The purpose of this study was to establish students' perceptions and expectations of entrepreneurship education. A quantitative research method was adopted for the study, and data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Data was collected from students of the two universities in South Africa with different characteristics. Regarding the demographic, one was in the city, and the other was in a rural area. Data analysis was computed using Stata version 15. The findings indicate that the students are agreeable that entrepreneurship education is important to provide an understanding of entrepreneurial activities. They further stated that it inspires them to start the businesses either during and/or after completing their qualifications. It is further noted that the students from the city university are more optimistic about entrepreneurship education than those in a rural university setting. It can be concluded that students perceive entrepreneurship education as a way of inspiring them to take entrepreneurship as a career.

This comparative, explanatory and cross-sectional quantitative study was aimed at evaluating students’ perspectives of entrepreneurial intentions. The secondary data used comprised of 484 (205 [42.36%] Walter Sisulu University and 279 [57.64%] Tshwane University of Technology) students. The study reported that students at the two universities had similar perceptions of entrepreneurial intentions, and that students from Tshwane University of Technology are more likely to encourage other people to study entrepreneurship education than their Walter Sisulu University counterparts. This paper recommends that entrepreneurship education should be introduced to students at some early stages of their education life. Students’ education that incorporates activities that are real-life based and demanding problem-solving skills such as technology of things (digital technology) may prove to be vital for exposing students to knowledge and useful skills in order for students to generate income and to create employment opportunities.

This cross-sectional qualitative study was aimed at exploring the factors that are associated with the performance of small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa and China. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 business owners to take part in the study. Data collected was analysed using Tesch’s data reduction technique of open coding. The study revealed that training in financial management, managerial skills, government support and access to market, use of technology and start-up capital, all of which are important for the viability and success of businesses, are important for the performance of the business. The results of the study indicate that access to finance by small, medium and micro enterprises remains an important challenge. It is recommended that policy-makers and government support agencies refine their support intervention strategies and policies for small businesses to thrive.

PURPOSEThis paper presents an interpretive data analysis from a superordinate study that aimed to determine foodservice satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to determine inpatient hospital foodservice experiences.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACHThe authors used secondary data obtained from 419 respondents: (225 (53.70 per cent) males, 178 (42.48 per cent) females and 16 (3.82 per cent) undisclosed) participants. A comparative, quantitative and cross-sectional approach was applied to provide insight into hospital foodservice experiences. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, interpreted at 0.05 error rate, was used to compare male and female patient experiences.FINDINGSMale patients had significantly higher rank-sum scores than female patients in almost all items (p<0.0001). The study revealed that hospital personnel, especially foodservice staff, had an unsatisfactory communication approach.ORIGINALITY/VALUEThis is the first South African study that compares female and male inpatient foodservice perceptions. Hospital managers and stakeholders may need to consider patient's gender, as a significant factor that is associated with patient experiences, when embarking on improving foodservice systems.

Article published in the Journal of Gender, Information & Development in Africa Volume 7 Number 3, Dec. 2018 Pp 97-12

This comparative, cross-sectional, quantitative and ex-post-facto designed study used secondary and correlated data to compare the likelihood of passing matric between learners from Gauteng and Western Cape provinces, even after adjusting for subject-type. This study attempted to assess the relation between school resources input, subject offered, learner’s gender and learners’ academic achievements. The data used in this study were supplied by the Umalusi Council. The dataset contained 145783 matric learners (65245 [44.75%] males and 80538 [55.25%] females) who wrote the matric examinations in Gauteng and Western Cape provinces in November 2009. The unadjusted model indicated that learners in Western Cape were significantly 1.193 more likely to pass matric than learners in Gauteng province (p < 0.001, OR = 1.193, 95%CI: 1.164 - 1.223). The adjusted model results indicated that learners in the Western Cape province were 1.5122 more likely to pass matric when compared to learners in Gauteng province (p < 0.001, OR = 1.512, 95%CI: 1.471 - 1.555). These results indicate that the odds of passing matric, after adjusting for science subjects, increased in favour of learners in the Western Cape Province. It can be concluded that the Western Cape Province provides more enabling conditions to ensure matriculants’ superior performance. It is suggested the strategies to improve the quality of mathematics and science educators need to be implemented, especially in Gauteng province. Also, the policy that advocates for the differentiation approach should be adopted, as opposed to the current policy that advocates for a more general, rigid approach that does not recognise the inherent differences in the provinces.

This paper presents the researchers’ interpretive analysis of data from the main study that was aimed at proposing the method that will plausibly be used to analyse the Grade 12 results and to compare performances of learners between provinces of South Africa. This cross-sectional, quantitative, and ex-post-facto designed study used secondary and clustered data, as supplied by Department of Basic Education through Umalusi council, to compare the likelihood of passing Grade 12 between male and female learners in the Gauteng Province, even after adjusting for school quintile. Thus, this work attempted to model the relation between school resources inputs and school outcomes called educational achievements or academic performances. The dataset contained a total of 98894 (45.44% male and 54.56% female) learners who set for Grade 12 examinations in 2008 academic. The crude estimates indicated that female learners than male learners were significantly 1.035 more likely to pass Grade 12 (OR = 1.035, p = 0.016, 95% CI: 1.006 - 1.065). Also, the school quintile adjusted model indicated that female learners than their male counterparts were significantly 1.040 more likely to pass Grade 12 (OR = 1.040, p = 0.010, 95% CI: 1.009 - 1.072). The significant effect of school quintile favoured female learners (p < 0.001). These results, from disaggregated analysis, indicated that there was sufficient evidence that female than male learners had better chances of passing Grade 12 in Gauteng Province. Therefore, authorities may consider the issue of learner-gender when allocating resources to different school In Gauteng Province.

This paper presents part of the main study that was aimed at determining the effect of factors that affect learners’ poor performances in mathematics in rural areas of Limpopo Province in South Africa. This cross-sectional and quantitative study, which was aimed to exploring learners’ perceptions about factors that affect their performances in mathematics, used secondary data consisting of 113 randomly sampled participants, 38(33.63%) male and 75(66.37%) female learners, from Sekgosese cluster in the Limpopo Province. The questionnaire use for data collection was found to be reliable at Cronbach’s α =0.7002. Pearson’s chi-square test results, interpreted at 0.05 error rate, revealed that male and female learners had similar perceptions about socioeconomic status (p=0.502), parental involvement (p=0.142), learner’s age (p=0.295), leaner’s gender (p = 0.816), absenteeism (p=0.484), learner attitude (p=0.208), punctuality (p=0.693), substance abuse (p=0.485), command of English language (p=0.457), overcrowding (p=0.182) and school quintile (p=0.749), as factors that affect learners’ poor performances in mathematics. Significant association was observed between participants’ gender and parents’ education (p=0.026); wherein most female participants than male participants disagreed with the fact that parents’ education is a significant contributor towards learners’ poor performances in mathematics (n=38;55.07% versus n=16; 44.44%). The study results have implications for education authorities’ strategic efforts to adjust for factors that, according to the learners, are important when intervening in the learning and teaching of mathematics.Keywords: Learner performance, learners’ perceptions, mathematics learning, school quintile, parents’ educational status

Fixed effects models, which assume that all observations are independent of each other, are not appropriate for analysis of correlated data. To ensure that every learner achieves high academic standards, it is important to understand aggregate data. However, it is even more important to understand the disaggregated data. The aggregated analysis’ result shows that the difference of the overall performances (49.377 and 50.099) favoured the learners from the Western Cape Province than Gauteng Province. The crude estimates indicate that the learners from the Western Cape Province than those from Gauteng Province are 1.161126 (95% Confidence Interval = 1.131252 - 1.191788) more likely to pass Grade 12. Similarly, the gender adjusted model indicates that the learners from the Western Cape Province than those from Gauteng Province are significantly 1.161375 (95% Confidence Interval = 1.131487 - 1.192053) more likely to pass Grade 12. The effect of gender favoured the Western Cape Province. Keywords: Clustered data; aggregated analysis; hierarchical linearmodels; performance; learner gender

This cross-section, comparative and quantitative study used secondary data, as supplied by the Department of Basic Education through Umalusi council. The dataset contained a total of 54546 (47.15% male and 52.85% female) learners who set for matric examinations in 2008 academic year. The study aimed at comparing the performances of male and female matriculants in Mpumalanga Province. Contrary to the crude estimates which indicated that the performances of male and females are not significantly different ( p = 0.076, β = 0.133, 95% CI: - 0.029 to 0.579) - the result from adjusted mixed-effects model indicates that female learners performed significantly better than male learners ( p < 0.043, β = 1.311, 95% CI: 0.010 – 1.612). The type of school is significantly associated with learners’ performances. Educational authorities may need to introduce policies that balance the distribution of educational resources, as they take heed of gender-issues. Keywords: Matriculant, Academic performance, Gender, Mixed-effects model, Type of school

Disparities between boys and girls in academic performances, especially reading and mathematics achievement, have been a concern among educators for several decades (Guiso, Monte, Sapeinza & Zingales, 2008; Center on Education Policy, 2010). However, the number of mathematics and science learning subjects taken by female high school learners has increased and now the mean and standard deviation in performance on mathematics test scores are only slightly larger for males than for females (Niederle & Vesterlund, 2010). Despite minor differences in mean performance, Hedges and Nowell (1995) show that more boys than girls perform at the right tail of the distribution. Studies have long noted differences in the achievement of girls and boys in reading and mathematics (Guiso et al., 2008; Center on Education Policy, 2010). Historically, females have tended to perform better on reading tests while males have performed better on mathematics tests, particularly at the high school level (Willingham & Cole, 1997; Guiso et al., 2008). Although tests of general intelligence suggest no overall difference between males and females, large differences by gender are apparent in scores on specific cognitive tasks: males tend to do better at certain spatial and visual tasks while females tend to excel verbally (Dee, 2005; Guiso et al., 2008; Center on Education Policy, 2010).The problem of predicting learner academic performance is important for learners, parents as well as for institutions such as schools and universities. It is this importance that calls for proper analysis and inference of results. To achieve proper inference one needs to identify the sampling frame, unit of observation and unit of analysis, and to identify a suitable method for analysis.Education as a discipline has a larger frame of reference, also called sampling frame. All scholars, educators, educational researchers, heads of education departments, students and learners may represent the sampling frame. These sampling units can be found in the classrooms, schools, departments, faculties, research institutions, and so on. Observations that belong to the same community are not necessarily independent, hence clustered data (Letsoalo & Lesaoana, 2012). As such in many applied sciences, like in education setting, one is often confronted with correlated or clustered data.A unit of analysis is the most basic element of a scientific research project. It is the entity on which there are data which will be subjected to (statistical) analysis. That is, the unit of analysis is the subject (the who or what) of study about which an analyst may generalise. The phrase unit of analysis (in statistical models) is the source of much confusion in the context of clustered data (Murray, 1998). Much confusion is due to the fact that there are many units from which to choose that researchers or analysts may easily and unknowingly choose incorrectly. Units of analysis may be different from the units of observation. The unit of observation is the entity on which the original measurements are made. For example, achievements of learners are often aggregated to allow provinces to be compared. It is the province about which the analyst generalises, not the learners. Therefore, learners become unit of observation while province is the unit of analysis.In statistical analysis, and in particular in educational settings, it is sometimes not clear what the appropriate level of analysis is. For instance, persons are in groups (e.g., learners in classrooms), and either person or group could be the unit of analysis. On the other hand, a unit of observation is an object about which information is collected, e.g. an individual learner (Boyd, 2008).The problem of the choice of unit of analysis is prevalent also in medical setting. Calhoun, Guyatt, Cabana, Lu, Turner, Valentine and Randolph (2008) found a high number of frequencies that patients are incorrectly used as the unit of analysis among studies of physicians' patient care behaviour. …

The purpose of this paper is to give an account of the concept of corporate social responsibility as implemented by small business owners in the Northern townships of Pretoria, South Africa. The research used a cross-sectional design where a quantitative approach was employed to investigate the practice of corporate social responsibility of small and medium enterprises in the northern townships of Pretoria.The findings indicate that businesses in the surveyed areas practice Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It was found that small, medium enterprises (SMEs) believed that practising CSR is likely to promote the business image. Corporate social responsibility also brings new opportunities for the business in the terms of support from the community that they are operating in. The findings provide valuable insight on how small; medium enterprise owners and managers perceive the Corporate Social Responsibility practices within their businesses. In the end SMEs owners believed that it is imperative to contribute towards Corporate Social Investment for sustainable profitability whilst caring for the customers as well the broad community.It can be deduced that practising social responsibility is likely to contribute to a favourable image of the enterprise.

Introduction Typhoid fever remains an important cause of disease in developing countries. In 2002, it caused an estimated 408 837 episodes of illness in Africa. (1) Salmonella Typhi, the causative agent, is most frequently isolated from blood during the first week of illness but can also be isolated during the second or third week of illness, during the first week of antimicrobial therapy and during clinical relapse. (2) Isolation of Salmonella Typhi from bone marrow is the current gold standard method for confirming a case of typhoid fever. However, this requires equipment, supplies and trained laboratory personnel seldom found in primary health-care facilities in the developing world. (3,4) Blood culture is a more practical albeit less sensitive alternative to bone marrow culture. However, it is not always available and, when it is, it takes 2 to 3 days. As a result, diagnosis may be delayed or overlooked and patients without typhoid fever may receive unnecessary and inappropriate antimicrobial treatment. For this reason, in developing countries typhoid rapid antibody tests can facilitate diagnosis and disease management. New commercially available typhoid rapid antibody tests have been evaluated in Asia, where typhoid fever is known to be highly endemic. (1,5) In Asian studies the tests have shown variable performance. While the TUBEX[R] test was the most sensitive and specific in the Philippines, (6) neither TUBEX[R] nor Typhidot[R] was both sensitive and specific in two evaluations undertaken in Viet Nam (7,8) and performance was poor in a trial conducted in a community clinic in Bangladesh and in a study in Egypt in which it was compared with a new ELISA not yet commercially available. (10) Rapid typhoid tests have not been evaluated in sub-Saharan Africa, where the typhoid fever burden may be smaller than in Asia. (11-13) The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued no recommendations on the use of typhoid rapid antibody tests. (14) Accurate diagnostics for typhoid fever could provide valuable diagnostic information for patient management and make it possible to estimate the incidence of typhoid fever in low-resource settings. We evaluated three diagnostic kits that are commercially available internationally using four rapid methods for detecting antibodies to Salmonella Typhi (typhoid rapid antibody tests) and used blood culture as the standard for comparison. Methods Participants Patients were recruited from two sub-Saharan African sites: Mpumalanga province, South Africa, and Moshi, United Republic of Tanzania. They were selected to represent patients from southern and eastern Africa, respectively. The recruitment method differed between sites. In South Africa, we enrolled subjects suspected of having typhoid fever; in the United Republic of Tanzania, we enrolled patients who were participants in a study on the etiology of febrile illness. Patients were recruited at both sites between 2007 and 2009. In the South African site we obtained blood from suspected typhoid fever cases reporting no current use of antimicrobials who presented to Rob Ferreira Hospital (RFH), in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga province, or to hospitals referring patients to RFH. In the United Republic of Tanzania site, we obtained blood from consecutive febrile inpatients admitted to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) and Mawenzi Regional Hospital. (15,16) At both sites we incubated the blood in a continuously monitored blood culture system (Bac-T Alert, bioMerieux, Marcy L'Etoile, France). Bottles flagged as positive by the instrument were removed for subculture and identification by standard techniques. (17) In both study sites, we enrolled patients who presented with a febrile illness suspected of being typhoid fever. We collected data on those patients who fulfilled the clinical criteria for suspected typhoid fever (a history of fever or demonstrated pyrexia [body temperature > 38 [degrees]C. …

Farmers generally collect fresh plant materials from the wild for ethnoveterinary uses. They are encouraged to harvest with caution and dry or cultivate important materials in order to protect the biodiversity. These recommendations are not validated scientifically. The microplate method for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination was used to compare wild with cultivated, and fresh with dry plant materials. The MIC values obtained ranged from 1.25 to 0.01 mg/ml. MIC values ≤0.3 mg/ml were considered as cut off point between effective and none effective inhibition. The multilevel linear models (hierarchical linear models), both unadjusted and adjusted models were employed. The plant (name) was considered as level-2 or higher level, while the actual observation was level-1 or lower level. The crude estimates of the odds ratio indicated that wild is significantly 0.57 times less likely than garden to yield MIC values of more than 0.3 mg/ml (p-value = 0.005). Also, fresh are about 4.195 times more likely than dry to yield MIC scores of more than 0.3 mg/ml (p-value < 0.001). Adjusting for conditions “dry and fresh”, microbe and solvent; wild is significantly 0.52 times less likely than garden to yield MIC values of more than 0.3 mg/ml (p-value = 0.003). On the other hand, when adjusting for “wild or garden”, type of solvents and type of microbes; fresh is significantly 4.202 times more likely than dry to yield MIC values of more than 0.3 mg/ml (p-value < 0.001). These results partially support farmers claiming that wild plant materials are more potent than the grown ones. On the contrary, the results are in favour of drying plant materials. Key words: Antibacterial, medicinal plants, wild, cultivated, fresh, dry, odd ratio.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate three commercial typhoid rapid antibody tests for Salmonella Typhi antibodies in patients suspected of having typhoid fever in Mpumalanga, South Africa, and Moshi, United Republic of Tanzania.METHODS:The diagnostic accuracy of Cromotest(®) (semiquantitative slide agglutination and single tube Widal test), TUBEX(®) and Typhidot(®) was assessed against that of blood culture. Performance was modelled for scenarios with pretest probabilities of 5% and 50%.FINDINGS:In total 92 patients enrolled: 53 (57.6%) from South Africa and 39 (42.4%) from the United Republic of Tanzania. Salmonella Typhi was isolated from the blood of 28 (30.4%) patients. The semiquantitative slide agglutination and single-tube Widal tests had positive predictive values (PPVs) of 25.0% (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.6-80.6) and 20.0% (95% CI: 2.5-55.6), respectively. The newer typhoid rapid antibody tests had comparable PPVs: TUBEX(®), 54.1% (95% CI: 36.9-70.5); Typhidot(®) IgM, 56.7% (95% CI: 37.4-74.5); and Typhidot(®) IgG, 54.3% (95% CI: 36.6-71.2). For a pretest probability of 5%, PPVs were: TUBEX(®), 11.0% (95% CI: 6.6-17.9); Typhidot(®) IgM, 9.1% (95% CI: 5.8-14.0); and Typhidot(®) IgG, 11.0% (6.3-18.4). For a pretest probability of 50%, PPVs were: TUBEX(®), 70.2% (95% CI: 57.3-80.5); Typhidot(®) IgM, 65.6% (95% CI: 54.0-75.6); and Typhidot(®) IgG, 70.0% (95% CI: 56.0-81.1).CONCLUSION:Semiquantitative slide agglutination and single-tube Widal tests performed poorly. TUBEX(®) and Typhidot(®) may be suitable when pretest probability is high and blood cultures are unavailable, but their performance does not justify deployment in routine care settings in sub-Saharan Africa.