DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA05 Marked and Returned

Best mark yet, which I am very pleased about, but to be fair this TMA played to my existing strengths as I am used to writing reports and am frequently involved in risk assessments.

Anyway, on to TMA 06, although I have read on the Facebook group that some people are skipping TMA06 as their scores are high enough to allow them to do this. I think this is a mistake, partly because there may be something relevant to TMA07 (the final and externally marked TMA) in the work for TMA06 so you will have to read the chapters anyway, and also because both TMA 06 &07 are based on the question "evaluate the claim", so TMA 06 is a great trial run at answering this type of question.

TMA06
A. Evaluate the claim that Britishness is a matter of ‘shared values, ideas or ways of life’.
 or
 B. Evaluate the claim that conflict is a catalyst for identity change.


TMA 07
A. Critically assess the claim that states are necessary evils.

or

B. ‘Jill’s story tells you all you need to know about the state.’ Explain and evaluate this claim.

TMA06 is due the middle of August, so 3 weeks to sort it out.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA 05 Submitted - Done & Dusted

I've been fiddling with this TMA, every time I re-read it I make a minor change, so I've decided to submit it before I make another change.

The main points are covered. It is in a report format. The contents page is correct. The introduction sets out what I'm going to do. The first section defines expert knowledge and questions both Epidemiological studies and experts. Lay knowledge is then defined. The second section talks about dealing with risk, 4 real examples with lots of referencing and using case studies and quantitative data. Lastly the conclusion supports all other sections and the referencing is correct.


I don't think I can make this any better, so it is fingers crossed for another good mark.


Now with a tutorial this weekend I've got a lot of reading to do as I'm well behind on the course timetable..........

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA 05 Submitted - Well V1 anyway

This is an odd TMA. It doesn't really stretch you academically or intellectually, so there is a real danger of under-estimating what is required or failing to answer the question asked.

I am involved in a lot of fairly serious risk assessments and I write reports, so this should be an easy TMA, but the word count is a problem, as is ensuring all the necessary terms and definitions are covered.

I have submitted the TMA as it stands now, as there is a real 'risk' that more important things get in the way and I forget to submit it in time. The deadline has really crept up on me, so at least at this point there is something tat I'm 95% happy with to actually mark.

I'm waiting on the tutor replying to some questions, but I think I've sorted these answers out for myself.

Need to get a bit more motivated for the next last two sections of the course.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA 05

"Write a report that examines how people use expert and lay knowledge about risks in order to live with them."

So this TMA is basically about writing a report, not an essay.

Title Page

Contents

Introduction 

Section on Definitions

Section on Living with Risks

Conclusion

References

Keep the sections succinct, adjust the language and style of writing to a report, add headings and  numbered sections and try and answer the question in 1250 words, well 1375 words once the 10% is added - its not a lot of words.

I seem to have just over the 10% word count for the Intro and Conclusion, but defining Expert Knowledge and Lay Knowledge is taking a lot of words, which means what should be the bulk of the report is a bit thin.... but with only 1375 words, I'm not sure what to cut.

I have about a week to go until I have to submit it, so I'll leave it for a bit and re-read it, besides I am a bit behind on reading Chapter 3.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 20

The suggested time table for Week 20

     Chapter 3 of Exploring Social Lives (7 hours)
     ‘Making connections: economics and geography’ (Making connections Audio CD) (45 minutes)        Online Activities 35 and 36 (2 hours) .
     Online Quiz: Exploring Social Lives, Chapter 3 (10–15 minutes)

To be completed by 1st July.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Distractions everywhere

I have now got an iPad2, I wasn't too sure about getting one of these things, but now I have it is seriously addictive, and I'm only writing this now so it can charge up again.

There are some seriously good apps for travel blogging and photo storage, manipulation and uploading, so I've been sort of lost in iTunes -land for most of this week. I can see it being really useful on holiday providing I can find the Wifi hotspots :-)

This week my 14yr old son is with us, so another excuse to ignore the books and concentrate on XBox and other non-study related activities.

Back to the books on Monday....honest.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 19

The suggested time table for Week 19

Chapter 2 of Exploring Social Lives (7 hours) . 

‘A risky world?’(Audio CD 1) (1 hour) . 

‘Different types of academic writing’ (Developing skills Audio CD)(1 hour) . 

Online Activities 33 and 34 (2 hours) . 

Online Quiz: Exploring Social Lives, Chapter 2 (10–15 minutes)

To be completed by 24th June.

Well this Chapter is what TMA05 is all about and the questions is,
Write a report that examines how people use expert and lay knowledge about risks in order to live with them.

The main challenge for this TMA is writing a report rather than an essay, that is really the crux of the matter.

The content of the chapter was interesting if a bit thin. There was an interesting example of conflicting "expert knowledge" in relation to soil testing for poisons, but the bottom line was that the second test was designed to test in a way which made soil look safer than it was. The motivation of these tests was to make money, it was a commercial venture, not to provide accurate measurement of poison levels, and the fact that several of these tests brought back differing levels of results shows you pays your money and takes your chance.

The other example was about the dangers of sun exposure and again the "expert knowledge" usually has something to gain by encouraging the purchase of sun-block, sun-glasses, UV-block swim wear for children etc. So once again I guess you realise that you need to question any information you are presented with and ask what the motivation is behind that particular stance.

The last part of the Chapter was about Epidemiology, ‘lay’ epidemiology, ‘Uncle Norman’
and the ‘last person’ which was a useful examination of why lay knowledge is effected and changed by personal knowledge and experience.

So in similar fashion to the last TMA, I think all the information is there, its just a matter of getting it presented in a report format, rather than an essay.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 18

The suggested time table for Week 18

‘Introduction’ to the ‘Material lives’ strand of Exploring Social Lives (45 minutes)
Chapter 1 of Exploring Social Lives (7 hours) . 
‘Economic wealth and happiness’ (Audio CD 1) (1 hour) . 
Online Activities 31 and 32 (2 hours) .
Online Quiz: Exploring Social Lives, Chapter 1 (10–15 minutes)

To be completed by 17th June.

I am just catching up so I had a go at the Online activities and Quiz before reading Chapter 1 and managed a 5/5 on the quiz, which made me think that this Chapter may not be that taxing.... and its not.

The Chapter talks about different measures for wealth and economic output and shows that you have to be very careful that you understand the units of measurement, as slight changes to the wording of the measurement can make a huge difference in the figures.

The Chapter also examined a measurement for Happiness as although the population of the UK are more affluent than 20 years ago, levels of happiness have not increased. However, as we know that there are a small number of very rich people and a large number of comparatively poor people an average value of affluence is not very representative - perhaps a median value would have been better, and anyway, although we may earn more than 20 years ago, fuel, food, mortgages etc are also much more expensive - so we don't necessarily have more disposable cash.

The Chapter also highlighted an alternative Happiness calculation which took in to account the countries use of resources and amount of waste they produce along with average life expectancy and so other factor and surprisingly a remote pacific island in the middle of nowhere comes up as number 1 - really because they have avoided manufacturing and a modern consumer culture. Which just proves the point that you can use statistics to get any result you want.

A bit of a disappointment as I am keen to learn more about economics, but then again this isn't an economics course.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 17

The suggested time table for Week 17

   
       This section of the Learning Companion (4 hours) 
       Exploring Social Lives DVD (6 hours) 
      ‘Studying the social sciences’ (Audio CD 1) (1 hour) .
      ‘Reflection: Pausing and moving on’ (30 minutes)

To be completed by 10th June.

So, I'm a bit behind with the reading and studying now, and this DVD has told me more about coal and coal-mining than I think I'll ever need to know.

Anyway, this doesn't seem to be part of the necessary study for the TMA, so it has been sort of skim-viewed, and I've listened to the CD and reflected - not too much of interest in either of them either - but at least the next chapter looks like it is about economics, so that should be more interesting.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - June Tutorial

Well after the pleasant surprise regarding the mark for TMA04, I went along to this tutorial all fired up about learning something to my advantage regarding TMA05 - but no such luck.

We did about an hour on simple stats calcs, percentages,  averages, means, median and modes and a bit on graphical representation of data, and then we talked about about the circle or circuit of knowledge - Questions, claims, evidence and evaluation. But to be honest I didn't really get much from this and the time and cost in traveling 45 mins there and the same back on a weekend meant it was probably not really worth it.

I will need to have a think about the value of attending the next one.