Test, measurement, and evaluation are concepts used in education to explain how the progress of learning and the final learning outcomes of students are assessed. However, the terms are often misused in the field of education, especially in Ghana. The objective of the study was to thoroughly explain the concepts to assist educationists and researchers in the field of education to better apply them in educational discourses. The study also suggests best practices in setting test items in measuring students’ learning outcomes while showing policy directions to assist educationists and researchers in the field of educational evaluation.

The emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic in Ghana has resulted in various degrees of stigmatization. Previous studies have stressed the need for developing policies to curb the stigma towards COVID-19 survivors and healthcare workers. Some have investigated the knowledge and willingness of people to accept COVID-19 survivors. Others have also explored the experiences of health workers who have been victims of stigma from COVID-19. There is a need for further studies to understand COVID-19 related stigma and related psychological distress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cases of COVID-19 related stigma and discrimination against healthcare workers, COVID-19 recovered patients, suspected persons of COVID-19, Asians, and persons with travel history from COVID-19 hotspot countries. The study was undertaken using the phenomenology approach to qualitative research. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used in recruiting the twenty-eight study participants. Data were garnered using interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings revealed that COVID-19 victims have faced various forms of stigma such as stereotyping, social exclusion, mockery, finger-pointing, and insults. The study recommends that the COVID-19 National Response Team in Ghana must put in place a robust psychosocial intervention plan for stigmatized persons to help them cope with the stigma and help in its prevention.

This study aims to offer alternative ways of conducting research in the periods of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic when the traditional research approaches are not feasible. This is crucial as some researchers hold the wrong perception that such difficult times are only fallow periods to focus on their personal and family problems. The study argues that there is the need for researchers to be busy carrying out investigations aimed at finding solutions to the multiplicity of problems faced by global communities as a result of the pandemic. Using desk research and document analysis of secondary data from published articles, the study discusses research approaches, particularly, alternative means of garnering primary and secondary data for investigating the COVID-19 pandemic from different academic disciplines. It posits that telephone and video conferencing interviews, text-based chats and e-surveys are alternative means for collecting primary data while secondary data from published articles and newspaper reports are viable means of generating reliable data for research. These alternative approaches to research would keep researchers busy in finding solutions to the difficult challenges faced during pandemics, the period their services are needed the most.

This study investigated the economic impacts of the COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and livelihoods. Study participants included 25 informal sector workers who were sampled purposively and conveniently. Qualitative thematic analysis was used for interpreting the data generated from the study. The findings revealed that these workers were adversely affected economically by the COVID-19 lockdown and other restrictions, disrupting their business operations, and plunging their livelihoods into extreme poverty. It was also revealed that the high number of informal sector workers in the 'hand-to-mouth' work culture category in Kumasi cited to have flouted the COVID-19 lockdown regulation due to the unbearable economic surge it had inflicted on their livelihood support systems. The study suggests that immediate economic mitigation strategies set out by the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) as well as financial agencies must factor the economic needs of the informal sector workers in the hand-to-mouth work culture category and offer them robust financial relief to assist them recover from economic impacts due to the COVID-19.