Considering the results of the above EVM, explain whether the project is ahead of or behind schedule and over or under budget
The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
ASSESSMENT BRIEF AND CRITERIA
BCPM0066: Project Management I
Assessment Brief
Question 1 (20 marks)
A construction client embarked on a journey to produce 70 new buildings. The total cost of
production is estimated at £150,000 and the total duration of the project is proposed to be 50
weeks. The rate of project progress is expected to be uniform and linear. At the end of week
35 the actual cost of work performed (ACWP) stood at £90,000 and the total number of
produced buildings was 42. Carry out an earned value analysis by calculating the following:
1.1 Schedule performance index (SPI)
1.2 Cost performance index (CPI)
1.3 Estimate to completion (ETC)
1.4 Estimate at completion (EAC) using two formulae
- 5 Estimate variance at completion (VAC) using two formulae
a. Provide an estimate of a revised duration for the project (10 marks)
b. Considering the results of the above EVM, explain whether the project is ahead of or
behind schedule and over or under budget (max 100 words) (10 marks)
Question 2 (20 marks)
Two alternative designs (Design A and Design B) are considered for the architectural scheme
of an office building:
Design A costs £1.3 million
Probability of completing without any delay is 85%
Probability of delaying one month is 15%
Design B costs £ 1.2million
Probability of completing without any delay is 90%
Probability of delaying one month is 7%
Probability of delaying two months is 3%
There are some additional considerations:
Suppose the additional cost for every 1 month delay is £0.1 million
Non-liquidated damage is specified in the contract
a. Draw a decision tree and calculate the expected value for each possible decision (10
marks)
b. Based on the expected value, determine which Design solution should be implemented
(max 100 words) (10 marks)
Question 3 (30 marks)
a. Will project management work in all companies? If not why? Argue your position with any
relevant examples you feel appropriate (20 marks)
Think about different real-life companies as examples
Think about different organisational structures
Clearly state whether it will work or not (yes/no/or for a specific case)
b. Describe and discuss the differences in the management of projects, programmes and
portfolios (10 marks)
Think about what is each one of these PM3
Discuss relationships and links between these
Discuss management implications for each
c. Think about different organisational structures
Clearly state whether it will work or not
Question 4 (30 marks)
You work as a project manager at Navis Company. Navis is a consulting company that
manages construction projects and they want to establish a detailed process to determine how
to best manage projects for their clients.
a. Discuss the differences of managing projects by cost, time, quality, and by value and come
up with a new system that will help determine which approach (from the all the tools we
will discuss in the module) to take in managing a project (20 marks)
Consider that the system is a guideline that will support decision making for Navis
This guideline can be used by anyone in the Company and will tell them for
instance: what tool can be used for managing cost, what tool can be used for
managing quality, etc.
b. Discuss the process of reviewing a project (10 marks)
Detailed assessment criteria
Please see the file “Assessment brief criteria-BCPM0066.pdf”
Word Count/Length
A 2500 word report. Please see the file “Word count standard rules 21-22.docx”
Assessment Support
Students will be supported with the assignment through assignment clinics, seminars and
virtual meetings. Students can also seek support from Student Support and Wellbeing
services, writing skills lab class from the Library services and mentorship schemes.
Submission Details
File to be uploaded via Moodle in Word or PDF format
Word limit: 2500 words
In what circumstances is a company’s quick assets ratio greater than its current ratio on the same date?
SOE11444- Global Business Economics and Finance
Information text
You have been engaged as a management consultant by Scylace plc, a grocery retail chain. You have been asked to evaluate two alternative proposals for a new superstore. You have the option to build the superstore at one of two locations. The cost of building the new superstore and the annual sales revenue and costs are as follows:
Option A
Location A
£ million Option B
Location B
£ million
Cost of New Superstore 30.0 45.0
Residual Value 3.0 7.0
Annual Sales Revenue 36.0 52.0
Annual Cost of Sales (27.0) (39.0)
Annual Staff Costs (2.2) (4.8)
Other Annual Costs excluding depreciation (1.1) (0.8)
Depreciation is to be charged on a straight line basis over a period of 50 years, taking account of the residual value.
Question 1
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Select the correct formula for annual gross profit.
Select one:
a.
Annual Sales Revenue – Annual Cost of Sales – Depreciation
b.
Annual Sales Revenue – Annual Cost of Sales
c.
Annual Sales Revenue – Annual Cost of Sales – Annual Staff Costs – Depreciation – Other Annual Costs
d.
(Annual Sales Revenue – Annual Cost of Sales + Residual Value) ÷ 50
Question 2
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Calculate the annual gross profit for Option A
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 3
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Calculate the annual gross profit for Option B
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 4
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Select the correct formula for annual straight-line depreciation on a superstore.
Select one:
a.
(Cost of New Superstore + Residual Value) / 2
b.
(Annual Sales Revenue – Annual Cost of Sales + Residual Value) ÷ 50
c.
(Cost of New Superstore – Residual Value) ÷ Lifespan of Superstore in Years
d.
Cost of New Superstore + (Residual Value / 50)
Question 5
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For Option A, calculate the Average Investment in the Superstore, assuming straight-line depreciation. The average investment is the average amount invested over the useful life of the asset.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 6
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For Option B, calculate the Average Investment in the Superstore, assuming straight-line depreciation. The average investment is the average amount invested over the useful life of the asset.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 7
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For Option A, calculate the annual net profit.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 8
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For Option B, calculate the annual net profit.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be in millions of pounds, to two decimal places. Example: enter 1.25 for the value ‘one and a quarter million pounds’)
Answer:
Question 9
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For Option A, calculate the annual Accounting Rate of Return. Remember to use straight-line depreciation and remember to use the average investment in the superstore.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be a percentage, to two decimal places. Example: for a percentage of twenty five percent you would enter 25.00)
Answer:
Question 10
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For Option B, calculate the annual Accounting Rate of Return. Remember to use straight-line depreciation and remember to use the average investment in the superstore.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be a percentage, to two decimal places. Example: for a percentage of twenty five percent you would enter 25.00)
Answer:
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Business Finance
You have been engaged as a management consultant by Scylace plc, a grocery retail chain. You have been asked to evaluate three alternative proposals financing expansion. The options are:
to issue a bond redeemable in 20 years
to issue a bond redeemable in 50 years
or to issue new shares.
The details of the proposed alternative bonds and their expected market values are as follows:
20-year bond 50-year bond
Face Value of each bond £100 £100
Nominal Interest Rate 8.0% 6.5%
Predicted market price of bond £95 £70
Scylace plc has ordinary shares with a nominal value of £1 each listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The market price of 1 Scylace ordinary shares is 560p
Over the last year, Scylace has paid a dividend of 28.00p per share.
The directors are expecting the company to pay dividends of 28.35 per share over the next year and expect dividends to grow at a constant percentage rate for the foreseeable future.
Question 11
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Calculate the predicted yield to redemption on the 20-year bond, using the following formula
Coupon = Annual Interest Payable, excluding redemption value.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be a percentage, to two decimal places. Example: for 25 per cent, enter 25.00)
Answer:
Question 12
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Calculate the predicted yield to redemption on the 50-year bond, using the following formula
Coupon = Annual Interest Payable, excluding redemption value.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be a percentage, to two decimal places. Example: for 25 per cent, enter 25.00)
Answer:
Question 13
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Calculate the cost of equity capital for Scylace plc.
(Enter your answer, assumed to be a percentage, to two decimal places. Example: for 25 per cent enter 25.00)
Answer:
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Section 3 – Financial Reporting
The directors of Scylace plc have also expressed an interest in in making a takeover bid for a clothing retailer, Helibeb plc. The following figures have been extracted from Helibeb’s financial statements for the last two years:
Year Ended September 30th.
2017
£m 2018
£m
Sales Income 681 697
Cost of Sales (492) (500)
Gross Profit 189 197
Distribution Costs (85) (87)
Administration Expenses (79) (83)
Operating Profit 25 27
Finance Income 0 0
Finance Costs (6) (5)
Net Profit Before Tax 19 22
Taxation (3) (4)
Net Profit After Tax 16 18
Dividends (6) (7)
Retained Profit 10 11
As at September 30th.
2016 2017 2018
£m £m £m
Non-Current Assets 203 209 211
Current Assets 19 22 29
Current Liabilities (37) (38) (40)
Non-Current Liabilities (82) (80) (76)
Shareholders’ Equity 103 113 124
Question 14
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Financial Reporting
The directors of Scylace plc have also expressed an interest in in making a takeover bid for a clothing retailer, Helibeb plc. The following figures have been extracted from Helibeb’s financial statements for the years ending September 30th 2019 and 2020:
Year Ended September 30th.
2019
£m 2020
£m
Sales Income 720 750
Cost of Sales (520) (535)
Gross Profit 200 215
Distribution Costs (90) (95)
Administration Expenses (90) (85)
Operating Profit 20 35
Finance Income 0 0
Finance Costs (5) (5)
Net Profit Before Tax 15 30
Taxation (3) (6)
Net Profit After Tax 12 24
Dividends (6) (7)
Retained Profit 6 17
As at September 30th.
2018 2019 2020
£m £m £m
Non-Current Assets 211 212 218
Current Assets 29 36 47
Current Liabilities (40) (48) (50)
Non-Current Liabilities (76) (70) (68)
Shareholders’ Equity 124 130 147
If sales income for the year ending September 30th 2021 is £748m and cost of sales for the year ending September 30th 2021 is £540m and finance costs for the year ending September 30th 2021 are £6m, what will the gross profit be for the year ending September 30th 2021?
Enter your answer in £m. For example, for £10m answer 10
Answer:
Question 15
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Assume that the following figures are correct for Helibeb for the year ending September 30th 2021
Sales Income £756m
Cost of Sales £568m
Distribution Costs £82m
Administration Costs £69.5m
Finance Costs £6m
What will the operating profit be for the year ending September 30th 2021?
Enter your answer in £m. For example, for £10m answer 10
Answer:
Question 16
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You are provided with the following figures for Company A for the year ending December 31st 2021
Sales Income £107m
Cost of Sales £65m
Distribution Costs £6m
Administration Costs £7m
Finance Income £0m
Finance Costs £3m
Tax is 19% of profit before tax
Calculate the net profit margin after tax.
Your answer is assumed to be a percentage. State your answer to 2 decimal places. For example, for 7.5% answer 7.50
Answer:
Question 17
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You are provided with the following figures for Company B for the year ending December 31st 2021
Sales Income £220m
Cost of Sales £144m
Distribution Costs £33m
Administration Costs £5m
Finance Income £0m
Finance Costs £10m
Average Capital Employed £163m
Calculate the Turnover of Capital Employed
State your answer to 2 decimal places. For example, for 7.677% answer 7.68
Answer:
Question 18
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You are provided with the following figures for Company C for the year ending December 31st 2021
Sales Income £167m
Cost of Sales £86m
Distribution Costs £4m
Administration Costs £4m
Finance Income £0m
Finance Costs £23m
Average Capital Employed £109
Calculate the Return on Capital Employed (before tax)
Your answer is assumed to be a percentage. State your answer to 2 decimal places. For example, for 7.5% answer 7.50
Answer:
Question 19
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For Company D for the Year ending March 31st 2022:
The Return on Capital Employed is 10.9%
The Operating Profit Margin is 44.5%
What is the Turnover of Capital Employed?
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 2.7583 enter 2.76
Answer:
Question 20
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You are provided with the following figures for Company E for the year ended March 31st 2022
Return on Capital Employed 9.3%
Operating Profit Margin 3.8%
Calculate the Turnover of Capital Employed.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 21
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You are provided with the following figures for Company F for the year ended March 31st 2022
Return on Capital Employed 21.2%
Operating Profit Margin 17.6%
Calculate the Turnover of Capital Employed.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 22
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You are provided with the following figures for Company I for the year ended March 31st 2022
Opening Inventory £6.1m
Closing Inventory £7.0m
Cost of Inventory Used £43.5m
Calculate the Inventory Turnover Period.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 23
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You are provided with the following figures for Company H for the year ended March 31st 2022
Opening Inventory £8.3m
Closing Inventory £9.4m
Cost of Inventory Used £44.8m
Calculate the Inventory Turnover Period in Days.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 24
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You are provided with the following figures for Company I for the year ended March 31st 2022
Opening Trade Receivables £195.2m
Closing Trade Receivables £111.6m
Sales Income 414.0m
Calculate the Receivables Turnover Period for Trade Receivables in Days.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 25
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You are provided with the following figures for Company J for the year ended March 31st 2022
Opening Trade Receivables £4.0m
Closing Trade Receivables £5.5m
Sales Income £35.6m
Calculate the Receivables Turnover Period for Trade Receivables in Days.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 26
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You are provided with the following figures for Company K for the year ended March 31st 2022
Opening Trade Payables £62.7m
Closing Trade Payables £57.7m
Total Payments to Trade Creditors £471.6m
Calculate the Payables Turnover Period for Trade Payables in Days.
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 7.332, enter 7.33
Answer:
Question 27
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You are provided with the following figures for Company L as at June 30th 2021
Current Assets £302.5m
Net Current Assets £28.4m
Calculate the Current Ratio
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 1.5762, enter 1.58
Answer:
Question 28
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You are provided with the following figures for Company M as at June 30th 2021
Current Assets £57.0m
Current Liabilities £79.6m
Calculate the Current Ratio
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 1.5762, enter 1.58
Answer:
Question 29
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You are provided with the following figures for Company N as at June 30th 2021
Current Assets £20.8m
Inventory £7m
Current Liabilities £12
Calculate the Quick Assets Ratio
Enter your answer to 2 Decimal Places. For example, for 1.5762, enter 1.58
Answer:
Question 30
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In what circumstances is a company’s quick assets ratio greater than its current ratio on the same date?
Select one:
a.
The quick assets ratio cannot ever be greater than the current ratio
b.
If the company has any inventory at all
c.
If the company’s gross profit margin is negative and the inventory turnover period exceeds the payables turnover period
d.
If the company’s gross profit margin is negative and the payables turnover period exceeds the inventory turnover period
develop the skills from previous assignments and class exercises into a full research proposal for a research project of your own choice.
Assignment two – individual research proposal
Assignment Task/Brief
You are expected to develop the skills from previous assignments and class exercises into a full research proposal for a research project of your own choice. This may, or may not be, the topic you decide on for your final year. You should think of it as a chance to explore planning and property development issues that interest you and to demonstrate and improve the critical reading, reasoning, and research skills we have been working on throughout the module. You will also have to demonstrate academic writing and referencing skills, hopefully to an improved level from Assignment 1.
Further instructions – what is the output?
In terms of content, your assignment should contain:
a) Title – should be short and sharp setting out the research question
b) Short Rationale – This should be a short paragraph describing the main issue that you are examining. If someone were to ask you what you are doing for your dissertation, this would be the answer.
c) Literature review – Think of it as the context or scene setting for your research. It should summarize ‘current thinking’ on the issue and contain the majority of references for this assignment. You are advised to source and read widely and try to improve upon your skills and work undertaken in Assignment 1. As a guide this section should be approximately 750- Oxford Brookes University 7 850 words. You should use an academic style of writing; developing arguments using your sources and using reasoning and inference to make clear points.
d) The research aim and a set of objectives with a working hypothesis (if appropriate) for your dissertation.
e) Your research approach and methods – this should specify: what approach you think is appropriate for your research and why; the methods you intend to use to collect information – your reasoning should connect your chosen methods and your research questions. As a guide this section should be between 750-850 words. You should use an academic style of writing and reference your sources.
f) A list of references at the end in the Harvard style which sets out all the sources you have cited in the text.
Support and feedback on your preparations for the assignment is via small group tutorials.
You will be assigned a tutor who will support you with this assignment. Bring drafts of work with you to discuss in your tutorial session – the more work you do in advance the more useful the feedback will be!
How will it be assessed?
The Assessment Criteria are:
Significance and clarity of the problem definition (rationale for the research)
Evidence of review of literature on the state-of-the-art and the degree of critical appraisal of the literature
Clarity of the aim, objectives, and research question and hypothesis (if applicable) Research design and appropriateness of chosen research methods Presentation including referencing
Presenting coursework for assessment
Your assignment must be presented in the following format:
❑ It must be word-processed in 11 point Arial font
❑ All pages must be numbered
❑ Margins must be as follows: Top: 1 inch, Bottom: 1 inch (2.5 cm), Left: 1.25 inches, Right: 1.25 inches (3.2 cm)
❑ It should not contain your name
Assignment length
The length of an assignment is limited by a set number of words to contribute towards the development of writing skills and to ensure all work is assessed equitably. We therefore require you to complete your assignments within the number of words specified in the assignment brief.
The specified word count refers to the main body of the report and does not include front cover, title page, contents page, executive summary, reference list, bibliography or
appendices.
The word count does include headings, tables and in-text citations, but not equations or diagrams.
Appendices themselves will not be marked. However, inappropriate use of appendices will be taken into consideration when awarding the final mark.
Words that exceed the maximum allowed will not be marked. If in doubt, you should discuss this with the Module Leader before submission.
Briefly describe the cell cycle, its checkpoints, and the general proteins required to move past each checkpoint.
Description
When answering these four questions, you may use both writing (text) and drawings. However, all drawings
should be clearly labeled, and your answers may NOT consist only of drawings.
- Trace the pathway of a protein from translation to the plasma membrane. You may name this protein anything
you want, but it must be a transmembrane protein (either single-pass integral membrane protein or multipass
channel protein), with the N-terminus on the cytosolic side of the plasma membrane. The protein must also have
several protein modifications, including (but not limited to) N-linked glycosylation, cysteine disulfide bonds,
lipid modifications, and 3-D folding.
You do not need to describe the processes of transcription or translation. Assume that transcription has already
occurred, and translation has begun, with the mRNA attached to the ribosome. You do, however, need to
describe the process(es) by which the protein is modified and transported to the plasma membrane.
Any accessory molecules encountered by your protein along the way must be returned to their starting point or
conformation. - Choose one of the following signal transduction pathways and trace the pathway of cell signaling from the
cell surface receptor to its effects on transcription.
Wnt
Hedgehog
Cytokines
Insulin
Epinephrine
Serotonin
Glucagon
In your answer, be sure to describe the cell surface receptor and its ligand, the intracellular signaling pathway,
and the regulation of this pathway, or the processes by which the signal is terminated. Also remember that the
signaling pathway you describe must go to the nucleus and affect transcription. - Briefly describe one voltage-gated ion channel and two protein pumps found in the heart. In your answer, you
should explain how the voltage-gated ion channel responds to voltage changes and how it controls which ions
pass through the channel. For the protein pumps, be sure to describe the structure of the protein pump and any
conformational changes that it goes through. Additionally, you should briefly explain the importance of each ion
channel or pump for the normal functioning of the cardiac muscle. - Briefly describe the cell cycle, its checkpoints, and the general proteins required to move past each
checkpoint. For each cell cycle checkpoint, be sure to describe what the cell is “checking for” and how this
“check” occurs, along with the result if the checkpoint cannot be passed. Your answer should also include a
description of the structure of MPF, its regulation, and its general targets or functions. Be sure to include any
accessory molecules or proteins involved in regulation of MPF, while also describing the process by which MPF
is formed and activated.
In this answer, you should also choose two proteins involved in the cell cycle, which, if mutated, will cause
cancer. Describe these proteins and their normal functions, and then show how a mutation in these proteins will
result in cancer.
Research an economic opportunity that might be available within your health care setting that will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care. Then, write a 2-4 page proposal for an initiative to take advantage of that opportunity, supported with economic data and an analysis of the prospective benefits.
Assessment 1 Instructions: Proposing a New Initiative
PRINT
Research an economic opportunity that might be available within your health care setting that will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care. Then, write a 2-4 page proposal for an initiative to take advantage of that opportunity, supported with economic data and an analysis of the prospective benefits.
Introduction
Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
Master’s-level health care practitioners are charged with the responsibility of constantly scanning the external environment for shifts in the supply of, and demand for, services. Concurrently, leaders must examine their organization’s strategic direction and determine whether adjustments must be made to current service offerings, whether equipment updates are needed, whether staffing models should be changed, and whether other decisions must be made. Each decision that is proposed must be evaluated in terms of the organization as a system, alignment with the organization’s mission and strategy, available internal resources, potential contract and payer source implications, and the short- and long-term economic effects at both the micro and macro levels.
Preparation
Research an economic opportunity that might be available within your health care setting—at both micro (departmental, neighborhood) and macro (organizational, community) levels—that you believe will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care. Then, propose an initiative to take advantage of that opportunity. Support your proposal with economic data (sector growth, supply versus demand, cost versus reimbursement, et cetera) and an analysis of the prospective benefits for your department and for the organization overall.
Such economic opportunities might include offering a new service line, working to improve a service line already offered, retiring an outdated or unprofitable service line, or any other initiative you believe will be of benefit to your organization in the short and long term. One example is a recently launched partnership with a local bicycle-sharing company. Your organization partners with them to host healthy community events that offer free screenings for early detection of various health issues. Free screenings help fulfill some of your organization’s preventive and healthy lifestyle initiatives, while also potentially driving referrals to other services provided by your organization.
Note: Your proposal will serve as the basis for subsequent assessments in this course.
Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft proposal to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback.
Instructions
The requirements for your proposal, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements for document forma, length, and supporting evidence.
Explain why your proposed initiative presents a viable and beneficial economic opportunity for your organization.
Describe your proposed service line or economic initiative.
Explain why your proposal presents an economic opportunity at the micro level and macro level.
Explain how your proposed initiative will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care.
Analyze the economic factors of supply and demand associated with your proposed initiative, within a context relevant to your organization or care setting.
What do economic and demographic data suggest is the supply and demand?
What additional information would improve your analysis?
Explain how relevant economic and environmental data support your proposed initiative.
How does the data illustrate a potential opportunity and the economic viability of your proposal?
Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
Proofread your proposal before you submit it to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your proposal.
Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Assessment 1 Example [PDF].
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
Format: Format your proposal using current APA style. Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your proposal. Be sure to include:
A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Length: Your proposal should be 2–4 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting evidence: Cite 3–5 authoritative and scholarly resources to support your proposal. Be sure that your sources include specific economic data.
Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your proposal to your ePortfolio.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the effects of financial and economic factors (such as cost-benefit, supply and demand, return on investment, and risks) in a health care system on patient care, services offered, and organizational structures and operation.
Analyze the economic factors of supply and demand associated with a proposed initiative, within a context relevant to a particular organization or care setting.
Competency 2: Develop ethical and culturally equitable solutions to economic problems within a health care organization in an effort to improve the quality of care and services offered.
Explain why a proposed initiative presents a viable and beneficial economic opportunity for an organization.
Competency 3: Justify the qualitative and quantitative information used to guide economic decision making to stakeholders and colleagues.
Explain how relevant economic and environmental data support a proposed initiative.
Competency 5: Produce clear, coherent, and professional written work, in accordance with Capella writing standards.
Write concisely and directly using active voice.
Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
What is the relationship of privacy to Facebook’s business model?
Please read “Business Problem-Solving Case: Facebook Privacy: Your Life for Sale” on pages 149-151 of your text and answer the following: Perform an ethical analysis of Facebook. What is the ethical dilemma presented by this case? What is the relationship of privacy to Facebook’s business model? Will Facebook be able to have a successful business model without invading privacy? Explain your answer. Are there any measures Facebook could take to make this possible?
Choose an ethical issue that you believe requires immediate global action (slavery, hunger, etc.), and explain why you chose this topic. Please share three specific, practical ways the average citizen can contribute to a solution.
Introduction
Now that we have covered a wide range of theories and philosophers, you have a final opportunity to put your
knowledge into practice in this class and discuss your values with your classmates. How do you connect what
you learned in this course with concrete actions you can take in the world? How might you comfortably analyze
a popular video, equipped with the ethical knowledge you have learned in the last eight weeks?
Discussion Question
Prepare for your discussion by completing your readings and viewings. (additional materials) Then respond to
the following in 275 or more words:
Choose an ethical issue that you believe requires immediate global action (slavery, hunger, etc.), and explain
why you chose this topic. Please share three specific, practical ways the average citizen can contribute to a
solution.
Is this an issue for which you might either sign a petition or create one? You can visit a site, such as
change.org (Links to an external site.) or an alternate site, to locate a list of featured, popular or recent
petitions. Share with the class a link to this petition.
Identify a topic of interest and undertake a literature search, detailing how you undertook the search.
Assessment Details
Learning Outcome Assessment method
Identify and appreciate the main sources of evidence relevant to health care, including qualitative and quantitative research and systematic reviews.
Apply principles of systematic enquiry to gather evidence.
Utilise a critiquing framework to assess the quality of healthcare evidence.
Identify an area of practice and demonstrate literature searching skills to seek research evidence relating to this topic.
Make judgements about the quality and applicability of evidence to identify ways to develop practice.
Assignment (3, 000 words)
Assignment title: RESEARCH CRITIQUE
Questions:
Identify a topic of interest and undertake a literature search, detailing how you undertook the search.
Identify and critique two research papers from your search, one that uses a quantitative approach and one that uses a qualitative approach.
Summarise your findings including the application to practice.
(3,000 words)
Student Guidance
The following structure is recommended:
Section Title Indicative Content Indicative Word Count
Introduction Outline the structure and content of the work.
Provide some rationale for choosing your subject and justify why the topic is important to nursing practice. *200
Literature search Here you need to precisely detail your search strategy:
⦁ Start by generating a literature search question. You should use a structure to help with this. A question will help to focus your search and make it easier to identify search terms.
⦁ Which databases did you use and why?
⦁ What key search terms did you use? How did you use them? How did you use Boolean Operators and truncation to improve your search? (see Assignment Guide 1 on Blackboard)
⦁ How many results did this yield?
⦁ How did you increase the specificity of your search using filters? You may consider tabulating some of this section. *600
Selection of literature In this section:
⦁ You need to outline how you selected the two research papers to review from those you identified in the search.
⦁ You are required to identify one quantitative and one qualitative paper. You need to justify your choice.
⦁ Please see Assignment Guide 1 on Blackboard. Consider enhancing this section with a diagrammatic representation of your selection procedure. *200
Critique In this section you need to critique the two research papers that you have selected.
The papers should be critiqued separately and in a sequential way (please see Assignment Guide 2).
You should use an appropriate framework to guide this process.
The focus here is on your ability to critique research literature.
You should utilise a variety of views (research literature) to develop your arguments and critical writing. *1600
Discussion Compare the critiqued papers.
Discuss the strengths and limitations of both research papers and their associated research paradigms (i.e. quantitative and qualitative).
Summarise your critique – what does this research tell you about your topic/research question. Where are the gaps? To what extent do they provide an answer to your literature search question?
Discuss what the findings contribute to current nursing practice in the UK. *300
Conclusion Make conclusions about the assignment process as a whole. Do not introduce new material but tie all of the preceding sections together. *100
References Follow the Harvard referencing style. Ensure that you include a sufficient number of references to demonstrate level 5 writing.
Appendices Optional- if you require one
To what extent can FX43 reduce negative symptoms and promote well-being among clinically depressed adults?
PART 1: Getting Started, Introduction, Research Question and the Literature Search
Okay, so what is the purpose of this assignment? Basically, you need to identify, examine and critique two research studies (one quantitative and one qualitative) from your field of practice. The following video links provide an overview of these two research paradigms:
A short animated clip explaining the basic principles of quantitative and qualitative research approaches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X-QSU6-hPU
An interesting presentation by Laura Killam discussing quantitative and qualitative research paradigms in nursing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA0-RMPi7qE
Professor John Creswell talking about quantitative and qualitative research from a mixed-methods perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OaNiTlpyX8
WHERE DO I START?
You might have not yet decided on an area of focus; or you may have several areas of interest, but cannot decide which would be best. With regards to motivation, it is often useful to pick an area you are genuinely interested in. However, you need to choose an area for which there is sufficient research. Motivation for your chosen area can come from various sources. Think about your time on placement; was there anything that you found especially interesting?
Let’s say you’re a student mental health nurse who has had placement working with individuals who experience depression. You might be aware of the side-effects associated with anti-depressant use and wonder whether these drugs are over-prescribed. You might have read about other (less harmful) approaches to treating depression. Therefore, you could choose to examine the effectiveness of newer talking therapies, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or mindfulness in treating depression. Alternatively, you may want to examine the effects of herbal medications in alleviating symptoms of depression.
Maybe there is something you have experienced in placement that you want to know more about. If not, you could always conduct a web-search, or look at nursing organisations to see what they are talking about.
To further assist with this assignment guide, a fictitious example will be used. It will involve a herbal alternative for treating depression called FX43. This herbal medication was originally sold as a diet-pill, but failed to have any significant impact on weight loss. However, some users reported that the medication had a positive effect on their mood. As a result, there have been a series of research studies examining the effects of this medication as an anti-depressant. Whilst quantitative research studies (i.e. RCTs) have examined how effective this medication is in reducing symptoms of depression, qualitative studies have explored the experiences of taking the medication and have helped to develop theory as to how it works.
INTRODUCTION: Outline the structure and content of the work. Describe why this topic is important to nursing practice.
You may also briefly describe the structure of the assignment in your introduction. However, don’t just describe a generic structure:
E.g. ‘This assignment will start with a literature search using databases and then critique two pieces of literature in a chosen area….. It will end with a conclusion and reference list.’
Be specific to your area:
E.g. ‘Due to the challenges surrounding anti-depressant use, the current assignment will identify two pieces of research (one qualitative; one quantitative) exploring the effects of FX43 in treating depression. A systematic search will be conducted using three relevant databases (CINAHL, BND and PsycINFO). Both studies will be stringently examined using Polit and Beck’s (2010) critiquing framework. Their strengths, limitations, and contributions to theory and practice will be discussed.
A good introduction will use evidence to emphasise a problem and demonstrate rationale for the exploring the area. So, your rationale might be (again, this is fictitious):
Depression is a growing concern in the UK (Mind, 2015). Increasing numbers of individuals are being prescribed anti-depressant medication to alleviate symptoms and promote well-being (REF). A series of recent research studies have highlighted a range of negative side effects which can be particularly detrimental to patients with depression (e.g. REF; REF; REF). Whilst talking therapies are a valuable alternative to pharmacological interventions, waiting times in the UK can be high (REF). In some instances, this has been particularly detrimental to patients. FX43 is a herbal medication developed to assist with weight loss. A systematic review suggested FX43 was ineffective at controlling weight gain (REF), but tended to increase the mood of participants. This assignment will report a systematic literature search and critically examination of two pieces of research (1 quantitative and 1 qualitative) exploring the effects of FX43 as an antidepressant medication.
LITERATURE SEARCH QUESTION:
To assist with your literature search and selection, it is useful to generate a literature search or clinical question after the introduction. This question is mainly for the literature search section and will help you identify two similar articles for your critique. You could use the PIO or PICO system to help generate a question (see Polit & Beck, 2014). Whilst a PICO question is more suitable for identifying quantitative research articles, a PIO question is more basic and might be more relevant for this assignment, as it more easily accommodates both qualitative and quantitative studies. The PIO components for the hypothetical question for this assignment guide are listed below:
Population: Adults with depression
Intervention: FX43
Outcome: reduce symptoms of depression / promote well-being
Using these criteria, the following question was generated:
To what extent can FX43 reduce negative symptoms and promote well-being among clinically depressed adults?
An alternative approach would be to propose two related questions (one for quantitative and another for quantitative):
How does FX43 compare to Prozac in treating adults diagnosed with depression?
What are the experiences of experiences of individuals taking FX43?
LITERATURE SEARCH:
This section should precisely detail your literature search strategy and the process for selecting your two articles. Ideally, your search should be transparent enough to be replicated by the reader. Try to display your information in a way that shows every step of the process.
Which databases did you use? – Think about why you used these particular databases and justify your choice. We recommend at least two databases that are relevant to your chosen topic area.
What key search terms did you use? – When conducting a search, it is important to consider the most appropriate search terms for your chosen area. For the fictitious example presented above, the following search terms were generated for identifying papers surrounding depression:
‘depression’, ‘depressed’, ‘depressive illness’, ‘unipolar depression’, ‘affective disorder’.
Unlike a Google search, many database search engines only search for the exact word that you type in. Therefore, if you type in ‘depression’, it will identify articles containing the work ‘depression’. It will not identify articles which have used the term ‘depressed’, or ‘depressive’ instead of ‘depression’. This could limit your findings, because some authors may not use ‘depression’ as a term. After all, it is perfectively acceptable to use ‘depressive illness’ or ‘depressed individuals’.
So, does that mean we need to type all of these variations of depression into the search box?
Not necessarily. As we can see, there are three terms here that start with the letters ‘depress’. Therefore, we can use an asterisk symbol (e.g. ) to tell the search engine that we are looking for all terms that start with ‘depress’. Typing ‘depress’ will identify articles that use either ‘depression’, ‘depressive’ and ‘depressed’. It is also useful to put on the end of words where the plural of the word may also be valid for the search. For example: ‘Nurse’ and ‘Nurses’ – to search for both of these, you could type in ‘Nurse’. If you also wanted to search for ‘Nursing’, you could type in ‘Nurs’.
However, you will have noticed that there were some other terms we have not covered with depress* (i.e. ‘affective disorder’). These terms would need to be entered separately. You may consider using the ‘OR’ operator when using different terms. For example:
(depress* OR affective disorder*)
In addition, the AND and NOT operators can also be used. See Polit and Beck for further details on using these. Table 1 on the next page provides an example of how AND and OR were used in this fictitious search.
How many results did this yield?
A great way to show this is by using a table similar to the one below. It shows the number of articles for each search term for three databases. You will see that the search terms were entered progressively and the number of hits were recorder for each search. In addition, two filters were added after the final search which reduced the findings even further. You may choose to add the filters at the start of the search. You would need to specify this.
Table 1:
Quantitative and Qualitative search strategy for the three databases
Search PSYCinfo CINAHL BND
Quantitative
(depress* OR affective disorder) 36, 623 32, 345 1, 023 (depress OR affective disorder) AND FX23 102 89 56 (depress OR affective disorder) AND FX23 AND effective 87 57 42
(depress* OR affective disorder) AND FX23 AND effective AND (trial OR RCT) 23 18 3
Filters: 2010-present 21 16 3
Filters: full-text 9 6 1
Qualitative
(depress* OR affective disorder*)
36, 623
32, 345
1, 023
(depress* OR affective disorder) AND FX23 102 89 56 (depress OR affective disorder) AND FX23 AND (qualitative OR experience) 32 23 14
Filters: 2010-present 30 21 14
Filters: full-text 8 6 4
After this fictitious search, we are left with a total of 34 studies (16 quantitative studies and 18 quantitative studies) when we combine the final search results from the three databases.
How do we choose the two studies that we want?
It is likely that your databases will have identified duplicate results, and many of these will not be appropriate. You may choose to demonstrate how you identified your articles, using a flow diagram. On the following page, there is a 7-step flow chart which show the 34 articles were reduced to one qualitative study and one quantitative study (see Figure 1).
STEP 1 involves totalling all studies from the three databases (or however many you have used).
STEP 2 involves the removal of duplicates (i.e. duplicate studies that were identified in more than one database).
STEP 3 provides the total number of studies after duplicates were removed.
STEP 4 involves the removal of studies after their titles and abstracts were examined. These studies would have likely been deemed as not quite appropriate or relevant to the area of interest.
STEP 5 provides the total number of studies after.
STEP 4 was conducted and less relevant papers were removed.
STEP 6 is a major step, where the remaining papers were examined in depth. Often the hierarchy of evidence is used to assist with this step. It mainly involves reading through the remaining studies and identifying those most relevant to your assignment and chosen area.
STEP 7 reports the two selected studies after the previous steps.
Please note that it is not essential to use a flow diagram in this assignment. If you do use one, it might be more relevant to use in the SELECTION OF LITERATURE section. However, if you do use a flow diagram, make sure it is discussed in the main-body of the assignment. The selection of literature and the critiquing components will be discussed in the Assignment Guide Part 2
Figure 1: Flow diagram showing steps taken in selecting articles
Please listen to the Serial Episode and post a thoughtful question in our class forum as described in the Syllabus.
Serial Episode Eleven
https://serialpodcast.org/season-one/11/rumors
Part I – Please listen to the Serial Episode and post a thoughtful question in our class forum as described in the Syllabus.
Part II – Please respond thoughtfully to at least one other student’s question as described in the Syllabus.
After listening to this week of serial, I thought it was almost all about Adnan’s personality and whether he did it or not. A theme that seems to be going on throughout the podcast is that Hae broke Adnan’s heart and that it was very wrong according to his beliefs. I think this might have had a pointing finger since we learned that according to his faith when a woman almost takes control, you feel less like a man. This could have been a factor that prompted Adnan to rethink his strategy of what to do. Another thing that I doubt is that in the episode, Adnan is heavenly portrayed as a psychopath with murderous tendencies. One vital aspect is understanding his motives of why he might have done it is given by ‘Huing.’ According to him, many murders are not premeditated, which means they are not planned, as often happens when someone is being pushed over the edge. In Adnan’s case, I believe that this might have been the case. If we look at his religion playing a significant role, his mindset could easily have pushed him towards the extreme to commit something. But the quote stating most killers aren’t psychopaths, I feel, fits pretty good on Adnan if he did commit the murder. And only four people do believe that Adnan was even capable of such horrific actions, to achieve the murder on Hae, that he used charming views to deflect guild which according to those people would classify him as a psychopathic killer in the end. But, I do also believe that people who, according to Koenig, push for innocence despite the circumstances are wrongfully convicted turned out in the episode to be just as likely as being someone who did it. According to Huing, I think that the idea that many potential murderers might have amnesia is that they forget things and say outright that they have absolutely no recollection of doing the act. When it comes to Adnan, I feel that it is now a 50/50 chance that he is the killer. He displays tendencies of having to do it according to all these experts, but in the end, the question remains whether they have the proof. My thoughtful question is whether the breakup between Adnan and Hae did push him over the edge to the point that he committed the murder?; he certainly has the motive and means if you think that the act of breakup is the powderkeg that the action in motion, next week will likely tell the final pieces.
