Combat Strategies of Pizza Hut Essay Example for Free

Combat Strategies of Pizza Hut Essay In the past, Pizza Hut is an outstanding restaurant, especially in offering different style of pizza. Pizza Hut is still a unique restaurant in the early 90’s. Therefore, competitors haven’t existed yet. However, Pizza Box has already existed that became Pizza Hut’s competitor. Recently, there are more and more choices for people to choose when they want to eat pizza. For instance, California Pizza, Saizeriya Italian Restaurant, Pizza Express etc. They are not only offering similar food as pizza hut, some of them may even sell their food at a more affordable price. Apart from the growing number of restaurants, there are more restaurants offering food delivery service. For example, McDonald, Pizza Box, Cheese Pizza, Yoshinoya, Sushi One etc. There are various choices and even different style of cuisine for customers to choose. Customers can just order their food by phone or internet which is really convenient. In order to combat the competitors, Pizza Hut has adopted several strategies on indoor dinning service and pizza delivery service. We think the key combating strategies of Pizza Hut is that it keeps creating and promoting new style of pizza with efficient marketing strategies. New product may attract customers as some of the customers may feel bored about the original style of pizza and willing to try new things. The marketing strategies of Pizza Hut are effective as it promoted their new style of pizza through different ways. For instance, it showed advertisements on television, posted posters in public area and sent leaflet. People keep receiving message about the new dishes of Pizza Hut. People will be more likely to think of Pizza Hut when they are wondering what to eat. As a result, Pizza Hut focused on the marketing tactics and development of new dishes. Pizza Hut allowed customers to make their choices according to their interest. Basically, customers can choose to have thin or thick layer of the pizza base. They can even pay extra money for mozzarella cheese stuffed into the edge of the pizza. Moreover, customers can also create their own pizza by choosing the ingredients they like. Furthermore, Pizza Hut offers free refill of soft-drinks. This can attract soft-drinks’ lover, especially teenagers. On the other hand, Pizza Hut create pizza card. Customers who got pizza card can enjoy 20% discount. Sometimes, they may also cooperate with banks. Customers who got specific credit card can enjoy the discount. The special offers mentioned above can attract more customers because it can help Pizza Hut to gain loyal customers and repeated business. Pizza Hut provided an efficient set menu in the restaurant. In the set menu, dishes are bundled and packaged together. They are usually divided into set menu for 2 people, 4 people and 6 people. Some of the customers, especially those who are in a group, like the set menu of Pizza Hut since the set menu can give suggestions and recommendation on dishes that are suitable for them. It is convenient for them to make decisions on what to eat. Moreover, it can also bring advantages to Pizza Hut since the service and kitchen team can have a better management. Servers can recommend customers to try dishes that they might not normally order. It brings benefits for both service and kitchen teams, since it is easier to predict what the customers will choose and chefs can distribute the workload among kitchen station more evenly. Therefore, the food and service can be maintained in a high quality. Apart from the set menu, Pizza Hut also provide A la Carte menu. The A la Carte of Pizza Hut included various choices of food and beverages. Therefore, customers can choose what they want to eat from those various dishes. Pizza Hut can also promote their signature dishes more easily. Pizza Hut aims to provide efficient and high quality pizza delivery service. To achieve their goal, they focus on the design of the delivery bags and the supervision of efficiency. Customers concerned about the efficiency of food delivery service. Pizza Hut will supervise the delivery efficiency through advanced system and make sure the food will deliver to the destination on time. There are more than 900 deliverers in Hong Kong and they will deliver the food to the destination through the most efficient and direct route. Furthermore, there are 500 telephone operators which make sure that there are adequate operators to receive customer’s order calls. The design of the delivery bags helps to maintain the quality of food. Pizza Hut named their delivery bag as â€Å"Heat Bag†. There are heat device in the delivery bags which can keep the food hot and fresh during the delivery process. Then, the food quality can be maintained when the customers received their food. To sum up, Pizza Hut can project its characteristics and maintain the quality of food through their combating strategies. Although there are numerous competitors, Pizza Hut is able to survive in the market.

The Right Stuff :: Essays Papers

The Right Stuff In the past couple of semesters the topic of expatriates has come up a lot. I’m beginning to see that’s it’s an important issues since we now live in a global market. I do believe that if your successful in your career the likely hood of receiving an expatriate assignment is high. The Houston Business Journal conducted a survey of one hundred companies and sixty percent predict that the expatriate population will increase, while twenty-five percent said it will stay the same (HBJ, June 98). Since the probability is high that I will be asked to go to another country, I’ve had to do some serious reflecting. Would I be a good expatriate employee? There are qualities one must have in order to become a successful expatriate. According to Jeff Freeburg a consultant for H.R. International certain qualities one should have are motivation, receptiveness, Patience, sense of humor, initiative, confidence, dependable, savvy, persistent and decisive (Freeburg 99 ). I feel that I do have most of these qualities but is that enough? I am fortunate that I’m able to speak Spanish fluently, I can also read and write it. It was easy for me to pick up different languages since I’m a first generation U.S. citizen; I grew up with my family members speaking both languages to me. Because of that exposure I have the desire to learn other languages, I can read French and hope to learn Italian and Japanese if time allows me to. Even though I speak a different language I have never left the states to visit other countries either for personal or business reasons. Shannon Roxborough author of The Guide to International Work Success lists other important things one must do before venturing abroad. An expatriate should learn some history in order to deal better with the cultural differences. Learn the business culture, as we have read in the case study of Buckeye Glass Company in China, we have learned the importance other cultures place on building a personal relationship that goes beyond the normal business relations in this county. Learn how to negotiate, American business professional must learn how to conduct proper negotiations in other countries, not every one rushes to the table to hammer out an agreement. Also as we’ve read other countries use tactics such as long pauses or touching during negotiations that seem strange to us but are perfectly normal for them.

Because i could not stop for death&quot Essay

Emily Dickinson frequently explores death through her poetry, using her eponomous ’em’ dashes to communicate the confusion created by an intelligent and exploratory approach to the afterlife in a mind indoctrinated in Puritan dogma. Death is initially presented in this poem as a very different character from its usual personification as a malign, scythe wielding spirit. Here, as the poem begins, he takes the form of a charming suitor who ‘kindly’ stops, and maintains his ‘civility’ throughout their journey. As we progress through the poem, however, the reader becomes increasingly suspicious that the apparently benevolent Death has not, in fact, got Dickinson’s best intrests at heart. The fourth stanza marks the change in tone that reveals this; the onset of ominous ‘chill’ as the carriage passes into darkness highlights how unprepared Death has left her, providing no warning of what is to come. The nervous tone that the poem adopts in this stanza is created both by the breakdown of the previously iambic rythmn and the language of cold shivers that the poet uses; both of which emphasise the ‘quivering’ nervousness of the unprepared. Dickinson’s physical lack of preparation for the afterlife in the poem, her donning of ‘gossamer’ and ‘tulle’ for a journey into the night, reflects her lack of spiritual certainty in the real world; something reflected in several of her poems. Despite an upbringing filled with ‘much gesture from the pulpit’, doubt, not absolute faith, is the subject of much of her work. She remains steadfast only in her belief that ‘This World is not Conclusion’, as while she is confident in the existence of something more, the nature of the afterlife ‘baffles’ her. This poem is also an exploration of an unusual view of death, as Dickinson inverts the normal metaphor of Death as the end of a journey into Death as a journey’s beginning. Life, in this poem, is extrodinarily transient, compressed into the third stanza where childhood, the ripening ‘Grain’ of middle age and the setting sun of old age’s decline are ploughed through in four lines. The poet makes this already short liftime seem even less substantial by the anaphoric use of ‘We passed’, which increases the pace of the poem and gives the passage of time an inevitable feel. Where the poem’s journey of death concludes is unclear, but we do know that there is a pause, perhaps a terminal pause, at a house in the ground. Dickinson’s use of imagery here is ingenious, as the reader’s initial confusion mimics the narrator’s, until we too surmise that this abode, this ‘swelling in the ground’ is a grave, thought of only by the deceased as a ‘house’. The repetition and ryhme of ‘ground’ at the end of two lines in this stanza gives it a pounding finality; suggesting perhaps that this, and not the expected ‘Immortality’, is to be Dickinson’s final resting place. This unexpected turn causes the confusion that the image of the house parallels, and explains the last stanza, in which Dickinson’s fear of perpetual existence in a grave has centuries feeling ‘shorter than the day / I first surmised the Horse’s Heads / Were toward Eternity’. The poem is, in fact, unclear, but I would suggest that the grave is to be Dickinson’s final resting place; that the carriage ‘paused’ not because it intended to go on but instead because the narrator has not yet realised her fate. The final dash of the poem, therefore, represents not continuing doubt as it does in ‘This World is not Conclusion. ‘ but serves to remind the reader of the unending nature of Dickinson’s internment. In light of this, the first stanza’s ‘Immortality’ may seem out of place, but its rhyme with ‘me’ perhaps reveals its origins, as the narrator is consequently so strongly linked with it’s presence that we may imagine it is only Dickinson, and not Death, that welcomes immortality to the carriage, and that it is, in fact, only there as a result of her preconceptions. ‘Because I could not stop for Death –’ is perhaps, as a result, quite a cynical poem, making no promises of salvation or a Christian heaven. It, in some senses, continues a trend set by ‘This world is not Conlcusion. ‘ and ‘Behind me – dips Eternity –’; a trend of diminishing confidence: Dickinson’s once absolute faith in a world beyond our own develops into a confused fear at the nature of the afterlife; it may be a ‘Maelstrom in the sky’, surrounded by ‘Midnight’, or perhaps just a house in the ground. All this confusion is the product of Dickinson’s upbringing; ‘the Tooth that nibbles at the soul’ is a doubt that was to Puritans damning, and once she admits to herself its existence her future is uncertain and heaven perhaps inachievable. Despite it’s bleak outlook however, the poem still stands a facinating exploration of the nature of the next world.

marco polo Essay - 1031 Words

Marco Polo nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Marco Polo was born in c.1254 in Venice. He was a Venetian explorer and merchant whose account of his travels in Asia was the primary source for the European image of the Far East until the late 19th century. Marco’s father, Niccolo, and his uncle Maffeo had traveled to China in 1260 - 1269 as merchants. Despite Marco’s enduring fame very little was known about the personal life of Marco Polo. It is known that he was born into a leading Venetian family of merchants. He also lived during a propitious time in world history, when the height of Venice’s as a city-state coincided with the greatest extent of Mongol conquest of Asia. (http://darter.ocps.k12.fl.us/classroom/who/darter1/polo.htm )†¦show more content†¦Marco and his party encountered such hazards as wild beasts and brigands. They also met with beautiful women, in whom young Marco took a special interest. Under the Khan’s protection the Polo’s were able to obs erve a large portion of the Islamic world at close range. By the time they reached the Khan’s court in Khanbalik, Marco had become a hardened traveler. He had also received a unique education and had been initiated into manhood. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Kublai Khan greeted the Polo’s warmly and invited them to stay in his court. The Polo’s became great favorites of the Khan, and Kublai eventually made Marco one of his most trusted emissaries. On these points Marco has been accused of gross exaggeration, and the actual status of the Polo’s at the court of Khan’s is much disputed. For political reasons the Khan was in the habit of appointing foreigners to administer conquered lands, particularly China, where the tenacity of the Chinese bureaucracy was legendary. The Khan could also observe for himself that young Marco was a good Candidate. Finally, Marco reported back so successfully from his first mission, informing the Khan not only on business details but also on colorful customs and other interesting trivia. (Marco Polo in China) nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Polo’s stayed on the court for seventeen years. Apparently, the elder Polo’s carried on their trading whileShow MoreRelatedThe Travels Of Marco Polo1158 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Travels of Marco Polo† begins with the journey taken by Marco Polo’s father and his uncle, in which they go to present day china and meet Kublai Khan. The Polo’s family were the first Europeans that Khan got to meet. The Polo’s represent the ideals of Europeans and Khan was very interested about their way of life. He wanted to know everything they knew about European politics, religion, and their justice system, â€Å"And then he inquired about the Pope and the Church, and about all that is doneRead MoreBiography of Marco Polo Essay765 Words   |  4 Pages In 1254, Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy to a very rich Venetian merchant family. His parents are Nicole Anna Defuseh and Niccolo Polo, but he was raised by extended famil y. His father and uncle were merchants who traveled a lot, and his mother died when he was six years old. In 1262, Marco’s father and uncle made an unforgettable journey to Kaifeng, China to meet Kublai Khan, who is the grandson of Genghis Khan. While they were in China, Kubali expressed a great interest in Christianity.Read MoreMarco Polo Comparison Essay1546 Words   |  7 Pageswritings of both Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta give accounts of early world travel and exploration during the middle ages, these two explorers’ managed to travel the length of the Eurasian empire, while creating written accounts of their adventure. When comparing these two individual writings on their travels and perception of cultures, religion and trade also their reasons for travel it is imperative that we acknowledge that these two individuals came from very different back rounds Polo a Christian andRead MoreMarco Polo- An Exploratory Essay1049 Words   |  5 Pageshave once played the game Marco Polo. Although, I have always been curious, who exactly is Marco Polo? My fascination of Marco Pol o warped into a fixation of his travels. Marco Polo was born in Venice in the year 1254. His father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, were merchants who had seats in the great nobleman council of Venice (Polo IV). According to his records, he had traveled thousands of miles with his father and uncle. Marco, Nicolo and Maffeo (known as the Polos) left Venice, and did notRead MoreMarco Polo : The Glories Of Kinsay Essay1813 Words   |  8 Pagesupon the hard evidence laid out in letters, oral histories, paintings, maps and treaties. Marco Polo: The Glories of Kinsay, part of the book detailing the adventures of Marco Polo, and the letter Columbus Reports on his First Voyage are two noteworthy representations of early exploration of the world from Europe and the cultural differences between the separate continents being explored. The oral history of Marco Polo’s travels in Asia focused mainly on the time he spent in the city of Kinsay whileRead MoreThe Book Of Ser Marco Polo1985 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"The Book of Ser Marco Polo† is a thirteenth century edition that was transcribed by Marco Polo’s cell mate and was later translated by Henry Yule (266). Marco Polo is a son to Nicolo Polo a trader who entered the city of Cambaluc a center of Chinese civiliza tion in the Yuan period (266). Marco was subsequently captured and put in prison and this book was created out of the stories he was telling his cell mate while they were passing time at the Genoese prison (266). By reading through this book;Read MoreMarco Polo s Influence On The World1980 Words   |  8 Pagesthan life figure they learn about is Marco Polo. Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy in 1254 CE.1 ¬ encyclopedia Polo was born into a merchant family. At the age of sixteen, Polo joined his father, Niccolà ², and uncle, Maffeo, on their alleged journey to the Mongol Empire. After many years of working in the court of Genghis Khan, Marco Polo returned to Venice with his amassed wealth. While the Marco Polo had been gone, Venice and Genoa were in a conflict. Polo, a native Venetian, joined his homeRead MoreMarco Polo s Influence On The World1390 Words   |  6 Pages Marco Polo is a well-known heroic travelers and a pool game. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Italy. Marco s father and his uncle had traveled to China as merchants. When they left Italy to return to China, they were chaperoned by Marco Polo and two priests. It is known that he was born into a leading Italian family of merchants. Ruled by Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire stretched all the way from China to Russia. The Mongol hordes also threatened parts of Europe, especially Poland and HungaryRead MoreThe Incredible Journey of Marco Polo Essay870 Words   |  4 Pages By following this definition, it is obvious that Marco Polo had a successful journey. Not only was he able to document his journey to China, but he was also able to spread his experience throughout Europe, thereby immortalizing his name. Marco Polo took the long journey to China with his father and his uncle which changed his life forever. From becoming an ambassador of the Chinese Empire to telling his story while a prisoner of war, Marco Polo’s journey was incredible. Though this seems undisputableRead MoreSignificance Of Marco Polo s Voyages1136 Words   |  5 PagesExplain the significance of Marco Polo’s voyages to the â€Å"East† for our understanding of world history. The silk routes, has for many centuries, connected the world through a series of overland and maritime routes reaching from China, India, the Middle East and Europe. One of the most significant narratives of the voyage is told through Marco Polo, who had a significant impact on the relationship between the east and Europe and on world history. Polo’s voyages vastly enhanced European knowledge about

Nyerere Education Idea and It Aplication to Conteporary...

Educational Research and Review Vol. 4 (4), pp. 111-116, April 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR ISSN 1990-3839  © 2008 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper The implications of Nyerere’s theory of education to contemporary education in Kenya Joseph W. Nasongo1* and Lydiah L. Musungu2 2 Department of Educational Foundations, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya. Department of Educational Planning and Management, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya. Accepted 26 March, 2009 1 The question of relevance regarding education in human society is perennial. In the developing countries, education is considered to be a panacea for development. In Kenya, various†¦show more content†¦*Corresponding author. E-mail: jwamocha@yahoo.com. 112 Educ. Res. Rev. In this paper, Nyerere’s views on education are examined with a view to determine the extent of their relevance to contemporary theory of education in Kenya. This analysis is concerned with 3 aspects. First, an exploration of possible theoretical contexts of his views on education is undertaken with a view to obtaining a basis for an intelligible discussion. Second, an examination of education for self-reliance is undertaken. This is followed by an analysis of education for liberation as espoused by Nyerere. This is followed by a delineation of salient views that can enrich contemporary education in Kenya. Theoretical framework The liberal theory Liberalism envisions the ideal society to be one that embraces a wide range of individual liberties. These include, personal dignity, free expression, religious tolerance, right to own property, freedom of association, transparency of government, limitations on government power, the rule of law, equality, free market economy and free trade (Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/Liberalisms). It is incumbent upon government to uphold these freedoms in order to guarantee stability and peace. In addition, liberalism tends to encourage representative democratic governance. Here, the elected representatives are guided by the rule of law under the overall guidance of the constitution. Enshrined in the constitution are

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Essay - 1147 Words

â€Å"Kubla Khan† by Samuel Taylor Coleridge â€Å"Kubla Khan† by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem about the creative powers of the poetic mind. Through the use of vivid imagery Coleridge reproduces a paradise-like vision of the landscape and kingdom created by Kubla Khan. The poem changes to the 1st person narrative and the speaker then attempts to recreate a vision he saw. Through the description of the visions of Kubla Khan’s palace and the speaker’s visions the poem tells of the creation of an enchanting beautiful world as the result of power of human imagination. The second part of the poem reveals that although the mind has the ability to create this paradise-like world it is tragically unable to sustain this world. It is†¦show more content†¦By describing the dome as a â€Å"pleasure dome† the poet presents Khan’s kingdom as paradise-like. This paradise-kingdom consists of ten miles of â€Å"fertile ground† surrounded securely by walls that are â€Å"girdled† around. Its gardens are bright, and â€Å"blossoming with many an incense bearing tree† and are watered by wandering streams. The location of the palace is important, it is built â€Å"where Alph, the sacred river, ran.† The name Alph is an allusion to the mythical Greek river that flows under ground and rises in fountains. The river is described as sacred because it brings life through it’s â€Å"sinuous rills† in the garden of the pleasure dome. With out the existence of the river the â€Å"pleasure dome† could not exist. The river, the sacred thing that gives life to Khan’s creation runs â€Å"through caverns measureless to man/down to a sunless sea†. The destination of the sacred river of the pleasure dome is â€Å"measureless† or inconceivable to man. The river metaphorically represents nature as the source of life of all mans creation. As men cannot measure these caverns, the poet can not completely comprehend the power and dimension of natures influence on poetry but is dependant on it. In the second stanza the poem shifts focus from the perfect â€Å"pleasure dome† created by â€Å"Kubla Khan† to the tumultuous landscape that surrounds it. The â€Å"sunny spots of greenery† in Khan’s realm in the first stanza are interrupted with the exclamation of â€Å"But Oh!† and the reader isShow MoreRelated Analysis of Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Essay451 Words   |  2 PagesAnalysis of Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge reveals the power of the imaginative poetry. This poetry has the ability to create kingdoms and paradise. In this poem Coleridge is expressing heaven and hell through his own eyes just as the aplostles did in the ?Bible? and Milton did in Paradise Lost. The poem begins with a mythical tone, ?In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/ A stately pleasure dome decree.? The poem does not give specificsRead MoreAnalysis Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge s Kubla Khan 1778 Words   |  8 PagesExperts widely regard Samuel Taylor Coleridge as one of the few major leaders of British Romanticism. His poems, both individual works and collaborations with another Romantic leader, William Wordsworth, are proof of this. His works incorporated ideas that are often found in Romantic poetry, such as a reverence for nature, emphasis on emotion and imagination over reason and logic, and other themes that contradicted thinkers of the Age of Reason. Coleridge assisted in the change from EnlightenmentRead MoreEssay on Kubla Khan: A Miracle of Rare Device1330 Words   |  6 Pages Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem â€Å"Kubla Khan† is a masterpiece of ambiguity; from its inception to its meaning. â€Å"Kubla Khan† is a poem of abundant literary devic es; most notably these devices include metaphors, allusions, internal rhyme, anthropomorphism, simile, alliteration, and perhaps most of all structure. But the devices that Coleridge used to create â€Å"Kubla Khan† is at the very least what makes this poem provocative; Coleridge’s opium induced vision and utopian ideals combined with his literaryRead Moreâ€Å"Kubla Khan:† A Description of Earthly Paradise Essay example1998 Words   |  8 Pages â€Å"Kubla Khan† by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is said to be â€Å"one of the best remembered works of the Romantic period,† (Gray) and though this poem may seem speak deeply about the world, its conception was fairly simple: Coleridge had been reading a book about Kubla Khan in Xanadu (by a man named Samuel Purchas) before falling into a deep sleep induced by an opium mixture to which he had long since had an addiction. When he awoke from this drug induced stupor, he had apparently 200 to 300 lines of Read MoreSound and Sense in Kubla Kahn816 Words   |  3 PagesIn his attempt to explore the definition of the poem, Samuel Taylor Coleridge concludes that a poem is distinguished from the works of science by, Proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth. The recent denotation of pleasure to solely sensual enjoyment makes his definition seem a subjective belief. However, by pleasure, Coleridge means recognition of, The beauty of the universe, to borrow Wordsworths words, and gives it a metaphysical layer (Gilpin.) Coleridges second clauseRead MoreKubla Khan: A Dream, or Something Greater Essay2208 Words   |  9 Pagesaccurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.† Coleridge followed his own advice in the crafting of Kubla Khan; which presents his interpretation of the Kubla Khan court when under the influence of opiates. Due to the complexity of the poem, many have found that the poem lacks a true theme but instead focu ses on â€Å"the nature and dialectical process of poetic creation.† Coleridge created a masterpiece by providing the readers room for personal interpretation butRead More Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner2238 Words   |  9 PagesPoetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner      Ã‚  Ã‚   An examination of the characters that Coleridge presents in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan and the situations in which they find themselves reveals interesting aspects of Coleridges own character that are both similar to and different from the characters named in the titles of these poems. In particular, an examination of these characters with an eye toward Coleridges conception of poetic inspirationRead MoreKubla Khan Essay1578 Words   |  7 PagesIn the opening lines of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s paradoxical poem â€Å"Kubla Khan,† we see an approach to literacy that is far different than his predecessors. This is partly due to his role as one of the founders of the Romantic Era. Coleridge, along with William Wordsworth, published an anthology of poems entitled â€Å"Lyrical Ballads.† This collection was the beginning of an overwhelming movement to praise the power of imagination rather than that of reason. While â€Å"Kubla Khanà ¢â‚¬  was not a part of thisRead MoreKubla Khan -1289 Words   |  6 Pages#8220;Kubla Khan#8221; by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem about the creative powers of the poetic mind. Through the use of vivid imagery Coleridge reproduces a paradise-like vision of the landscape and kingdom created by Kubla Khan. The poem changes to the 1st person narrative and the speaker then attempts to recreate a vision he saw. Through the description of the visions of Kubla Khan#8217;s palace and the speaker#8217;s visions the poem tells of the creation of an enchanting beautifulRead MoreRomanticism was developed in the late 18th century and supported a shift from faith in reason to800 Words   |  4 Pageseffect on men. Therefore, the glory and beauty of nature and the power of the natural world was accentuated commonly. The topic â€Å"nature† has been developed in many important novels and poems including Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein† and Samuel Taylor Coleridgeâ €™s â€Å"Kubla Khan†. Romantic writers like Mary Shelley portrayed nature as the greatest and the most perfect force in the universe. They used words like â€Å"sublime† to convey the flawlessness and the power of the nature world. For example, Mary Shelley

Ethnographic Research free essay sample

The roots of this confusion are explored and examples of â€Å"thick description† are provided. The article closes with guidelines for presenting â€Å"thick description† in written reports. Key Words: Thick Description, Ethnography, Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, Thick Interpretation, Thick Meaning, and Qualitative Writing One of the most important concepts in the lexicon of qualitative researchers is â€Å"thick description. In fact, the Subject Index of virtually every major textbook on qualitative methods published during the last three decades includes one or more entries under either â€Å"thick description,† or â€Å"description, thick† (Bogdan Biklen, 2003; Creswell, 1998; Denzin, 1989; Denzin Lincoln, 2005; Lincoln Guba, 1985; Marshall Rossman, 1999; Patton, 1990, to name but a few). Despite the widespread use and acceptance of the term â€Å"thick description,† in qualitative research, there appears to be some confusion over precisel y what the concept means (Holloway, 1997; Schwandt, 2001). Personally, I can relate to this confusion on two levels. First, in my own qualitative research and writing over the years, I have at times struggled to fully understand the concept of â€Å"thick description. † Second, in my experience teaching and supervising qualitative research, I find that students and colleagues struggle in their attempts to understand and practice â€Å"thick description† in their work. It was this set of struggles that led me to study the concept of â€Å"thick description† more closely, and to share my findings with the readership of The Qualitative Report (TQR). The goals of this Brief Note are to (a) clarify the origins of the concept of â€Å"thick description†; (b) trace its evolution across various disciplines; (c) define the concept comprehensively; (d) provide exemplars of â€Å"thick description† in the published literature; and (e) offer guidelines for presenting â€Å"thick description† in non-ethnographic studies. In meeting these goals, I hope to bring some clarity and consensus to our understanding and usage of the concept â€Å"thick description. Origins of â€Å"Thick Description† Though many researchers cite North American anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures, when they introduce â€Å"thick description,† the term and concept originate, as Geertz himself notes, with Gilbert Ryle, a British metaphysical philosopher at the University of Oxford. The root of the concept can be found in Ryle’s 539 The Qualitative Report September 2006 (1949) Concept of the Mind where he discussed in great detail â€Å"the description of intellectual work† (p. 05). The first presentation of the actual term, â€Å"thick† description, appears to come from two of Ryle’s lectures published in the mid 1960s titled Thinking and Reflecting and The Thinking of Thoughts: [colon added] What is †La Penseur† Doing? Both lectures were published in Ryle’s (1971) Collected Papers, Volume II, Collected Essays 1929-1968, and can be easily located by the interested qualitative researcher. For Ryle (1971) â€Å"thick† description involved ascribing intentionality to one’s behavior. He used the following example, A single golfer, with six golf balls in front of him [sic], hitting each of them, one after another, towards one and the same green. He [sic] then goes and collects the balls, comes back to where he [sic] was before, and does it again. What is he doing? (p. 474) The â€Å"thin† description of this behavior is that the golfer is repeatedly hitting a little round white object with a club like device toward a green. The â€Å"thick† description interprets the behavior within the context of the golf course and the game of golf, and ascribes thinking and intentionality to the observed behavior. In this case, the golfer is practicing approach shots on the green in anticipation of a future real golf match (which usually includes two or four players) with the hope that the practicing of approach shots at the present time will improve his approach shot skill in a real match at some time in the future. Thus for Ryle, â€Å"thick† description involves understanding and absorbing the context of the situation or behavior. It also involves ascribing present and future intentionality to the behavior. Evolution of â€Å"Thick Description† The term â€Å"thick† description became part of the qualitative researcher’s vocabulary when Geertz borrowed Ryle’s (1971) philosophical term to describe the work of ethnography. Geertz (1973) stated the following, From one point of view, that of the textbook, doing ethnography is establishing rapport, selecting informants, transcribing texts, taking genealogies, mapping fields, keeping a diary, and so on. But it is not these things, techniques and received procedures that define the enterprise. What defines it is the kind of intellectual effort it is: an elaborate venture in, to borrow a notion from Gilbert Ryle, â€Å"thick description. † (p. 6) (Note: Geertz was the first to put parentheses around â€Å"thick description,† Ryle only put quotation marks around â€Å"thick†. ) Geertz (1973) believed that the data of anthropological writing was â€Å"really our own constructions of other people’s constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to† (p. ). Therefore, for a reader of anthropological work to gauge for herself or himself the credibility of the author’s interpretations, the context under which these interpretations were made must be richly and thickly described. Joseph G. Ponterotto 540 Geertz’s (1973) adaptation of â€Å"thick description† was expanded upon by the noted qualitative researcher and Professor of C ommunications, Sociology, and Humanities, Norman K. Denzin, who noted, A thick description †¦ does more than record what a person is doing. It goes beyond mere fact and surface appearances. It presents detail, context, emotion, and the webs of social relationships that join persons to one another. Thick description evokes emotionality and self-feelings. It inserts history into experience. It establishes the significance of an experience, or the sequence of events, for the person or persons in question. In thick description, the voices, feelings, actions, and meanings of interacting individuals are heard. (Denzin, 1989, p. 3) Denzin’s (1989) elaboration of â€Å"thick description† introduced Geertz’s anthropological term and Ryle’s philosophical concept to the disciplines of sociology, communications, and humanities. In his classic book on Interpretive Interactionism, Denzin devotes a full chapter to elaborating on the concept of â€Å"thick description. † I believe it was Denzin’s literary detail in describing â€Å"thick description† that has had the most significant impa ct in promoting the term’s worldwide use by qualitative researchers across intellectual disciplines. In essence, Denzin extended the utility of â€Å"thick description† as an anthropological construct used in ethnography, and particularly in participant observation, to the wider audience of qualitative researchers (e. g. , in sociology, psychology, education) and qualitative approaches (e. g. , phenomenology, grounded theory). Defining â€Å"Thick Description† In digesting the work of Geertz (1973) and Denzin (1989), as reflected in their long quotes in the above section, we can gather a sense of what â€Å"thick description† includes and how it differs from â€Å"thin description. A search for more specific definitions of â€Å"thick description† led me to two â€Å"dictionaries† of qualitative terms and concepts: Schwandt’s (2001) Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry and Holloway’s (1997) Basic Concepts for Qualitative Research. In presenting their concise definitions of â€Å"thick description,† Schwandt cites Geertz (1973), w hile Holloway cites both Geertz and Ryle (1949). Schwandt stated the following, Many qualitative inquirers emphasize the importance of â€Å"thick† as opposed to â€Å"thin† description. It is not entirely clear just what thick description is, however. Most efforts to define it emphasize that thick description is not simply a matter of amassing relevant detail. Rather to thickly describe social action is actually to begin to interpret it be recording the circumstances, meanings, intentions, strategies, motivations, and so on that characterize a particular episode. It is this interpretive characteristic of description rather than detail per se that makes it thick. (Schwandt, 2001, p. 255) 541 The Qualitative Report September 2006 Holloway’s definition is consistent with that of Schwandt, who noted that The notion of thick description is often misunderstood. It must be theoretical and analytical in that researchers concern themselves with the abstract and general patterns and traits of social life in a culture. This type of description aims to give readers a sense of the emotions, thoughts and perceptions that research participant’s experience. It deals not only with the meaning and interpretations of people in a culture but also with their intentions. Thick description builds up a clear picture of the individuals and groups in the context of their culture and the setting in which they live †¦ Thick description can be contrasted with thin description (bold in original), which is a superficial account and does not explore the underlying meanings of cultural members. (Holloway, 1997, p. 154) There are some commonalities in both Schwandt’s (2001) and Holloway’s definitions of â€Å"thick description. † First, both acknowledge that the term is confusing, and therefore not well understood. Second, both attempt to give meaning to â€Å"thick description† by contrasting it with â€Å"thin description. Third, both definitions emphasize that thick description involves much more than amassing great detail: It speaks to context and meaning as well as interpreting participant intentions in their behaviors and actions. I will now explore these three definitional commonalities in greater detail. Confusion in the Meaning of â€Å"Thick Description† The fact that both Holloway (1997) and Schwandt (2001) find the concept of â€Å"thick description† confusing is understandable for at least two reasons. The first reason deals with the concept’s evolution across intellectual disciplines. Thick description† originated as a qualitative research tool for ethnographers engaged in participant observation research (Geertz, 1973), and then was generalized to serve as a tool for sociologist, psychologists, educators, and others operating from a wide array of qualitative inquiry approaches (Ponterotto Grieger, in press). While â€Å"thick description† seemed fairly clear for its role in ethnography and participant observation (see Denzin, 1989; Geertz), it was less clear with regards to how it would be manifested in other qualitative approaches and procedures such as long interviews and focus groups. A second reason for researchers’ confusion over the term can be attributed to the opinion that there is no unitary or singular form or definition of â€Å"thick description. † For example, in Denzin’s (1989) extensive elaborative work on the concept, he introduces eleven different types of â€Å"thick description†: micro, macro historical, biographical, situational, relational, interactional, intrusive, incomplete, glossed, purely descriptive, and descriptive interpretive. It is beyond my goals for this Brief Note to review all eleven types of â€Å"thick description† so the interested reader is referred to Denzin (pp. 1-98). Suffice it to say, it is not surprising that both novice and seasoned researchers are confused by â€Å"thick description† when there are so many variations. Joseph G. Ponterotto 542 Defining â€Å"Thick Description† by Comparison to â€Å"Thin Description† In part, Holloway (1997) and Schwandt (2001) defin e â€Å"thick description† by contrasting the concept to â€Å"thin description. † This attempt to define-by-contrast has been used by others in trying to explain â€Å"thick description† (e. g. , see Denzin, 1989; Greenblatt, 1997; Ryle, 1971). Sometimes when a concept is quite complex, authors attempt to bring clarity to the concept by contrasting it with what it clearly is not. A good example is Denzin who highlights the features of â€Å"thick description. † (1) It gives the context of an act; (2) it states the intentions and meanings that organize the action; (3) it traces the evolution and development of the act; (4) it presents the action as a text that can then be interpreted. A thin description (italics in original) simply reports facts, independent of intentions or the circumstances that surround an action. (p. 3) â€Å"Thick Description† as Context and Meaning As emphasized by all the authors heretofore referenced in this Brief Note, a central component of â€Å"thick description† is the interpretation of what is being observed or witnessed. Denzin (1989) has made a major contribution to qualitative research by carefully showing the sequential link of â€Å"thick description† to â€Å" thick interpretation. † It is the qualitative researcher’s task to thickly describe social action, so that thick interpretations of the actions can be made, presented in written form, and made available to a wide audience of readers. Without â€Å"thick description,† â€Å"thick interpretation† is not possible. Without â€Å"thick interpretation,† written reports of research will lack credibility and resonance with the research community, the research participants themselves, and with the wider audience of readers for whom the report is intended (Ponterotto Grieger, in press). It is the thick interpretive work of researchers that brings readers to an understanding of the social actions being reported upon. Essence of â€Å"Thick Description† In integrating the work of Ryle (1971), Geertz (1973), Denzin (1989), Holloway (1997), and Schwandt (2001), one can extract the following essential components of â€Å"thick description. † 1. â€Å"Thick description† involves accurately describing and interpreting social actions within the appropriate context in which the social action took place. 2. â€Å"Thick description† captures the thoughts, emotions, and web of social interaction among observed participants in their operating context. 3. A central feature to interpreting social actions entails assigning motivations and intentions for the said social actions. . The context for, and the specifics of, the social action are so well described that the reader experiences a sense of verisimilitude as they read the researcher’s account. For Denzin (1989), verisimilitude refers to â€Å"truthlike statements that 543 The Qualitative Report September 2006 produce for readers the feeling that they have experienced, or could experience, the events being described. † (pp. 83-84) 5. â€Å"Thick description† of social actions promotes â€Å"thick interpretation† of these actions, which lead to â€Å"thick meaning† of the findings that resonate with readers (Ponterotto Grieger, in press). I like to use the metaphor of a tree to explain the interconnection of these three concepts. The â€Å"thick description† constitutes the roots of the tree that nourish and feed â€Å"thick interpretation,† represented by the solid trunk of the tree, which in turn feeds the branches and leaves of the tree, which represent the â€Å"thick meaning. † It is the branches and leaves that most capture the viewers’ attention, as is the case with â€Å"thick meaning,† which grasps the attention of the reader of the study. Working Definition of â€Å"Thick Description† The five central components of â€Å"thick description,† just described, lend themselves to the following working definition of the concept: Thick description refers to the researcher’s task of both describing and interpreting observed social action (or behavior) within its particular context. The context can be within a smaller unit (such as a couple, a family, a work environment) or within a larger unit (such as one’s village, a community, or general culture). Thick description accurately describes observed social actions and assigns purpose and intentionality to these actions, by way of the researcher’s understanding and clear description of the context under which the social actions took place. Thick description captures the thoughts and feelings of participants as well as the often complex web of relationships among them. Thick description leads to thick interpretation, which in turns leads to thick meaning of the research findings for the researchers and participants themselves, and for the report’s intended readership. Thick meaning of findings leads readers to a sense of versimilitude, wherein they can cognitively and emotively â€Å"place† themselves within the research context. Thick Description in Practice Denzin (1989) provides examples of thick description across all eleven types that he proposes. To locate these examples he draws on published sources of fiction, history, ethnography, and sociology. Below, I highlight three examples of different forms of thick description and then end the Brief Note with some suggestions for the authors of TQR. The first two examples are taken from Liebow’s (2003) ethnographic classic, Tally’s Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men, and demonstrate Denzin’s â€Å"relational† and â€Å"descriptive-interpretive† types of â€Å"thick description. † The third example comes from my own field of counseling psychology and is extracted from counseling pioneer Vasquez’s (2001) lifestory. Tally’s Corner was the outgrowth of Elliot Liebow’s (2003) PhD dissertation in anthropology at Catholic University of America. Many qualitative researchers consider Tally’s Corner to be a classic work in ethnography, and the book is required reading in Joseph G. Ponterotto 44 many qualitative research courses, including my own. To understand the context for the two quotes below, let me provide a snapshot of Tally’s Corner. During 1962 and 1963, Liebow (2003), a White Jewish man born of immigrant parents from Eastern Europe, began working as a fieldworker for a larger research project on child rearing practices among low income families in Washington, DC. One component of this study was a focus on the life and worldview of a particular group of African American â€Å"streetcorner men† who often congregated in front of the â€Å"New Deal Carry-out shop,† a small diner of sorts open seven days a week. The Carry-out has a 10 X 12 customer area with no chairs or tables, so customers ate their food standing up or they took it outside to â€Å"Tally’s Corner. † The quote below describes Liebow’s (2003) first interaction with Tally Jackson. For more than four hours Tally and I lounged around in the Carry-out, talking, drinking coffee, watching people come in and go out, watching other hangers-on as they bantered with the waitresses, horsed around among themselves, or danced to the juke-box. Everyone knew Tally and some frequently sought out his attention. Tally sometimes participated in the banter but we were generally left undisturbed when we were talking. When I left at two o’clock, Tally and I were addressing each other by first names (â€Å"Elliot† was strange to him and we settled for â€Å"Ellix†) and I was able to address the two waitresses by their first names without feeling uncomfortable. I had also learned to identify several other men by their first names or nicknames, had gotten hints on personal relationships, and had a biographical sketch (part of it untrue I learned later) of Tally. The above quote represents the type of â€Å"thick description† Denzin (1989) labels relational. A thick relational description brings a relationship alive† (Denzin, p. 94). In the above quote the reader gathers a vivid sense of the Carry-out and is provided a window into the developing relationship of Liebow (2003) (researcher) and Tally (participant). The second quote below, from Liebow, I would classify as an example of Denzin’s (1989) â€Å"descriptive-interpretive† type of thick description. Denzin noted that The descriptive and interpretive thick description records interpretations that occur within the experience as it is lived†¦. These types of statements are difficult to produce and obtain. They require a person who is able to reflect on experience as it occurs. (p. 98) The context for this quote is one Saturday evening when Liebow attended a locals’ dance at the Capitol Arena. There were more than a thousand people in the small dance hall all jammed together. Liebow was the only White male in attendance, and initially he found the music quite foreign and was not even able to identify some of the band’s instruments, as he had never seen them before. Here is the quote from his field notes. 45 The Qualitative Report September 2006 It was very hot, it was very noisy, it was very smelly, and it was all very exciting. It was impossible to remain simply an observer in a place like this, even for someone as phlegmatic as I. It was only a few minutes after Jackie Wilson started singing that I discovered that the noise wasn’t nearly loud enough, the heat wasn’t nearly hot enough, and the odor from more than a thousand closely packed people was not really strong enough at all. Like everyone else, I wanted more of everything. (p. 65) In this quote the reader can almost visualize the event and experience the senses as Liebow records them. Clearly, the thick description included creates a sense of verisimilitude in the reader. Denzin (1989) highlights that most thick descriptions in the literature do not capture all eleven types of thick description he categorizes. Many include one or perhaps a few of the types in one descriptive prose. Denzin believed that the full or complete thick description was able to capture at one time five of his primary typologies: biographical, historical, situational, relational, and interactional. Below, I draw on my own discipline of counseling psychology to present a quote that I think includes all five types of thick description. The quote is taken from the published lifestory of Melba Vasquez (2001), a pioneer in the field of counseling psychology. Hers is one of 12 lifestories that constitute Part I of the Handbook of Multicultural Counseling (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, Alexander, 2001). Vasquez’s lifestory focuses on life experiences, particularly those that led her to bond strongly with women in society and with the Latino populations. These experiences led her to devote a career to counseling and advocating for Latino people, particularly Latina women. The context for the quote is Vasquez describing her early childhood school experiences as a Mexican American female in a small central Texas town in the 1950s. In this particular scenario she is describing a day on her school bus. One day, a large White boy, about two or three years older, who often bullied us all, came and roughly pushed my sister and me into a corner of our seat because he wanted to sit in that space, across from his friends. I remember the fear and humiliation I felt for myself and my sister. Yet, we did nothing but sit silently, squashed by his large size. An African American young girl, about his size, saw what happened, and came up, pushed his shoulder and said in a very loud assertive voice, â€Å"What are you doing? You can’t do that to them. They’re sitting there, can’t you see, and you’re crowding them. Move. Now! † He looked at her defiantly and said, â€Å"This ain’t your business. † She glared back and said, â€Å"It is now. † The whole bus got quiet. She repeated in a low voice, â€Å"Move. Now. He got up and moved. The young Black girl went to her seat, came back, gave us each a piece of hard candy, and watched over us and others like us for the rest of the year. (p. 69) I believe this quote captures aspects of the five key types of thick description advocated by Denzin (1989), and that represents, for him, the exemplar of â€Å"thick description. † It is biographical, in terms of placing the scenario chronologically (1950s) Joseph G. Ponterotto 546 in the context of Vasquez’s life growing up as a Mexican American female, in a small Texas town where racism was common. It is historical because it â€Å"attempts to bring an earlier historical moment of experience alive in vivid detail† (Denzin, p. 92). It is situational because it â€Å"creates a visual picture of the situation† and locates the person in the situation (p. 94). It is clearly relational in that it brings a relationship alive, in this case the relationship of Vasquez to her sister as well as to a helping school mate. Finally, it is interactional because the vignette focuses â€Å"on interactions between two or more persons† (Denzin, p. 95). Understanding â€Å"Thick Description† Beyond Ethnography and Lifestory Analysis The examples f â€Å"thick description† provided above, as well as those highlighted in Denzin (1989), focus, to a large degree, on excerpts taken from ethnography and biography (including autobiography and lifestories). However, as noted previously in this article, â€Å"thick description† is used across many disciplines (e. g. , education. sociology, psychology, program evaluation) and inquiry approaches (e. g. , phenomenology, grounded theory, case study) (see Morrow, 2005; Ponterotto Grieger, in press). A majority of qualitative studies in a variety of disciplines (e. g. psychology, education) rely extensively on long interviews (Polkinghorne, 2005). In this final section, I propose how â€Å"thick description† might be manifested in a common interview study organized along the American Psychological Association’s recommended manuscript structure of Method (Participants and Procedures), Results, and Discussion. Participants â€Å"Thick description† of one’s sample would entail describing fully the participants of the study without compromising anonymity. A thickly described sample facilitates the reader’s ability to visualize the sample including their r elevant demographic and psychological characteristics. For example, an interview study with college students seeking services at a university counseling center might report demographic characteristics such as gender, race, age, socioeconomic, academic standing, immigration status, generation level, and so forth. Psychological characteristics reported might include presenting concerns, past experience with counseling, history of trauma, levels of racial and ethnic identity, and so forth. Procedures Describing the setting and procedures in adequate detail provides a context for understanding the study’s results. Returning to our university counseling center example, a detailed description of the campus and surrounding environment is important, as are more general characteristics of the university such as size, demographic make-up, affiliations, competitive level, and so forth. Factors such as the location of the interviews, the length and recording procedures for the interviews, and the interviewer’s and interviewee’s reactions to the interviews all provide a sense of verisimilitude to the reader, and makes understanding (and critiquing) the author’s interpretation in the Results and Discussion sections more accessible. 47 The Qualitative Report September 2006 Results â€Å"Thick description† of results presents adequate â€Å"voice† of participants; that is, long quotes from the participants or excerpts of interviewer-interview dialogue. Again, a sense of verisimilitude is achieved as the reader can visualize the participant-interviewer interactions and ge ts a sense of the cognitive and emotive state of the interviewee (and interviewer). â€Å"Thick description† of results flows smoothly from a Method section that is thickly presented. Discussion A thickly described Discussion section of a qualitative interview report successfully merges the participants’ lived experiences with the researcher’s interpretations of these experiences, thus creating thick meaning for the reader as well as for the participants and researcher. The reader is, thus, able to digest the essential elements of the findings, and is able to discern whether she or he would have come to the same interpretive conclusions as the report’s author. Conclusion This Brief Note has reviewed the origins, evolution, definitions, and some examples of â€Å"thick description. The concept of â€Å"thick description† is often used and widely cited in qualitative research across disciplines and research approaches. Despite the concept’s popularity, it does cause confusion among scholars and students alike. Hopefully, this Brief Note, based in part on my own struggles to understand the concept, has brought some clarity to the c oncept of â€Å"thick description.