Comparative perceptions on the physical signs of onset of unrest at universities

Abstract

University students’ unrest is a common problem all over the world but it is more serious in the developing countries. Most Universities find it a perennial crisis. There is no documentation of comparative perceptions on the physical signs of onset of unrest. The study purposed to investigate these perceptions from different respondents on the basis of physical indicators of mental status of University students at the onset of unrest. It was a survey research design which used mixed research methods. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used for data collection. The research population comprised Security officers and secretaries working in sampled public Universities in Kenya in the year 2016. Simple random sampling was used which gave a total sample size of 145 which was obtained from a target population of 177. Quantitative data collected was analyzed descriptively into frequency counts, percentages, means and inferentially into independent sample t-test analysis and rank order correlation. The main physical indicators of mental status of unrest are: Yelling emotional expressions, violent tendencies, hostile attitude manifestations and anger gestures, but in slightly varied order among different respondents. Generally, for all the main physical indicators of mental status of university students’ at the onset of unrest, there is no statistically significant difference in influence of perceptions of security officers and secretaries on mental status of University students’ at onset of unrest. Therefore, all public universities should adopt the use of the invented mental status examination tool to detect the onset of unrest with the aim of forestalling the unrest