ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Disability And Theatrical Non-Inclusivity: An Exploratory Study Of Cape Coast School For The Deaf And Blind

The relationship between theatre and disability goes as far back as ancient Greece where dramatic writings of Greek dramatists included characters with disabilities. Africa has a complex and developing relationship between disability and theatre. The relationship between disability and theatre in Ghana is an emerging area of research. There are, however, a few studies that have looked into theatre and disability in Ghana. Whilst literature and other intellectual discourses on theatre for visually impaired persons and their integration into theatrical performances are growing in other jurisdictions it is nearly difficult to locate such literature and performances in Ghana and this study sought to address that intellectual and practice gap. Thematic analytical technique was employed in analysing data which was collected using the qualitative approach and two instruments (Semi-structured interviews and complete participant observation). Anchored on the social inclusion theory and critical disability theory the findings revealed how collaborations, training, funding, awareness creation, accessible technology and time management could break the barriers (absence of trained drama instructor, financial constraints, technical limitations, attitudinal barriers and time constraints) to inclusive theatre workshop for visually impaired students. Ultimately, the study contributes to the scholarship on inclusive theatre for visually impaired students. Based on the findings and the conclusions, I suggest that further research be carried out on the use of emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and haptic feedback systems, to enhance the theatre experience for visually impaired students.

Source: UCC
Disaggregated Health Financing, Governance and Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite evidence on the importance of disaggregated components of health financing (public, private and external health aid), little is known about the role governance performs in the relationship between disaggregated health financing components and infant mortality. Using panel data of 42 sub-Sahara African countries (SSA) for the period 2000-2016, this study analyses the differential effect of disaggregated components of health financing on infant mortality in SSA as well as across its sub-regional groups. The study also examines the confounding effect of governance in the relationship between disaggregated components of health financing and infant mortality. The study uses the Generalised Method of Moment (System-GMM) technique along with the Principal Component Analysis (CPA) to construct a governance index from three governance indicators (government effectiveness, control of corruption and regulatory quality). The study finds that each disaggregated component of health financing has a significant negative effect on infant mortality in SSA, albeit there exists regional disparities across SSA. The study also finds that governance has negative and significant confounding effects on the relationship between each disaggregated health-financing component and infant mortality in SSA. In terms of policy recommendations, Ministries of Health in respective SSA countries should strengthen partnership with foreign donors in the fight against infant mortality. Moreover, audit departments of Ministries of Health in respective SSA countries should strengthen regulations that guide health expenditure to have higher reduction in infant mortality level

Source: UCC
Disagreeing in Radio Panel Discussions in Ghana

Over the years, the media has become indispensable in every human setting. Almost every aspect of life is influenced by the media. The term was first used with the advent of newspapers and magazines. The radio is the most relied on mass media platform in Ghana and a considerable number of Ghanaians listen to the radio to obtain their political, social and economic information (Selormey, 2012). A talk show involves talk that is intentionally communicated to an audience that is absent (Scannell, 1991). As with all forms of communication, discussions on radio involve the discussants disagreeing at one point or another during the discussion. Thus, employing the qualitative approach to research, this study investigates panel discussions on two popular Ghanaian radio shows with the aim of identifying the strategies discussants employ in disagreeing and how they mitigate their disagreements. In all, 195 instances of disagreement were identified. Ten (10) strategies were used by discussants to express disagreement. These include: the use of contradictory statements, explicitly stating disagreement, challenge, hedges, the use of no, the use of doubt or disbelief, among others. Mitigating strategies also include hesitation markers, partial agreement, expression of regret, questions for clarification, explanation and providing suggestion or alternatives. The present research contributes to studies in media discourse and bridges the gap in the literature on the study of disagreement in Ghana.

Source: UCC
Disaster Risk Reduction In Development Planning Processes Of Greater Kumasi Area In Ghana

The study evaluated the disaster risk planning practices of selected Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Kumasi Area of Ghana. It employed action research using a mixed research approach. The participants included officials from various disaster response institutions, MMDAs, traditional authorities, assembly members, and community dwellers. In total, 427 respondents, including 399 households and 28 key informants, were involved in the study. The study gathered primary data through the use of questionnaires and interview guides. Secondary data was also collected from policy documents, laws, and plans related to disaster management. The quantitative data underwent descriptive and inferential analysis using SPSS software, while the qualitative data were transcribed, coded, and analysed thematically. The study's findings highlighted that integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the development planning process was ineffective. Although households demonstrated awareness of the risks, their involvement in planning was insufficient. There were gaps and role conflicts among the disaster response institutions. The capacity of various institutions to implement DRR was hindered by limited resources, inadequate staff and skills, and insufficient funding. The study recommends that the Disaster and Emergency Management Committees of the MMDAs ensure the inclusion of participatory processes in development planning. It also suggests revitalising community-based disaster volunteer groups and clubs and establishing effective coordination mechanisms among disaster response institutions.

Source: UCC
Discipled to Disciple Others: Success Story of a Graduate Supervisor in Ghana

Burgeoning literature on the task of a faculty supervisor in postgraduate education is daunting given the numerous roles they are required to play. The core duty of a supervisor is to guide, arouse students’ skills, help them develop their creative scholarly potential. The purpose of this case investigation was to find out how a faculty member, Prof. Bawa by bracing all the odds, are able to still supervise and successfully mentor a lot of graduate students in a public university context. The study found that students perceived Prof. Bawa in a positive light with a majority stating that he promotes conditions beneficial to students’ research intellectual growth and provide apt leadership in the process. He was also found to be able to balance his numerous job schedules through incorporation of the supervision duty into his itinerary for the year. Among the qualities include humility, affable, hardworking, principled, tolerant, and kind. He personally conceives effective supervision as one in which both supervisor and supervisees are able to iron out their differences to ensure completion of the process within the stipulated time. Supervisors have to learn to try and provide the best they can to help students achieve their aims. Similarly, students must submit to supervisors, their guidance, and tutelage to minimise the usual conflicts that arise between supervisors and supervisees. The study lauds pragmatic supervisor initiatives that promote student hard work. It equally advocates for tolerant conditions for graduate students as this engenders intellectual growth and capacity.

Source: UCC
Disciplinary Practices at the Wesley College of Education, Ghana as Perceived by Students and Administrators

The thrust of the study was mainly to identify disciplinary practices at Wesley College of Education. The research design adopted for the study was a quantitative design, specifically the descriptive survey design. The target population for this study comprised students and administrators of Wesley College of Education in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ashanti Region. The population of students was based on the class lists of the year 2017 and 2018. The stratified, simple random and purposive sampling were used to select 265 students and 33 administrators and used questionnaire to collect data from respondents. The data was analysed using the descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). Based on the findings of the study, it was revealed that provision of guidance and counselling services, rewarding the efforts of students, involving students in decision-making at the school level and encouraging students to improve their behaviour are disciplinary practices in the Wesley College of Education. However, withdrawal of privileges, in school and out-school suspensions and application of corporal punishment as means of disciplinary practices in the college were not effective practices. It was recommended that the college should employ the services of professional counsellors to provide guidance and counselling services to students

Source: UCC
Discipline and its roles in effective management of a school. A case study of Adisadel College, Ghana National College and Mfantstiman Girls' secondary school

Discipline among students is an essential tool for effective teaching and learning in an educational institution. However, dealing with responsible social behavior among students in Senior Secondary Schools has been a major challenge for educational administrators in Ghana. The study investigates the courses, nature and levels of indiscipline in Mfantsiman Girls Secondary School, Saltpond, Adisadel College, Cape Coast and Ghana National College, Cape Coast. To achieve this objective, information was obtained from three (3) head masters/mistresses, twenty-three (23) teachers and one hundred and sixty six (166) students by random sampling technique. Questionnaire made of close and open-ended questions was used. The result of the study showed a high level of congruence of opinions among the teachers and students on most of the disciplinary issues. In general, students were found to be the source of major disciplinary problems in schools. To improve discipline in schools, administrators, teachers, students and the academic boards should be closely involved in formulating rules and regulations of the schools. It also demands from the students an ability to exercise self-control to be able to assess the consequences of their behaviours. This can be achieved if guidance and counseling services are made a full-time responsibility to help the students achieve self-discipline.

Source: UCC
Discipline in Achimota School: Yesterday and today

Achimota School in the past was described as an ideal institution. Today however, Achimota School appears to be losing its glory. The research problem was to find out what had gone wrong and suggest ways of improving Achimota School. The study examined views held by 49 past students (Yesterday) and 172 present students (Today) on discipline and how views and actions of students affected Achimota School. It was a qualitative research. The study showed that 79.6% of the past students strongly agreed with the idealist concept which supports discipline based on sanctions. However 65.1 % of the present students strongly agreed with the naturalist concept which supports greater freedom. Both past and present students mentioned the following as the most serious indisciplinary acts: Examination malpractice (91.8%of Yesterday and 57.6% of Today), Substance abuse (93.8% of Yesterday and 62.8% of Today), Sexual Misconduct (89.8% of Yesterday and 53.4% of Today), Flouting Authority of staff and students (93.8% of Yesterday and 51.2% of Today) and stealing (93.8% of Yesterday and 76.3% of Today). These and other in disciplinary acts like occultism occurred more frequently today. This indicates indiscipline in Achimota is worst today than in the past. The study showed indisciplinary acts in Achimota have students, teachers, school and environment related causes and therefore suggested improved Christian teaching and worship, effective guidance and counseling, regular refresher courses for teachers and a strong Parent Teacher Association (PT A) as some remedies for improving discipline in Achimota School.

Source: UCC
Discipline Management and Employee Performance: Case of Ghana Institute of Languages

The study examines discipline management and employee performance at the Ghana Institute of Languages in Accra. The basis for this study stems from the findings of the studies conducted by Muhammad (2013) and Danku et al (2015) on similar topic under consideration failed to draw a relationship between disciplinary procedure and employee performance. Relevant empirical literature and theories including; Theory X and Theory Y by McGregor (1960); Business Ethics Theory by Crane and Matten (2007); Equity Theory by Adams (1965); and Systems Theory by Dunlop (1958) were reviewed and discussed. A survey was done using questionnaires to select information from respondents. Random sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 72 respondents from population of one hundred and thirty (130) respondents. The gathered data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Chi-square (x2) was used to test the stated hypothesis. The findings established that employees had knowledge of the existence of disciplinary procedures or actions in their organisation. It also indicated that poor education on disciplinary matters, lack of objectivity in handling disciplinary matters, and the use of discipline as punishment tool were among some of the challenges identified with disciplinary procedures in the institute. It is therefore recommended that management organize regular training for leaders including the Union on handling disciplinary matters in the institute. This will in effect address the challenge of lack of objectivity in handling disciplinary matters and also minimize the use of discipline as punishment tool especially among leaders who have the tendencies of doing so.

Source: UCC
Disclosing child sexual abuse in the Ablekuma central sub metropolis of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Child sexual abuse, a very disturbing problem in the society is on the increase in the Ghanaian society; hence the child is not protected by those he/she trusts. The research aims at delving through the types of child sexual abuse, the causes and the effect of child sexual abuse. It also aimed at looking for what motivates disclosure, patterns of disclosure and what prevents disclosure. The study was limited to 70 respondents. The target population for the study comprised sexually abused children, parents of sexually abused children and in- school guidance coordinators. The samples consist of 30 sexually abused children, 30 parents of sexually abused children and 10 in-school guidance coordinators. Purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents. Questionnaire and interview was used to collect data for the study. Data collected was edited, coded and analysed using Statistical Package for Service Solution (SPSS). The result was presented in frequencies and their corresponding percentages while others were presented in narrative form. The results obtained show that many children do not disclose and for the few who disclosed, disclosure was mainly delayed. The researcher found out that child sexual abuse has become a scary situation to children, however disclosing their ordeal has become very difficult .Such children are deprived of trust, affection as well as security. The study recommended that children should be well informed on the forms of abuse to enable them differentiate between what is an abuse and what is not an abuse.

Source: UCC
Discontinuous galerkin isogeometric analysis for elliptic problems with discontinuous diffusion coefficients on surfaces

This paper is concerned with using discontinuous Galerkin isogeometric analysis (dG-IGA) as a numerical treatment of Difusion problems on orientable surfaces Ω ⊂ R 3. The computational domain or surface considered consist of several non-overlapping sub-domains or patches which are coupled via an interior penalty scheme. In Langer and Moore [13], we presented a priori error estimate for conforming computational domains with matching meshes across patch interface and a constant difusion coefcient. However, in this article, we generalize the a priori error estimate to non-matching meshes and discontinuous difusion coefcients across patch interfaces commonly occurring in industry. We construct B-Spline or NURBS approximation spaces which are discontinuous across patch interfaces. We present a priori error estimate for the symmetric discontinuous Galerkin scheme and numerical experiments to confrm the theory

Source: UCC
Discordancy in reduced dimensions of outliers in high-dimensional datasets: application of an updating formula

In multivariate outlier studies, the sum of squares and cross-product (SSCP) is an important property of the data matrix. For example, the much used Mahalanobis distance and the Wilk's ratio make use of SSCP matrices. One of the SSCP matrices involved in outlier studies is the matrix for the set of multiple outliers in the data. In this paper, an explicit expression for this matrix is derived. It has then been shown that in general the discordancy of multiple outliers is preserved along Multiple-Outlier Displaying Components with much lower dimensions than the original high-dimensional dataset

Source: UCC
Discours Sur La Place Et Le Rôle De La Femme Dans Les Œuvres Selectionées De Marie Ndiaye, Charlotte Bousquet, Carole Fives Et Adeline Dieudonné

ABSTRACT Women’s Literature is a subgenre of universal masculinized Literature. It seeks to claim a new identity for women and to redefine their status quo by dealing with issues that focus more on their liberation, empowerment, in short on their fulfilment. Through the prism of women literature, this thesis examines the difficult experiences of the woman and especially that of the mother in four novels. Textual data is collected using the technique of in-depth reading and analysed using mainly sociocriticism, constructionist and essentialist theories. These theories are supported by the concept of gender and patriarchy. The study explores important subjects such as the image of the subjugated woman because of domestic tasks and obligations towards the child. In addition, it examines the complicit and ambiguous relationship between man and tradition. It also analyses how the abuse of patriarchal privileges by man makes him irresponsible to his family. This irresponsibility compels the woman to assume responsibilities which are traditionally assigned to the man. The assumption of these obligations by the woman denaturalises gender roles and denounces the binary categorisation of tasks. This denaturalisation of gender roles and status leads to a structural crisis and power struggle between man and woman that eventually ends up in establishing sexual democracy and gender equality. After subjecting the image painted of the woman to a socio-literary critique, it is discovered that the literary representations in the four novels do not largely correspond to social realities. These exaggerated representations aim at rejecting and rethinking the status quo that is imposed on the woman in the predominantly male-dominated society. The study concludes that the representation of the role and place of woman is propaganda since it seeks to convince society to establish a new world of equality and social justice.

Source: UCC
A Discourse Analysis of New Year Messages of the Leaders Of the Two Major Political Parties in Ghana

ABSTRACT Studies into political speech genres continue to attract the attention of scholars and researchers. Yet, the New Year Message (NYM) remains largely under-researched. Using Genre Theory, the present study explored the NYMs of John Dramani Mahama as President and Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo as Opposition Leader, from 2012 to 2016, focusing on their move structure, lexico-grammatical features, and rhetorical strategies. The data for the study were accessed online and analysed qualitatively. Regarding the schematic structure of the NYMs analysed, generally, the data revealed a seven-move structure for NYMs of John Dramani Mahama and eight-move structure for the NYMs of Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, with some of the moves realized with steps. The study also revealed some noticeable differences and similarities in the schematic structure of the NYMs of the two rhetors. Further, each of the moves was characterized by certain linguistic features, including formulaic greetings, evaluative lexis, prepositional phrases, complex noun phrases, extraposition, imperative clauses, declarative clauses, etc. The study also revealed some rhetorical strategies as characterizing the NYMs analysed: metaphor, parallelism, anastrophe, parenthesis, apposition and antithesis. The findings of the study contribute to scholarship on NYMs and political discourse, in general. The study also has implications for genre theory and may serve as a useful material for politicians and political communicators.

Source: UCC
Discourse in institutional administration of public Universities in Ghana: A shift towards a market paradigm?

Language as an ideological tool is used in discourse by institutions, sometimes to change their discourse in order to buy into existing economic as well as social powers. In recent years, Ghanaian public universities have changed the discourse used in defining their aims and objectives. This paper uses Fairclough’s model for Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze documents that lay out the strategic plan that redefine the visions, aims, and objectives of four public universities in Ghana. The analysis shows that there is a shift from the traditional academic discourse to a marketization discourse. The changes are evident in the linguistic features as well as the orders of discourse that shape the universities as corporate bodies in a business marketplace. The paper also discusses the relationship between this discourse shift and the positioning of public universities in Ghana

Source: UCC