Research Article
Sample Size Determination in Test-Retest and Cronbach Alpha Reliability Estimates
Imasuen Kennedy
Middle East Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences; 16-24.
DOI: 10.36348/merjhss.2021.v01i01.003
Abstract: The estimation of reliability in any research is a very important thing. For us to achieve the goal of the research, we are usually faced with the issue of when the measurements are repeated, are we sure we will get the same result? Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials. If a measure is perfectly reliable, there is no error in measurement, that is, everything we observe is true score. However, it is the amount/degree of error that indicates how reliable a measurement is. The issue of sample size determination has been a major problem for researchers and psychometricians in reliability study. Existing approaches to determining sample size for psychometric studies have been varied and are not straightforward. This has made the psychometric literature to contains a wide range of articles that propose a variety of sample sizes. This paper investigated sample sizes in test-retest and Cronbach alpha reliability estimates. The study was specifically concerned with identifying and analyzing differences in test retest and Cronbach alpha reliability estimate of an instrument using various sample sizes of 20,30,40,50,100,150,200,300, and 400. Four hundred and eight (408) senior secondary school students from thirty-eight (38) public senior secondary schools in Benin metropolis part took in the study. The Open Hemisphere Brain Dominance Scale, by Eric Jorgenson was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) and Cronbach alpha. The findings revealed that the sample sizes of 20 and 30 were not reliable, but the reliability of the instrument became stronger when the sample size was at least 100. The interval estimate (Fishers confidence interval) gave a better reliability estimate than the point estimate for all samples. Based on the findings, it was therefore recommended that for a high reliability estimate, at least one hundred (100) subjects should be used. Observed or field tested values should always be used in the estimation of the reliability of any measuring instrument, and reliability should not be reported as point estimate, but as interval.
Research Article
Unmasking the Tape of Electoral Fraud in Grassroots Nigeria: Evidence from the Management of the Local Council Elections by the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs)
Abacha Umar Deribe, Usman Sambo, Babayo Sule, Ibrahim Salihu
Middle East Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences; 25-37.
DOI: 10.36348/merjhss.2021.v01i01.004
Abstract: Electoral fraud is identified as an albatross on genuine democratisation in Nigerian politics. The Nigerian political culture demonstrates a zero-sum game where a winner takes all and where a winner employs all amoral ineptitude to secure victory. The situation is escalated at the grassroots level in the country where the constitutional three-tier of the federal, state and local system was bastardised by the states who succeeded in emasculating the local governments under their absolute personal control. The local council polls usually turned into a charade that is perpetuated by charlatans in the name of elections where in reality, forceful imposition, selection and subversion of the process became the order of the day. The study examined how the use of SIECs aided the phenomenon of electoral fraud at the grassroots level where the local council elections are designed and arrested by state governors based on their selfish desire. The study utilised both primary and secondary sources of data. The data obtained were analysed and interpreted using mixed method of statistical tools and content analysis. The study discovered that the SIECs became tools in the pawn of the state governors that they leveraged in manipulating the local government elections against the will of the electorates at the grassroots and that has tremendously affects the democratisation process in the country where authentic institutional building remains a mirage even after more than 20 years of democratic experiment. The study recommends that the SIECs should be abrogated and the INEC should conduct the local council elections together with the national elections at the same time.
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