Monday, November 11, 2019

Multi-faceted character Essay

In Shakespeare’s â€Å"The Tempest†, Prospero has been represented variously as a good, caring man or as a manipulating, devious â€Å"puppeteer†. Compare and contrast how he has been represented and make your conclusion as to what kind of character Prospero actually is. A-Prospero, the protagonist of Shakespeare’s â€Å"Tempest†, has been variously presented as a kind, wise man as well as an uncaring, power hungry tyrant. A very real and multifaceted character with plenty of grey shades, Prospero has been seen as some as a manifestation of the play writer himself. I believe that, although Prospero has his faults, all his seemingly callous actions are directed towards a happy ending for every one. The best side of his personality is reserved for his daughter, Miranda. Though he is, at times, domineering towards her – (â€Å"Hence! Hang not on my garments! â€Å") – he loves her deeply. He tells her that he done ‘nothing but in care of her’, and all his actions are for her benefit ad to secure her future. He calls her a ‘cherubin’ and uses various terms of endearment for her – ‘wench’ – which bring out his love for her. However, Prospero also ‘meddles’ a lot with his daughter’s emotions. She is led to fall in love with Ferdinand, and Prospero’s comments, â€Å"It goes on, I see† shows that the relationship is all part of his master plan. He spies on her clandestine meeting with Ferdinand, and he is, often, a puppet master and she is his puppet, docile and obedient. This underlines the control he has over her, and his lust for power, but he is redeemed by the fact that he is doing it all for her good, after all, ‘the end justifies the means’. His test for Ferdinand is because Elizabethan romantic convention holds that a man’s love must be proved to be true through feats of tests. Towards his estranged brother, Antonio, and his companions, Prospero is less kind. He subjects them to mental torture by conjuring a violent tempest, leading them to believe they are ship wrecked. He is portrayed as a master puppeteer manipulating his puppets as he watches the company blunder about the island. But however sinister his attitude was, the fact remained that Prospero instructed Ariel to keep them ‘unharmed’. His frequent praise of Gonzalo, ‘honest old lord’ shows the audience that he does not really intend any malice. He did not want to use physical violence, even though it could be justified by the cruel actions of Antonio. Even though Antonio is a thoroughly ‘bad’ character, Prospero’s lack of violence redeems him to the audience. At the end of the play, Prospero forgives all his misdeed that had taken place and it is this forgiveness that labels him as a kind wise man. The only time Prospero shows a truly ugly side to his character is when he deals with Caliban. He hurls epithets such as ‘tortoise’ and ‘earth’ to him and inflicts him with ‘cramps’ and ‘side stitches’. Caliban terror on seeing Stephano shows the fear instilled in him by Prospero’s spirits. Prospero’s actions towards Caliban are also, however, justified. Caliban’s attempted rape of Miranda and his repulsive desire to ‘people the island with Calibans’ rightly earns a harsh punishment from Prospero. The only unjustified act of Prospero is that he seems to put too much stock by Caliban’s birth and appearance. He calls him a ‘freckled whelp’, ‘hag born’. But even here, the prevailing Elizabethan belief was that anyone so misshapen was evil and deserved to be treated as such. Towards his other servant, the ‘airy’ and ‘light’ Ariel, Prospero is much kinder. He frequently calls her a ‘brave spirit’ and ‘my tricksy Ariel’, using possessive pronouns to signal acceptance and pride. The only time he is angry with Ariel is when the spirit demand its freedom, just when Prospero’s master plan is about to unfold. He is understandably angry: she is the key to a plan he has waited twelve years to operate and it is an opportunity not be given again. Prospero is a man who is multi-faceted and perhaps that is why he is so human. Though he has shades of grey, he is essentially a good man, who has been usurped of his dukedom. Shakespeare realised that Prospero was dealing with great evil, and could not afford to be too good and therefore nai ve. He had to be written as a firm, stern man who knew what he wanted and how to achieve it. Prospero may have manipulated his daughter, but only to restore her future and her status. He is callous to Ariel, but promises to set it free. He leads the company all over the island, but reunites them in the end. ‘All’s well that ends well’ and Prospero delivers, restoring his dukedom, marrying the lovers and ensuring happy endings.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Monster of Nightmares and the Unknown Professor Ramos Blog

The Monster of Nightmares and the Unknown The monster I am covering is Cthulhu. Out of all of the monsters I have seen if I had to put him on a grading scale I would give him an â€Å"A†. He is a monster that is hard to understand because he is very rarely directly referenced in anything; even his name is rarely uttered by anyone. He is described as â€Å"The Thing cannot be described- there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order.† (Lovecraft 3) in his original story where he appears but since then he has taken on a new shape. He is said to look like a giant green humanoid creature with a squid like head, tentacles making up his mouth, wings on his back, a long tail, and claws. Cthulhu He is considered to be one of â€Å"The Old Ones† (Lovecraft 2) a being of nightmares and unimaginable power and knowledge; a god in his own right. Even when he is in his eternal slumber her can alters peoples dreams, and make them see horrific unthinkable things. He wants to use people against themselves, using a person’s curiosity against them as they seek out the source of the dreams and horrible visions. He is also known to shift reality by giving people ancient artifacts about the old ones and even having mind melting creatures stand in the wake of anyone that opposite him or his cults. His ultimate goal is to be released into the universe so that he can do as he pleases again, with no one to stop him. Once released everyone can only hope that they are so insignificant that he will not destroy our planet. â€Å"We are like ants to him, our only hope is that he does not notice us so that we can keep living our insignificant lives.† (Gildark) He is also said to know so much that if you ever got the chance to ask him a question your brain would literally explode before he ever finished answering you. With the better understanding of how the monster looks and how he acts, I can explain how Cthulhu is a grade â€Å"A† monster. Cthulhu came to be through a short horror tale written by the writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft in the magazine called Weird Tales in the year 1928. Lovecraft would go on to write many more horrific monsters and tales that would become very famous in literature. Cthulhu represents the fear of the unknown in culture, but he can also represent the fear of the uncontrollable. He serves the culture by showing us we can’t let the fear of the unknown consume us and drive us mad. We have to keep moving forward with our lives and make it the best we can with what we have. Cthulhu is able to meet the criteria of a lot, if not all, of the monster theories that are stated by Cohen. Some of the bigger theories he meets the criteria of in my opinion are â€Å"†¦thesis 2, The Monster Always Escapes†¦ thesis 3, The Monster is the Harbinger of a Category Crisis†¦ and thesis 7, The Monster Stands at the Threshold of Becoming† (Cohen) Starting with thesis 2 he is one of the monsters that always escapes which goes perfectly with everything he represents. He is the fear of the unknown and if he is left to his own devises there is no telling what he can do with his god like strength and power. Another reason to why he always escapes is because there has never been a single way to even stop Cthulhu in the first place, which some may see as a flaw to a monster but again in my opinion fits very well with the intent behind the monster, you can not stop the unknown, you can only stave it off by staying in bubble. Now on to thesis 3. Whenever Cthulhu shows up or even his name is uttered, the crisis has already started. When the monster is in his slumber like state, he can still affect the minds of people and make weird things happen, which makes people go crazy. He doesn’t even have to physically intervein to cause a crisis to start happening, but once he does, then the crisis has really started. Lastly thesis 7, I have been referencing this through the whole paper, what makes him the scariest is because you have no idea what he will do next, he brings back our fears of the unknown, and the monster itself can’t be scary, it was never described to us in the original book, not well at least. We are scared of what our mind makes of him. Now, to compare the Cthulhu written by H.P. Lovecraft to the newer Cthulhu that was in the movie â€Å"Cthulhu†, the older Cthulhu written by H.P. Lovecraft had a very ominous feel to him making him an indescribable and unspeakable creature from the depths of the unknown ocean with the tangibility of a living being and the power of a god made for a very scary monster in itself. With these words alone fear can be stricken into the hearts of many people as their minds race to try to imagine such a monstrosity and what would happen if he was unleashed onto the world. The newer version of him in the movie â€Å"Cthulhu† he is given a face which I feel really takes away from the phycological horror that comes with the H.P. Lovecraft monster, but in the same stroke you are also able to see the monsters powers in action as mass amounts of people and monsters murder and cause insanity in the name of Cthulhu. Structures are toppled, laws thrown out the window, and empathy for one another completely gone as the beast makes everyone lose their mind just by the mere thought of him being an actual living being in the universe. With both of them having their strengths and weaknesses I still believe that the original Cthulhu is a much better monster than new Cthulhu, because humans will always be afraid of the unknown and the uncontrollable, while the new Cthulhu is uncontrollable he has been given a body and face so he is no longer the unknown. Humans’ biggest fear is not the monster itself because there is always a way to beat the monster, but the fear of what the monster really is. â€Å"You are not afraid of the dark, you are afraid of what might be in the dark.† Is something I have heard growing up and that statement stands true. With everything I have touch on about the original Cthulhu I have no doubt in my mind that he is a grade â€Å"A† monster. He represents our fear of the unknown, something we can never get away from no matter how hard we could try, no way to kill it, and no way to make it go away. Even if you think you are out of his grasps he always has a way of showing back up. When I think of truly petrifying monsters he is the first name I think of because he is the one that makes you think about just how scary he is. So if you have never heard of him, I highly suggest acquainting yourself with him, you will be in for a very scary treat. Works Cited Chambers Harrap, Una McGovern Cthulhu. Chambers Dictionary of Literary Characters, 1st edition, 2004. Credo Reference, Accessed 18 Jul. 2019. This will be one of my scholarly sources. It is the definition and description of Cthulhu. This is a great source to use as a clear definition of what the monster is. This can be used in a multitude of ways to explain how he fits into monster theory and just in general clear things up. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Culture: Seven Theses. From Monster Theory: Reading Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 3-25. This is the clip out of a book talks about monster culture and how monsters are shaped in the form of fears and worries of the cultures that made the monster. It gives a better look into monsters and is a great tool to pick monsters apart with. I will be using this to show how well Cthulhu was made to be a monster of his time and how he became so popular. Gildark, Dan, director. Cthulhu. Regent Releasing, 2007. This is the most recent film featuring the story of Cthulhu. The story shows Russ coming back for his grandmothers funeral. He is kind of tied into a creepy cult without ever knowing much about it. He digs deeper to find out the weird happenings that have been going on in the town for years ranging from missing people to just creepy happenings that cant be explained. I will be using this as a more modern adaption of Cthulhu to show what has changed about him, or even if he carries different meanings now then when he did back when he was made. Lovecraft, Howard Phillips. â€Å"The Call of Cthulhu.† Weird Tales, Feb. 1928. This is the short story where Cthulhu first originated. It talks of a man looking through his Grand-Uncle’s research after his odd death. His Uncle talks about odd ancient writings that he had come across and an ever living cult called â€Å"The Cthulhu Cult† that worshipped a god-like being with horrible powers. The main character’s curiosity gets the better of him and goes to seek out more and ends up getting more information than he could ever wish for. I am going to use this in my paper as a main source because this is the first time Cthulhu has shown up in history and he makes for the perfect monster of his time. Lovecraft, H(oward) P(hillips). Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Liam Rodger, and Joan Bakewell, Chambers Harrap, 9th edition, 2011. Credo Reference, Accessed 18 Jul. 2019. This will be one of my scholarly sources. This is a Biography of H.P. Lovecraft the creator of the monster Cthulhu. I will use this source to show the times that Lovecraft grew up in and why he made the monster the way he did. I will also use this to reference the culture and environment the monster was made for.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Bread Givers essays

Bread Givers essays What it means to be an immigrant? In the Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska, tells the story of life as an immigrant in the Untied States, particularly immigrant women's pursuit of the American Dream. For many immigrants, the U.S. was the key to a better life, a life free of economic depression and religious oppression. America was a fantasy to all immigrants. The Jewish immigrants used historical analogies to describe sites of Jewish suffering in distinction to America as a place of freedom, opportunity, and promise. In the narratives that Jewish Americans tell about their collective past in the United States, the Lower East Side functions not just as a particular neighborhood where many Jews lived for some period of time but as exemplary of the Jewish experience in America. They came to America and found instead the Lower East Side, a warren of crowded, dirty, and mean streets. In this slum, these impoverished Jewish immigrants re-created the culture of Eastern Europe, thick with the smells, sounds, tastes, and noises of life in the "Old World." Lower East Side served as some kind of transitional zone for the Jewish immigrants. In that neighborhood, they underwent an ordeal of cultural reeducation as they learned to be free. The Lower East Side served as a middle ground where the Jewish immigrants dwelled among themselves while waiting for permission to enter the real America. It served as their narrow bridge between slavery and freedom, between the their homeland and the promised land of Ameri ca. Jewish immigrants in America, like any other immigrants, faced many obstacles. Their lives were ran thought by the recurrent themes of oppression, constriction, and danger, on one hand, followed by the expansiveness of liberation, on the other. Immigrants had to adjust to industrial labor, unfamiliar languages, and city life. Clinging to their national identities and religions. Jewish immigrants worked long and hard, to strongly ...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Public Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Public Health - Essay Example The initiative was to provide good sanitation and reduces cases of mortality and morbidity causes by infectious diseases in major cities and areas inhabited by population with lower living standards. The term was also used in 19th century when epidemiologist John Snow realised that the outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera was a result of environment. He pointed out that the water pump in London town contributed to cholera outbreak and closing it will be solution (Turnock, 2008). Based on the definition of public health, it requires different aspects to be achieved so as to accomplish its meaning. Some of the aspects underlined in the definition of public health are prevention of diseases, prolonging life and promotion of health and efficiency. This is done through education, control of infectious diseases, providing information to the population on maintenance of personal hygiene and management and development of health facilities to assist in provision of healthcare (Turnock 2008). Studying public health is significant to the country and population in general. Studying provides a clear path in tackling complex issues relating to healthcare such as provision of accessible services, control of infectious diseases, and reduction of environmental hazards, curb issues of drug and substance abuse and violence. Studying of the subjects provide an opportunity to specialize in different fields. Additionally, it integrates different professionals such as journalists, teachers, environmentalist, scientist and attorneys working together to provide a safe environment and improve health. Study provides an opportunity to serve local, national and international population (Turnock 2008). United States more of their budget on health issues than any other country in the world. Based on 2004 studies, U.S. per-capita spending was $ 6096. This is double that of Canada which was at

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Cathay Pacific Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cathay Pacific Analysis - Essay Example ines industry, with heavy commercial business in terms of passengers and cargo movements along the globe, and conversely, economic slowdowns and recession casts its gloom over the airlines industry in terms of empty seats and unused cargo capacities. This is precisely what has happened in the case of Cathay Pacific which was a victim of the East Asian Crisis way back in 1997, which resulted in massive falls in local currencies as against the harder ones. Thus the depreciation in currencies caused heavier debts in terms of reeling fuel costs, interest payment and debt repayments, that provided acceleration of crisis that left many airlines in virtual doldrums and staggering losses. 2. Stiff competition offered by smaller, no frills airlines, which are alarmingly lower on ticket fares and yet maintain excellent levels of service, causing high levels of passenger migration. Larger airlines, with heavy overheads, operating costs and bureaucratic attitudes, cannot match these smaller airlines in terms of fares and benefits offered. 3. In the case of Cathay Pacific, it is seen that they have not been able to successfully hedge fuel costs, as a result of which, their woes are compounded. With oil prices fluctuated from $140/barrel at one point of time to just $45/barrel at another time, it became increasingly difficult for airlines to reasonably predict and hedge fuel prices, resulting in heavy losses. â€Å"The fall in fuel prices, though welcome, caused unrealised mark to market losses of HK$7.6 billion on our fuel hedging contracts for the period 2009-2011 which were entered into in order to give a degree of certainty as to future fuel prices and protection against price increases.† (Cathay Pacific Airways Limited. 2008). 4. During the Asian currency crisis sparked off by the fall in the Thai baht during 1997, the tourist traffic in this part of East Asia virtually collapsed. Nearly 85% of tour bookings were cancelled or postponed, and nearly 40% fall in tourism

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Antigone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Antigone - Essay Example p.). Of course, there are many other issues present in this tragedy; however, this paper would try to focus on the issue of laws, specifically on what would have happened when there would be no balance between the law of the gods and the law of man. In this case, this paper would try to cite different passages in the tragedy that may help illustrate on how the law of the gods were treated with respect of the law man, and on what may be its effects on Greek society as represented in the text. Body One of the main preludes to the tragedy was the civil war that happened in Thebes. The main participants in the civil war, on which the victor would be able to control the throne, were the brothers Polyneices and Eteocles (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). However, both Polyneices and Eteocles where actually killed in the civil war, making way for Creon to actually occupy the throne (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). In this case, Creon actually decreed that Eteocles would be honored while Polynei ces would be publicly humiliated through depriving him of burial, leaving his body to worms and vultures (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). ... gh burying her alive in the cave (which was contrary to the law of the gods), starting the debate of Antigone and Creon on which law must actually be followed, the law of man (which is Creon’s law) or the law of the gods (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). According to Antigone, the law of Creon must not be followed and that she has the moral obligation to bury the body of her brother despite it being contrary to the law given by him, given that such kind of law actually runs in contrary to the laws of the gods, making the decree of Creon morally corrupt and against the will of the gods (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). According to Antigone, Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who neither dwells with the gods below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven†¦Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must—I knew that well (how should I not?)—even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives†¦can such any one find aught but gain in death? So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly. (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.) Despite such arguments by Antigone, however, Creon still stood ground in the law that he made, and even strengthened obedience to the law by creating a harsher punishment for Antigone (â€Å"Antigone† n. p.). In this case, Creon actually reasoned that there is no man that must be above law, or must

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

“Successful African-American mathematics students” Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Successful African-American mathematics students† Essay â€Å"Successful African-American Mathematics Students in Academically Unacceptable High Schools† is author Peter A. Sheppard IV’s dissertation for his Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Science and Mathematics Education. And although there have been numerous studies already conducted on successful African-Americans, as revealed by Sheppard’s Review of Literature, not much has been made regarding the accountability aspect of the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) 2001 (where states are required to publicly identify low-performing schools) and its influence on students. Hence, Sheppard sought to explore the relation between academically unacceptable schools – which, as defined by the NCLB 2001, refer to schools that got a School Performance Score of 44. 9 or below – and the existence of quite a number of African-American math students in such seemingly negatively labeled academic institutions. Completed on May 2005, Sheppard’s article posed two primary and four secondary research questions. The main questions that the study aimed to address are: 1) Why are successful African-American mathematics students (with â€Å"successful student† defined as someone who scored ‘Advanced’ or ‘Mastery’ on the math portion of Louisiana’s Graduate Exit Exam or GEE) able to thrive in academically unacceptable schools? 2) Why have these successful African-American math students chosen to stay in academically unacceptable schools despite being given an option to transfer to a better-performing school? In an attempt to answer the above questions, Sheppard (2005) also hopes to stumble upon answers to the following sub-questions: 1) Is the negative school designation, academically unacceptable, an appropriate description of the schools in this study? 2) What is the role of the teacher in the achievement of successful math students in state-recognized poor schools? 3) What is the role of the school-based leader (principal) in the achievement of successful math students in state-recognized poor schools? 4) To what extent do peers affect the achievement of successful math students in state-recognized poor schools? Sheppard made it clear that his paper was in no way an attempt to generalize the situation of all African-American students in all academically unacceptable schools. In fact, the answers he’ll be deriving at will be applicable only to â€Å"a small non-probability, purposeful sample† that is limited to the eleven successful African-American math students who studied in either Lake High School or River High School and who participated in the study (Sheppard, 2005). It is for this reason that Sheppard approached his study with a qualitative design. Since Sheppard was attacking his research qualitatively, the theoretical construct used is not that well-defined. The use of a theory in a qualitative study is, after all, not as clear as its use in quantitative researches. John Creswell (1994) explains, â€Å"In a qualitative study, one does not begin with a theory to test or verify. Instead, consistent with the inductive model of thinking, a theory may emerge during the data collection and analysis phase of the research†¦. † But even with an undefined theoretical construct, it may be safe to assume that Sheppard was proceeding with the research under the same theoretical constructs that other researchers mentioned in the Review of Literature were using: that despite an â€Å"ominous set of troubling conditions† provided by family life, peers, society, and – as applicable with the study at hand – a negative label on the schools they attend, African-Americans are able to overcome the challenges and become academically successful thanks to â€Å"support from teachers, parental academic engagement, self-discipline, self efficacy, and positive peer influence† (Sheppard, 2005). To arrive at a conclusion, Sheppard attempted to answer his research questions via what he called data triangulation, where he â€Å"[brings] more than one source of data to bear a single point†. And his sources of data were tape-recorded interviews with the 11 successful African-American students and principals and math teachers from the two participant schools plus a 10-item open-ended survey that the 11 students had to complete. Conducting tape-recorded interviews indeed worked to Sheppard’s advantage as it allowed him to keep the original data and â€Å"preserve the words of the respondents† (Sheppard, 2005). Conducting one hour semi-structured interviews with each of the principals and teachers allowed Sheppard to make use of one of the advantages of the said data collection type, which is that it gave him control over the line of questioning (Creswell, 1994). Same thing goes with his interviews with the students. However, the interview with the students posed one limitation: since they were conducted in a group setting, the presence of other interviewees may have biased the responses. In fact, it should be noted that 5 of the 11 students interviewed were either reserved or brief in responding. Sheppard did use another data collection type to verify the students’ answers during the group interviews. But for a study that is openly outlined as qualitative in nature – Sheppard himself wrote so a couple of times throughout the paper – it was surprising that the second method used was the open-ended survey. It is a common fact that survey – open- or close-ended – is a method associated with the qualitative procedure (Burns and Bush, 2005; Creswell, 1994; Qualitative research). I believe that it would have been wiser for Sheppard to have stuck with the methods he applied during his pilot study, which were group and individual interviews. This is not only to make sure that he stays parallel with a qualitative design but also because a face-to-face interview achieves something that a written survey can never hope to do so – and that is allowing the researcher room to ask for additional information (Burns and Bush, 2005). Surveys, even those with open-ended questions, allows for respondents to provide incomplete answers that a researcher will have a hard time clarifying; with face-to-face interviews, though, it will be easy for the interviewer to throw in a follow-up question and let the respondent elaborate on his/her answers (Burns and Bush, 2005; Creswell, 1994). Besides, the methods in the pilot study has already proven successful as two of the participants who were reluctant during the group interviews answered more openly during the individual session, thus making the group-individual interviews seem like a smarter path to tread. It is also worth noting that the use of open-ended and semi-structured questionnaires was indeed a good move on Sheppard’s part because it allowed him to collect information in the participants’ own words and these kinds of questionnaires elicit complete answers (it is just up to Sheppard to probe further). And although the information collection with these types of questionnaires are difficult to code and interpret (Burns and Bush, 2005), Sheppard was able to go about it with member checking, where he asked the participants to review and edit the transcripts. Sheppard’s methodology was, arguably, effective in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. But in my honest opinion, there would have been a better way of approaching the research to ensure that the result he’d arrive at will be more ‘trustworthy’. But his study, â€Å"Successful African-American Mathematics Students in Academically Unacceptable High Schools†, although not applying a methodology I would personally have preferred is indeed a good starting to point to further exploring relationships between successful African-American math students and academically unacceptable high schools. REFERENCES Boeree, C. George. (1998). Being Aware Of Your Biases. Qualitative Methods Workbook. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from http://webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/qualmethfour. html. Burns, Alvin and Ronald Bush. (2005). Marketing Research (5th ed). Europe: Pearson Education. Creswell, John W. (1994). Research Design: Qualitative Quantitative Approaches. California: Sage Publications. Northern Arizona University. (1999). Interviewing in Qualitative Research. Qualitative Research. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from http://jan. ucc. nau. edu/~mid/edr725/class/interviewing/. Qualitative research. (2007, August 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Qualitative_research. Quantitative research. (2007, July 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Quantitative_research. Sheppard, Peter IV. (2005 May). Successful African-American Mathematics Students in Academically Unacceptable High Schools [Electronic version]. ERIC. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from http://www. eric. ed. gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet? accno=ED489992.