About

Dr Paul Kwame Butakor is a Senior lecturer at the Department of Teacher Education, 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.

He has rich experience in education and curriculum development, implementation and evaluation gathered from his over two decades of professional teaching and research across various levels of Ghana’s educational system.  He has served on various national technical committees.  He was a member of the team of experts that developed the new 4-year Bachelor of Education programme for Colleges of Education and Teacher Education universities in Ghana and part of the pedagogy team developing courses and Professional Development manuals for tutors in Colleges of Education to facilitate the implementation of the curriculum. He was also a member of the Technical Working Group that developed the portfolio assessment guide for in-service teachers in Ghana, portfolio assessment framework and framework for assessing student teachers online learning during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Butakor has over 15 years research experience with in-depth competencies in designing and conducting both quantitative and qualitative research and evaluations. He is proficient with the use of statistical packages such as SPSS, Mplus, HLM, R, LISREL, etc. for data management and analyses. He has presented at both local and international conferences and published in high impact journals.

Education

He holds a Ph.D. (Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment) from the University of Alberta, Canada, MSc. Educational Sciences from the University of Groningen, Netherlands; MSc Applied Statistics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; and a Bachelor of Education (Mathematics and Statistics) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. 

Research Interest

His research interests include educational measurement, assessment and evaluation, statistical methods in education and psychology, mathematics education, teacher education/professional development, and learning analytics.

Publications

Sallah, E. K. G., Owusu, A., & Butakor, P. K. (2023). Problem based learning: Errors minimization, conceptual and procedural understanding in trigonometry. African Journal of Educational studies in mathematics and sciences, 19(1), 27-36

Kakutia, T., Hunt, E., Butakor, P. K., & Shah, S. M. M. (2023). E-learning Challenges in the Era of Covid-19: The Georgian Case. European Scientific Journal, 15, 431-431.

Butakor, P. K. (2022). Using classical test and item response theories to evaluate    psychometric qualities of teacher-made tests. European Scientific Journal, 18(1), 139

Butakor, P. K., Kakutia, T., Shah, S. M. M., & Hunt, E. (2022). Higher Education Challenges in the Era of Covid-19, from the Perspective of Educators and Students (Ghana, Georgia and Pakistan Cases)–A literature Review. European Scientific Journal, 12, 21-21.

Ntow, G., Butakor, P. K., Ahenkora, S., & Wantemberg, A. (2021). Entry and school-based assessment grades as predictors of senior school certificate examination grades in mathematics. African Journal of Educational studies in mathematics and sciences, 17(2), 27-36

Butakor, P. K., Amponsah, K. D., Awoniyi, F. C., & Gyabeng, T. (2021). Using logistic           regression analysis to examine predictors of examination malpractices among senior        high students in Ghana. Psychology and Education Journal, 50(5), 6657-6664

Butakor, P. K., Guo, Q., & Adebanji, A.O.  (2021). Using structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between Ghanaian teachers’ emotional intelligence, job satisfaction,   professional identity,           and work engagement. Psychology in the Schools, 58(3), 534-552

Ampadu, E., Butakor, P.K., Amponsah, S., & Yeboah, R (2021). Exploring the professional identities of pre-service teachers studying at the University of Ghana. International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 12(1), 27 -44

Awoniyi, F. C., & Butakor, P. K. (2021). The role of teacher-student relationship on performance in mathematics in Cape Coast metropolis: Critical friendship perspective. Cogent Education, 8(1), 1908690

Butakor, P.K. (2021). Mobile phone use in senior high schools in Ghana: Views and opinions    of University of Ghana students. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction,  13(2), 1119 -1132

Butakor, P. K., & Caesar, J (2021). Analysis of teachers perceived use of authentic assessment on students’ academic performance. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 13(3), 1946-1966

Butakor, P. K., Ampadu, E., & Suleiman, J. S. (2020), Analysis of Ghanaian teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(11), 1237 -1252.        

Essel, H. B, Nortey, S., & Butakor, P. K. (2019). Summative E-examination for high stake assessment in higher education: A case of undergraduate students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of   Science and Technology. Global journal of human-social science: A arts and humanities-psychology, 19(3)

Butakor, P. K., & Dziwornu, M. (2018). Teachers’ perceived causes of poor performance in       mathematics by students in basic schools from Ningo Prampram, Ghana. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, 4(12), 423 - 431

Butakor, P. K., & Boatey, O. B. (2018). Supervision of teachers’ punctuality and students’         attendance  in senior high schools: Exploring views of students. Journal of Education and Practice, 9(30), 71 - 79

Butakor, P. K., Ampadu, E., & Cole, Y. (2017). Ghanaian students in TIMSS 2011:        Relationship             between contextual factors and mathematics performance. African  Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education,    27(3),  316-326

Ampadu, E., Butakor, P. K., & Cole, Y. (2017). Working together to improve the quality of        mathematics education students’ achievements: Exploring the views of Ghanaian           parents. African Research Review, 11(1) 11 - 27

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) 1-12

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