research consultancy
The section describes the key processes the study followed to understand; to examine the relationship between contractors’ financial capability and Project Performance, to assess the relationship between contractors’ technical ability and Project Performance among and to Investigate the relationship between contractors’ managerial capability and Project Performance among. The chapter focused on design of the study, study area, study population, sampling techniques, and sample size, data collection methods, data quality assurance, data analysis and processing, ethical considerations and expected limitations of the study.
Various study designs exist in research such as historical, descriptive, feminist, developmental, and experimental a monger others. For this case study, a cross-sectional research design was used. This design was used because the researcher was able to collect data from across all corners of the population of interest in the study. This design was adopted because it was cheap in terms of time and cost as observed by (Mugenda, 2003, Sekaran, 2004). Both quantitative and qualitative research approaches for data collection and analysis was used in this study. According to Mugenda (2003), the two approaches supplement each other, and they help to reduce bias in each approach. Amin (2005) argues that triangulation enables the researcher to have a deeper analysis using the inductive and deductive approaches through qualitative and quantitative perspectives, which enable the researcher to analyze data from all angles, and give a more concrete and realistic description of the findings. Qualitative approach helps in interpreting peoples’ opinions, perceptions, and attitudes to give a deeper understanding into the problem under investigation. This helped to examine the relationships between contract selection criteria and performance of projects in UPE schools in Mbarara district.
Since the inception of the FY 2016/17-to date, Mbarara district Local Government has rolled out a total of 40 construction projects in the UPE schools in the district. This study targeted 40 Construction projects in these UPE Schools to examine the issue of contractor selection Criteria against their performance (Mbarara District Statistical Abstract, 2022). The 40 construction projects were considered because they were the project which was in the process of execution in Mbarara district local government. The unit of analysis/ target population included the District Engineer/Project managers of these projects, the CAO, Procurement Officer, and The Contracts Committee, Evaluation Committee in Mbarara district. The major reason of selecting this category of people is that they are directly and indirectly involved in the District Projects.
Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), argue that it is impossible to study the whole targeted population and therefore the researcher shall take a sample of the population. A sample is a subset of the population that comprises members selected from the population. Using Kricjie and Morgan’s (1970) table for sample size determination approach, a sample size of 36 projects were selected from the total of 40 projects.
Table 1: Population, Sample size and Sampling technique
Brian van, (2010), points out that sampling is a process of selecting essentials from the construction projects under the UPE programme in Mbarara district such that the sampled elements represent the population under the study. This research study used simple random sampling techniques to selecting the Projects. And selecting specific groups like the Chief administrative Officer, Chairperson Contracts Committee, Procurement Officers, Evaluation Committee, the researcher used purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling technique used in research to select specific individuals or groups from a population that possess certain characteristics or meet particular criteria. Unlike random sampling, where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, purposive sampling involves deliberately choosing participants who can provide valuable insights or represent the desired attributes or traits being studied (Amin, 2005).
3.4.1 Simple random sampling technique
The study thus employed this type of sampling strategy while selecting the construction projects in the UPE schools in Mbarara district. As a consequence, simple random sampling techniques was applied during the choice of the respondents. A list of contractors was obtained from the District Engineering department and they were assigned numbers, and later the researcher picked a number and include on the sample. This process went on until the entire last contractor on the list. This was intended to give equal chance for every contractor listed by the district to participate in the study and give us their response on the project management at the district.
3.5 Data Collection techniques
Questionnaire is one of the instruments for primary data collection. The questionnaire was designed to collect information or data using closed ended and open-ended questionnaire. Amin Amin (2005) describes a questionnaire as a self-report instrument used for gathering information about the variables of interest under investigation. The researcher prepared a set of interrelated questions about the subject based on the objectives of the study.
3.5.2 Interview guide
An unstructured interview guide was used as a tool for collecting in depth information from the key informants. The guide had list of topical issues and questions which were explored in the course of conducting the interviews. The guide was drawn with the questions soliciting for the perception of the key informants regarding the contractor selection criteria and project performance, a case of construction projects among UPE schools in Mbarara district. The interview guide was used because it provides in-depth data which may not be possible to obtain when using self-administered questionnaires (Mugenda & Mugenda, 1999; Kakoza, 1999).
3.5.3 Document review checklist
A document review checklist was used to collect more in-depth data on the topic under investigation. The checklist was used to provide in-depth qualitative information which may not be possible to collect with the closed ended questionnaire.
3.6. Data Processing and Analysis
Data was organized, inspected, edited, and word processed to eliminate errors and ensure the accuracy of the data obtained to avoid misinterpretation. The data was further reduced into frequencies and percentages as units of measurement using SPSS version 21. Data entry was necessitated data modification, with responses assessed for completeness, consistency, and accuracy. Only a few examples were removed if they are found to be significantly incomplete. All scale items that are negatively phrased was also be reverse coded. Items that are not intentionally or inadvertently ticked was checked for missing values and eliminated. Following the investigation of missing values, I was retained only the units of inquiry, which was aggregated into five sets. Following that I generated descriptive and inferential statistics (correlations). Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the variables to characterize them. SPSS version 21 was used. A correlation analysis was performed to investigate the nature of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and to test the study’s hypothesis. I was able to determine whether the trend is positive or negative (Ragin, 2011).
3.6.2 Qualitative analysis
Qualitative data was presented in writing useful information from the respondents as presented in relation to the study variables. After collecting all the necessary data, this data was quantified, coded and analyzed and rephrased to eliminate errors and ensure consistency.
Research tools were prepared and presented to the Supervisors to check their relevancy and correctness. The researcher ensured that the questions were relevant basing on the Supervisors comment in order to obtain meaningful and reliable results represented by the variable in the study. In this study, the researcher also ensured validity by using a tape recorder as a documentation tool where the voices of the study participants was recorded, transcribe, analyze and interpreted to reflect the perceptions, feelings, opinions, experiences, and understanding of the subject under investigation. Besides, the researcher also triangulated both interviews and observation data to ensure trustworthiness of the information generated from the research participants. Content validity index (C.V.I) was used to establish whether the questionnaire was measure what it is to measure entailing scoring of relevant items. Quantitative data: Validity was being determined using Content Validity Index (C.V.I). C.V.I = Agreed items by all judges divided by the total number of items judged as shown below. According to Amin (2005) a questionnaire that scores above 50% is considered valid.
The rating was measured, as relevant or not relevant and was calculated using the formula below and any figure above 0.7 will be regarded valid;
Content Validity Index (CVI) = Agreed items by all judges
Table 3.2: CVI indices and Interpretation
| Question/objective | Relevant items | Not relevant | Level of CVI | Interpretation |
| contractors’ financial capability | 06 | 01 | 1 | Good |
| contractors’ technical ability | 07 | 01 | 0.857 | Appropriate |
| contractors’ managerial capability | 07 | 01 | 0.857 | Good |
| Construction project performance | 06 | 01 | 0.833 | Good |
Source: (Shi, J. 2012) and Researcher (2023)
3.7.2 Reliability
Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results (Colin, 2006). To ensure reliability, the Researcher constantly kept checking the tape recorder as a data collection instrument. An alpha coefficient of 0.5 or higher is sufficient to show reliability (Amin, 2005). The closer it is to 1, the higher the internal consistency in reliability (Sekaran, 2003). Therefore the questionnaires were pre-tested using respondents of Mbarara District and their reliability was computed as see from the table below;
Reliability indices and interpretation
| No of items | Rated items | Alpha figure | Internal consistency |
| 06 | 06 | 1 | Acceptable |
| 07 | 06 | 0.857 | Acceptable |
| 07 | 06 | 0.857 | Excellent |
| 06 | 05 | 0.833 | Acceptable |
Source (Albrecht, 1981) and Researcher (2023)
The results obtained from the above table showed Cronbach Alpha Value of 0.833 which was above 0.5, therefore the questionnaire was considered reliable
3.8 Procedure of data collection
The researcher obtained an introductory letter from Kyambogo university and sought permission and enable easy access of information by the researcher from Mbarara District. After the permission was granted from MbararaDistrict, the researcher went ahead and administered questionnaires and interviewed selected respondents. However, the consent of the respondents was sought before being given questionnaire and the respondents were informed that the study was strictly for academics.
3.9 Ethical considerations
To ensure that the data collection exercise meets the required ethical standards to conduct academic research, the researcher first obtained an introductory letter from the Kyambogo University, School of Postgraduate studies, to introduce me to the district Leadership of Mbarara Local government which in return serve me with permission letter to collect data in the selected the secondary schools in the district. The researcher also explained the nature and purposes of the study to the respondents and informed them about the benefits of the study to their area.
The researcher assured them that whatever information they provided, would be treated with utmost confidentiality and that it would be used exclusively for purposes of the study.
Lastly, the researcher assured the respondents that their identities would remain anonymous, and that if they so wish, they had to access to the final study report copies. The researcher also complied with the ministry of health standard operating procedures of preventing Covid-19. This was done by ensuring that the respondents are well protected and put on masks and sanitize during the interview/data collection process.
