Eastern Africa Journal of Contemporary Research

Project scope as a determinant of methodology of public participation in Bomet County, Kenya

Eva Chebet Tangus — 2024-07-30

Complex decision-making processes require a more informed citizenry that arrives at a mutually agreed upon decision or at least one by which all parties can abide. This calls for public engagement in planning activities. Methodology of engaging the public in planning public participation is crucial for successful planning and the subsequent public participation process aimed to determine a project-specific public participation methodology in Kenya, considering diverse stakeholders, legal aspects, and resource constraints, to enhance engagement strategies aligned with unique project scope. The key issue is the potential discrepancy between project scope and the chosen methodology for public participation, highlighting the need for alignment and effective integration in planning public participation. The study applied the stakeholder theory. A literature review along with field research was undertaken to examine the available information on methodology of public participation and its determinants. In the study, observational methods were utilized, including categorized note-taking during two public forums to observe the proceedings of public participation. Additionally, self-administered questionnaires were distributed. The determined sample size comprised 34 respondents, constituting 20% of the target population of 168 administrators. Random sampling was applied during the pilot study in which interviewees from public officers were randomly selected in the two sub-counties not involved in the main study. The study conducted a comprehensive analysis employing descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and correlation tests to investigate the intricate dynamics within our dataset. ANOVA analysis demonstrated a statistically significant regression model (F = 9.91, p = 0.0000523), affirming the collective impact of independent variables on the dependent variable. Additionally, the correlation test exposed a robust negative correlation of -0.637 between Public Participation (PP) Methodology and Project Scope, highlighting a discernible inverse relationship. These findings collectively contribute valuable insights into the interplay of variables, fostering a deeper understanding of the influence of project scope on the Methodology of Public Participation (MoPP). The study recommends taking into account the project scope when selecting the methodology for public participation.

Exploring collaborative partnership in research data management: A study of selected university libraries in Kenya

Pauline Njagi — 2024-07-30

The study focuses on research data management, which involves a wide range of data lifecyclerelated responsibilities and activities. It intended to assess the appropriate collaborative partnerships and areas of collaboration to enhance RDM tasks such metadata production, analysis, storage, sharing, and reuse. The study employed descriptive quantitative design to collect data from 35 participants purposefully chosen from Egerton and Kenyatta University. The Cronbach Alpha test was used to assess the questionnaire's reliability. A Cronbach Alpha of 0.78 ascertain the instrument reliability. The collected data was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences. The study findings were presented using tables for understanding. The findings reveal that collaboration among, librarians, researchers, IT professionals, legal experts, research directorates, and academic units could help in achieving a flowless research data management practice. Also, the collaboration areas were identified including defining of data repository criteria, reusing research data, choosing data repositories, exchanging data across disciplines, and data sharing within and outside discipline. However, in data renting period, participant had low perception. The study recommends further research on each collaboration partners to ascertain the duties and responsibility for flowless adoption of research data management practices. Also, an exploration of what should be included in each collaboration areas could help shed light to academic institution libraries on specific aspects for successful implementing/adoption of RDM practices

Morphological analysis of Dholuo number markers

Jackton Otieno Midigo — 2024-07-30

This study examines plural morphemes in Dholuo nouns by investigating their number markers. Dholuo being an agglutinative language, some nouns can hardly be noticed to be broken down into multiple meaningful parts. It is then hard to predict their number marker patterns. Nouns in Dholuo can exist as bare roots without prefixes or suffixes. They can also exist as poly-morphemic words with suffixes hard to comprehend. Data for this paper constitutes Dholuo nouns which were collected from twenty Dholuo speakers purposively sampled from Suna East Sub-County in Migori County, Kenya. These were analyzed through descriptive research design, guided by the morphological theory. The findings show that plural morphemes in Dholuo nouns are irregular and number markers majorly forming plural morphemes are suffixes -e, -i and -ni. In compound nouns, number markers are formed through inflection of plural morphemes on the left base, right base or both and in some instances, there is no inflection. The inflection then makes Dholuo nouns vary in form in expressing grammatical contrast in number. The findings of this paper would be significant to syntacticians in contributing towards the ongoing attempts to describe aspects of languages in theoretical linguistics. The findings on Dholuo noun morphology can also help gain insight on how Dholuo how speakers conceptualize and categorize the world, revealing underlying cognitive processes.

Influence of information communication technology infrastructure on operational efficiency of upscale hotels in Nyeri County, Kenya

Eric Mutugi Muriuki — 2024-07-30

In the modern competitive landscape, companies must leverage key resources to enhance business performance, with the hospitality industry increasingly integrating information communication technology (ICT) to maintain competitiveness and operational efficiency. Recognizing the evident benefits of ICT investments, this study explores the influence of ICT adoption on the operational efficiency of upscale hotels in Nyeri County, Kenya. Utilizing a survey strategy, data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed to three-, four- and five- star hotels in Nyeri County, with a response rate of 88.10% (37 out of 50 questionnaires returned). The study revealed a moderate positive relationship between ICT hardware infrastructure and operational efficiency (r = 0.412, p < 0.05), a significant positive relationship between ICT software infrastructure and operational efficiency (r = 0.498, p < 0.01), and a strong positive relationship between ICT network infrastructure and operational efficiency (r = 0.457, p < 0.01). These findings underscore the significant influence of ICT on the operational efficacy of upscale hotels in Nyeri County. The study recommends that upscale hotels in Nyeri County prioritize strategic investments in their ICT infrastructure, focusing on upgrading hardware, software, and network systems to enhance their operational efficiency and competitive edge.