Budgets and Performance of Research Projects in Public Universities in the Coastal Region, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to assess how budgets influences performance of research projects of public universities in Coast region, Kenya. The study used a pragmatism paradigm. A descriptive survey and correlation research design were adopted. A targeted population of 1110 academic and non-academic employees for the two universities were used for this study. A sample of 285; consisting of 173 from Technical University of Mombasa and 112 from Pwani University was employed through proportionate and simple random sampling to obtain a representative sample. Primary data collection was done by use of interview guide and open and close ended questionnaires. A pilot test was conducted at University of Nairobi main campus as it would provide a representation of the study to test data collections tools reliability and validity. Data analysis was by inferential and descriptive statistics; mean, frequencies, percentages and standard deviation. Shapiro-Wilk Test was employed to establish whether data was normally distributed or not and adjustments were made to make the data normal. Durbin Watson method was also used to test autocorrelation of the variables. The findings established that budget influences performance of research projects with a composite mean of 3.93 and standard deviation of 0.747. Budget had a positive strong correlation at 0.89. The data also established a positive relationship amongst budget on performance of research projects in public universities. Further studies can be done on other monitoring and evaluation tools to ascertain which is most appropriate for monitoring and evaluation tool. Further studies should be conducted in other parastatals.