RJA 9

Technorati

RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources

1) canadian-healthcare.org was a source of quick facts for my research topic. It was clear and easy to find information, but the information that it contained was very broad and simplistic. There is a small chance that I would use this website as a source on my argumentative paper, but I would probably just use this information mainly for general knowledge that I can capitalize to get more in-depth research.

2) "The Canadian Healthcare System: The Future of American Healthcare?" is a periodical article that I found here at the Auraria Library. This article covered many great issues such as the development of the Canadian healthcare system; organization and financing; healthcare delivery issues; expenditures for physicians' services, and regulation of physician supply. My citation format would be in MLA and would present itself such as:

LeBien, Laurent "The Canadian healthcare system: The future of American healthcare?." Hospital Topics 74.3 (1996): 25. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Oct. 2009.

3) As I was searching periodical articles at the library I came across one that really caught my eye. It was called "Current trends and future directions for the Canadian healthcare system" and had really good information on the structure of healthcare in Canada, trends in health expenditures, and policies designed to enhance the access to healthcare services. The MLA citation for this article would be:

Coyte, Peter C. "Current Trends and Future Directions for the Canadian Healthcare System." Economic Affairs. 21. 4 (2001): 24-27.

4) I checked out the book "About Canada" months ago and was able to easily learn about Canada's method of health care. This book was full of information, but I mainly concentrated on the first five chapters on how Canada got the Canada Health Care Act and what it all entailed. The MLA citation for this book would appear such as:

Armstrong, Pat/Hugh. Health Care. Ontonio: Halifax Fernwood, 2008. Print.

5) Another book that caught my attention was "Wasting away: the undermining of Canadian health care" so like the last book I checked it out weeks ago to get a firmer grasp of my topic. As I read it the style was such as the last book, but it took awhile before I noticed that it was the same exact authors just an older book with slightly different information. I learned the development of Canadian Health Care; Who provides the care: The institutions; Who pays; Who decides; and who wins and who loses. The citation pertaining to this book looks like:

Citation added: Pat, Armstrong,. Wasting away the undermining of Canadian health care. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1996. Print.

6) The article "Pushing Right against the Evidence: Turbulent Times for Canadian Health Care." also grabbing my attention because of the opposite stance that it take had good topics like the debate over the direction of the country's health care reform. They believe the Canadian medical care system needs to be reformed. They also mention different societal issues related to health care reform. The MLA citation appeared:

Kenny N, and R Chafe. "Pushing Right against the Evidence: Turbulent Times for Canadian Health Care." The Hastings Center Report. 37. 5 (2007).

RJA 8

RJA #8a: Websites

Alltheweb.com
Canadian Health Care
October 9 2009
9,843,000
4

Find.com
Canada's Health Care
October 9 2008
didn't say
5



RJA #8b: Social Media


Resource searched: Google Blog Search
-Keywords used: *Canadian Health Care, Debate, Socialized Medicine
-I used the boolean operator for my search.
-Date: 10/9/09
-Number of hits: 36,000
-Relevancy of hits: 4

Resource Searched: Blogpulse
-Keywords used: *Canadian Health Care, Universal Health Care, Debate
-I used the boolean operator for my search
-Date: 10/9/09
-Number of hits: 41
-Relevancy of hits: 4



RJA #8c: Multimedia


videosurf.com
Canadian Health Care
270 hits
10/9/09
5

Blinkx.com-
Canadian Health Care System
I used the boolean search strategy
10/9/09
277,000
4

Internet Research Project

The Carrot2 Clustering Engine

The Carrot2 Clustering Engine automatically organize small collections of documents thematic categories.
The main goal of Carrot2 Clustering Engine is to help users to better understand search results and to perform their searches more effectively using algorithms to aim at maximizing the usefulness of clusters they produce. Search results clustering is a process of organising document references returned by a search engine into a number of meaningful thematic categories

Weaknesses

• different preferences different people may have.
• algorithms' parameters (lingo of parameters)
• will be more than one "correct" solution for one data set
• Only works for more recent Windows Operating Systems

Strengths

• Searches popular search engines such as Ask, Bing, Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Cuil, Exalead, Entireweb, Scholar
• Lastest technology in search engines combining clustering to easily find what you're looking for
• Easy to use

http://project.carrot2.org/publications/osinski04-dimensionality.pdf

RJA #7

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools- When it comes to internet research tools that I regularly use I only have a few that I choose from. I regularly use:

Google
Yahoo
MSN


The reasoning I use these internet research tools are that they are very quick, easy, and efficient. Another reason that I use these websites are that they are all I have ever used so out of habit I go to them and because I dont know of any better internet research tools so ignorance plays a key role. I like these tools for the same reasons I use them being the efficiency, ease of use, and the amount of time it takes to use them.

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test- I used Carrot2 Clustering Engine using the keywords Canadian Health Care -U.S. Reform -Obama (advanced search, Boolean operators ('AND', NEAR, and "" through))and there were a total of 93,000,000 results and the top 100 results were 5 out of 5 regarding relevance. 10/1/09

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan- For my field research plan I intend on interviewing a nurse that now works in the Denver/metro area. She worked within the Canadian health care system for a number of years before moving to Denver to live closer to her in-laws. I intend to be finished with my field research plan by the end of October. I am only waiting on organizing all of my questions and a good time to interview her. If she isn't available to be interviewed in person due to the lack of time then I will do it over the phone although she did consent to the interview close to a month ago. The questions I have in mind at the time are to clear up some myths of the Canadian Health Care and I would like to get her honest opinion of the health system set up in Canada. Some questions I would ask her are:
1) Are the waits to recieve care on average very long (I know cases are always different) compared to the U.S.?
2) Are there a large shortage of supplies, doctors, or health care providers?
3) In all honesty what were some of the major flaws of the Canadian Health Care system?
4) Which system would you prefer to work for (The U.S. or Canadian)
5) Which system do you think is best overall?