By ADAM GAMBA
There
are claims that often emerge regarding to young Researchers in developing
countries mainly here in Tanzania that our researchers do not collect enough
data when it comes to the issue of dissertation and other assignments which need
collection of information.
This
problem has been prevailing now and then especially among young researchers who
work hard looking for experience and those who conduct research as their
partial fulfillment for their degrees or accomplishing certain programs as
well.
As
long as these young researchers show increasing need for certain valuable
information for their projects, they experience some difficulties from
other individuals and in various institutions.
Unfortunately,
these difficulties are not only found in small size institutions but also even
in big and very important ones and sometimes even those which deal with the
same research activities. This happens in both public and private offices.
It
is difficult to understand what bring about such situation into many places. Is
it due to laziness, ignorance and lower thinking capacity, or abnormal behavior
of some people, misconception, or the nature of the given society?
The
most terrifying thing is that these happen even in bigger and higher learning
institutions, like universities, colleges and different schools which we do
consider to be most helpful to people in these academic matters.
Actually,
there is no development without the work of researchers, because researchers
are the one who inspire changes. In order to investigate problems, people
should conduct researches which may reveal how the whole issue and how can be
solved for, development to be achieved easily.
As
for, we journalists, we believe that “NO RESEARCH NO RIGHT TO SPEAK” so how can
we be able to speak if all people and various officers from whom we need
information from them will not be ready to participate in providing such
information?
ACTUALLY,
this happened to me once or twice by the time I conducted certain project. When
distributing questionnaires people received them with great joy. But
Problems arose by the time for data collection, whereby nearly half of
the respondents had not completed
filling many questions, some of
them did not attempt even a single questionnaire whilst others kept on
promising;” We will fill them don’t worry.”
Let
us think of this, is it fair for these big and respected institutions to keep
on promising young researchers day by day?
Keeping
on saying; ‘come tomorrow, then tomorrow while others failing even to read the
questions and some individuals keep on
complaining that their bosses were not
present for and so they failed to submit
the task to the respected persons. I do not know whether the bosses do nowadays
move with their offices wherever they go.
These
are our intellectuals; some are research experts, heading huge research
institutions here in Tanzania while they fail to provide information to their
young researchers in spite of knowing the significances of the research
projects in the world.
It
is wonderful! Wonderful indeed, how comes the researchers deny other
researchers the opportunity to do research; they reject to give information and
share experiences for bringing development. How will these young researchers
gain experience and like going to the field to search for data, if at all the
experts are not ready to provide valuable information required for certain
project?
By the end of the project I came to realize
that, that is why people from developed nations do sometimes doubt our findings
simply because of this tendency that has been implanted in many individuals in
Tanzania and other parts of East Africa. Because they fear that may be these
researchers, after having a lot of setbacks, can even decide to cook data in
order only to accomplish the project in time.
This
conclusion came about after my research leader who went to collect data in
Burundi and Rwanda, encounter some difficulties in Burundi, as not even a
single questionnaire was attempted.
Come
on! Africa, is it because of only being black, ignorant, poor or leading
serious less?
