ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
The relationship of critical thinking skills and reading comprehension performance for students of holy child college of education, takoradi

The study was conducted in Holy Child College of Education in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly of the Western Region. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between reading comprehension and critical thinking skills of first and second-year students of Holy Child College of Education. Descriptive research design and correlation design were used to conduct the study. First and second-year students of Holy Child College of Education constitute the population for the study. Stratified sampling methods were used to select the students. Questionnaire and test were the instruments used to collect data for the study. Further, percentages, means, frequency distribution, Pearson product-moment correlation and independent t-test were used to analyse the data that was collected. The study revealed a strong and positive correlation between Level 200 students’ critical thinking and their performance in reading comprehension. Similarly, there was a strong and positive correlation between Level 100 students’ critical thinking and reading comprehension performance. It was also found that the differences that were observed in the performance of Level 100 and Level 200 students in reading comprehension and critical thinking were not statistically significant, and both groups of students had poor reading comprehension skills that negatively affected their performance in reading comprehension. The implications of this study will hopefully encourage a conscious effort on the part of English Language tutors of colleges of education to teach critical thinking skills and reading comprehension strategies.

Source: UCC
Relationships Between Potassium Forms and Selected Physico-Chemical Properties Of Some Ghanaian Soils Along A Topo sequence

A study was conducted to determine the distribution of forms of K (water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, and total K) of potassium in some Ghanaian soils occurring along toposequence using standard laboratory procedures. The soils were the Edina, Atabadzi, Benya, Udu and Kakum series (Acrisols), which form the Edina catena. The concentrations of total K in the soils ranged from 0.64 to 2.37 (cmol (+) kg-1) with Kakum series showing the lowest (P < 0.05) value. Water soluble K and exchangeable K concentrations in the soils ranged from 0.05 to 0.25 c mol (+) kg-1, and 0.26 to 0.89 cmol (+) kg-1, respectively, with the Kakum series again showing the lowest values (P < 0.05) for both K forms. The Edina series, occurring at the summit of the catena, showed the highest concentrations of both water soluble and exchangeable K. In the study non-exchangeable K concentrations measured in the soils varied between 0.20 and 1.25 cmol (+) kg-1. The study showed that exchangeable K constituted the highest proportion of the total K measured in the soils, while the proportion of water-soluble K in the total K measured was the lowest. Pooling all the data obtained in the study, water soluble K and exchangeable K concentrations positively correlated with organic matter, cation exchange capacity and percentage bas saturation

Source: UCC
Relative effect of food and cash remittances on household food security

Considerable policy consensus concerning cash remittance as an operational model in the household food security policy dialogue has been established, yet, little knowledge base exists with regard to food remittances and its effect on food security. In view of this, the study focused on food remittance against the backdrop of remittance and food security. Specifically, the study examined spatial variability in food security outcomes across districts in Ghana, the impact of food remittance on household food security and the relative effect of food and cash remittance on household food security. Using the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey, the study employed spatial autocorrelation techniques to analyse the spatial dependence of food security outcomes, Propensity Score Matching, Endogenous Switching Regression and Instrumental Variable estimation to account for the issue of endogeneity associated with food remittance. The study disclosed significant spatial dependence and clustering of food security outcomes and revealed that aside most districts in northern Ghana experiencing high levels of food insecurity, some districts in the food dominance zone of the country relatively have high food insecurity outcome. The study revealed a significant positive impact of food remittance on food security. Again, an additional amount of food received reduces food insecurity by a greater magnitude relative to the effect from a cedi increase in the amount of cash received. In addition, food remittance was vital for food insecurity reduction in rural than in urban areas. The study recommended that policies targeted at remittance should be broadened to include strategies that enrich food transfers. Also, food transfers should be targeted at food insecure districts, particularly rural areas in such districts

Source: UCC
Relative importance of indicators of teachers’ professional skills as perceived by senior high school economics teachers in Ghana

The study examined differences in perception among Senior High School Economics teachers on the relative importance of indicators of teachers’ professional skills, based on teaching experience. The study employed the descriptive survey method and comprised a sample of 115 professional Economics teachers drawn from the Central Region of Ghana. A self-designed questionnaire was administered on the respondents. The data were analysed using the t-test. The findings of the study showed that highly experienced Economics teachers perceive indicators of teachers’ skills of instructional planning as more important, relative to the experienced Economics teachers. Again, the finding showed a significant difference in perception between the highly experienced and experienced Economics teachers about the relative importance of the skills of instructional assessment. The study recommends the organisation of in-service workshops for sensitisation as well as the creation of a community of learners among SHS Economics teachers for the sharing of knowledge and experiences.

Source: UCC
Relative Susceptibilities of ABO Blood Groups to Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Ghana

The clinical outcome of falciparum malaria in endemic areas is influenced by erythrocyte polymorphisms including the ABO blood groups. Studies have reported association of ABO blood group to resistance, susceptibility, and severity of P. falciparum malaria infection. Individuals with blood group “A” have been found to be highly susceptible to falciparum malaria whereas blood group “O” is said to confer protection against complicated cases. We analyzed samples from 293 young children less than six years old with malaria in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. It was observed that group O was present in about 16.1% of complicated cases weighed against 40.9% of uncomplicated controls. Individuals with complicated malaria were about twice likely to be of blood groups A and B compared to group O (A versus O, OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.59–2.26, 𝑃 < 0.0001; B versus O, OR = 1.82. 95% CI = 1.57–2.23, 𝑃 < 0.0001). Blood group O participants with complicated diseases had low parasitaemia compared to the other blood groups (𝑃 < 0.0001). This may give blood group O individuals a survival advantage over the other groups in complicated malaria as suggested. Participants with complicated falciparum malaria were generally anaemic and younger than those with uncomplicated disease.

Source: UCC
Relative Susceptibilities of BO Blood Groups of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Ghana

The clinical outcome of falciparum malaria in endemic areas is influenced by erythrocyte polymorphisms including the ABO blood groups. Studies have reported association of ABO blood group to resistance, susceptibility, and severity of P. falciparum malaria infection. Individuals with blood group “A” have been found to be highly susceptible to falciparum malaria whereas blood group “O” is said to confer protection against complicated cases. We analyzed samples from 293 young children less than six years old with malaria in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. It was observed that group O was present in about 16.1% of complicated cases weighed against 40.9% of uncomplicated controls. Individuals with complicated malaria were about twice likely to be of blood groups A and B compared to group O (A ersus O, OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.59–2.26,� < 0.0001; B ersus O, OR = 1.82. 95% CI =1.57–2.23,� < 0.0001). Blood group O participants with complicated diseases had low parasitaemia compared to the other blood groups (� < 0.0001). Tis may give blood group O individuals a survival advantage over the other groups in complicated malaria as suggested. Participants with complicated falciparum malaria were generally anaemic and younger than those with uncomplicated disease

Source: UCC
The relevance and effectiveness of employee performance appraisal at quality control division of Cocobod

Managers of public, private, civil or non-governmental organisationscannot ignore the importance of developing their human resource to acquire the essential skills, knowledge and desired attitudes needed for timely deliveryof appropriate actions to achieve corporate goals. It is no doubt that the effective tool to measure or evaluate performance of individuals, teams and organisations is the Performance Appraisal technique. The question, however,is how relevant and effective is this tool being used. This study, therefore, critically examines the relevance, effectiveness, and the procedures of the performance appraisal system in Quality Control Division (QCD) of COCOBOD in order to identify its strengths and weaknesses, and make suggestions for best practice. The findings show that the performance appraisal system in QCD is fraught with imperfections rendering it almost ineffective. Apart from promotion and pay-raise, data generated through the system is usually not used for any other administrative and human resource development decisions.Targets are set anyhow and are not communicated to staff, performance appraisal criteria are unclear, resulting in subjective measurements, and there is lack of effective monitoring and feedback or appraisal interviews. If QeD is to develop and grow to gain competitive advantage over her competitors and would-be competitors, then management has the responsibility to be committed to the system, organise systematic training of all appraisers, set targets and identify key results areas of all jobs within the organisation, and observe the best practices of performance appraisal in order to meet the growing millennium challenges of the 21st Century.

Source: UCC
Relevance and effectiveness of employee performance appraisal: A study of Sissala East district directorate of education

The main objective of this study was to ascertain whether performance appraisal systems in organizations are adequately designed and implemented to generate appropriate data in terms of adequacy, relevance, accuracy and practicality to be used for Effective Human Resource Management. The study relied on primary and secondary data collected from two hundred and twenty-one (221) staff randomly selected from Sissala East District Directorate of Education. The study showed that the organization has no clear basis for the performance criteria identified for assessing employees. Both appraisers and appraisees have limited understanding of the criteria on which the assessment is made. There are also no training programmes for assessors (management and senior staff) to assist them get a common understanding to the criteria against which they are required to appraise employees. The study recommends to management to determine a clear vision of the objectives of what the organization chooses to achieve with its appraisal procedures, those who have to operate the system should be well sensitized to appreciate the objective of the system in order to get the best out of the staff.

Source: UCC
Relevance of biblical counselling in contemporary society of pentecostal churches in the Kumasi metropolis of Ashanti region

This study evaluated the relevance of biblical counselling in contemporary society of Pentecostal churches in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ashanti Region. The study sought to provide an insight into the effectiveness of biblical counselling. The methodology used to select participants for the study consisted of stratified random sampling, proportional ratio, simple random sampling and selection of the table of random numbers methods. The Population of the study consisted of thirty-four Pentecostal denominations with seven hundred branches within Kumasi Metropolis. The sample consisted of two hundred and thirty respondents from twenty-three selected branches within nine selected Pentecostal denominations. Pilot-testing of instrument was done at Ejisu to determine reliability coefficient which was 0 .8526 The main instruments for the research were the questionnaire (Twenty-seven items) and an interview (sixteen items). Five weeks were used to administer and collect the question and conduct the interview. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (S P S S) computer software was used to analyse the data. 84.6% of the respondents attempted the questionnaire and answered correctly. The studies revealed among other things that majority of the Pentecostal counsellors do not have formal counselling training and besides most of the churches do not organise any in-service training for their counsellors. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended among other things that the Head of Regional Denominations should organise refresher courses for their counsellors.

Source: UCC
Relevance of public secondary school students' career aspirations to the manpower needs of Ghana

The thesis examined the career and educational aspirations of secondary school students in Ghana. The study, which was a cross-sectional descriptive survey specifically, aimed at determining the type of jobs students wish to do, sectors of the economy and places they wish to work, relationship of their career aspirations to the manpower needs of Ghana as well as factors influencing their career aspirations. Students' intention and desire to pursue further studies as well as the type and extent of education they aspire to achieve were also investigated. Effects of students' demographic characteristics on their career and educational aspirations were examined. Participants consisted of 1265 girls and 1075 boys (N=2340) randomly selected from 22 senior secondary schools in Ghana. Respondents answered one set of hand-delivered questionnaire. The main statistical tools used in data analysis were percentages, chi-square (it t-test and Analysis ofYariance (ANOYA). The study revealed, among others, that senior secondary school students generally have the desire to pursue further full-time education. University education and Business programme were reported as students' most preferred tertiary educational institution and academic programme respectively. Students' demographic characteristics related to the type of educational institutions and acade.0mic programmes they aspired to pursue. The study further revealed that Government sector employment and enterprising work environment as well as working abroad have high attraction for students. Significant differences were found in students' career aspirations based on gender, academic programmes, school setting, school type, age, and their places of residence. In the light of these findings, implications for human resource development are discussed.

Source: UCC
Relevance of the Senior High School Curriculum in Relation to Contextual Reality of the World of Work

The purpose of the study was to find out the relevance of the senior high school curriculum in relation to the contextual reality of the world of work. The objective was therefore to identify the skills embedded in the curriculum, those skills the learners have acquired and those that employers usually demand of employees. A descriptive case study design was used. In I this narrative account, a content analysis of the senior high school curriculum was done in order to determine the skills contained in the curriculum. Through a qualitative research approach and purposive sampling procedure, twenty-one students and fourteen other key informants or employers were selected for an interview. The data from the interview were sorted out into themes and coded through the use of NVivo 8 to help in the counting of frequencies of each skill. It was found out that the senior high school curriculum, though was generally rated as relevant, the skills with the highest frequencies in the curriculum focused on attitudes and values while those required by employers focused on the application of knowledge. The skills with the highest frequencies were those of the affective domain but the highest percentage values suggested in the curriculum constituted those of the cognitive domain. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded' that the curriculum is relevant in instilling values into the students but it is not relevant in the application of knowledge that employers usually demand of employees at the work environment. It is, therefore, recommended that the curriculum be reviewed, if similar findings of this type of research in different contexts are found, to get rid of those mismatches, in order to make it more relevant to the needs of contemporary society.

Source: UCC
Religion and morality in Ghana: A reflection

Several scholars have written extensively on religion and morality. These works generally try to answer the question of what determines morality. Whiles some scholars strongly maintain that religion is the determinant of morality, some are skeptical and others do not accept such stance. Such discourse has found its way into African ethics with views from the west and among some Africans who maintain that the morality of Africans is religious base. With these arguments on board, some prolific Ghanaian writers have argued that whether or not religion determines the morality of Africans, in Ghana however, among the Akan, it is the society and the traditions that determine the morality of its members but not religion. This paper joins the debate to bring to the fore that it is not “the society and traditions” that determine the morality of the Akan and Ghanaians in general. The paper argues that the Akan and the Ghanaian society thrive on religion and almost all the traditions instituted have religious imports. For these reasons, the paper concludes that religion is the determinant of the morality of Ghanaians including the Akan but not society and traditions

Source: UCC
Religion and Politics in Ghana: The Role of Charismatic Christianity in Building Democratic Political Dispensation from 1979-2012

The thesis sought to examine the role of Charismatic Christianity in building democratic political dispensation. This work acknowledged the role of other ecclesial bodies such as the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. I set the tone of the thesis by indicating that adequate research works have not been done on the role of Charismatic Christianity and their engagement in politics especially in promoting democratic culture in Ghana. The basic objective here is to identify the roles played by Charismatic Christianity in the promotion of democratic culture in Ghana from the era of their emergence, that is late 1979 to 2012. A qualitative method of data collection and analysis are used. Since the thesis seeks to understand the behaviour of Charismatic Christianity within political context, I adopted secularisation and world system theories in explaining the nature of relationship between sacred and the secular. It was discovered that, Charismatic Christianity has contributed much in the fight for the restoration and promotion of democratic political culture. The leadership was operating as individuals but not through any ecclesial body. They preached against human rights abuses and with boldness called for the restoration of democracy. It is also found out that after democracy was restored, these churches were involved in political education, provision of social facilities and economic opportunities which lead to the promotion of democratic culture. The work is limited to the year 2012. I recommend that further studies should be done to cover the years beyond 2012.

Source: UCC
Religion as an organizing principle in Ankaful maximum security prison, Ghana

In the field of penology, very few studies have paid attention to the role of religion in prison. The sparse scholarly studies are largely focused on the advanced countries, and rarely on prisons in Africa. In addition, the findings of the impact of religion on inmates have yielded mixed results. This study examined the de facto religious pursuits of inmates in attempts to cope with imprisonment, and at selfreformation for possible reintegration. The study was underpinned by social constructionist theory of reality and some functionalists’ perspectives on religion. The study settled on mixed method approach to data collection. The semi-structured questionnaire data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The transcripts of the in-depth interviews were also analyzed thematically using the Google Docs word search tool. The study found that while Ankaful Maximum Security Prison (AMSP) has been successful in its mandate of imprisoning convicts, the institution has failed in the rehabilitation and resocialization of inmates. These shortcomings, unwittingly, have given way to the various certified religious Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to operate supportive and religious functions in the prison. Evidently, not all inmates who participated in religious activities did so necessarily for redemption but for materialism. In addition, religion was seen as a means by which inmates were restoring their “spoiled identities”, and conducting their impression management. For ex-convicts, their experiences of re-joining their families and faith communities were antithetical to what they expected upon discharge. A collaborative project by all religious CSOs to establish a sorely needed transition home to ease ex-convicts into the community is recommended.

Source: UCC