Critical Review about Postgraduate Research Methods Essay

Critical Review about Postgraduate Research Methods - Essay Example The author defined the glass ceiling as those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions. Since the feminist movement gained power since the late sixties of the twentieth century the women began to think that they should gain the power and authority among the men community. As a result they from the very beginning women placed themselves to the other side of the discussion. Nowadays women are trying to prove their self-dependence, putting aside the case of that they had begun this confrontation. To show the relevance of the problem, the author shows some statistic data about salary inequities between women and men. She asks following questions: Why are women still paid substantially less than men are Why does the glass ceiling stay in place And why does much of the popular press do its best to paint a rosy picture of job prospects for women The main purpose of Brenda's research was to identify factors that support and perpetuate the glass ceiling for women in public relations and corporate communications management. The author points out, that many researchers in management have attempted to isolate factors contributing to sex segregation and sex discrimination. After analysis of their work she made a conclusion that the body of knowledge is contributed in two very important ways: First, it highlights the need for research about women, research frequently marginalized in both the academic and business arenas. Second, it has begun to suggest factors that create and maintain the glass ceiling in corporate public relations and communications. The author describes in details research problem and its reflection in literature. The research project assumes the glass ceiling as an important area for further study for several reasons that are enumerated by the author. Feminization of the field means that although women make up more than half of the U.S. population their representation in management in public relations and many other fields is a much smaller percentage. The author points out that this limits opportunities for women and the organizations that could benefit from their contributions. Vrenda emphasizes that women in public relations have difficulty being treated equally in terms of advancement and salary. She looks at nature of today's business climate and remarks that the pressure on organizations to practice public relations as more of a two-way communication process becomes even more urgent. The author suggests the following points for consideration: 1: Do women in corporate public relations and communications management perceive a glass ceiling to be in place 2: What factors do women think help to create or maintain the glass ceiling for women in public relations and communications 3: What strategies are there for women in public relations and communications who want to work to eliminate the glass ceiling These are the main questions of the research. In the research the author used qualitative methods because, as the author explained it, the factors contributing to the glass ceiling have not yet been clearly delineated. The study used focus groups (one pretest and two subsequent focus groups) and depth interviews (a total of 10 interviews). Nevertheless, the author uses statistic to show the tendency of nowadays situation in case that groups are too small to show off the full idea. That is reasonable because

How media influences people about disease---ALS and its ice bucket Research Paper

How media influences people about disease---ALS and its ice bucket challenge - Research Paper Example People who use Facebook and Twitter are for all practical purposes running little media houses, and face the problem of their much larger brethren, where will the next story come from? Originality is too time-consuming: emulation is inevitable. Fads ensue. What gets emulated? Anything that can contribute to social capital. The content must be easy to create but not as easy as photographing ones morning cappuccino. For example, someone in Toronto snapped a selfie with the controversial mayor Rob Ford. Overnight, hunting Rob Ford became a Toronto sport, and your face next to his became social currency across Canada. Its easy to write off these fads as simple stunts of digital narcissism, but they matter to marketing because they carry incidental meaning. It was not lost on Fords reelection team that media coverage on Facebook was as good as, perhaps better than, press coverage. Selfies with Ford carried the incidental meaning that he was one of the people, a fun-loving regular guy. He began to make himself selfie-friendly. Brands, too, ask how they can become incidental props in these viral stunts. The challenge that brands encounter, however, is that their involvement could come off as merely jumping on the bandwagon because spreadable stunts tend to carry no meaning beyond the stunt itself. Take "planking" for example. An early Facebook fad, planking is the act of lying face-down in an incongruous place. It is the epitome of digital narcissism and any hint of motive other than "look at me" just clouds the picture. By contrast, the ALS ice bucket challenge offers an example of a brand harnessing the energy of a narcissistic fad on social networks in service to the brand itself. The usual elements are there: an act that is incongruous, not easy to do, and screams "look at me." Yet here, the incidental meaning is not at all dissociated from the personal meaning. Im