Academic Research in Kenya: Credible Sources of Research Literature

Abstract

Aruya rushed home excited to tell his wife the good news. Last month he responded to a request for proposal from a leading health NGO in Kenya to conduct research on effective management techniques in healthcare institutions across East Africa. Following a month of waiting with no feedback, he received a phone call from the Country Director informing him that he won the bid process and should start on the research the following month. Aruya and his wife elatedly celebrated with dinner at Kempinski. He then proceeded with planning out, reading literature, conducting surveys and observations, and writing up his research report to the NGO. Along with the final report, Aruya attached the ever important final consulting invoice. Thrilled at the prospect of the seemingly impending payment, he started dreaming and planning how he would spend the money on a new plot in Kitengela. Upon two weeks after submitting the invoice, Aruya received an email from the health NGO informing him that it rejected his research report on the basis of “lack of research rigour” and “insufficient supporting literature”. He felt ill following the news and ashamed to face his wife and inform her of their new misfortune. Aruya’s problem lay in his sources for his literature review. In his haste to commence the research report, he looked for sources of previous studies on generic search engines, like Google, and in masters’ theses at Nairobi-based universities. What Aruya’s literature review on previous research studies conducted should have uncovered the role of an employee’s feelings of perceived organisation support for their work and the relation to the employee’s own performance. Simply put, if an employee feels that the organisation supports them, then they perform better. However, Aruya’s literature review did not discover this theme, so he did not notice it in hospitals and health clinics in East Africa. So the big elephant of Aruya’s error: where should a researcher obtain his or her literature? Continuing Business Talk’s multi-week series on proper research techniques, let us pour over ways Aruya could improve for next time he conducts research.