ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Critical atm adoption factors in Ghanaian banking industry: CFA approach

The paper examines factors that most importantly affect customer adoption of ATMs in Ghanaian banking industry. The study was a cross-sectional survey that employed the use self administered questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 256 respondents through personal contact. Through confirmatory factor analysis approach using AMOS 18.0, the findings indicatethat,two items of perceived ease of use, four items of perceived benefits and two items of perceived barriers critically affect the adoption of ATMs in the research context. Given that the research model is theoretically grounded and indicateshigh goodness-of-fit indices, factor loadings, validity and reliability, it offers practitioners the basis for developing effective customer driven strategies for delivering ATM services. In spite of the limitations of the study, the findings also confirm and further our understanding of factors affecting consumer adoption of technology in electronic banking. Index Terms—banking industry, Automated Teller Machine, Ghana, perceived benefits, perceived ease of use, perceived, barriers, self-service, TAM, Confirmatory factor analysis.

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of newspaper reportage of 2022 budget of the republic of Ghana

This study aimed to determine the discursive devices used in the selected news headlines to unravel the ideologies behind the news captions, the motives of the media practitioners and reveal to reveal the insights that will be generated from the findings. Forty headlines were purposively sampled from eight major newspaper portals in Ghana on the 2022 budget. This is a qualitative study that hinged on Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The results were grouped into four major captions used by media practitioners to attract attention of readers. It was also evident that the devices used helped to bring out the media practitioners’ ideologies. The selection of the words used in the headlines showed the political dispositions of the news practitioners who intentionally chose only those news headlines that are sensational. In addition, there was a lot of incompatibility in the way state owned and privately owned newspapers reported issues in the 2022 budget of the Republic of Ghana. Lexical choice in private newspaper headlines paint a negative picture of the government, and pushes readers to see the government as insensitive to the pressing needs of Ghanaians. On the other hand, the state-owned newspapers present the budget as if all is well with the citizens. The results of this study may guide news consumers not to just read the headlines but read the entire article so that they will be able to decipher whether the issue is true or not, slanted or sensationalized.

Source: UEW
Critical discourse analysis of President Akuffo-Addo’s news stories on in the Daily Graphic Newspaper

The study sought to analyse the discourse features of President Akufo-Addo’s news stories on galamsey in the Daily Graphic Newspaper from January 2021 to May, 2021. The study sought to identify power and ideology employed by President Akufo-Addo in the discourse of galamsey in the Daily Graphic Newspaper and to examine the issues communicated by the President’s use of some grammatical constructions. Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis as a framework, the study found that Nana Addo projected himself as a man who is committed to changing the status quo in the fight against galamsey. The study also found that, power is exhibited in the news stories on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo through the use of modal auxiliary verbs such as must, should and will. This signifies the call on audiences to duty in the fight against galamsey. The study concluded that language, which is the fundamental means by which to engage in socio-political discourse, can be viewed as a complicated tool having many uses. Again, the study affirmed the assertion that language has an ideological dimension and this dimension is not explicitly stated but implied. The study recommends that a critical attention should be given to language and power in the fight against galamsey and other political discourses. Again, it was recommended that politicians should move from rhetorics and talk about the effects of galamsey on the ordinary Ghanaian.

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of president Johnson Sirleaf‟S speeches as manifestation of power, gender and ideology

Politics has been for a long time male dominated. However, over the last decades, it has become evident that the numbers of female representatives in the political sphere have shown a significant increase. Unfortunately research work on the discourses of women who occupy such positions that require a great deal of power management and social presence is just a handful. This may be due to the fact that their presence is fairly recent. There is therefore the need for research to be conducted on these women‟s speeches to evaluate how they live their lives through language. It is for this reason that this work seeks to do a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of speeches of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.. The study adopts Fairclough‟s (1995a) Critical Discourse Analysis theoretical framework which asserts that there is a link across text, discourse practice and sociocultural practice. The work explores the linguistic elements in her political speeches. It aims to show how she uses language to construct her identity as an empowered woman. It also aims to reveal the ideologies present in her speeches. Specifically, it evaluates how linguistic tools were manipulated to reveal her ideological stance and to express her position of power. Different linguistic tools for the analysis of the speeches will be applied. These include stylistic devices, as well as semantic representations appearing in the political speeches. The study adopts the descriptive qualitative research method. The study reveals that President Sirleaf does not surrender totally to society‟s linguistic expectations of her as a woman. In some instances, her speeches confirm certain characteristics of female language. She uses the pronoun „we‟ mostly compared to her use of the pronoun „I‟ in presenting her achievements as a president. In other instances, she violates it in order to assert her independence, both as a woman and a politician with power in a male dominated society. The study also observes that President Johnson Sirleaf beliefs in feminism and liberalism as political ideologies. She uses several rhetorical devices such anaphora and repetition, allusion, simile, modality, naming, and agency todemonstrate these political ideologies and also to assert power.

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of selected children’s animated cartoons of African origin

Animated cartoons are one of the most popular tools of popular culture which do not only provide entertainment for children but also serve as agents of socialisation capable of shaping, changing and influencing the perception of children. Using Thompson’s modes of ideology, this study provides a critical discourse analysis of power, hegemony and ideology in some selected children’s animated cartoons of African origin. Data is gathered through document analysis and analysed textually and thematically. The findings revealed that animated cartoons are embedded with themes such of violence, dynamism of culture, social values, belief in superstition and the supernatural, power imbalance and discrimination. The study further shows that animated cartoons are mediums for the dissemination of ideologies and the enactment of relations of power and hegemony. This study concludes that animated cartoons contribute to the sustenance of relations of power and hegemony and the spreading of certain ideologies. The outcome of this study leads to an understanding of how language can be used in children’s media to foster positive social change through the development of animated cartoons with appropriate messages capable of moulding the attitudes and mindsets of children. This study therefore recommends the critical analyses of content creation by producers and regulators of children’s media for their appropriateness in terms of embedded ideological and hegemonic tendencies.

Source: UEW
Critical discourse analysis of selected speeches of Dr Kwame Nkrumah

This study is primarily focused on selected speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It investigated the latent meanings that are usually embedded in political speeches and make them apparent to readers. The primary data for the study were three selected speeches of Nkrumah. The study used Critical Discourse Analyses as the research approach to interrogate the issues in the speeches based on the concepts of power and ideology and how these issues are embedded in the speeches. The study was motivated by the fact that not much has been done on speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah using the CDA approach. Therefore, the need to interrogate his speeches using that approsach. The findings revealed that issues of power and ideology are hidden in the texts and they are constructed to push forward certain agenda. The findings also revealed embedded characterization of Kwame Nkrumah as ideologue and unrepentant supporter of socialism who was also obsessed with African Unity. The findings further disclose Nkrumah’s penchant for using logical reasoning in his speeches in order to drum home his ideology. The most interesting revelations in this study was the use of pronouns and metaphors. The study concludes that issues of power and ideology were subtly constructed and hidden in the speeches through stringing of arguments via carefully selected pronouns and metaphors to create power identification and differentials between Nkrumah and his audience.

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of the language of websites of universities in Ghana

This study examined the language of websites of universities in Ghana and how they used language to represent themselves on their institutional websites. It relied on Fairclough‟s (1993; 1995a, 2001) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for its theoretical and analytical framework. Fairclough‟s approach to CDA allowed three-dimensional analysis which include textual analysis, process analysis and societal analysis. The first six premier universities in Ghana were purposively selected for this study, namely, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Education, Winneba, University for Development Studies and Valley View University. The findings revealed the following: the universities built their institutional identities through the use of both textual and visual elements; the universities expressed their power to determine what to present to viewers of the website; the language on the websites were institution centred; the universities used similar texts that serve as promotional discourse; the websites contained elements that presented the universities with peculiar African (Ghanaian) characteristics. This study concluded by making some recommendations which would enable the universities in Ghana to know how they were represented on their institutional websites in order to improve their marketing strategies especially toward their visibility on the global front, better positioning on the international ranking and the attraction of international students

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of the language of websites of universities in Ghana

This study examined the language of websites of universities in Ghana and how they used language to represent themselves on their institutional websites. It relied on Fairclough‟s (1993; 1995a, 2001) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for its theoretical and analytical framework. Fairclough‟s approach to CDA allowed three-dimensional analysis which include textual analysis, process analysis and societal analysis. The first six premier universities in Ghana were purposively selected for this study, namely, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Education, Winneba, University for Development Studies and Valley View University. The findings revealed the following: the universities built their institutional identities through the use of both textual and visual elements; the universities expressed their power to determine what to present to viewers of the website; the language on the websites were institution centred; the universities used similar texts that serve as promotional discourse; the websites contained elements that presented the universities with peculiar African (Ghanaian) characteristics. This study concluded by making some recommendations which would enable the universities in Ghana to know how they were represented on their institutional websites in order to improve their marketing strategies especially toward their visibility on the global front, better positioning on the international ranking and the attraction of international students.

Source: UEW
A critical discourse analysis of three speeches of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

This study is a critical discourse analysis of three selected speeches of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The analysis is situated in Fairclough’s triadic model for Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Thompson’s modes of ideology. A CDA of the speeches revealed how the speeches reflect prevailing societal issues such as respect for systems and structures of authority, responsibility, Pan- Africanism, total independence, patriotism, the Ghanaian identity and rules and expectations of government. Power relations were exhibited in the speeches through the use of modal auxiliary verbs such as must, will, should and shall. The findings confirm language as an embodiment of ideological dimensions and power relations. The study also reveals Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as reinforcing the ideologies of the New Patriotic Party through the three speeches from various perspectives. The study recommends a critical use of language as a form of power to assert a person’s ideologies through public discourse.

Source: UEW
Critical Examination of Funding of Infrastructural Projects in Afigya Kwabre District; Perspective of Construction Professionals and Stakeholders

The aim of the study was to examine constraints to funding of infrastructure projects in Afigya Kwabre District and make recommendations on funding of infrastructural projects in the district. The study adopted descriptive research design. Quantitative research approach was used. The population of the study comprised Assembly members in all the electoral areas, Members of Parliament (MPs) Heads of key Departments of the Assembly and Revenue Collectors in the various area councils of the Afigya Kwabre District Assembly. The population size for the target population as explained was 60. census sampling technique was used to select all the 60 respondents for the study. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used to analyse data. The study results concluded that the key sources of funding of Assembly Projects in Afigya Kwabre District were funds from donor partners to finance projects, funds from the district assembly common fund, funds from property rate taxing, funds from market tolls, fees, fines, grants and rents, fees from license and permit for undertaking activities, public private partnerships, community initiatives, funds from sale of district assembly assets, Sale of community assets, and rent of district assembly assets. The challenges to funding of projects in Afigya Kwabre District were inadequate fund allocation to the district assembly (ranked 1st), delays in disbursement of the fund is a challenge (ranked 2nd), abuse of power by Parliament in the approval and disbursement of the fund (ranked 3rd), inflation (ranked 4th), political interference and lack of proper database on infrastructure projects (ranked 5th). The study recommended that the Government should encourage MMDAs to tender proposals for funds allocations in order to ensure adequate funds to finance projects.

Source: UEW
Critical risk factors in accident causation in the construction industry- perception of construction

The aim of the study was to examine risk factors in accidents at construction sites at the Northern Region of Ghana. The research approach used for this study is quantitative approach. The study population consisted of site managers and project managers. Questionnaire and interview guide were used to gather primary data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0) was used to analyse data. The findings of the revealed that the accident risk factors in construction site were, injury (ranked 1st), health damage (ranked 2nd), lack of training and low level of education or illiteracy ranked 3rd and 4th respectively. The key types of accidents on construction site includes falling from height, slipped, tripped and falling on same level, contact with moving machinery or object being machined, stroked against fixed or stationary objects, trapped by collapsing or overturning object, and injured whilst lifting or carrying objects. The top two killers in construction works are were identified as “fall of person from height” and “contact with electricity or electric discharge”. Based on the findings the study recommends that regular safe working cycle, safety meeting, regular site inspection, safety site work and different awards to motivate employees. It is also recommended that regulations should be put in place by the industry regulating body to ensure safety of workers at the various construction sites in Ghana.

Source: UEW
A critical study of children’s responses to environmental artworks in the Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana

Although environmental artworks are regarded as one of the forms of communication, their huge educational powers as social, historical, cultural, creative and communicative skills as well as cognitive development have been ignored in schools; especially among children. In Ghana, even though creative arts subject is taught at the basic schools, no attention has been given to pupils to interact with environmental artworks. It was based on this that the study commenced to identify and assess pupils’ reactions and understanding to environmental artworks displayed on Takoradi Polytechnic’s main campus. The study made use of qualitative research method in data collection, analysis and discussion; with two basic schools selected as a case study. The researcher employed observation, interview and visual documentation as data collection instruments. Photographic camera was also used to take pictures of selected environmental artworks interacted and observed by the pupils. The main findings of the study among others are that, pupils do not interact with environmental artworks during creative art lessons; there is the need to value pupils’ responses to artworks and to provide them with the opportunity of expressing themselves through environmental artwork since it promotes the cognitive, language, social, creative and emotional development of pupils as well as developing their motor skills. It is therefore suggested among others, that Creative Art teachers should periodically organize educational trips for pupils to visit art galleries and museums, public places and other recreational centres where environmental artworks are found so that the artworks could influence their level of interest and enjoyment. Observation of environmental artworks should form part of basic schools’ curriculum activities, since through interactions and observation of environmental artworks, pupils could make their thoughts and intentity about Ghanaian cultural values known as well as enhancing their intellectual and creative abilities.

Source: UEW
A critical study of the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises’ master craftsmen in the welding and fabrication industry in the Wa municipality

Small Scale Enterprises (SMEs) contribute a substantial part to the development of every country especially in the developing countries. In Ghana, they were established before the development or the coming out of large sized and modern size industries. SMEs have attracted much attention in development studies in recent years. In Ghana, the activities of the small scale industrial sector confirm the important role they play in the national economy. Despite the contributions of the SMEs to local economic development, they are faced with many problems. SME operators in Wa Municipality are faced with a number of challenges. Some of these challenges are difficulties with accumulating start-up capital and loan from financial institutions to start up their businesses. Again also, small scale operators are highly constrained in terms of their managerial abilities due to their low background of education. They lack simple book keeping skills that will help them track the progress of their businesses. In addition the field survey revealed that SMEs have limited access to capital and operators’ inability to register their enterprises and also insure them against all forms of risk; limited access to credit by operators; that affects plans that have implications on the growth and expansion of their enterprises and operators inability to compete in the formal sectors with their compatriots who are more formal and operating on relatively larger scales for contracts awards. The study recommends, among other things, the need for the recognition and subsequent formulation of specific and responsive policies and strategies aimed at fostering the growth and sustenance of the small scale sector at the local levels of governance in the study area. It recommends the need for them to build reliable and up-to-date database on small scale businesses based on which informed and responsive decisions can be made to address the challenges of operators.

Source: UEW
A critical study on the impact of the new vocational educational system in Ghana a case study of Assin Fosu and Biriwa vocational institutes

The need for Vocational Education as a result of advancing technology development worldwide has prompted many nations to re-examine their education curricular (Ginner, 1996). Ghana is no exception in this global phenomenon hence the introduction of the Educational Reforms programme with emphasis on vocational and technical education into Ghanaian school curriculum. Since 1987, education in Ghana has had series of setbacks because of lack of proper planning and the inability of Vocational Education to relate properly with the economy. For a nation to become fully developed it must make good use of science and technology. Qualitative research design approach was adopted for the study. The researcher used different methods to gather data for the research work. Questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis were carried out in order to make the work successful and its content reliable and valid. The investigation focused on relative importance of vocational education development to what extent graduates find job to support economic growth. The major results of the study indicated that students performance in vocational schools were appreciable. The outcome of the study was that, few of the respondents especially students bought their own materials which were used for their practical work. It was also revealed that, machinery were not adequate and even those available needed proper maintenance in all departments of the National Vocational Training Institutes at Biriwa and Assin Fosu. The researcher realised that, great effort has been made towards the industrial attachment and it was helping to shape the students a lot in terms of practical work. Even though the nation has benefited from vocational education, the impact is not so great and that the government needs to do more by putting in place special funds that will cater for vocational education. Industries should be made to plough back some of the profits to develop vocational education.

Source: UEW