illness. This way, the patients don't know exa ctly when they might be prescribed a placebo and they could still benefit from the placebo effect (â€Å"http://www. ama-assn. org/†). The Placebo effect refers to the situation where patients feel better after taking a medication even if the drug is ineffective. A study proved the effectiveness of placebo medicine in patients diagnosed with heart failure.When given the placebo to heart failure patients and they took it whole heartedly and faithfully they showed a thirty four percent decrease in death rate. The researchers are unsure about the results but some theories are; mind is as powerful as any organ in the body. People who took their placebo faithfully, and believe it would help, may actually have gotten real help. Also patients who have heart failure have to exercise and cut salt intake so that may have had an important role in the placebo succeeding (Amaral). The placebo effect is a powerful effect that can consistently induce a perceived benefit.Once the placebo was identified as a valid medication able to create a response, such as becoming symptom free, became more widely used as a control in clinical trials. As a result, the placebo effect has been extensively studied throughout history. In a study; four groups of asthma patients were given albuterol inhalers, placebo inhalers, sham acupuncture, or no treatment. When the researchers tested the patients' lung function, the albuterol, a standard treatment for asthma, showed improvement, whereas the placebos had no effect. On the contrary, half of those who used the albuterol reported feeling better.But so did nearly half of those who got the placebo inhaler or the sham acupuncture. Doctors may not fully understand the cause of it but what they do know is two inert pills can work better than one, colorful inert pills can work better than plain ones, and injections can work better than pills (Bates). The perception of the benefits was recognized due to the perceptions of the mind, and not to th e ingredients that makes up the fake treatment. The placebo effect shows us that the mind heavily influences our perceptions of wellness and health.The placebo was also used during the Civil War; nurses often ran out of medicine, in order to keep the soldiers moving they injected them with saltwater, and believed it was morphine. Many scientists began wondering how the solider can feel better and become symptom free without taking the actual morphine. Thus, the scientists came to the conclusion that before simply thinking you can feel better you actually will. However, there is the nocebo effect in which the opposite occurs. A patient thinks he will feel bad, and he then will feel symptoms and pain.Also when a doctor proclaims that the medicine will cause symptoms or pain, the patient is more likely to feel the symptoms (Cloud). While the mind may be labeled as an organ easily fooled by placebos, whose benefit has no physical basis, it is clear that the mind may have an even greater role in behavior. Throughout the world, it is widely believed that the placebo effect simply is of random chance or it temporarily works on symptoms or diseases. To prove the skeptics wrong, a test was conducted with one hundred and eight patients that were divided in half.Half of them received arthroscopy knee surgery, and the other half received fake knee surgery. Arthroscopy knee surgery requires only three tiny incisions through the skin and the fake surgery received a small cut on their knee. The results were astonishing placebo surgery turned out to be just as effective as real surgery. Many people think it is irrational to be cured by fake medicine, but the truth is patients who were successfully healed by fake surgery were in fact healed by the power of their own minds (Easton).Placebos can no longer be thought of as a blind fold covering the eyes. These sugar pills induce the mind to create a very real and physical response that may be specific to the placebo; as a result, use of a placebo can become a very seductive treatment option for many. With the ongoing use of placebos, both as a control, and potentially as an alternative treatment, several issues emerge: Such as if the placebo is ethical or not. Furthermore, can it be guaranteed that placebos will generate a safe, and effective, result.While these pills may seem nonthreatening by being less active than experimental drugs, the risk for harmful and unethical consequences still does exist. Dr. Sobel ,co-author of The Healing Brain, explains â€Å"doctors spend a lot of time prescribing and giving medicine when improvement can be just by giving positive reinforcement†. Dr. Sobel also clarifies that if giving positive feedback made patients feel better then why give a placebo or sugar pill at all when you can prescribe yoga or meditation.For example when a child gets hurt, the compassionate parent would say â€Å"a kiss will make it better† and the child walks away tearless because m ommy made it feel better. Carefully, studies were conducted and on average, if you take one hundred people with certain illnesses and give them a sugar pill; about a third would be expected to improve (Friend). Some doctors believe that instead of ignoring the placebo effect, it may help to enhance it. A study was conducted in which the placebo effect worked on patients who had irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. In 2008, Harvard's Ted J.Kaptchuk wanted to treat IBS but in a safe way. He devised a fake remedy which contained fake acupuncture with no needles and plenty of soft talk. Kaptchuk experiment showed sixty-two percent of them actually got better and for the patients who had fake acupuncture and no soft talk saw a forty two percent improvement. Many mainstream medicine and drug companies try to minimize conducting clinical trials, but Kaptchuk argues that instead of minimizing they should enhance it and use placebos more often because it will lower costs of medicine and produce fewer side effects (Herper).Anesthetist, Henry Beecher, published an article on the use and effects of placebo in treatment of different diseases. Since then, many studies have shown that situations can also trigger the human mind to generate placebo effect. Kaptchuk explains that rituals of treatment activate brain areas in the same way as done by drugs. The newest neurobiological theories on placebos suggest that in some situations the appearance and rituals of treatment activate brain areas similar to when one takes drugs. So, for the drug to work, you may not need the drug at all (Marglin).Freed and his associates conducted a study examining the outcomes of forty patients, ages thirty four through seventy five, who had severe Parkinson's disease. In this study, the patients either underwent neuronal transplantation surgery or sham surgery (placebo). These patients were randomly assigned to the different groups. In the patients who underwent the sham surgery, holes were drilled i nto their skulls, but not penetrated. While all of the patients had hoped to receive this neuronal transplant, only half actually did. The rest had the placebo surgery (Amaral).Freed found that although there was no notable effect among the older patients in either transplantation or placebo surgeries, the younger transplantation recipients showed much improvement as compared with the placebo surgery group. No one from the placebo surgery group benefited from the procedure. Results were measured using the standardized scoring system of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). They measure symptoms of Parkinson's disease including mentation/mood and performance in the activities of daily living, respectively.Freed, further analyzed results for growth of transplants by using the PET scans. PET scans use nuclear medicine imaging to produce 3-dimensional color images of the functional processes within the human body. These tests all concluded that the only group that benefi ted from the study was the younger transplantation group, leaving many concerned due to the lack of improvement in their condition. Half of those in the placebo group experienced additional pain, and some experienced trauma. In addition to not benefiting from the procedure, many experienced significant pain from the placebo surgery.In this case, the mind could not be induced into generating the type of physical response that is desired from this surgery. And further, the potential for pain as well as harm are also clear in this example. It is clear that the ethics behind placebos, given that they are active substances that can induce very real physical responses need to be taken seriously. The mind is a complex organ that may not always respond in the way that we hope it will (Amaral). The placebo effect has shed great light on the complex functions of the mind. The mind has the remarkable ability to generate a physiological and real response to placebos.Furthermore, the mind can di scern a placebo from an experimental drug, as we see through the specific activation of the prefrontal cortex by the placebo. The mind has functions and capabilities that are larger than just thinking, breathing and walking. It not only controls our perception of our well-being, but may control the physicalitys of our well-being more extensively than was previously thought. While the placebo effect has yielded important information on the powers of the mind, we need to think more responsibly about the use of placebos, and the potential effects of these active stimuli on the brain.Given that placebos do activate the brain, we need to re-address our notions of these pills as inactive sugar pills. What if placebos could have the potential to affect the mind in a way that is not positive? What if placebo pills, and furthermore surgeries, could be harmful to the patient? The ethics of placebos, and the role of the mind in responding to them, should not be underestimated as we move forwar d in our studies of how the mind works. Our well-being depends on it. There are several recent studies suggesting that placebos themselves are beneficial.According to a paper presented to the American Psychological Association's (APA) 104th annual convention, the placebo effect accounts for fifty percent of improvements in depressed patients taking antidepressants. Listening to Prozac but Hearing Placebo: A Meta-Analysis of Antidepressant Medication, a controversial study done on the effectiveness of using pharmaceuticals in treatment of depression. According to another study, when placebos are given for pain management, the course of pain relief follows that of an active drug The Placebo Prescription, comprehensive non-scientific article on the placebo effect.For both the placebo and the active medicine, peak relief comes about an hour after administration. The placebo effect seems to be acknowledged, perhaps unwittingly, by most medical doctors when one considers that until recent ly prescribing antibiotics for viral colds and flus was a common practice (Ammaral. ) A patient's belief in the treatment and the placebo response are dependent upon a variety of factors. First, the patient's expectations of treatment effects clearly influence the responses.For example, a study in England was done where a hundred men were told that they were taking chemotherapy, when in actuality they were taking inactive saline solution. Twenty percent of these men lost their hair, demonstrating the power of the belief of effects of the treatment. Second, the relationship between patient and care-provider is quite important in determining treatment or placebo results. If there is a positive rapport between the two, then most often there will be a positive enthusiasm for the treatment, and therefore a positive outcome, no matter if a placebo or pharmacologic treatment was used.The friendliness, interest, sympathy, prestige, and positive attitude of the care- provider toward the pati ent and toward the treatment are associated with positive effects of placebos as well as of active treatments. For example, in a double- blind study of dental extractions, two groups were compared: the first, where the doctors knew they would administer a narcotic analgesic, a placebo, or a narcotic antagonistic and the second, where the doctors knew they would administer either a placebo or narcotic antagonist. The patients from the first group who received placebo had significantly less pain.Since the two placebo groups were only different in the doctors' knowledge of possible treatment, this knowledge must have resulted in differences in behaviors by the doctor that influenced patient responses. Third, placebos have time- effect curves and peaks, cumulative and carryover effects after end of treatment which is quite similar to those of pharmacologically active medications. For example, â€Å"when varying doses of analgesic followed by a placebo are administered, patients' placeb o responses correspond in degree of pain relief over time to their original dosage of analgesic† (Turner).In addition, dose-response effects have also been documented where two placebo pills were demonstrated to have more pronounced effects than one. In recent decades studies have confirmed the efficacy of various sham treatments in nearly all areas of medicine. Placebos have helped alleviate pain, depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory disorders and even cancer. These studies show that people’s perception of their treatment plays an important role in healing. In other words, people not only think that a drug or procedure will benefit them, but over time, they unconsciously associate the taking of medicine with relief.This essay has stated what the placebo effect is, how it will be used to care for a patient with given evidence and the restrictions of the placebo effect. Up to now medical science has not fully explained what is the cause or causes of the placebo effect. But it seems that it is the result of the patient’s expectation of an effect. The debate will continue concerning what constitutes a placebo, but whether doctors and researchers should continue to use them. Even some supporters of placebo use claim that it is such a loaded word that perhaps we should start using terms like â€Å"mind-body medicine† or â€Å"integrated healing† instead.But as long as many people believe that the placebo effect works, they're not likely to go away anytime soon. Work Cited â€Å"AMA American Medical Association. † http://www. ama-assn. org/. N. p. , 2012. Web. 29 Apr 2012. . Amaral, Julio Rocha and Renato M. E. Sabbatini. Placebo Effect The Power of the Sugar Pill. February 5,the Mysterious Placebo Effect, an article from Modern Drug Discovery Bates, Stephen. â€Å"Nothing helps: a placebo a day. † The Wilson Quarterly 35. 4 (2011): 15. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Clo ud, John. â€Å"How A Sugar Pill Can Heal (Or Hurt) You. † Time 174. 17 (2009): 59. TOPIC search. Web. 9 Mar. 2012. Easton MD â€Å"The placebo effect an amazing reality. † Sunday Star (Easton, MD) 1 Jul. 2007, Supplements HealthWise: NewsBank. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. Friend, Tim. â€Å"The placebo effect: Gauging the mind's role in healing. † USA TODAY 15 Jun. 1993, FINAL, LIFE: 6D. NewsBank. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Herper, Matthew, and Robert Langreth. â€Å"The Nothing Cure. † Forbes 185. 5 (2010): 24. TOPICsearch. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Marglin, Elizabeth. The PLACEBO Effect. † Natural Health 40. 5 (2010): 68-95. Health Source – Consumer Edition. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. â€Å"The Powerful Placebo. † Harvard Men's Health Watch 12. 11 (2008): 4-6. Health Source – Consumer Edition. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. â€Å"Therapeutic Placebo Effect:A Mind/Body Connection. † placeboeffect. com 10 Apr 2012 . Turner, et al, â€Å"The importance of placebo e ffects in pain treatment and research†, JAMA, 1994: http://www. ovid. med. virginia. edu/ovidweb/ovidweb. cgi

The influence of senior management involvement on the effectiveness of Essay - 1

The influence of senior management involvement on the effectiveness of management training in selected Saudi Arabia (KSA) SMEs - Essay Example rpose of this study the effectiveness of the transfer of training within organization is defined by factors such as consensus between training participants and their senior management, better communication, team work, high spirit, move involvement of their work and faster decision making and problem solving. These factors are used as indicators of the effectiveness of the transfer of learning, because they are the ultimate aims of the management. It is important to note however that this research is based on the effectiveness of training in the workplace and effectiveness is not measured with a cost effective approach. Factors given above are used to define the effectiveness of training. From a cost effectiveness point of view, a counter argument will arise: will the senior management attending training program lead to reduced efficiency and effectiveness in their job, as they have less time to devote to their other roles. Some may suggest analyzing the cost-and-benefit of the action taken by the senior management. However this research is to study the effectiveness of training programs with or without the senior management participation. The reasons for the researcher to leave out cost-and-benefit factor are: firstly, the aim of the research is to study the human behavior after attending training; secondly, the researcher presumes the cost incurred by the whole group members of an organization is probably larger than the cost incurred by the senior management. Further complementary research could be conducted into a full cost-benefit analysis. This research concerns the relationship between the senior management and the transfer of management training effectiveness to the workplace of selected small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia (KSA). In this country, â€Å"SMEs† mean manufacturing companies provide manufacturing related services with annual sales revenue not greater than Saudi Arabian Riyal (SAR) 25 million and with full-time employees

Take This Bread by Sara Miles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Take This Bread by Sara Miles - Essay Example The essence of all religious texts is-- help and do service to others. That is the greatest meritorious act. To cause intentional pain to others is the greatest act of sin. Sara Miles said thus, without actually saying! A true Christian is the one who has not only cross on the neck, but also Christ in the heart. Sara Miles prayed and performed. Prayer took the second place in the order of her religious priorities and service occupied the first place. â€Å"Hunger† is the word that set her thinking and energized her. When she converted to Christianity at the age of 46, she was not like a young girl/youth with impressionable mind, receptive to transplantation of new ideas. She was a tough individual, experienced in many facets of life, with strong leftist leanings, secular-intellectual, and by strict standards of Christianity and Church, not a fit candidate for conversion. But such ‘accidents’ do happen in life, and when it happened it opened for her new vistas of f orward thrust. ‘To feed people’ became, not her view of life, but the way of life. She was obsessed with the idea of feeding people. Did she create a special brand of her own type Christianity? The answer to this question is both yes and no. For no one born on this Planet Earth can interpret what the true Christian principles are. What is the exact import of the revelations of that realized soul, the son God; no one will ever be able to comprehend! Each one sees a new horizon and interprets the Christian principles from the level of one’s spiritual progression. No one knows what is the perfect truth related to Christianity. When perfect Christian discipline is not known, they carry on with the available discipline, thinking that it alone is the final truth about Christianity! Divinity and humanity are alternative beats of the same heart. If you have any doubt, study the book, not mere read the book, â€Å"Take this Bread† by Sara Miles. They (Divinity and humanity) must run together like the train that speeds on two parallel tracks. It is like the scale of justice. Both arms of the scale are important to strike the equilibrium. To give another comparison they are like the two banks of a river! Sara turned one piece of bread that she ate at communion into many tons of groceries and discovered the new mission for her life. She used the altar of the Church where she met her God, Jesus Christ for the purpose. Poorest parts of the country turned out to be her pilgrimage centers. Her struggle was not ordinary. She came into contact and had to interact with a heterogeneous section of the society, good, bad and worst. She writes, (2000, xii) â€Å"I had to struggle with my atheist family, my doubting friends, and the prejudices and traditions of my newfound church. I learned about the great American scandal of the politics of food, the economy of hunger, and the rules of money. I met thieves, child abusers, millionaires, day laborers, polit icians, schizophrenics, gangsters, and bishops—all blown into my life through the restless power of a call to feed people, widening that I thought as my â€Å"community† in ways that were exhilarating, confusing, and often scary.† It is better not to give than give with arrogance. In her search for ways and means to combat hunger she provides the above description of the types of people she encountered---all

Affects of Combat PTSD on Sexual Intimacy Research Paper

Affects of Combat PTSD on Sexual Intimacy - Research Paper Example The â€Å"suffering in silence† can never be studied and seen in the limelight until a pure study based on survey and facts is carried out. The main intention of the article is to have a deep insight into the problems many couples have to face because of the physical and emotional injuries of the home coming, apparently safe yet internally and emotionally damaged soldiers. The article will be compare and contrast two main studies in which different cases of   Ã¢â‚¬Ëœposttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) hit soldiers’ are discussed with studied facts and figures; then the results will be deduced based on the contextual analysis of the real time happenings and events. First source The first source is titled as â€Å"Sexual Functioning in War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder† authored by Vesna Anticevic and Dolores Britvic published in August 2008, in Croatian medical journal, which is an open literary journal which invites the medics and health experts from all over the world to write experts reports and articles on diverse health related issues and their solutions. Croatian medical journal is fully indexed and reviewed by CC/CM, Index Medicus/MEDLINE, Biosis, Excerpta Medica and ExtraMED (Hrcak, 2011). The addressed article focuses on studying the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the war veterans that have come from different war zones. The goal of the study is to find out the ratio of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the soldiers who stay away from their wives for a extended period of time and then return home after suffering many war injuries, emotional damages and brutal live imagery in their experiences in the war field. The method of study was observatory; one in which primarily a group of 101 war veterans with PTSD participated. The other group was 55 control volunteers which were healthy in the perspective of sexual functioning and mental stability receiving outpatient health care in different facultie s. The two groups were studied and observed under different supervisory committees of doctors and the observed results were documented later on (NCBI, 2008). During the study, different health determinants and variables were analyzed in order to deduce the results; for example the rate of masturbation, sexual inter-course, ratio of premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunctional problems, antidepressant intakes, sexual fantasies, sexual activities and mental participation of soldiers and volunteers in sex were analyzed and recorded. Based on close observation and keen analysis of the two groups, the results depicted that war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder had erectile dysfunction problems along with sexual inactivity and hypoactive sexual desires. On the other hand, these problems were present in a much depleted way in the control group which was of healthy control volunteers. Second Source The second article is titled as â€Å"DoD studies intimacy issues among combat ve ts† which focuses on the sexual activity problems with the war veterans. The intent of the report is to highlight the fact that the life of the soldiers who have come home safely after serving in the war zone is not always that easy as it might look apparently. The report illustrates the real story of different couples and how they have been facing different problems in bed and intimacy in the post war scenario. Many soldiers

Partnership With The Patient Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Partnership With The Patient - Essay Example Upon the arrival of the consultant, a CT scan was carried out and came out alright. The respiratory team was as well called to assess the patient.  When the hand-over was done the following day, I was again allocated the patient for continuity of care. The patient’s condition remained the same. The patient’s family was then involved to speak to the patient in mother tongue to see if it was going to help in bringing back patient. The respiratory team did a follow-up and the GCS improved through the involvement of family and healthcare teams. In the process of working with the patient, I was able to develop my understanding of respiration and the procedures of a patient being in the coma.  At about 17:00, the patient came out of the coma, the GCS went back to 14/15 and the neurological observation was fine. Even though the patient was not speaking, I was pleased with the result of the shift worked.  I clean my hands every time I attend to a patient and use the steri lizers to make sure the patient is not infected. This includes thorough cleaning and removing of blood spillages and any other body fluids to ensure the maximum safety of patients. Without cleaning spillages, infections will spread to the patient (Department of Health 2003).  I ensured that every time I cleaned and stored at appropriate place the care equipment so as to also reduce the spread of infections. Equipment is very useful and important. If it not cleaned and kept well, it can put the life of patient at risk (Burnard & Gill 2008). I utilised personal equipment also for protection to prevent infections. To further prevent infections, I ensure that I dispose of any waste during my daily routine of providing healthcare support.  Used linen always spreads infections in most cases and to prevent that, I was extra cautious when removing it and disposing (Naidoo & Wills 2005).  

HR ASSISMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HR ASSISMENT - Assignment Example Human resource management is an important area of research, and the resistance is the most important element and the good knowledge of organizational activity is the main part of successful organizational activity. Knowledge in the field of human resource management help different organizations go through the period of change (Ferris, Rosen & Barnum 205). *Numerous researches and books that have been written on the topic confirm the relevance of leadership in developing effective human resource strategies and using them to create and sustain better competitiveness. Every human resource executive should develop leadership skills. Every company has its own rules and limitations which should be learned and carefully analyzed by any human resource manager. These knowledge should be taken into account by human resource manager in the decision making process. Manager must understand the important of skills improvement (Ferris, Rosen & Barnum 205). * As human resource management now represents the essential area of investigation, and the resistance is the most important element as well as the good knowledge of company structure is a central part of successful organizational activity, some key points can be defined for human resource managers. The current state of research confirms human resource executives as the most important asset on company boards (Renckly & Renckly 301). HR executives (and outstanding HR executives, in particular) know most about their employees, employee relationships personnel law, benefits, diversity, compensation, personnel policies, and related employment issues (Renckly & Renckly

How does advertising affect society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How does advertising affect society - Essay Example The advertisers resort to the intricacies of psychology and affiliate to the nuances of audio-visual technology to influence and impact the human consciousness and thereby the human decision making capacity (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Whether it is the real world or the virtual world, the domain of the world of advertising is vast and pervasive. Though advertising tends to influence and affect the human decision making capacity in a variety of ways, yet, one essential negative impact of advertising is that it wraps and distorts the human capacity to make informed decisions in ways that augment dissatisfaction and make human life quiet superficial and disconnected with a sense of personal conviction. One essential attribute of a sound human personality is that it endows a person with the capacity to decide as to what one really needs to lead a satisfied and contented life. Almost everyone is tentatively aware of the fact that quintessentially speaking, human needs tend to be few a nd narrow and given a choice, most of the humans do have the capacity to allocate their monetary resources in a manner that leaves them content and satisfied (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Yet, in the contemporary world marred by advertising, this premise seems to be more of a cherished ideal rather than being a simple fact of life. Going by the fact that in the modern civilization, the human mind is constantly bombarded by advertisements, it is but natural that influenced by these, many people tend to develop a distorted sense of life (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). ... n, what are the things that they simply cannot do without and how they ought to lead their life, everything is to a great extent determined by the media and the advertisements that they get daily exposed to? Advertising makes people buy things that they do not really need and that they simply do not afford, leaving them emotionally and financially famished (Hood, 2009, p. 92). Advertising makes people lose contact with their true self and ushers in an artificiality and wastefulness into their lives. Many people, most of them affiliated to the world of sales and marketing do say that advertising tends to be informative and it helps the individuals and groups engage in informed decision making and thereby enhance human satisfaction (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). However, things are not as simple as that. Advertising not only tends inform people about the new products and services, but many advertisers do proceed a step ahead to create in people a false sense of need and try to convinc e them that buying a particular commodity or a service will add to their sense of happiness (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Many people do get carried away with the distorted reasoning imbued in the advertisements and do end up thinking that spending money on unwanted material possessions will make them happy (Hood, 2009, p. 40). There is no dearth of people who go out of the way to model their personal and family life in consonance with the ideals being projected by the advertisements (Sutherland, 2008). It is fact that could readily be verified that many popular human aspirations like buying a big house even if one simply do not need it, buying a big car, dressing up in a particular way, purchasing specific food products and items, aspiring to gain a specific type of look and physique,

Ernest Gordon and the Wisdom of Forgiveness Research Paper

Ernest Gordon and the Wisdom of Forgiveness - Research Paper Example At the mercy of their ruthless Japanese captors, subject to torture, execution, starvation and disease, they faced an age-old decision – they could give vent to an instinctive desire for revenge and kill as many Japanese as possible, or they could respond according to Christian principles of forgiveness and forbearance. Given the animal brutality of the Japanese and the harshest life-and-death situation imaginable, it seems incredible that anyone could even contemplate forgiveness. That anyone did is attributable to the intelligence and immeasurable moral strength of Captain Ernest Gordon, an officer of the 69th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who realized that the only way to defuse the situation was to forego displays of anger and outrage over their inhuman treatment. Instead, Gordon taught his compatriots that their best chance of survival depended on earning the respect of the Japanese, and to bear their hardships with grace and restraint. The 2008 film To End All Wars is a true-to-life portrayal of what these soldiers of the British Army endured and of the spiritual transformation that took place in the presence of the basest inhumanity. The film illustrates that a true and lasting devotion to peace calls for a far greater courage than is Ernest Gordon 3 required to perpetuate the cycle of violence. Gordon and the other prisoners of war find themselves in desolation, a wasteland of the body and of the soul. As such, they have nothing but each other to sustain themselves. â€Å"When you surrender in war, you’re stripped of your dignity as a soldier. And all you’ve got left is your fellow comrades, many of whom you’ve just met,† Gordon muses (Cunningham, 2001). Gordon is a realist in that he understands the prisoners are utterly alone and vulnerable, with nothing to protect or sustain them but the strength they have to put into their convictions. If they do this, he realizes, they have a chance of being useful and produc tive as prisoners. Indeed, it is their only hope: the code of honor by which the Japanese lived had no regard for soldiers who allowed themselves to be taken prisoner. For the soldiers of the Emperor, to be taken captive was an utter disgrace: Bushido called upon them to commit suicide instead. Consequently, their British Army captives had committed an unforgivable breach of honor and were not seen as deserving humane treatment. Gordon found himself in a deadly clash of cultural values. Determined to carry on after the death of the regiment’s commanding officer, Gordon organizes a â€Å"church without walls† and a forum for discussing and debating philosophical matters. In these gatherings, Gordon urges the men not to give up hope but to endure their suffering stoically as British POW Dusty Miller has done. Miller, a mild-mannered gardener with a strong spiritual sense, nursed Gordon back to health and, by example, began the young Scot’s metamorphosis from agnos tic to avowed Christian. In his book, Gordon pays tribute to Miller’s quiet, dignified Christianity. â€Å"Within the camp there was†¦daily inspiration. The strong and simple faith of Dusty Miller was one of them; it suggested that he had found the Ernest Gordon 4 answer so many of us sought† (Gordon, 1963). A simple, unpretentious sort, Miller excused himself from the debates in which the prisoners took part, possibly intuiting that true spirituality isn’

Business Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Business Strategy - Assignment Example These analyses have assisted the report to evaluate the critical success factors of the organisation. It has also assisted to design various strategic recommendations for the organisation such as STP strategy, Horizontal and Vertical integration and Ansoff’s Matrix. These strategies have been illustrated to suggest the future activities of the organisation to acquire a strong position in the different market segments of Singapore. Value based pricing and cost plus pricing strategies have been recommended for the new as well as existing product line of the organisation. These strategies will assist the organisation to attract new consumers towards their products and services to improve their global market growth. The report is focused on analysing the strategic position of Quirky Inc. to recommend a competitive positioning for the organisation in the Singapore market. In the first stage the analysis of the current strategic position of the organisation will emphasise the internal as well as external environmental analysis of the organisation. This analysis will allow the assessment of key driving forces and critical success factors of the organisation. In the next stage the report will evaluate various strategic options for expanding the business in the Singapore market. It will also provide valuable recommendations to assist the proper execution of the strategies. Quirky Inc. was founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009 and it’s currently situated only in New York. It is a crowd sourcing company specialized in formulating the innovative ideas of the population. The organisation not only encourages inventors to submit their innovative ideas they also assist them to develop new product as per those ideas. The website of the organisation also allows people to sell their innovative range of products. The organisation has strong partnership with various digital retail outlets for instances, Best Buy

Tech Environment Essay Example for Free

Tech Environment Essay The company I am continuing to work with is US Airways Group. There is plenty of hard and soft technology to list for the domestic environment. Some of the hard technology used in the domestic environment is aircraft, security system, and safety gear. Some soft technology used in the domestic environment is management, government regulations that govern the procedures of the company, and training for employees. The hard technology I listed above is the obvious technology the air line company utilizes yet there is more hard technology being used. The soft technology being used is essential to the success of the company which I will capitalize on later. I stated the hard and soft technology of the domestic environment but this same technology is used in the global environment also. Hard technology used within the global environment is aircraft, customs operatives, and safety gear. Soft technology used within the global environment is management, different government regulations than the domestic environment, and guides who help foreign travelers from different countries. Although the hard technology is about the same as it is in the domestic environment you may see some outdated equipment within the global environment. The soft technology used such as guides to assist foreign travelers may not be found within the domestic environment due to a large majority of passengers residing within the domestic environment. There are technological barriers for the domestic and global environments. Within the domestic environment there are flaws such as the security system. People find ways to breach the security system and are able to sneak items that should be able to sneak past the system such as drugs and weapons. Of course we do the best we can but this is the nature of the beast and we can always better our systems. Another technological barrier is that we need more foreign employees that can communicate with foreign passengers who travel within the domestic environment. It can be hard to travel within a location where you do not know anyone and no one understands your language. Within the global environment there are technological barriers also. I stated earlier that the technology in some locations is not as good as it is in the domestic environment. This is unfair to the passengers and to the people who work for the company. There should be up to date equipment for the global environment just as there is in the domestic environment. Another barrier is that customs can be difficult to deal with. I always hear of horror stories dealing with customs because they may take a long time to process certain individuals through or the rules are interpreted differently. The barriers can be overcome in both the domestic and global environments. The flaws within the security system are currently being corrected as we speak according to sourcesecurity.com. They have stated that â€Å"turning security weaknesses into strengths, using perimeter and surveillance solutions together, use of video analytics software and managing airport access control system† will better the security in airports significantly (Smith). I believe if those principles stated are applied then the security in airports will be safe as can be. The fact that we need more translators or guides that can speak other languages can be fixed. We need to create a job that specifically guides passengers from other countries to their next gate or to taxi services to get passengers to their next destination without any issues. The barriers within the global environment can be corrected just as they can be corrected in the domestic environment. The fact that the technology within the global environment needs to be up to the same standards is an issue that should be addressed. â€Å"To raise efficiency or establish a better competitive position, firms’ efforts are oriented towards developing capabilities to absorb, adapt and master technologies often developed elsewhere in a process of technological learning† (Goedhuys, Janz, Mohnen, 2008). I honest believe this is the only remedy for providing up to date technology, the company has to make it a priority to provide the same technology to the global environment. The customs can be corrected by provided a print out of what is allowed and what is not allowed to be brought into or out of a country a passenger is traveling through. The information is available online but some older passengers aren’t as savvy with technology so they may not r eceive the same information. With this tactic there is not any excuse for not knowing what is expected when going through customs. The strategies I stated above will be successful, only if they are applied. Without application the strategy will be a failure. Within the domestic environment the security system can be significantly improved and decrease the risk for terrorist attacks greatly. This technology needs to be protected by requiring a security clearance for all employees who work for the company. This way you have a thorough back ground check on everyone who works for US Airways Group and the risk for inside information getting out to enemies of the United States is low. Within the global environment technology needs to be advanced. The company can protect this technology by only providing the technology to its global counterparts and not the competition.

Effectiveness of Exogenous Melatonin in Insomnia

Effectiveness of Exogenous Melatonin in Insomnia WOO YUN KIN CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Research Background Sleep is not always a luxury. Insomnia is defined as a sleep disorder in which there is an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep as long as desired (Roth T. 2007). It is estimated that up to 34% of adults in the United States and 37% in Europe have some forms of insomnia (Leger D. 2005). Insomnia can be classified to mild, moderate and severe according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorder (ICSD). Melatonin (5-methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine) is a lipid soluble hormone secreted by the pineal gland during hours of darkness. Melatonin has several physiological functions including regulation of the circadian rhythms, modulation of seasonal change and a powerful antioxidant (Gitto et al. 2013). With age, it has been shown that the 24hour melatonin secretion is significantly reduced thus affecting the normal circadian cycle (Iguchi et al. 1982). At present, insomnia is typically treated symptomatically, often with benzodiazepine or antidepressants. However chronic insomnia requires long term treatment which may cause significant side effects and unwanted drug-drug interaction. Approximately 29-61% of older adults with insomnia complaints have preexisting sleep apnea (Krakow et al. 2001). With the combination of insomnia and sleep apnea, sedative-hypnotic treatments may worsen the sleep apnea (Mendelson et al. 1981). Exogenous melatonin is a chronobiotic drug with some hypnotic properties (Zhdanova et al. 1997), it has become of the most frequently non-prescribed sleep aid due to its role in regulating and promoting sleep (Wagner et al. 1998). some studies have shown that supplemental melatonin can increase sleep propensity, although it may not be as effective as prescribed sleep medication (Zhdanova I. 2005). Problem Statement Sleep adequacy includes, quality, timing and also duration. It has been estimated that the direct health cost of sleep disorder amounts to $1144 million Australian dollars in 2001 (NHS Aus. 2001), and 7.6% of the total motor vehicle accidents(MVA) in 2004 are indirectly caused by sleep disorders amounting to $808million net health costs. Studies have been done to show the benefits of exogenous melatonin for sleep disorders on individuals with intellectual disabilities and adolescence however very little has been done to show its effectiveness on the general population. Malaysia, has one of the highest rate of MVA in the world where according to Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS), from 1997 to 2007, there has been an increase of 59% of MVA and the main reason identified was driving fatigue due to awkward working hours/shift works (Kee et al. 2010). Availability of exogenous in Malaysia is scarce and it is not fully understood. Research Question How effective is exogenous melatonin in treating insomnia in general population? How safe is exogenous melatonin? Research Objective To review efficacy of exogenous melatonin in treating insomnia To access the safety of exogenous melatonin Significance of Research Data from available clinical trials and studies done on the efficacy of exogenous melatonin in insomnia will be compiled and compared to enable a more comprehensive and easily accessible result database. With the comprehensive database, clinicians will have a better understanding on the efficacy of MSCs and the best treatment option for the patient, thus improving patients quality of life. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INSOMNIA Insomnia is often defined by the presence of an individual’s report of difficulty with sleep (Roth T 2007). The criteria often used in diagnosing insomnia includes i)difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or nonrestorative sleep, ii) this opportunity is present despite adequate opportunity and circumstance to sleep, iii) this impairment in sleep is associated with daytime impairment or distress and iv) this sleep difficulty occurs at least 3 times per week and has been a problem for the past 1 month (Roth T 2007). The pathophysiology of insomnia can be due to the disorder of the hyper-arousal state throughout the whole day which causes alertness during the day and difficulty in falling or maintaining sleep (Stepanski E, 1988). A cross sectional study done on 156 US air force personal found that 40% suffered from sleep disorder and 75% reported diminished sleep quality while deployed overseas (Peterson AL, 2008). A study done in 2013 (Lentino et al, 2013) showed that 25% of the 14148 army and national guard personal reported to be poor sleepers thus affecting the quality of sleep and the quality of service. 2.2 CURRENT TREATMENT FOR INSOMNIA Currently the medications used for treating insomnias and other sleep disorders includes benzodiazepine receptor agonist (eg. Zolpidem, zipoclone) which are only limited to short term use (4 weeks) (Sanofi Aventis, 2007). The medication large affects the brain through the GABA receptors and long term use has been associated with memory and balance impairment, rebound imsomnia, withdrawal symptoms and abuse potential (Rush CR, 1999). Recent short termed studies have shown that discontinuation of the benzodiazepines lead to disruption of the sleep architecture and also increases sleep latency which makes withdrawing from treatment difficult (Mann K, 1996). 2.3 MELATONIN Melatonin (5-methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine) is a lipid soluble hormone that is shown to be involved with the sleep physiology (Dijk D-J, 1997).it is also regulates the modulation of season change, in reproduction, antioxidant, oncostatic, anti inflammatory and anti-convulsant effect (Gitto E, 2013). Melatonin is mostly produced in the pineal gland in the brain during the hours of darkness and is involved in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle (circadian cycle).the circadian process is maintained by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which contains high number of melatonin receptors. During daytime, the SCN produces an arousal signal that maintains the wakefulness and prevents sleep drive however in darkness, there is a feedback loop which causes the release of melatonin which feeds back and inhibits the SCN (Geert et al, 2009) It has been documented that melatonin decreases with age especially in post menopausal women (Okatani Y, 2000). Other than to promote sleep, melatonin also show s sedative and anti-excitory effects (Hardeland R, 2008). 2.4 EXOGENOUS MELATONIN Exogenous melatonin has become one of the most frequently prescribed over the counter drug for those looking for non-prescription sleep medication (Wagner J, 1998). The exogenous melatonin is marketed to help promote quality sleep, helps in jet lag, or to regulate the circadian cycle due to jet lag or shift work due to its regulator role in the internal timing of biological rhythm. Some studies have shown that exogenous melatonin can help increase the sleep propensity although it may not be as effective as prescribed sleep medications (Zhdanova I, 2005). Studies have also been done regarding the use of exogenous melatonin in the treatment of sleep problems in individuals with sleep disability (Turk 2003) however there are still doubts on the efficacy of exogenous melatonin usage for the general public. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design This research was based on the PICOS guidelines : Population (P): All types of insomnia patients Intervention (I): Exogenous melatonin Comparitor (C): Insomnia patients on treatment with exogenous melatonin compared with other treatment by questionnaires Outcome (O): Efficacy and safety of treatment Study design (S): Randomized Controlled trials (RCT), Surveys 3.2 Database Literature search was done on electronic articles/ journals in Central, PubMed and Google Scholar. 3.3 Keywords Key words used to search articles with MESH terms were: Insomnia Exogenous melatonin 3.4 Quality Assessment Quality assessment of the paper was done using Jadad scoring for randomized controlled trials (RCT) and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for case-control and cohort studies. 1.Jaded score assesses the quality of published clinical trials based on methods relevant to random assignment, double blinding and the flow of patients. There are 7 criteria evaluated, whereby 1 point is given if the criteria is met and the last 2 crietria carries a negative mark. Range of score is from 0 (bad) to 5 (good) (Jadad et al. 1996). i. Was the study described as randomized (this include words such as randomly, random, and randomization)? [+1 point] ii. Was the method used to generate the sequence of randomization described and appropriate (table of random numbers, computer generated etc)? [+1 point] iii. Was the study described as double blind? [+1 point] iv. Was the method of double blinding described and appropriate (identical placebo, active placebo, dummy, etc)? [+1 point] v. Was there a description of withdrawals and dropouts? [+1point] vi. Deduct one point if the method used to generate the sequence of randomization was described and it was inappropriate (patients were allocated alternately, or according to date of birth, hospital number, etc)? vii. Deduct one point if the study was described as double blind but the method of blinding was inappropriate (eg. comparison of table vs. injection with no double dummy) 2. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) is developed to assess the quality of the non-randomized studies with its design, content and ease of use directed to the purpose of incorporating the quality assessments in the interpretation of the results. A ‘star system’ is developed to judge on 3 broad perspectives (Wells et al. 2014): i. The selection of the study groups ii. The comparability of the groups The ascertainment of either the exposure or outcome of interest for case-control or cohort studies respectively 3.5 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria Inclusion criteria Studies included in this review were chosen according to the flowing criteria : i. Papers published in English language (2010-2015) ii. All study designs were included to maximize the data collection Study subjects includes all types of insomnia patients Exclusion criteria Studies that were done in foreign language and animal studies were excluded in this review 3.6 Ethical Clearance The ethical committee of UCSI was notified regarding this thesis write-up 3.7 GAANT Chart 3.8 Milestone Proposal presentation: 27.02.2015 Submission: 31.03.2015 Data analysis complete: 30.05.2015 Thesis submission: 15.07.2015 REFERENCES 1. CATHERINE CORNU, L. R., FLORENCE NOEL-BARON, ALAIN NICOLAS, NATHALIE FEUGIER-FAVIER, PASCAL ROY, BRUNO CLAUSTRAT, M. S.-E. A. B. K. 2010. A dietary supplement to improve the quality of sleep: a randomized placebo controlled trial. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 10. 2. SZESEEN KEE, S. B. M. T., YONGMENG GOH 2010. Driving Fatigue and Performance among Occupational Drivers in Simulated Prolonged Driving. Global Journal of Health Science, 2. 3. REBECCA B COSTELLO, C. V. L., COURTNEY C BOYD, MEGHAN L O’CONNELL, CINDY C CRAWFORD, DEUSTER, M. L. S. A. P. A. 2014. The effectiveness of melatonin for promoting healthy sleep: a rapid evidence assessment of the literature. Nutrition Journal, 13. 4. DAVID R HILLMAN, M., FRCPE, FANZCA; ANITA SCOTT MURPHY, BEC; RAL ANTIC, MB, FRACP; LYNNE PEZZULLO, BEC 2006. The Economic Cost of Sleep Disorders. Sleep, 29. 5. GEERT MAYER, M. S. W.-W., MD, PHD; BARBARA ROTH-SCHECHTER, PHD; REINER LEHMANN, MD; CORINNE STANER, MD; MARKKU PARTINEN, MD, PHD 2009. Efficacy and Safety of 6-Month Nightly Ramelteon Administration in Adults with Chronic Primary Insomnia. Sleep, 32. 6. FRANK A.J.L. SCHEER, P. C. J. M., PHD; JOANNA I. GARCIA, BA; CAROLINA SMALES, BSC; ERIN E. KELLY, MSC; JENNY MARKS, MPH; ATUL MALHOTRA, M. S. A. S., PHD 2012. Repeated Melatonin Supplementation Improves Sleep in Hypertensive Patients Treated with Beta-Blockers: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Sleep, 35. 7. JONATHAN J. BASKETT, J. B. B., PHILIP C. WOOD, JOHN R. DUNCAN,MEGAN J. PLEDGER, JUDIE ENGLISH, JOSEPHINE ARENDT 2003. Does melatonin improve sleep in older people? A randomised crossover trial. Age and Aging, 32, 164-170. 8. P GRINGRAS, C. G., A P JONES , L WIGGS , P R WILLIAMSON , A SUTCLIFFE , P MONTGOMERY, W P WHITEHOUSE , I CHOONARA, A EDMOND, R APPLETON 2012. Melatonin for sleep problems in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: randomised doubl emasked placebo controlled trial. BMJ, 354. 9. LIIRA J, V. J., COSTA G, DRISCOLL TR, SALLINEN M, ISOTALO LK, RUOTSALAINEN JH 2014. Pharmacological interventions for sleepiness and sleep disturbances caused by shift work (Review). The Cochrane Collaboration. 10. VENKATARAMANUJAM SRINIVASAN, D. D. B., TIMO PARTONEN,RAHIMAH ZAKARIA,ZAHIRUDDIN OTHMAN 2014. The use of melatonin for treating sleep disorders in patients with Parkinson’s disease. ChronoPhysiology and Therapy, 51-57. 11. THOMAS ROTH 2007. Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences. Supplement, 3 12. LUCIA MARSEGLIA, G. D. A., SARA MANTI, SALVATORE AVERSA , TERESA ARRIGO, RUSSEL J. REITER, ELOISA GITTO 2015. Analgesic, Anxiolytic and Anaesthetic Effects of Melatonin: New Potential Uses in Pediatrics. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 1209-1220. 13. SCHWAB, N. S. G. P. G. I. G. E. A.-S. E. M. R. 2010. Effectiveness of Ramelteon for Insomnia Symptoms in Older Adults with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Randomized Placebo- Controlled Pilot Study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 6 14. ROSEANNE DEFRONZO DOBKIN, M. M., KARINA L. BIENFAIT, LESLEY A. ALLEN, HUMBERTO MARIN, AND MICHAEL A. GARA 2009. Ramelteon for the treatment of insomnia in menopausal women. Menopause Int., 15, 13-18. 15. JAMIE M. ZEITZER, B. K., DOUG OTA, B. JENNY KIRATLI 2014. Randomized controlled trial of pharmacological replacement of melatonin for sleep disruption in individuals with tetraplegia. The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 37. 16. GIULIANA GALLI-CARMINATIA, N. D., GILLES BERTSCHY 2009. Melatonin in the treatment of chronic sleep disorders in adults with autism: a retrospective study. S W i S S M e d W k ly, 139, 293-296.

Customer Satisfaction for Chinese Restaurants in the US

Customer Satisfaction for Chinese Restaurants in the US Introduction: Aim of Project: Perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S: What affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions? Objectives: To analyse the customers behavioural intentions for Chinese restaurant in U.S. To analyse the perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S. To evaluate and analyse what affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The United States is a multicultural and multiethnic nation and this national trend of diversity is expected to consistently increase (Josiam and Monteiro, 2004; Sukalakamala and Boyce, 2007). One reflection of this cultural and ethnic diversity is the variety and prosperity of ethnic restaurants in the American foodservice market. The U.S. ethnic food market generates $75 billion in annual sales, around 65% of which is attributed to the foodservice industry (US ethnic food market, 2005). Yet, the fast growth of ethnic restaurants is not driven entirely by the growing number of new immigrants. In fact, 75% of ethnic food consumption comes from non-ethnic customers (US ethnic food market, 2005). As lifestyles change and dining out becomes more and more commonplace, many customers desire new flavours and experiences. Along with this popularity is the rapid development of Chinese restaurants. According to Chinese restaurants news (2007), there are about 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the United States, which is more than the total number of all McDonalds Wendys and burger king domestic outlets combined. Chinese restaurants generate over $17.5 billion annual sales, accounting for about one fourth of overall annual sales generated by ethnic restaurants in the U.S. (Chinese Restaurant News, 2007). Known for its good taste and great value for the price, Chinese cuisine is among the â€Å"big three† most popular ethnic cuisines in the U.S. food service market (National Restaurant association, 1995). It is estimated that 90% of the American population has tried Chinese food and 63% of Americans eat Chinese food each month (George, 2001). Facing more sophisticated American consumers and increasing competition in the restaurant industry, Chinese restaurants can no longer succeed by depending on good taste or low price alone. According to National Restaurant Association (2000a,b), due to an increased familiarity with ethnic food. American consumers attitudes toward ethnic cuisine have recently changed. Today, an exotic experience is not enough to attract consumers to an ethnic restaurant. Customers are no longer willing to trade off inferior service or atmosphere for an opportunity to try new flavours. They prefer an excellent overall dining experience. Moreover, Chinese restaurants are facing increasing challenges from other emerging Asian restaurants and from the changing tastes of American customers who prefer healthy or spicy food. Therefore, a better understanding of the key attributes influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intentions in Chinese restaurants will provide important practical implications for Chinese restaurants operators. Literature review: At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory; it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination an d help you set the work in a new and different light because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis. Research Method: The researcher need way to get the data will be from books, magazines, newspaper and through internet. As there are so many websites, no. of books, newspaper and magazines from where researcher will get updated information regarding the research. Through qualitative method the researcher will be able to find out easier way for doing research and by getting direct information related with the research. And the other thing is that in qualitative method accuracy rate is good not all time but, mostly.Quantitative method also very helpful to do the research. Code of Ethics: The world tourism organisation developed a code of ethics. This is recognition of the need to enshrine many of the principles of global action on the environment and the rights of tourists and workers. The basic principles inherit in the code are: 2 Table of contents Implementation of the principles of the code of ethics of hospitality. Mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies. Restaurant as a beneficial activity for host countries and communities. Summary: This work will introduced the conceptual issues associated with the research of â€Å"customer satisfaction from Chinese restaurant in US† and also demonstrate what is happening with people of the local community. Chapter: 2 Literature Review Literature Review: An Introduction At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory, it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination an d help you set the work in a new and different light because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis. Chapter: 1 Ethnic cuisine development and Chinese restaurants in the US. In the past few decades, with the influx of new immigrants as well as diversifying tastes of Americans, ethnic foods have become widely available and increasingly popular in the U.S. food service market (Josiam and monteiro, 2004). Traditional ethnic cuisines such as Italian, Mexican and Cantonese Chinese have become so familiar to American customer that they are perceived as mainstream American foods (Mills, 2000). In the meanwhile, many emerging ethnic cuisines such as Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pan Asian have also gained wide acceptance in recent years (US ethnic food market, 2005). Chinese cuisine arrived in the U.S. with the first railroad construction workers brought over to the west coast of the U.S. in the nineteenth century (Freeman, 2008). From the first Cantonese style Chinese restaurant opened in San Francisco in 1849, it rapidly penetrated towns and cities all over the U.S. and became part of the American experience (Chen and Bowen, 2001). Cantonese style cuisine, characterised by its light sweet and sour flavours, is the most popular Chinese cuisine in the U.S. In the recent years, other styles of Chinese cuisine have also become familiar to American customers, such as Szechwan, Hunan and Mandarin styles. The first two styles are famous for their hot and spicy flavours, while the last one is characterised by light, elegant and mildly seasoned foods (George, 2001). According to the National Restaurant Association (1995), customer perceived Chinese cuisine as a great value for the price, good for carryout, rich in flavour and difficult to prepare at hom e. Although there a few Chinese restaurant chains operating in the U.S. such as P. F. Changs China Bistro and Panda Express, most Chinese restaurant has a Chinese name outside, is decorated with Chinese styled pictures and artifacts, such as Chinese brush landscape paintings red lanterns, offers a menu printed in both Chinese and English, and provides Chinese characterised tableware, such as chopsticks and Chinese restaurants have been facing intense competition among themselves due to fast development and expansion in the U.S., as well as from other emerging Asian restaurants such as Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese ( Jang et al., 2009). Thus, maintaining customer satisfaction and repeat patronage may be more important for Chinese restaurants than ever before. Chapter: 2 Customer satisfaction and related theories The topic of â€Å"customer satisfaction† has held a significant position in the marketing literature over the decades since satisfied customers can be generate long-term benefits for companies, including customer loyalty and sustained profitability (Homburg et al., 2006). Researchers have explained the mechanism of customer satisfaction with number of distinct theories, such as expectancy-disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1981), contrast theory (Howard and Sheth, 1969), assimilation or cognitive dissonance theory (Anderson, 1973), equity theory (Oliver and Swan, 1989), and value percept theory (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983). Among them, the most widely accepted theory is the expectancy disconfirmation theory. According to this theory, customers satisfaction judgements are the results of comparisons between customers expectations and perceived performance. If the perceived performance exceeds the expectation, the expectation is positively disconfirmed and the customer is satisfie d. On the contrary, if the perceived performance falls short of the expectation, the expectation is negatively disconfirmed and the customer is dissatisfied. Another influential theory for customer satisfaction is the equity theory. This theory suggests that satisfaction occurs when customers perceived that they have obtained more benefits compared to their cost (e.g. money, time and effort) and perceived value is an appropriate factor in measuring satisfaction (Oliver and Swan, 1989; Yuan and Jang, 2008). Another commonly used theory, the three factor theory, provides a basic explanation for the structure of customer satisfaction. This theory claims that three independent satisfaction factors influence customer satisfaction in different ways (Kano, 1984; Matzler and Sauerwein, 2002). Basic factors are minimum requirement for satisfaction. Failure to fulfil the minimum requirements causes dissatisfaction, whereas fulfilling or exceeding them does not necessarily lead to satisfaction. Excitement factors increase customer satisfaction if delivered but do not cause dissatisfaction if not delivered. Performance factors lead to satisfaction if performance is high and to dissatisfaction if performance is low (Fuller and Matzler, 2008). This theory has been validated empirical studies (e.g. Fuchs, 2004; Matzler et al., 2006) and could provide an additional perspective for understanding the effects of restaurant attributes on customer satisfaction. Basic factors can be seen as the prerequisite s for the satisfaction, signifying that customer take that for granted. Performance factors are a critical competitive area and directly related to customers explicit needs and wants. Excitement factors are unexpected by customers, so they can be a â€Å"surprise gift† that generates extra delight (Fuller and Matzler, 2008). Chapter: 3 Behavioural Intentions Behavioural intention can be defined as the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), behavioural intention is the motivational component of a volitional behavioural and is highly correlated with behaviour itself (Jang and Feng, 2007). Although there are still arguments about the level of correlation between behavioural intentions and actual actions, it seems to be generally agreed that behavioural intention is a reasonable variable for predicting future behaviour (Quelette and Wood, 1988). Thus, a good understanding of the determinants of favourable post-dinning behavioural intentions such as saying positive things about the restaurant, recommending the restaurant to others, and repeat purchasing can provide practical guidance for restaurant practitioners. Another construct that is highly related to behavioural intentions is customer satisfaction. It is regarded as one of the key antecedents of post purchase behavioural intentions because customer satisfaction has a positive effect on the customers attitude towards the product or service and can reinforce the customers conscious effort to purchase the product or service again in the future (Oliver, 1989, 1999). However, previous studies have also suggested that factors that influence customer satisfaction are not always in accordance with factors influencing customer behavioural intention, for example, Sulek and Hensley (2004) found that food, atmosphere, and fairness of the seating order were all significant predictors of a customers overall dining satisfaction, but only food quality predicted post-dining behavioural intention. In examining food quality in restaurants, Namkung and Jang (2007) reported that food temperature had a significant effect on customer satisfaction but no effec t on behavioural intention. Conversely, healthy options were a direct determinant of behavioural intentions but did not influence customer satisfaction. Therefore, there is a practical need to investigate the effects of restaurant attributes on both customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Chapter: 4 Factors influencing customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in restaurants Reuland et al. (1985) suggested that hospitality services consist of a harmonious mixture of three elements: the material product, the behaviour and attitude of the employees, and the environment. Berry et al. (2002) also proposed three categories of cues that present themselves in the service experience: functional cues (technical quality of service), mechanic cues (nonhuman elements in the service environment) and humanic cues (behaviour of service employees). Based on these propositions, the basic restaurant attributes can be said to be include food, service and environment. Though a literature review of dining satisfaction and behaviour intention, all three basic elements were found to directly or indirectly contribute to customers overall satisfaction with a restaurant experience and their post dining behavioural intentions. Chapter: 5 Food Quality As the core product of a restaurant, food plays a pivotal role in the restaurant experience. Food quality has been generally accepted as major factor influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intention. For example, Dube et al. (1994) measured the relative importance of seven restaurant attributes in repeat purchase intention in an upscale restaurant setting and found that food quality was far more important to restaurant customers than all others attributes, Sulek and Hensley (2004) investigated the relative importance of food and physical setting, and service in a full-service restaurant and found that food quality was the most important factor influencing satisfaction and the only factor predicting behavioural intention. Namkung and Jang (2007) evaluated the relationship of individual attributes that constitute food quality (e.g. food presentation, menu variety, healthy options, taste, food freshness and temperature) with customer satisfaction and behavioural i ntentions. The findings indicated that food presentation, taste and temperature were significantly related to customer satisfaction whereas food presentation, taste and healthy options (instead of temperature) were significant predictors of behavioural intention. Besides the above- mentioned six individual attributes, â€Å"food safety† is also an important cue for evaluating food quality. â€Å"Although food-safety defects are not always immediately apparent, customers do tend to notice undercooked food, food with an off taste, or foreign material in their food† (Sulek and Hensley, 2004). Thus, food may serve as the most basic and lowest standard when judging quality. Service Quality: In the service literature, perceived service quality is defined as the customers judgement of the overall excellence or superiority of the service (Zeithaml, 2008). It is the customers subjective evaluation, resulting from a comparison of expectations and perceived performance. SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al, 2008) is the instrument most often used for measuring perceived service quality in the marketing literature. It consists of five service dimension, namely, tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel), reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), and responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence) and empathy (caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers). To adapt SERVQUAL to the restaurant industry, Stevens et al. (2005) modified several items from the original SERVQUAL and d eveloped DINESERV to measure perceived service quality in restaurants. In the restaurant industry, since customers not only evaluate the quality of food but also the service encounters during their dining experience, perceived service quality is seen as another core determinant of customers satisfaction and behavioural intention. For example Kivela et al. (2009) proposed a comprehensive model for dining satisfaction and return patronage. Their study indicated that the probability of return patronage was dependent on customers satisfaction with five aspects of a restaurant: first the last impressions, service quality, and ambience quality, food quality and feeling comfortable eating there and reservation and parking. Ladhari et al. (2008) investigated determinants of dining satisfaction and post-dining behavioural intentions, and concluded that perceived service quality influenced customer satisfaction through both positive and negative emotions, Customer satisfaction, in turn, influ enced recommendations, customer loyalty and willingness to pay more. Their results suggested that compared with food quality/reliability, physical design and price, service responsiveness was the most important contributor to customer satisfaction. ATMOSPHERICS Atmospherics is perceived as the quality of the surroundings space. According to Kotler (2006) it is the conscious designing of space to produce specific emotional effects in buyers that enhance their purchase probability. Atmospherics is made up of a set of elements, such as music, lighting, colour and scent. Research in environmental psychology has suggested that atmospherics has a powerful impact on peoples emotions, attitude and behaviour. Mehrabian and Russell (2005) first introduced a theoretical model to explain the impact of environmental stimuli on individual behaviour. The model claims that the physical environment could influence peoples emotional response (such as pleasure and arousal), which in turn elicits approach or avoidance behaviour toward the environment. The model has gained consistent support from the numerous empirical studies in different service settings, such as retail stores and hotels (Baker and Cameroon, 2006). In the restaurant context, Ryu and Jang (2007) explored the combined effect of multiple atmospheric variables on behavioural intentions in upscale restaurants. Their findings supported that ambience (example music, aroma, and temperature) and employee appearance had the most important influence n customers post dining behavioural intentions. OTHER FACTORS-PRICE FAIRNESS AND AUTHENCITY Besides food, service and atmospherics, perceived price fairness could be another factor that influences the customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions (Bei and Chiao, 2007). It is based on consumer internal reference prices, which could be generated by the last price paid, the price most frequently paid and the market prices in similar transactions (Kahneman et al.2006). This principle posits that firms are entitled to a reasonable profit and customers are entitled to a reasonable price. An increase in price is preserved to be fair if it is due to a cost increase. Otherwise, it is preserved to be unfair if the price is increased without any underlying cost increase. Perceived fairness of price is found to be positively related to customer satisfaction and loyalty (Bei and Chiao, 2007), whereas perceived unfairness of price can lead to immediate negative attitudinal and behavioural responses such as dissatisfaction, complaining and switching to other providers (Xia et al. 2005) . Authenticity is an attribute that could be specifically relevant to ethnic restaurants. Authenticity refers to whether the food and ethnic origin. In other words, the environment and cuisines are not adjusted to meet local tastes and customers who are familiar with the culture of the ethnic origin can be judging its authenticity (Ebster and Guist 2006). Compared with Americans restaurants, ethnic restaurants usually make use of ethnic art, decor, music and customers. Some scholars even describe ethnic restaurants as cultural ambassadors of the home country and the dining experience in an ethnic as culinary tourism (Wood and Munoz, 2006). Summary Based on the literature review, this study investigated customer perception of Chinese restaurant in terms of food related attributes service related attributes, atmosphere related attributes and other attributes (price and authenticity), and identified the key attributes affecting customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Research Method Chapter: 3 Research Method Research Method Introduction: Methodology is the study of methods and it raises all sorts of philosophical questions about what it is possible for researcher to know and how valid their claims to knowledge might be (Fisher, 2007, p.40) The researcher has to consider the nature of the setting being studied or the ‘question being asked, as well as any possible limitations on the study, such as time and resources. Resources may be human being or monetary resources, or research tools such as computers or computer assisted telephone interviewing laboratories. There also needs to be to be a match between the study topic and methodology. For example, a research question that seeks to determine the size of the visiting friends and relatives market in an area would use a quantitative methodology, not a qualitative methodology, because the focus is on quantification. A methodology is a systematic and orderly approach taken towards the collection and analysis of data so that information can be obtained from those data. Data are raw, specific, undigested and therefore largely meaningless; information, in contrast, is what you get when data have been arranged in such a way that uncertainty is lessened, queries resolved, and questions answered. In the words of Jankowicz (2005, p.220) â€Å"Everything you do in your empirical work should be directed to the one end of gathering and presenting data from which information can be easily and simply derived†. Veal (2006, p. 125) The research approach: The author will use primary sources in the dissertation. Two interviews will be conducted: with one member of Dancing Dragon, Teesside (one of manager ) with one regular customer of Dancing Dragon restaurant The two chosen people one from Dancing Dragon and another from a regular customer of Chinese restaurant. Therefore, that customer will be capable of answering all questions and give new examples. The experience for the author is important because the answers will be based on true stories, examples and theories that are necessary for the dissertation. The interviews will be done by email and telephone, which could give the author an opportunity to gain some extra information if the interview exceeds the prepared questions and some new information will come from the interviews. Practicality of research: The interviews are a very good research method and are also practical. The information gained in the process is something new because it is primary source, then from secondary source, which must be checked. Primary source data can help the help to avoid incorrect or approximate information to learn and present further on, there is no need for the author to check it before including it in the dissertation. Also, Face to face interview can also help the author to conduct the interviews on time. The appointments must be made on time and dates are set, interviewees will not have chance to put off the interviews. Finally, it is an interesting process for the author. Sitting with a lot of books or magazine articles in the learning centre sometimes does not arise any interest in the author and the creativity in this case is poor, but to go out and to speak with people makes impressive ideas and final work can differ a lot. Five Codes of Ethics: The author of this dissertation will comply with five codes of ethics, and they will also be the limitations: will not collect information in such a way that participants are not aware of it will explain for what purpose information is required will choose to interview random individuals and will not exert pressure of any kind on them will not change information provided by participants will maintain confidentially at the request of participants The author will strictly follow the Five Codes of Ethics to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding that could develop between the author and interviewees. It is important to respect the interviewees wishes if they have them. It is the best way to say â€Å"Thank You† to respect for the time they have devoted and the knowledge for the author. Methodology: ‘Methodology is the philosophical framework with which the research is conducted or the foundation upon which the research is based. To word it differently, methodology is the rationale for the particular methods you use in your researching and in that type of research in general says Berman (2006, p. 12). That means that methodology is needed to provide the author with the means to find the research needed for the written dissertation. For the purpose of this research, the primary data will consist of two interviews and they will cover all three objectives, first, with one regular customer of ‘Dancing dragon restaurant and the second with one member of the Chinese restaurant. The interviews will be conducted through email and telephone , and will be formal. There will be 10 questions. The interviews will give advice from people who have substantial experience in the industry. Primary and Secondary Data: Data can be drawn from both primary and secondary sources. A secondary source of information already exists and has been gathered by someone else. Official statistics, previous studies, journal, magazine and newspapers articles are all sources of secondary information, and will be used in the research project for findings, analysis and recommendations. There are many styles of primary research experiments, ethnographic research and surveys. Bedford (2006, p.61) defines ‘primary data which comes from the source at the time of the event; it may be a report, newspaper article, film footage, or a live or recorded interview. That means that primary data are something that is not from sources that are already available to each student, but what he/she has studied or gained from the information by doing some research on his /her own. Many courses of study require students to engage in some form of primary research activity. In this dissertation, there will be questionnaires for people selected for the research. An advantage is that information which will be found is something new and unreached, but the limitations may be about the confidentiality of the interviewees if they ask for it. Quantitative and Qualitative Data: Quantitative data encompass a group of methods focusing on quantities and on numbers, ‘scientific research relies heavily on quantitative data. This means it focuses on changes or differences that can be measured. Standardised measurements are used such as number, time, weight, and length, says Cottrell (2008, p.206), so that results are easy to compare unbiased. This source of data is very important and is well appropriate for the project, but at the end ‘check and verify the results, looking for errors and odd results adds Moore (2006, p.139). However, qualitative research can also enhance the rigour and credibility of quantitative research. Qualitative research is ‘founded on the belief that social phenomenon (belief and experiences) can be explained with reference to the wider contexts of lived lives adds Burns (2008, p.231). He adopts the stance that people have knowledge of their own lives and that they can talk about those. Questionnaire and Interview Design: There are two types of interviews, which are classified according to the degree of flexibility. One is unstructured and the second one is structured. ‘The strength of unstructured interview is the almost complete freedom they provide in terms of content and structure. You may formulate questions and raise issues on the spur of the moment, depending upon what occurs to you in the context of the discussion explains Kumar (2005, p.123). A structured interview, continues Kumar (2005, p.126), is when ‘the researcher asks a predetermined set of questions, using the same wording and order of questions, using the same wording and order of questions as specified in the interview schedule is a written list of questions, open ended or close ended, prepared for use by an interviewer in a person to person interaction. In this project, there will be structured interviews with open ended questions, because there are only 20 questions to gain the information needed for the project. T his means that the research methods for this project are qualitative. Summary: Basically methodology is the rationale for the particular methods the researcher uses in the research to gather the needed information. For this report, author will obtain information from these methods primary Findings Chapter: 5 Research Findings Findings Introduction: Findings: Demographic profile of respondents: Source: mintel 2007 Table one show the results of the respondents demographic and dining profiles. Among the 284 valid respondents, females accounted for 52.5% of diners. The average respondent was 37 years old. The majority of respondents were Caucasian (60.2%), followed by Asian (32%) and other (7.8%). Respondents were most likely to go to a Chinese restaurant with their family (47.6%), followed by friends (27.1%) and relatives (15.2%) and were less likely to dine with business colleagues (2.1%) or by themsel Customer Satisfaction for Chinese Restaurants in the US Customer Satisfaction for Chinese Restaurants in the US Introduction: Aim of Project: Perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S: What affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions? Objectives: To analyse the customers behavioural intentions for Chinese restaurant in U.S. To analyse the perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S. To evaluate and analyse what affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The United States is a multicultural and multiethnic nation and this national trend of diversity is expected to consistently increase (Josiam and Monteiro, 2004; Sukalakamala and Boyce, 2007). One reflection of this cultural and ethnic diversity is the variety and prosperity of ethnic restaurants in the American foodservice market. The U.S. ethnic food market generates $75 billion in annual sales, around 65% of which is attributed to the foodservice industry (US ethnic food market, 2005). Yet, the fast growth of ethnic restaurants is not driven entirely by the growing number of new immigrants. In fact, 75% of ethnic food consumption comes from non-ethnic customers (US ethnic food market, 2005). As lifestyles change and dining out becomes more and more commonplace, many customers desire new flavours and experiences. Along with this popularity is the rapid development of Chinese restaurants. According to Chinese restaurants news (2007), there are about 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the United States, which is more than the total number of all McDonalds Wendys and burger king domestic outlets combined. Chinese restaurants generate over $17.5 billion annual sales, accounting for about one fourth of overall annual sales generated by ethnic restaurants in the U.S. (Chinese Restaurant News, 2007). Known for its good taste and great value for the price, Chinese cuisine is among the â€Å"big three† most popular ethnic cuisines in the U.S. food service market (National Restaurant association, 1995). It is estimated that 90% of the American population has tried Chinese food and 63% of Americans eat Chinese food each month (George, 2001). Facing more sophisticated American consumers and increasing competition in the restaurant industry, Chinese restaurants can no longer succeed by depending on good taste or low price alone. According to National Restaurant Association (2000a,b), due to an increased familiarity with ethnic food. American consumers attitudes toward ethnic cuisine have recently changed. Today, an exotic experience is not enough to attract consumers to an ethnic restaurant. Customers are no longer willing to trade off inferior service or atmosphere for an opportunity to try new flavours. They prefer an excellent overall dining experience. Moreover, Chinese restaurants are facing increasing challenges from other emerging Asian restaurants and from the changing tastes of American customers who prefer healthy or spicy food. Therefore, a better understanding of the key attributes influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intentions in Chinese restaurants will provide important practical implications for Chinese restaurants operators. Literature review: At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory; it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination an d help you set the work in a new and different light because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis. Research Method: The researcher need way to get the data will be from books, magazines, newspaper and through internet. As there are so many websites, no. of books, newspaper and magazines from where researcher will get updated information regarding the research. Through qualitative method the researcher will be able to find out easier way for doing research and by getting direct information related with the research. And the other thing is that in qualitative method accuracy rate is good not all time but, mostly.Quantitative method also very helpful to do the research. Code of Ethics: The world tourism organisation developed a code of ethics. This is recognition of the need to enshrine many of the principles of global action on the environment and the rights of tourists and workers. The basic principles inherit in the code are: 2 Table of contents Implementation of the principles of the code of ethics of hospitality. Mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies. Restaurant as a beneficial activity for host countries and communities. Summary: This work will introduced the conceptual issues associated with the research of â€Å"customer satisfaction from Chinese restaurant in US† and also demonstrate what is happening with people of the local community. Chapter: 2 Literature Review Literature Review: An Introduction At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory, it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination an d help you set the work in a new and different light because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis. Chapter: 1 Ethnic cuisine development and Chinese restaurants in the US. In the past few decades, with the influx of new immigrants as well as diversifying tastes of Americans, ethnic foods have become widely available and increasingly popular in the U.S. food service market (Josiam and monteiro, 2004). Traditional ethnic cuisines such as Italian, Mexican and Cantonese Chinese have become so familiar to American customer that they are perceived as mainstream American foods (Mills, 2000). In the meanwhile, many emerging ethnic cuisines such as Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pan Asian have also gained wide acceptance in recent years (US ethnic food market, 2005). Chinese cuisine arrived in the U.S. with the first railroad construction workers brought over to the west coast of the U.S. in the nineteenth century (Freeman, 2008). From the first Cantonese style Chinese restaurant opened in San Francisco in 1849, it rapidly penetrated towns and cities all over the U.S. and became part of the American experience (Chen and Bowen, 2001). Cantonese style cuisine, characterised by its light sweet and sour flavours, is the most popular Chinese cuisine in the U.S. In the recent years, other styles of Chinese cuisine have also become familiar to American customers, such as Szechwan, Hunan and Mandarin styles. The first two styles are famous for their hot and spicy flavours, while the last one is characterised by light, elegant and mildly seasoned foods (George, 2001). According to the National Restaurant Association (1995), customer perceived Chinese cuisine as a great value for the price, good for carryout, rich in flavour and difficult to prepare at hom e. Although there a few Chinese restaurant chains operating in the U.S. such as P. F. Changs China Bistro and Panda Express, most Chinese restaurant has a Chinese name outside, is decorated with Chinese styled pictures and artifacts, such as Chinese brush landscape paintings red lanterns, offers a menu printed in both Chinese and English, and provides Chinese characterised tableware, such as chopsticks and Chinese restaurants have been facing intense competition among themselves due to fast development and expansion in the U.S., as well as from other emerging Asian restaurants such as Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese ( Jang et al., 2009). Thus, maintaining customer satisfaction and repeat patronage may be more important for Chinese restaurants than ever before. Chapter: 2 Customer satisfaction and related theories The topic of â€Å"customer satisfaction† has held a significant position in the marketing literature over the decades since satisfied customers can be generate long-term benefits for companies, including customer loyalty and sustained profitability (Homburg et al., 2006). Researchers have explained the mechanism of customer satisfaction with number of distinct theories, such as expectancy-disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1981), contrast theory (Howard and Sheth, 1969), assimilation or cognitive dissonance theory (Anderson, 1973), equity theory (Oliver and Swan, 1989), and value percept theory (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983). Among them, the most widely accepted theory is the expectancy disconfirmation theory. According to this theory, customers satisfaction judgements are the results of comparisons between customers expectations and perceived performance. If the perceived performance exceeds the expectation, the expectation is positively disconfirmed and the customer is satisfie d. On the contrary, if the perceived performance falls short of the expectation, the expectation is negatively disconfirmed and the customer is dissatisfied. Another influential theory for customer satisfaction is the equity theory. This theory suggests that satisfaction occurs when customers perceived that they have obtained more benefits compared to their cost (e.g. money, time and effort) and perceived value is an appropriate factor in measuring satisfaction (Oliver and Swan, 1989; Yuan and Jang, 2008). Another commonly used theory, the three factor theory, provides a basic explanation for the structure of customer satisfaction. This theory claims that three independent satisfaction factors influence customer satisfaction in different ways (Kano, 1984; Matzler and Sauerwein, 2002). Basic factors are minimum requirement for satisfaction. Failure to fulfil the minimum requirements causes dissatisfaction, whereas fulfilling or exceeding them does not necessarily lead to satisfaction. Excitement factors increase customer satisfaction if delivered but do not cause dissatisfaction if not delivered. Performance factors lead to satisfaction if performance is high and to dissatisfaction if performance is low (Fuller and Matzler, 2008). This theory has been validated empirical studies (e.g. Fuchs, 2004; Matzler et al., 2006) and could provide an additional perspective for understanding the effects of restaurant attributes on customer satisfaction. Basic factors can be seen as the prerequisite s for the satisfaction, signifying that customer take that for granted. Performance factors are a critical competitive area and directly related to customers explicit needs and wants. Excitement factors are unexpected by customers, so they can be a â€Å"surprise gift† that generates extra delight (Fuller and Matzler, 2008). Chapter: 3 Behavioural Intentions Behavioural intention can be defined as the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), behavioural intention is the motivational component of a volitional behavioural and is highly correlated with behaviour itself (Jang and Feng, 2007). Although there are still arguments about the level of correlation between behavioural intentions and actual actions, it seems to be generally agreed that behavioural intention is a reasonable variable for predicting future behaviour (Quelette and Wood, 1988). Thus, a good understanding of the determinants of favourable post-dinning behavioural intentions such as saying positive things about the restaurant, recommending the restaurant to others, and repeat purchasing can provide practical guidance for restaurant practitioners. Another construct that is highly related to behavioural intentions is customer satisfaction. It is regarded as one of the key antecedents of post purchase behavioural intentions because customer satisfaction has a positive effect on the customers attitude towards the product or service and can reinforce the customers conscious effort to purchase the product or service again in the future (Oliver, 1989, 1999). However, previous studies have also suggested that factors that influence customer satisfaction are not always in accordance with factors influencing customer behavioural intention, for example, Sulek and Hensley (2004) found that food, atmosphere, and fairness of the seating order were all significant predictors of a customers overall dining satisfaction, but only food quality predicted post-dining behavioural intention. In examining food quality in restaurants, Namkung and Jang (2007) reported that food temperature had a significant effect on customer satisfaction but no effec t on behavioural intention. Conversely, healthy options were a direct determinant of behavioural intentions but did not influence customer satisfaction. Therefore, there is a practical need to investigate the effects of restaurant attributes on both customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Chapter: 4 Factors influencing customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in restaurants Reuland et al. (1985) suggested that hospitality services consist of a harmonious mixture of three elements: the material product, the behaviour and attitude of the employees, and the environment. Berry et al. (2002) also proposed three categories of cues that present themselves in the service experience: functional cues (technical quality of service), mechanic cues (nonhuman elements in the service environment) and humanic cues (behaviour of service employees). Based on these propositions, the basic restaurant attributes can be said to be include food, service and environment. Though a literature review of dining satisfaction and behaviour intention, all three basic elements were found to directly or indirectly contribute to customers overall satisfaction with a restaurant experience and their post dining behavioural intentions. Chapter: 5 Food Quality As the core product of a restaurant, food plays a pivotal role in the restaurant experience. Food quality has been generally accepted as major factor influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intention. For example, Dube et al. (1994) measured the relative importance of seven restaurant attributes in repeat purchase intention in an upscale restaurant setting and found that food quality was far more important to restaurant customers than all others attributes, Sulek and Hensley (2004) investigated the relative importance of food and physical setting, and service in a full-service restaurant and found that food quality was the most important factor influencing satisfaction and the only factor predicting behavioural intention. Namkung and Jang (2007) evaluated the relationship of individual attributes that constitute food quality (e.g. food presentation, menu variety, healthy options, taste, food freshness and temperature) with customer satisfaction and behavioural i ntentions. The findings indicated that food presentation, taste and temperature were significantly related to customer satisfaction whereas food presentation, taste and healthy options (instead of temperature) were significant predictors of behavioural intention. Besides the above- mentioned six individual attributes, â€Å"food safety† is also an important cue for evaluating food quality. â€Å"Although food-safety defects are not always immediately apparent, customers do tend to notice undercooked food, food with an off taste, or foreign material in their food† (Sulek and Hensley, 2004). Thus, food may serve as the most basic and lowest standard when judging quality. Service Quality: In the service literature, perceived service quality is defined as the customers judgement of the overall excellence or superiority of the service (Zeithaml, 2008). It is the customers subjective evaluation, resulting from a comparison of expectations and perceived performance. SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al, 2008) is the instrument most often used for measuring perceived service quality in the marketing literature. It consists of five service dimension, namely, tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel), reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), and responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence) and empathy (caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers). To adapt SERVQUAL to the restaurant industry, Stevens et al. (2005) modified several items from the original SERVQUAL and d eveloped DINESERV to measure perceived service quality in restaurants. In the restaurant industry, since customers not only evaluate the quality of food but also the service encounters during their dining experience, perceived service quality is seen as another core determinant of customers satisfaction and behavioural intention. For example Kivela et al. (2009) proposed a comprehensive model for dining satisfaction and return patronage. Their study indicated that the probability of return patronage was dependent on customers satisfaction with five aspects of a restaurant: first the last impressions, service quality, and ambience quality, food quality and feeling comfortable eating there and reservation and parking. Ladhari et al. (2008) investigated determinants of dining satisfaction and post-dining behavioural intentions, and concluded that perceived service quality influenced customer satisfaction through both positive and negative emotions, Customer satisfaction, in turn, influ enced recommendations, customer loyalty and willingness to pay more. Their results suggested that compared with food quality/reliability, physical design and price, service responsiveness was the most important contributor to customer satisfaction. ATMOSPHERICS Atmospherics is perceived as the quality of the surroundings space. According to Kotler (2006) it is the conscious designing of space to produce specific emotional effects in buyers that enhance their purchase probability. Atmospherics is made up of a set of elements, such as music, lighting, colour and scent. Research in environmental psychology has suggested that atmospherics has a powerful impact on peoples emotions, attitude and behaviour. Mehrabian and Russell (2005) first introduced a theoretical model to explain the impact of environmental stimuli on individual behaviour. The model claims that the physical environment could influence peoples emotional response (such as pleasure and arousal), which in turn elicits approach or avoidance behaviour toward the environment. The model has gained consistent support from the numerous empirical studies in different service settings, such as retail stores and hotels (Baker and Cameroon, 2006). In the restaurant context, Ryu and Jang (2007) explored the combined effect of multiple atmospheric variables on behavioural intentions in upscale restaurants. Their findings supported that ambience (example music, aroma, and temperature) and employee appearance had the most important influence n customers post dining behavioural intentions. OTHER FACTORS-PRICE FAIRNESS AND AUTHENCITY Besides food, service and atmospherics, perceived price fairness could be another factor that influences the customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions (Bei and Chiao, 2007). It is based on consumer internal reference prices, which could be generated by the last price paid, the price most frequently paid and the market prices in similar transactions (Kahneman et al.2006). This principle posits that firms are entitled to a reasonable profit and customers are entitled to a reasonable price. An increase in price is preserved to be fair if it is due to a cost increase. Otherwise, it is preserved to be unfair if the price is increased without any underlying cost increase. Perceived fairness of price is found to be positively related to customer satisfaction and loyalty (Bei and Chiao, 2007), whereas perceived unfairness of price can lead to immediate negative attitudinal and behavioural responses such as dissatisfaction, complaining and switching to other providers (Xia et al. 2005) . Authenticity is an attribute that could be specifically relevant to ethnic restaurants. Authenticity refers to whether the food and ethnic origin. In other words, the environment and cuisines are not adjusted to meet local tastes and customers who are familiar with the culture of the ethnic origin can be judging its authenticity (Ebster and Guist 2006). Compared with Americans restaurants, ethnic restaurants usually make use of ethnic art, decor, music and customers. Some scholars even describe ethnic restaurants as cultural ambassadors of the home country and the dining experience in an ethnic as culinary tourism (Wood and Munoz, 2006). Summary Based on the literature review, this study investigated customer perception of Chinese restaurant in terms of food related attributes service related attributes, atmosphere related attributes and other attributes (price and authenticity), and identified the key attributes affecting customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Research Method Chapter: 3 Research Method Research Method Introduction: Methodology is the study of methods and it raises all sorts of philosophical questions about what it is possible for researcher to know and how valid their claims to knowledge might be (Fisher, 2007, p.40) The researcher has to consider the nature of the setting being studied or the ‘question being asked, as well as any possible limitations on the study, such as time and resources. Resources may be human being or monetary resources, or research tools such as computers or computer assisted telephone interviewing laboratories. There also needs to be to be a match between the study topic and methodology. For example, a research question that seeks to determine the size of the visiting friends and relatives market in an area would use a quantitative methodology, not a qualitative methodology, because the focus is on quantification. A methodology is a systematic and orderly approach taken towards the collection and analysis of data so that information can be obtained from those data. Data are raw, specific, undigested and therefore largely meaningless; information, in contrast, is what you get when data have been arranged in such a way that uncertainty is lessened, queries resolved, and questions answered. In the words of Jankowicz (2005, p.220) â€Å"Everything you do in your empirical work should be directed to the one end of gathering and presenting data from which information can be easily and simply derived†. Veal (2006, p. 125) The research approach: The author will use primary sources in the dissertation. Two interviews will be conducted: with one member of Dancing Dragon, Teesside (one of manager ) with one regular customer of Dancing Dragon restaurant The two chosen people one from Dancing Dragon and another from a regular customer of Chinese restaurant. Therefore, that customer will be capable of answering all questions and give new examples. The experience for the author is important because the answers will be based on true stories, examples and theories that are necessary for the dissertation. The interviews will be done by email and telephone, which could give the author an opportunity to gain some extra information if the interview exceeds the prepared questions and some new information will come from the interviews. Practicality of research: The interviews are a very good research method and are also practical. The information gained in the process is something new because it is primary source, then from secondary source, which must be checked. Primary source data can help the help to avoid incorrect or approximate information to learn and present further on, there is no need for the author to check it before including it in the dissertation. Also, Face to face interview can also help the author to conduct the interviews on time. The appointments must be made on time and dates are set, interviewees will not have chance to put off the interviews. Finally, it is an interesting process for the author. Sitting with a lot of books or magazine articles in the learning centre sometimes does not arise any interest in the author and the creativity in this case is poor, but to go out and to speak with people makes impressive ideas and final work can differ a lot. Five Codes of Ethics: The author of this dissertation will comply with five codes of ethics, and they will also be the limitations: will not collect information in such a way that participants are not aware of it will explain for what purpose information is required will choose to interview random individuals and will not exert pressure of any kind on them will not change information provided by participants will maintain confidentially at the request of participants The author will strictly follow the Five Codes of Ethics to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding that could develop between the author and interviewees. It is important to respect the interviewees wishes if they have them. It is the best way to say â€Å"Thank You† to respect for the time they have devoted and the knowledge for the author. Methodology: ‘Methodology is the philosophical framework with which the research is conducted or the foundation upon which the research is based. To word it differently, methodology is the rationale for the particular methods you use in your researching and in that type of research in general says Berman (2006, p. 12). That means that methodology is needed to provide the author with the means to find the research needed for the written dissertation. For the purpose of this research, the primary data will consist of two interviews and they will cover all three objectives, first, with one regular customer of ‘Dancing dragon restaurant and the second with one member of the Chinese restaurant. The interviews will be conducted through email and telephone , and will be formal. There will be 10 questions. The interviews will give advice from people who have substantial experience in the industry. Primary and Secondary Data: Data can be drawn from both primary and secondary sources. A secondary source of information already exists and has been gathered by someone else. Official statistics, previous studies, journal, magazine and newspapers articles are all sources of secondary information, and will be used in the research project for findings, analysis and recommendations. There are many styles of primary research experiments, ethnographic research and surveys. Bedford (2006, p.61) defines ‘primary data which comes from the source at the time of the event; it may be a report, newspaper article, film footage, or a live or recorded interview. That means that primary data are something that is not from sources that are already available to each student, but what he/she has studied or gained from the information by doing some research on his /her own. Many courses of study require students to engage in some form of primary research activity. In this dissertation, there will be questionnaires for people selected for the research. An advantage is that information which will be found is something new and unreached, but the limitations may be about the confidentiality of the interviewees if they ask for it. Quantitative and Qualitative Data: Quantitative data encompass a group of methods focusing on quantities and on numbers, ‘scientific research relies heavily on quantitative data. This means it focuses on changes or differences that can be measured. Standardised measurements are used such as number, time, weight, and length, says Cottrell (2008, p.206), so that results are easy to compare unbiased. This source of data is very important and is well appropriate for the project, but at the end ‘check and verify the results, looking for errors and odd results adds Moore (2006, p.139). However, qualitative research can also enhance the rigour and credibility of quantitative research. Qualitative research is ‘founded on the belief that social phenomenon (belief and experiences) can be explained with reference to the wider contexts of lived lives adds Burns (2008, p.231). He adopts the stance that people have knowledge of their own lives and that they can talk about those. Questionnaire and Interview Design: There are two types of interviews, which are classified according to the degree of flexibility. One is unstructured and the second one is structured. ‘The strength of unstructured interview is the almost complete freedom they provide in terms of content and structure. You may formulate questions and raise issues on the spur of the moment, depending upon what occurs to you in the context of the discussion explains Kumar (2005, p.123). A structured interview, continues Kumar (2005, p.126), is when ‘the researcher asks a predetermined set of questions, using the same wording and order of questions, using the same wording and order of questions as specified in the interview schedule is a written list of questions, open ended or close ended, prepared for use by an interviewer in a person to person interaction. In this project, there will be structured interviews with open ended questions, because there are only 20 questions to gain the information needed for the project. T his means that the research methods for this project are qualitative. Summary: Basically methodology is the rationale for the particular methods the researcher uses in the research to gather the needed information. For this report, author will obtain information from these methods primary Findings Chapter: 5 Research Findings Findings Introduction: Findings: Demographic profile of respondents: Source: mintel 2007 Table one show the results of the respondents demographic and dining profiles. Among the 284 valid respondents, females accounted for 52.5% of diners. The average respondent was 37 years old. The majority of respondents were Caucasian (60.2%), followed by Asian (32%) and other (7.8%). Respondents were most likely to go to a Chinese restaurant with their family (47.6%), followed by friends (27.1%) and relatives (15.2%) and were less likely to dine with business colleagues (2.1%) or by themsel