Finding Out

In this episode of Finding Out, we explore innovation and how it contributes to making our lives better. We define and discuss innovation and learn how it has changed our lives and increased well-being since the industrial revolution.

This episode will help you understand energy and its part in consumption. You will learn some interesting facts about energy and our consumption habits. World energy consumption is rising as are costs. There is pressure to act to lower carbon released into the atmosphere along with other greenhouse gases. This has focused attention on what can be done to reduce the impact of climate change. Energy costs are increasing and the transition will not be easy. It is however, imperative that we do take action otherwise it will cost the planet. Switching to renewable sources of energy is essential to lower the impact from finite fossil fuels. Listen to find out more.

This episodes discusses how decisions are made in politics. It is about reason and argument or is it?

Why do politicians make decisions the way that they do?

We discuss facts, opinions, reason and argument. Many political decisions are economic decisions. Decisions about means to achieve a specific goal.

Finding Out is a podcast for the curious.

Thiis is a special episode for researchers writing articles for publication about their work. In it I explain the process of beginning the task and some of the key steps you have to negotiate. I also offer some practical tips about writing.

Inflation impacts everybody. What is inflation, how is it measured and why is it important? In this episode we find out answers to these questions. Governments use monetary and fiscal policy to influence inflation. They use the word control which sounds more precisie than it is. Consumers suffer when inflation occurs as do producers with regard to input costs.

Glossary of Terms:

RPI is the retail price index

CPI is the Consumer Price Index

Demand Pull is when inflation is driven by demand which cannot be satisfied by supply.

Cost Push is when increasing input costs drive up output prices that have to be passed on to customers.

The date that the CPI was introduced in the UK is 1st January 1997 and that is the base year for the index. Indices are rebased from time to time.

Introducing the podcast for the curious - Finding Out provides informed opinion based on evidence for you to make your own mind up about all things in our everyday lives.

This episode takes a look at what you need to think about to develop your research design for a higher degree thesis. We begin by thinking of a topic we want to research. There a number of steps we follow that include establishing a research aim and specific research questions (RQ’s). The RQ’s emerge from a critical review of relevant literature. In this step we are drawing boundaries around the topic and establishing the central focus for the study. It is often referred to as framing the research study. Once we have done this we have to translate the RQ’s into specific research objectives. Many research methods texts offer guidance on this. Following on to our next step we need to develop the empirical research design. This involves adopting a particular approach for the study informed by our ontological position e.g. are you an outsider or an insider? Answering this simple question might establish your own preference. The outsider often adopts a scientific approach – an expert examing the research subject objectively. The insider may see themselves as part of the research process – anthropologists, ethnographers and constructivists often follow this approach. The specific methods you choose and the particular tools and techniques of analysis will be different depending on your choices here. So too will the data you choose to use be different. As an example in what some call a variance study you examine and evaluate data to confirm or reject extant theoretical positions (hypotheses tests). Research questions are often descriptive, relational or causal. Data are quantitative. An alternative approach to this positivist ontological position might be constructivism where the starting point is to look at particular groups of people from within their own setting with the aim of generating theory or theoretical understanding as the knowledge contribution. These epistemological limits are established by the research design.

Reuse, recycle, repurpose is what we need to do when it comes to processing end of life materials. 

In this episode of ‘Finding Out’ Dr Hines explains the need to reuse, recycle and repurpose waste materials. Finding Out is the podcast for the curious. If you want to know what waste is, how it is measured, processed and what you can do to contribute to reducing your carbon footprint this episode will provide some answers.

Waste material is costly. When we dispose of waste we are effectively throwing away resources that once we thought useful. There are different types of waste. A primary distinction is between household and industrial sources. Re-use, recycle, repurpose is what we need to do when it comes to processing end of life materials.

Recycling is important to all our lives. Once waste is produced we need to manage it. There are different types of waste from two main sources: Households and Industry. There are different types of waste categories: solid, liquid, recyclable and non-recyclable. All types in the waste flow need to be managed. Recycling is important to the ‘Circular Economy’. It brings waste back in through re-use, recycling and repurposing it. In doing so it lowers carbon use and reduces other greenhouse gases.

In the US the Environment Protection Agency are responsible for gathering data, producing statistics and managing waste. The EPA has gathered waste data for the past 35 years. In the UK the Department for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for waste. Forty per cent of all waste comes from construction materials in both the US and UK. Food is the second largest waste product. Listen to the episode to find out more.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave a stark warning that temperatures are rising across the world. The IPCC estimated that if no further action to reduce CO2 was taken temperatures would increase by 1.5 degrees centigrade within 11.5 years. It is regarded by may as the point of no return. Ice caps melt, sea levels rise, the planet gets warmer because of increasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases. This impacts all our lives. In this episode of Finding Out we look at the ways in which we heat our homes. In the United Kingdom 23 million homes rely on Natural Gas which produces CO2 as a byproduct. Two main alternatives have been considered to reduce CO2. The first is using a heat pump to push natural heat captured from the environment around the home. The second is to use Hydrogen as the energy source which produces only water as a byproduct and is far less harmful than Natural Gas. However, both proposed alternatives incur greater capital cost to install into existing homes.