ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Effective Teaching Of Economics In Higher Education: Perceptions Of Students In Ghana

Economics education is crucial to the country's socio-economic development. Yet, researchers seem to have paid little attention to studies on effective teaching of Economics in higher education. This study explored university st1ldents' perceptions of effective teaching of Economics in higher education. The research was a descriptive type that employed the cross-sectional survey design. The study respondents comprised 403 students sampled from four public universities in Ghana. A students' evaluation of teachers' effectiveness questionnaire was employed to collect the data. A test of the reliability of the instrument yielded a Cronbach Alpha Reliability index of .813. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (independent sample t-test and structural equation modeling). The findings suggested that students perceived their Economics teachers to be effective in instructional planning and preparation, classroom management, communication and scaffolding of instruction. Results of the structural equation analysis indicated that plmming and preparation, scaffolding of instruction, communication, classroom management, classroom learning environment, and teacher characteristics were significant predictors of effective teaching. The results further showed that effective teaching significantly predicted st1ldents' attitudes and behaviour. The findi ngs addtionally suggested that gender did not influence students' perceptions of effective teaching. The study recommends that Economics teachers' recruitment and deployment should be based on both effectiveness in classroom instructional practices and positive personality traits.

Source: UCC
Effective vocabulary instruction in English Language at the public junior high schools in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality

Vocabulary knowledge is one of the leading indicators of a student’s ability to comprehend a text. With this in mind, it is necessary that English language teachers in every content area, search for best practices in vocabulary instruction that will benefit students in comprehension. The purpose of the study was to assess effective teaching of vocabulary learning in English language at the public junior high in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality. Sixty-six (66) English language teachers teaching English as a subject in the public junior high schools were purposively sampled for the study. Questionnaire items were used to collect data, as well observation activities were used to observe English language teachers vocabulary instruction lesson in reading comprehension. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The study found that majority of the respondents used extensive reading, repetition method, interaction and background knowledge of students to teach vocabulary in English language. This led to a discussion in the conclusion about the need for vocabulary instruction to be taken seriously in reading lessons in English language especially at the public junior high schools. The outcome of the study would help educational policy-makers and English language teachers in basic schools to identify and resolve such concerns to increase the success rate of implementing the curriculum.

Source: UCC
The effectiveness of headteachers' training programmes in basic school resources management in Wenchi district of the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana

The study examined the effectiveness and efficiency of headteachers' training programmes in the Wenchi District of the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. The research problem was as a result of mismanagement of basic school resources and declining pupil performance between 1997 and 2000 academic years. A cross-sectional study design was used to gather information from two groups of respondents (40 headteachers and 11 GES officers). Purposive sampling method was used to select the respondents for the study. Two different questionnaires were respectively administered to the headteachers and GES officers. The data was analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS and Excel programmes. The chi-square test of goodness of fit was used to test for significance between the responses at an alpha level of 0.5. The findings suggest that the extent to which the headteachers were effective and efficient after the training progammes was 80%. However, low motivation of headteachers and teachers, material resource problems and the high rate (51.7%) of untrained teachers, among others, were contributory factors hindering the attainment of 100% effectiveness. The adoption of a Democratic Participatory Model (DPM) for management effectiveness and efficiency is recommended if headteachers are to succeed in becoming fully effective and can salvage their schools from numerous challenges. Also, the Government of Ghana, through the GESIMOE, must find ways of motivating headteachers and teachers since the lives of pupils who are the future leaders are in their hands. The training programmes should be organised regularly as this will serve as an avenue to improve headteacher effectiveness and school performance.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of 3E, 5E and Conventional Approaches of Teaching on Students’ Achievement in High School Biology

The study sought to identify the effectiveness of 3E, 5E learning cycle and the conventional approaches in teaching a Biology lesson. The mixed method approach was used for this study. Three science classes in three Senior High Schools were randomly selected. For the quantitative aspect, a pre-test-post-test non-equivalent quasi-experimental design with two experimental groups was used. The qualitative part constituted an interview to find out students’ views with regards to the 3E and 5E teaching approaches. The students in the experimental groups were instructed through 3E and 5E learning cycle whilst those in the control group were instructed on the same concept through conventional approach. ANCOVA and independent t-test were used to analyse the data. The results of the study showed that the experimental groups performed better on the post-test as compared to the control group. The results also revealed that the learning cycle approach was more effective in teaching the biology concepts than the conventional approach. The 3E learning cycle was found to be more effective for improving the performance of low achievers. The students exposed to the 3E and 5E approaches showed positive attitudes towards learning cycle when they were interviewed. Teachers should be encouraged to learn and use the learning cycle approach in the teaching and learning process of Biology concepts.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of artemisinin-based combination therapy used in the context of home management of malaria: A report from three study sites in sub-Saharan Africa

Background: The use of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) at the community level has been advocated as a means to increase access to effective antimalarial medicines by high risk groups living in underserved areas, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. This strategy has been shown to be feasible and acceptable to the community. However, the parasitological effectiveness of ACT when dispensed by community medicine distributors (CMDs) within the context of home management of malaria (HMM) and used unsupervised by caregivers at home has not been evaluated. Methods: In a sub-set of villages participating in a large-scale study on feasibility and acceptability of ACT use in areas of high malaria transmission in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, thick blood smears and blood spotted filter paper were prepared from finger prick blood samples collected from febrile children between six and 59 months of age reporting to trained CMDs for microscopy and PCR analysis. Presumptive antimalarial treatment with ACT (artesunate-amodiaquine in Ghana, artemether-lumefantrine in Nigeria and Uganda) was then initiated. Repeat finger prick blood samples were obtained 28 days later for children who were parasitaemic at baseline. For children who were parasitaemic at follow-up, PCR analyses were undertaken to distinguish recrudescence from re-infection. The extent to which ACTs had been correctly administered was assessed through separate household interviews with caregivers having had a child with fever in the previous two weeks. Results: Over a period of 12 months, a total of 1,740 children presenting with fever were enrolled across the study sites. Patent parasitaemia at baseline was present in 1,189 children (68.3%) and varied from 60.1% in Uganda to 71.1% in Ghana. A total of 606 children (51% of infected children) reported for a repeat test 28 days after treatment. The crude parasitological failure rate varied from 3.7% in Uganda (C.I. 1.2%–6.2%) to 41.8% in Nigeria (C.I. 35%–49%). The PCR adjusted parasitological cure rate was greater than 90% in all sites, varying from 90.9% in Nigeria (C.I. 86%– 95%) to 97.2% in Uganda (C.I. 95%–99%). Reported adherence to correct treatment in terms of dose and duration varied from 81% in Uganda (C.I. 67%–95%) to 97% in Ghana (C.I. 95%–99%) with an average of 94% (C.I. 91%–97%). Conclusion: While follow-up rates were low, this study provides encouraging data on parasitological outcomes of children treated with ACT in the context of HMM and adds to the evidence base for HMM as a public health strategy as well as for scaling-up implementation of HMM with ACTs.

Source: UCC
The Effectiveness of Audit Committees of New Juaben Municipal Assembly.

A literature review on the effectiveness of audit committees, an examination of official municipal records, and the creation and usage of a questionnaire as a data collection instrument have all been done to ascertain if the hypothesis is true or incorrect. The study's focus areas demonstrate that the New Juaben Municipal Assembly's audit committee consistently and successfully carry out its oversight duties. The study's findings also revealed several areas in the audit function that demand management and the municipality's audit committee's attention. More particularly, that the audit committees are not carrying out their responsibilities concerning creation of financial statements. Additionally, it was found that the establishment of audit committees enhances public trust in government because they are crucial to good corporate governance. With the introduction of modernization in terms of the budget and financial management, which was intended to improve accountability, audit committees were established in the local realm of government. The audit committees' lack of transparency in carrying out their tasks was once more exposed. The actions of the audit committee in the New Juaben Municipal Assembly will be further improved by attending to these factors, as revealed by this study. As a result, these characteristics are not seen negatively but rather as an opportunity for the audit committee and municipal management to team up to improve the audit committee's operation. Therefore, these characteristics should be included in addition to the many beneficial aspects of the New Juaben Municipal Audit Committees that have been found and discussed in this study. iv AKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout the course of this dissertation, the benefits received from the following people are unmeasurable and therefore I want to thank them in a special way. The first person I want to convey my gratitude to is Mr. Patrick Darkwa, my supervisor for his tolerance, guidance and advice throughout this study. Again Mrs. Martha Tsekumah, my loving brother Prosper Tsekumah, and all my siblings deserve my heartfelt gratitude for their solid support and inspiration during this research. I'm also appreciative to members of the Audit Committee and other responders who even though were busy but found time to contribute to this study. Without their willingness and support, this study wouldn’t have been a success. Finally, my heartfelt appreciation goes to all the people who helped to make this research a feat in many ways.

Source: UCC
The Effectiveness of Dipstick for the Detection of Urinary Tract Infection

Background. The balance between the choices of UTI diagnostic tools in most primary care settings has been settled for by the more rapid, less labour-intensive dipstick. This study aimed to evaluate the eﬀectiveness of dipstick for diagnosing UTI. Method. A total of 429 urine samples were collected from patients suspected of UTI; cultured on cysteine-lactose-electrolyte-deﬁcient (CLED) agar, blood agar, and MacConkey agar; and incubated at 37°C overnight. Urine cultures with bacteria count ≥105 cfu/ml were classiﬁed as “positive” for UTI. A dipstick was used to screen for the production of nitrite (NIT) and leucocyte esterase (LE), following the manufacturer’s instructions. Biochemical reactions of nitrite and leucocyte esterase > “trace” were classiﬁed as “positive.” A quantitative urine culture was used as the gold standard. Results. The highest sensitivity value and negative predictive value were recorded for the combined “NIT+ or LE+” dipstick results. The highest speciﬁcity value, positive predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were recorded for “nitrite-positive and leucocyte esterase-positive” results. Combined “nitrite-positive or leucocyte-positive” result was relatively the best indicator for accurate dipstick diagnosis, with AUC = 0.7242. Cohen’s kappa values between dipstick diagnosis and quantitative culture were <0.6. Conclusion. Combined performance of nitrite and leucocyte esterase results appeared better than the solo performance of nitrite and leucocyte esterase. However, little conﬁdence should be placed on dipstick diagnosis; hence, request for quantity culture should be encouraged in the primary healthcare settings.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of educational and career guidance and counselling in second cycle schools in the Dangme East district of the Greater Accra region

This study investigated the effectiveness of educational and career guidance and counselling in second cycle schools in Dangme East District of Greater Accra Region. The objectives of the study were to find among others the functions performed by the guidance and counselling centres in second cycle schools; where students in the obtained educational and career information; the influence educational and career guidance on courses of study in institutions of higher learning; ways in which educational and career counselling prepared students for their future occupation; and obstacle that impeded educational and career guidance and counselling in the district. The study employed a descriptive survey, a survey which provides a qualitative description a part of a population by gathering data and analysing the data. The population used for the survey was 645 form three students and 135 teachers. Using Roasoft Simple Sample Calculator with 3% margin of error selected 150 students and 50 teachers for the survey. It was observed that students know the functions of all the guidance and counselling centres in the district. The study also showed that students obtain from other people than the guidance and counselling centres in the district, choice of courses of study in higher institutions of learning and future occupations is influence by other people than guidance coordinators. Finally, copious challenges undermined the effectiveness the provisions of educational and career guidance and counselling and that all guidance and counselling should be resourced to enhance its efficiency.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies in Teaching Adaptive Skills to Learners with Intellectual Disabilities in Unit Special Schools in Ghana

Examining the effectiveness of instructional strategies in teaching adaptive skills to learners with intellectual disabilities was the aim of this study. A descriptive cross-sectional design was chosen for the conduct of this study. The study targeted all teachers within the Unit Special Schools in Ghana, in this case, census approach was embraced and all teachers willing offered themselves for the conduct of the study. Questionnaire of six hypothetical dimensions was used as the main data collection instrument. The response rate for the data collection exercise was 100%. Data to answer the five research questions were analysed using descriptive statistics, specifically, percentages and frequencies, mean and standard deviations. Findings of the study revealed that teachers are implementing a comprehensive adaptive skills curriculum in Ghana’s Unit Special Schools. In addition, the study findings showed that cooperative method, direct instruction and interactive procedures were the predominantly used methods for teaching adaptive skills in the Unit Special Schools. Moreover, findings showed interactive and direct methods of teaching to be the most effective of all the instructional procedures in the teaching of adaptive skills. Based on the findings, the study recommended that Ghana Education Service in collaboration with all the head teachers must organize a workshop on ‘effective instructional methods for adaptive skills teaching’ to updates teachers regularly and to sustain their usage of students centered approaches to teaching. Further, the study recommended that head teachers of Unit Special Schools should at regular point in time encourage teachers through award schemes and recognition to continue using the effective methods such as cooperative and interactive methods together with the audio-visual resources.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of instructional supervision in Presbyterian College of Education

This study investigated the effectives of instructional supervision at the Agogo College of Education since instructional supervision is a core principle in teacher education and professional teacherpractice. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study and the population comprised students, tutors and administrators. A sample of 108 students covering all year levels and 36 tutors and administrators were used for the data collection. A self-administered questionnaire, an interview guide and observation were used for the data collection. Students and tutors responded to the questionnaires, administrators were interviewed and the observation checklist was used to observe some tutors and students during lesson delivery sessions. Data collected with the three instruments were edited, analysed using SPSS and descriptive statistical tools such as frequency table and percentages were used to present the results. The results of the study indicated that tutors had positive perception towards instructional supervision; principals and directors supervision were conducted periodically; students were regularly assessed based on what they have been taught; instructional supervision had been effective to a large extent. In spite of the positive results, there were some few rough edges that needed to be straightened, especially; districts directors were not as effective as principals external supervision was not as effective as internal supervision. In all these instances, it was recommended that everything should be done to ensure the instructional supervision to achieve its ultimate objectives in the College.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of interactive multimedia courseware as instructional medium for teaching multiplication of fractions.

The study was carried out with primary 6 pupils at Assin Fosu demonstration school. This study looked at the comparative analysis of the performance of pupils who were taught multiplication of fractions using an interactive multimedia courseware and those who were taught using the traditional method of teaching. Visual Basic 6.0 and TechSmith Camtasia Studio v5.0.2 software were used to develop the interactive multimedia courseware on multiplication of fractions. An achievement test and questionnaire were used to collect data on multiplication of fractions. The achievement test consisted of pre-test and posttest; the two tests were parallel (that is, both test were at the same level of difficulty). Simple random sampling technique was used to select 72 primary five pupils (36 pupils each from the two primary five classes). Data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, Chi-square and t-test. The performance of the experimental and control groups, was not significantly different in both pre-test and post-test. However, there was significant difference in pupil's interest in multiplication of fractions in favour of the experimental (83%). The study was recommended that, pupils should be introduced to computers early enough, teachers should pay attention to the conversion of store problems into mathematical expressions, interactive multimedia courseware should be developed for challenging topics and collaborative method of teaching should be encouraged.

Source: UCC
Effectiveness of Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine against Submicroscopic falciparum Malaria in Central Region, Ghana

Malaria infections undetectable by microscopy but detectable by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (submicroscopic malaria) are common in endemic areas like Ghana. Submicroscopic malaria has been linked with severe pregnancy outcomes as well as contributing to malaria transmission. In this cross-sectional study 872 consenting pregnant women (gestation ≥ 20 weeks) were recruited from 8 hospitals in Central Region, Ghana, between July and December 2009. Malaria infection was detected by microscopy and PCR. Haemoglobin was measured and anaemia was defined as haemoglobin lower than 11 g/dL. Majority of the women, 555 (63.6%), were Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) users while 234 (36.4%) were nonusers. The prevalence of malaria by microscopy was 20.9% (182/872) and 9.7% (67/688) of microscopy negative women had submicroscopic malaria. IPTp-SP usage significantly (odds ratio = 0.13, 95% confidence interval = 0.07–0.23, 𝑝 = 0.005) reduced the prevalence of submicroscopic malaria as more nonusers (51/234) than users (16/454) were PCR positive. After controlling for other variables the effect of IPTp-SP remained statistically significant (odds ratio = 0.11, 95% confidence interval = 0.02–0.22, 𝑝 = 0.006). These results suggest that Intermittent Preventive Treatment with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine is useful in the reduction of submicroscopic malaria in pregnancy.

Source: UCC