The quest for information: A study of data availability in Ghana's government
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Abstract
The development of the country is severely hampered by a lack of research into our problems and effective ways of solving them. This underdevelopment of the nation's research capabilities is attributable to a lack of data that is necessary for information to be produced by the research. Using Ghana's e-government policies and the National Information Technology Agency as a case study, this paper discusses how the data availability level is promoted or undermined as Ghana's inexperienced researchers try to gather data for their work. The principal finding of this research was that data availability was undermined by the infrastructure and policies in place in Ghana. For the development of the country's research capabilities to help solve our problems, the institutions meant to aid research must be given the ability and support to do so, and the requisite laws have to be passed. In other words, an enabling environment for research pursuits must be constructed to support and develop the nation's research abilities.