From Tangaza University College – Update
Tangaza Contributes to Research in Kenya
Our DVC Designate, Rev. Prof. Sahaya G. Selvam, is a role model in research and publication. His latest publication is in fact on research (Empirical Research: A Study Guide, Paulines Africa, 2017). It is a book that is written precisely with the African students in mind. It provides a study guide for university students at every level.
The book insists that research should go beyond the mere fulfilment of an academic requirement in terms of producing a thesis or a dissertation. It focuses on a scientific approach that insists on an internal consistency.
How do we know something is scientific? This is the author’s criterion: what gets published in international peer-reviewed journals, particularly those that are published by learned associations and renowned universities, even if they are outsourced to academic publishing companies such as Taylor & Francis (Routledge), Sage, Springer. The book captures criteria that emerge from highly ranked journals.
The author’s dream in writing this timely book is that research method will cease to be an overwhelming dragon for the students in universities in East Africa. He wishes that they will enjoy the process of discovering new knowledge, and not to delegate that pleasure to some money-minded agents who produce ready-made theses. He desires that examiners in so called defences of theses will see a larger picture of the research proposals and reports, focusing on the core of the scientific methodology, rather than to absolutise the peripheral styles.