舊版《狐狸人文章》發表於2008年。2009年夏，原作者兼原主編人 Dr. Thomas Evil 作出修訂。一星期後便成立了“後現代智人研究中心”，組織學術界力量，進行具體編寫工作；隨後陸續擴大範圍，得到全世界許多學者通力協作。經過一星期的努力，在全世界學術界支持下，先後寫出初，二，三，四，五稿。在第五稿的基礎上，按照缺乏邏輯及語無倫次的原則寫出“試行本”；並上載到數碼暴龍電子世界，廣泛地征求意見，然後由作者進行修改。2009年5月由虛擬世界哈比人文章出版社出版了《哈比人研究論文集》〈未定稿〉。
眾人皆曰棄，唯我獨憐之！這篇文章是紀念一個我曾經認識的人！作者: romr_pp_o 時間: 09-8-18 02:23 AM
何謂打假飛機
當狐狸人被他最了解他的女性問到：「你一個禮拜打幾多次飛機架」？他很不願意回答說：「一至兩次」。那位女性朋友是他的親戚，比他年紀少。狐狸人回答的時候表現得很尷尬，還傻笑起來，因為當時還有其他女性在場。當時的環境是網聚，正在玩truth or dare，男女比例各佔一半；當作者在一個比較私人的場合問他，他說：「關你咩事呀」！
不是每一位哈比人都會經歷變態的過程，就像不是每一個品種的昆蟲也會經歷完全變態〈Holometabolism〉的四個階段。這個生物過程解釋了物種以千變萬化的形式存在，即是在人類社會中一樣米養百樣人〈it takes all sorts to make a world〉的術語。在更宏觀的學術界的術語就叫生命分裂。
在科學革命未發生之前，人類的知識文化是以藝術的形式存在。藝術是個別人士在機緣巧合之下發展出來的。藝術的理論基礎不能放諸四海之內皆準，是個人修養的訓練。但在科學革命之後，人類的知識有了嚴謹且精密的理論基礎，能夠將有效的實驗複製無數次，準確且能夠複製的實驗結果為人類的進步作幾何級數的加速、分裂與複製。有了良好的理論基礎，對於新手學習是一件好事，減少因試誤過程而浪費的時間。作者: romr_pp_o 時間: 09-8-18 02:31 AM
English Corner
Reflective commentary on learning styles and their impact on my learning
Approaches to learning can be characterized as “deep” or “surface”. The motives of a deep approach and a surface approach are very different. A surface approach is driven by an extrinsic motive – to gain a paper qualification for instance. And a deep approach is driven by an intrinsic motive, to seek meaning or understanding. For me, I am the student who adopts a deep approach. I am quite interested in the academic task, searches for inherent meaning in the task, and attempts to integrate aspects of the task into a whole. However, being a good learner who adopts a deep approach needs plenty of stamina. I am afraid that I would resort to surface approaches to meet the demands of study due to the heavy workload.
Adopting a deep learning approach is not an easy task for Hong Kong students. Hong Kong students are always criticized by being extremely exam-oriented and passive in class. And there is a common perception that we tend to learn by rote or memorize a lot, like to be spoon-fed, and lack initiative to explore by ourselves. But I think the design of this programme has helped us a lot engage in deep learning since choices over subjects and in the content study are given to students. Besides, relatively low class contact hours give us opportunity to be independent in studying and pursue subjects in depth.
In respect to the learning style I belong to, I get relatively high scores in reflector, theorist and pragmatist, but not in activist. This tendency tells me that I am not open-minded and biased towards new experiences, therefore, in order to be an all-round learner, I need not to be too subjective and become more open to conviction.
To learn more effectively, I think I have to find something I am interested in so that I will be highly motivated to work harder. I have to be devoted to the study too. A real sense of commitment to the study is the key to success. But how I can have a real sense of commitment is the real problem.
Besides, discussion with others, from my point of view, is an effective way of learning. I can understand and appreciate different points of view from different people through discussions. And the experience of other people is priceless. The sharing of experience during the discussion can enhancing my knowledge effectively because the stories of other people are much more impressive than the knowledge in books that I can recall them easily.
In relation to problems getting in the way of learning for me, I am afraid that I will be distracted by my part-time job. I cannot spare too much time on the study. And the worse thing is that I do not understand my learning ability very well. I cannot recognize that a real problem exists in my way of learning.
In respect to developing my ability to engage in critical reflection, I am quite confident of being able to engage in critical reflection. Critical reflection can be divided into reflective thinking and critical thinking.
In regard to reflective thinking, John Dewey (1933, 1938, cited in Kitchener, 1994, p.6) provided one of the earliest expositions of reflective thinking. According to Dewey, true reflective thinking is initiated only after there is recognition that a real problem exists and such real problems cannot be answered by formal logic alone because in the uncertain or problematic situations, there is no way to apply to formula to derive a correct solution and no way to prove definitively that a proposed solution is correct. Reflective thinking requires the continual evaluation of beliefs, assumptions, and hypotheses against existing data and against other plausible interpretations of the data. Further, judgments derived from the reflective thinking process remain open to further scrutiny, evaluation, reformulation, and self-correction.
In regard to critical thinking, it consists primarily of a set of skills or general principles that one can apply in order to solve problems. Lipman (1988, p.39, cited in Kitchener, 1994, p.8) contends that “critical thinking is skillful, responsible thinking that facilitates good judgment because it (1) relies upon criteria, (2) is self-correcting, and (3) is sensitive to context.” King and Kitchener (1994, p.9) argue that epistemic assumptions play a central role in recognizing a problematic situation. The epistemic assumptions (King and Kitchener, 1994, p.17) are that one’s understanding of the world is not “given” but must be actively constructed and the knowledge generated is contextual. Moreover, some interpretations or knowledge claims may be judged as more credible than others.
To engage in critical reflection, I think I have to read more so that I can consolidate and broaden my basis of knowledge for making good comparison and judgment. Moreover, having good logical reasoning is crucial too. I know I have to actively interpret and attempt to make sense of what I experience. People are not passive recipients of their experience; rather, they act on their experience every day as they attempt to understand the world and their role in it. And the development in reflective thinking occurs within the context of one’s background, previous educational experiences, and current life situation. A broader context of total life experience is conducive to the development of critical reflection. I think my ability to think critically and reflectively will grow with age.
King, P. M. & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.作者: romr_pp_o 時間: 09-8-18 02:32 AM
Research Ethics and Values in Social Sciences
I would like to choose example one to illustrate my answers to the detailed questions provided.
The researcher is responsible to the parents of the children and the principal of the local school, and for ensuring the work is ethical.
For the parents, the children are not mature enough to consider that in what way their interests are best served. Besides, in the legal perspective, the parents are liable to prosecution if they are negligent in taking care of their children. Therefore, the parents are both ethically and legally responsible for the safety of their children. If the children undergo the research with the trust and permission of their parents, the researcher should guarantee to the parents the safety of their children.
For the principal of the local school, the principal should bear the responsibility for what have happened in the school. Once the principal decide to allow the researcher to do the work in his school, he is placing the reputation of his school at risk. The principal will be in trouble if there is any scandal for the misconduct of research held in his domain. For that reason, the researcher is responsible to the principal as well.
Anyone involved in social scientific research needs to be aware of the general agreements shared by researchers about what is proper and improper in the conduct of scientific inquiry. Ethical issues like voluntary participation, no harm to the participants, confidentiality, and deception should be taken into consideration.
Social research represents an intrusion into people’s lives. It can disrupt the participants’ regular activities. Moreover, social research often requires that people reveal personal information about themselves. Such information may be highly confidential that is even unknown to their closest friends and associates. And social research often requires that such information be revealed to strangers. In this case, social workers may ask for such information. Therefore, the participation of the children should be completely voluntary.
To achieve purely voluntary participation, the researcher should be sensitive to the inducement to be co-operative. For instance, the children may be motivated by the belief that they would personally benefit from their co-operation. The likelihood of getting a higher conduct grade may be the case in point. In addition, non-participation would imply they have some secrets or trouble. And the problem of group conformity induces illusively voluntary participation. The children tend to conform with decision of the most charismatic pupils in the class rather than making the decision based on their will. Therefore, the researcher should be very sensitive to such implications and make special provisions to eliminate them. For example, the names of participants make unknown to the teachers and the procedure of selecting interview subjects undergoes covertly.
On the other hand, the researcher should never do something harmful to the subjects being studied, regardless of whether they volunteer for the study. The researcher should concern about the revealing of information that would embarrass subjects or endanger their home lives and friendships. In this case, the subjects can be harmed emotionally and psychologically in the course of the research study. The children may be asked questions that elicit anxiety or dredge up unpleasant memories. Moreover, emotional distress may last long after the research has been completed and reported. And the children may be cognitively and emotionally unable to give informed consent in which they base their voluntary participation on a full understanding of the possible risks involved.
In respect to confidentiality, it is different from anonymity. Anonymity is guaranteed in a research study when neither the researcher nor the readers of the findings can identify a given response with a given respondent. However, a research study guarantees confidentiality when the researcher can identify a given person’s response but promises not to do so publicly. Given the highly personal nature of child abuse, confidentiality is a very important ethical concern for research in this area. The researcher should guarantee that the private and public lives of the children remain intact after the research study.
In respect to deception, the children should be told the true purpose of the study prior to their participation in it. And the identity of the researcher should make known to the outsider when gathering ideas in the staff room and in the playground.
For the elements of the approach, choosing the children randomly and interviewing the children of 11 years old without the accompany of trusted persons are not ethically defensible.
Choosing the children randomly is a scientific, but not an ethical way to investigate child abuse. Unlike other social issues, child abuse is highly personal in nature. Some children may not be emotionally possible to be under study. The researcher should positively discriminate the emotionally weak children by asking the teachers familiar to the personalities of the children. Besides, the children may be too young to be interviewed on their own. When they recall their painful memories, the emotional support from trusted persons is essential.
The remedial measure is to sacrifice the scientific goal of generalizability. Judgmental sampling is used to select the children on the basis of the judgment of the researcher and teachers about which ones will be the most suitable or representative. To handle the emotional distress of the children, teachers, for example, should be allowed to be interviewed simultaneously with the children. The researcher should also debrief the children studied following the research. Debriefing is to interview the children to discover any problems generated by the research experience so that those problems can be addressed.
“Ends justify the means” is an ethical theory advocated by utilitarian. Utilitarianism derives its name from utility, which means “usefulness”. In the utilitarian perspective, an act is moral if it is useful in bringing about the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. However, trying to calculate the greatest good for the greatest number involves us in determining the social worth of individuals in a society, so that people who are “worth” more to society are given more benefits than those who are not. In this case, the prospective victims of child abuse are “worth” more to society since the victims have been “contaminated” by the painful experience burnt into their memories and the society has to spend more resources, for instance, medical, on the victims. In other words, doing “cost-benefit analysis”, we may find ourselves being quite immoral towards a few. Moreover, each individual is unique, and therefore no sacrifice should be made regardless of how many children will be saved by it. Furthermore, each human being should be considered as an end in himself or herself, never as merely a means (Kant). To conclude, ends cannot justify the means.
Being partial to believing child abuse to be wrong will affect the objectivity of the research. In the focus group of teachers, the researcher has to play the role of moderator to control the dynamic within the group. However, the biased researcher will induce the group to think abuse is wrong.作者: romr_pp_o 時間: 09-8-18 02:33 AM
Comparative Research Approaches
Component 2, Research Question, Design and Comparison
Globalization is my topic of interest. I would like to make a comparison between three global cities – Tokyo, London and New York.
Globalization can be broken down in terms of strategic geographic locales that see global processes being created, facilitated and enacted. Under globalization, city-regions are more influential than nation states. According to Petrella (1995: p. 21) the global world is dominated by a hierarchy of 30 city-regions which are “run by an alliance between the global merchant class and metropolitan governments whose chief function is supporting the competitiveness of the global firms to which they are host.” On the one hand, the global businessmen seek consumer markets and production sites to maximize return on their capital, on the other metropolitan governments seek local jobs and tax revenues. Competition will become more intensified in city-region level.
Because of the concept of global cities, Tokyo Metropolis, Greater London and New York City will be compared rather than Japan, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Research Question
Is technological innovation the key (necessary cause) to become global cities?
Reason for the Choice of Cities
The terminology of "global city" is thought to have been first coined by Saskia Sassen in reference to Tokyo, London and New York in her 1991 work The Global City. Therefore, I follow Sassen and use the examples of Tokyo, London and New York.
Purpose of the Research
The research is to describe the characteristics of the three global cities and find out the most important feature (reason) to become a global city. Thus, it is a descriptive social research. Scientific descriptions are typically more accurate and precise than are casual (explanatory) ones.
Research Design
Most different design is used. Cases (Tokyo, London and New York) with the same outcome (they are all global cities) are selected with maximum differences in terms of independent variables. By the method of agreement, the common independent variables found among the cases may be causes for the same outcome.
J. S. Mill in his System of Logic wrote: “If two or more instances of the phenomenon under investigation have only one circumstance in common, the circumstance in which alone all the instances agree, is the cause (or effect) of the given phenomenon.”
Whenever we find a single circumstance common to all instances of a given phenomenon, we may believe to have discovered its cause.
Schematically, the method of agreement may be represented as follows, where capital letters represent circumstances and small letters denote phenomena:
A B C D occur together with w x y z.
A E F G occur together with w t u v.
Therefore A is the cause (or the effect) of w.
The cases are selected by maximizing the variation of the combination of independent variables. The remaining common variable(s) is/are thought to be responsible for producing the outcome.
Research Approach
The approach of my research is case-oriented. The case-oriented comparative approach is also known as small-N intensive research approach. According to Ragin (1989: pp. 57-76), it has several characteristics. Some of them are listed below:
作者: romr_pp_o 時間: 09-8-18 02:33 AM
Data Analysis
Variables Tokyo London New York
Government expenditure on education
($US dollar)
% of local GDP 6.79 billion
6.79/1191X100% 1191 billion is the GDP of Tokyo
0.6% 81.60 billion (Not found on the Internet. Therefore, England is used instead.)
81.6/1900X100%
1900 billion is the GDP of England
4.3% 15 billion
15/1133X100%
1133 billion is the GDP of New York
1.3%
Money spent on R&D ($US dollar) (aggregate data) Japan
130 billion, the third largest spender United Kingdom
90.3 billion United States
330 billion, world largest spender
No. of universities 259 51 63
Capital city Yes Yes No
Financial centre of region Yes Yes Yes
Cultural background Oriental Occidental Occidental
Religion Confucianism
Shinto Anglo-Saxon (Germanic paganism) Judeo-Christian
No. of foreign residents/people of other races
% of total population 352,826
2.8% 2,168,856
28.85%
(non-white) 2,521,649
30.7%
(excluding African American)
Having experienced the destruction of World War II
Yes Yes No
Seaport Yes No Yes
International airports Yes Yes Yes
Source: All the data and figure (2005 – 2006) are drawn from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, except those have footnotes.
From the table above, there are several similarities among the cities. They are:
i. Money spent on education
ii. Money spent on R&D
iii. Number of universities
iv. Being a financial centre of the region
v. Possession of international airports
Comparing with other global cities, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the first three are relatively high. And the first three are related to technological innovation.
The last two are also related to technological innovation. As being a financial centre, hi-tech communication infrastructures are essential. Likewise, to build a world-class international airport, technology and innovative talents are also essential.
Conclusion
According to my analysis, technological innovation is the necessary cause of being a global city.
References
Babbie, Earl, 2004. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Petrella, Riccardo, 1995. ‘A Global Agora vs. Gated City-regions’, New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 12, pp. 21-22.
Ragin, Charles, 1989. ‘New Directions in Comparative Research’ in Melvin L. Kohn (ed.) Cross-National Research in Sociology. Newbury Park: Sage Publications