Why students hire research mercenaries

If you move around various universities, among the popular posters you will see pined on kiosks, poles, trees and most noticeboards are those advertising individuals and agencies who write research proposals and dissertations for students.

“One wonders why they should go through all the hustle of research if they can hire someone to do it for them,” Richard, a Social Work and Social Administration student at Makerere University, says.
Since research takes a lot of time, resources and attention, Richard notes that a number of students have no patience and time or interest in doing it.

“Research usually comes at a time when you have course work and exams to sit for. But again, students just do not know what to do during research. I, for example, did not understand the importance of research, so I did not even know where to start, that’s why one of those people around campus had to do it for me,” he confides.

Though he passed his research, ideally Richard missed out on the couple of skills that come with a student doing their own research, such as learning communication and writing skills. In contrast is Janet Lucy Arinda, a Library and Information Science graduate from Makerere University, who says she did her own research.

“Aside from research, we had to do a project. I decided to do a circulation system for a library which is a tracking system for materials about when they are borrowed and returned to the library,” she explains.
During her research, Arinda had to investigate the tracking system Kawempe Youth Centre library currently had; how it worked, its loopholes, strengths, and whether the library needed the new tracking system.

“I learned all that by collecting data through questionnaires. I then had to draft a proposal to sell my idea to library users, staff and administration about the new tracking system, found out their recommendations, then analysed the data and presented it on graphs. After that, I moved on to actualising my research by implementing the system. All that took me about two months,” Arinda notes.

In the end, however, she had acquired skills such as data collection and analysis, creative skills, writing skills, communication skills and team work, skills a person such as Richard never gained.

Rationale for research
Dr Wilfred Kawuma, a lecturer at Busitema University, explains that though doing research is optional for some courses now, it used to be a very crucial part of a university student’s time at university.
He notes that during research, students are tasked to ‘take another look into’ any topic of their interest that is relevant to their course. “The rationale and basis for research is to find solutions.

It is to tell the student to look deeper into what is around them, or what available research about phenomena, a problem or issues that has been done, and use a keen eye to identify areas that were not well addressed and find solutions for them or gather more information about them or carry out more tests to solve or bridge those gaps,” Kawuma says, adding that this is in a way to condition students to widen their knowledge beyond reading just a few written documents but to seek to know more about issues.

“It is, however, unfortunate that many students at different academic levels do not understand or take interest in doing research, personal or academic. The symptoms of that are, for example, a generation of people who do not ask about the past, but just venture into things. The results are students who are not analytical or even interested in knowing more beyond what they already know,” he says.

Ill-preparation
Franko Olong Tusingwire, a Masters in Divinity student at the University of World Misssion Frontier, currently doing his research, condemns the act hiring researchers as being dishonest to one’s self and the lecturers.
“I believe I am going to study some more, and I think that if I do not get these skills now, I am going to hassle in future.

Therefore, regardless of how hard it is, I do it. And I have gained a lot of skills,” Tusingwire says. He, however, hints on the possibility that students are at times not prepared well for research. “Some institutions do not give students the skills and necessary preparation before they are sent out in the field to execute their research,” Tusingwire says.

The issue of research has created debate in Uganda and the whole of Africa among elites, many claiming that Africa contributes only a small percentage in the total research done across the world. This will not change unless students start researching at an early stage in their education.

“The rationale and basis for research is to find solutions. It is to tell the student to look deeper into what is around them, or what available research about phenomena, a problem or issues that has been done, and use a keen eye to identify areas that were not well addressed and find solutions for them or gather more information about them or carry out more tests to solve or bridge those gaps. This is in a way to condition students to widen their knowledge beyond reading just a few written documents but to seek to know more about issues.” Dr Wilfred Kawuma, lecturer Busitema University

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