ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
An audit of clinical practice, referral patterns, and appropriateness of clinical indications for brain MRI examinations: A single-centre study in Ghana

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate current brain MRI practice, pattern of brain MRI requests, and their appropriateness using the American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria. Material and methods: We used direct observation and questionnaires to obtain data concerning routine brain MRI practice. We then retrospectively analyzed (i) demographic characteristics, (ii) clinical history, and (iii) appropriateness of brain MRI requests against published criteria. Results: All patients were administered the screening questionnaire; however, no reviews were under- taken directly with patients, and no signature of the radiographer was recorded. Apart from routine brain protocol, there were dedicated protocols for epilepsy and stroke. Brain MRI images from 161 patients (85 Males; 76 Females) were analyzed. The age group with most brain MRI requests were from 26 to 45 year olds. The commonest four clinical indications for imaging were brain tumour, headache, seizure, and stroke. Using the ACR Appropriateness Criteria, almost 43% of the brain MRI scans analyzed were found to be “usually appropriate”, 38% were “maybe appropriate” and 19% were categorized as “usually not appropriate”. Conclusion: There was knowledge gap with regards to MRI safety in local practice, thus there is the utmost need for MRI safety training. Data on the commonest indications for performing brain MRI in this study should be used to inform local neuroradiological practice. Dedicated stroke and epilepsy MRI protocols require additional sequences i.e. MRA and 3D T1 volume acquisition, respectively. The ACR Appropriateness Criteria is recommended for use by the referring practitioners to improve appropri- ateness of brain MRI requests.

Source: UCC
Audit of MRI protocol, referral pattern and appropriateness of clinical indications for lumbar spine MRI use for adult low back pain: A single- centre study in Ghana.

A guideline for MRI request is nonexistent in Ghana. This study is to evaluate the local lumbar spine MRI protocol, clinical indications, referral sources, imaging findings and the appropriateness of the request using the Appropriateness Criteria (AC) of the American College of Radiology (ACR) for MRI of Lower Back Pain (LBP) patients. Using a Ghanaian tertiary hospital’s MRI centre, we evaluated the local MRI protocol used for lumbar spine imaging, reviewed the referral sources of adult patients (18 years and above) within a six-month period. The age, gender, clinical indication, imaging findings and the appropriateness of lumbar spine MRI for low back pain (LBP) was descriptively analyzed using Excel 2013. A total of 242 patients (females 140, males 102) underwent MRI for LBP within a six-month period. The existing MRI protocol was justified. Using the AC of ACR, about 39% of MRI requests were “ usually appropriate ” , 36% “ may be appropriate ” , and 25% were “ usually not appropriate”. Most referrals were from the OPD (58%). Most common indication was LBP/sciatica (52.1%); the most common imaging finding was degenerative changes (65.0%). The local MRI protocol for LBP was justified. Judicious request for MRI is very necessary to avoid wastefulness. MRI centers must prioritize requests coming from Orthopedic Specialists and not the OPD. The main imaging finding was degenerative bone disease which plain radiography can diagnose. This study may serve as a reference for local lumbar spine MRI practice, and inform local practice.

Source: UCC
An Audit of Nurses’ Clinical Documentation Practices; the Case of Baptist Medical Centre, Nalerigu

Nursing documentation is an important routine in the practice setting with nurses required to record each and every care activity appropriately and adequately. It is worth mentioning, the coordination and continuity of patient care largely depend on communication between nurses, other members of the healthcare team of which nursing documentation play a key role. Notwithstanding the Ghanaian practice experience, the status of nurses’ documentation has not been adequately examined. This study sought to assess the nurse’s clinical documentation practices at the Baptist Medical Centre. A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted using systematic random sampling method, 240 patient folders were selected from the Medical, Surgical and Paediatric wards. Data analysis was conducted using International Business Machines Corporation- Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) version 21. Mean, Standard Deviation, Frequencies, Multiply logistic regression and One Sample t test were used to analyse the data. The study showed general percentage score of documentation at (n=145, 60.5%) which was at low level when compared with the standard practice as established. Major routines documentation reviewed revealed incidences of incomplete, illegible and not concise entries, (n=60, 25%) entries had date and time of nursing care activities documented (n=94, 39.2%). The results further shows that nurses documentation practices were above average compared to the standard for legal accuracy (M = 10.25, SD = 1.074). The use of the nursing process was (n=109, 45.4%) at alarming low level for care in the documentation. Nursing assessment documentation was below the acceptable standard (n=5, 2.1%), as with nursing diagnosis (n=208, 86.7%) and (n=154, 64.6%) been absent of entries for intervention documentation. Patient progress report was not documented for (n=134, 55.8%), education and discharge teaching were not documented at an alarming rate (n=234, 97.5%) and (n=237, 98.8%) of the folders reviewed. The study recommends for regular in-service training for the nurses to refresh their records keeping skills as well as the periodic monitoring and evaluation of the practices for improvement.

Source: UCC
Audit Practices and Tecnology Adoption in the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The goal of the study was to assess audit practices in the era of coronavirus pandemic in the audit service. To guide the analysis, three research objectives were formulated, namely: to examine the audit practices adopted by the staffs of the Ghana Audit Service in the Cape Coast Metropolis prior to the coronavirus pandemic; assess the audit procedures adopted by the staff of the audit service in the Cape Coast Metropolis to obtain audit evidence in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: and investigate the drivers of technology adoption in the Audit Service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The target population for the study was the staff of Ghana Audit Service in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The researcher used 76 auditors in the auditing department of the Ghana Audit service in the Cape Coast Metropolis. To collect data from the respondents, a closed-ended questionnaire was used. For the analysis of the results, structural equation models were used. The study found observation and analytical procedures to be the most predominant practices used by auditors before the pandemic. The study further found analytical procedures and enquiry directly from third parties to be the most adopted practices during the Covid-19 era. The study confirmed that perceived benefits, social influence and ease of use positively related to technology adoptance whilst perceived risk related negatively. It concluded that audit technology such as computer-aided auditing tools (CAATS) should be easy to use and have the confirmation of well-meaning people, which can greatly influence auditors’ acceptance. The study recommended that management of Audit Service in Cape Coast can develop new Audit software which are very easy to use and have the affirmation of well meaningful people in the society thus influencing perceived usefulness.

Source: UCC
Audit Quality and Corporate Failure Prediction of Commercial Banks in Ghana

The recent occurrences of corporate failure in the banking industry have made the activities and role of auditors gained the attention of much debate. The asset quality review exercise undertaken by the Bank of Ghana in 2016 showed that some local banks were beyond financial rehabilitation, this has heightened the need for auditors to enhance transparency and accountability by reporting financial irregularities. Thus, this study examined the effect of audit quality and corporate failure prediction of commercial banks in Ghana using the linear regression estimation technique. Moreover, the study specifically sought to achieve these objectives thus, the effect of audit size; the effect of audit fee and the effect of audit tenure on corporate failure prediction of commercial banks in Ghana (measured by Altman (2000) Z-score model). Criterion sampling technique was adopted to sample 22 commercial banks in Ghana. Secondary data was collected from the commercial banks' annual report from 2010-2019 for the study. The study revealed that audit fee has a positive effect on corporate failure prediction. Also, the findings of the study showed that audit tenure has a positive effect on corporate failure prediction. The study, however, found audit size has a negative effect on corporate failure prediction of commercial banks in Ghana. The study will help accounting firms when conducting corporate failure audit to understand and appreciate the effect of their size, the numbers of years engaged by their clients and the audit fees charged on the outcome of audit assignment.

Source: UCC
Audit Report Lag and Earnings Quality of Listed Firms In Ghana

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between Audit Report Lag (ARL) and earnings quality of listed firms in Ghana. Audit Report Lag (ARL) was measured as the number of calendar days from year-end to the date of the auditor's report while earnings quality was measured base on the relations among income, cash, and accruals. Hence, the study adopted Earnings Smoothness (SM), Earnings Surprise (ES), Closeness to Cash (CC), and Accrual Quality (AQ) measures for earnings quality. The study collected data on 33 firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) between the period of 2009 to 2019 and employed a Systems Generalized Method of Moments estimator to analyze the data. It was revealed that ES, CC, and AQ have a positive significant relationship with ARL whiles SM has a negative significant relationship with ARL. Hence, the study concluded that a longer ARL improves the quality of the earnings in terms of reducing unexpected discrepancies between anticipated earnings and actual earnings, producing earnings that can easily be approximated to operating cashflows and producing earnings that have less deceptive manipulative variation in working capital which will cause operating cashflows volatility but provide management an opportunity to engage in irregular earnings variation or volatility by shifting revenues and expenses from one fiscal period to another. Therefore, auditors are expected to put in place measures by ensuring or advising owners not structure management’s compensations and incentive against their financial performance in other to reduce these irregularities.

Source: UCC
Auditor quality, market concentration, and tax avoidance in Ghana: The moderating role of ownership structure

Tax avoidance has become a prominent strategy employed by large firms to enhance their competitiveness and market dominance (Sorbe & Johansson, 2017), prompting further investigation into the role of auditors in shaping tax avoidance behaviour. The study examined the relationship between auditor quality, market concentration and tax avoidance in Ghana as well as the moderating effect of ownership structure. With data from 15 non-financial firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2021, the system generalised method of moment estimation technique was employed. The study found that auditor quality has a significant positive effect on tax avoidance. Moreover, market concentration was found to have no significant effect on tax avoidance. Additionally, the study revealed that ownership structure moderates the relationship between auditor quality and tax avoidance. Also, ownership structure has a moderating impact on the relationship between market concentration and tax avoidance. Based on the findings, the study concludes that firms engage in tax avoidance practices, as evidenced by their effective tax rate being lower than the statutory rate. Policymakers and tax authorities should strengthen tax regulations and enforcement measures. This can include closing loopholes such as profit shifting and implementing stricter penalties for tax avoidance. Furthermore, policymakers should ensure a strong ownership structure and information sharing between investors and auditors to address tax avoidance issues. Investors with significant ownership stakes should use their influence to advocate for responsible tax practices among their investment companies, particularly in industries with high market concentration.

Source: UCC
Augmenting the Variety of Ghanaian Dishes on the Hotel Menu - An Enquiry into Attitudes and Intentions

Food tourism has been a subject of discussion globally. Suggestions have been made for local dishes to be produced and served in tourism-oriented establishments like hotels to increase their acceptance as tourism products. The menu of hotels in Ghana on the average has 15% local dishes. Adopting a transformational mixed research design, purposive sampling was used to select menu decision makers in all 1 to 3-star rated hotels in Accra, Takoradi and Kumasi. This was to ascertain hotel menu decision-makers’ perceptions on serving Ghanaian dishes in the hotels. The thesis also expanded the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which was used to examine the factors that influence attitudes and intentions in menu decision making. Amongst other things, the study found out that even though half of the menu decision-makers had negative attitudes towards adding more varieties of Ghanaian dishes to their menu, their positive perception of customer patronage and approval of management, informed a high intention to add more Ghanaian dishes to the hotel menu. The model that was developed by extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour had statistically relevant predictive ability. In this regard, attitudes did not influence intentions. The study recommends “ease of use”, “personality endorsements” and “customer acceptance” as positioning strategies for promoting Ghanaian dishes in hotels. It also recommends the introduction of more Ghanaian recipes in vocational and technical institutions’ practicum courses to improve the attitude of menu decision-makers towards local dishes.

Source: UCC
Authentic Assessment in Physical Education: Prevalence of Use and Perceived Impact on Students' Self-Concept, Motivation, and Skill Achievement

The dual purposes of this study are to (a) describe and analyze the extent and type of authentic assessment use in public school physical education, and (b) investigate physical education teachers’ perceptions about the impact of authentic assessment on students’ self-concept, motivation, and skill achievement. Public school physical education teachers (N = 210) completed the Mintah Physical Education Authentic Assessment Inventory. Authentic assessment was found to be used extensively in public school physical education. Teacher observation, self-observation, checklists, peer observation, and event task were the most commonly used forms of authentic assessment; portfolio and essay were the least commonly used techniques. Public school physical education teachers in this study perceived that authentic assessment use enhanced positively the self-concept, motivation, and skill achievement of their students. In this study, male and female physical education teachers from 3 grade levels did not differ on the perceived impact of authentic assessment use on students’ self-concept, motivation, and skill achievement.

Source: UCC
Authentic Assessment Practices of Technical Teachers in Selected Secondary/Technical Schools in the Ashanti Region

This study aims to investigate the authentic assessment practices of technical teachers in Senior High and Technical Schools within the Ashanti Region. A descriptive survey was employed for the study. The population for the study was all technical teachers in the secondary/technical schools in the Ashanti Region. Purposive sampling technique and census were used to select 70 technical teachers for the study. Data is collected from 70 technical teachers across seven Senior High and Technical Schools selected within the Region. Data collection is done with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. Data analyses were carried out using frequency and percentages. Concerning teachers’ perceptions of authentic assessment, the study revealed that teachers know authentic assessment practices. Regarding how teachers practice authentic assessment, it was found that the technical teachers practice authentic assessment. With respect to how teachers use authentic assessment results to better their teachings, the study indicated that most teachers do not use these results. Finally, teachers encounter many challenges with the use of authentic assessment practices, as 93% are in support of the statements presented to them. Even though the teachers understand this assessment and its uses, a few still lag. Based on the findings, it was recommended that coordinators for schools in the Region and the headmasters should ensure that teachers indoctrinate authentic assessment practices into their general lessons. Teachers should receive intensive in-service training to prepare them for authentic assessment procedures. Teacher professional development in designing realistic assessment activities can help students learn and perform better.

Source: UCC
Authenticity and sampling in C-Tests: A schema-Based and Statistical Response to Grotjahn’s Critique

The paper aims to respond to Grotjahn‟s (2012a) critique of Khodadady and Hashemi‟s (2011) paper “Validity and C-Tests: The Role of Text Authenticity” by employing reduced redundancy (RR) and schema theories. It counter argues that developing conventional C-Tests on several short texts and modifying their contents do not render them “genuine” for RR has nothing to do either with the number and length of texts to be chosen or with mutilating a set number of words constituting those texts. Without acknowledging, however, the conventional C-Test designers resort to the macrostructural view of schema theory to justify measuring “special knowledges” assumed to be conveyed in several texts. They do, nonetheless, utilize its micro structures, i.e., their constituting words, when they mutilate every second word from the second sentence and onwards. Based on the RR and schema theory as well as the texts selected and the data presented by several authors, the points raised by Grotjahn are discussed and suggestions are made for future research

Source: UCC
Automated Discovery of Fallacies in Legislative Processes

This research or study presents a computational logic tool for automatic discovery of fallacies, which may be inherent, or, introduced intentionally or unintentionally in legal texts. Sound reasoning through legal text has always been a challenge in Natural Language Processing (NLP) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) since the fourth century, wich has received different computational approaches for solution. I have explored and presented logic techniques through the formalism of legal text from its natural form to First Order Logic (FOL) and Prolog programme, which results in the provision of clarity, comprehensibility and deductive reasoning of the text. This as well maintains sound reasoning through the text, which supports decision-making process that will always lead to the same conclusions. I formalised the Citizenship Act and the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedom of Ghana as the knowledge base of the system. I also formalised two Supreme Court cases as testbed to the system in FOL, and the formalised text was implemented in Prolog progrmme for the automated reasoning process of the sytem. This allows for the discovery of fallacies in a claim made against an opponent, facts established by the opponent, and the law employed for the legislation of the case in court. I have also presented an algorithmic framework here in pseudocode for the discovery of logical fallacies in the text. The ontology design of the philosophical research methodology was employed in the conduction of this research, which guided the techniques used for the formalism of the logic tool.

Source: UCC
Automated Threshold Method for Dimensionality Detection in Multivariate Data

ABSTRACT Multivariate methods such as principal component analysis and factor analysis have been used to interpret multivariate data. However, these statistical applications are not able to determine prior to their application whether a dimension exists within the multivariate data set since it is possible to have a dimensionless multivariate dataset. In addition, these statistical applications are method dependent, it is therefore imperative to propose an independent technique for detecting dimensionality using automated threshold settings which are thresholds generated based on the structure of the data and not by the judgement of the researcher so that these statistical applications will be for purposes of interpretation or giving meaning to the data structure. Also, the formation of dimensionality in the well-known multivariate techniques is not analytically or computationally presented. They therefore offer a leave-or-take result with no understanding of the formation of the dimensions. This study therefore filled this gap by successfully proposing an independent dimensionality detection method using three automated threshold settings that generate data specific thresholds by allowing the data structure to generate the optimal threshold for detecting dimensionality of the multivariate data set for more accurate results. The study also established the robustness of the method using Pearson’s correlation which hinges on the mean and another correlation profile that does not hinge on a statistic which is affected by extreme values, in this case order statistic which hinges on the median. The algorithm converged in all cases. Confirmatory factor analysis are carried out for confirmation of results. The proposed method completely removes the challenge of subjectivity associated with dimensionality detection, and hence is highly recommended

Source: UCC