Ethics in social research

Ethics in social research Ethics in research has been around since World War II and is still to this day a growing concern among researchers. The main aim of the researcher is to ensure that their studies are directed toward worthwhile goals and that the welfare of their subjects and their research colleagues is protected. Alan Kimmel, 1988 There are several reasons why it is important for an investigator to adhere to ethical standards in research. First, some of these norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, forging, or misrepresenting research data to promote the truth and avoid error. Second, since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination among many different people in different disciplines and institutions, many of these ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. For instance, one particular ethical norm, confidentiality, is designed to protect intellectual interests while encouraging collaboration among the participants. Third, ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research. People are more likely to fund research project if they can trust the quality and integrity of research (this particular example is relevant to the scenario being assessed.) Finally, many of the standards of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, and compliance with the law So although all these codes, policies and principles are very important and useful but like any set of rules they do not cover every situation that arises in research, they are often conflicting and require considerable interpretation. It is therefore important for the researcher to learn how to interpret, assess and apply various research rules and how to make decisions about how to act in various circumstances. The vast majority of decision making in the conduct of research involves the straightforward application of ethical policies. Ethical issues that are encountered in applied social research are both subtle and complex, raising difficult moral dilemmas that, from the outside, appear unresolvable. With these dilemmas the researcher is required to strike a delicate balance between the scientific or social requirement of methodology and the human rights and values potentially threatened by the research. Privacy and confidentiality are two ethical issues that are crucial to social researchers who request individuals to share with them their thoughts attitudes and experiences. The ethical social researcher is one who is aware of ways in which privacy and confidentiality may be jeopardised and safeguarded and is knowledgeable about the effects of privacy and confidentiality on consent. The nature of privacy concerns has changed over time as social scientists have become more involved in identifying social problems and testing possible solutions through field research (Boruch Cecil, 1979) Organisational research focus is directed toward personnel relating issues, including the testing and appraisal of employees for personnel decisions. In conducting these investigations, researchers and consultants may seek to improve on organisations capacities to achieve various goals (e.g. profit for a business, its employees quality of work life or the impact of the organisation on communities in isolate rural areas. Evaluation research is a major type of applied research, typically undertaken by social scientists to determine if ongoing social programs are working as they should. Evaluations tend to focus on programs that are beneficial in nature, such as remedial education, health care and job training programs. The results of an evaluation study, in revealing whether a social program is accomplishing what was intended can have immediate impact on social policy and political decisions regarding the programs fate whether it should be continued or stopped, its budget and personnel increased or cut backs made. There are a number of vested interests in the design and implementation of evaluation studies and because their results are likely to affect peoples jobs, education and health. Like research conducted in organisations, evaluation research raises some unique ethical questions about whose interests are served an whose point of view should be represented during the research process (Kidder Judd, 1986) With this particular scenario there are two different situations where ethical issues will arise. Firstly, you begin to suspect that food is being stolen from the kitchen and the viability of the project may be at risk. From a researchers point of view suspicions would need to be backed up with hard evidence. If you were to say to you manager, you run the risk of them discharging you and not allowing you to carry out anymore research how could you possibly imagine that of any of their staff? Although on the other hand if your manager was to take you suspicions on board and further investigate the matter over a closely surveyed period of time, they may benefit and appreciate your integrity that you hold with the company. In a case like this it is often difficult for the evaluator to separate their research role from their role as a work experience placement student. You have been promised the confidentiality of the staff and if you were to say anything about the stolen food it could affect your research and you rapport with the staff. The staff may turn against you and refuse to cooperate after you telling the boss on one of their colleagues. Throughout the research you must remember what the objective is and if you remain silent with your suspicions, will your results in anyway end up being bias? This will reflect an untrue outcome and the company could face further scrutiny from the funding body. There is also the legality aspect for the researcher to consider and stealing is against the law, could you live with yourself if you thought that you were covering up for a criminal, no matter how small the offence was? In failing to voice your suspicions Kimmel, (1988) stated you legally could face prosecution as an accessory after the fact for failure to report a crime. If I were to be placed in this situation I personally would confront the manager of the company and explain my situation with regards to my research. I believe that stealing is wrong and should not take place no matter how big or small the offence is. Although I can understand why somebody may not say and not only put their research at rick but their social responsibility. The second scenario where the researcher will be confronted by ethical dilemmas is in carrying out the interviews with some of the senior citizens that are receiving these Meals on Wheels. To carry out interviews you will need the consent of the person involved, some elderly clients may not like the prospect of being intimated with questions. The elderly are of the vulnerable sector in our population and should be informed of why the interview is taking place and the effects that their answers could have on the survival and funding of the business while always remembering the objectivity of the research and expressing it in clarity to the senior citizens. The interview will involve asking how they feel about receiving their Meals on Wheels, how they approve of the service and how would they feel if this service was to be taken away from them? This could cause distress and emotional shock among the elderly, especially if they thought that their opinion meant the deciding factor of whe ther the company received funding to continue its business. Many of the elderly could largely depend on this service and there must be no deception in making them fully aware why the interviews are taken place. The senior citizens should be made aware that the researcher will be evaluating and publishing their results to the company and will have to give an open and honest account of what has been said in the interviews. The researcher is under the obligation from the code of ethics so as not to fabricate the data in anyway. The researcher, if a member of the local community, may feel tempted to fabricate the interview responses so as the company will receive their funding to finance this project as they realise how vital this scheme is for the elderly in this isolated rural area but as Kimmel noted personnel values may play a significant role in social research, therefore researchers must be careful enough to protect the integrity of their inquiries through careful data collection and analysis and accurate and objective reporting of their research findings. If I were the researcher in carrying out the interviews I would make the elderly entirely aware of the project and encourage them to see how they are beneficiaries of it. This in return will boost their confidence of the company and help portray a better interview for the research. After all if you were a senior citizen who lived in an isolated area and the only person you may see everyday is the delivery driver of Meals on Wheels, wouldnt you appreciate the service? Not only are they providing a food service but they also help to bring a warm and friendly atmosphere into the home. In conclusion ethical decision making is neither a perfectly rational nor entirely timeless enterprise, and even after a considered judgement about the issues involved in a given situation has been made, doubts about whether or not ones subsequent behaviour was ethical may remain. As we continue to proceed with social research in applied settings, we can expect a growing wealth of documentation on the conditions under which certain interventions are successful in reducing certain social problems and on what side effects might be anticipated as a result of their implementation. To proceed ethically it is important for social researchers to bear in mind that their first obligation is to those persons who cooperate with and participate in the research process, and that it is their interests that first must be considered during the preparatory stages of program development. References Kimmel, A (1988) Ethics and Values in Applied Social Research Sage Publications London

Philosophical Anthropology Essays -- Philosophy Essays

Philosophical Anthropology ABSTRACT: Philosophers cannot avoid addressing the question of whether philosophical anthropology (that is, specifically philosophical inquiry about human nature and human phenomenon) is possible. Any answer must be articulated in the context of the nature and function of philosophy. In other words, philosophical anthropology must be defined as an account of the nature of the subject of philosophical thinking. I argue that if philosophical thinkers admit that they are beings in nature, culture, and history, then the possibility of a uniquely philosophical theory of human nature and human phenomenon should be discarded. Rather, philosophy's catalytic and integrative role in human cognition should be stressed. Anthropological interests on the part of philosophers can be explained on different levels. Since thinking in general is reflective, philosophical thinkers must naturally be interested in understanding the nature of humans, which they themselves are, including the nature of their own thinking. But non-philosophical theorists can also be reflective enough to seek an understanding of human nature and the nature of their characteristic thinking. On a deeper level, with their realization that cognitive functions including philosophical thinking are characteristically human, philosophers may come to reflect upon how such functions are conditioned by human conditions. But such conditions can be addressed by empirical sciences as well, sometimes with greater methodological care or seriousness than can be found among some philosophers, as in cognitive psychology or cultural anthropology. If, in the course of the development of philosophy as a discipline, human experience becomes the primary thematic ... ...y is partly explainable by different influences from outside philosophy. The juxtaposition and comparison of, for instance, the views of Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Marx and Nietzsche on human nature should make us despair of finding a philosophical essence of anthropological views. The distinct contribution that philosophy as a discipline can make to the understanding of humans is not so much special content or even a method as its ethos of valuing critical thinking and integration of human knowledge. Philosophical anthropology, as a special area of a unique discipline, should be held suspect. There only is a dimension to each inquiry where many, if not all, of the questions philosophers raise are significant. The mission of philosophy is to make all human inquiries, including the anthropological, maximally reflective in the given cultural situation.

E commerce online food ordering system

The BARS also provides the business understanding that should e incorporated into message implementation guides and other user documentation as well as supporting re-use of artifacts within the standards development process. 3 Audience The main audiences for this document are the potential authors of individual Bars. These are primarily the ANNUNCIATE business and IT experts who are responsible for specifying the business requirements for e-business or e-government solutions in a specific domain and for progressing the development of solutions as relevant standards.Authors may include other standards bodies or users and developers in developed or developing economies. Reference Documents Knowledge and application of the following standards is crucial to the development of quality business requirements specifications. Other key references are shown in the appropriate part of the document. UN/CAVEAT. Techniques and Methodologies Group (TM). ASPECT'S Modeling Methodology (MUM): MUM Meta Model – Core Module. (Candidate for 2. 0). 2009-01-30. Methodology (MUM): MUM Meta Model – Foundation Module. Candidate for 2. 0). Formal definitions of many of the technical terms used in this BARS specification may be found in the above references but for convenience some key definitions are included in Appendix loft this document. 5 purpose of BARS 2. 0 A BARS is designed to capture the requirements that a business, government or sector has for an e-commerce solution in a particular area of business (I. E. Domain) and to achieve it in such a way that it provides a basis for a subsequent standards development process within ANNUNCIATE.Version 2 of the BARS documentation template requires that the business requirements are first specified in business terms and that these requirements are then expressed formally as ML diagrams or worksheets that aid standardization and provide IT practitioners with the required retracts from which to develop formal specifications. By facilitating consistent documentation of business collaborations between participants, the BARS 2. 0 template supports the standardization and harmonistic of business processes and encourages re-use of the resulting artifacts in part or as a whole.This consistency, achieved through the systematic specification of requirements in the BARS, is vital if resulting e-business systems are to be interoperable. A clear specification of business requirements enables traceability between requirements and supporting the quality assurance process. As the BARS provides the description of the equines processes and identifies the business data needed to support those processes, it can provide the necessary business understanding to enable successful data harmonistic.It also provides the business understanding that must be incorporated when developing message implementation guides and other user documentation. The use of a modeling tool that is designed or configured to support Version 2. 0 of the MUM will enable the majority of the content of a BARS to be generated automatically. This document may also be considered as a resource to support capacity building in developed or developing economies. 1 Overview of BARS Development Process A BARS MUST start with a clear specification of the scope of the project and where this project fits into a global context of business operations and MAY refer to a MUM model of the business domain. The Scope MUST be specified in terms of the Business Processes that are involved and the Business Entities about which information is to be exchanged by the participants who are involved directly in the Information Exchanges that support the related business process.It MUST also indicate stakeholders who have an interest in the processes, or may participate in elated processes, and whenever appropriate, what is out of scope of this particular project. The process and information flows that constitute the business process, the business rules that gove rn the exchanges and the details of the information that is to be exchanged during these processes, SHOULD then be elaborated.The requirements MUST first be specified in business terms and then expressed in formalized terms. The business requirements MUST be presented as a numbered list so as to facilitate a check to be made that all requirements have been met in the eventual e-commerce solutions proposed. As the process of completing a BARS progresses, new requirements may be recognized and added to the list. The resulting BARS will include text, templates (worksheets) and diagrams, and may refer to a MUM model of the domain.To help with future re-usability, interoperability and to provide a degree of standardization in the developing a BARS, an initial set of preferred terms is provided in Annex 2. To minimize the work in creating a new BARS, improve harmonistic and encourage risibility, where ever possible, any relevant existing Bars artifacts or MUM models SHOULD be used as a ba sis for producing the ewe requirements. A high level BARS MAY be used to define the context and scope of a domain that is refined by a cascade of more specific Bars. . 2 BARS Business Requirements 5. 2. 1 Scope of Project The Scope of the project MUST be identified in terms of the Business Processes to be covered – the key types of information that are to be exchanged in the processes and the types of participants that are involved directly or indirectly in providing or using the information exchanged. The place of this project within the wider business domain SHOULD be identified. For example projects in the International SupplyChain, this SHOULD be positioned with respect to the international supply chain be made to industry or sector models and to the Business Area/Process Area classification specified in the Common Business Process catalogue. The Context categories , as specified in ACTS, SHOULD be used to help specify or limit the scope of the project. 5. 2. 2 Requiremen ts List As they are discovered, the business requirements MUST be added to a numbered list .This list will cover: The business transactions between participants, the participant who initiates the activity, the participant who responds and the business conditions that govern the initiation and responses. Other business rules governing the Information Exchanges. The key classes of information (Business Entities), the detailed data (attributes) about these Entities that are to be exchanged, and the relation between the Entities. 5. 2. 3 Definitions The names and definitions of each of the business terms and data items used MUST be listed and SHOULD be added as they are discovered in the process of completing the BARS. . 2. 4 MUM representation of Business Requirements The business requirements MUST be formalized as appropriate ML artifacts, (Use Case Diagrams, Activity Diagrams, Class Diagrams and Business Entity Life Cycle Diagrams) or worksheets, by following the Insufficient Modelin g Methodology (MUM). 5. 2. 5 The UN/CAVEAT Modeling Methodology MUM An outline description of the MUM process is given below and examples of artifacts that should form part of the BARS are shown in section 7.The MUM consists of three main views: The Business Requirements View enables the Business Information and Business Processes described in the first part of the BARS to be more formally described. The Business Choreography View shows how the Business Processes may e created from a choreographed set of Business Transactions and the information exchanged in each transaction identified as Information Envelopes. The Business Information View identifies the content of these information envelopes based on the specific data and syntax standards and is the substance of the related RSI.Figure 1 – MUM Outline MUM Business Requirements View This presents the view of the domain, the business processes, the participants and the Business Entities involved. They are detailed in the Busin ess Domain View, Business Partner View and Business Entity View. The Business Domain View This view identifies the scope of the domain in terms of the processes it covers. The Business Area [Process area classification may be used to classify the business processes that make up the domain. Each business process is represented by an Activity diagram, Use Case Diagram and Business Process Worksheet .These document the Business Partner Types that are engaged in the information governing the initiation of each Information Exchange. The state of the Business Entity resulting from each information exchange is shown in the activity diagram. Business Partner View The business partner view captures a list of business partners and stakeholders in the domain under consideration as well as the relationships between them. Business Entity View The range of states that a Business Entity may assume and the order in which they may occur as a result of the various information exchanges are documented in a Business Entity Life Cycle diagram.This View MAY also contain Conceptual models that present a business view of the Information and the relationships between the Classes identified. The Conceptual Model is assembled from the list of business requirements and expressed through the use of â€Å"class† diagrams. These describe the necessary classes of information, the relationship between the different classes and the required attributes that are to be found within each class.Each of these pieces of information should be fully described in the business definition section. It is important to stress that the class diagram for a Business Entity should reflect the information requirements expressed in business terms. Business Choreography View This shows how the Business Processes identified in the Business Requirements View may be represented as one or more Business Transactions and the necessary hieroglyph to enable the full functionality of each Business Process to be achie ved.It consists of the Business Transaction View, Business Collaboration View and Business Realization View Business Transaction View The business transactions between each pair of data exchange participants that are part of the full Business Process are identified and described in a Transaction Worksheet and illustrated as Use Case diagrams . Six standard transaction patterns are identified within the JIM. Two of these represent participants sending and receiving information (Information distribution, Notification) and four represent artisans sending and responding (Query Response, Request Response, Request Confirm, Commercial Transaction).Each transaction is further detailed in terms of: the name of the Information Envelopes sent or received the Authorized roles exercised by the sender and receiver the Activities that action the sending or receiving of the Information Envelope the conditions that cause the transaction to start or that exist as a result of the exchanges . Business Collaboration View The sequence or order in which the set of business transactions that make up the lull business process is specified using a Use Case Diagram and an Activity diagram in the MUM Business Collaboration View.

Leaving money on the table in the economy - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3313 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The firms leave money on the table by setting the offering price low is mostly explained by asymmetric information which is derived from several rational theories. Loughran, Ritter, Rydquist (1994) provide an international argument that underpricing may be caused by basic problems derived from microeconomic uncertainty and information asymmetry. Baron Holmstrom (1980) also pointed out that indeed there exists information asymmetry between underwriters and issuers, because the underwriters always have superior information to the issuers, which shows that underpricing is necessary for solving this moral hazard. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Leaving money on the table in the economy" essay for you Create order Alternatively, Muscarella Vetsuypens (1989) find that there is no asymmetric information between issuer and investment banker, which is opposite to Barons (1982) model that the investment bankers have superior information about the capital market. Allen and Faulhaber (1989), Grinblatt Hwang (1989) and Welch (1989) claim it cannot be ignored that there is information asymmetry between issuers and investors, with issuers having more information. Another famous argument was asserted by Rock in 1986, he found that the asymmetric information also exists between informed and uniformed investors, and underpricing is essential to induce uninformed investors to participate in IPO offerings in the face of informed investors adverse-selection, which is described in Winners Curse Hypothesis specifically. In Rocks hypothesis, he established a model on the basis of Grossmans and Stiglitzs (1980) Paradox, and supposed the issue price of IPOs is impossible to be forecasted by issuers. The amoun t of information investors possess is the criteria for him to differentiate. Informed investors have access to superior information about the firm and holding the better position to make a decision that whether or not a new offering is worth an effort, however, uniformed investors know exclusively the probability distribution of a firms value. Thereby the underpriced new offerings are expected because only informed investors will submit purchase orders. By contrast, uninformed investors have a greater chance of collecting overpriced offering and a smaller change of receiving underpriced offering by the reason that they will submit orders randomly. Consequently, in order to attractive uniformed investors subscription and offset their loss for trading against superior information, offerings must be underpriced. Beatty Ritter (1986) also show that underpricing is demanded when uninformed investors become informed about individual firms prospects by investing in information, or else fa ce a winners curse. Similarly, Parson Raviv (1985) present that the discount is a result of information asymmetry among investors, and the explanation that how both seasoned and unseasoned issues are underpriced on average. 2.2 Underwriters reputation Some investigators prefer to focus on the explanation of IPO underpricing by underwriters reputation and argue that it will price IPOs closer to the intrinsic value to keep the reputation by the better established underwriters. Schultz Zaman (1994) pointed out another important argument that they believed the motivation for underwriters to support IPO trading prices because of the concern of underwriters reputation, which means that it will increase the confidence of investors (especially uniformed investors) if underwriters buy back the IPOs that have underperformed. Ruud (1993), Hanley (1993) and Schultz Zaman (1994) evidenced empirically that there is price support for IPOs from their underwriters; Xu Wu (2002) were also in support of that statement on Chinese stock market. Empirical tests measured by Hanley (1993), and he confirms that underpricing is positively related to revisions in the offering price that occur between the filing of the preliminary prospectus and the off er date. The level of underpricing depends on the underwriters final revision of the offer price. From an interesting perspective which finds a positive relationship between the presence of prestigious underwriter representatives on a firms board and the size of that firms equity offering. Benveniste Wilhelm (1997) and Sherman Titman (2002) also indicate that underwriter discretion can be used to the benefit of issuing firms. Moreover, according to Beattys Ritters (1986) study, which notices that underwriters who deviate from the expected behavior lose market share, and they claimed that underwriters, in order to avoid being punished later by either issuing firms if firms underpriced too much or investors if investors underpriced too little, they prefer to lower the offering price when they are dealing with the more speculative offerings. Similar results are reported by McDonald Fisher (1972), Logue (1973), Block Stanley (1980), and Johnson Miller (1988), they all find that short-term excess returns are smaller when new offerings are taken by prestigious underwriters. Loughran Ritter (2002) propose an agency explanation that since underwriters have complete discretion to allocate shares, they have an incentive to lower the offering price to provide gains to preferred buy-side clients and then benefit from the quid pro quos received from them. Empirically, Beatty Ritter (1986), Carter Manaster (1990), and Michael Shaw (1994) all support that the reputation of underwriters is related to the degree of underpricing negatively. Carter et al. (1998) examined categorical as well as the continuous definitions of reputation and concludes that both measurements are inversely related to underpricing, with the former proxy performing better in explaining initial returns. Even though the fact that the effect of underwriters on IPO underpricing has been confirmed in plentiful IPO studies, investigations by Allen Faulhaber (1989), Grinblatt Hwang (1989) and Welch (1989) state that the investment banker plays no active role in an IPO except as being the rationing administrator. They assume that the most superior information about a new firms prospects is obtained by the firm itself. The IPOs is sold at a discount price serves as a credible signal that it is a good firm and only a good firm can compensate the initial loss after its performance is recognized. In addition, Tian Zhan (2000) also objected to that theory strongly, they tested the relationship between underwriters reputation and underpriced IPOs in Chinese A-share market as well, and concluded that the reputation of underwriters cannot demonstrate Chinese IPOs underpricing because the Chinese government plays a crucial role in pricing IPOs rather than underwriters. 2.3 Signaling hypothesis With respect to the asymmetric information among issuers, investors and underwriters, signaling theory continues to be a significant component of underpriced IPOs research. According to early studies, such as Grinblatt Hwang (1989), assert that the issuing price of IPOs and the proportion of the remaining shares of initial shareholders are the intrinsic value of the issuing firms due to that these two signals represent mean and variance of the future cash flows. Welch (1989) argues that IPOs underpricing is caused by that the overvalued shares may be issued by firms in the future. Good issuers usually expect to be rewarded at seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) with sending a signal of their high quality to investors by underpricing their IPOs and keeping certain shares of IPOs for themselves. The empirical evidence is displayed by a critical test of the signaling hypothesis with separating equilibrium which is concentrated on the correlation between IPO underpricing and seasoned equ ity offerings. Allen Faulhaber (1989), Grinblatt Hwang (1989), and Welch (1989) suggest a signaling model in which IPO underpricing is an equilibrium outcome when issuers possess superior information associated with investors. If the revelation possibility for the issuers quality is neither too large nor too small, a separating equilibrium will occur where high-value issuers signal their quality by retaining a portion of shares and underpricing initial offerings, but low-value issuers sell all of their shares and do not underpricing. Ultimately, their results prove that IPOs underpricing is deliberate and voluntary, which purposes to signal a firms true value and attempts to achieve better prices in subsequent SEOs. At a mention of the empirical results that obtained by Su Fleisher (1999), they test the models by using early Chinese IPO data and investigate whether or not there exists an optimal signaling schedule relative to a firms intrinsic value and the degree of underpricing of initial offerings, which consistent with the signaling explanations intensively. While, Jegadeesh, Weinstein, Welch (1993) discover weak evidence that firms which underprice their IPOs are likely to issue seasoned equities and on average have larger SEOs by using US data. Furthermore, In Garfinkels (1993) test, he doesnt find the correlation by examining the probability of owner-managers (insiders) selling as a function of IPO underpricing, which leads to his doubt on signaling models. Then Su Fleisher (1999) outline their finding that IPO underpricing is negatively related to IPO size on total shares, which is interpreted by using issuers signaling of its intrinsic value and prospective objective to issue SEOs. 2.4 Lockup hypothesis The lockup is an agreement between the underwriter and the issuer prohibiting the sale of shares by insiders for a period of time after an IPO, and the average lockup period lasts six months (Aggarwal, Krigman, Womack, 2002). A mass of researchers find that in the Chinese IPO market the time elapsed between prospectus and list is always longer than that in developed markets. Su Fleisher (1999) consent to that viewpoint and claim a further suggestion that there exists a positive coefficient between the listing time lags and IPO underpricing, the result is based on their sample of 308 IPOs. Mok Hui (1998) also find a positive relationship between IPO underpricing and the time gap between issuing and listing a new issue in their sample of Shanghai firms, in their reason they explain that the longer time will promote risk and thereby the larger underpricing is needed because of asymmetric information among the issuers, investors and underwriters. The empirical evidence from Chen et al. (2004), on the basis of using the data from 1992 to 1997, they discover that for the total data, the average underpricing is 298%, but, for the data with duration less than 2 months, the average underpricing is 110%; while for duration greater than 2 months, the average underpricing is 631%. Their findings demonstrate the relationship between duration time and IPO underpricing is significant and positive. The similar results are also gained by Lee et al. (1996). Particularly, Chan et al. (2004), Chen et al. (2004), and Mok Hui (1998) suggest this phenomenon exists in the Chinese IPO market as well. In the additional study of Guo Brooks (2008), they also argue that there is a strong coefficient between the level of IPO underpricing and listing time lags. Diversely, a huge portion of observations on the impact of the lockup period involving signals of firm quality, such as organizational uncertainty. When the concentration of uncertainty on an organization is high, greater underpricing will be expected to be a result (Grinblatt and Hwang, 1989; Welch, 1989). Diamond Verrecchia (1991) explain that, when the higher concentration of ex ante uncertainty on a venture exists, there will be greater difficulties for potential investors to pricing the shares, and the distribution of their expected returns should be broad. Thus, we should expect higher underpricing for those ventures with a going concern shares. However, Arthurs et al., (2009) believe that, by utilizing a longer lockup period, entrepreneurs may be able to decrease investors uncertainty about the venture normally and hence may be able to decline the amount of underpricing. Certo et al., (2001) indicate this reduction in underpricing, is a benefit to the venture because it represents a promotion in the wealth that is appropriated by the venture. As this section is interested in inspecting whether or not the lockup period influence the IPOs prices, inducing that the interaction between the exist ence of this higher uncertainty, the length of the lockup period and the subsequent impact on the level of underpricing has to be focused on. 2.5 Financial regulations Allen (2001) indicates that financial theories have to be in terms of the fluency of financial institutions that dominate regulatory framework. Although the Chinese IPOs are not issued in a competitive market, they are arranged by an administrative project. As the Chinese government emphasized reforms of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as its priority, it stresses two purposes that: first, to restructure the ownership and create a sound corporate governance system for mitigating the non-performing loans problem caused by SOEs; and, to promote SOE productivity and efficiency. State Economic Reform Commission regulars SOES in 1994 that, are needed to follow the requirements of a market economic system and establish a new enterprise system with clarified property rights, designated authorities and responsibilities, separated government and enterprise functions, and established scientific management. Generally, most researchers make an attempt to explore the underpricing of IPOs i n Chinese stock market based on observing market situations, nevertheless since the vast majority of IPOs in China are private-owned partially, the Chinese state becomes the real issuer of IPOs and benefits itself of no longer funding these firms directly (Chi Padgett, 2005). Notably, Kaos, Yangs Wus (2009) studies point out that, on the one hand, the Chinese government tightly controlled the IPO process with regulations, and on the other hand, the poor and incomplete regulations with the ineffective monitoring provided opportunities for managers to manipulate earnings to maximize the proceeds from the IPO. It is worth noticing that The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) does not price IPO only, but also times it. As a consequence, it is very important and meaningful to have a look at the government behavior in the Chinese IPO markets as well as whether or not the governmental regulations relate to IPO underpricing. The Chinese regulation authority primarily concentr ates their attention to three items: first, CSRC not only restricts the issuing prices of IPOs, but also limits the amount of supply (Tian, 2003), issuing size is an main proxy for the supply, which means the total supply of IPO shares is periodically fixed and the offering size of new offerings is controlled by CSRC; second, on the grounds of Tians (2003) study about the issuing size restriction of IPOs, it cannot be ensured for each investors in the primary market to get the shares which they subscribe, therefore the subscription rate is regulated by state in China; Last, in the early stages of the markets development the CSRC decide by pre-set IPO P/E ratio which is staple to determine and calculate IPO issue price (CHEUNG, OUYANG, TAN, 2009). Empirically, based on explorative samples of 343 from Shenzhen and 393 from Shanghai Stock exchange from 1992 to 1998, Lau (2004) finds that the regulation and Company Law of CSRC try to investment and obtain benefit for the government, as well as to protect the interests of the State; CSRC control the P/E ratio for each new issue, industrial standards, and the IPO quotas. Therefore he presents that the new issue was usually underpriced and sold to individuals of entities related to the company at the early stage of construction of listed companies due to governmental financial controlling. Furthermore, Jones et al. (1999) chose a sample of 630 share issue privatizations (SIPs) from 59 countries, including developed, developing, and transitional countries during the period 1977-1997, and discover that governments consistently underpriced IPOs. 2.6 Performance and firm control Previous literatures frequently use these profitability, operational, or financial variables (e.g. Morck et al., 1988; McConnell Servaes,1995; Choi et al., 2007). With regard to asymmetric information, the pre-listing status of organizational operation is always concerned on, primarily referring to firm size and profitability. For example, Beatty Ritter (1986) also proposed that the firm size is associated with information that a larger-sized firm is better known than a smaller-sized firm. Consistently, such as Morck et al. (1988); McConnell Servaes (1990), they concludes that larger firms tend to have better performance relative to small firms. In addition, certain finance literature uses return on assets as a profitability measure because empirical evidence reveals a positive association between return on assets and firm performance. However, it does not have significant relationship with firm performance in Korea based on Choi et al. (2007). The total debts to total assets ratio measures a firms financial risk. Morck et al. (1998) expect that there is a negative relationship between the total debts to total assets ratio and firm performance. The log of total assets is a proxy for firm size, which is concluded by Choi et al. (2007) showing that a negative relationship with firm performance. And Morck et al. (1988) replenish Choi et al. is work and indicate that the negative relationship is insignificant. 2.7 Board characteristics In recent years the nature of the relationships among board size, board composition and firm performance, IPO performance has a growing number of scrutiny. Plenty of scholars emphasize the importance of the monitoring role played by independent outside directors, such as Byrd Hickman (1992); Choi et al. (2007). 2.71 The impact of board size on IPO underpricing and firm performance Some empirical evidence from the US stock market research exclusively, such as, Yermack (1996) assesses the impact of board size on firm value and finds an inverse relation between firm value and the total number of directors, which is based on an empirical evidence for a sample of large US industrial corporations between 1984 and 1991. And Yermack (1996) shows a further work that financial measures, such as return on assets and return on sales, are negatively associated with the size of corporate board members. By contrast, Dalton et al. (1999), which presents the meta-analysis in his research and draws on the results from a mass number of previous US studies; ultimately he suggests a positive relationship between board size and firm performance. It is explicit to collect information from these contrasting reporting that both advantages and disadvantages exist for the larger number of board members. From an international perspective, Conyon Peck (1998) find there is a negative correlation between equity turnover and board size for a sample of European firms, even though their results with respect to market-based measures of performance are less clear-cut. More recently, de Andres et al. (2005) also point out an agreed report that there is a negative relationship between firm value and board size (controlling for a number of additional factors) in 10 OECD countries. Taken as a whole, Jensen (1993) argues that the benefits deriving from larger boards are outweighed by the incremental costs of the potentially poorer communication and decision-making processes associated with larger groups, which is consistent with these international based results. 2.72 The impact of board composition on IPO underpricing and firm performance With regard to the impact of board structure on IPO underpricing and firm performance, Certo et al. (2001) address the relationship between board composition and IPO underpricing. In the study of OConnell Cramer (2010), among a sample of firms representing a broad array of industries, they find that board prestige, that measured as other directorships held by board members, is negatively associated with IPO underpricing. However, there exists many reports are inconsistent with their hypotheses, showing that the proportion of independent outside directors, that denoted board vigilance, is not negatively associated with IPO underpricing. As Stiles Taylor (2001) propose that a higher proportion of independent outside directors should be in relation to stronger financial performance. Furthermore, from a strategic perspective recent work by Yawson (2006), he also states that when facing performance declines, firms with a higher proportion of outside directors are more likely to san ction staff layoffs. Nonetheless, not withstanding these findings, there is a relative dearth of empirical evidence pointing to a significant positive association between firm performance and board independence. For instance, Hermalin Weisbach (1991) present their findings from the US stock market that there is no relation between the proportion of non-executive outside directors and IPO firm performance; Vafeas Theodorou (1998) and Dulewicz Herbert (2004) synchronously provide similar results for the UK. Another recent work by de Andres et al. (2005) also fails to build a statistically significant relationship between firm performance and board composition across a sample of OECD countries. Interestingly, Agarwal Knoeber (1996) and Klein (1998) report that the US boards may in fact have an excessive proportion of non-executive directors. Besides, many academics and commentators have paid much more attention to the exact percentage of non-executive directors on corporate b oards. Such as, Dulewicz Herbert (2004) question the validity of the notion that a board should be comprised of at least 50% non-executives. However, empirically the evidence reveals that firms with a higher proportion of outside directors have a smaller likelihood of experiencing financial distress (Elloumi Gueyie, 2001). Moreover Daily et al (2003) extend Elloumis Gueyies work and argue that financially distressed firms with independent boards have a lower incidence of bankruptcy filings.