ABSTRACT

Technology has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that compt4er technology application could remove the strenuous burden of paperwork which has been affecting the Bursary award system of Udi local government. The accumulated files and other documents make collection and disbursement of finance tedious and cumbersome when processed manually, after much observation on the activities of the students’ bursary award system… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

INTRODUCTION

In large organization such as Udi local government or Ogebe-Ogene local government, the finance and account system is the life wire of the administration. In other words, it is the process of controlling finance of the establishment with the aim achieving the following:

• To reduce errors in the computation of the students’ bursary award system.
• To process payroll data.
• To control salary and wage expenses, which is the main aim of establishing the finance and account section of Udi local government council.

Failure in achieving these objectives will be a very big set back to the organization. Some of these outlined objectives above are difficult to achieve even though the organization is equipped with officers of higher integrity, many times, manual accounting is bound to undergo series of set back either during processing or outputting storage or both.

This calls for the design of an efficient and effective system that will go as far as achieving this set-out objective as mentioned above.

Statement Of The Problem

The problem of using a manual system in the finance and account section of the bursary department results in the inability of the bursary staff to process documents on time and the difficulty in achieving an accurate result which is contrary to the use of an automated bursary award processing system…. (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Research Objectives

The purpose of this study is as follow-

• To demonstrate the capabilities of computer
• To explore the intricacies associated with software design… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

LITERATURE REVIEW

The bursar system has been defined as the process of monitory the funds of an organization. The Udi local government bursar system is as old as the Ojebe-Ogene local government. It was established to maintain and control the collection and disbursement of the Udi local government fund and to help the students in their studies by giving them a bursary award. It also helps the student to read their book and help the week once to weeks up in their studies.

Peter (1979) defined bursary as a means of helping the poor but, intelligent people that are willing to go to school. bursar award is meant to help students in many ways, especially the intelligent ones, and some students that are not hard-working it gives them the courage to read very hard in order to get their own share in the bursar award.

It also creates a challenge in the must of the students. Because everybody will be reading very hard in order to get the bursary award… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

The bursary department is a sub-Unit of the Udi local government (UDI) Enugu. and it is divided into various sections among which is the finance and account section (operating as one unit) and our area of concentration or study is the bursar award processing system software.

The UDI bursary and account system software which has been defined as the process of monitoring the fund of the local government. It was established to maintain, control, collect the Udi local government fund, and to help students of that local government through the bursar award processing system.

FACT FINDING METHODS USED

The fact-finding methods used in the project are the observation technique and the interview method.

OBSERVATION METHOD

This is one of the frequently used methods of obtaining information. In the observation method, the researcher visits the scene of activity and notes down every aspect of the activities relevant to the objectives. The observation techniques is one of the methods applied in this research. The researcher was taken round the bursary department by the bursary staff of which I observed the activities going on in the bursary and how the bursar award process is being done.

INTERVIEWING PHASE (ORAL)

This is the frequently used method of collecting, the necessary information. In an interview, there is the need for a check-list or questionnaire, this help to;

• Ensure that interview is carried out in a well-organized manner.
• Achieve the objectives of the system under study.
• Get the maximum of information in the minimum time.

OBJECTIVES OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM   

The objectives of the existing system are as follows: (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

DESIGN OF NEW SYSTEM

System is the tasks of structuring the system under study following detailed specifications of the processing requirement such as input, output master files, and segmentation of those processing programs. The result of system designing is a series of documents from which the programmer can work.

The objective of the system design is to produce a system that:-

• meet the user’s requirement
• conforms to the specifications and boundaries established during the data collection phase.
• making the best use of hardware and software available.
• is as simple as possible for a human to operate and use.
• can be implemented economically and easily maintained and amended.

In this design, there are seven major activities involved, although these are further divided into simpler forms for easy manipulation… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

OUTPUT SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN

The output may be printed matter, graphs, video mages, sounds, and punches on type or cards or magnetized areas on tapes or cards or disks. Data output devices may be classified as hard copy or soft copy (hard and software).

Hard copy output devices generated a permanent physical copy or printout of the data that may be filed, duplicated, mail, etc. soft copy output device provides only a temporary copy of the output data. Computer systems software often includes a combination of hard and soft (hard and software) copy output devices that can be switched on and off as the program required… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

INPUT SPECIFICATIONS AND DESIGN

The function of the computer system software is to convert data into a form that can be processed by the central processing unit. Data input machines translate the holes in paper tape or card, the areas on tape, or the optical mages on forms into direct-current pulses.

The electronic pulses train software. These pulses are routed to the CPU through a system software of buffers, control units, and channels. Data may be routed directly to the CPU for immediate input and processing… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

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SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

This is categorized into:

• Training and educational personal
• Approaches to educate and train personnel
• Testing the system
• Approaches to system conversion

Training and Education Personnel

This has to do with the training or education of the organizational personnel on the efficiency and effective use of the new system. the type of personnel requiring this training is the users of information, the operating personnel of the bursary and account section of the department of Udi local government area (LGA) Enugu.

Approaches to Educate and Training Personnel

This has to do with the techniques applied in educating or training the system users. The various approaches to be applied are.

• Seminars: this allows the analyst to reach many people at a time.
• Procedural Training: This provides an individual with written procedures, describing his or her activities as the primary method of learning… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

TESTING THE DATA

This has to do with examining the system to verify or serve the purpose  for which is recommended for this system are:

• Simulated Logical Testing

This refers to the programmer or analyst testing the system by tracing through the programmer(s) or system with a mental representation of a transaction. This can be called desk checking.

• System Conversion

The term conversion is used to describe the process of changing from one way of doing things to another. It describes the changing of specific activities relating to collecting, storing, retrieving and processing data, and the deporting of information… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

DOCUMENTATION

The entire program is developed through procedural steps. The steps taken were actually guided upon by experience and reference operational guides are provided to help anybody to start and run the program, even a novice in computer if authorized. The program for the new system is developed in Qbasic language. The language is used for it’s generality and flexibility.

OPERATION GUIDE

The system was menu-driven, the menu options guide the users on every need to run the system effectively.

The following steps should be taken.

• Power on the system (Booting)
• Insert the diskette containing the software.
• Load the Qbasic interpreter (stepped)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

 RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

Recommendation

For the research, we recommend parallel conversion or change over. The reason for this is that it provides high degree of protection to the organization from a failure in the new system. However, for the effectiveness of this change over there are other tasks that must be accomplished.

They include the following:-

• Installation of air condition for the coding chop
• Training of users of the system as earlier mentioned a provision of rug to guide against breakage of the computer and its parts. For example, if the computer system falls down accidentally on the rug, there will be no breakage.
• Installation of stabilizer and uninterrupted power supply (UPS)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Conclusion

Knowing quite well that computerization of a student-based bursary award processing system software requires human and financial resources, the implementation process has to be a contribution effort for it to be successful. The formal method (manual) of students based bursary award system was found to be associated with many irrelevancies, delays on the students’ part, stress, or the workers’ side; on ineffective thorough an examination on this problem has called for the heed to computerize the system. However, this was done by designing software, the software so designed is been tested and found to have to put an end to these problems.

REFERENCES

Agu Sunday C. (1983) Business Accounting 1 frank wood, west Africa. 2^nd edition page122-124. (Software)

Oliver E.C (1986). The pemguim dictionary of Economics frank wood, south Africa 3^rd edition page 140-148. (Software)

Onya J.O. (1982). Bursary system Toronto South 4^th edition page 40-48. (Software)

Richard W. Brightman Payment process system P.P.S Published (1997) Swize wood first edition page 1-4. (Software)…

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Abstract

This research examined the state of leadership and interagency rivalry between the Law enforcement agencies and its impact in the fight against Boko Haram Insurgency. The rationale for the study is borne out of the fact that Interagency collaboration is often perceived as a panacea for dealing with many complex social problems. But there still exists fogginess about nature, triggers, and what determines results of interagency collaboration.

Hence, this study seeks to bridge this gap by bringing to limelight some of the features of inter-agency collaboration between the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Military. The mutual aid and the group conflict theories were used to provide a theoretical framework for this study… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

According to UNICEF (2015), some 800,000 children have been forced to flee their homes due to the conflict in north-eastern Nigeria between Boko Haram, military forces, and civilian self-defense groups. In this direction, Sidi (2015) believes that there are currently 981,416 displaced people in the country in December 2019. Of this number, 915,329 people have been displaced due to rebellion and insecurity in the northeast, while 66,087 people have been displaced due to natural disasters.

The consequences that accompanied the rebellion of Boko Haram in Yobe state have had a high cost in human life, career opportunities, and infrastructures such as hospitals, roads, schools, houses, and agricultural land, which has resulted in many internally displaced persons, Persons, and refugees (Yins 2017).

Similarly, UNICEF (2015) reported that children are the most affected, vulnerable, and dependent on parents and communities for their care and nutrition and that attacks on their communities make them more vulnerable to diseases, malnutrition, and denial of education, among other things. According to the above, David (2015)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Statement of the Problem

Globally, security experts and political scientists have long been concerned about the tension between institutional fragmentation and policy coordination in and among security agencies of many countries. This situation translates essentially to the challenges of inter-agency coordination.

To be precise much of these challenges stems from lack of inter-agency collaboration. Related literature is therefore rife with examples of agencies competing with each other asserting their independence, while collaboration is relatively rarely… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Research Objectives

The primary aim of this study is to examine the areas of leadership and inter-agency rivalry between the Law enforcement agencies in the fight against Boko Haram Insurgency and how it has translated to inter-agency collaboration in counter-insurgency… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Conceptual Review

• The case of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria

Boko Haram first appeared in the consciousness of most Westerners in April 2009 (Bajie 2012). But the group been a growing force in Nigeria for more than a decade and has deep roots in the social development of the country which dates back even further. Its rise is not an accident and signals the emergence of a dangerous and militant religious movement that threatens the survival of Nigeria as a nation-state.

Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was a dedicated fundamentalist whose thinking was heavily influenced by Wahhabi theology. They wanted to turn Nigeria into a truly Islamic state by imposing Islamic law across the country, including taxation in the Christian south.”

In the beginning, Boko Haram was radical, but not yet violent. This changed in 2009 when members of Boko Haram decided that they would refuse to obey all the things required by a law that requires motorcyclists to wear helmets stating that they were somehow not Islamic… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Figure 2.1 Map of Nigeria showing the Geographical Distribution of Boko-Haram Attacks

Source: Jaguda (2014), Map Showing Boko-haram attacks and Casualties Since 2009, Accessed from http://jaguda.com/social–issues/map–showing–boko–haram–attacks–casualties–since–2009/ on the 15 January 2018

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• Conflict and Conflict Management In Africa

In Rwanda, according to Lemarchard (1990), the conflict which was characterized by claims of political supremacy between Hutu and Tutsi claimed over 800, 000 lives in 1972. This led to the mass movement of displaced persons to Tanzania. In the host communities, this resulted in environmental degradation, diminishing food security, depreciation of the infrastructure, and pressure on the social and health sectors of the host country.

This also involved social and economic adjustment on the part of the IDPs (Adisa 1996). Adisa further maintained that the adjustment took the form of acceptance of food provided and not food wanted and restriction of movement… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Counter Insurgency

Counter-insurgency, like other concepts in the Social Sciences, is very difficult to conceptualize. This is as a result of many related views associated with the term. Moore captures it this way:

“As with insurgency, the term counter-insurgency suffers from imprecision and confusion. It has, in the past several years, been used interchangeably with stability operations, foreign internal defense, counter-guerrilla operations, and, most recently, countering irregular threats. In addition, it has been included as a subcomponent of small wars, unconventional warfare, irregular warfare, asymmetric warfare, low-intensity conflict, and military operations other than warfare.” (2002, p. 13)

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Theoretical Framework

It is imperative to pinpoint the fact that inter-agency rivalry and collaboration reflect intergroup relations. Hence, any attempt at understanding inter-agency rivalry should not neglect that of intergroup relations.

It is base on this premise that a theoretical framework that will enhance our understanding of both inter-agency rivalry and collaboration is of utmost importance. This study will lay emphasis on two basic theories… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Mutual Aid Theory

The mutual aid theory emphasizes that co-operation and consensus are the major themes in intergroup relations. This theory upholds the view that even in the all-important question of the struggle for the basic things in life; human beings cooperate not just for the sake of the social community, but indeed out of necessity.

Otite (2006) noted that the fundamental need of man is the provision of material goods, which itself compels (by implication) cooperation with others, in production and consumption relationship, involving competition for access to scarce resources… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Group Conflict Theory

The group conflict theory presents human beings as fundamentally group-involved beings. According to this theory, groups are formed in human communities based on a shared interest. This shared interest can best be furthered through collective action (Vold, 1986). New groups are formed as new interests arise, while existing ones may get weakened and fizzle out if they no longer serve their usual purposes. Groups when formed become effective action units through the direction and coordination of the activities of members by their leaders… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Empirical Review

Bodunde (2014) noted that despite the proliferation of security outfits in Nigeria, such as Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security, and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Prisons Services, Nigeria Immigration Services, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Fire Services, National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, State Peace Corps in many states of the Federation and numerous registered private security outfits like Nigeria Peace Corps, Vigilante Group of Nigeria among others. It is becoming more evident that Nigeria’s security outfits had not to be positioned to tackle the insecurity in Nigeria.

Similarly, Alemika, (2003) & Omoigui, (2006), noted that Instead of the public security operatives whose primary duties are to protect lives and property of the law-abiding citizens and secure territorial borders to develop professional synergy… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter is concerned with the methods and processes used in collecting and analyzing the data for the study. This study focused on leadership and Inter-Agency Collaboration Between the Law enforcement agencies in the fight against Boko Haram Insurgency. Just like every other research, data for this research was systematically gathered and analyzed. Hence, this chapter outlines the methods and procedures used in carrying out this study.

• Research Design

The research design refers to the total plan of a given study. It outlines how the study would be executed with minimum complications. In other words, the research design is to scientific research what a building plan is to building construction.  It maps out the plan, structure, and strategy of scientific investigation.

This helps to ensure that research questions are answered easily and accurately, that research objectives are met in an acceptable manner, and that hypotheses are validly and accurately tested. It also literally provides a road map for the researcher keen to answer his/her research questions as validly, accurately, objectively, and economically as possible. (Adigun & Isma’il: 2006)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

• Introduction

In this chapter, efforts are made to present data on the nature and role of leadership in interagency collaboration among Nigerian law enforcement agencies and their collaborative impacts on counter-insurgency operations. Discussion and analysis are organized along with the three objectives of the study.

• Need For In Interagency Collaboration In Boko Haram Counter Insurgency

The fight against Boko Haram started as a police action that saw the arrest and killing of many Boko Haram members including the leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who died in police custody in 2009 (Mahmoud 2018).

The infamous clash between Yusuf’s followers and the Nigerian police gave way to a military-led crackdown in which over 800 of Yusuf’s followers and about two dozen Nigerian security officers were killed. The military involvement was ruthless… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Causes Of Interagency Rivalry In Counter Insurgency

The soft approach to counter-terrorism developed a CVE program that is vertical and involves the three tiers of government – federal, state, and local. The program is also horizontal, involving civil societies, academics, traditional, religious, and community leaders.

The NACTEST program utilizes existing structures within and outside the government to deliver targeted programs and activities that further the overall objective of stemming the tide of radicalism. The soft approach programs provide the country with a framework that identifies the roles and responsibilities of every segment of the society… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Table 4.1: Gaps in Nigeria’s National Counter-Terrorism Strategy 

Source: Eji, E. (2016). Rethinking Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategy. The International Journal of Intelligence, Security, and Public Affairs 18(3), 198-220. 

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Summary

This study examined the state of leadership and interagency rivalry the impact on counter-insurgency operations in northeast Nigeria. The focus was on national law enforcement agencies as specified in the Terrorism Act of 2011 as amended in 2013.

Findings reveal that interagency collaboration systematically improved with the discovery of the deficiency of the conventional approaches initially employed by frontline security agencies to suppress and kill the insurgency, and as activities of the sect necessitated the involvement of other security agencies aside from the frontline security agencies of the police, army, and DSS… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Conclusion

Opinions are divided amongst analysts over the motivating force behind the disturbing interagency feud in Nigeria. As a result, there is no consensus about the factors that provide the luxuriance for inter-security agency wrangle in Nigeria.

The prevalent view, however, is that it stems from a multiplicity of sources that aggregate to a complex dimension of no love lost amongst the security agencies. The escalating incidences of clashes amongst these security agencies in Nigeria pose the complex question of… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Recommendations

All said and done, for inter-agency coordination to be sustainable, the following recommendations should be put in perspective;

• For inter-agency coordination can only be effective in an environment where each agency’s responsibilities are clarified, and modalities for the sharing of information are provided and the operational guidelines that would ensure the realization of the stated objectives are clearly defined… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

REFERENCES

Abdullahi, D.I. 2011. Nigerian customs service: Performance scorecard: August 2009–August 2011. https ://web2.customs.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Score card_03.pdf. Accessed 13 Apr 2019.

Abrak, I. (29 May 2013). Boko Haram rebels say Nigerian military offensive is failing. Reuters. Retrieved 2013-07-06. Accessed 10 Apr 2019.

Adeniyi, O. (2012). Terrorism and inter-agency coordination in Nigeria. A paper presented by Chairman, Editorial Board of Thisday Newspapers Group, at the 2012 Chief of Army Staff Conference, Asaba, Delta State on November 26.

Adeniyi, O. 2012. Terrorism and inter-Agency coordination in Nigeria. Sahara Reportershttps ://saharareporters .com/2012/11/29/terrorism-and-inter -agency-coordination-nigeria-olusegun-adeniyi.

Adeolu, Y. 2018. General Buratai warns soldiers to steer clear of politics. TodayNG. www.today .ng/news/ niger ia/2019-gener al-burat ai-warns -soldi ers-steer -clear -polit ics11 4162. Accessed 14 Jun 2019.

Agranoff, R. 2006. Inside collaborative networks: Ten lessons for public managers. Public Administration Review 66 (10): 56–65.

Akbar, J. (2015, July 10). Like master, like a servant: Nigerian terror group Boko Haram releases first beheading video since pledging allegiance to ISIS. Daily Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article–3156551/Like–master–likeservantNigerian–terrorgroup–Boko–Haram–releases–beheading–video–pledging–allegianceISIS.html.

Alemika, E. E. A. (2003). Police accountability in Nigeria: Framework and Limitations. In E.E.A. Alemike and T.C. Chukwuma (Eds.) Civilian oversight and accountability of Police in Nigeria (pp. 45-48). Lagos: Center for Law Enforcement Education, Nigeria (CLEEN).

Alemika, E.E.O. 2018. The constraints of rights-based policing in Africa. In Policing reform in Africa: Moving towards a rights-based approach in a climate of terrorism, insurgency, and serious violent crime, ed. Alemika, E.E.O., Ruteere, M., and Howell, S., 14–43. Cape Town, ZA: African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF).

Amnesty International. (2015). Stars on their shoulders. Blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military. London: Amnesty International. (Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)

Animosity among Nigeria’s security agencies hampering the fight against Boko Haram – U.S. August 1, 2017Nicholas Ibekwe http://www.premiumtimesng.ng. Retrieved on October 17, 2017, at 1.32 pm. (Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)

Ansell, C., and A. Gash. 2007. Collaborative governance in theory and practice. Journal of Public. (Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)

Azlan, A. (2012). Content analysis of crisis communicative strategies: Tunisian protest vs. anti-Mubarak protest. International Journal of Human Sciences 9, 27-42. (Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)(Interagency Rivalry)

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After guiding over 120 students through successful research proposal approvals across bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels, I’ve discovered that most proposal failures stem from missing or poorly executed fundamental components. The difference between acceptance and rejection often comes down to understanding exactly what each section must accomplish and how they interconnect to build a compelling case.

Here’s what I’ve learned: a research proposal isn’t just a description of future work—it’s a persuasive document that must convince reviewers of three critical elements: your research is necessary, feasible, and you’re capable of executing it successfully. Every component serves this overarching purpose.

Understanding Research Proposals: Purpose and Function

A research proposal serves as your academic contract, outlining precisely what you intend to investigate, why this investigation matters, and how you’ll conduct it systematically. Whether you’re writing for undergraduate research, graduate school admission, or doctoral committee approval, the core function remains consistent: proving your research deserves approval and support.

Through my experience reviewing proposals across multiple institutions, I’ve observed that successful proposals share common characteristics regardless of academic level. They demonstrate clear thinking, methodological competence, and genuine contribution potential while respecting practical constraints of time, resources, and scope.

The Critical Foundation: From Topic to Research Question

Starting Point: Topic Selection

Most students approach me with broad topics that excite them personally—technology in education, mental health awareness, sustainable business practices. This enthusiasm is valuable, but topics alone cannot sustain research projects. My first task is helping them transform general interest into specific, researchable questions.

The transition from topic to research question represents the most crucial development in proposal writing. A topic provides direction; a research question provides destination. Without this transformation, proposals lack the precision necessary for meaningful investigation.

The Literature Review Bridge

I always tell my students: your literature review isn’t background information—it’s the foundation that justifies your research questions. Through systematic literature review, you accomplish several essential objectives:

Mapping Existing Knowledge: Understanding what researchers have already established in your area of interest. This prevents you from reinventing wheels or proposing unnecessary replication studies.

Identifying Knowledge Gaps: Recognizing specific areas where current research is insufficient, contradictory, or outdated. These gaps become the foundation for your contribution.

Refining Your Focus: Moving from general interest to specific, answerable questions that address identified gaps while remaining feasible within your constraints.

Establishing Credibility: Demonstrating your familiarity with current scholarship and your ability to engage with existing debates constructively.

Research Question Development Strategy

Based on my experience, effective research questions emerge through iterative refinement rather than sudden inspiration. I guide students through this systematic process:

Initial Brainstorming: Generate 10-15 potential questions related to your topic and literature gaps.

Feasibility Filtering: Eliminate questions that require resources, time, or access beyond your means.

Significance Testing: Retain only questions whose answers would genuinely advance knowledge or practice in meaningful ways.

Clarity Refinement: Ensure remaining questions are specific, answerable, and appropriately scoped for your academic level.

The final research questions should emerge logically from your literature review while being answerable through empirical investigation rather than additional reading.

The 11 Essential Components Framework

Component 1: Title and Abstract

Your title should function as a precise summary of your research focus in 10-12 words maximum. I teach students to craft titles that immediately convey their research domain, approach, and general focus without requiring interpretation.

The abstract, when required, serves as your proposal’s executive summary. In 200-300 words, you must present your research question, methodology approach, and expected contribution. This section often determines whether busy reviewers read further.

Component 2: Introduction and Problem Statement

Your introduction must establish the research problem’s significance within the first paragraph. I’ve observed that successful introductions follow this pattern:

Opening Context: Brief establishment of your research domain’s importance Problem Identification: Specific gap or issue your research addresses
Research Purpose: Clear statement of what your study will accomplish Significance Preview: Why your research matters to academic and practical communities

Component 3: Literature Review

This section demonstrates your scholarly preparation while building the argument for your research necessity. Based on my review experience, effective literature reviews organize around themes or concepts rather than chronologically listing sources.

Synthesis Over Summary: Connect sources to build arguments rather than reporting each study separately. Show how different researchers’ work relates to your research questions.

Critical Analysis: Identify limitations, contradictions, or gaps in existing research. This critical stance justifies your proposed contribution.

Theoretical Framework: If applicable, establish the theoretical lens through which you’ll interpret your research. This shows methodological sophistication.

Component 4: Research Questions and Objectives

Present your research questions as the logical culmination of your literature review. I recommend 1-3 primary questions for most academic levels, with potential sub-questions that clarify specific aspects of investigation.

Your objectives should directly correspond to your research questions while being measurable and achievable. Avoid vague objectives like “understanding” or “exploring” without specifying what constitutes successful completion.

Component 5: Research Design and Methodology

This section often determines proposal approval because it demonstrates your ability to execute the proposed research competently. Address these essential elements:

Research Paradigm: Position your study within appropriate methodological traditions (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) with justification for your choice.

Research Type: Specify whether your research is exploratory, descriptive, correlational, or experimental, explaining how this classification aligns with your research questions.

Methodological Rationale: Explain why your chosen approach best serves your research objectives compared to alternatives.

Component 6: Data Collection Strategy

Detail precisely what data you need and how you’ll obtain it. This section requires specific planning rather than general descriptions:

Data Types: Specify qualitative, quantitative, or mixed data requirements with justification for each type.

Collection Instruments: Describe surveys, interview guides, observation protocols, or experimental procedures you’ll use. Include preliminary versions when possible.

Instrument Development: If creating new instruments, outline development and validation procedures.

Data Sources: Identify where and from whom you’ll collect data, including access strategies.

Component 7: Sampling and Participants

Describe your target population and sampling strategy with methodological justification:

Population Definition: Clearly define the group your research aims to understand or represent.

Sample Size Determination: Provide rationale for your proposed sample size based on methodological requirements and practical constraints.

Sampling Procedure: Explain your sampling method (random, stratified, purposive, convenience) with justification for this choice.

Recruitment Strategy: Detail how you’ll identify and engage participants, including contingency plans for recruitment challenges.

Component 8: Data Collection Procedures

Outline the practical implementation of your data collection strategy:

Timeline: Provide realistic schedules for each data collection phase.

Settings: Describe where data collection will occur and why these settings are appropriate.

Protocols: Detail step-by-step procedures for consistent data collection.

Quality Assurance: Explain measures to ensure data reliability and validity.

Component 9: Data Analysis Plan

Demonstrate your capability to analyze collected data meaningfully:

Quantitative Analysis: Specify statistical software and analytical procedures you’ll employ, connecting analytical choices to your research questions.

Qualitative Analysis: Describe coding procedures, analytical frameworks, and interpretation strategies you’ll use.

Mixed Methods Integration: If applicable, explain how you’ll combine different data types for comprehensive analysis.

Analytical Limitations: Acknowledge constraints your analytical approach imposes on findings interpretation.

Component 10: Ethical Considerations

Address ethical dimensions of your research proportionate to your study’s complexity and institutional requirements:

Participant Protection: Describe informed consent procedures, confidentiality measures, and risk mitigation strategies.

Data Security: Explain data storage, access controls, and eventual disposal procedures.

Institutional Compliance: Reference relevant ethical review processes and approval requirements.

Risk Assessment: Identify potential ethical challenges and your planned responses.

Component 11: Timeline and Budget

Provide realistic project planning that demonstrates feasibility:

Research Timeline: Create detailed schedules showing major milestones, dependencies, and buffer time for unexpected delays.

Resource Requirements: Itemize anticipated costs for materials, software, travel, participant compensation, and other expenses.

Contingency Planning: Address potential obstacles and alternative approaches.

Resource Justification: Explain why requested resources are necessary for successful completion.

Advanced Integration Strategies

Component Interconnection

Successful proposals demonstrate clear relationships between all components. Your research questions should emerge from your literature review, your methodology should align with your questions, and your timeline should accommodate your chosen methods.

Level-Appropriate Depth

Undergraduate proposals require less methodological sophistication than doctoral proposals, but all levels demand clear thinking and appropriate scope. I adjust my expectations while maintaining standards for logical coherence and feasibility.

Institutional Alignment

Different institutions emphasize different aspects of research proposals. Some prioritize theoretical contribution while others focus on practical applications. Research your specific context and adjust emphasis accordingly.

Common Integration Failures

Disconnected Components

Many students write each section independently, resulting in proposals that feel disjointed. Successful proposals read as unified arguments where each section strengthens the overall case.

Scope Misalignment

Students frequently propose research that’s too ambitious for their constraints or too narrow for their academic level. Calibrating scope appropriately requires honest assessment of resources and timeline.

Methodological Inconsistency

Research questions that require qualitative investigation paired with quantitative methodologies, or vice versa, signal unclear thinking. Ensure methodological choices align with your research objectives.

Quality Assurance Process

Self-Assessment Framework

Before submitting any proposal, I recommend this systematic review:

Coherence Check: Does each section logically connect to others? Feasibility Assessment: Can you realistically complete this research within your constraints? Significance Evaluation: Will successful completion genuinely advance knowledge or practice? Capability Alignment: Do you possess or can you develop necessary skills for successful execution?

External Review Strategy

Seek feedback from multiple perspectives:

• Subject matter experts for content accuracy and significance
• Methodological specialists for technical soundness
• Educated generalists for clarity and persuasiveness

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should each component be in my research proposal?

Component length varies by total proposal length and institutional requirements, but I typically recommend these proportions: Introduction (10%), Literature Review (25-30%), Methodology (35-40%), Timeline/Budget (5-10%), with remaining space distributed among other components based on your specific requirements.

Can I modify my research questions after proposal approval?

Minor refinements are normal as research progresses, but major changes typically require additional approval. Discuss significant modifications with supervisors early rather than proceeding independently.

How detailed should my methodology section be?

Include enough detail that another researcher could replicate your approach. For preliminary proposals, provide sufficient specificity to demonstrate feasibility. Final proposals should include complete procedural descriptions.

What if I can’t find enough literature for my literature review?

Insufficient literature might indicate your topic is too narrow, too new, or poorly defined. Consider broadening your search terms, expanding to related fields, or reframing your research questions to connect with existing scholarship.

Should I include preliminary results in my proposal?

Only include preliminary data if it strengthens your case for the proposed research. Preliminary findings can demonstrate feasibility or suggest promising directions, but don’t overshadow your main research proposal.

How do I balance ambition with feasibility in my research scope?

Start with ambitious goals, then systematically reduce scope until your project fits your constraints. Better to execute excellent limited research than attempt overly ambitious projects that compromise quality.

What’s the most common reason research proposals get rejected?

Based on my review experience, unclear or poorly justified methodology causes most rejections. Reviewers need confidence that you can execute your proposed research successfully.

How do I choose between qualitative and quantitative approaches?

Your research questions should drive methodological choices. If you need to understand meanings, experiences, or processes, consider qualitative approaches. If you need to measure relationships or test hypotheses, quantitative methods may be more appropriate.

Should I cite very recent sources in my literature review?

Include recent sources to demonstrate current engagement with your field, but balance with seminal works that established key concepts. Sources from the past 3-5 years show contemporary relevance.

How do I handle ethical considerations if my research involves minimal risk?

Even low-risk research requires ethical consideration. Address informed consent, data confidentiality, and participant autonomy even for survey research or secondary data analysis.

The research proposal represents your first major opportunity to demonstrate scholarly thinking and project management capabilities. Investment in crafting comprehensive, well-integrated proposals pays dividends throughout your research journey and academic career.

For students seeking expert guidance in developing research proposals that meet current academic standards, professional consultation can provide invaluable support in navigating the complex requirements and expectations of contemporary academic research. Consider reaching out to research proposal writing services that understand the nuanced demands of proposal development across different academic levels and institutions.

Other Reources 

• Updated Tips: How to Write a Strong Research Proposal Introduction
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Make Your Sports Research Paper Stand Out With 70 Exciting Topics

Do You Have a New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic

 Your Sports Research Paper Stand Out With 70 Exciting Topics

Finding the right topic for preparing a research paper may seem like a wild goose chase. Not many students are aware of it, but even deciding on a topic requires them to follow a simple process. Going by that systematic approach will allow you to churn out a stellar topic for your research paper.

Now, for instance, you are instructed by your professor to pick a topic from the area of sports. At this point, the obvious question that many of you may pose is, “what if I’m not a sports enthusiast?” Well, we have also got that covered in this post, as we have curated a list of research paper topics on sports to inspire you.

A systematic approach to choosing a topic

Brainstorm relevant ideas

While pondering over the ideas you need to ensure your focus on the five ‘w’.

Why should you choose the topic?

What intrigues you about it?

What’s your view on the issues connected to the topic?

Who is providing the information on this topic?

Who is affected by the topic?

What are the relevant questions connected to the topic?

Can the topic be debated?

Are there a number of issues and perspectives to consider?

Where is your topic important?

At the international, national or local level?

Is there a specific area affected by the issues discussed in the topic?

When is/was your topic significant?  Is it a current situation or a historical phenomenon?  Would you want to compare your topic by time periods?

Background information matters

When you are trying to come up with an impactful topic, you have to emphasize on the background details of your preferred areas. The following are some pertinent ways to gather relevant information.

Check the current magazine, journal or newspaper articles on your topic. Ask the librarian of your university if they can assist you with browsing articles on your specific topic of interest. Utilize the resources available on the internet. You will find many scholarly articles and online databases with authentic resources that you can refer to.

Make it manageable

Carrying out research on a topic can quite difficult if it is too narrow or too broad. One way you can narrow down a broad topic is to define a limit for the topic. Some common ways to limit a topic are as follows.

By geographical area By culture By time frame By population group By discipline

Prepare a List of Useful Keywords

Keep track of the words used in describing your topic.

Look for words that best describe your topic Note down the words and use them later when searching the databases and catalogs. Find broader and narrower terms, key concepts, synonyms to widen your search capabilities.

So taking into account these pointers while choosing your topic will ensure that you do complete justice to it.

Preparing a research paper on a specific topic in the domain of sports can be as easy or difficult depending on the topics you choose. So, to save yourself from the whole process of churning out a great topic, you can take inspiration from the topics listed below.

Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic

The implementation of AR/VR in various sports and their impact. How has the broadcasting of sporting events evolved with the age of the Internet? Elaborate with adequate evidence. Sports have the capacity to unite the countries that are hostile to each other.

Justify your answer with appropriate evidence. Do activities like surfing, skateboarding, or dirt biking fall under the mainstream area of sports? Justify your stance with valid arguments. Should children be encouraged to opt for indoor or outdoor sport? Pick a stance and elucidate.

Should educational institutions invest more in providing scholarships to emerging athletes? Elucidate with proper evidence. Is it ethical to engage animals in sporting events (Polo, bullfighting)? Provide your insights. Cricket is known as “the gentleman’s game”. But, considering the amount of sledding that goes on between players, is the adage still relevant?

Gender stereotypes are still quite evident in the domain of sports. Elaborate with proper arguments. Do sports personalities today care more about building a brand? Elaborate your answer with proper evidence. Are sports organizations and authorities propelled by Political agenda? Should there be more emphasis on the inclusion of homosexual sportspeople within the mainstream form of sports? Indulging in some form of sport makes children learn the value of teamwork.

Match-fixing has been a persistent issue in the world of cricket for a long time. Should there be more stringent measures to deal with this issue? Present your ideas with proper research. How do sports contribute to community building? Elaborate your answer with proper examples. Does playing a sport affect human cognitive skills and can it prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s? Present some relevant examples through proper research.

Should athletes use sport as a medium to promote their political afflictions? Provide your ideas with sufficient examples. Does playing a sport makes students under perform in college? Conduct proper research and present your views based on it. Specially-abled athletes deserve better infrastructure and facilities from the government. Present a solid argument. Any major sporting events like the Olympics have a devastating impact on the countries that host them.

Should bowling be included in the Olympics? Justify your answer with proper arguments. Should sports be treated as a form of entertainment? Or are there social implications attached to it? How do performance-enhancing drugs affect a sportsperson? Elucidate with proper evidence. Only academically sound people indulge in a sport like Chess. Elaborate on your answer with proper evidence.

How technology has enhanced the field of sports in the last five years. Present your arguments based on the developments in two of the most popular sports in the world. Has sports journalism evolved for the better? Pick your stance and elaborate your argument.

The most efficient coaches in the world are always under threat of losing their self-control Should play for the country be more important than playing for the league? Provide your ideas with valid arguments. Should sports personalities be treated with hostility even after proven not guilty? Playing a sport helps children to be more social. Provide pertinent arguments

.Is a lack of safety measures still a concern in outdoor sports? Present your ideas with adequate research. Not all great sportsmen are fit to assume the role of coaches. The role of mental wellbeing is in becoming an accomplished sportsperson. Perform thorough research and present the arguments. Should there be an age restriction for sportsperson? State your ideas with valid evidence.

Analyze the active role played by the sports physiotherapists in alleviating the injuries incurred on the field. Do sports people suffer from performance anxiety? Validate your arguments with appropriate examples. Can experienced gamers in the cyberspace be considered an equivalent to professional athletes?

The impact of sports in the development of a person’s cognitive skills. Offer relevant evidence along with your answer. Both male and female sports persons need psychological rehabilitation after an injury. Present your views with proper examples. Playing sports can boost the confidence of a student. State your ideas with adequate evidence. Is there a phenomenon called over training syndrome? How does it affect the performance of an athlete? Present your answer with proper examples.

How can technology assist specially-abled athletes to perform better in sporting events? Does indulging in a sport boost an individual’s self-esteem? Elucidate with valid examples. Can sports be instrumental to drive major social change? Elaborate with pertinent arguments. Trauma caused by injuries can have many adverse outcomes for young sportspeople. Do sports propagate competitiveness? State your views based on adequate research.

Can mental preparation and visualization improve performance before an important game? Justify your stance with valid research .Women-centric sports have started getting more coverage than male-centric sports. Elaborate on the prevalence of gender inequality with proper research. Discuss the impact of topical pain relievers on athletes. Offer your insights based on proper analysis.

Being athletic and physically active increases intelligence. Present your views with proper evidence. Should disgraced sports persons be accepted in their respected field of sports after a suspension or a ban? The aggression shown by sports persons on the field should be contained. State your arguments with examples. Should Middle Eastern countries be allowed more active participation in different types of sports?

The role of a sports nutritionist in maintaining the health of athletes. Present your detailed understanding based on thorough research. The adverse effect steroids have on sportspeople. Provide evidence to support your ideas. Can sportspeople be benefitted by adopting alternative medicine? Elucidate with evidence. Can hypnosis be used on athletes for better pain management? Has social media helped in generating more viewership for sporting events? Present your arguments with concrete evidence.

Should parents of budding athletes focus more on providing education before encouraging a career in sports? Academic institutions should focus more on promoting less popular sports among the students. Renowned sports academies should bring in more talented underprivileged children to train them. Is it justified to associate nationalism with sports? Do sports have a contribution in building the character of children?

Sports management has emerged as a great career opportunity for individuals. Is it justified for sports fans to turn aggressive when their favorite team loses? Present your ideas with valid evidence. Discuss how the players with conditions like Hypertension, Asthma or Diabetes cope with the strain of physical activity. Does the disparity in remuneration exist between men and women in sports? Analyze the process of rehabilitation of shoulder injuries among sportspeople. Should there be more strict laws regarding sports-related crimes?

In conclusion,

Preparing a research paper is often considered a rather overwhelming process. It may get trickier when you are asked to present the paper on the area of sports. However, with the help of this elaborate guide, the entire process will be a lot less tedious.

Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic

Make Your Sports Research Paper Stand Out With 70 Exciting Topics

ABSTRACT

Artificial intelligence has enabled the development of more sophisticated and more efficient student models which represent and detect a broader range of student behavior than was previously possible.

In this research, the implementation of a user-friendly software tool for predicting the students’ performance in the course which is based on a neural network classifier will be made. This tool has a simple interface and can be used by an educator for classifying students and distinguishing students with low achievements or weak students who are likely to have low achievements.

The observed poor quality of graduates of students of this institution in recent times has been partly traced to inadequacies of some or most of the lecturer in the University which goes down to ability to handle the students… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

INTRODUCTION

During the last few years, the application of artificial intelligence in education has grown exponentially, spurred by the fact that it allows us to discover new, interesting, and useful knowledge about students. Educational data mining (EDM) is an emerging discipline, concerned with developing methods for exploring the unique types of data that come from an educational context.

While traditional database queries can only answer questions such as ”find the students who failed the examinations”, data mining can provide answers to more abstract questions like ”find the students who will possibly succeed the examinations”. One of the key areas of the application of EDM is the development of student models that would predict student characteristics or performances in their educational institutions.

Hence, researchers have begun to investigate various data mining methods to help educators to evaluate and improve the structure of their course context.

The main objective of the admission system is to determine candidates who would likely do well in the university or can perform well within the academic year or to produce students of high grade and intelligence.

The quality of candidates admitted into any higher institution affects the level of research and training within the institution, and by extension, has an overall effect on the development of the country itself, as these candidates eventually become key players in the affairs of the country in all sectors of the economy… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Background of the Research

In machine learning and cognitive science, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a family of statistical learning models inspired by biological neural networks (the central nervous systems of animals, in particular, the brain) and are used to estimate or approximate functions that can depend on a large number of inputs and are generally unknown. Artificial neural networks are generally presented as systems of interconnected “neurons” which exchange messages between each other.

The connections have numeric weights that can be tuned based on experience, making neural nets adaptive to inputs and capable of learning. For example, a neural network for handwriting recognition is defined by a set of input neurons which may be activated by the pixels of an input image. After being weighted and transformed by a function (determined by the network’s designer), the activations of these neurons are then passed on to other neurons. This process is repeated until finally, an output neuron is activated. This determines which character was read… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Statement of Research Problem

Looking into the institution this day, you will discover that 48% of the student are actually performing very low on their academic level, whom if asked to defend his admission status cannot (i.e. sitting for the attitude test), when the proper investigation is carried out, findings show that most of them have their way into the school through bribe or the so-called upper hand.

Also, another issue or problem for this research work is that some of the applied candidates, some are actually sound and capable of performing well when admitted, but because of some factors at the moment or surrounding the student, prevent the student from obtaining or securing his admission into the school. With this little problem, I seek to develop a neural network system an artificial one that will solve this problem.

Coupled with the stress gone through during the admission and delay in the process that ends up not being done perfect to the standard required… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Research Objectives

The primary aim of my research work is to develop an artificial neural network system that will be capable of predicting student performance.

Some other objectives which I will be covering in this research work are as follows:

• A system that will enhance the admission process of this institution in terms of admitting the right student into the institution… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

LITERATURE REVIEW

 Factors Affecting Student Performance

In the literature, students’ academic performance can be affected by various factors.  This section will review the most common factors that have an impact on students’ academic performance in its different forms.

Student Attendance

It has been proven by studies highlighted in the literature reviewed in this thesis, that students’ attendance affects their overall academic performance.  The earliest studies that tackled this problem were Breiman, et al., (1984), Garey (1981) and David (1993), who adopted student attendance rates as criterion and used Decision Trees (DT) and Naïve Bayes (NB) data mining techniques to conclude that lower attendance rates negatively affect students’ GPA.

The study by Romer (1993) is considered as one of the major publications that explored the relationship between student attendance and student performance in exams… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

The Artificial Neural Networks in Predicting Student Performance

ANN consists of a set of highly interconnected entities, called Processing Elements (PE) or unit. The structure and functions of ANN are inspired by the biological central nervous system (brain). Each unit is designed to mimic its biological counterpart, the neuron or neural node. Each accepts a weighted set of inputs and responds with an output.

ANNs address problems that is often difficult for traditional computers to solve, such as speech and pattern recognition, weather forecasts, sales forecasts, scheduling of buses, power loading forecasts, electricity consumption prediction, student enrollment projection, clustering, and early cancer detection.

ANNs develop solution fast and have less reliance on domain experience. ANNs develop a solution to any problem under the consideration that one may not get thorough understanding of the subject matter (Usman and Alaba, 2014; Usman and Adenubi, 2013; Oladokun et al., 2008)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

MACHINE LEARNING METHODOLOGIES

In this section, we explore two popular classification algorithms: decision tree classifiers and neural networks. Classification technique has been one of the common applied algorithms for data mining. It employs big data with pre-classified examples and then conducts a model that can predict and classify the large amount of the new data records [5].

This approach frequently employs several popular algorithms, such as Naive Bayes, k-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine and Logistic Regression. The data classification process involves both learning and classification phases. First, the algorithm analyzes the training data in the learning phase, then for the second phase, it applies the test data to measure the performance of the classification model generated from the first phase.

The classification model from this classifier training algorithm includes a set of parameters that best fit the pre-classified training examples… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Artificial Neural Networks

Inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute our human brains, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) systems mimic the logic behind it by establishing an array of interconnected nodes that exchange information among each other as illustrated in Figure 5.2 [14].

The input, hidden, and output layers derived from the structure of our neurons, which get signals from dendrites and output the signals with axons, in order to exchange information. Similar to how children can pick up skills from observing their parents; the neural networks can learn to perform varieties of tasks by considering and observing new examples, generally without being hard coded programs and rule sets [20].

Unlike Decision Tree Classifier, Neural Network can optimize its model iteratively and summarize the data in a parallel way just like how we human can perform thinking, looking, and moving body parts at the same time… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

Figure 5.2: Standard Neural Networks Structure

With this sophisticated structure, ANN is well known for solving complex application in numerous business applications, such as predicting stock trends, translating human speech, and playing chess again real human beings… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The testing phase in this experiment utilizes the confusion matrix in order to compute the accuracies of the models. As shown in Table 6.1, the confusion matrix is a simple n×n dimension table describing the performance of a classification model by comparing the predicted results with the actual results. In our case, n = 2 since our predicting outputs have two classes. With the confusion matrix, we can obtain the accuracy by adding the true positive and true negative values in the table and divide by the total data points as shown in equation 6.1.

Table 6.1: Confusion Matrix

The confusion matrix result for the decision tree is projected on the left side of Table 6.2. With the equation 6.1, we can compute the accuracy of the model to be 92.8% as shown in Table 6.3. We can also improve model accuracy by pruning the decision tree. The benefit of pruning a decision tree is that it removes the tree branches that contribute little to the overall classification process and reduces the tree size [15]. Besides, it simplifies the complexity of the final model classifier, reduces the likelihood of model overfitting, and improves the predictive accuracy [30].

Table 6.2: Confusion Matrix Results for Decision Tree (Left) & Neural Network (Right)

Table 6.3: Accuracies of Decision Tree Classifier Model

There are several principal methods for pruning decision trees, such as Error-Complexity Pruning, Critical Value Pruning, and Reduced-Error Pruning [30]. The method used in this experiment is Cost-Complexity Pruning, which is similar to Error-Complexity Pruning… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

CONCLUSION

This paper surveyed some of the most relevant work in this area, delivered graphical visualization for some input attributes and developed decision tree and neural network algorithms with our synthetic dataset respecting to EDM. In this experiment, both decision tree classifiers and neural networks perform well interpreting the relationships between the variables and predicting student academic performance. We conclude that it is important to choose a classification model that is suitable for various types and complexity of the dataset.

For future experiments, it is expected to increase the complexity and more useful students’ data. In this way, we could take full advantage of neural network classifier’s ability and measure how different those data attributes can affect the model’s performance… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

REFERENCES

IPEDS DATA FEEDBACK REPORT 2017. National center for education statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/DataCenter/DfrFiles/ IPEDSDFR2017_132903.pdf.  (Artificial Neural Network)

Qasem A Al-Radaideh, Emad M Al-Shawakfa, and Mustafa I Al-Najjar (2006). Mining student data using decision trees. In International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT’2006), Yarmouk University, Jordan. (Artificial Neural Network)

Sylvain Arlot and Alain Celisse (2010). A survey of cross-validation procedures for model selection. Statist. Surv., 4:40–79. (Artificial Neural Network)

Artificial neural network (2018). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_ network [Online; accessed 23-October-2018]. (Artificial Neural Network)

Brijesh Kumar Bhardwaj and Saurabh Pal (2012). Data mining: A prediction for performance improvement using classification. CoRR, abs/1201.3418. (Artificial Neural Network)

Markus Brameier and Wolfgang Banzhaf (2001). A comparison of linear genetic programming and neural networks in medical data mining. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 5(1):17–26. (Artificial Neural Network)

R Brause, T Langsdorf, and Michael Hepp (2004). Neural data mining for credit card fraud detection. In Tools with Artificial Intelligence, 1999. Proceedings. 11th IEEE International Conference on, pages 103–106. IEEE, 1999. (Artificial Neural Network)

Matthew M. Chingos (2006). What matters most for college completion? academic preparation is a key of success – third way. Retrieved from https://www.thirdway.org/report/what-mattersmost-for-college-completion-academic-preparation-is-a-key-of-success. (Artificial Neural Network)(Artificial Neural Network)

Paulo Cortez (2010). Data mining with neural networks and support vector machines using the r/rminer tool. In Industrial Conference on Data Mining, pages 572–583. (Artificial Neural Network)(Artificial Neural Network)

Ryan Shaun, Joazeiro de Baker, and Adriana M. J. (2008). Labeling student behavior faster and more precisely with text replays. In Educational Data Mining 2008, The 1st International Conference on Educational Data Mining, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 20-21,´ 2008. Proceedings, pages 38–47, 2008. (Artificial Neural Network)

Hepu Deng, Duoqian Miao, Fu Lee Wang, and Jingsheng Lei (2009). Emerging Research in Artificial Intelligence and ComputationaI Intelligence: International Conference, AICI 2011, Taiyuan, China, September 23-25, 2011. Proceedings, volume 237. Springer, 2011. (Artificial Neural Network)

Dutt, M. A. Ismail, and T. Herawan. A systematic review on educational data mining. IEEE Access, 5:15991–16005, 2017. (Artificial Neural Network)

(Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Project Material)

(Get the Complete Project Material)

Abstract

Local government in modern-day life is responsible for delivering basic goods and services to its local communities in a faster, easier, and more efficient manner. Local government is the level of government in Nigeria at which the momentum to sustain national development is created.

The rural development initiated by local government is expected in terms of specific projects such as kilometers of rural roads constructed and maintained; borehole and deep wells sink or rehabilitated and maintained by the local government; rural electrification; and rural people empowerment programs… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

INTRODUCTION

In Nigeria, the rural people, thoroughly marginalized into a vacuous existence, make up the other Nigerians-forgotten and always forgotten. The line is like a perpetually recurring bad dram, a tale of extreme want in the midst of abundance.

There has been an administration upsurge of interest in the literature on development administration and in planning circles on the positive role, local government could play in national development.

Usually, the emphasis is in terms of using local government as a strategic instrument for fostering, promoting, and implementing rural development… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

General Background to the Subject Matter

With the formal colonization of Nigeria in 1900, the integration of the country into the world capitalist system this completed.

The imperatives of economic exploitation and political domination resulted in the establishment of institutions and organizations quite alien and in most cases in opposition to the existing indigenous ones. This becomes necessary in order to forestall any frustration of the colonial policies.

It is within this context that we can understand the origin of the “indirect rule” system which was a system of local government introduced by the British. Essentially, indirect rule was a system… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Statement of Problems

The ineffectiveness of the local government system in Nigeria stems from the socio-economic structure of the society which natures an urban-oriented development strategy is hailed by foreign experts who have on numerous occasions advised our leaders and who still do so.

As smock et al rightly pointed out, to assert that the lack of attention to the rural sector has been mere because of the short-sightedness of Africa leaders would be to overdose the urban and industrial bias of the majority of… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Research Objectives

Generally, the study seeks to examine the extent to which local governments have impacted on rural development in Aguata and Anaocha local government areas Anambra State.

The studies also attempt to achieve the following specific objectives:

• To assess the impact of Local Government on rural development in Aguata and Anaocha Local Government areas.
• To determine the extent to which poor capital funding affects Aguata and Anaocha Local Governments… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction 

Political scientists, politicians, and the administrator’s overtime have been preoccupied with the question of the justification, the appropriate status, and the functional roles of the grassroots government.

Some simply dismissed the matter and postulated that there was no need for government at the grassroots since most of the perceived needs of the local people can be provided by the central and provincial governments who are comparatively more endowed with requisite resources… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Concepts of Local Government

The study of the administration and political institution of Local Government has continued to generate a lot of comments from various scholars and researchers. This is because of the fact that it occupies a very important position in national transformation effort towards accelerated growth and development.

However, there is a reasonable degree of divergent ideas among most writers on the meaning of Local Government, although few definitions exist, this is to a large extent a function of the different socio-economic and political development of local government by most writers.

Some writers defined Local Government as “Local administration set up outside the main focus of the central national or regional administration”. The implication of this definition is that there is a glaring absence of legal personality, i.e. ability to sue and be sued, which is the major characteristic of Local Government… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Background of Local Government in Nigeria

Regardless of nomenclature, Local Government is a creation of British colonial rule in Nigeria. It has overtime experienced change in name, structure, and composition. Between the 1930s and 1940s, for instance, Local Government was known as chief-in council and chief-and-council, where traditional rulers were given pride of place in the scheme of things. In the 1950s, the election was introduced according to the British model in the western and eastern parts of the country with some measure of autonomy in personnel, financial and general administration (Nwabueze, 1982:20-21).

It was on this premise that the rising tide of progress, growth, and development expected in the Local Governments in these areas was based. The pace of this development was more noticeable in the south than in the east… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Local Government Reforms in Nigeria 

The various Local Government reforms as enunciated by the government actually geared at improving the Local Government system in Nigeria. Some of these reforms will be examined looking at their major objectives briefly. The 1976 Local Government reforms were the reform that made a landmark in the Nigeria Local Government system.

This reform was part of the time table for the return to civil rule after 15 years of military rule spearheaded by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime. Although the concern about Local Government actually started before this, with the intervention of the federal government in Local Government finances between 1973/1974 and that of primary education in 1975.

However, this reform is regarded as a pacesetter in the affairs of Local Government because it created Local Governments as the third tier of government with a constitutional backing i.e. in section 7(1) 1979 Constitution.

The reform also provided for the granting of autonomy to the Local Governments and uniformity in their operations in the area finance. The Local Governments were allocated a particular percentage from the federation account.

It should be noted that the 1976 Local Government reforms were what finally put an end to the native authority system rule in the country… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Problems of Local Government in Nigeria 

A Local Government is an administrative unit with a defined territory, administration authority, power, and relative autonomy‟. It is governed by either selected or elected members of the community. Most countries of the world are apparently committed to establishing Local Governments irrespective of the fact that there is no consensus on whether they should exist or not (Bello-Iman 1996:206).

The problems of Local Governments in Nigeria can only be examined in relation to the objectives upon which its creation in Nigeria was predicated. The four basic purposes for the establishment of Local Government according to the Local Government Reforms Guidelines (1976) include; enhancement of participatory democracy, promotion of local freedom of action or local autonomy, political integration and national unity, and the provision of services for which they are the most efficient providers compared to other levels of government.

It is, therefore, obvious from the literature that a number of factors inhibit the actualization of these objectives… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Concept of Development  

Improving the living conditions of the rural folks forms the central focus of the development concept. The term has come to mean different things to different people. While some writer views the concept as dealing with rising Gross National product or increasing per capita income, others like Dudley Seers (1973) sees developments as meaning creating conditions for the realization of human potential.

Since the pursuit and attainment of certain high levels of per capita income have not been accompanied by discernible changes in the conditions of living of the focus and object of development i.e. man, others have come to define the problem of development as a selective attack on the worst form of poverty… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Theoretical Framework

In a study like this, which centered on the assessment of the impact of local government on rural development, it becomes very necessary to develop certain concepts as a framework for the analysis of data collected.

In this situation, a relevant conceptual framework for analysis is provided by the four philosophical justifications or conceptualized performance roles for local government postulated by the four major contending schools of thoughts that emerged as a result of various attempts by scholars in the field to ascertain the functional responsibilities on performance role local government should emphasis. In this regards, Ola (1984), as cited in Adeyemo, (2005) identified four schools of thoughts, they are;

• The democratic participation school
• Efficiency service provision school
• The development services school
• The holistic integrationist school

An advocate of the Democratic School of Thought (J.S.Mill, Alex-de-Tocqueville, David Bulfer, William Mechanize, Keith Lucas, and James Bryce) holds that local government functions to bring about democracy and to afford opportunities for political participation among the citizens as well as to educate and socialize him politically.

That is to say, local governments exist primarily as a political institution with the responsibilities for fostering representative and participatory democracy at the local level (Ola, 1984; Adeyemo 2005; Usman 2008)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

The Holistic Integrationist School

The practical implication of the view of this school, therefore, is that local government exists, consciously to make its own contributions to and thereby help to achieve national integration, national evolution, and national consciousness.

Emilsady (1962) has suggested that local governments perform these holistic integration functions through:

• Decongesting government at the center thereby freeing national leaders from onerous details and unnecessary involvement in local issues.
• Increasing people’s understanding and enlightening people about economic (community) development… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter one to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter shows how the study was carried out. The procedures and methods employed in the conduct of this research are discussed under the following headings:

• Research design
• Sources and methods of data collection
• Population and sample size determination
• Instrument design and administration
• Method of data analysis

Research design

The research design adopted is the survey method. This is chosen because it permits the use of the inductive approach, where sample sizes are used to make a generalization about the population.

Sources and methods of data collection

Data for this research were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources of data were the questionnaire designed and administered to the auditors. Whereas the secondary data collected from textbooks journals from the libraries and internets and magazines constitute forms the theoretical framework of the study.

• Questionnaire design

The questionnaire was constructed in a simple manner to avoid confusion and for easy understanding by the respondent. And it was delivered personally by the researcher to the respondent and collected back on completion… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Introduction

This chapter covers the presentation of data as well as its analysis. The data obtained for the study was mainly through the use of questionnaires, observations, and interviews which were designed to assess the impact of Local government administration, Anambra State, on rural development.

A liker scale was used throughout the questionnaire which consists of a total of sixteen questions (16) (apart from section A)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Rate of Returns of Responses of Questionnaire

Table 4.2.1 Classification of respondents based on the questionnaires administered

Source: Survey Research, 2013.

By extension, the four hundred (400) questionnaires were administered to the respondents who were selected through simple random and stratified random sampling methods in the areas of study. Out of the four hundred (400) questionnaires, three hundred and forty-two (342) questionnaires were returned given 86% rate of returns… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Conclusions

As submitted by Lele, (1975) even before the wide recognition of the primacy of rural development, governments in all societies have launched various programs and projects aimed at rural development. However, the extent of rural development varies from state to state.

In another hand, the level of development of a society is a measure of the degree of presence or absence of certain infrastructures that could either positively impact or negatively affects the social, political, cultural, and economic life of the rural dwellers… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

• Recommendations

Having considered the findings from the research, the following measured are recommended for improving the performance of rural development Aguata and Anaocha local government areas.

To bring about a more realistic rural development in Nigeria, specifically Local government administration, the local governments should minimize their total dependence on the federal allocation, and increase their efforts towards generating more revenue through the diversification of their internal revenue sources… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbas, I.M. (2010.65). State, Class, and Management of Local Government in Nigeria, Anambra: ABU University Press Limited.

Abubakar, U. (2004). “The Effect of Local Government Expenditures on Rural Development in Nigeria” The Nigerian Journals of Administrative Studies (2) 1 June,

Adedeji, A. (1985.5). “Ecology for Economic Change”. Challenge African Development symposium

Adewumi, J.B (1987). Rural Transformation in Nigeria: DFFRI and Local

Government. Institute of Administration A.B.U, Anaocha

Adeyemo, D. O. (2005). Local Government Autonomy in Nigeria: A Historical Perspective, Available from, http//www.localautonomy.org.

Ajayi, (2000). Theory and Practice of Local Government Edo Ekiti, UNAD Aknul (2004) Alila (1998).

Ameh, I.O (2003). “Unique Problem of Local Government” In Denga D. (Ed) Local Government Administration in Nigeria: Past Present and Futuristic Projects. Calabar. Rapid Education Publishers.

Asika N. (2000) Research Methodology in the Behavioral Science Lagos, Longman Nigeria Plc.

Bello, I., and Enemuo (1999) Decentralization and LG Models, Principles and Purpose” In Anifowe R. And Enemuo F.C (ed) Element Of Politics

Bello, I. J.B. (2002) “Financial Transfer” In Bello-Imam J.N (Ed) Local Government Finance in Nigeria CLGARDS University of Ibadan.

Bello, I.B. (2004): Local Government in Nigeria: Evolving a Third Tier of Government, Heinemann Educational, Books Plc, Ibadan, Nigeria. (Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)

Bello, I. B.I. (1996:206) Local Government In Nigeria: Evolving a Third Tier Of Government Ibadan. Heinemann Educational Books. (Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)

Bello, I. J.B. (1985) Financing Municipal Government: A Case Of Nigeria Local Government Council. Nagalode, New Delhi. (Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)

Chambers, R. (1981). Managing Rural Development: Ideas and Experience from East Africa. Uppsala: Scandina Vian Institute of African Studies. (Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)(Local Government System)

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