A research Proposal on "The Effects of Drug abuse on Academic Performance in Secondary schools"

      

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ON

“THE EFFECTS OF DRUG ABUSE ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS”.

A CASE STUDY OF BALOHA SECONDARY SCHOOL IN KAHAMA-SHINYANGA.

SUBMISSION: 26/APRIL/2014.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: NGOGO NICAS.

THE SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL.

Research Proposal is the plan or description that has to be followed by the researcher in the conduction of the research or the proposed requirements.

Each discipline and granting agency has its own guidelines for writing research proposals, so be sure to consult your professor or advisor as well as any specific guidelines you have received. It is also helpful to locate sample proposals in your discipline or from the agency to which you are applying.

1.1. The purpose of the research proposal: The research proposal is your chance to explain the significance of your project to organizations that might wish to fund or otherwise support it. Ideally, it will demonstrate the quality and importance of your project as well as your ability to conduct the proposed research. The proposal also gives you the opportunity to think through your research project, to refine your focus, and to predict any challenges that may arise. It may be helpful to consult your proposal at various stages in your research process to remind yourself of your focus and to chart how your project has progressed.

The explained below are the summary of the research proposal or component of the research proposal;

1.2. TITLE PAGE: THE EFFECTS OF DRUG ABUSE IN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL as a working title, which may or may not change.

1.3. CHAPTER ONE: This chapter tries to explain what should be done to conduct the research proposal by analyzing the following,

1.4. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: Explain what you hope your research will find or show. State your research question or a series of research questions that you hope to answer.

1.5. BACKGROUND: Explain your interest in an experience with this topic. Describe any previous research you have conducted on this or related topics, any classes you have taken on this or related topics or any reading you have done in the field. If you have personal experience that has led to you want to do more research, describe that here.

1.6. PROBLEMS: Describe problems you expect to encounter and how you hope to solve them. For example, texts might be unavailable, necessitating travel to other libraries or use of inter-library loan facilities; the time frame may limit the amount of research or the quality or specificity of research you are able to do; people you had hoped to interview might be unavailable or unwilling to participate. Try to anticipate every major problem and make contingency plans so that the project doesn’t become derailed

1.7. SIGNIFICANCE: Explain why this topic is worth considering or why this question or series of questions is worth answering. What do you hope to learn from it? How or what will you contribute to the field of knowledge that exists on this topic? What new perspective will you bring? What use might your final pa-per be for others in the field or in the general public? With whom might you share your findings once the project is complete?

1.8. CHAPTER TWO: THE LITRETURE REVIEW.

This means due to our research proposal we have consulted different books that are relevant to our topic. We have observed the following what other scholars said?, what scholar discovered and not discovered? And the quality of the research.

1.9. CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGIES:

Describe the kind of research you will conduct this project (library research, internet re-search, interviews, observations, ethnographies, etc.). Explain how you will conduct your research in as much detail as possible. If you will consult other sources (such as a statistician, an ethnographer, or a librarian) explain what role they will serve and how you hope they will enhance your development of an appropriate methodology for this project. Discuss the kinds of sources you hope to consult and the methods you will use to extract and process the information you gather in as much detail as possible. Once the project is underway, you might find you need to revise your methodology or adopt new methods of gathering and processing data.

2.0. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Make a list of texts you plan to consult. You may modify this list as you conduct your research.

The following are importance of the research proposal;

It provides guideline to the researcher for adopting the systematic approach towards the solution of the problem. This means the research proposal try to show how the way and propose the direct campus of how the problem is to be solved to reach the exactly solution of the problem. This is because it implies the scientific methods of research findings.

It provides the basis for evaluation of the proposal by the researcher. It makes the awareness to the researcher of the problem and difficulties he or she will face in his or her study. Research proposal prepares the researcher to be ready for the problems or difficulties that can be encounter during the conduction of the study like financial shortage.

It restores confidence of the researcher about the feasibility and worth of his or her investigation. Due to the preparation of the research proposal, a researcher gain confidence and wisdom that is supposed to be done during the conduction of the research, example following the systematic procedures and observing the roles of the respondents by making the effectiveness of the good implication of the questions hence good restore of the confidence.

It stimulates the researcher and moves him to the goals of completing his project. This due to the fact that, research proposal provides the direction when stepping towards the research conduction. A research proposal directs the researcher to conduct the research effectively by following the proposed goals and chapters like Introduction, Literature Review and Methodologies.

It helps to the whole process of the data collection. The process of Data collection depends on the plan of the researcher, the process of data collection may take the form of Interview, Experiments, Observation recording or may take a form distributing and collecting questionnaires.

It helps to the formation of research objectives, objectives are the goals that an individual set out to attain in the study. Objectives informs about the intentions of taking through the study.

It works as the frame work of the research process. In order to conduct research or collecting data must have the framework which provides a sample of what are going to be collected.

It helps to improve methodologies through literature review, informs about versus about procedures and methods which were used in a similar study.

It helps to avoid unnecessary duplication, that is to say, it gives the researcher different reviews, help to select important information which help to find a research gap.

It helps to bring clarity and focus to research problem. This is because it helps an individual to understand between the research problem and body of knowledge in the area of interest.

CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION.

This chapter consisted of the background of the research problem, statement of the study, the scope of the study and limitation of the problem.

2.1.Background of the Research Problem.

Drug abuse among teens is the great problem that has speeded all over the world. In Jamaica, the use of drugs abuse by teenagers has more increased over the decades in studying the drug usage patterns of Jamaican teens discovered that while usage was not dependent on sex.

In 1989, 78 percent of teens males and percent of teen female were using one of the four drugs (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and tobacco) between 1994 and 1995; it indicates that 60 percent of the teens have tried one or more drugs including marijuana while 1.3 percent has used cocaine. These alarming levels of reported drug abuse continued to grow as in 2006, one(1) in every three (3) students in  secondary schools admitted to use the hashish while one (1) of the ten (10) students admitted to currently using drugs. (Gleaner , 2010),(Alexander. Et al 2001).

In Tanzania also the problem has speeded at large percents whereby the Students from secondary schools has noted that are taking drug abuse. It seemed to be there the relationship between the drug abuse and the academic performance, but most of them are negative relationship between the use of drug and academic performance is instinctively appealing and to some extent this kind of relationship has been proven, has established that drug abuse could result from many variables, with poor academic performance being key variable in explaining students’ initial and continued abuse of drugs. There is still no consensus in the literature concerning the existence of a causal link between consumption of addicted substances and educational outcomes. On the one hand, some studies provide evidence that, heavy drinking and drug consumption lead to a lower schooling of the academic performance.

De simone, find that by introducing a large Vector of covariates which control the heterogeneity between alcohol consumers and non consumers, the negative causal relationship between alcohol user and academic performance remains significantly for the heavy drinking. (Cook., et al 1993).

Also the problem has been seen in the region of Shinyanga where by substances consumption on Educational outcomes is the fact that students who regularly consume alcohol and drugs do not constitute a random sample of the population of the students. They tend to present some characteristics that are systematically differing from those of students who abstain from drug alcohol consumption. For instance, this behavior is negatively associated with family income and Educational background. In Baloha Secondary school in Kahama town the same issue persist adolescents who abuse drugs often act out do poorly academically and drop out of school performance of the students. They at risk of unplanned pregnancies, violence and Infectious diseases.

2.2.Statement of the Problem.

Drug abuse among the teens and school students seem to have detrimental effect on academic performance. Youth are more susceptible to the short and long term cognitive effect of drug abuse while the social and emotional repercussions further increase risk factor for problem in school. It is important for the parents and students to learn the risk of the drug use and take action as soon as concerns are raised to avoid serious problems in school. This problem has become in the issue of Kahama Town, baloha secondary school as a case study. Hence the study wants to investigate its effect on academic performance.

2.3. Research Objectives:

2.3.1.      General Objectives:

To find out the effects of drug abuse on academic performance in secondary school in kahama Town.

2.3.2.      Specific Objectives.

2.3.2.1.To identify the causes of teens to engage in drug abuse at Baloha secondary school.

2.3.2.2.To identify the impacts of drug abuse on acadmic performance at Baloha secondary school.

2.3.2.3.To suggest the possible solutions toward drug abuse at Baloha secondary school.

2.4.Research Questions.

2.4.1.      What causes teens to engage in drug abuse?

2.4.2.      What are the effects of drug abuse toward academic performance at Baloha secondary school?

2.4.3.      What are possible solutions toward drug abuse at Baloha secondary school?

2.5.The significance of the study.

The study expect to generate and add knowledge on the analysis of Drug abuse and academic performance in secondary school in Kahama Town as it will be helpful to those stake holders in education to manage students in schools and hence performance will be raised.

2.6.The scope of the study.

The study will concentrate on the negative effects of drug abuse toward academic performance at Baloha secondary school in Kahama Town.

2.7.Limitation of the study.

The investigator expect to face some challenges which may arise during the research work, these challenges may be of financial problems, despite the fact that the budget has been set but there might be occurrence of unexpected events such as money, a researcher may use more money that are not satisfy, however new alternatives to overcome the new situation will be taken. Also the allocated time may be short compared to the task of the provided research.

2.8.Conceptual or theoretical framework of the study.

The researcher will use social learning theory. The theory which was proposed by Albat  Bandula, this theory focus on the meaning that occurs within a social context. It considers that people learn from one to another including learning through observation, imitation, and modeling. According to this title which states that “the effects of drug abuse on academic performance in secondary school”. It will help the research to use observation.

CHAPTER TWO:

LITERATURE REVIEW.

Introduction.

This chapter consists of the causes of the teens to engage in drug abuse, the effects of drug abuse in academic performance and the possible solutions of the problem.

The following are the explanations from different existing literature reviews:

3.0. Causes of teens to engage in drug abuse.

People start taking drug abuse because of the various factors as follows;

The feeling of being good; most abused drugs produce intense feelings of pleasure. This initial sensation of euphoria is followed by other effects which differ with the type of drug used. Example with stimulant such as cocaine, the high is followed by feeling of power, self confidence and increased energy. In contrast the euphoria caused by opiates such as heroin is followed by feeling of relaxation and satisfaction.

The feeling of being better; some people who suffer from social anxiety, stress related disorders and depression begin abusing drugs in attempt to lessen feeling of stress. Stress can play a major role in beginning drug abuse, continuing drug abuse in patient recovering from addiction.

The feeling of doing better; the increase of some people  feel to chemically enhance or improve their athletic or cognitive performance can similarly play in a role in initial experimentations and continued drug abuse.

To find out what like and to fit in; the adolescents in particularly are faced with this problem because of the peer influence from their fellow friends, example to engage in thrilling and daring behaviors. (Dee., et al 2003)

At the previous time, people thought that drug abuse are more beneficially to them, they believed that they can control their use however drugs took quickly of their lives. If drug use continues, pleasurable activities become less pleasurable and drug abuse becomes necessary for abusers to simply feel normal. Drug abusers reach a point where they seek and take drugs, despite the tremendous problems caused by themselves and their loved ones. Some individuals may start to feel the need to take the higher or more frequent doses even in the early stages of the drug use. (Paschall., et al 2003).

The first decision to take drugs is mostly voluntary. However, when drug abuse takes over, a person’s ability to exert self control can become seriously impared. Brain imaging studies from drug-addicted individuals show physical changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. These changes may alter the way the brain works, and may help explain the compulsive and destructive behaviours of addiction.( Duarte, et al 2006).

As with any other disease, vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person. In general, the more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs will lead to abuse and addiction. No one think determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs. The overall risk for addiction is imparted by the biological make up of the individual-it can even be influenced by gender or ethnicity, his or her developmental stage, and the surrounding social environment example, conditions example, conditions at home and at schools.( Duarte et el 2006)

3.1. Effects of drugs Abuse to the Academic Performance.

Drug abuses among teens and college students have a detrimental effect on academic performance. Young people are more susceptible to the short-and long-term cognitive effects of drug abuse while the social and emotional repercussions further increase risk factors for problems in school. It is important for parents and students to learn the risks of drug use and take action as soon as concerns are raised to avoid serious problems in school. Advanced brain scan imaging has proven that the human brain is not fully developed at puberty as previously though with maturation occurring as late as 24 years of age. “While each drug produces different physical effects, all abused substances share one thing in common: repeated use can alter the way the brain looks and functions.” Common effects of drug use on the brain that impact academic learning includes difficulty concentrating, inability to process information and problems with working memory.

In 2007, “Almost 50 percent of 12^th Graders say that they have used drugs at least once in their lifetime, and 18 percent report using marijuana in the last month. Prescription drug abuse is high with nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors reporting non-medical use of the painkiller violin in the past years.”( Dee et al 2003)

Despite the fact that adolescents have under –brains lacking the impulse control of adults, education and parent involvement can reduce a young person’s risk drug abuse and use. Kids who learn a lot about the risks of drugs and alcohol from their parents are up to 50% less likely to use than those who do not. Dee, 2003).

3.2. Some possible Solution against Drug Abuse.

If they provide poor quality supervision to their children including respect to alcohol and drug consumption, then the empirical association between education and the consumption of substances would be spurious. In addition, more impatient children are both more likely to smoke and drink alcohol and procrastinate with their school working duties. Thus, it is difficult to disentangle the causal effect of consumption of drugs and alcohol per session educational achievement. To account for this endogenously problem employs a bivariate probity model to jointly estimate the determinants of schooling and drinking or smoking decision. (cook, 1993).

Their result indicates a negatives causal relationship between alcohol consumption and schooling attendance. However, this study can be criticized on the grounds that it relies on the availability of a valid instrument that is a factor has some bearing on the decision to use alcohol and drug, but that is unrelated to schooling. Nevertheless, the accuracy of this estimation technique depends on the power and validity of the instrument. In the former study, binge drinking is instrumented by minimum legal drinking age. It can be argued that , states which are more lexis with the legal drinking age and those that are more restrictively are likely to differ regarding other characteristics which directly affect high school dropout rates, since control of variables for the United States are not included  in the analysis.. In the second study the authors try to identify the effects of heavy drinking on high school dropout. However there is still a reverse causality problem, since schooling performance mainly relies on students’ ability to provide regular working effort.( Alexander, et al 2001).

Therefore the students who engaged in heavy drinking in a random month of the year, is more likely to drop out than another students who did not. In addition, it does not solve for the election bias. An alternatives method designed to correct for the selection on unobservable propensity to continuously push back further scheduled activities associated with a disutility to favor short term alternatives activities such as leisure ones. It attempts to study the effect of alcohol, tobacco. Marijuana and cocaine use on Educational achievements. (Duarte, et al 2006).

3.3. Synthesis of the literature review.

The literature review discuss about, the effects of drug abuse to the students on how it affects them, each drug produces different physical effects, all abused substances share one thing in common, repeated use can alter the way the brain looks and functions.

Common effects of drug on the brain that impact the academic learning includes difficulty concentrating inability to process information and problems with working memory.

3.4. Knowledge gap.

The literature review that has been reviewed has not shown the clearly and the exactly effects of the drug abuse in the academic performance of the students in schools, especially statistics of the students who are using the drugs and those who are not. This has been caused by the notion that, the students cannot do well in their studies without taking alcohol and other chemical substances like Hashish, Cocaine and so on. Due to this fact, the study needs to concentrate by coming up with the best and solvable alternatives toward the effects of the drug abuse on the academic performance of the students in Tanzanian schools.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES:

Introduction.

This chapter comprises of Research design, Area of the study, Population of the study, sampling techniques, Sampling size, Methods of the Data collection, Questionnaires, Interview, Observation, Focus Group discussion, and Data analysis Techniques.

4.0. Research design.

During the conducting of the research, a researcher will use both Quantitative and Qualitative methods, this is because a Researcher aiming at getting both statistical and descriptive data toward the existing problem or finding. Due to this, A researcher will be in position of accumulating more data as intended to solve the problem.

4.1. Area of the study.

The study will be done at Chela ward in Kahama Shinyanga . Kahama Town is located west Tanzania bordered with Tabora, Geita and Mwanza regions. Kahama is occupied by various group of people with different cultural background and tribes such as Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Chagga, and sumbwa.

The people of Kahama Town are the great producers of Cotton and Rice crops where they cultivate it. Also the people of kahama they do engage in various economic activities like Trading of Agricultural products and trading of Animals like cows and cattle where by the accumulate wealth for their life improvement. Also kahama is covered with the potential mineral like Gold which is extracted by the company of Barrick Gold Mining nominated as Buzwagi Gold Mining.

Therefore, the study will be done at Baloha secondary school as the case study of the research. This school has been selected because it seems to posses the most features of the most students to use drugs at school, and it is easy for the researcher to reach and acquire data with the low cost compared with other schools like Bulige secondary school and Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Secondary School.

4.2. Population of the study.

The study will comprise of total number of two hundred of the whole population. The study will comprise three groups of people, such as Teachers, Students and other Non academic staffs. This will be more successful because of the area to be very easily reachable and accessible.

4.3. Sampling Techniques.

The study will use the Simple random sampling, Systematic random sampling, Stratified random sampling and convenience sampling, these techniques will be helpful to the researcher to get the sample of respondents who will be involved in the study while avoiding bias to all segments, since the researcher will go directly to the people expected to have data about the study.

4.4. Sampling Size.

The study will use the sample size of 30% of the whole population which will be included like school Teachers, Students and other non academic staffs to be involved in the study.

4.5. Method of Data Collection.

Data will be collected by involving variety of methods in order to get data; such as Questionnaires, Interview, Observation and Focus group Discussion.

4.6.1. Questionnaires.

The method will be used to collect data by wanting the respondents to answer the short answers and others to provide detailed data or information about the study. The aim of using this is to collect the data from the respondents who live far away from the researcher.

4.6.2. Interview.

The study will use the structured and unstructured interview to gather information or data of the study from different respondents. This is because it easy and flexible to cope with the Environment of the youth in the Chela Ward.

4.6.3. Observation.

The researcher will observe both direct and indirect about the study because the nature of adolescents, some of them may not feel well once they realize being observed especially the school teens like drug abusers. This will enable to collect data simply from the respondents.

4.6.4. Focus Group Discussion.

The researcher also will use the focus group discussion in the collection of data because the Researcher will have a short discussion with the participants who are suspected to have some data concerning with the study.

4.7. Data Analysis Techniques.

Researcher will analyze data using different ways such as the use of charts, Questionnaire coding key, Tables, which help a researcher to researcher to analyze data and to make summary of the research work, through the use of tallying, also by using pilot study, will be applied as a researcher will test his tools before data collection.

REFFERENCES.

Alexander, C., Piazza, M. et al (2001). Peers, schools and adolescent cigarette

Smoking. Journal of adolescent Health, 29 (1).

Cook, J.P. and Moore, M.(1993) Drinking and schooling Journal of Health

Economics,12(4), 411-429.

Dee,T.S. and Evans, W.N. (2003). Teen drinking and educational attainment. Evidence

From two-sample instrumental variables estimates, journal of labor 21(1), 178-209.

Duarte, R., Escario J.J. and Molina, J.A. (2006). Marijuana consumption and school

Failure among Spanish students, Economics of Education Review, 25, 472-481.

Paschall,M.J, and Fereisthler, B. (2003). Does heavy drinking affect academic

performance in college? Evidence from a prospective study of high school achievers, in journal of studies on Alcohol 64, 515-519.