Research methods for adult educators in Africa / Bagele Chilisa, Julia Preece.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This book explores and critiques existing research paradigms, presents African counter-arguments and examples, and proposes methodologies more appropriate for African contexts. The emphasis is on African realities, values and ways of knowing.--Publisher's description.

Contexts: Key research concepts ; Personal skills ; African contexts ; Politics of research ; Research agendas ; Relating topics ; Research questions -- Foundations of inquiry: Situating knowledge systems ; Positivist / post-positivist paradigm ; The interpretative paradigm ; The emancipatory paradigm -- African perspectives: Research methods, African contexts ; Imperialism and colonialism ; African philosophy ; Perceptions of reality ; Community-centred knowledge ; Story-telling framework ; Cultural artifacts ; Language as knowledge -- Doing a literature review -- Getting started: Positioning the researcher ; Knowing the discipline ; Identifying a research problem ; Writing a research proposal ; Elements of a research proposal -- Carrying out a survey: Quantitative designs ; Survey research ; Sample selection methods ; Sampling in African contexts ; Surveys and design structures ; Questionnaire surveys ; Administering a survey ; Implementing a survey -- Working with survey data: Preparing for data analysis ; Descriptive statistics ; Measures of central tendency ; Measures of dispersion ; Significance testing ; Chi-square test -- Qualitative research -- Doing a qualitative study -- Combining methods -- Action research -- Feminist research -- Research ethics -- Writing up and disseminating research: Audience, purpose and style ; Preliminary material ; The main body ; Other important components ; General reports ; Dissemination in Africa ; Policy, practice and community -- Adinkra symbols.