The Osun State University, in partnership with Association of African Universities (AAU), has initiated a research model on how African Universities could use ‘stata’ to do analysis on reproduction of research.
The initiative was discussed at the 2nd Research / Training Workshop tagged: “Data Ethics And Skills For Reproducton of Research Findings Using Stata”, scheduled to hold between March 11 and March 14, at MicCom Golf & Hotel, Ada, Osun State.
Speaking at the event, Mr Samuel Nyarko Agyapong, the Project Officer for AAU, said that the Workshop aimed at training the next generation of African researchers in data analysis tools and practices to enhance the transparency, reproducibility, and openness of research.
He explained that the focus of the workshop was to make participants gain basic understanding and skills in analyzing research data in a reproducible manner.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor of the Osun State University, Professor Labode Popoola, in his address revealed that the most pressing problems facing the world today is increasing complex approach to research.
He said some of the factors that responsible for lack of global recognition for African research were low research quality, lack of appreciation of data manipulation among others.
He said, “Exchanging data and other research outputs among researchers could open up new avenue for discovery and innovation that might never have been anticipated by the original data generators. Also, access to the data underlying research findings is critical to ensure that these claims can be scrutinised and reproduced.
“Additionally, it is no longer news that most African researchers still face difficulties in publishing their research findings. Amongst other factors, these difficulties could be attributed to the lack of research quality, poor data, lack of appreciation of the data manipulation process and lack of research integrity.
“I believe this workshop is poised to addressing some of these important research challenges for improved research quality, integrity and output on the African continent.
“Osun State University is committed to high quality research and we are glad to work with the Association of African Universities in relevant capacity building.”
Speaking in the same vein, a participant from Ghana, simply identified as Dr. Charles, while speaking on data usage in African universities opined that lack of management of data is adversely affecting research progression on the continent .
“ In Africa, we don’t effectively manage our data, and Africa is not taking the lead role; I think this is the time we think to move the continent forward.”
