The Subject Matter of Experiments Essay Example for Free

The Subject Matter of Experiments Essay A well-designed experiment tells us that changes in the explanatory variable cause changes in the response variable. More exactly, it tells us that this happened for specific subjects in the specific environment of this specific experiment. No doubt we had grander things in mind. We want to proclaim that our new method of teaching math does better for high school students in general or that our new drug beats a placebo for some broad class of patients. Can we generalize our conclusions from our little group of subjects to a wider population? The first step is to be sure that our findings are statistically significant, that they are too strong to often occur just by chance. That’s important, but it’s a technical detail that the study’s statistician can reassure us about. The serious threat is that the treatments, the subjects, or the environment of our experiment may not be realistic. For example, a psychologist wants to study the effects of failure and frustration on the relationships among members of a work team. She forms a team of students, brings them to the psychology laboratory, and has them play a game that requires teamwork. The game is rigged so that they lose regularly. The psychologist observes the students through a one-way window and notes the changes in their behavior during an evening of game playing. Playing a game in a laboratory for small stakes, knowing that the session will soon be over, is a long way from working for months developing a new product that never works right and is finally abandoned by your company. Does the behavior of the students in the lab tell us much about the behavior of the team whose product failed? Psychologists do their best to devise realistic experiments for studying human behavior, but lack of realism limits the usefulness of experiments in this area. When experiments are not fully realistic, statistical analysis of the experimental data cannot tell us how far the results will generalize. Experimenters generalizing from students in a lab to workers in the real world must argue based on their understanding of how people function, not based just on the data. It is even harder to generalize from rats in a lab to people in the real world. This is one reason why a single experiment is rarely completely convincing, despite the compelling logic of experimental design. The true scope of a new finding must usually be explored by a number of experiments in various settings. A convincing case that an experiment is sufficiently realistic to produce useful information is based not on statistics but on the experimenter’s knowledge of the subject matter of the experiment. The attention to detail required avoiding hidden bias also rests on subject matter knowledge. Good experiments combine statistical principles with understanding of a specific field of study.

Georges Seurat - Hi Painting Essay -- essays research papers

Georges Seurat used the pointillism approach and the use of color to make his painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, be as lifelike as possible. Seurat worked two years on this painting, preparing it woth at least twenty drawings and forty color sketched. In these preliminary drawings he analyzed, in detail every color relationship and every aspect of pictorial space. La Grande Jatte was like an experiment that involved perspective depth, the broad landscape planes of color and light, and the way shadows were used. Everything tends to come back to the surface of the picture, to emphasize and reiterate the two dimensional plane of which it was painted on. Also important worth mentioning is the way Seurat used and created the figures in the painting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was painted between 1885-1886. The subject is an island newly adopted by the Parisian middle class as a place for quiet Sunday gatherings. The painting looks very realistic. The figures and the way they are dressed look lifelike as does the beautiful landscape in the background. The colors and the painting style, pointillism, make this painting very realistic. The question is, how does Seurat go about making the painting look so lifelike?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pointillism was a major reason in why Seurats painting looks so lifelike. During the painting of La Grande Jatte, Seurat simplified his brushwork to such an extent that his painting seems to be composed of nothing but tiny, more or less circular dots. Seurat’s experiments with color led him to paint in small dots of color which are arranged in such combinations that they seem to vibrate. Individual colors tend to interact with those around them and fuse in the eye of the viewer. This approach is not unlike the dots or pixels in a computer image. If you magnify any computer image sufficently, you will see individual colors that, when set together, produce an image. Seurat was interested in the way colors came about. With the enhancement of the luminousity of colors made possible by the investigation of scientific optics, he saw positive merit in a method in which the movement of the brush no longer demanded the slightest skill: ‘Here the hand is, in eff ect, useless, deceit impossible; no room for bravura i... ... study for the overall concept they appear rather as abstract patterns. The shadows of the figures were very carefully modeled. The light- dark contrasts of the shadows make them seem actually real. The spatial quality is only established through the relations between the sizes of the objects. The painting is not based on a geometrical, box like space. The perspective centre is on the right, despite the fact that the composition is laid in rows parallel to the picture frame. At the same time a paradoxical foreshortening from right to left is evident. The girl fishing with the orange dress and her mother are on the same level, that is, actually at equal distance. In its spatial contruction, the painting is also a successful construction, the groups of people sitting in the shade, and who should really be seen from above, are all shown directly from the side. The ideal eye level would actually be on different horizontal lines; first at head height of the standing figures, then of t hose seated. Seurats methods of combing observations which he collected over two years, corresponds, in its self invented techniques, to a modern lifelike painting rather than an academic history painting.

Growing in Intimacy with God Essay

Introduction The beginning of our relationship with God is from the moment we accept and believe Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. As it gets personal, it grows daily until it becomes deeper and intimate. Intimacy generally refers to the feeling of being in a close personal association and belonging together. It is a familiar and very close affective connection with another as a result of a bond that is formed through knowledge and experience of the other. In this lesson, we will learn and understand the work of God in our lives for us to be intimate with Him, yet it doesn’t require full force of effort from us. The following insights will help us to set ourselves to submit in the Lordship of God until we reach personal intimate relationship with Him. How would you complete the following statement? The most essential ingredient to living the Christian life is to†¦ †¢Fill your heart and mind with Scripture †¢ Pray as much as you are able. †¢Attend Christian meetings for inspiration. †¢Get involved in ministry. †¢Choose to do what is right and Godly. †¢None of the above. Each of the above choices are important to living the Christian life, but none of them qualifies as the â€Å"most essential† because they all fail to adequately deal with the primary obstacle Christian must overcome. This obstacle not only makes the Christian life difficult to live, but impossible to live. Why we can’t live the Christian Life? The primary obstacle that hinders Christians is the Sin Nature. Contrary to the belief that we are all born innocent, Scripture teaches that we do not become sinners, but that we are already born sinners. Psalms 51:5 The following Scriptures describes this problem Romans 3:10-12 Mark 7:21-23 Romans 8:7-8 Because of our sinful nature, not matter how many Scriptures we know, not matter often we pray, no matter how many inspirational meeting we attend, no matter how involved we are in ministry, or no matter how strong will to do right, our best efforts will fail because we do not deal with the main problem. When done in our own strength, these activities simply produce Spiritual pride! But God has provided a solution for us. God’s Solution God’s Solution to our Sin nature is to give us a New Nature! He did this by putting His Holy Spirit in us at the moment we received Jesus Christ! The following Scriptures describe this miracle. John 3:5-7 Ephesians 4:23-24 God’s spirit imparts God’s nature and power in us! Ezekiel 36:26-27 Acts 1:8 Philippians 2:13 (TLB) God’s Spirit gives us the Desire (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and the Power (Acts 1:8) to do His will! God’s Spirit in Us The desire in you to please God is the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. It is evident of the New Nature you inherited when you were born again by God’s Spirit. We are born into this world with a Sin Nature. But the moment we trust Jesus Christ for forgiveness, we are â€Å"born again† with a new nature, which is not only the new me but the real me! The sin nature, or Old me, can never please God and does not even want to, but our New Nature not only desires to please God, but it is able to by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Notice that the Christian’s Sin Nature will cease at the moment death, while our new nature will continue for eternity! The challenge we face in this life is the battle between these two natures to rule in our minds, our hearts and bodies. They are at war within us! The good news is that this struggle is temporary. Once we are free of Sin Nature, our new nature will be unhindered to do all that God desires. It is important to understand that the key to victory is God’s Spirit within us. Only by allowing His Spirit to live through us will we experience God’s Will and Power in us! Be Filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:18 teaches us how to apply God’s provision to overcome sin. The word â€Å"filled† means to be filled to the full! A person â€Å"filled with the spirit â€Å"leaves no room for the Sin Nature to control his life. Command: This verb teaches that we are â€Å"filled with the Spirit† by an act of our will! God is not asking us to be filled with his Spirit if we feel like it. God is commanding us to be filled. No matter how we feel †¦ no matter what our circumstances, we can choose to be filled and allow God to rule in our lives! God’s Work: This verb also indicates that it is God who fills us. We simply make ourselves available to Him! As we yield our lives to God, His Spirit empowers us with His Desire and Ability! Present Tense: Finally, this verb commands us to continually allow God’s Holy Spirit to fill us ~ moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. No breaks and no allowance for the Sin Nature to reign! How can we be sure God will fill us with His Holy Spirit? Because He said He would, and God does not lie! 1 John 5:14-15 1. Is it God’s will for us to be filled with His Spirit? ⠝  yes ⠝  no 2. If we ask God to fill us with His Spirit, will He hear us? ⠝  yes ⠝  no 3. If we know God will hear us, can we be sure we are filled? ⠝  yes ⠝  no Application The following steps can help us experience God’s Power continually 1. Confess ~ Not being filled to the full with God’s Spirit is sin. Confess this to God and claim His forgiveness (1 John 1:9) 2. Be Filled with the Holy Spirit ~ Ask God to fill you with His Spirit! Filling of the Holy Spirit doesn’t end our relationship with God. Rather, it only set our condition with the Lord. Each of us can posses a spiritual relationship with Christ. Jesus is very well aware of our individuality and want to give us just what we want to grow in our walk with Him. The following presents a guide that may help you find time to spend with God.

Analyzing the Ideas of Locke and Hobbes on the State of...

One of the long pondered debates among political philosophers concerns the state of nature concept underlying much of social contract theory, with the esoteric term being used to describe the hypothetical human condition which logically preceded the institution of organized government. Engaging in a rigorous deconstruction of this hypothetical condition, one defined by a societal structure in which mans rights are not protected by the power of the state, provided political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke with ample opportunity to indulge their faculties for elevated thought, with Hobbess Leviathan and Lockes Second Treatise on Civil Government standing as enduring testaments to this philosophical conundrum. Both Hobbes and Locke applied clinical logic and objective analysis, diffused through their distinctly disparate worldviews, to elucidate stirring but separate visions of the state of nature and mans place within it. Whereas Hobbes grounded his writing on the state of nature in a pragmatic appraisal of humanitys craven nature, Locke viewed the notion as the embodiment of mans promise and potential. A critical analysis of the works of Hobbes and Locke can be used to refine ones own conception of the state of nature, because each philosopher offered a uniquely informed perspective on a query which is common to all of us. According to Gregory S. Kavkas comprehensive essay on Hobbes and the state of nature, entitled Hobbess War of All AgainstShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke: Founding Father of Modern Era Liberalism1444 Words   |  6 PagesThomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke are all great thinkers who were greatly influential in forming philosophies that would affect the future of politics. By analyzing each philosopher’s ideology, we can identify which thinker’s theory reflected modern era liberalism the most. 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