Research consultancy
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The study aims at investigating the effect of Information systems on performance of government agencies in Uganda. This section presents the research methods that will be used to carry out the study. It covers the research design, Area of study, target population, sample design, sample size, research instrument, measurement of variables, Data Collection Procedure, data analysis and anticipated problems of the study
3.2 Research Design
The study will adopt a cross-sectional survey research design because of the nature of the variables that will be at hand; to produce data required for quantitative and qualitative analysis and to allow simultaneous description of views, perceptions and opinions at any single point in time (White, 2000). The study also shall use qualitative and quantitative methodologies for data analysis. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies shall be used in examining the effect of Information systems on performance of government agencies. Quantitative research consists of those studies in which the data concerned can be analysed in terms of numbers while qualitative describes events, persons and so forth scientifically without the use of numerical data. Quantitative research is based more directly on its original plans and its results are more readily analysed and interpreted. Qualitative research is more open and responsive to its subject. (Christina Hughes, 2006).
3.3 Study Population
Study population is defined as the entire group of people that a researcher wishes to investigate (Sekaran, 2003). The entity comprises of 239 employees, 1 Executive Director, 12 Management staff, 40 Division Heads, 5 Regional Heads, and 181 staff members at URA whose duties influence the effect of Information systems on performance of government agencies.
3.4 Determination of the sample size
Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), argue that it is impossible to study the whole targeted population and therefore the researcher will take a sample of the population. A sample is a subset of the population that comprises members selected from the population. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table for sample size determination approach, a sample size of 181 respondents will be selected from the total population of 239 employees and 100 prominent tax payers.
Table 1: Population, Sample size and Sampling technique
Source: URA Employee List, (2013)
3.5 Sampling techniques and procedure
Purposive sampling, also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling, is a type of non-probability sampling technique where the researcher chooses a sample based on what they think in other words they use their personal judgement (Palys, 2008). The study will use Purposive sampling technique because it saves time and also enables the researcher to get information from the right people who have knowledge and skills regarding the subject topic. This technique will be used in selecting, Executive Director, Managers, Division Heads, and Regional members, the researcher will use this technique because these respondents hold enough knowledge and skills regarding the study topic.
The researcher will use simple random sampling technique, According to Amin, (2010) a simple random sample is a subset of individuals chosen from a larger set (a population). Each individual is chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of individuals has the same probability of being chosen for the sample. The technique will be used to select from the other staff members.
3.6 Data collection methods
The section presents data collection methods which include questionnaire survey, interview and documentary review.
3.6.1 Questionnaire Survey
Questionnaire Survey method will be used to obtain the opinion of the respondents regarding the topic under study, according to (Onen & onen, 2013) states that questionnaires are important in research because the respondents are given time to think and they don’t feel intimidated. Questionnaire gives the respondents ample time to respond to the questions when ready and they can be kept for future references. This method will be deployed to capture information from Staff Members, Regional Heads, and Division Heads.
3.6.2 Interview
Face-to-face interview is a data collection method when the interviewer directly communicates with the respondent in accordance with the prepared questionnaire (Polak & Green, 2015).
This method enables to acquire factual information, consumer evaluations, attitudes, preferences and other information coming out during the conversation with the respondent. Thus, face-to-face interview method ensures the quality of the obtained data and increases the response rate.
Interviews will be used because they fetch a variety of ideas needed for the study and give a deeper understanding of the topic. The method will be used to generate information from Managers and the Executive Director.
3.6.3 Documentary review
This will be used to supplement the data that will be acquired from the interviews and questionnaires. The researcher intends to analyse the documents and publications relating to the study topic. Documents that are expected to be reviewed include URA reports, Journals, and Newspapers.
3.7 Data collection instruments
For each deployed data collection method, there is a corresponding data collection instrument that will be used. The study will use Questionnaire Guides, Interview Guide and Document review checklist as described in the sub-sections below.
3.7.1 Self-administered Questionnaire
The questionnaire shall be designed in a manner that motivates respondents with simple structured questions with the option of providing any addition information to the structured questionnaire as an option to obtain relevant data from them. The questionnaire is structured with both close-ended and open-ended questions. It has aLikert scale 1-5 indicating the level of a respondents’ agreement or disagreement, where 1 represents Strongly Disagree and 5 Strongly Agree.The questionnaire is attached in Appendix I.
3.7.2 Interview Guide
The researcher intends to use an interview guide to collect data in order to find out the vivid picture of the participants’ perspective of the topic. Interviews are an effective qualitative method for getting people to talk about their feelings, opinions and experiences. They are also an opportunity for us to gain insight into how people interpret effect of Information systems on performance of government agencies. The views of the respondents will be a personal reflection of their personal experience relating to the study topic. Appendix II presents the interview guide.
3.7.3 Document Review Checklist
The researcher will use this instrument as attached in Appendix III, in order to capture secondary data and first-hand information relevant to the study. These documents will help the researcher by revealing the level of performance of government agencies through a review of the analysis reports, journals, and Newspapers.
3.8 Data quality control of instruments
The data collection tools shall be pre-tested on a smaller number of respondents from each category of the population to ensure that the questions are accurate.
3.8.1 Validity
Validityis defined as the extent to which results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations (Oso & Onen, 2008).
Validity is the extent to which an instrument like an interview guide or questionnaire measures the intention of the researcher.
Validity will be tested using content validity index which involves judges scoring the relevancy of the questions in the instruments in relation to the study variables.
The formula for Content Validity Index will be
CVI =
Where CVI = content validity
n= number of items indicated relevant.
N = total no. of items in the instrument
The researcher will give the instruments to the two experts who will make an assessment of whether what the researcher is trying to bring out actually does come out. The instrument will then be tried out on selected individuals of the same characteristics as those that will be in the study to assist in identifying deficiencies in the instruments such as insufficient space to write responses, wrong numbering, vague questions, (Mugenda &Mugenda, 1999).The variables should have a CVI of above 0.70 or 70% as the recommended value for the instruments to be considered relevant (Amin, 2005).The researcher will analyse the data collected and where need arises, the instrument will be re-adjusted and re-design to improve reliability and validity. To improve face validity a pilot study will be carried out at URA.
3.8.2 Reliability
Crobach’s coefficient alpha (a) as recommended by Amin, (2005, P.302) will be used to test the reliability of the research instrument. The instrument is deemed reliable if reliable of 0.7 and above is obtained and therefore, it will be adopted for use in the data collection.
Formula for reliability is
= ( )
Where = alpha reliability co efficiency.
K=Number of items included in the questionnaire
= sum of variance of individual items
= variance of all items in the instrument.
To ensure credibility and trust worthiness of qualitative data the researcher will ensure that only the officials who are employees of URA will be interviewed.
The coefficient ranges between a=0.00 for no reliability, a =1.00 for perfect reliability. The closer alpha gets to 1.0 the better. If the study findings result to Cronbanch’s Alpha of 0.7 and above, this will signify that research instrument is good enough for the study. According to Amin (2005), all the measurements in the instrument that show adequate levels of internal consistency of cronbach’s alpha of 0.7 and above are accepted as reliable.
3.9 Procedure of data collection
The researcher will obtain an introductory letter from Uganda management institute to seek permission and enable easy access of information by the researcher from URA, after the permission is granted from URA, the researcher will go ahead and administer questionnaires and interview guides to the selected respondents however the consent of the respondents will be sought before being given questionnaire and the respondents will be informed that the study is strictly for academic purposes.
3.10 Data analysis
Data analysis will involve the use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques.
3.10.1 Quantitative Data Analysis
Data processing will be done by entering the data into a statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) in line with the research questions. Data analysis will be done by also using this statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) to formulate frequency tables where the mean, variance and standard deviation will be obtained.
Under quantitative analysis, process will include editing, classification, coding and presentation. Data will be summarized in frequency tables, percentage; data will be analysed with the use of statistical package for social scientist (SPSS). Quantitative data will be collected through structure questionnaires and it will be cantered into a computer, tabulated and analysed.
Spearman’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis is recommended by Amin (2005, P.378) will be used during data analysis in order to test the strength, degree and direction of the effect of Information systems on performance of government agencies. The formula will be used for this study because it is compatible with SPSS program in addition to being appreciated in analysing data under which the data will be arranged.
3.11Measurements of variables
A five point Likert ordinal scales ranging from; strongly agree which shall be assigned 5, strongly Agree, 4 agree, Not Sure assigned 3, Disagree allocated 2 and strongly disagree allotted 1 to obtain responses on the variables. The Likert ordinal scale has been used by numerous scholars who have conducted similar studies such as Bowling, (1997).
The structured questions will be measured using the following variables;
- Information systems software
- Information systems infrastructure
- User knowledge and skills
3.12Ethical considerations
The researcher will ensure that before giving questionnaires to the respondents their consent will be sought and when they accept to participate in the studythey will be given questionnaires.
Confidentiality of the respondents ‘information will be assured and the researcher will also inform them that the study is meantstrictly for academic purposes and therefore they should not fear giving information.
Only respondents who are selected will be given questionnaires and only those meant to be interviewed will be interviewed.
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