An Examination Of Citizens’ Awareness And Perception Of The Estate Management Profession In Anambra State

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design is a strategy or approach to be used in conducting a scientific enquiry. It specifies how data relating to a particular study is collected and analysed.

A research survey was conducted in other to obtain data to test the truism or otherwise of the statement of hypothesis and also to supplement other sources of data; which includes journals and other printed materials. Survey research design was adopted so as to retrieve relevant information from citizens residing in Awka metropolis in Anambra state with regards to their perception and awareness of Estate management profession.

3.2 POPULATION OF STUDY

The study area spans the capital city of Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. The target population of study includes occupants (landlords and tenants) of selected buildings in Awka to every category of people ranging from secondary school students, students of tertiary institutions, market men and women, corporate business men and women to even those the society classify as illiterates. The reason for this variety in population is so that the research can cover a wide percentage of Nigerian citizens’ as these individuals irrespective of their educational qualifications all take part in land and building transactions. The student population is very essential as this group of people are soon going to be in the university, and there is every need to rate their awareness of estate management and professional orientation. The population of study for the sake of this research will exclude Estate Surveyors and Valuers practising in Awka and also students of Estate management. Also this is very necessary for the sole purpose of having a neutral sample population. This population is used due to the researchers’ inability to reach the entire population of Awka.

Awka has an estimated population of 301,657 as of 2006 Nigerian census. The target population of this study is an estimated 62% of gross population as the population of infants, young children and elderly not excluding and undergraduates of department of Estate Management and Estate Surveyors and Valuers residing in the State.  This brings our population size down to about 187,027.

3.3 DETERMINATION OF SAMPLE SIZE

Sample size is a group of items taken from the population for examination (Harper, 1971). It can as well be defined as a number of elements selected from a population which is a representative of the population. Below is shown how the representative of the population was selected.

In this study, the Taro Yamani’s statistical formula was used to arrive at the sample size. The formula is

Where, N = population of study

             n = sample size

             e = level of significance

             1= unity

Therefore,

N = 187027

e = 0.05

n=?

Substituting the values above with the formula, we have

n =   187027/1+187027 (0.05)2

n = 187027/1+187027 (0.0025)

n = 187027/1+467.5625

n = 187027/468.5625

n = 399

3.4 SOURCES OF DATA

The data used in this study were gotten from various sources which depends on the type of information needed. The major sources of data include:

1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources

Primary sources of data applied in this study include questionnaires, and oral interview. The questionnaires were made in such a manner to attract specific questions which are expected to help in analysing the study at hand. The questions of the questionnaire were designed with the objectives of the study in mind. The questionnaire used was both open and close ended.

Secondary sources of data were gotten from various journals, published and unpublished materials and past projects.