This book explains the financial appraisal of capital budgeting projects. The coverage extends from the development of basic concepts, principles and techniques to the application of them in increasingly complex and real-world situations. Identification and estimation (including forecasting) of cash flows, project appraisal formulae, and the application of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and other project evaluation criteria are illustrated with a variety of calculation examples. Risk analysis is extensively covered by the use of risk adjusted discount rate, certainty equivalent, sensitivity, simulation and Monte Carlo analysis. The NPV and IRR models are further applied to forestry, property and international investments. Resource constraints are introduced to the capital budgeting decisions with a variety of worked examples using linear programming technique. All calculations are extensively supported by Excel workbooks on the Web, and each chapter is well reviewed by end of chapter questions.
If the history of journalism education has been a footnote to accounts of the profession's development, then the history of numeracy training for journalists must be considered a footnote to a footnote. Despite the universally acknowledged centrality of numbers to a clear understanding of the world, many journalism students and entrants are proudly number-phobic; it is even suggested that an aversion to maths is a key reason why some choose journalism as a career. This study traces the development of numeracy education for journalists in England. It is only with the incipient professionalisation of journalism from the mid-19th century that numeracy becomes problematic, partly because of the rise of mass education in the 1870s and partly because of the changing nature of news. Yet -drawing on manuals, biographies and personal accountsit turns out it was as late as the 1940s before any systematic plan to counter the prevailing literary leanings of journalists was proposed, and a further 30 years before this took root in the academy. The picture today is mixed, with professional and accreditation bodies, industry-sponsored initiatives, non-journalism organisations and academic institutions all playing a part. The consequences of this are evident in misreported or under-reported news stories. The lack of a coherent approach to numeracy training, or even agreement as to what it should comprise, exposes a critical weakness in journalism's mission to explain. Steve Harrison is a senior lecturer in journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, where he specialises in digital media and media production. Having worked on regional daily newspapers for over 25 years, he has a strong interest in numeracy and journalism. He is currently researching how journalists' lack of numeracy skills affects the selection and transmission of news.
Journalists are tasked with holding power to account; often, that means evaluating and interpreting numbers. But anecdotally, journalists are ill at ease with figures. This shortcoming is worrying both in terms of the quality of news provided to the public, and the implications for informed democratic debate. This paper tests the assertion that journalism as a profession is numeracy-challenged through a small-scale study of the numeracy capabilities of journalism students. Some oft-cited reasons for these shortcomings are discussed, including the pressures of deadlines and the tyranny of the 24-hour news cycle, where the mantra of "never wrong for long" appears to justify a casual approach to getting numbers right. Then, drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and his notion of "cultural capital," the under-appreciated role played by symbolic culture in journalists' attitude to figures is highlighted. Symbolic culture determines what is valued by a group or subgroup of people (such as journalists), and what it is acceptable to denigrate ("I'm no good at math!" spoken as a boast). Journalism culture, it is argued, is opposed to numeracy. Finally, it is argued that in addition to the worthwhile efforts to improve numeracy skills among journalists, the culture of journalism itself needs to be transformed. The novel suggestion is made that science and math students should be encouraged to enter the profession, which has traditionally been dominated by liberal arts students. Steve Harrison has an MA in English from Oxford University as well as a BSc in mathematics from the Open University. He is a senior lecturer in journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, where he specialises in digital media and media production. Having worked on British regional daily newspapers for over 25 years, he has a strong interest in numeracy and journalism education.
Although research into the relationship between quantitative literacy (QL) and news reporting is sparse, the consensus among researchers is that journalists tend not to place QL very highly among their professional values and that journalism suffers as a consequence. This paper is an attempt to provide concrete examples of the ways in which news reports systemically misinterpret, misrepresent, or misuse numerical data as part of the reporting process. Drawing on scenarios ranging from elections and healthcare to the mundane world of food preparation, it shows how a lack of rigour in the fields of reporting and news production can lead to a diminution in the quality of journalism presented to the public. It is argued that while the effect of this can sometimes be trivial, on occasion it is literally a matter of life and death.
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