ABSTRACT
The study investigated the determinant of utilization of internet resources by BE postgraduate students in universities in the South East region of Nigeria. Five research questions were raised and four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research design adopted for this study was the descriptive survey design. The sample for the study consists of 156 masters’ postgraduate students from the four public universities offering Business Education at postgraduate level in the region. The total enumeration sampling techniques was employed for the study. The instrument for data collection is the questionnaire titled, “Factors affecting utilization of Internet resources by Postgraduate Students Questionnaire (DUERPSQ). The face and content validity was established by the supervisor and two other experts. The reliability of the instrument was found to be 0.84 using the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Statistics. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage to answer the research question, while independent sample t-test was used to test hypothesis one and three, ANOVA was used to test hypothesis 2, while Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficient was used to test hypotheses four. The findings of the study includes; Postgraduate students in South East universities in Nigeria make use of E-book, E-Journal, E-Thesis/Dissert. E- Dictionary, Online data base, CD Rom, OPEC, E-Encyclopaedia, E-Newspaper and E-Article; Most of the postgraduate students are computer literate; A high percentage of postgraduates students posses information skills, operational skills and strategic skills and postgraduate students have negative attitude and perception towards the usage of internet resources. It was concluded that a positive relationship exists between postgraduate students’ perception and attitude towards utilization of internet resources.it was recommended among others that curriculum planners should formulate policies that will support the frequent use of internet resources both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in order to change their perception and attitude, and to equip them in this 21st century.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Information is the pivot on which the survival of any society rests. It remains the major ingredient of decision making and assists in reducing the degree of uncertainty. Information and its uses is as old as man. Indeed, without information, there cannot be communication. The acceptance of these technologies has led to the proliferation of electronically available information resources. These resources include CD–ROM databases, electronic mails, Online Public Access Catalogues (OPAC) and Internet browsing (Oduwole & Akpati, 2003). One of the major channels to get access to electronic information in this electronically embraced era is the Internet. The Internet is a network of networks which consists of millions of private, public, academic, business and government network linked by an array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as, the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW). It is the most prominent of these sources and has made it possible to access electronic books and journals of various databases and search engines. All these resources constitute Internet resources.
Internet resources (e-resources) can be defined as those information resources and services that users access electronically via a computing networked system (Shim, 2001). Internet resources include e-books, e-Journals, e-newspapers, e-theses, e- dissertations, e-databases and CD-ROMs, which are found in electronic media and they are alternatives to print media. Internet resources (EIR) according to Konappa (2014)are diminishing the central role of traditional libraries. This makes internet resources valuable research tools that complement the print–based resources. They give access to more current information, and provide extensive links to additional resources of related contents to users that might be restricted due to geographical location or finances. As a result of the advantages of internet resources, they are becoming more and more important for the academic community in this era of embraced technology. An area that has been affected by the information technology embrace is education. It has affected the way education is delivered and researches conducted, especially in the universities. Agboola (2003) while discussing the ways Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have affected the education sector, stressed that with utilization of ICT, it is possible for researchers to access full text digital contents of local and distant libraries and databases using computers and the Internet irrespective of the researchers’ location.
This recent advancement in ICT has brought a revolutionary change in the information seeking pattern of the populace. This gave rise to a number of options in handling various information sources conveniently and effortlessly. As a result of this, internet resources have become very important in satisfying various needs of students, teachers and researchers even in the education sector. In the education sector however, ICT is one of the important tools and means for retrieving and processing information. Information and communication technology has led to the availability of internet resources in libraries and it plays prominent roles in facilitating access to the required information to the user.
The availability of internet resources provides access to electronic information which supports research and curricula of both staff and students. It also provides a world-class environment for learning. In order to achieve this, students should effectively and consciously utilized ICT applications. With the availability of ICT applications, users are no longer obliged to visit the library at regular opening hours, to meet all their information needs. They can search the online catalogue, use a subject guide or database to access a citation from the Internet, or access a full text article from Web-based journals. They may browse an electronic journal, e-mail a reference question through the ask-a-librarian service or borrow an e-book, all by remote access through the Internet.
The Internet gives access to internet resources, and it is constantly influencing the way information is gathered, stored, organized, accessed, retrieved and used. These developed new modes of scholarly communication and their potential for delivering information is quite vast and fast, as they overcome successfully the geographical limitations associated with the print media. The digital revolution has an impact on every sphere of academic activity.
Despite the choices, opportunities and enhanced flexibility that internet resources provides through utilization of Internet and web search engines for academic activity, students do not make adequate use of these great benefits. Mufutau, Afolake and Oluwadamilare (2012) observed that undergraduate students do not avail themselves of the opportunities made available by internet resources.
Research findings have identified some of the Factors affecting the usage of internet resources among undergraduate students some of which include computer literacy, electronic information retrieval skills e.t.c. One major determinant for the usage of internet resources among undergraduate students is computer literacy level. Computer literacy refers to the comfort levels one has in using computer programmes, and other applications that are associated with computers. Similarly, application of computer literacy in literature searching, could be described as, the extent to which the students are capable of conducting researches, or use computer facilities to locate relevant sources and information, for academic or research purposes.
According to Richter, Naumann and Groeben (2011), computer literacy comprises of procedural computer-related knowledge, familiarity with computers and self-confidence in using the computer. It is and understanding of the concepts, terminologies and operations that relate to general computer use. Computer literacy does not mean that one needs to know how to use every piece of software, nor how to write programme or network a computer but refers to the comfort levels with which one can use computer programmes, and other applications that are associated with computers.
Another determinant is the information retrieval skill. These are the skills a person needs to possess before he/she can make adequate use of internet resources. Digital libraries, e-journal platforms, portals, e-prints and other web-based information systems, provide services supporting users to perform intense work that requires complex interactive activities. According to Gui (2007), information retrieval skills entail being able to handle the changing contents of computer and information sources and knowing where and how to look for the information resources. This implies that, students cannot access internet resources without adequate information retrieval skills. Students sometimes lack information retrieval skills and so, do not find the best and appropriate information, tempting them to use whatever information they can find first and the ones with full text. More importantly, even with a good, easy to use integrated system, students very often, need the services of an expert, to apply search techniques and find the information they need.
The third determinant is perception. Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensoryinformation in order to represent and understand the environment (Schacter, 2011). It involves deciding which information to be noticed, how to categorize this information and how to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge. The interpretation given to the information within the framework of our existing knowledge, influences the way we think about or understand the information, because of the selection stimulus process in the perceptual process. There are two factors that influences the selection. these are the external and internal stimulus factors. The internal factors consist of the learning, needs, age and interest of the perceiver. The external factors on the other hand, according to Bashorun, Isah andAdisa (2011) "are lack of time (because of the time required to focus on teaching); lack of awareness of available electronic resources; power outage, ineffective communication channels, slow network and inadequate searching skills, were responsible for negative perception towards the usage of internet resources" (p. 55).
The fourth determinant is Attitude. Attitude on the other hand, is an expression of favor or disfavor towards a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object). It could be negative or positive. Once one has a negative or positive attitude towards an object or innovation, it influences the usage of such person, either positively or negatively. Velnampy (2008) stated that, attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely determine how a person perceives his environment, commit himself to intended actions, and ultimately behave. Paul, Rosnold and Adeyemo(2007) stated that attitudes are inclinations and feelings, prejudices or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears, and convictions about anything. According to Zhang (2002), attitude is an individual’s tendency toward a specific thing and environment. It is a person’s inclination with persistence and consistency. In addition, this inclination could be inferred by the individual’s behavior. However, the intention in an attitude is not discerned only through behavior but encompasses general knowledge, and comprises the cognitive, emotions and actions of the individual.
More recent research indicated that, attitude represents the summary evaluation of a psychological object, and is described both internally and externally in dimensions such as, good-bad, likeable-dislikeable, harmful- beneficial, pleasant-unpleasant (Ajzen&Fishbein, 2000). Ajzen (1988) described attitude as, predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, event or innovation. As implied in this definition, attitudes possess cognitive (beliefs, knowledge, and expectations), affective (motivational and emotional), and performance (behavior or actions) components. Attitudes toward ICT usage have been defined as a person’s general evaluation or feeling towards ICT and specific computer and Internet related activities (Smith, Caputi, &Rawstone, 2000). This attitude also affects the usage of internet resources because, internet resources is one of the services provided by ICT facilities.
The issue of gender is another determinant that has been found to influence the usage of ICT among students. According to Oyeniyi and Adetimirin (2013), the issue of gender gap in technology usage is gaining ground, and attracting the attention of academic researchers. Some researchers have noted that gender difference towards ICT affects individual’s interest, attitude towards ICT and its use, and that if gender is related to computer and other ICT anxiety, then the issue of gender is so relevant in this age when considering students’ proficiency level in ICT usage (Whitmire, 2001; Weiser, 2000).
Age is another determinant that has been identified to influence undergraduates usage of ICT facilities. UNAIDS (2004) grouped the age of Internet usage to be 0-14 years for children, and 15 years and above for adults. Later however, the adult segment was further regrouped/split with, the age of 15 - 30 taken as younger adults, 31 - 40 as middle age and above 40 as older group.
Gender is also a determinant identified to influence the usage of ICT facilities. Gender refers to the state of being a male or female. Larson (1996) stated that gender influences utilization of the Internet. He further stated that the male who are predominate university students make use of the Internet more than their female counterpart.
From the fore-going therefore, it has been discovered that computer literacy level, electronic information retrieval skills, perception, attitude, gender and age are key determinants responsible for the usage or lack of usage of ICT facilities among undergraduates’ students as shown by literatures. Based on this therefore, it becomes necessary to access the Factors affecting utilization of internet resources by postgraduate students. As such, this study will be an attempt to access the Factors affecting utilization of internet resources by postgraduate students in South East region of Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The new trend in utilization of ICT is the adoption and use of internet resources for research activities. This has influenced the teaching and learning process because, most of the assignments, research, thesis and class activities given are carried out and answered using internet resources. A person can have access to these resources irrespective of time and distance, once he/she has the enabled facilities like computers and Internet services which make research work easier to carry-out. As a result of this evolution, researchers can have access to free scholarly resources which are available over the Internet with wider range of information to choose from. Students who need to do research will benefit from an effective internet resources as it will provide a combination of digitally delivered content with learning support and services to them at any particular point in time.
In spite of the choices, opportunities and enhanced flexibility that internet resources provide, the researcher observed in the course of his study at masters’ programme that postgraduate students do not take advantage of these opportunities made available to them. Also from literature available and consulted by the researcher, it was seen that students don’t make adequate use of the internet resources. Could this be as a result of their computer literacy level, information retrieval skills, perception, attitude, gender and age? It is to this end, that this study sets out to investigate the determinant of utilization of internet resources by postgraduates students in universities in South East region of Nigeria.
1.3 Research Questions
This study is guided by the following research questions:
1. What are the internet resources used by postgraduate students in universities in the South East, Nigeria?
2. What is the computer literacy level of postgraduate students in the universities?
3. What are the electronic information retrieval skills possessed by postgraduate students in the universities?
4. What is the perception of postgraduate students towards utilization of internet resources in the universities?
5. What attitudes do postgraduate students exhibit towards utilization of internet resources in the universities?
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