Journeys Of Dante And St Augustine In Confessions Religion Essay

Journeys Of Dante And St Augustine In Confessions Religion Essay St. Augustine and Dante made a great contribution to the development of world cultures. The impact of these great leaders had a powerful force the next centuries. Comparing the spiritual journeys of Dante and St. Augustine in the Confessions, it is possible to mention that the poem The Divine Comedy is a real masterpiece of a famous Italian poet. Dante saw the other world and talked about his journey through hell. This poem embodies an allegorical vision of the afterlife, moral and religious thoughts with instructive purposes. Numerous tales of ghostly wanderings, visions of heaven and hell found its highest artistic expression in the Divine Comedy. Dante has made a system in a discordant mix of images. This system is inspired by the teachings of the church and the teachings of Aristotle and Cicero. Dantes guide through hell was a Roman poet Virgil, who being the voice of reason, instructed Dantes spiritual life and helped him to form a moral conscience, necessary for life in harmony with Gods will. In comparison, the Confession is a central literary work of St. Augustine. The name of this work entirely corresponds to its real content: a sinne r, opening his own soul to the readers, in the face of God and people repents of his sins and gives thanks to God for His mercy. During his life, Augustine traveled a lot, learning and perceiving the Orthodox faith. The contrast between the spiritual journeys of Dante and St. Augustine is that Augustines journey is more confessionary, but Dantes one is more psychological. St. Augustine and Dante as the lovers of beauty, both literary and physical, share the same need for its ransom. However, no one would state that beauty is harm or evil. The Divine Comedy and The Confessions disclosed that beauty is good and it is from God. One of the main concepts is that both poets stated that in order to feel the completeness of salvation, it is necessary to remember that beauty have to be loved as a means of Gods grace and recognized as coming from Him. Comparing Dante and St. Augustine, it is possible to add that, according to their points of views, the main key to feel this salvation is grace. Dante perceived the ideas of St. Augustine through multiple layers and thus the link between Dante and St. Augustine is mediate. The main point of contact: an absolute supremacy of spiritual values over secular ones, a fierce denunciation of peoples insatiable desire to possess a sin of lust. The similarities between their autobiographical accounts are that Augustine and Dante cannot imagine any other way of existence, except within the framework of the Christian ideal. Augustine taught Dante how to succeed in the art of medieval confession a son of the Century. This confession of youthful sonnets and The New Life is the most powerful words in the lyrics of Dante, which makes it ageless. In addition, Dante borrowed Augustines psychological analysis oriented not only on the readers minds, but also on the readers souls. Dante was attracted by the ideas and artistic methods of Augustine. He often addressed to The Confessions, which indirectly indicated the ratio of influences on his art and theology. This is a widespread fact that Virgil played a big role in Dantes account. Virgil, as a representative of the most profound human wisdom, became Dantes leader and guide through the circles of hell. For Dante, Virgil is the highest poet, honor and torch of the singers all over the world, my teacher, my favorite example, and a forerunner of a new era in the history of mankind. For Dante, the Aeneid was a constant source of inspiration, from which he derived the idea and style of Comedy, as well as his poetry: a combination of mysticism, fantasy, reality and prophecy. Although there are some differences between Dantes Inferno and Virgils Inferno (Dantes Inferno was inhabited by enemies and friends), he borrowed Virgils legends of the Golden Age and Cretan old man, hellish dog, images of Reef and Plantman, etc. Some scholars emphasized a polyphonic character of St. Augustines Confessions, specifically his usage of various biblical quotations, allusions, and Virgils Aeneid. If we remember the main geographical movements of St. Augustine, we can see that these movements reflect Aeneas journeys. For instance, Augustine comes to Carthage, which is one of the most well-known and central cities of the Roman Empire, in order to continue and then finish his studying. St. Augustines usage of some Virgils text is a mix of an old tradition of taking up different narratives, topics from the previous works and after that re-writing them for your own purposes. Thus, Virgil played an important role in Augustines account. Taking the above-stated information into consideration, it is possible to draw a conclusion that St. Augustines work is a powerful force that separates one historical era from another one the end of ancient Christianity from the early medieval Christianity. In turn, Dantes creativity had a tremendous impact on the development of Italian literature and European culture as a whole.

Essay --

After the financial crisis of 2008 there has been a dramatic decrease of foreign direct investment (FDI) around the world. Particularly the rapid decline in inflows has affected the recovery speed of FDI around the world. Inflows into Europe contracted by 42% and to North America by 21%, inflows to Australia and New Zealand together declined by 14% 1. However there are few exceptions to the trend, such as the United Kingdom who have managed to keep its FDI attraction. UNCTAD has confirmed that FDI inflows into the UK have risen by 22% 2 over the past year. Inward FDI into the UK In the last 30 years the UK has put in a lot of effort to dramatically increase the inflows of FDI into the country. The strategy succeeded due to the rich and diverse ecosystem of the UK and ease of doing business. The inflow FDI has shown constant growth until 2000, which peaked to $118.8 billion. The IT bubble burst in 2000 caused a dramatic fall in IFDI which can be illustrated in Figure 1. The downfall resulted in the UK attracting only $16.8 billion in 2003. The data shows that the FDI inflows boosted in the period of 2004-2007, and that Mergers and Acquisitions that the Multinational Corporations used to enter the UK, as well as the reduced interest rate, can explain this. Due to the sudden collapse of the world’s economy in 2008 M&A became an unfavourable method of FDI and in just one year IFDI into UK shrank by 50%. The trend continued up to 2011, as the FDI pattern moved towards investments into third world countries and developing nations. This enormous change in the FDI graph after the financial crisis is mainly due to a decline in investments from transnational corporations that are located in the European Union. As the world’s economy has... ...T and communications sector in the UK is likely to stay attractive and to increase its share of IFDI. The plans for UK network companies to move to 4G speed only open opportunities for foreign investors. Overall, I believe that foreign direct investment is going to increase within the next 5 years. Even though the manufacturing sector is likely to shrink, IT and business services will make up for the losses. Due to the nature of the UK economy and a high diversity and educated pool of labour, the IT and Business industries are going to expand. UK is already one of the most favourable countries in the world for IT and financial services due to its ease of doing business, the attractive corporate and personal tax environment, the preferred use of both the English language and English law in business operations, and the UK’s involvement in the European Single Market7.

Ford Motor Company Essay -- Ford Transportation Vehicles Automobiles E

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company, a large United States automotive corporation, strives for success each and every year. The success of Ford Motor Company, as well as other corporations, can be measured by analyzing the two most important goals of management, maintaining adequate liquidity and achieving satisfactory profitability. Liquidity can be defined as having enough money on hand to pay bills when they are due and to take care of unexpected needs for cash, while profitability refers to the ability of business to earn a satisfactory income. To enable investors and creditors to analyze these goals, Ford Motor Company distributes annual financial statements. With these financial statements, liquidity of Ford Motor Company is measured by analyzing factors such as working capitol, current ratio, quick ratio, receivable turnover, average days' sales uncollected, inventory turnover and average days' inventory on hand; whereas profitability analyzes the profit margin, asset turnover, return on assets, debt to equity, and return on equity factors. LIQUIDITY Working Capital Ford Motor Company's working capital fluctuated significantly in the years 1991-1995. This phenomenon is directly attributable to the fact that Financial Services current assets and current liabilities are not included in the total company current asset and current liability accounts. For example, the fluctuation from 1994 ($1.4 billion) to 1995 (-$1.5 billion) of $2.5 billion would suggest that Ford would be unable to pay liabilities during the current period. However, examination of the Financial Services side of the business reveals that surpluses of $13.6 billion existed in both 1994 and 1995, convincingly mitigating the figures indicating negative working capital. Current Ratio & Quick Ratio The current ratio in the years 1991-1995 has remained stable, fluctuating between 0.9 and 1.1. The quick ratio has also remained stable, fluctuating between 0.5 and 0.6. The larger fluctuation in the current ratio versus the quick ratio is caused by inventories being included in the asset side of the equation. Although inventories were significantly higher in both 1994 and 1995, current liabilities were also higher. In addition, marketable securities decreased substantially in 1994 and 1995. These factors resulted in the stability of both the curren... ...company APPENDIX DESCRIPTION PAGE Consolidated Income Statements...................................Appendix 1-2 Spreadsheets..................................................Appendix 1 Graphical Representation......................................Appendix 2 Consolidated Balance Sheets......................................Appendix 3-5 Spreadsheets.................................................Appendix 3-4 Graphical Representation.....................................Appendix 5 Consolidated Retained Earnings Statement.........................Appendix 6-7 Spreadsheets.................................................Appendix 6 Graphical Representation.....................................Appendix 7 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows.............................Appendix 8-9 Spreadsheets.................................................Appendix 8 Graphical Representation.....................................Appendix 9 Evaluation of Liquidity..........................................Appendix 10-11 Evaluation of Profitability......................................Appendix 12-13 Liquidity & Profitability Formulas...............................Appendix 14

The Role of the Gods and Fate in Virgils The Aeneid Essay -- Aeneid V

The Role of the Gods and Fate in Virgil's The Aeneid Are the deeds of mortal characters in the Aeneid controlled by the gods or by fate? Aeneas must fulfill the will of the gods, while enduring the wrath of other gods, all the while being a worthy predecessor of Augustus and founder of the Roman people. Of course, the Trojan is successful because he gives himself up to these other obligations, while those who resist the will of the gods, Dido and Turnus, die sad deaths. Juno, the queen of gods, attempts to destroy Aeneas and his men in Book I of the Aeneid. The city of Carthage is Juno's favorite, and it has been prophesized that the race of the Trojans will one day destroy that city. This is too much for Juno to bear as another Trojan, Paris, has already scorned her. And so she calls on King Aeolus, the god of the winds, telling him to bring a great storm down upon Aeneas? fleet. Aeolus obeys and unleashes a fierce hurricane upon the battle-wearied Trojans. However, Neptune, the god of the sea, feels the storm over his dominion; he criticizes Aeolus for overstepping his bounds, and calms the waters just as Aeneas' fleet seems doomed. Seven ships are left, and they head for the nearest land in sight, the coast of Libya. Aeneas's mother, Venus sees the Trojans' poor state and pleads to Jupiter to end their suffering. Jupiter assures her that Aeneas will eventually find his promised home in Italy, and that two of his descendants, Romulus and Remus, w ill found the mightiest empire in the world. Then Jupiter sends a god down to the Phoenicians, the people of Carthage, to make sure they are welcoming to the Trojans. Juno hears that the Trojans are destined to found a city that will destroy her Carthage. That city is Rome, and ... ... and in an angry mob set fire to the fleet. The Trojan men see the smoke, rush up the beach and throw water on the ships, but the burning does not stop. Finally, Aeneas prays to Jupiter to save the fleet, and immediately a rainstorm comes, putting out the flames. The goddesses Juno and Venus continue their quarrel by further intervention in the journey of the Trojans. At this point it almost seems to be overdone: the gods are driving the plot, not the hero. Aeneas has been reduced to a reactionary role as the different factions on Olympus duke it out over his fate, and send either aid or abuse down to the Trojans. Incapable to stop the burning of his fleet, he pitifully begs Jupiter to either help or kill him, so disheartened is he at his arbitrary maltreatment by the gods. Works Cited: Gransden, Karl W. Virgil: The Aeneid. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.

Analysis of Jane Austin’s Pride And Prejudice Essay

Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s epithet (not literal but rather implied) of â€Å"Proud and Prejudiced† as the title of the book indicates, is clearly evident in the discourse and the use of pronouns found in extract â€Å"A† – chapter 10. Extract â€Å"B† – chapter 58, has an entirely different use of discourse and the â€Å"polarity of persons† is fundamentally different to that of extract â€Å"A†, the â€Å"I† and â€Å"you† of Elizabeth and Darcy become increasingly more like a metaphorical â€Å"we† or â€Å"us† as the book progresses, bring about a new implied epithet of â€Å"humble and accepting†. Benveniste refers to the use of pronouns as bringing one’s â€Å"ego† into reality through the â€Å"othering† of people. The culture of politeness at the time that Jane Austin wrote Pride and Prejudice dictated that a person had to be far more subtle in their approach to, amongst others, insults. This was predominantly done through the change in indexicals, in the same manner we as the reader are able to pick up on the transition from; repulsion between Elizabeth and Darcy through to attraction and ultimately love, all as an event of language. In extract â€Å"A† Mr. Darcy moves closer, â€Å"drawing near† – line 2, to Elizabeth , this is indicative of his affection towards her although it may be on a sub-conscious level. The reader can assume this as he moves his entire body towards her in a private manner. He then proceeds to â€Å"other† and mock her in line 4 by not including his own subjectivity in the discourse. â€Å"Do not you feel a great inclination, Miss Bennet, to seize such an opportunity of dancing a reel?† – In this â€Å"utterance† Mr. Darcy does not include himself in the discourse and refers to Elizabeth as â€Å"you†, this creates a distance between the two as the â€Å"you† is not linked to Mr. Darcy’s â€Å"I†. Mr. Darcy extenuates Elizabeth by referring to her as â€Å"Miss Bennet†, in this he creates more distance by the formal address. The word â€Å"seize† is a blatant attempt to incite a reaction from Elizabeth by emphasizing her family’s economic situation by insinuating that being poor, she would jump at the opportunity to let loose and revel in the opportunity to participate in, it is implied, this rare treat. In actuality Darcy is using an ironical tone to provoke a response and although othering Elizabeth is desperately seeking her attention. The same practice is performed by most young children, often mocking and behaving in a callous manner to the opposite sex in order simply to engage them. Elizabeth does not answer his question and he is forced to  repeat it. This indicates to the reader that although the two seem to be partaking in an argument, it is more than that and they are rather just trying to get attention from one another. It is important to note that at the time the novel was written it would be considered extremely rude to not answer a direct question and the fact that Elizabet h does this to Darcy shows us; that she is a head strong proud individual and that she feels comfortable enough with Mr. Darcy to be impolite. After having repeated the question Elizabeth answers him. The polarity of the subjectivity and deixis is well demonstrated in her response to him. â€Å"I heard you before†, she involves him as a â€Å"you† (the object) and rebukes him by making him aware that he knew she had heard and there was no need to repeat the question. She continues by re-iterating her intention of othering him by using â€Å"in reply† – line 9 opposed to â€Å"to you†. To illustrate his opinion and highlight his rudeness, she proceeds and turns him into the subject by placing the â€Å"you† at the beginning of the sentence in line 9, â€Å"You wanted me†. Elizabeth does this in order to embarrass Darcy and in doing so becomes a hypocrite, by using a tit for tat approach. She rebukes his poor cordiality but in doing so becomes just as malicious as Darcy. Elizabeth ‘s rebuttal reaches the crux with her proverbial â€Å"but† – line 10; after involving him she utterly removes him as a subject in her discourse and moves into a statement, â€Å"I delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of their premeditated contempt.† The reader can observe the â€Å"those† and â€Å"their† as a way of putting Darcy and his verbal banter in the same category as any other person she has encountered in her past. To enhance her point with dramatic effect she slows the tempo of her â€Å"utterances†; â€Å"I have, therefore, made up my mind to tell you, that I do not want to dance a reel at all – and now despise me if you dare.† Once again she makes herself the subject with the â€Å"I have† then a the series of pauses so that the reaffirmation of her subjectivity can occur distinctively three times; â€Å"I have†, â€Å"made up my mind†, â€Å"tha t I do not want†. In closing Elizabeth forces the polarity onto Darcy by using direct and powerful words â€Å"despise† and â€Å"dare†. It is thus impossible for Darcy to avoid discourse and resorts to a defence of his ego offered by the â€Å"I†. Extract â€Å"B† – chapter 58 begins with Darcy explaining to Elizabeth the circumstances of his youth that brought about the â€Å"selfish† – line 8 adult that he became. In this monologue Darcy’s use of pronouns from lines 1 through to 11 are all self involved and one can notice the repetition of â€Å"I† at the beginning of sentences and after conjunctions or the start of a new point. This is unlike the use of â€Å"I† found in earlier extracts as well as future extracts; this is due to Darcy’s explanation being of little importance to any â€Å"polarity of persons† but rather a brief description. Darcy has by this stage of the book evolved into almost an entirely different â€Å"I† or person. When he uses the â€Å"I† in this section of the extract he is in essence borrowing it from his old self in order to justify his â€Å"Prejudiced† actions towards not only Elizabeth but all people he perceived to be of an inferior class. The introduction of Darcy’s new self occurs in line 12 with his inclusion of â€Å"you† and the use of Elizabeth ‘s name, â€Å"but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!†. The surrender of all ego is done by attributing â€Å"dearest† and â€Å"loveliest† to the â€Å"you† of Elizabeth , importantly he uses the pinnacle of these attributes to raise her above all others. â€Å"By you I was properly humbled.† – line 14; this positioning of the â€Å"you† before the â€Å"I’ show that Darcy has completely surrendered himself over to Elizabeth by giving the â€Å"you† tenure of the â€Å"I†. Elizabeth, not surprisingly, also gives herself over to Darcy by reversing the order of pronouns in line 17 – â€Å"Had you then persuaded yourself that I should?†. The use of pronouns as Benviniste demonstrates is a direct representation and the only true representation of ones ego. Both Elizabeth and Darcy then proceed in a rather shameful manner to reverse the â€Å"polarity of persons† in order to apologise to one another. â€Å"How you must have hated me after that evening!† – line 22, the reader should take note of the utterance being formed as a question but made as a statement. Certainly Elizabeth is seeking a response but in a very passive manner! Darcy replies in an equally passive tone but hints of defensive tones can be observed in his response of â€Å"Hate you! I was angry, perhaps, at first, but my anger soon began to take a proper direction† – line 23. Darcy involuntarily reverts back to his old â€Å"I† as a means of defence and finding a comfort zone, correcting himself he introduces and Elizabeth and her â€Å"you† by implying  that she is the â€Å"proper direction†. The lines that follow are of the same passive nature as slowly the â€Å"I† and â€Å"you† of Darcy and Elizabeth become one. Benviniste tries to convey that our use of pronouns is in essentially the only way in which or utterances or communication can be of any importance. Pronouns are the gateway in which or ego’s can be transmitted into reality. These two extracts from â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† show wonderfully how this is done. Through the book we notice a clear change in the â€Å"polarity of persons† from that of egotistical to unselfish and relinquished pronouns. Bibliography:Jane Austin Pride and Prejudice

Attendance Requirement in College Essay

Attending college is supposed to signify freedom to make choices regarding education. However, many students who plans to continue their education realize that college does not give this freedom. In some countries, college students are expected to attend classes that they have register. However, should attendance be mandatory in college? Even though some believe that college attendance should be flexible, I believe that college attendance should be mandatory. The first reason why college attendance should be mandatory is the lack of understanding. For example, Students who attend regularly classes have better opportunity to understand the courses what are done in class, while students who do not attend classes will not understand. Also, because students who attend regularly the classes understand the courses, they have a better chance to have good grades during test. On the contrary, students who do not attend classes, and do not understand the courses; they get bad grades during test. Indeed, college attendance should be mandatory to help all the students understand the courses. Another reason why college attendance should be mandatory is it build relationships. College attendance build relation between students and students. In college, there is many ways to meet friends that you can count on in the future such as joining a club, or in class. Students who do not attend college classes will not have these opportunities. College also build relation between students and teachers. Students who attend classes have the opportunity to know their teachers. Teachers have the same opportunity to know their students, and that relation between them will help the teachers to know the students’ lacks and find ways to help them. On the other hand, students who do not attend school will be stuck with his lacks. Opponents believe that mandatory attendance policies does not go under life lesson categories. If students do not show up at the classes, they register that will not affect them in the real world. However, I believe it does go under life lesson categories. If students get into the habit of not showing at classes, they register that will affect them in the real world. For example, if you do not show at work, you will be fired. College attendance should be mandatory to avoid that habit. In conclusion, College attendance should be mandatory to help students understand their course, to build relationship between students/ students and students/ teacher and to avoid bad habit. Nowadays, many students are skipping classes. In my opinion, college attendance should be mandatory.

Focus Group

INTRODUCTION Focus group is a qualitative technique used mostly in marketing research and also other areas of research. This technique is used to collect primary data. This document consists of information about focus group. The main objective of this assignment was to investigate how focus groups techniques are used to collect primary data about the phenomenon at hand in the real world. The research method used was Google scholar for academic journals.The campus library database was also used for more academic journals and textbooks from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) different libraries. The main problem experienced in the completion of this document was that most textbooks about this studied topic were outdated in the author’s campus. Hence, different campuses of NMMU were visited and the right textbooks were found. This document presents a review of the literature on focus groups. It continues with an empirical study on organisational corruption in secon dary schools.Also included, is the reference list of all cited sources as well as an annexure. 2 FOCUS GROUPS In the collection of primary data there are two research methods that can be of use, quantitative and qualitative methods, which can both be subdivided into idiosyncratic primary data collection methods. Because the main focus of this document is on focus groups, therefore only qualitative techniques will be mentioned which are in-depth interviews, projective techniques and focus groups. Seymour (2004:04) defines focus groups (F.G) as â€Å"group of interacting individuals having some common interest or characteristics, brought together by a moderator, who uses the group and its interactions as a way to gain information about a specific or focused issue†. This technique has been utilised in many fields to collect primary data as mentioned above and its characteristics are discussed in the following section. 2. 1 CHARACTERISTICS OF FOCUS GROUPS When F. G are considered to be used in a certain research study then there are characteristics which have to be taken into account, which are: group size, group composition, physical setting, moderator, recording tools and length f group discussion. Below it is a detailed review on each of the above mentioned characteristics of F. G. 2. 1. 1 Group size When determining to embark on F. G one has to think about the size (number) of that certain F. G. Despite the confusion that can be created by different sources stating a different number of possible group sizes. The research of F. G can be undertaken with a group of 4- 12 people (Tong, Sainsbury & Craig 2007:351). Large F. G group size can jeopardise the discussion as it may be difficult to handle the discussion, even so the group size depends on the complexity of the research study. . 1. 2 Group composition After the group size had been decided then the group composition must be considered as well. All participants taking part in a F. G must be homogen eous in the interest of the studied phenomenon (Malhotra & Birks 2006:160). Participants with similar characteristics, which the study is about, make the discussion easier and nicely flowing. 2. 1. 3 Physical setting When choosing the venue to carry out a F. G it is imperative that the chosen venue must also meet the aspects of the phenomenon at hand and of the participants.Daymon and Holloway (2002:194) state that â€Å"choosing the right environment for traditional focus groups plays a vital role as it can attract freely expressed opinions from the participants†. 2. 1. 4 Moderator In the success of F. G moderators play a vital role. It is of crucial role that moderators in F. G keep the environment safe so participants can freely express their opinions and most importantly must use probe questions; such requires a great experience from the moderator (Hague, P. , Hague, N. & Morgan 2004:53).Therefore, the moderator ought to possess skills such as creating chemistry w ith the participants, keep the flow of the discussion and analysing the data collected. 2. 1. 5 Recording tools No person can be able to cram exactly a discussion of over 20 minutes by his head; some points will certainly be missed. Wiid & Diggines (2009:90) express that â€Å"sessions should preferably be recorded (both visual and audio) so that the researcher can review the sessions later in order to gain further insights†.These tools therefore, assist to keep the already realised needed data and the data that the moderator was unaware of during the discussion. 2. 1. 6 Length of group discussion When planning F. G it is essential to plan the duration precisely as it may play an impact on the data collected. However, just like group sizes, length of F. G depends on the complexity of the issue at hand. The more complex of the issue is the more the duration of the discussion is required, but if so then breaks must be taken in between to let the participants to enliven and produce successful F. G (Malhotra & Birks 2006:161).While on the hand, Seymour (2004:05) being unambiguous reveals that â€Å"most focus groups encompass 90 minutes to three hours of discussion†. With the above discussed characteristics of F. G considered, then one has to scrutinise the advantages and disadvantages of F. G. The following section discusses the advantages and disadvantages of F. G. 2. 2 ADVANTAGES F. G has its own advantages which can attract this technique to be used. These advantages are discussed individually beneath. Cost- because discussions are done simultaneously then it reduces the cost (Wiid & Diggines 2009:91).Speed- because a number of individuals are being interviewed at the same time, data collection and analysis proceeds speedily (Gerber-Nel, Nel & Kotze 2003:104). Synergy- a discussion with a number of participants can also be of help by generating more information than one-on-one interviews (University of Toronto [UT] 2002:02). Snowb all- Malhotra & Birks (2006:162) state that â€Å"a bandwagon effect often operates in a group discussion in that one person’s comment triggers a chain reaction from the other respondents†.In elaboration, a comment from one of the participants may reveal an idea to some other participant(s). Scientific scrutiny- because the moderator is also in the venue of discussion with participants, it also gives the moderator the opportunity to also observe (Malhotra & Birks 2006:162). However, disadvantages investigated by the author are more than the mentioned above but the above mentioned are those anticipated as most important. 2. 3 DISADVANTAGES Focus groups have advantages which can jeopardise the collected data or the data collection process itself.These advantages are explained below. Misjudgement- Gerber-Nel et al (2003:104) utter that â€Å"results are misinterpreted due to bias†. Non representative sample- because of the small number of participants in to tal as compared to quantitative, therefore participants in F. G cannot represent any population (Wiid & Diggines 2009:91). Inconclusive results- the results of F. G only retort to ‘what’ but not ‘why’ which can sometimes make the narrow and create a need for a quantitative research study (Gerber-Nel et al 2003:104).Difficulty in analysing- this method mostly consists of words which make it more difficult to analyse (Grudens-Schuck, Allen & Larson 2004: ¶9). 2. 4 WHEN TO USE FOCUS GROUPS With the above discussed sections it is also vital for one to know when to utilise F. G. Focus groups are mostly used to discover behaviour, perceptions, attitudes and processes (Hague et al 2004:50). These traits that F. G are used to discover which responds to the question of ‘when to use focus groups? ’, which in respond will be, F.G can be used in; stand alone method, supplementary to a survey and as a part of multi method design (Daymon & Holl ower 2002:188). The following section will discuss the use of F. G in the study of organisational corruption in secondary schools in Turkey and the information provided is based on annexure A. 3 FOCUS GROUP STUDY ON ORGANISATIONAL CORRUPTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANKARA In Turkey after it was seen that the level of corruption in secondary schools is high, it was then seen important that a study on this problem should be undertaken.The moderator and his assistant decided to use F. G study to identify the perceptions of teachers in Ankara (a city in Turkey). The group sizes of the study were eight and nine respectively, which in total consisted of 17 participants (12 males and 5 females). These participants were chosen due to homogeneous attributes meeting the studied problem, because this study is about secondary schools therefore the participants were critically recruited due to their profession of teaching. Thereafter, the moderator and his assistant held the F. G in a cosmopolit an city of Turkey known by the name Ankara.Apaydin & Balci (2011:821) state that in the study â€Å"audio and video recordings were taken informed consent†. Which helped to later on even realise information shared which the researchers were not aware of. The duration of each focus group was 90 minutes, which the researchers felt the time it was the right time, for each group discussion. The fact that F. G were held made it less costly for this study than any other possible study because a large number of people participated in this study at a time which also made it quite quicker.Some points in this study were raised up by addition or revealing of another idea by some other participant’s comment. On the other hand, the researchers also saw that because at first the participants were suppose to represent secondary schools of Turkey as a nation then later converted to the cosmopolitan city Ankara but still the researchers saw that the number of total participants is quite diminutive to represent such large population. On the findings of this study it was seen of importance that further study should be carried out on different groups so the findings can be generalised. CONCLUSION This study has been a great study which can be improvised in a way. Such way is that the researchers must carry on with the focus groups and compare findings, if even after several discussions same findings are gathered then it would be a point where the findings can be generalised for the secondary schools in Ankara. REFERENCE LIST Apaydin, C. & Balci, A. 2011. Education. Organizational Corruption in Secondary Schools: A Focus Group Study, 131(4):818-829. Daymon, C. & Holloway, I. 2002.Qualitative research methods in public relations andmarketing communications. London: Routledge. Gerber-Nel, C. , Nel, D. & Kotze, T. 2003. Marketing research. Claremont: New African Books. Grudens-Schuck, N. , Allen, B. L. & Larson, K. 2004. Focus group fundamentals. Met hodology Brief: 9. Hague, P. , Hague, N. & Morgan, C. 2004. Marketing research in practice: A guide to the basics. London: Kogan Page. Malhotra, N. K. & Birks, D. F. 2006. Marketing research: An applied approach. 2nd rev ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.Seymour, A. 2004. Focus groups. An Important Tool for Strategic Planning:1-32. Tong, A. , Sainsbury, P. & Craig, J. 2007. International journal for quality in health care. Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ): a 32-item Checklist for Interviews and Focus Groups, 19(6):349-357. University of Toronto. 2002. The health communication unit. Using Focus Groups, 02:1-59. Wiid, J. & Diggines, C. 2009. Marketing research. Cape Town: Juta. ANNEXURE A: ORGANIZATIONAL CORRUPTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A FOCUS GROUP STUDY