Effects of Microfinance On Standards of Living a Case Study of Katebwa Sub County in Kabarole District.

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to determine the correlation between microfinance and standard of living of the people in selected microfinance institutions in Katebwa Sub County, basing on the following objectives; to examine the impact of micro finance on living standards of respondents in selected microfinance institutions in Katabwa Sub County, to establish if there is a relationship between microfinance and attainment of quality education of respondents in selected microfinance institutions in Katebwa Sub County, to investigate the role of microfinance in achieving better health standards in selected microfinance institutions in Katebwa Sub County, and to identif~’ the strength of microfinance in reducing the level of poverty of respondents in selected microfinance institutions in Katebwa Sub County. The study used descriptive correlation in design. This design focused on exploring the behavior and dimensions of a problem under investigation in order to unveil the causal effect one or more variables have on another! others. The objectives of the study push towards the adoption of this design. The first two objectives required descriptive responses to examine the impact of microfinance and living standards. The study also ultimated the objective to establish the relationship between micro fiancé institution and standards of living. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in this study. Respondents offered qualitative data in their responses which afterwards was quantified to establish trends to be used in analysis. Qualitative method was used to gain an understanding• of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provided insights into the problem or helped to develop hypotheses for potential research. It also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dived deeper into the problem. Quantitative method was used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data. It was used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors and other defined variables and generalize results from a large sample population. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the research so as collect both unstructured and structured data.