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In the advent of competitive and diversified service delivery environment, county governments have been left with no choice but to provide the best for its people. This has triggered community inclusivity through public participation in their programmes. Public participation has been on the forefront in the constitution of Kenya 2010, and due to democratic governance, citizens are free to participate in any government projects that directly or indirectly affect them. Funds have been allocated on civic education and trainings by the county governments, in order to create awareness to the community members.
Despite these efforts by the county governments to enforce mutual relationship between citizens and government, some counties still experience challenges on low participation in the county integration development plan (CIDP) formulation.
The study objectives will include; to examine how access to information, literacy levels and last but not least socio-economic status determines public participation in CIDP formulation. This study will be guided by the Stakeholders Theory and Social Capital Theory.
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The study will employ descriptive survey research design, while the target population will be the 211 people who participated in the CIDP 2. The study will use stratified random sampling to get the required sample size of 138 respondents. The study will use primary data which will be collected using questionnaires, self-administered to the respondents. The data collected will be coded then analyzed using multiple regression model. The researcher will adhere to ethics of research by ensuring that the consent letter be availed to the respondents before filling the questionnaires. Also the researcher will assure the respondents of confidentiality by not asking them their names.
The study will be helpful both to the government and the citizens. Government will be able to identify the reasons why public participation is low, while the community will realize the importance of public participation. Other scholars will also benefit from the study, by coming up with other longitudinal studies to improve the quality of the findings.
In the quest to improve and enhance democracy in the country, governments have allowed citizens to participate and freely exercise their rights by engaging in each step of government activities from the initial stage of planning. Public Participation refers to the involvement and inclusivity of all the stakeholders’. Since they are actively involved in decision making, and planning on development initiatives and effective utilization of public resources (Odhiambo and Taifa, 2009). Apparently, most citizens highly participate in the activities such as voting, and this is evident from the developed countries such as USA (United States of America) to the third world countries such as Kenya. It is evident that voting is the only participation process widely practiced by majority of the citizens in total disregard of all others (Society for International Development, 2012). Hence it can be noted that, participation is practiced although at a lower rate.
Globally, service delivery environment is faced with stiff and fierce competition. And in order to be ranked as the best service provider, then community inclusivity through public participation needs to be embraced. There exists immense pressure from the international system, to ensure that citizens have a say in whatever the country officials are doing. The recognition that much of the specialist knowledge required to draft and implement environmental policy resides in civil society helped create room for new and more participatory forms of governance in the national, regional and international spheres (World Bank,2004). Development Plans aid in the identification of future threats and opportunities, elicit an objective view of managerial problems, create a framework for internal communication, promote forward thinking, and encourage a favorable attitude to change (Wilson, 2009). However, in as much as public participation is championed at the international system, its effect has not been felt at the national level, since most citizen still do not understand the importance of taking part in government activities that impact them.
In democratic countries such as Canada, public participation is paramount in fostering political life. In the 1960s to date government decisions without public inclusivity, is termed as an exception rather than enforced rule. There are several examples that depict how public participation has been practiced in Canada. This includes; the Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development which was established in 1996 to help Canadians beyond the government to contribute towards the development of Canadian foreign policy. In the year 1996 and 1997, Canada engaged civil society to an exceptional degree in the Geneva and Ottawa conferences that were meant to secure a global ban on land mines. At the latter conference, the Program to alleviate Poverty was employed as a basic instrument to support policies and programmes aimed at enhancing relations between the state and civil society (Aminuzzaman, 2008). Democratization is enhanced in order for the citizens to enjoy and exercise their freedom in voicing what tends to affect them. This is not the case in democratic African countries like Kenya, since public participation has not been fully achieved.
In Africa, Uganda specifically, in the years 1986 to 1990s public participation gained prominence with the emergence of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) this was geared towards removal of government subsidies, liberalization of trade and privatization. In Kenya, this marked the period after decentralization of government by the introduction of Revised Kenyan constitution 2010. It also entailed provision of information for making and the implementation of regulations, laws and policies; development proposal approval, budgets and projects (County Government Act, 2012). For any democratic government to realize and achieve its mandate, then the citizens ought to have exercised their rights by taking part in any political process through decision making. They say democracy is ‘rule by people’, which is crucial in any democratic country (Kanyinga, 2010). Public participation serves as an instrument for closing the gap between local government, civil society, private sector and the general community by developing a common understanding about local situation, priorities and programmes (Moseti, 2010).
The World Bank group, (February 2015), rudimentary necessities for public participation in Kenya’s legal agenda, detected that the constitution states to the principles of public participation in Articles 10 and 174 and reference is made precisely to participation in: Public Finance (Article 201), the process of policy making (Article 232) and, the governance and management of urban areas. Public participation has been used interchangeably in social and political science, citizen inclusivity has been termed as the process of engaging ‘citizens’ in the decision making process and management process of government activities (Yang and Pandey, 2011). The advent of failure of devolution is often witnessed in countries with dictatorial tendencies and ineffective opposition forces (Makumbe, 1998). In as much as devolution has taken place in Kenya, still there are some counties that experience the low involvement of citizens in their projects.
In Kenya, Public participation is one of the national values and principles of governance given by Article 10(2) (a) of the constitution (Sihanya, 2013). Public participation in CIDP formulation ensures transparency and accountability of county financial resources, which will lead to viability of projects, thus ensuring development in the county. Smooth running of the county programs will be enhanced if community members are involved in decision making process. In all facets of CIDP formulation in all counties, public participation is a fundamental obligation of the given public members of the affected prerogatives. Due to devolution, counties have been mandated to steer their own development activities, hence CIDP formulation is an essential and integral part in the development process. According to The institute of social accountability (TISA), CIDP is the first stage in county budget process (Public Finance Management Act 35 and126). According to the County Government Act, 2012 (CGA), 104, county governments are obliged to consult all county administrative levels, including making provision for public participation in the planning process before final drafts are debated in the County Assembly.
The CIDP should also reflect the midterm priorities of the county government through a consultative process with key stakeholders and public participation. Thus, the selection process of participants should be articulated with criteria well stipulated. This should include demographic and geographic representation in age, gender, locations for all levels of county administrative units. This means that the participants should be selected at each stage and level in the CIDP development process (TISA, 2010). In CIDP process, public participation is vital since the decisions that are made affect the citizens in various ways, be it in a negative or a positive way. Rendering to the County Public Participation Guidelines (2015), the associates of the public are thought to contribute in: the development and accounting for county public provision delivery; submission of county public services; and act management. It is therefore against this background that the researcher wants to examine the determinants of public participation in CIDP formulation, case of Tana River County.
Tana River County is one of the forty-seven (47) counties in the Republic of Kenya. The County takes its name from River Tana which is the longest river in Kenya. It is a County in the former Coast Province, Kenya with an area of 35,375.8 square kilometers (13,658.7 sq mi).The projected population of Tana River County by 2015 was estimated at 284,505 with 142,471 being female and 142,034 male. The county has an inter-censual population growth rate of 2.84 per cent, which is slightly lower than the national average of 2.9 per cent. The ratio of male to female is 99.7:100 and the pattern is projected to remain the same (KNBS, 2009).The administrative headquarter of the county is Hola. The County has three sub counties; Bura, Galole and Garsen.
The county is categorized as an arid area due to its poor precipitation and divided into three livelihood zones namely, Marginal Mixed Farming, Pastoral and Mixed Farming. The Marginal Mixed Farming and Mixed Farming livelihood zones are ideal for farming while the pastoral livelihood zone has great potential for livestock rearing. The main economic activities therefore are crop farming and pastoralist; however, fishing is also done at small scale along river Tana and the coastal shores in Kipini (KNBS, 2015).
Public participation is paramount in any stage of planning in a growing economy. They say change is inevitable and every member of the society has to adapt to the new changes. Apparently, others resist to changes due to the mentality that such changes is meant to affect them negatively. Generally people tend to resist new ideas if these are imposed on them (Odhiambo and Taifa, 2009). Although county government have tried to reduce these resistance through civic education, training, advertisement and constant announcement to its members, the turn out to participate in the county integrated development plan formulation is still very low. From the table discussed above, it is evident that public participation in Tana River county records the lowest numbers compared to the population of those sub counties.
After the first CIDP formulation, the community members were sensitized on the importance of participating in any government projects. However the second CIDP formulation recorded even the lowest turnout compared to the first. Siala (2015), examined factors that influence public participation in budget formulation in county governments, case of Nairobi County, and the researcher used behavioral and socio-economic variables where age, income and gender did not have much influence. Mutwiri (2016), studied factors influencing public participation in the CIDP process, case of Meru county, study variables were; community awareness, demographic characteristics, behavioral factors and economic factors. Studies that have been carried out before have left the gaps on the variables that will be used in this study. Hence the researcher will fill the knowledge gap by examining the determinants of public participation in CIDP formulation in Tana River County.
The study will only concentrate on the determinants of public participation in the County Integrated Development Plan formulation in Tana River County. The variables that will guide the study include; access to information, literacy level and last but not least socio-economic status. This is because Tana River is one of the counties that are experiencing low public participation, despite the county providing civic education to its people and also constant advertisement on the same. The study will only interview 138 respondents and the results will be generalized to the whole population.
The researcher might face suspicion from the respondent regarding the nature of the study. The respondents might refuse to cooperate in answering all the questions as required since they might think that their views will be used against them. There might also be a possibility of encountering non-response from the respondents. The researcher might also experience language barrier during the interview session.
The researcher will counter these limitation factors through the emphasis on the confidentiality of the study. The researcher will assure the respondents that the study will strictly be used for the academic purposes. The researcher will also request well in advance for the permission to carry out the research in the premises, so as to decrease hostility and non-cooperation from the respondents. The researcher will ensure that during the interview, at least a translator will be available.
This study is important in extending devolution in our country. This is because Tana River County is one of the marginalized counties where people are faced with food insecurity and conflicts. With the devolution, every county has a mandate to provide for its citizens in terms of development projects. And in order to foster development, citizens are required to fully participate in every step in order to ensure accountability and transparency of the county officials. Despite devolution, the people of Tana River County still do not participate fully in those projects geared towards them. Participation also enhances corporation amongst community members hence they will be able to benefit equally from the government.The shift matches a belief that more community participation and more decentralization result in more democracy and better development (Oyugi, 2006).
The findings of this study will benefit various stakeholders. The County Government of Tana River and Kenya at large will be enlightened on areas that need more resources, attention and effort. It will equip the various governments with the specific information on areas that need improvement and hence guide their actions. The findings shall expose the importance of access to information, literacy level and socio-economic status in public participation during the CIDP formulation. This study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge on public participation in the CIDP formulation as well as form a basis for further studies in future. This being the case, the government resources will be fully utilized since community participation encourages transparency and accountability.
This chapter will review literature in support of public participation and County Integrated Development Plan formulation, in Tana River County. It will also explain theories that will be used in the study; the Stakeholder Theory and Social Capital Theory. Conceptual framework will also be discussed to bring out the relationship between variables.
Public participation may be advanced as part of a “people first” paradigm shift, that public participation can sustain productive and durable change (Mdunyelwa, 2008). The emergent of devolved government, was paramount in ensuring that equal resources are distributed to all the citizens across the country. Public awareness has been created in all counties, in order to ensure that citizens are well conversant with what they are expected to do and what they expect from the government. Public participation is deemed to create symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit from each other. Community participation has provided checks and balances against unnecessary political interference in service delivery and disregard for professionalism and meritocracy in the public sector amongst others (Odhiambo and Taifa, 2009).
In any democratic government, public participation is seen as the most important tenet in ensuring that citizens exercise their rights through participating in decision making and policy implementation passed by the government. Institutionalized public participation is seen as one of the most important tentacle of good governance in democratic systems (Coulibaly, 2004). According to Report of the Task Force for Devolved Government, TFDG (2011) the new constitution seeks to reverse the centralized non participatory governance paradigm by institutionalizing an embracing governance system and a leadership with integrity. Inclusivity of citizens in government projects, helps in achieving the county development goals since the community members are able to cooperate hence attaining the ultimate development. Public participation can be fully achieved if and only citizens are fully informed on whatever the government is planning to carry out.
Access to information is paramount in any democratic governance, since citizens can only contribute and participate towards something they are aware of. Transparency and accountability are most key pillars in dealing with issues pertaining economic and political governance (COK, 2010). As the ICJ (2007) points out, any information held by a public body should in principle be openly accessible. Citizens mostly participate on those activities that they are familiar with, hence access to information especially at county levels is paramount for success of public participation.
Public awareness is crucial in determining the level of participation in any community; this is where members of the community are taken through what is expected from them, by enlightening them on what to do from the planning stage to the implementation stage. If citizens are correctly involved at planning stage, then they will be able to efficiently participate in other stages. County governments should ensure that their members are fully aware of what is expected of them during the planning process. Hence, the participating persons are confident and produce quality informed decisions (IEA, 2006, Omolo, 2009). In this study, public participation is the center of it all, hence the public needs to be fully aware of what is expected of them in order to be rated whether they are positive towards government projects or not.
Carreira, Machado and Vasconcelos (2016), carried out a research in Lisbon Portugal, which aimed at encouraging member participation, thus exercising democracy in the Portuguese government. The study showed that there was no significant relationship between political participation and participants’ perception on government officials. Also, the study revealed the presence of similarities between participants’ assessments of the quality of life which was made through decisions of the officials in power, and the level of citizen participation in regard to land planning and management.
All OECD member countries recognize new ICTs to be powerful tools for enhancing citizen engagement in public policy making, since the unprecedented degree of interactivity offered by new ICTs has the potential to expand the scope, breadth and depth of government consultation with citizens and other key stakeholders doing policy making (OECD, 2003). Hence, it is evident that in order to reach for a larger platform, then new technology has to be embraced since most people nowadays can access internet.
Poor information management and also failure to disclose information regarding government activities has been one of the reasons of poor public participation. This has been one of the major reasons that alienates citizens from local development and provides opportunities for corruption (TISA, 2010). Most remote areas need to be accessed frequently so that information is conveyed properly. Lack of funds for transport to access the remote areas further compounds the outreach (Omollo 2011). For feedback to be effective, then the recipient has to receive the message in a timely manner.
The government carried out a study in 2011, Parliamentary Budget Office used a scorecard to rate the success of service delivery in Kenya specifically the CDF (Community Development Fund), which is a key participatory development tool. The study revealed that the CDF program score was actually poor. There was a poor feedback since the scale rating of 1 to 5, indicated a score of 2 out of 5. This is a direct show that either the public members are not aware about the CDF program or the county officials are not being transparent about it. A major weakness with the CDF Act (2003) is the lack of clear mechanisms of how the community needs to participate.
Kugonza and Mukobi (2011), in their study noted that public participation has been influenced and enhanced by access to information which is essential for citizens to be able to articulate their voices in local policy discourses and plans. Hence, when the common ‘mwananchi’ is not involved in the government activities, they will not be able to understand why certain projects are being carried out. Gitauet al (2003), carried out a study on nature of citizen participation on LASDAP (Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan), they found out that LASDAP participatory process geared more on the participation of registered Community Based Organizations (CBOs) rather than evoking more evenly representative community engagement of the common ‘mwananchi’ at the grassroots level.
Glover (2003) emphasized that information sharing in the policy process is a requirement to ensure “effective and inclusive public participation”. The prominence on expansion access to information by residents has been renowned by the Constituent sand Article 35 offers that: Every resident has the right of admission to: facts held by public, information held by alternative person and compulsory by the workout or guard of any rights of important liberties (TI, 2014).
Kakonge (1996) pointed out that public participation is affected by lack of communication between the government and the people. He noted that the projects are formulated without the dissemination by the government of information among local people. The availability of quality information may also be through civic education, media, printed posters etc. that provide the public and other stakeholders with the knowledge that enables them to hold a successful Public Participation (Omolo, 2010).
Kaseya and Kihonge (2016), focused on factors affecting the effectiveness of public participation in county governance in Kenya. The study findings revealed that civic education had played a major role in enhancing effectiveness of public participation in county governments. Further, the study findings revealed that enhancement of civic rights on public participation had enhanced level of public participation, and demand for more participation rights. Hence it is evident that civil awareness is necessary for people to participate in any government activities.
Gil de Zuniga et al 2012, in their study found out that using media for surveillance and information acquisition has a positive impact on political participation, this can be attributed to the way in which individuals use media. For example, in Kenya, the current generation is much more digitalized hence they spend most of their time on social sites such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram, viewing and commenting on the debated issues. This has actually contributed towards participation at large. On the other hand, literacy level is essential in using the electronic gadgets, which is not the case in most rural areas. It is evident that the old people rarely access the social cites, this study will help to bring out the relationship between literacy level and public participation.
It is worth noting that, education level has a strong relationship with public participation; this is because more educated people have more political knowledge; hence they understand the importance of participation in government activities and programmes. People who are more educated are much more exposed and can influence others, since the larger the network the more active an individual is, hence tend to participate more (Zuniga & Valenzuela 2010). Anwar (2007),noted that lack of capacity of many of the actors in the developing countries as the reason for governments’ resistance to participation by the poor, who generally, have limited education, low literacy levels and hence deficient understanding of the policy process.
Masango (2002), emphasized on the importance of public awareness on matters that relate to local government in promoting public participation in policy making process. It is therefore paramount for the government to channel enough funds towards the civic education, in order to foster public awareness. Timing for the participation need proper planning so that the most key participants and stakeholders are available for participation. It is obvious that if the resources are limited public participation may or not be successful (Maina,2013).
Joshi and Houtzager (2012), agrees that education has a high positive correlation with publics engagement in local Governance. Mwenda (2010) links levels of education to the public's ability to express their interests in self-determining governance of the people and by the people, but argues that lack of sufficient education particularly in marginalized communities, hinders information dissemination leading to low levels of participation. Oyugi and Kibua (2008) similarly argue that public citizens who sit on development and planning board for county governments on volunteer basis are all educated. Joshi and Houtzager (2012) significantly correlate education, information, and public participation. Further, they argues that the ability to coherently articulate policy issues within the budgetary planning forums favor those with higher levels of education. In a nutshell, education is important to any public participation.
Niemi&Junn (1998), considered knowledge in political process being carried out determines how individual will contribute and participate in it. Knowledge is an important factor that determines level of political engagement. It is evident that more knowledgeable people in society tend to be active, hence understand their role and interests; hence they participate in government programs (Zukinet al, 2006). Knowledge in government activities and programmes, encourages participation since the community members already know what they expect from the government.
Both internal and external environment affects the way citizen participate in government programs. Internal factors represent those factors that are found within a given community, while external factors, affect the members outside their surroundings. Government implements citizen participatory programs when they have learnt and observed citizen participatory cultures within an administrative process (Ebdon, 2002; Kweit&Kweit 1981; Miller &Evers 2002).
Jung et al (2011), in their study concluded that the kind of occupation that individuals engage at determine their level of participation. Individuals with high status in society tend to participate more compared with individuals with low status. High status members of the society have a way of influencing the other members, since they are more exposed and equipped with knowledge. Physical planning is also centralized in major towns and thus communities residing in remote areas remained marginalized in participatory planning (Okelloet al, 2008). Hence this study is paramount since it will bring out a clear relationship between members occupation and public participation.
Community activities carried out in a region depicts how members are going to participate, since such activities result to income which broadly affects the level of participation. In this case income may be defined as the amount of the market price of rights trained in depletion and the alteration in the store of possessions rights amid the creation and end of period (Simons, 2008). The idea of personal income also corresponds to that put forward by John Hicks (2009), who described an individual income as maximum value he could guzzle during period and still remain as fine off at the end of the era as he was at the foundation. This is supported by Brady (2013), who further observed that for labor force and marketplace participation, a change in income affect the amount of participation.
According to the research carried out by KIPPRA (Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and analysis) in 2006 to examine the level of public participation in Kenya. The results showed that poor participation especially for marginalized groups that led to poor prioritization of projects and exclusion. Brady (2013) argues that since political and civic process is also a form of participation, like economic participation which takes place in the market place, it seems that known models of economic participation may provide insights into the relationships between income, income inequality, and political and civic participation.
Community values dictate the way community will participate in a given government activities. Abel and Stephan (2000) while conforming with this statement, further caution that although many scholars promote public participation as means of 'incorporate community values into decision making process that might otherwise be dominated by a small elite', it appears that, a non-elected small elite can dominate a participator process.
Despite the logic of public awareness and availability of funds, public participation has been elusive. In a wink of an eye, democracy is something that is practiced by most if not all people; devolution has also enabled equity and fairness in distribution of government resources. However, there are still members of a given community who do not exercise their rights by being part of the decision making, when it comes to government planning and management processes. Hence it can be noted from the above empirical review that public participation is still negligible in many counties.
Despite a myriad of studies carried out on public participation and county integrated development planning process, the researcher notes that very few have used the variables that will be stated in this study; access to information, literacy level and economic activities. From the above discussion of empirical review, it is clear that several studies have been conducted on other areas and counties which could be different from the case of Tana River County. Hence the researcher will want to find out from the stated case study using the guiding variables.
Traditionally, the stakeholder has been defined to refer to any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives” (Freeman1984). Friedman (2006), states that the organization itself should be thought of as grouping of stakeholders and the purpose of the organization should be to manage their interests, needs and viewpoints. In this study, the Tana River County will be the organization while stakeholders will be the citizens they are serving. Hence in order to ensure full participation by the stakeholders in decision making, managers of the organization should ensure that systems are put in place that govern the stakeholders while at the same time the long term interests of the organization is protected.
It is therefore important to note that Stakeholder theory champions for treating all stakeholders with fairness, honesty, and even generosity. Harrison, Bosse and Phillips (2010) opined that, “A firm that manages for stakeholders allocates more resources to satisfying the needs and demands of its legitimate stakeholders than what is necessary to simply retain their willful participation in the productive activities of the firm.” in this study, stakeholder theory is paramount since it helps to bring out the relationship between Tana River county as an organization and its citizen (stakeholders). It also helps to explain the variables: literacy level and access to information on how they influence the public participation.
The whole idea of social capital theory is geared towards social relationships and its major composite include: social networks, civic engagement, norms of reciprocity, and generalized trust. Generally, it is therefore defined as a collective asset in form of shared norms, values, beliefs, trust, networks, social ties, and institutions that enhances cooperation and collective action for the common benefits. These rational choice theories assumed that economic variables contributed most, if not all, of variations in economic outcomes. These theories emphasized primarily on economic variables and rarely noticed the important role of social and cultural attributes on economic development. Importantly, socio-cultural norms were not taken into consideration for in standard economic theory (Bilig, 2000).
Since development is a complex and multifaceted process incapacitating major changes in social structures, behaviors, and national institutions, also the acceleration of economic growth, reduction of poverty, narrowing of inequalities and improvement in the quality of life (Todaro, 2000). Importantly, economic variables are essential steering of development, but the frontier of development goes beyond the income. Socio-cultural value systems aid to shape the economic, social, and political behavior and affect development through indirect multiple channels. Successful explanation of economic development, thus, has to go beyond narrow measures of economic variables to encompass social and political variables (Johari, 1989; Barro and McCleary, 2002). This theory is important in this study, since it helps to explain how economic activities affect the way people participate towards a given activity imposed to them.
Conceptual framework can be defined as a set of broad ideas and principles taken from relevant fields enquiring how to structure a subsequent presentation (Reichel & Ramey, 2007). Independent variable will include: access to information, literacy level and last but not least socio-economic status. While dependent variable will be measured in terms of; quality of contribution and number of participants.
This chapter will present the methodology which will be used in carrying out the research. The chapter entails; research design, target population, sample size and sampling technique and data collection instruments, validity and reliability and procedures. In addition, it will explain the ethical consideration as well as methods of analyzing the data.
The study will employ a descriptive survey research design. This design accommodates valuable and unique argument different from using other approaches as it will study things in detail and discover what will be impossible to find if other designs will be used. The descriptive design will be adopted because descriptive studies are not only useful for fact finding but often result in the formulation of important principles of knowledge and solution to significant problems (Yin, 2004). A descriptive survey design will provide available source of information for gaining knowledge and insight into the determinants of public participation in county integrated development plan formulation, case of Tana River County.
Kothari (2008) describes a population as the total collection of elements about where one wishes to make inferences. The target population will be the community members from the three sub counties who took part in CIDP 2. This comprised of; 110 from Bura, 57 from Galole and 44 from Garsen. Hence the target population will be the 211 participants from Tana River.
Sampling is the process of selecting a number of individuals from a population such that the selected group contains; elements representative of the characteristics found in the entire group (Orodho, 2005). The research will use stratified random sampling where sample size will be collected from each stratum (which is the 3 sub counties). Stratified random sampling is used when the sample to be considered does not consist of homogeneous group (Kothari, 2004). A sample size of 138 will be considered using the mathematical formula of Miller, L.R & Brewer, J.D. (2003), which is calculated below. Selection criteria will consider the following factors; time frame of the study, financial resources, coverage of households, and accuracy of information, reliability of information and precision of information (Kothari, 2004). The required sample size is dependent on the statistical analysis employed (Mendenhall &Sincich, 2003) and has a direct impact on the power of the research. Selection of the group of respondents will be based on the following criteria: must be residents of the area, able to speak and understand Kiswahili or any local language and also willing to participate.
The study will use primary data, whereby Questionnaire will be used as data collection instrument. A questionnaire is a method of survey data collection in which information was gathered through oral or written questionnaire (Sarantakos, 2005).The questionnaire will be designed for respondents, and it will consist of open and closed ended questions which will allow the researcher to obtain extra information from the respondents. The questionnaire will consist of two sections: Section A will contain demographic information; age, gender and marital status while section B will tackle specific information about the study based on research objectives; access to information and public participation, literacy level and public participation and last but not least socio-economic status and public participation.
Questionnaire will be designed in a manner that will capture relevant information necessary to answer the research questions. Structured questionnaires will be used in the collection of primary data and this will be self-administered, the researcher will further interview the respondents on a few responses that will require further clarification. The questionnaire will be based on a five likert scale.
Validity is the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure and performs as it is designed to perform. It is rare, if nearly impossible, that an instrument be 100% valid, so validity is generally measured in degrees. As a process, validation involves collecting and analyzing data to assess the accuracy of an instrument. There are numerous statistical tests and measures to assess the validity of quantitative instruments, which generally involves pilot testing.
External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized from a sample to a population. Establishing eternal validity for an instrument, then, follows directly from sampling. Recall that a sample should be an accurate representation of a population, because the total population may not be available. An instrument that is externally valid helps obtain population generalization, or the degree to which a sample represents the population (Paton, 2015).
Determinants of Public Participation in County Development Planning. (2022, Apr 21). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/determinants-of-public-participation-in-the-county-integrated-development-plan-formulation-essay
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