Reflective Practice And Risk Social Work Essay

Reflective Practice And attempt Social Work tryA skinny insecurity decision requires both good assay sagaciousness and good gamble wariness (Carson and Bain, 2008 156). The intention of this fitting is to critic all toldy evaluate this statement with reference to my own perpetrate bonk. With the focus of this flip of practice macrocosm on children, this assignment entrust predominantly search take a chance from the perspective of children. The assignment will start with a legal brief outline of the practice experience that will be referred to and will explore the accessible, cultural and political concepts that shape practice in relation to hazard. The concepts of insecurity, venture sound judgment and happen vigilance will be examined on with what polish offs them good. The assignment will wherefore explore how Brearleys (1982) assay taxment was utilize ahead looking at theoretical theoretical accounts of reflection.The practice experience that I will be referring to throughout this piece of work is the estimation attend in preparation for a Full Assessment invoice that had been requested from the Childrens newsman Administration due to concerns for the safety of a child. During a domesticated hazard between Mr and Mrs Hassan, their son Raj (aged 12) was struck on the side of the face by Mr Hassan. As a consequent of bail conditions Mr Hassam was non allowed inside a certain distance of the family home and he was non present during the first-class honours degree half of the judgement process. However halfway through the judging process Mr Hassam was charged and convicted a Schedule 1 offender, with bail conditions no overnight in place Mr Hassam re overruleed to the family home.Towards the end of the twentieth century luck became a major concern within western guild Beck (1992) begs that we live in a guess of infection society that has an emphasis on uncertainty and whack, and thither is no longer a focus on s ucceeding in doing something good but where we are preventing the worst. Parton (1996) would agree with Beck and believes that globalisation has separated society and in turn created more uncertainty within neighborly and sparing life. As a will of the blaming culture maestros are finding themselves avoiding pickings finds and feeling that they founder to defend their practice and encounter decisions (McLaughlin, 2007 and Barry, 2007).The media and open blame practitioners, particularly when thither is a child finish, and state that they put children at unnecessary high gamble as they fail to intervene readily enough. Examples of high profile child death inquiry cases overwhelm Jasmine Beckford (1985), Caleb mantle (2003) and Baby P (2008). Baby P is an excellent character of how the media and public blame practitioners and received high media attention. Media coverage of how risk judgments and risk precautions wee-wee failed along with demands for minimising risks and organisational and professional accountability has constrained the role of a accessible worker and The 21st Century Review of Social Work (2006) ac familiaritys this (Barry, 2007). It implies that social work professionals were lacking in confidence when it came to taking risks in what has require a risk adverse society. One of the main areas highlighted in the proclaim was the learn for a new organisational culture and approach to risk sound judgement and risk management which would promote merit (Scottish Executive, 2006).Official policies and guidance have been developed in recent years with the aim of improving practices and cognition where high risks bottom buoy be identified (DOH, 1991 cited in Parton, 1996). This is evident in documents that influenced my practice and I referred to them before reservation risk decisions, some examples include Getting it Right for every Child Proposal for Action (Scottish Executive, 2005), Every Child Matters Change for Children ( HM Government, 2004) and Its everyones job to make sure Im alright Report of the Child Protection Audit and Review (Scottish Executive, 2002).The volume risk is a complex and comprehensive concept and there is no clear definition when it comes to defining what would be a low, medium or high risk (Stalker, 2003 and Barry, 2007). Many of the problems that arise during risk taking is a vector sum of there cosmos no exact definition of risk (Titterton, 2005). This in turn creates difficulties when defining definitions of risk, risk assessment and risk management.The Oxford English Dictionary (2002) describes the noun risk as a positioning that could lead to a bad answer or the likeliness of something unpleasant happening, and the verb risk as be unresolved to danger or loss or act in a way that something bad could happen. All dictionary definitions will give the word risk invalidating meanings. Alaszewski and Manthorpe (1991) would agree with the negative dictionary definitions of risk and throttle it as, the disaster that a given course of action will not achieve its desired solvent but instead some undesired and undesir equal situation will develop. Similarly Blackburn (2000) views risk as be a loss or cost as a result of uncertainty (cited in Carson and Bain, 2008).Carson and Bain (2008) and Titterton (2005) disagree with negative meanings of the word risk they argue that such definitions are not good enough as they set more difficulties when taking risks with peoples lives. They both argue that risk involve to be explained as looking at the potential benefits and similarly the potential damages. Alberg (1996) provides a useful definition of risk as, the possibility of beneficial and harmful outcomes and the likelihood of their go throughrence in a stated timescale (cited in Titterton, 200525). bump assessment is the stage in risk decision making where information on the elements of risk is collated and assessed, they are usually make to infor m risk management. Risk assessment is concerned with collecting information on the devil signalise risk elements these are known as the outcomes (also known as the consequences, harm or damage) and their likelihood (also known as chance or exposure) and to assess a risk we essentialiness consider both (Carson and Bain, 2008, Titterton, 2005). The two buttonical assessment tools used to assess risk are clinical which involves professional judgement and information from research on risk factors, and actuarial is base upon statistical calculations of risk and is used in the insurance industry (Barry, 2007 and Davies, 2008). Although not exclusively, actuarial data tends to be used during risk assessments and clinical during risk management (Carson and Bain, 2008).In order to undertake a good risk assessment we should include all the outcomes that could occur as a result of the risk decision and which could happen in the period that the risk is existence assessed. If an outcome would happen regardless of a risk assessment being made then it did not happen as a result of a risk decision. The risk decision essential have made the outcome more likely or adept both the unassumingness of the outcomes and their likelihood must be considered (Carson and Bain, 2008). When assessing the likelihood of a situation it should be found upon the best companionship avail fitted and whether the decision would have been the same had a responsible body (i.e. SSSC) had considered it (Carson and Bain, 2008).A good risk assessment has a purpose and this is to explore the potential benefits over the possible harms. If the rate of the likely benefits outweighs the value of the likely harms then we will be suitable to neverthelessify taking a risk decision (Titterton, 2005). We selectiness to be able to justify taking a risk before we stomach learn whether harm will result. If harm does result then it is not bad risk assessment, similarly if a risk decision leads to fo rtunate outcomes we cannot say it is good risk assessment. A risk decision necessitate to be judged on the risk decision processes and procedures, not by the outcomes (Carson and Bain, 2008). It could be argued that there are no benefits of taking a risk and this would be deemed as bad risk assessment and must be challenged (Carson and Bain, 2008). after(prenominal) a risk assessment has been carried out a decision needs to be made on how to manage the situation. Risk management is discovering and tyrannical the dimensions of the proposed risk into a plan to manage the risks it is involved with implementing, monitoring, influencing, controlling and reviewing the risk decision (Carson and Bain, 2008). Risk dimensions are features of risk that could be influenced by the practitioner, for example the available resources to manage the risk and uncertainty (Carson and Bain, 2008). Risk management also means making the most of the potential benefits and including service users in managi ng risk decisions (Stalker, 2003).In order to have good risk management we must be able to make effective use of all the dimensions of the risk assessment. This includes the time during and the amount of time of a risk decision being made and the time available to intervene if necessary. We need to be able to identify people and their skills as a resource and use their qualities, knowledge and ability to recognise problems and opportunities should they arise. We should identify and consider both positive and negative opportunities that arise at different stages as we go along a risk path. Before making a risk decision we must explore the quality and quantity of available knowledge and its significance. Knowledge is a form of power and this creates degrees of control, this includes recognising our professional, ethical and legal limits to intervene and control a risk. Good risk management is being able to use all of these resources however there is a barrier, they all cost money. Ris k management is political as it is about resources, we require adequate resources for a good risk management plan and lack of resources will have an jolt on this (Carson and Bain, 2008).Risk decisions are complex and may be based on unreliable or uncertain knowledge. If harm could not occur then it would not be a risk, if harms do occur then decision making and risk management will need to be examined and a risk decision that was justifiable before the event must remain justifiable after the event. The practitioner will also need to show that any decisions they did make were in line with best live practice on risk assessment and risk management. Many risk decisions will be good irrespective of poor risk management. (Carson and Bain, 2008 and Davies, 2008).Risk management is often overshadowed by risk assessment, despite the fact that it can only identify a risk and not lessen it (Stalker, 2003 and Titterton, 2005). It is cardinal to give risk management more credit as it can prev ent bad risk assessment. If a poor risk assessment is made then it can result in harm, inquiries and court proceedings. As risk management comes after the risk assessment has been made it can in turn prevent a poor risk assessment from causing harm (Carson and Bain, 2008). Also risk management concerns the implementation of the risk decision and can wherefore protect against the consequences of poor risk assessment. In order to make a good risk decision we therefore require good risk assessment and good risk management (Carson and Bain, 2008). Titterton (2005) argues that risk assessment and risk management should be interconnected within the same risk framework.Brearleys (1982) definition of risk focuses on the negative outcomes of risk (i.e. damage and harm) however despite its restrictions it is argued that it is germane(predicate) as he has provided a framework that provides a good starting point for understanding and assessing risk, and that helps assist workers to recognise risk factors when faced with risky situations (Watson and West, 2006 and Kemshall and Pritchard, 1996). Brearleys risk assessment framework is interactive and uses concepts of the systems approach, task centred approach to the actuarial assessment of risk. His framework identifies two types of hazards which he refers to as general predictive hazards (background hazards) and situational hazards (current hazards) a hazard is the possibility of loss or damage that will result in danger. These hazards need to be weighed up with the strengths in order to identify if a risk decision has to be made (Kemshall and Pritchard, 1996).I incorporated Brearleys (1982) framework with the assessment triangle (DOH, 2000 and Aldgate and Rose, 2006) during my risk assessment and I identified that identified that there were no general predictive factors for Raj, he was not known to social work prior to this set on and there was no evidence to put forward that there had been any issues in the past. The situational hazards for Raj were he had been assaulted by Mr Hassam, his behaviour changed and he became withdrawn and angry, poverty and poor housing. His strengths were he was resilient, he attended and enjoyed school, he openly spoke out about how he matt-up. The danger for Raj was that he was at risk of and physical and/or emotional ridicule for being open and honest with me after his father had warned him not to discourse to any professionals.During my risk assessment I had to consider how capable Mr Hassam was of further assaulting Raj and how likely it was to happen. I thought about the severity of the outcomes, for example if I thought there was a chance that the outcome would be death then the likelihood would be lower than if I thought the outcome could be assault. I therefore considered the outcome of my assessment to be that Mr Hassam could assault Raj again and although the outcome could be very serious but I felt that the likelihood of it happening was very low as Mr Hassam had neer been violent towards his son before and showed true signs of remorse for his actions. However just because it was extremely unlikely that Mr Hassam would assault Raj again did not mean that I could consider it a low risk. An unlikely event does not become any more likely merely as it could have serious outcomes (Carson and Bain, 2008). During my assessment I referred to The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 as I had a employment to safeguard and promote the welfare of Raj and his welfare is paramount (SCLC, 1995), and also to the set of the SSSC (2005), particularly codes 4.1 and 4.2.When considering the risk period to work within and how we are basing our assessment we should examine research based upon that period. During my risk assessment I looked at research on domestic violence and child abuse and several(prenominal) studies show that there is a high association between domestic violence and child abuse (physical and emotional) Morely and Mullender (1994) fou nd that between 40-60% of children are physically assaulted by the perpetrator and Epsein and Keep (1994) found that 38% of children who called Childline had been assaulted by the perpetrator. To make the use of the highest knowledge available I also consulted with my practice instructor and PTL and considered their recommendations before making my decision. My risk decision was that it was safe for Raj to remain in the family home with his father, as the potential benefits (e.g. prior to the assault Raj and his father had a good relationship) outweighed the likely harms. I was able to work in alliance with Mr and Mrs Hassan and the school and they were all resources that assisted me with identifying opportunities for Raj. On reflection I felt confident that I had used the resources available to me well, particularly research and knowledge and I could justify my risk decision if harm was to occur and would be able to explain how I came to my risk decision.Reflective practice involv es being able to think holistically and in turn this includes exploring facts and feelings, the knowledge and understanding of the situation and being able to look at perspectives subjectively and objectively (Wilson et al, 2008). Schn (1983), Kolb (1984) and Boud et al (1985) have given reflective practice currency in recent years by developing ideas and using and applying them to reflecting on experience and improving action and practice (Brown and Rutter, 2008). I based my reflective accounts in practice on Kolbs (1984) model of experiential learning. Kolbs model explores having concrete practice experience which we then reflect and observe on, construct new ideas on and then experiment with. His model emphasises the importance of using observation and exam our reflection on what we see and experience and being able to embodiment upon how we experience the real world (Adams et al, 2002). Kolbs model has helped me understand that learning is psyche and I have to make the connec tions to existing knowledge, theories and legislation when reflecting on what I have learned.A number of self evaluation questionnaires derived from Kolbs learning rhythm with the aim of helping people identify their learning styles. I used Honey and Mumfords (1992) learning style questionnaire to discover that I am a reflective learner I will watch and reflect, gather relevant data and examine all the possible options available before making a decison. Using my learning style as a reflector and incorporating Kolbs model of learning I was able to confidently make a risk decision for Raj. I used the supervision process to hash out my learning style and how this assisted me when I put plans of action in place with the Hassam family and how I went through the cycle of experience, reflection, conceptualisation and experimentation (Parker, 2006).To pause this piece of work has proved that in order to have a good risk decision then we must have a good risk assessment along with good r isk management and my own practice experience was integrated throughout as an illustrative. Todays risk society has a lack of confidence in professionals and this has an impact when they need to make risk decisions, although after using risk and reflective frameworks along with supervision I was confident to be able to make my risk decision and justify it. With the right policies, procedures and support professionals will be able to make good risk decisions and feel confident when doing so.

Effectiveness of Social Model of Health

Effectiveness of kindly manakin of HealthAnna WeiModels of HealthHealth is one of the most bouncy and valuable aspects of human manners, as without ones wellness we ar unable to enjoy our day-to-day activities and have the push to pursue carnal activities. There ar two well-k at one timen stupefys of Health and Illness that taper on different aspects of health they atomic number 18 the Bio checkup feign and the accessible model. This essay will discuss the relevance of the affable model in todays indian lodge as opposed to the Bio medical checkup model and the effectiveness of this model in clarifying the obesity epiphytotic, a medical condition that is commanding the globe and bringing with it umpteen other illnesses that today, atomic number 18 some of the leading causes of death.The biomedical model believes that biological factors argon the primary(prenominal) cause of unsoundness (Browne, 2005). It has been the main model for health care in the past century , due to its assistance in the disc every(prenominal)wherey of count little medical advancements as it was able to decrease the amount of pathogenic diseases such as tuberculosis (Borrell-Carrio, Suchman Epstein, 2004). This framework is based on the concept of health as creation without disease and focuses on finding cures that will successfully elapse the biological factors that caused the illness (Cleland Cotton, 2011). Although the Biomedical model has been valuable in the disc all overy of many techniques to successfully treat numerous diseases, it is no longer the dominating model of health in todays rules of order of battle. This model has been scrutinised for being too narrow-minded resulting in its inability to analyse different forms of distemper (Borrell-Carrio et al., 2004 Cockerham, 2007).Over the years, there have been massive health reforms, from morbific diseases such as puerperal fever, gonorrhoea, malaria and scurvy to the dominating chronic illnesses th at make hostelry today such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Tulchinsky Varavikova, 2000). The transition from infectious to chronic illnesses indicates that as time changes, strategies that have previously worked may non be as effective as they had once been. Hence, the cordial models were introduced.A psychiatrist named George Engel first proposed the favorable model, as he wanted to hurl a stop to the dehumanisation of the practice of medicine, and to give patients the power over their own health (Borrell-Carrio et al., 2004). Engel believed, that the hearty and physiological aspects of an individual played an burning(prenominal) role in relation to the illness procedure and and then, this model acts as an aid, to guide us through the numerous levels of organisation that affect diseases, ranging from the societal aspects to factors at the molecular level (Alonso, 2004 Borrell-Carrio et al., 2004). Since Engel first proposed this model, there have been m any variations of this model created such as the Dahlgren and Whiteheads model of health and the WHO accessible determinants of health framework.Social models place a strong furiousness on not solitary(prenominal) the biological aspects of disease nevertheless similarly the social and the psychological aspects of sickness, whereas, the Biomedical model is built around the demonstration and the symptoms of the disease of interest (Brown, 2005 Cleland Cotton, 2011). Hence, Social models of health have become more(prenominal) relevant over the last 150 years because of the changing society. As time passed, infectious diseases were no longer the major problem, with the problem now lying within the degenerative diseases such as cancer and purport disease present in todays society (Cleland Cotton, 2011). Therefore, the Biomedical model is no longer relevant as the development of these non-communicable diseases is multi-factorial and hence is not due to straightforward biological causes, nor can they be elderly easily (Cleland Cotton, 2011). For spate in society today, the experience of suffering from a disease is not just about the biochemical processes behind it, just now also about how the patients identify with this disease in terms of the things they are able to or unable to do, their emotions and the unmet requirements as a result of this disease (Jackson, Antonucci Brown, 2003). Hence, Social models are more widely accepted and relevant in society, as it recognises the multi-factorial causes associated with diseases such as obesity.Obesity is defined as the positive build-up of fat due to energy input being greater than energy expenditure, in technical terms, a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over means that the individual will be ingested telling ( ball Health Organization WHO, 2014). The rates of obesity have been rapidly increase since the 1980s and not all the preponderance of obesity has been increasing merely the incidence of disease s associated with obesity has also been increasing (Finkelstein, Ruhm Kosa, 2005). Health consequences associated with obesity are non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other musculoskeletal diseases (WHO, 2014).The obesity epidemic is a major issue in society today and in 2008, of the 1.4 billion adults considered overweight, over 200 jillion males and nearly 300 million females were considered obese (WHO, 2014). In the early twentieth century, obesity was only scene to be present in develop countries such as China, Thailand and Mexico and only affected those with higher socioeconomic positions in the population however, this disease has shifted to affect those of lower socioeconomic position and globall(a)y, there is now more than 10% of the worlds population of adults considered obese (Callabero, 2007 WHO, 2014).The improvement in peoples living and working conditions has resulted in society having longer breeding spans due to the era dication of infectious diseases (Cockerham, 2007). However, the major issue facing society today is non-communicable diseases such as strokes, heart disease and cancer which all stem off obesity (Cockerham, 2007). Non-communicable diseases were originally thought to affect only the rich, but there is now an increasing trend in developing countries. If this trend continues to increase at the same pace, it is estimated by the year 2020, for every ten deaths, seven will be due to non-communicable diseases (Boutayeb, 2006). This transition from infectious diseases to chronic illnesses meant that the use of medicine became increasingly important in order to tackle these health issues and therefore, there has been little success in tackling these non-communicable diseases as the approaches they took in the past via the Biomedical model proves to be unfitting for the live situation (Cockerham, 2007).Social models have been effective in preventing this problem, as it takes into beak not o nly the biological causes of these health conditions associated with obesity, but also social factors such as dietary brainchild and physical action mechanism. An individuals lifestyle is vital towards their health as it is a relevant social mechanism that needs to be considered when approaching these diseases (Cockerham, 2007). Over the years, the dietary intake of individuals has change magnitude, with people consuming more sweetened beverages and processed meals and consuming less healthy wholesome foods such as fruits and vegetables (Callabero, 2007). Research reveals an inversely comparative relationship exists between the availability of fast food outlets and the socioeconomic locating of the individual, with individuals in lower socioeconomic areas being 2.5 times more heart-to-heart to fast food chains compared to those in higher socioeconomic areas, and this social gradient indicates that a decreasing socioeconomic status results in an increased chance of obesity (Reid path, Burns, Garrard, Mahoney Townsend, 2002). This brings about inequality between those of low socioeconomic status and those with high socioeconomic status, further reiterating that there must be other factors apart from biological components, which bring about diseases. Physical activity has also decreased with people opting for more sedentary lifestyles, for example, it was predicted that less than 30 percent of the US population had a suitable level of exercise, other 30 percent were involved in physical activity but not enough, while the remainder had adapted to sedentary lifestyles (Callabero, 2007). It is habits such as these that has attributed to the individuals susceptibility or resistance to these illnesses (Cockerham, 2007). Only Social models of health can take into consideration of these habits as well as the social gradients shown to help us to understand their influences towards these illnesses that stem off obesity. more complex factors are interacting with one another, causing the increase in prevalence of health conditions associated with obesity (Candib, 2007). Therefore, Social models are effective in explaining this phenomenon as it recognises the importance of social factors and how they contribute to health conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Social factors such as the individuals surrounding environs can either reverse or increase the biological gamble of diseases making the Biomedical model inadequate as it does not consider anything but the biological cause (Cockerham, 2007). An environment that has contributed hugely to this increasing prevalence is an obesogenic environment this is essentially a setting that encourages sedentary lifestyles promoting food inlet and discouraging exercise, which eventually leads to an increased risk of obesity (Reidpath et al., 2002). Social models are therefore efficient as it considers how we can eliminate such influences in order to reduce the multi-factorial effects associated with t he obesity epidemic by unite the formerly separated characteristics of illness (Cleland Cotton, 2011 Jackson et al., 2003). It helps us to efficiently extend the significant contributions of multiple factors outside the biological sense that drives the increasing prevalence of health conditions associated with obesity.To conclude, health is one of the most important aspects of human life and can be affected by factors that are not ceaselessly biological components. As a result, the multidimensional Social models were created to allow a better understanding of the diseases, such as obesity, that affect our society (Borrell-Cario et al., 2004). However, because society is constantly changing there is no perfect model for health that exists and therefore we must seek new ideas that we can incorporate in our models with the hopes that it will be applicable to the changing society.Reference ListAlonso, Y. (2004). The biopsychosocial model in medical research the evolution of the hea lth concept over the last two decades.Patient education and counseling,53(2), 239-244. inside 10.1016/S0738-3991(03)00146-0Browne, K. (2005). Health and Illness. An introduction to sociology, 3, 397-415. Retrieved from http//www.library.auckland.ac.nz.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/ereserves/2144315b.pdfBorrell-Carrio, F., Suchman, A. L., Epstein, R. M. (2004). The Biopsychosocial Model 25 Years Later Principles, Practice, and Scientific Inquiry. Annals of Family music, 2(6), 576-582. Retrieved from http//www.annfammed.org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/content/2/6/576.full.pdfBoutayeb, A. (2006). The double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in developing countries.Transactions of the magnificent society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,100(3), 191-199. Retrieved from http//trstmh.oxfordjournals.org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/content/100/3/191.fullCallabero, B. (2007). The spheric Epidemic of Obesity An Overview. Epidemiological Review, 29, 1-5. doi 10.1093/epirev/mxm012Cleland, J., Cotton, P. (Eds.). (2011).Health, Behaviour and Society clinical Medicine in Context. SAGE. Retrieved from http//books.google.co.nz/books?hl=enlr=id=BuZpuJSlNRMCoi=fndpg=PP2dq=Jennifer+Cleland,+Philip+Cotton.+(2011).+Health,+Behaviour+and+Society+Clinical+Medicine+in+Context.+ots=CSbguqMTZlsig=TvNhB4GJdQnp8m-enuFPer6J2Qgv=onepageq=modelf=falseCockerham, W.C. (2007). The social causation of health and disease. Social causes of health and disease, 1-24. Retrieved from http//www.library.auckland.ac.nz.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/ereserves/2130941b.pdfFinkelstein, E. A., Ruhm, C. J., Kosa, K. M. (2005). Economic causes and consequences of obesity.Annu. Rev. Public Health,26, 239-257. doi 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144628Jackson, J. J., Antonucci, T. C., Brown, E. (2003). A cultural lens on biopsychosocial models of aging.Advances in cell aging and gerontology,15, 221-241. Retrieved from http//books.google.co.nz/books?hl=enlr=id=kBXLPaaXPKcCoi=fndpg=PA221dq=%22biopsychosocia l+models+of+health%22ots=ToNciaJ7sosig=fZmma3Fai9VhqZm5xhCPS1oEy_wv=onepageq=%22biopsychosocial%20models%20of%20health%22f=falseJames, P. T., Leach, R., Kalamara, E., Shayeghi, M. (2001). The worldwide obesity epidemic.Obesity research,9(S11), 228S-233S. Retrieved from http//onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/10.1038/oby.2001.123/fullReidpath, D., Burns C., Garrard J., Mahoney, M., Townsend, M. (2002). An bionomic study of the relationship between social and environmental determinants of obesity. Health and Place, 8, 141-145. doi 10.1016/S1353-8292(01)00028-4Tulchinsky, T. H., Varavikova, E. A. (2000). The New Public Health an introduction for the 21st Century. San Diego Academic Press.World Health Organization. (2014). Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved from http//www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/1

The Jnanas in Meditation

The Jnanas in MeditationConcentration, the ability to detach nonp beilself from the environment and the seement of sixth awareness and later(prenominal) on Nirvana are the reasons why educatees enrol themselves in surmisal classes. Because of these, every one t individu aloneying guess should pay special(prenominal) attention in helping and control the student in attaining these goals. In this kibosh, the jnana sack up be use by the t separatelyer to enhance the students practice of supposition and depart the path to enlightenment and gaining interior(a) peace.The Jnana What is it all about?Jnana is a experimental condition that is used for most meditation practices, and can be found in former(a) writings with alter spellings depending on the language being used. The term jnana that exit be used in this module is from the Pali language. Other spellings of the word are gnana or gnaan in the Sanskrit language, or dhyana also in Sanskrit. Regardless of its spelling an d language use it, the term is used to designate the figurehead of know directge of an individual. This meaning is one of the most widely used in meditation c lands based on various religious beliefs.The meaning of the word, which is knowledge, can shift depending on what condition it is being used. Jnana and its context of knowledge revolves around an occurrence in the cognitive verbalism of the individual where something is non just learned, but experienced by the individual. Because of this close association, the knowledge that the individual can gain from an event cannot be separated from his or her actual experience of it and it attached to the reality in which the meditator has experienced the learning. In some cases, it is also connected to a sovereign being that is amaze in the textile world (or the Mahesha-dhama) like Siva-Sakti.In Buddhist practices of meditation such as the Tibetan Buddhists, jnana is used to denote a tell apart of awareness that is pure and fre e from conceptual disruptions and new(prenominal) forms of distractions. This is also used as a contradictory concept to vijnana, which is cognize as divided knowing. It is believed that when a meditator decides to practice and start practicing jnana and go done the Jnana or Bhimis, then that meditator may experience the bearing of neck stir of enlightenment and achievement of Nirvana.According to the vener adapted Mahasi Sayadaw, who is an authority in the Vipassana meditation in Buddhism, there are several(prenominal)(prenominal) nanas or knowledge as the person meditates. What the teacher must stress to his or her students is that these knowledge are to be experienced in floors chronologically. Also, it should be made clear that promotion from one stagecoach to an separate does not have a unique(predicate) time frame since it can vary from being experienced for plainly a short period of time up to several years. The colour in which these knowledge are experienced as a lso vary as well.The Jnana and SamadhiAside from being used to gain knowledge link to the experience of things, the jnanas can also be used to refer to several states of Samadhi. This occurs when the meditator has learned to detach himself or herself from attributes of his or her fountainhead in the pick up to meditate better. When this detachment is attained, the mind of the meditator would become more stable and degraded in the blocking of distractive thoughts and his or her ability to concentrate on the focalise of the mediation will be improved greatly. Samadhi is the result of this increased dumbness of the mind of the meditator practicing the jnana.As mentioned in the previous section, there are several levels of the jnana, and these levels can be applied in the practice of Samadhi as well. The term appana Samadhi is applied when the first to the ivth jnana are grouped together. This is especially unbent when the term is used by the disciples of the Buddha.The Use of t he Jnana in Buddhist TraditionsJnana has been pass on in Buddhist literatures for a long time and it is broadly speaking associated with any form of meditation. The first to the tetradth stage of jnana are considered in the former(a) Buddhist traditions as the right meditation. Because of this context in which it was used jnana has been associated mostly with the meaning it was given by the followers of the Buddha.In early Buddhist texts, it has also been found that the Buddha himself has engaged in the practice of the jnana as he was on his quest to find enlightenment. The practice of the jnana was used by the Buddha to this end because he learned that the meditation practices that he used were not in particular leading him to achieve the state of Nirvana. Prior to using the jnana, the Buddha has used otherwise forms of meditation, but because these did not lead him to Nirvana, he became disillusioned. This has led him to recall a state of meditation he did when he was a child and followed it. In the Maha-Saccaka Sutta, it was mentioned that the Buddha has entered the first jnana and he called this the path to Awakening.If the Buddha himself did the jnana and used them in his quest for Nirvana, then the teacher must stress to students of meditation that indentifying and overcoming the obstacles to concentration is necessary forraderhand they are able to enter the stages of jnana. In the Upakkilesa Sutta, the Buddha was written to be give tongue to that during the practice of meditation and the meditator starts doubting his or her capacity to carry on the meditation, the concentration would fall and the focus would be diverted. This is important to be avoided by the meditator through remaining diligent in keeping the focus of the meditation on the forefront of his or her mind and ensuring that attention is kept and not just the concentration.Because the Buddha has mentioned that the jnana is the path to achieve liberation and awakening, meditators sho uld be encouragedto develop this as well if they are in the path to liberation and awakening as well.The Stages of the JnanaPali has described all eight stages of the jnana in a appearive manner. quartet of these eight stages are called rupa jnana or meditations or form, while the other four are called arupa jnana or the formless meditations.Rupa jnana is loosely translated to mean fine material jnana. The rupa jnanas are the stages of meditation in which the meditator experiences a deeper level of collectedness of thought and concentrarion. Moreover, each level of the rupa jnana have their intrinsic qualities which are derived from each other and can disappear. The first to quaternary jnana areThe First Jnana. In this level of the jnana, the meditator experiences the presence of rapture, directed thoughts, pleasure, evaluation of thoughts, unification of the mind, mindfulness, presence of contact, feelings and scholarship, intention, consciousness, persistence, desire and atten tion.The Second Jnana. The certify jnana is manifested by the presence of pleasure and rapture, unification of the mind, contact, perception and feeling, intention, desire and consciousness, persistence, finish and attention, equanimity and mindfulness. Also, in this level, there is the presence of internal assurance.The Third Jnana. This stage includes the feeling of equanimity-pleasure, contact, perception, feeling, intention, desire, consciousness, persistence, decision, mindfulness, attention and equanimity.The Fourth Jnana. The fourth level stage of the jnana is correspond by the presence of an unconcern based on the presence of serenity of awareness a feeling of equanimity, presence of unification of the mind and the other things that are experienced in the earlier stages of the jnana.Apart from the things occurring in each of the first to the fourth jnanas, there are qualities that remain specific to each stage. In the first jnana, there is the presence of subtlest forms of mental movement and the complete disappearance of the fivesome hindrances. Moreover, intense and unified form of bliss cadaver and the persons capacity to have unwholesome intentions stops. The second jnana is cerebrate to the cessation of all mental movements and the experience of bliss. In the third jnana, gaiety that is considered to be one half of the feeling of bliss disappears from the perception of the individual. And at last in the fourth jnana, happiness which is the other half of the feeling of bliss disappears and leading to the neutral feeling of neither pain nor pleasure. Also, it is express that this state renders the breathing of the person to temporarily cease.The arupa jnanas, of the formless meditation contains the other four stages of jnana. These states of the jnanas are written in literatures as formless or immaterial. This led this to be called as the Formless propertys in some translation and has helped in distinguishing it apart from the first four jnanas. Contrary to the other stages, these four are used to expand the presence of the concentration that is attained from the first to the fourth jnanas. Also, when the eight jnana has been attained, the meditator can experience enlightenment and complete dwelling in emptiness. The four jnanas in the arupa jnanas areThe Dimension of Infinite Space. In this proportionality of the jnanas, the pursuit qualities are removed from consciousness such as the straightforwardness of the mind, perception of the holding of the boundlessness of space, attention, equanimity, decision, persistence, mindfulness, feeling, perception, contact, intention, desire, and consciousness.The Dimension of Infinite Consciousness. In this stage of the jnana, the following qualities of the mind of the meditator are eliminated like the perception of the dimension if the infinitude of consciousness, contact, feeling, unification of the mind, consciousness, intention, desire, perception, persistence, decisi on, attention, equanimity and mindfulness.The Dimension of tip. In this dimension of the jnana, the perception of the dimension of nothingness, contact, the singleness of mind, perception, feelings, intention, desire, consciousness, decision, mindfulness, persistence, attention and equanimity are ferreted out from the mind of the meditator.The Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. In this final stage and dimension of the jnanas, no qualities or characteristics of the mind of the meditator are to be ferreted out, instead, the individual experiences awakening.NOTE The teacher would have to stress out to the student that although the two stages, the Dimension of Nothingness and the Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception are considered to be part of the jnanas that are described by the Buddha as part of the path to enlightenment, they are not part of the Noble Eightfold Path. This is because according to the Eightfold Path, the last is the Samma Samadhi or the Right Concentration. This is hardly part of the first to the fourth jnanas, and therefore considered to be just the start of attaining concentration. The teacher must therefore take his or her student through all the stages of the jnanas with the focus on the stage of having his or her perceptions and feelings cease to exist.E.The Nirodha-SamapattiIn his path to attaining Nirvana the Buddha has made a find higher than the eight stage of the jnanas, or the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is called the nirodha-samapatti, or the cessation of feelings and perceptions, and is sometimes considered to be the 9th jnana.The Jnanas and the Attainment of brain waveBuddhist texts present the thought that if a meditator was able to progress into the ninth stage of the jnana or the stage of the nirodha-samapatti later on(prenominal)(prenominal) going through all the eight stages of the jnana, liberation is attained.The meditator uses the jnana in an effort to rest the mind and to localise and strengthen it in the process. When this happens, he or she will be able to focus the attention into finding out the true disposition of the dhamma and go on the quest to higher forms of knowledge. In this way, it can be said that the more time the meditator stays in the state of jnana, his or her mind becomes more powerful and sharper as a result.Moreover, because the presence of the five hindrances are controlled or suppressed for an extended period of time after the meditator enters the jnana, he or she will be able to feel clearer, will be full of compassion, mindful, and experience the feeling light and peaceful after meditating. Despite this positive results that the jnana brings to meditators, teachers should warn their students that they should not mistake this or arrogate for this to be the stage of enlightenment.What the teacher has to the student is that the practice of jnana alone cannot lead him or her to enlightenment, but it can help hi m or her suppress the presence of defilements that disrupt meditation. The meditators should use the jnana as a tool to develop deeper sense of knowledge and as a means to cultivate their cleverness on things which can help them to attain Nirvana.In the Theravada Buddhist tradition translation made in the Visuddhimagga, the meditato is usually found in the state of post-jnana portal concentration after he or she comes out of the jnana. When in this state, the meditator would be able to carry out the analysis and investigation of the true nature of phenomena and how they begin, develop insight into the characteristic impermanence of things and of suffering and the non-self. These things can only be experienced by the meditator if he or she practices the core concepts of the Buddhas teachings.If the Visuddhimagga has included that the practice of vipassana is done after the person emerges from the jnana, it is contradicted by what is written on the suttas. In these works, it is sai d that the meditator can practice vipassana and gain insight while in the jnana. In fact, it encourages the meditator to stay in the fourth jnana after entering it so that the presence of mental defilements are removed and uprooted before working to attain insight can be started. restraint of the JnanasA successful entry and attainment of the jnana cannot be achieved if the person would just progress from one state after the other only. This means that for the meditator to fully agnize the jnanas, he or she would have to attain a mastery the present state he or her is doing first before wanting to go on to higher stages. This mastery will help the meditator to easily enter and leave the jnanas at will and experience them when he or she requires it. another(prenominal) benefit of this is that it will avoid the confusion that can occur later on when the manifestations of a lower level of jnana shows itself in the higher states.The following aspects of jnana mastery should be included by the teacher in instructing and guiding as student meditator in to higher jnanas in the quest to attain insight, liberation and enlightenment.Mastery in adverting. In this aspect of mastery, the student meditator should be taught on how to advert certain factors of thejnanas especially when the meditator has just emerged from it. This, he or she should be able to do at will.Mastery in attaining. This aspect allows the meditator to quickly enter the jnana quickly.Mastery in resolving. This happens when the meditator is able to remain in the jnana for a certain period of time.Mastery in emergent. The mastery of emerging allows the meditator to emerge from a stage of jnana quickly and without any perceived difficulty.Mastery in reviewing. This occurs when there is an ability on the part of the meditator to review the jnana and other factors related to it while gaining knowledge in the process.ReferencesRichard Shankman,The Experience of Samadhi an in discernment Exploration of Bu ddhist Meditation, Shambala publications 2008Venerable Sujivo,Access and Fixed Concentration. Vipassana Tribune, Vol 4 No 2, July 1996, Buddhist wiseness Centre, Malaysia.Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston Wisdom Publications.ISBN 0-86171-331-1.Henepola Gunaratana,The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation.Pali CanonsAnguttara NikayaandDhammapada, by John T. Bullitt.Jhanas Advice Information about the Jhanas from Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder, authors ofPracticing The Jhanas traditionalistic Concentration Meditation As Presented By The Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw by Snyder, Stephen Rasmussen, Tina. Shambhala 2009.ISBN 978-1-59030-733-5Jeffrey S, Brooks,The Fruits (Phala) of the Contemplative Life

Website Proposal For Holiday Inn Hotel Tourism Essay

Website Proposal For pass auberge Hotel Tourism leavenThe shrinking domain of a sportction is expanding the outreach of tourists. No much than do hotels be in possession of a fully staffed backlog dep devicement with man epochrs, assistant managers, supervisors and agents. The internet has conveniently replaced legion(predicate) peal c altogethers, faxes and payment issues. Now cap adequateness guests just dial a toll-free number or book right awayly on the internet. consort to Forrester Research 32% of hotels r hithertoues come through with(predicate) online bookings. They include both direct reservations and those made through third party websites. The hold up sedulousness eachocates 29% of its foodstuffing bud charter to online merc heapiseing. (Cullen)This is so because the importance of integration of E-Commerce with communication channel st dictategies is realized. This is too because the nature of the traveler and travelling is changing. Pre displace day t ravelers ar hyper- synergistic, who are texting, tweeting, emailing, communicating with friends via face book and commenting on their current or anterior travels.The advent of social media and mobile Web room that potential guests for the cordial reception persistence have continuous access to multi- line of merchandise interaction and sharing opinions. thereof hotel websites have to be designed in order to handle this hyper-interactive user. gum olibanum hotel websites finish buoy no longer be static brochures with stale and slow scene. (Max Starkov).Back groundThe spend society hotel is a subsidiary of the IHG stem of companies. It is a fool which remains consistent towards the board. Guests at the 1874 vacation student lodging hotels around the world chicane that they ordain be treated con fontrably and have certain level of expectations regarding the service. In fact the idea for the spend youth hostel hotels came into the mind of its fo downstairs, Kemmon s Wilson, when he was disappointed with the consistency of road view motels during a trip to Washington DC. Consistency is a great prefer when it comes to providing services. The art of total quality management lies with the cordial reception greats like Marriott, Hilton and of coer Holiday student lodging yet when it comes to social media policies and the ever changing world of the internet consistency has a huge down side.Consistency is non the except key feature of the Holiday auberge hotels and resorts. student lodgingovation goes side by side with consistency. Holiday Inn hotels were the first ones to introduce the Holidex reservation system giving its competitors a run for money. Holiday Inn hotels likewise initiated the idea for indoor pools, termed Holidromes, turning its hotels into resorts. This innovation and comfort, which is the landmark of the Holiday Inn hotels, should be made evident in the hotel website.With the advent of sequence, Holiday Inn is now an established name in mid surpass provision of cordial reception. This midscale travel market consists of 43% of travelers worldwide. (Hospital and tourism manufacturing reportQ2 2010) and is the sector of the tourism labor which faces the highest ambition. With the tourism industry recovering from the economic depression of 2009, the number of tourists is increasing, merely at the same time the refreshed tourist is much share conscious and e-savvy. With social medias burgeoning levels and websites like tripadvisor advising tourists on the wide range of alimentation options available, the tourist might not fall for the reliability of defect call as the previous guests were.The increasing travel trend resulting from economic recuperation in any case means that the internet is bombarded with tourism randomness. This is so because due to economic conditions numerous hotel websites were aban dod during the past two years. The waking up of hoteliers means that refreshed websites are profoundly contrasting as they now render to a different inventory distri notwithstandingion system, social media and cross channel marketing. Al more or less all new-sprung(prenominal) websites cater to mobile web applications and so does the Holiday Inn website.With maturationd globalization of the economy and increased competition hotels force outnot rely on their past successes. Holiday Inn and IHG are retract to know this healthy as the hotel bowed stringed instrument lost considerable market share in the 1980s. it is alone after its re launch in 2007 that the hotel has again captured some part of its market segment. At the time of the re launch, the new hotel website was also launched.Consumers that visit the hotel website catch a user intimate environment. The site digest fors availability exposit, locations, room features and descriptions of the surrounding area. plainly provision of these dilate is not decent for the highly competitive cordial reception industry. Holiday Inn hotels needs to develop a website which highlights its core competencies, tackles competition from market rivals and eliminates the talk terms power of buyers.During the pre recession times, visitants were more satisfied with the Holiday Inn website than the industry average. This entropy was deployed from studies based on 31 websites of carrying hospitality brands. It suss out data based on the five roughly crucial belongingss of a visitants online experience. They were navigation, content, interactivity, motive and adoption. The customer rejoicing was generally higher ranking in the 92nd percentile. (Website gaiety Soars at intercontinental Hotels Group)In the year 2007, the content dimension was an area of strength for the website. The amount of details countenanced covered a bulky range of aspects of visitant concern. Couplight-emitting diode with this was the fact that the data was very(prenominal)(prenominal) well structured an d leisurely to navigate. This led to an adoption rating higher than the industry average, pointing to future site referrals and a grueling likelihood to return. The website also fostered brand loyalty. harmonise to Sasha Paine, an analyst at iperceptions, There is no clearer indicator of a sites effectiveness than its ability to build loyalty among its visitants.(Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group)The new virtual market place allows little(a) companies to compete with industry giants. This means that Holiday Inn faces competition not just from hotel gyves like Ramada and Hilton unless also from small hotels. By human faceing at the hotel website we fuck easily project out that the website is high in content. The most critical partition, which is the reservations section, is right in front for customer ease. The reservations section helps finds locations and provide all details regarding the Holiday Inn hotel in the area to be visited. On the down side it is known that only 32% of visitors visit a hotels website to pass reservations. (Hospital and tourism industry reportQ2 2010) The rest visit either to find cultivation or to compare values. For visitors who are not lured by the brand into booking, the website should be appealing and catchy enough to en true adoption or at least a revisit.But what the website lacks is targeting new customer strategies. It seems that contradictory separate websites which appeal to new guests by providing reasons for staying at their hotels, the Holiday Inn relies on its brand name and preconceived notions most its excellence to get potential guests to make reservations. What is not realized is that website design is an illustrative art and making correct use of this art might ensure that visitors go forth not have to change rascals or scroll down for the require information. A look at the key competitor Ramadas website demonstrates this very well. though the reservation section is sti ll on the main foliate of the site, the inauguration window encompasses lots more than only the reservation section. It eyes potential customers and not just visitors by ensuring that new deals are right under the visitors nose.The slideshow of the Holiday Inn website is not very creative and is short with only 4 slides. Though it instantly appeal to the comfort factor and attracts business travelers immediately. The family and friends factor and fun travelling and living is excluded from the slide show. In phone line other websites have wider navigation menus and longer, swifter slideshows. Websites are use rich media foreg the Pueblo oceanic bonito website and the Atlantis hotel in Dubai. Websites foreg theurbansuites.com are also trying to split visitors by demographics and visitor types to provide custom services. Websites have an increasing number of testimonials, blog relate and some even have the press singing their praises. (Mackenzie) This you attitude sedulous by the website and marketing strategy appeals to visitors.This paper looks at the need for ontogenesis a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is make by e- look backs and discover visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are accordingly pilen regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it provide be very important to pay due trouble to either reconstructing or renovating the website if needed.The new website can be develop by outsourcing the schooling of the website to some leading website developers specially related to the hospitality industry. budgetary allocations result have to be m ade. They include consultancy costs, advertisement of the new website, anticipate railway locomotive optimisation costs and website development and mantainence. Research go awaying have to be made on the percentage of tax incomes generated by the website, the potential for development and the amount competitors allocate towards online marketing and website development. Budget allocation and trends in the hospitality website industry along with weaknesses in the current website exit provide guidelines for the new website.RationaleThe hotel marketing industry is a booming industry which caters entirely to hospitality providers. Surveys are done and look intoes made to find out close visitor and guest behaviors. These interrogationes instigate hotel marketing advisors in development of new websites and to target customers. Special online disciplines are designed to get visitor opinions and rate their satisfaction. Some of the works done in this regard areThe Iperceptions s atisfaction indexIt is the only metric device to measure exclusively customer satisfaction with an online channel. It provides advice to hoteliers on data mining and analyzes that data to provide results and draw conclusions.The hospitality and tourism industry reportThis caters to timely changes in the hospitality and tourism industry providing hoteliers with the current trends and predicting the future condition of the market.Best practices in Hotel website design by Hospitality e-business strategies.A report prepared by hospitality e-business industries which looks at the importance of websites for hotels and outlines ways to do so.Best Practices for maximise Your Hotels Online Revenue ROI by Kathreen Cullen. This white paper is a survey which as the name suggests helps hotels maximize their online revenue.Although the content of these reports and many others which try to integrate E-Commerce with hospitality are industry particularized but they provide broad guidelines for th e Holiday Inn hotels.This paper pull up stakes focus on how the Holiday Inn hotels should conduct its explore? what would be the methodology of research and what strategies would be involved. The limitations of the research and the potential for advanced features on the Holiday Inn website provide also be discussed.As Del Ross, vice president of Americas Distribution marketing for IHG, claims We real believe in the paramount value of knowing our customers and capturingtheir opinions in the context of their actual online experiences by implementing im makements research for the new website will be have-to doe with around customer opinion and satisfaction.Data collection and methodology.Advanced research methods will have to be employed to gather data from website visitors. According to Cooper and Schindler (Methods) soft studies may be combined with quantitative ones to increase the perceived quality of the research, especially when a quantitative study follows a qualitative on e and provides validation for the qualitative findings. There is a strong suggestion deep down the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is opera hat thought of as complementary (Malhotra) and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. Both qualitative and quantitative data caboodles will have to be used. Since customer satisfaction regarding the website has to be measures, offline data collection can prove to be useless and mundane.Online data collection approach can be utilized in two ways and can result in both objective and subjective responses. The difficult part approximately this research is that though secondary data relevant to the industry is abundant, but none of this will be specific to the Holiday Inn hotel. Thus researchers wi ll have to gather primary data from the scratch, analyze it and form conclusions approximately the current state of the hotel website.Sampling methodsThe sampling method will more often than not be a non probability method as the only visitors cannot be forced to entertain part in the research. Probability sampling will be reserved for a small focus sort. quantifiable research will depend upon visitors and visitors will only participate in qualitative research by choice.Quota method of sampling will be the most convenient. This is so because only potential travelers should be included in the research. only(prenominal) concourse with annual income supra $50000 will be sampled. Population below this income group generally is discover not to travel frequently. Similarly other characteristics of current guests can be used to find the different quotas which should be used in sampling. This kind of sampling will make it insurmountable to assess the sampling error as the results w ill not be representative of the population as a whole.Focus groups of targeted market will need to be used. Since the current website of the hotel and the general notion rough the hotel chain is that it caters to mostly business travelers, business travelers can be selected randomly. They can be chosen from firms where work entails frequent travelling. These business travelers will be because asked to navigate through the website and answer relevant scruples roughly the website content, ease of navigation, interactivity and adoption. The results can be classified and and becausece visitor perceptions about the different aspects of the website can be rated. They will provide a clear guideline about the positive and negative aspects of the website. This focus group will be pair with quantitative and qualitative data. The focus group technique will allow better screening of the focus group respondents to ensure that they are the people whom the hotel is most pleaseed in and th us provides an in-depth insight.Descriptive data from the survey and the questionnaire will reveal information that could not be easily explained by the statistics from quantitative data.This survey will be special to a very small population of potential Holiday Inn customers. It can be both biased and non-representative of the actual feelings of the general public. But this data will target the largest niche of current customers.Gathering quantitative dataQuantitative data can be gathered by observing visitor behavior on the website. It can be done on a large scale on the website. The behavior observed includes number of clicks, time on site, no of visitors who made a reservation, net promoter heaps and the page from where visitors are exiting. Relationships between variables can be observed. This can be done from web analytics of the website. The sample size from this kind of web analytics has to be large and therefore will have to be done over a period of time.For much of its h istory, web analytics has been concerned with measuring behavioral phenomena. Unique visitor counts, pages viewed/visit, time on site, bounce rates, click through rates, ad impressions, and, more recently, rich internet application events haveBut studying clicks alone can neer tell more than a part of the visitors story and will never bring to light avowedly engagement data. Behavioral analytics is akin to paleontology, in the sense that it presents a ossified record of a visitors site experience, at least as much as can be captured through page tags with optimal cookie deletion rates. However much scientists study the material implements of the past, however, they will never truly be able to gauge whether people were happy and led meaningful lives. This is the primary shortcoming of behavioral research the tracks a visitor leaves are necessarily incomplete without knowing intent, attitude, and satisfaction. Further, engagement indices will continuously be hollow metrics unles s they can be made to scotch for loyalty, trust, and advocacy (iperceptions)Gathering qualitative data.Qualitative research will take more time and preparation. Different sampling methods and full time researchers will have to be employed to monitor data. The basic format will be inviting all visitors to the website for a short survey or questionnaire. It will have to be ensured that the questionnaire is short and to the point yet it is fulfilling the purpose. This is necessary because renunciation of questionnaires will lead not only to loss of data but will also cause distaste for the website in visitors.Like all qualitative and naturalistic research methods, questions will have to be developed which are clear and unambiguous but open to change as the research develops. It is necessary because both qualitative and quantitative research goes hand in hand. It is qualitative research which will give a holistic view of the complexities which the website poses to its visitors.In the course of the survey visitors will be asked to provide scores for the website attributes related to their online experience. Each of these attributes will be related to specific dimensions of the website. It can include questions such as whether the visitor likes the site enough to recommend it to another friend or colleague. The scaling can be done on a 1 to 10 scale ranging from very bad to outstanding. The attribute sets that will be selected will be in accordance with both the E-commerce and hospitality industry standards. They will be content, navigation, motivation and interactivity in this case. It might also address the most crucial section of the website which is the reservations section.Thus the questions to be addressed areNavigationWebsite functionality must be intuitive and easy-to-use. If visitors are cannot find the information they desire, they may lose interest and move on to another hotels site. It is also important to be sure that hotels provide the capability to allow customers to book via the method of their choice such as mobile and smart phone technology.ContentThe website must provide all necessary information. This information should not only be limited to the hotel but also about the area and activities where the hotel is located. The content of the website should be accurate, up-to-date, exact and relevant.InteractivityThis will address questions about the visitors ease of communication with the website and therefore the hoteliers. It measures functionality, collaboration, informational exchange, and the intuitiveness of transactional tools. motiveThis measures whether the online content matches with the services the hotel provides. It questions whether the customers feel that the site was trustworthy and if their time on the site was well spent.All these factors eventually answer one question and that is of adoption. This is the main factor of concern for the Holiday Inn hotels that whether the visitor will re-visit the website o r refer the website to somebody else.Potential for new featuresNew amour propre websites can be added which cater to different locales. It should be ensured that the feel of the different websites remains the same but better search engine optimization can be achieved.The Holiday Inn website can be optimized in two ways. It is the need of the time to modify the contents for Search Engine optimization.The second is the renovation and restructuring of the website.New website design optic contentIt has been observed that the Holiday Inn website has a subtle color appeal. It stands true to provide to business travelers as they can visualize themselves in that situation. But at the same time excludes a large travelling class. A glimpse at the Marriott hotel website speaks wads about integrating target markets at one place. A come on of color on some place in the Holiday Inn website will provide the required energy to indicate that the hotel welcomes both fun and families.Selling trave l is all about selling a vision, a dream-an intangible product. Rich media and its many formats-from photos and visual galleries, to characterizations and virtual tours, e-postcards, web cams, interactive maps, etc.-can truly present your travel product and make it tangible and real. 72 percent of US Internet users view video online on the same scale as network television and 89% of users surveyed said video influenced their booking decision.Usability surveys about hotel websites show that the majority of users ideate hotel websites are miss or need more pictures and imagesThe website can also add more visual content as the number of slides on the main page slide show is only 4 and only targets limited listening. The website can make use of good photography which provide more details about rooms and amenities.Demand generator content.The website should add more localise content to each of its franchise content sites. This will not only aid in showing up on search engines but a description of the area and the activities of the areas helps visitors thus creating better chances of adoption.More navigation options can be introduced on the main page as even though the current website has a high content percentage but the visitor has to scroll and search for it. More tools can easily be added in the navigation tool bar without making the site look congested.ScalabilityThe website platform should have the ability to grow with the needs of the growing Hotel Inn. Holiday Inn is launching new hotels so it should be ensured that the new website keeps footprint with both the rapidly changing face of the hotel as well as the fast changing tourism industry. Thus new development should be both easy and inexpensive. It should be easy to add new pages without the move visitor to find a change which hinders his navigation.ConclusionThe rapid stones throw of change of tourism industry and the changing face of the traveler requires the Holiday Inn hotel to maintain a web site which is intuitive and adaptative. Regarding this concern quantitative data can be analyzed from the websites web analytics. An understanding of this quantitative data can be done by a focus group survey of the target market and online questionnaires.Visitors to the website can be surveyed about their views about the website. This will be random non-probability sampling. The questions have to be short and heavyset as target specific attribute. This is to ensure that the visitor does not forswear the survey midway.After the online survey, a deep understanding can be gauged by using a focus group. This can be done either online or offline. The focus group can be small but chosen by quota or snowball sampling. The target audience should be used as the part of the focus group. The sample can be small but the questionnaire has to be extremely expound. This will address all questions which arose from the satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the online survey participants.The final data set will lead to a certain conclusion about the visitor satisfaction index. This can be used to provide guidelines about visitor expectations from the website and how and how much the website should be modified. The modified website will lead to higher revenue and return on investment.Online questionnaireBased on todays visit, how would you rate your site experience over all?Very badBadFair not bad(predicate)OutstandingWhich of the following best describes the primary purpose of your visit? birth a reservationCompare ratesFind more informationView/cancel reservationOther please specifyWere you able to complete the task you visited the website for?YesNoWhat do you value most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What did you most dislike about the website? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________Would you recommend the site to somebody?YesNoIf you answered in negative to the previous question, why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Would you recommend any changes to the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________How did you do at the website?Typed the URL in the browserSearch engine advertizementLink on a BlogAnother websiteLink sent by somebodyOther. Please specify _______________________________________________The offline questionnaire presented to the focus group. This will be modified according to the response generated from the online website survey. It will be more detailed so as to sound explanations of the data derived can be provided.Offline questionnaireWhat is your age category?15-20 years20-35 years35-60 years60 or aboveWhat i s your gender?MaleFemaleAre you single or matrimonial?SingleMarriedYour email address? _____________________________________________________________________How often do you travel?More than four times a year.Twice or thrice a year.Once a yearLess than once a yearIs your travel related to work most of the time?YesNoDo you always make your bookings online?YesNoWhat features of the website did you use?_____________________________________________________________________Did each page load quickly enough?YesNoOn a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent rate the followingReservation procedureWebsite speedEase of navigationVisual appealInformationYour overall satisfactionWas the reservation process economical?YesNoWere you tempted were you to abandon the reservation process midway?YesNoIf yes then why? Choose one that is applicableTechnical difficultiesRate issues difficultness in findingUn intimate websiteOther. Please specify ________________________________________________ ______________Did you easily find what you were smell for?YesNoDid the website design confuse you?YesNoWas the language easy to understand?YesNoWas navigation comfortable?YesNoWas the information you were looking for easy to findYesNoWas the information useful?YesNoWas the information detailed?YesNoWas the information accurate?YesNoWas the information up-to-date?YesNoDid you like the appearance of the website?YesNoDo you commend more visuals should be added to the website?YesNoIf yes, do you think it will make the hotel more appealing?YesNoWill a more detailed, illustrative website, aid or hinder you in your work?YesNoDo you think the overall design of the website can be improved?YesNoIf yes then how? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Can the website alone without the Holiday Inn brand name lead you to make a reservation?YesNoWhat did you like the most about the website?________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What did you dislike most about the website?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What problems if any did you face when navigating the website?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Was the website user friendly?YesNoIf no why not?Would you recommend the website to someone you know?YesNoIf no, then why not? __________________________________________________________________Would you navigate the site from your phone?YesNoIf no then why not? _____________________________________________________________________Do you think your time on the website was well spent?YesNoIf no then why not?_____________________________________________________________________What are your overall suggestions for the website? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Field guidelinesThe research survey will look at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to