School of Postgraduate Studies

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Addressing the Ten Commonly Asked Questions about Qualitative Research in the Philippines
(2017-12-25) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
There is no doubt that the need for qualitative research has increased and has been felt all around the world. Once feared, detested, or even not much valued by some, qualitative research has now become the rare bird many people are trying to catch. Unfortunately, as more and more people and institutions try to embrace qualitative research, maybe more damage is being done in the process because of the lack of solid understanding of qualitative research. To pave a strong way to excellence in qualitative research conduct and dissemination, it is important to have an idea of the current state of qualitative research. This paper is based on content analysis of the input from 197 higher education professors, administrators, researchers, graduate and doctoral students from 40 higher education institutions in the Philippines. It is based on 10 most commonly asked questions about qualitative research. These questions are grouped into three major themes: the fundamentals, the methodology, and the trustworthiness of qualitative research. Understanding these commonly asked questions can help us pave better the way to quality capability training in qualitative research.
Adventists in politico-military strife and violence
(Ministry International Journal for Pastors, 9-12, 2016-02) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
Analysis of Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior towards Sustainability and Sustainable Lifestyle: Implications for the Sustainable Future of Africa
(2020-12) Dr. Ganu, Josephine; Ocansey, Evans
Sustainable development has become a critical concern in the 21st Century. While a number of players are actively engaged in the delivery of the SDGs,the unique contribution of educational institutions of higher learning is key to achieving the SDGs. Apart from the fact that quality education can break the shackles of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 & 2), spur economic growth and decent jobs (SDG 8), we argue that quality educational institutions of higher learning play a critical role in grooming future leaders and workers to develop global social consciousness, positive sustainable development mind-set and adopt a sustainable lifestyle.Therefore,this empirical study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive research design and surveyed 422 respondents to examine the level of students’ awareness of sustainability issues, their attitudes towards sustainability and their current lifestyle in selected countries in Africa. The results suggest that generally, students have a fair idea of sustainability issues. They seem to know a lot about pollution and deforestation, however, they lack a deep understanding of other key sustainability-related concepts that confront our world today. More so, they appear to have positive attitudes towards the multi-dimensions of environmental sustainability. Nevertheless,their daily actions and lifestyle do not powerfully support what they profess. Implications of the study results are therefore discussed.
A Brief Ethnography on Philippine English
(2014-04) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary; Blath, Claudia; Lloren, Janice; Duan, Wenwan
The Philippines is a nation with a rich culture and heritage that reflects the indigenous diversity of the islands. Its present identity and unique features are not whimsical. They are mainly the result of a combination of events throughout its history. Its linguistic diversity and cultural uniqueness— e.g., being the only Asian Christian country—are clear evidence of several colonial influences (Hechanova, 2012; Miller, 2014). Using an ethnographic approach, this paper examines English, Taglish, and pragmatic aspects in a suburb and a metropolitan area of the Philippines. This study reveals that socioeconomic status, educational attainment and background go hand in hand with the level of exposure and usage of the English language. It also shows that the interactional and speech acts that nine participants demonstrated during the interviews, together with the artifacts found on the research sites, are reflections of their culture. The study also led to the conclusion that code-switching or Taglish is common among English-speaking Filipinos. Finally, more English proficiency was evidenced with people who had attended private schools more than those who attended public education.
The Changing Face of Corporate Governance in the World: – A Critical Literature Review of INSEAD Panel of Board of Directors' A Midst Uncertain Time
(2020) Mtike, Rubbie Mzumara; Prof. Nyakora, Musa
This critique is on the discussion by INSEAD Panel at the Global Business Leaders Conference which took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on the future of governance. Following the video discussion, literature review on governance was done to strengthen the stand taken in this critique. Governance should be a driving factor to success. However, companies have been casualties affecting millions of employees who lose their jobs. Governance rules in isolation have proved unsuccessful. Pomposity, greed and abuse of positions have led to failing companies, organizations even governments. Board members who become irrelevant due to the changing world have contributed to the dysfunction of governance leading to the fall of many companies. Therefore, I recommend training the Board should include ethics as this is an umbrella for good decisions regardless of context. Board members need also be independent to be able to make decisions without undue influence. The board should begin to use the stakeholder view which benefits society. Communication has to flow both ways for informed decisions to be made. The critique concludes that there is hope for governance once ethics begin to reign and ensure justice for every stakeholder. Support for the company will be ensured in return by the society who are the customers of the company as it does not exist in a vacuum. Governance is everywhere. Each individual around the globe should strive to make a difference in improving the future of governance.
Changing Lives through Qualitative Research: Some Practical Principles and Practices for Advocacy
(2020-12) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
Research in social sciences is or at least should be, primarily about improving people’s lives. This is especially important in qualitative research. It is not uncommon to find many qualitative research books and articles encouraging qualitative researchers to give voice to participants who do not have any. In the literature, one branch that is concerned with this specific ethical duty of qualitative researchers is advocacy or advocating. While some qualitative research books and articles have referred to advocacy in passing, it is not a topic that is frequently discussed in the qualitative research fora, despite its significant importance. This paper defines what advocacy is, its importance in qualitative research, and the challenges of advocating. The ultimate goal of this paper is to discuss effective ways of advocating through qualitative research. This is especially important when conducting qualitative research with alienated, marginalized, dehumanized, and powerless groups of people.
Christian ethics challenges: the case of the Great Lakes Region of Africa
(2014) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
In some academic and professional circles, ethics is a topic that is often discussed as a brainteaser. In the Great Lakes Region of Africa, war has challenged Christian members’, pastors, and church leaders’ ethics. War has claimed about 10 million lives in that region in the past couple of decades. It has been sustained directly or indirectly around the world because of the benefit it brings to the world population at large. This paper presents findings of a phenomenological case study based on accounts from lived experiences of Christian, pastors, and church leaders of the Great Lakes Region. It presents challenges that these Christians have had to face, how they have dealt with them ethically, and better paths that can be taken to deal with the impact of war on Christians in this and other similar contexts.
Designing Learning Modules for Online Courses: The 5-WH Approach
(2012-10) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
More and more educators today are joining online teaching with little or no instructional design training. Challenges have been reported in in many regions around the world. In addition, time constraints present another challenge because of the many responsibilities that educators assume as regular faculty members. They need practical guidelines that can help them in designing their online courses, beginning with the module–the meaningful, self-contained, basic building block of the online course. This theoretical paper provides some practical guidelines for this purpose by applying the common 5-WH approach in designing a module for any online course. This approach helps the online educator to address the questions related to who, what, why, where, when, and how, expected from any complete online course module from a Christian perspective.
Employee Intrinsic Motivation and The Attainment of the Organisation Goals: A Case of Private University in Malawi
(2020-01) Dr. Nwaomah, Angela Ewhonne; Tsukani, Rose Mandala
Employee motivation is a very important subject as far as the achievement of organisation goals in universities is concerned. This has been recognised by some studies on staff motivation in Malawi and even abroad. Nevertheless, not much has been done on the factors that affected the achievement of organisation goals. Therefore, this study examined the effect of intrinsic motivation factors on the achievement of organisation goals at Malawi Adventist University. A causal type of study design conducted in one month was used for the study. The university population was two hundred forty-one employees whose employment status was permanent and contract, teaching and nonteaching excluding those on wages. To ensure that all employees were represented, employees were randomly selected for the study. Krejicie and Morgan pre-calculated sample size table was used to select a sample of 181 employees from the population. Data was collected with a self –structured questionnaire validated with Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of .579 on intrinsic motivation factors and .690 on the attainment of organisation goals. A total of 146 copies of the questionnaire were validly completed and returned representing 81% response rate. Descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that at the 0.05 level of significance, intrinsic motivation factors such as nature of work and responsibility significantly and positively affected the achievement of organisation goals at Malawi Adventist University as evidenced by the p-values of (.180, 1.961and .052) and (.225, 2.574 and .011). The study concluded that intrinsic motivation factors of work life balance, nature of work, equity and fairness, responsibility and recognition are important towards achieving organisation goals even though their importance were not at equal proportion. Therefore, recommendation was made to help the management to optimize the attainment of organisation goals at Malawi Adventist University.
English Teachers’ perceptions of the mother tongue-based education policy in the Philippines
(2014) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
The instruction of English in the Philippines causes quite some challenges to scholars due to its rich linguistic diversity. With more than 180 languages currently recorded in the country, linguistic power struggle is unavoidable, although it may be silent. To make the situation even more complex, the Philippine Government recently launched a new educational policy that promotes learning in mother tongues in earlier years of primary education. While this policy is based on sound research, it poses quite some challenges to linguists due to the various linguistic backgrounds found in almost every classroom around the nation. This survey research investigated 467 English teachers’ perceptions about the importance of this policy. Findings were inconclusive on teachers’ perception about the policy’s importance on general learning and the nation’s preparedness. Findings were positive, however, about teachers’ perceptions about the role this policy plays on first language learning, students’ culture, and the Philippines as a nation.
Factors Leading to Limited Faculty Publications in Philippine Higher Education Institutions
(2015-10) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
One of the major expectations of the higher education faculty is to generate knowledge through research and disseminate it through scholarly conferences and journal publications. This expectation has created much pressure on faculty members in higher education, even more so in recent years, as more and more emphasis is placed on presenting and publishing research. Using content analysis as a design, this exploratory study is based on data from higher education faculty members of 3 different universities about the reasons they gave for having no or limited number of publications. Findings reveal that the 7 most challenging factors preventing faculty members from publishing enough or not publishing at all include having limited time, lack of training on publication, fear of rejection, lack of interest, faculty laziness, limited funds, and lack of institutional support. This study helps raise scholars’ awareness on the common issues expressed by the faculty, with the hope of starting some constructive discourse in colleges and universities on how to better support the work of publication. Some recommendations are made to help colleges and universities tackle more effectively the 7 issues found in this study.
Globalization, Minerals, War, and Education: the case of Congo
(2014) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
Seen as a bittersweet gift to the world today, especially in developing countries, globalization has had both positive and negative impacts on Africans, and especially on the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The resources of Congo have played an important role in globalization around the world; more so in the world outside Congo. Through the death of millions of people, socioeconomic and psychological challenges, the Congolese people have had to pay a very high price simply because of these resources that are so highly needed to sustain globalization. While expected to help address these challenges, higher education in the Congo has struggled to face the challenges of repeated wars. This case study presents the results of interviews, archival data, and participant observation done with educational leaders and administrators, teachers, and students in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that has been on war for almost two decades. The study explores how war affects the quality of higher education when a country is constantly under the challenges of war, and what is being done about it.
Instructional Design Foundations of Online Education
(2013-04) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
It is becoming a common practice today for educational leaders to check job applicants’ experience with online teaching as they consider names for a new faculty position. Conversely, less attention is placed on what type of online teaching training these job applicants received. Rarely are job applicants asked to present a demonstration of at least one online course that they have designed or taught. This deficit is probably due to the fact that there are not yet any fundamental principles to define what online education is and the principles that should guide its implementation. This paper introduces fundamental principles for online instruction. It synthesizes some important considerations to take into account in planning and implementing online education programs in Christian institutions.
Integrating Faith and Learning in Distance Education in the Ghanaian Context
(2015-10) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary; Appiah, John
Seventh-day Adventist education is unique because it is holistic and redemptive in nature. All components of the curriculum are geared toward students’ redemption by connecting them to Jesus Christ. Scriptures are expected to be an integral part of the academic programs to develop students’ spirituality. Programs such as church services, group meetings, and weeks of prayer are organized to connect resident students to Jesus Christ. Distance learning students, however, do not benefit from these programs. This paper synthesizes the philosophy of Adventist education, defines distance education, and recommends ways to integrate faith and learning among distance education students to provide an opportunity for them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. The paper can help other faith-based institutions to effectively integrate faith and learning in their curricula for distance learning.
Integration of Faith and Learning in the ESOL Classroom
(2016-04) Blath, Claudia E.; Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
In this world, education is led by different philosophies. Any education institution is based on a chosen philosophy. Christian institutions, for instance, are led by the Christian philosophy of life. In Christian higher education, the integration of faith and learning is of paramount importance, as professors and students approach teaching and learning within a Christian worldview. The classroom where English is learned as a second language (L2) is no exception when it comes to teaching methods to develop adult Christian minds. This paper discusses the implications of the integration of faith and learning in a classroom context where adults are learning English as an L2. It briefly reviews the biblical worldview that genuine Christian teachers should hold and transmit to their students through modeling. It analyzes the connection between the process of first and second L2 acquisition and universal grammar within the framework of God as Creator. It then analyzes key aspects that contribute to an effective integration of faith and learning in the English classes. Finally, it presents some practical suggestions on how to attain this holistic approach of teaching when teaching reading, writing, listening, speaking, and grammar.
Introduction to the Asian Qualitative Research Association Special Issue
(2017) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
Founded in 2015, the Asian Qualitative Research Association (AQRA) has become a leader in fostering qualitative research practice and education in the Philippines and beyond. Stating in 2016, AQRA has sponsored an annual conference featuring original qualitative research and scholarship. Past conference presenters were invited to submit their papers to The Qualitative Report (TQR) for peer review. As a result of this rigorous process, TQR is delighted to present this special issue in conjunction with AQRA.
Kenya’s Leadership Response to Covid-19 Pandemic and Possible Interventions between March and June 2020
(2020-10) Gai, Knollyne Oindih; Prof. Nyakora, Musa
Kenya is one of those countries in the world suffering from the deadly Corona virus and its economy is greatly affected. There is therefore a need for the Kenyan government to put measures in place to break the chain of spreading the virus by enforcing nationwide curfew, boarder lockdown of the most affected counties and stay and work from home measures. The Ministry of health alongside its stakeholders had to quickly set up various mechanisms to counter the disease. The government took drastic steps to curb the spread of the pandemic by closing down learning institutions, entertainment joints, eateries and public gathering including funerals. Church services and weddings were temporarily banned too. This was to break the chain and reduce the spread of the virus and if possible completely eliminate the Covid-19 in the country. Due to the urgency of the matter, leaders needed to embrace new ways of doing things and have a vision clearly spelt and well understood approach. On the other hand, leaders in charge of communication needed to verify their facts and not be too quick to call for press conferences to ensure that channels of communications were open to all in order to avoid speculations that results in lack of trust if things are not done in a transparent way.
Leadership and Spirituality in Practice: Literature Review on Humility as Distinctive Mark of Transformational Leadership
(2020-02) Hendjena, Tchanaga Richard; Prof. Nyakora, Musa O.
Humility is key to a successful transformational leader that needs to be admired, inspirer, motivator, innovative, creative, and genuine concerned to the followers.The supreme self-reliance of the magnanimous man implies the lack of two others traits: humility and piety. The greatest leaders of our world, those that have left their mark on history in transformative ways, understood the deep link between their leadership calling and their humility in seeing themselves as servants to something much greater than themselves. This paper aims to review several literature materials and relevant contributions reflecting on the subject of leadership and spirituality.
A Literature Review Perspective on Christian music in the context of African cultural complexities
(2021-01) Chepkwony, Paul; Prof. Nyakora, Musa
Christian music in African has overtime gained popularity with the rise of various religious groups using music to appeal to the conscience of their audience because of the love of music as part of the African cultural practices. This article seeks to review various literature to understand how to integrate the biblical understanding of Christian music with the complexities of African cultural singing objective. It has been proofed that Africans by nature are socially enriched through entertainment especially through music (Kwabena, 2000) and thus is believed to be one way of reaching many cultures in Africa especially with the gospel. Couple with the influx of modern music trends, religious singing in general is facing a number of issues including temptation to compromise biblical principles in an attempt to appeal to the African cultural mindset. This has led to differing contextualized Christian music approaches that seem to differ from one culture to another dictated by the African traditional singing perspective on one hand and interests of the many religious singing groups and solo artists on the other hand which have sprung up moving masses after them when performing their artistry. They all have divergent approaches to gospel music and trying to outdo one another and competitively changing tact and dynamically in disregard of the principles of Christian singing as embedded in the Bible. This literature review therefore attempts to incorporate cross-cultural theories, Christian music literature and Biblical counsel in the understanding of African music complexities with a view of aligning them with biblically based music guiding principles and approaches with relevant recommendations highlighted
Lived Experiences of International Male Married Single Students
(2013-10) Dr. Wa-Mbaleka, Safary
The Republic of the Philippines is attracting more and more international students, especially in tertiary institutions. People have realized that the Philippines has high quality education at an affordable cost. Consequently, the increase in the population of international students is evident in the Philippines. One unnoticeable group of international students that is creating a new phenomenon is the married singles, that is, married international students living in a foreign country without their families. Based on the accounts of two focus groups and eight individual interviews of male married singles, this phenomenological study explored factors that lead to married single life of international students, the impact of such a life on the students’ wellbeing and their academic performance, the effect on their families, and the ways they cope with this life during the course of their studies. The findings demonstrate that the financial challenges are the major cause of the phenomenon of married singles in the Philippines. Both positive and negative consequences were seen on the academic performance of married single students while only negative results were reported on their wellbeing.

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