Research Methods For Engineers Assessment Answer

RESEARCH METHODS FOR ENGINEERS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Conducting this research has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. The contribution of this research to enhance my knowledge base and analytical skill has been paramount. It gave me the opportunity to face challenges in the process and overcome them. This would not have been possible without the valuable guidance of my professors, peers and all the people who have contributed to this enriching experience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor ----------------------- for the constant guidance and support provided to me during the process of this research. It would not be justified if I did not thank my academic guides for their important and valuable assistance and encouragement throughout the research process. I would also like to thank my friends who had provided me with help and encouragement for collecting primary data and valuable resources. Finally, I would like to thank the professionals from the retail industry who have participated in the research survey and provided with valuable inputs into the subject. The support of all these people has been inspiring and enlightening throughout the process of research on the subject.

Abstract

The public-private partnership that is PPP projects is completely different from those projects that are been contracted in the traditional way. The major difference occurs the way both the procurement are funded, in the PPP procurement each phase of the project are been awarded to one single contracts, which provides the opportunity to come up with much smarter and better solutions. On the other hand, each phase of the traditional procurement is contracted to the various different parties. PPP procurement provides innovative lessons that refer financing the education which is very helpful for those countries that are under post-conflict and undergoing through reconstruction. This process also contributes to developing various business models mainly for those countries those are with middle income. This study also shows that it is necessary to make improvements in the student achievements especially for the competitiveness of the nations. Scientifically it has been proven that environment of the physical classroom does influence the achievement of the students. 

1.0 Introduction

There are numerous procurement options that are made available to the schools like build and design, partnering, public-private partnerships and traditional procurement. Each method has some disadvantages and advantages and it is necessary for the business manager of the school to be well accustomed to all these methods before advising the approach that needs to be taken. The public-private partnership that is PPP projects is completely different from those projects that are been contracted in a traditional way. The major difference occurs the way both the procurement are funded, in the PPP procurement each phase of the project are been awarded to one single contracts, which provides the opportunity to come up with much smarter and better solutions. On the other hand, each phase of the traditional procurement is contracted to the various different parties. In PPP procurement the project costs are confirmed much in advance. Whereas, the government this is the contracting party or authority takes the responsibility to pay the amount if agreeable outputs are been delivered. The contracts pay the project’s cost whereas government or contracting authority repays the amount in the installments depending on agreed outputs. 

PPP procurement projects are much longer time compared to the processes of traditional procurement. This is the reason why the PPP procurements are worth the money and time for the projects requiring investment at the certain level. If the contractor fails to deliver the agreed outputs, then the contracting authority that is the government has the power to withhold or refuse to pay some parts of the money.  The public-private partnership that is PPP contracts often helps various countries to successfully fulfill the educational goals of the country. This procurement process can increase the access to the education of good quality for all mainly for those children who are poor and lives in the remote areas, underprivileged communities as well as for those children who live in the minority populations.  
PPP procurement provides innovative lessons that refer financing the education which is very helpful for those countries that are under post-conflict and undergoing through reconstruction. This process also contributes to developing various business models mainly for those countries those are with middle income.  

2.0 Research question

? The school design / Procurement (PPP vs Traditional) relationship and its effects on student educational outcome

3.0 Comparison and analysis 

3.1 Analysis of article 1: The impact of Public-Private Partnerships on education

The first article describes various impacts of the public-private partnerships for the attainment, attendance, behaviour, and attitude and education delivers. The key factors responsible for the successes of the partnership are identified and the lesson that is transferable is extracted. This article has also identified the factors that act as barriers to the partnership and various suggestions have been provided in order to make an improvement. This article was based on the case study of PFI School that is situated in the UK. For the Labor Government in the year of 1997, the education was considered as top priority. It was identified that it was impossible to ignore the education that is long-term underperformance.  

The traditional approaches failed to rise up the standards, thus expertise was utilized where ever it was found be it involuntary, private or public sectors. Therefore, in order to end this public-private partnership increasingly obtained importance as the mechanism in order to come up with mitigating steps so that can address the underperformance successfully. In accordance to Gibson & Davies (2008),  public-private partnerships were very much evident from the present government policy like local authorities had much higher commissioning role in the Children act of 2004 as well as in the important programs of the infrastructure renewal like BSF that is Building schools for the Future. Their influence was reflected on the extent of the PFI that is Private Finance Initiatives an investment in the education along with DfES this Department of Health. It has been found that in the last 5 years the participation of the private sectors in the education also increased as result it raised the assessment of the impact of the private sector.
PPP has the positive impact on the education delivery it is not only evident from the facilities and building quality but also evident from the extra activities and learning experience that was facilitated as well as increased the time along with the focus that was committed by the head through following the relinquishing of the management facilities. There were certain factors that can act as the barriers for PPP to get successful like the PFI negative image, opposition from the local political parties, and relationship among the internal partnership culture if local community, financial issues, size of the project and many more. Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to increase the working of PPP it is better to work with private sectors in order to mitigate the problems. From this article, it can be found that partnerships have the positive impact on the education. Public-private partnerships have the positive impact on the attendance, behaviour and attitude.  

3.2 Analysis of article 2: Designing Classrooms to Maximize Student Achievement

This article describes that is necessary to make improvements in the student achievements especially for the competitiveness of the nations. Scientifically it has been proven that environment of the physical classroom does influence the achievement of the students. As per the findings of this, it can be concluded that their structural facilities of the building influence the learning, similarly of the classroom gas inadequate lighting, huge noise, low-quality air, different heating then it can lead to the worst achievement of the students. In US maximum of the schools are with poor structural facilities and it has been found that students of the colour, as well as students with a low-income maximum of the time, attend the schools that lack in structural facilities.

It is also scientifically proved that less important features like wall decor and objects also influence the learning as well as the achievements of the student. As opined by Cheryan et al. (2014), it can also be said that the classroom room that is evidence-based can also maximize the outcomes of the education for the students. As per the National Centre for the Education Statics, it is evidenced that maximum of public school in the US spends a large amount of money on the school building in order to bring the school up to the better and good conditions. The common structural inadequacies consist of plumbing, windows temperature regulation and ventilation. It was seen that the school have maximum structural inadequacies those who provide reduced or free lunch.  

There are many factors that can influence the performance of the students like lightning it has been seen that students prefer to have natural light in the classrooms as it helps them to perform much better compared to the students those who are less exposed to the natural lights. The temperature is evident that for learning the range of optimal temperature must be between “68 degrees to 74 degrees”. Air quality, it is seen that the classroom with the poor quality of air, decreases the attended of the students as well as affects the abilities of the teachers in order to teach well. Acoustics if external noise is present in the classroom then it hinders the leanings of the students. Accessibility, it is necessary to ensure the quality of the adequate structure for entire schools, especially for the disabled students. Therefore, from this article, it can be concluded that in order to make the students learn to with their full potential is required that the environment of the classroom should be with good structural quality as well as must hold cues signalling that the students are the valued learners.

3.3 Analysis of article

3: Using public-private partnerships for the building and management of school assets and services

This article reveals that secondary and elementary education is the important policy regime for the governments. The main objective of the education system is equipping the citizens with skills and knowledge in order to get successful in this modern world. Education service delivery relies on school assets developments. In accordance to Liu & Wilkinson (2014), managing and building schools play the major role in achieving the objectives of the education. PPP was introduced in the schools by the government for enjoying the development advantages liked consideration for whole-of-life, allocation of better risk, operational and design innovations. In both developing and developed countries, PPPs is used widely for the school sector.

 
This article mainly evaluated the experiences of PPP in school sectors by focusing on the cases that are based on New Zealand and Australia from the comparative perspective, this article finds that major dimensions that are affecting the PPP applications is having the deviations with the PPP practices that are generated as the outcome of special characteristics of management and building of the schools. From this article it can be found that by analysing the organisational and procedural arrangements from the comparative perspective it was found that for the successful PPP for school  certain factors are critical to development of the business case, size adjusted as well as tendering streamlined process, partners of local private sector as well as streamlined finance, engagement of extensive stakeholder, effective governance as well as structure of the organisation and the enhanced partnership.

3.4 Comparison of all the three articles 

From all the three articles it can be said that both the PPP procurement and classroom designing has the huge impact on the education system. Article 1 and article 3 discuss the PPP procurement and its importance in the education it shows that the traditional procurement failed to rise up the standards, thus PPP procurement is best approach that can be used for rising up the opportunities of education in the poor countries especially this procurement process can increase the access to the education of good quality for all mainly for those children who are poor and lives in the remote areas, underprivileged communities as well as for those children who lives in the minority populations. Especially, in article 3 it has been seen that Public-private partnership was used for management and building of the services and assets of the schools but failed to explain the other procurement option that is available to the schools like the design. Scientifically it has been proven that environment of the physical classroom does influence the achievement of the students.

The design is also an important factor that needs to focus on. On the other hand article 2 only discussed the designing classroom that acts as the major factor for improvement of the students, this article has only discussed the design procurement its importance and impact on the education. This article did not discuss the both other procurement methods like PPP. From the comparison, it can be concluded that it is necessary for the business manager of the school to be well accustomed to all these methods before advising the approach that needs to be taken. 

4.0 Conclusion

This study helps to understand that there are numerous procurement options that are made available to the schools like build and design, partnering, public-private partnerships and traditional procurement. Each method has some disadvantages and advantages and it is necessary for the business manager of the school to be well accustomed to all these methods before advising the approach that needs to be taken. PPP has the positive impact on the education delivery it is not only evident from the facilities and building quality but also evident from the extra activities and learning experience that was facilitated. It can be concluded that PPP procurement provides innovative lessons that refer financing the education which is very helpful for those countries that are under post-conflict and undergoing through reconstruction.
This process also contributes to developing various business models mainly for those countries those are with middle income. Furthermore, it has been found that scientifically it has been proven that environment of the physical classroom does influence the achievement of the students. As per the findings of this, it can be concluded that their structural facilities of the building influence the learning, similarly of the classroom gas inadequate lighting, huge noise, low-quality air, different heating then it can lead to the worst achievement of the students. 

References