On Saturday, April 19, 2008, Ashesi held its first ever Social Research Methods Fair. The fair which was a capstone event to a 12 weeks course, is pioneering new pedagogical standards for social science research in Ghana. The students whose works were featured completed proposals and multi-disciplinary research projects on topics important to the nation.
Topics included studies of medical care systems in Ghana, social and economic lives of female migrant workers, prevailing attitudes of Ghanaian men regarding polygamy, and the determination of the average daily income of 12 – 17 year old hawkers in the selected part of Accra. The 12 weeks course taught by visiting Professor Richard Douglas of Eastern Michigan University, USA, had students divided into small teams that developed technical research proposals or teams that actually completed small scale research projects.
“Ashesi’s Social Research Methods Course is the first undergraduate course ever to take this applied and field-driven approach to an introductory Social Research Course in Ghana. The works presented here are at par with standards set for courses at the graduate level” remarks, Prof. Richard Douglass.
The fair presented, in formal Poster Session format, twelve completed research proposals and eleven completed small-scale research projects. All of these efforts were conceptualized and executed within a 12-week window of effort under the direction of Richard Douglass who has been developing and delivering similar undergraduate research methods courses since 1987 at Eastern Michigan University.
Invited guests included officials from government, international and national Non-Governmental Organizations, as well as private business and industry. Sponsors of the event included Ashesi University, Graphicolor Limited and Xerox.