Paul Kwame Butakor, PhD
Dr. Paul Kwame Butakor is a lecturer at the Department of Teacher Education of the School of Education and Leadership, University of Ghana. Prior to his lectureship appointment at the University of Ghana, Dr. Butakor worked as a research assistant for statistical analyses in Big Data Learning Analytics at the Athabasca University, Canada. While studying for his PhD, he worked as a graduate teaching and research assistant at the University of Alberta, Canada for three years. Dr. Butakor also worked as a statistics and research methodology consultant at the centre for research in applied measurement and evaluation (CRAME) at the University of Alberta, where he consulted with both faculty and graduate students on areas such as; research design and methodology, psychometric analyses, program evaluation, and appropriate data analyses techniques. Before studying for his PhD, Dr. Butakor worked as a principal test development officer and later as an assistant test development secretary at the national board for professional and technician examinations (NABPTEX) from 2006 to 2012.
Dr. Butakor holds a PhD (Measurement, Evaluation and Cognition) from the University of Alberta, Canada, MSc. Educational Sciences from the University of Groningen, Netherlands and a Bachelor of Education (Mathematics and Statistics) from the University of Cape Coast. He also holds a post-graduate certificate in Business Administration from the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration.
Dr. Butakor’s research interests include; educational measurement and evaluation, program evaluation, Psychometrics, Growth Models, Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology, Large-scale assessments, secondary data analyses, mathematics education, and teacher education/professional development. Dr. Butakor has over six years research experience with in-depth experience in designing and conducting both quantitative and qualitative research. He is proficient with the use of statistical packages such as SPSS, Mplus, HLM, R and LISREL for data management and analyses.
PUBLICATION/MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW
Butakor, P. K. (2016). The Role of Formative Feedback in Promoting Higher Order Thinking skills in Classrooms: A Theoretical Model. African Research Review, 10(5) 147 - 160.
Butakor, P. K., (2016). Hierarchical linear modeling of the relationship between attitudinal and instructional variables and mathematics achievement. International Journal of Research in Education Methodology 7(5) 1328- 1336.
Butakor, P. K., (2015). A comparison of DIF detection and effect size measures among Mantel-Haenzel, SIBTEST, and Logistic regression using a science test data. African Journal of Science and Research, 4(2) 12 – 15.
Khemba, J., and Butakor, P. K., (Under review). Hierarchical linear modeling analysis of ecological predictors of refugee students’ academic achievement in Kenyan primary schools. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Butakor, P. K., Ampadu, E., & Cole, Y. (under review). Factors influencing educational quality and effectiveness in Ghana: Insights and lessons from TIMSS 2011. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Butakor, P. K. & Nyarko, K. (2017). The home environment as a predictor of mathematics achievement in Ghana. International Journal of Research Studies in Education 7(1).
Ampadu, E., Butakor, P. K. & Cole, Y. (2017). Working together to improve the quality of Mathematics Education and Students achievements: Exploring the views of Ghanaian parents. African Research Review, 11 (1) 11 - 27.
CONFERENCES
Suleiman, S., & Butakor, P. K. (2016). Influence of instructional leadership on nursing students’ academic performance. Paper presented at the 2nd International conference on Education Research for Development in Africa (ICERDA), Accra, Ghana.
Butakor, P. K. (2016). Using hierarchical linear modeling to examine attitudinal and instructional variables that predict students’ achievement in mathematics. Paper presented at the 3rd annual psychology conference, Accra, Ghana.
Butakor, P. K., (2015). Multilevel modeling of predictors of mathematics achievement in Ghana. Paper presented at the 2015 annual conference of National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), Chicago, IL.
Butakor, P. K. (2015). Higher order thinking skills and formative feedback model. Poster presented at the 8th Annual G.M. Dunlop Educational Psychology Graduate students Colloquium 2015
Butakor, P. K.,& Anane, E. (2015). Hierarchical linear modelling of predictors of mathematics achievement in Ghana: Evidence from TIMSS 2011. Paper presented at the 33rd annual conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa, Accra, Ghana