Since i am involved in research activities, I could not stop myself from writing about the suggestion collection process of our esteemed CA members. I know it is a noble idea to get people involved in the process of drafting a new constitution for the country. However, after what i got to hear yesterday from an acquaintance, i no more think the idea to be a great one.
The person who told me the details is working in an international organization promoting democracy in Nepal, and they have been closely working with the CA members in the entire process.She told me that concept paper for the constitution was to be ready by March 28, 2009 (which was yesterday), but the suggestions from all the VDCs have not yet been collected. The target was to collect suggestions from people from all the VDCs across Nepal. The process started in the first week of February, and as per calculation, each of the CA member had to collect suggestions from 4-5 VDCs per day. The questionnaire had 250 questions. Oh boy!250 questions is something....and the best part about the questionnaire was that they were not objective questions but subjective questions...so, how are the CA members going to code the questions and analyze the answers? From a research perspective, this is completely absurd and mere stupidity..
I was also told the amount that the CA members demanded for the entire process. They first started with 2 million Euro...but all of a sudden, their calculations hit a whopping 72 million Euro..But since this was a loooooot of money, the amount was settled somewhere near 20 million Euro, which still is a lot of money.
Our CA members for sure cannot analyze the data (they perhaps have better things to do like Constitution building), so they are thinking of asking Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) to help them do the analysis...I don't doubt CBS's expertise, but what can one do if the questionnaire is Incomprehensible to a data coding expert?
I am not a research expert, but a neophyte like me knows that this study is nothing but a serious waste of time and money.I wish our CA Members were more objective, and thought of concentrating their efforts in something better. The CA Members say that the suggestion collection process is seeing a lot of enthusiasm from people, but i doubt its relevance...Only after the research results are published that i can actually say "Good job Honorable members!"
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Financial Crisis Presents Opportunity for Asia
By Michael Barker
The Global economic crisis should be viewed by Asia’s policymakers as an opportunity to expand investment in “desperately” needed public goods, economist Jeffrey Sachs told an ADB audience.
Professor Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, was speaking at ADB Headquarters today as part of the Distinguished Speakers Program.
In a lecture titled "Achieving Global Cooperation on Economic Recovery and Long-Term Sustainable Development", Prof. Sachs said that with the drop in external demand for Asian exports, the region will “have to rely on public spending,” such as infrastructure, health, education and energy reforms.
“Asia needs all of that desperately,” Prof. Sachs said. “This is still the region of the world with the fastest urbanization, with the most dramatic need for pollution control, for cleaning up the energy sector, for cleaning up the rivers, for sustainable urban development, for accommodating the migration of hundreds of millions of people from rural areas to urban areas. I like to view this crisis as an opportunity for Asia given the chronic underinvestment in public goods. Public spending has a very high social return and also has a very high macroeconomic purpose right now."
He said that with around $4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, large current account surpluses and low inflation, Asia is well placed to expand public spending.
“Asia can continue to have robust growth even as the exports decline,” Prof. Sachs said. “[but] it's going to have to be an Asian-led effort within Asia.”
The substantial reserves of Asia's two largest economies - Japan and China - would be key to a quick recovery.
He advocated that Japan, with $1 trillion in reserves, adopt a more expansionary stance on monetary policy, and making long term yen credit lines more readily available in the region — particularly in South Korea and ASEAN —to help boost growth. Meanwhile, China’s “main role should be to keep the Chinese economy growing and keep buying from the rest of the region.”
He described the ADB's role as helping economies in the region with long-term financing.
With the region's macroeconomic strengths, the crisis should be viewed as an opportunity to rebalance public and private sectors, and short-term macroeconomic with long-term investment interests, he said.
Source: http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/12767-asian-financial-crisis
The Global economic crisis should be viewed by Asia’s policymakers as an opportunity to expand investment in “desperately” needed public goods, economist Jeffrey Sachs told an ADB audience.
Professor Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, was speaking at ADB Headquarters today as part of the Distinguished Speakers Program.
In a lecture titled "Achieving Global Cooperation on Economic Recovery and Long-Term Sustainable Development", Prof. Sachs said that with the drop in external demand for Asian exports, the region will “have to rely on public spending,” such as infrastructure, health, education and energy reforms.
“Asia needs all of that desperately,” Prof. Sachs said. “This is still the region of the world with the fastest urbanization, with the most dramatic need for pollution control, for cleaning up the energy sector, for cleaning up the rivers, for sustainable urban development, for accommodating the migration of hundreds of millions of people from rural areas to urban areas. I like to view this crisis as an opportunity for Asia given the chronic underinvestment in public goods. Public spending has a very high social return and also has a very high macroeconomic purpose right now."
He said that with around $4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, large current account surpluses and low inflation, Asia is well placed to expand public spending.
“Asia can continue to have robust growth even as the exports decline,” Prof. Sachs said. “[but] it's going to have to be an Asian-led effort within Asia.”
The substantial reserves of Asia's two largest economies - Japan and China - would be key to a quick recovery.
He advocated that Japan, with $1 trillion in reserves, adopt a more expansionary stance on monetary policy, and making long term yen credit lines more readily available in the region — particularly in South Korea and ASEAN —to help boost growth. Meanwhile, China’s “main role should be to keep the Chinese economy growing and keep buying from the rest of the region.”
He described the ADB's role as helping economies in the region with long-term financing.
With the region's macroeconomic strengths, the crisis should be viewed as an opportunity to rebalance public and private sectors, and short-term macroeconomic with long-term investment interests, he said.
Source: http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/12767-asian-financial-crisis
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Writing an abstract
An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of contents of the article: it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly, and like a title, it enables abstracting and information services to index and retrieve articles.
A well-prepared abstract can be the most important paragraph in your article. “Once printed in the journal, your abstract is just beginning an active and frequently very long life as part of collection of abstracts” in printed and electronic forms (APA, 1984). Most people will have their first contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually on a computer screen with several other abstracts, as they are doing a literature search through an electronic abstract-retrieval system. Readers frequently decide on the basis of the abstract whether to read the entire article: this is true whether the reader is at a computer or is thumbing through a journal. The abstract needs to be dense with information but also readable, well organized, brief, and self contained. Also, embedding many key words in your abstract will enhance the user’s ability to find it. A good abstract is:
Accurate: ensure that the abstract correctly reflects the purpose and content of the manuscript. Do not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper.
Self-contained: Define all abbreviations (except unit of measurement) and acronyms. Define unique terms. Paraphrase rather than quote. Include name(s) of author(s) (initials and surnames) and dates of publications in citations of other publications (and give a full bibliographic citation in the article’s reference list)
Concise and specific: Make each sentence maximally informative, especially the lead sentence. Be as brief as possible. Abstracts should not exceed 120 words. Begin the abstract with the most important information and include in the abstract only the four or five most important concepts, findings, and implications.
Non-evaluative: Report rather than evaluate: do not add to or comment on what is in the body of the manuscript.
Coherent and readable: Write in clear and vigorous prose. Use verbs rather than their noun equivalents and the active rather than the passive voice. Use the present tense to describe results with continuing applicability or conclusions drawn. Use the third person rather than the first person.
An abstract of a report of an empirical study should describe:
•The person user investigation, in one sentence if possible
•The participants or subjects, specifying pertinent characteristics, such as number, type, age, sex, and genus and species.
•The experimental method, including the apparatus, data-gathering procedures, complete test names, and complete generic names.
•The findings, including statistical significance levels, and
•The conclusions and the implications or applications
An abstract for a review or theoretical article should describe:
•The topic, in one sentence
•The purpose, thesis, or organizing construct and the scope of the article
•The sources used (e.g. personal observation, published literature), and
•The conclusions
An abstract for a methodical paper should describe:
•The general class of method being proposed or discussed
•The essential features of the proposed method
•The range of application of the proposed method, and
•The behavior of the method, including its power and robustness to violation of assumptions
An abstract of a case study should describe
•The subject and relevant characteristics of the individual or organization
•The nature of or solution to a problem illustrated by the case example, and
•The questions raised for additional research or theory
An abstract that is accurate, succinct, quickly comprehensible, and informative will increase the audience and the further retrievability of your article. You may submit only one version of the abstract. I is exceeds 120-word limit, the abstractors in some secondary services may truncate your abstract to fit their databases, and this could impair retrievability.
Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition
A well-prepared abstract can be the most important paragraph in your article. “Once printed in the journal, your abstract is just beginning an active and frequently very long life as part of collection of abstracts” in printed and electronic forms (APA, 1984). Most people will have their first contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually on a computer screen with several other abstracts, as they are doing a literature search through an electronic abstract-retrieval system. Readers frequently decide on the basis of the abstract whether to read the entire article: this is true whether the reader is at a computer or is thumbing through a journal. The abstract needs to be dense with information but also readable, well organized, brief, and self contained. Also, embedding many key words in your abstract will enhance the user’s ability to find it. A good abstract is:
Accurate: ensure that the abstract correctly reflects the purpose and content of the manuscript. Do not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper.
Self-contained: Define all abbreviations (except unit of measurement) and acronyms. Define unique terms. Paraphrase rather than quote. Include name(s) of author(s) (initials and surnames) and dates of publications in citations of other publications (and give a full bibliographic citation in the article’s reference list)
Concise and specific: Make each sentence maximally informative, especially the lead sentence. Be as brief as possible. Abstracts should not exceed 120 words. Begin the abstract with the most important information and include in the abstract only the four or five most important concepts, findings, and implications.
Non-evaluative: Report rather than evaluate: do not add to or comment on what is in the body of the manuscript.
Coherent and readable: Write in clear and vigorous prose. Use verbs rather than their noun equivalents and the active rather than the passive voice. Use the present tense to describe results with continuing applicability or conclusions drawn. Use the third person rather than the first person.
An abstract of a report of an empirical study should describe:
•The person user investigation, in one sentence if possible
•The participants or subjects, specifying pertinent characteristics, such as number, type, age, sex, and genus and species.
•The experimental method, including the apparatus, data-gathering procedures, complete test names, and complete generic names.
•The findings, including statistical significance levels, and
•The conclusions and the implications or applications
An abstract for a review or theoretical article should describe:
•The topic, in one sentence
•The purpose, thesis, or organizing construct and the scope of the article
•The sources used (e.g. personal observation, published literature), and
•The conclusions
An abstract for a methodical paper should describe:
•The general class of method being proposed or discussed
•The essential features of the proposed method
•The range of application of the proposed method, and
•The behavior of the method, including its power and robustness to violation of assumptions
An abstract of a case study should describe
•The subject and relevant characteristics of the individual or organization
•The nature of or solution to a problem illustrated by the case example, and
•The questions raised for additional research or theory
An abstract that is accurate, succinct, quickly comprehensible, and informative will increase the audience and the further retrievability of your article. You may submit only one version of the abstract. I is exceeds 120-word limit, the abstractors in some secondary services may truncate your abstract to fit their databases, and this could impair retrievability.
Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition
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