RESEARCH PROJECTS AND DISSERTATION WRITING AMONG NIGERIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: PERCEIVED DIFFICULTY AREAS AND THE WAY OUT
Abstract
This study investigated the measure of difficulties Nigeria university students face in implementing, completing and reporting their research projects and dissertations. The study adopted the survey research design. The multistage sampling procedure was used to choose 143 students who are at their three and four hundred levels from both the federal and the state owned universities. An instrument, namely students’ research difficulty scale (r = 0.83) consisting of six sub-sections that elicited students difficulty in carrying out their research, was adopted for data collection. The instrument was given to two experts in Tests and Measurements in the faculty of education, Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, to ascertain its face validity. The data was collected from October, 2019 to January, 2020, and analysed using Descriptive and Inferential statistics (correlation) at p<0.05. The study findings revealed that university students in Nigeria; do encounter many difficulties in effectively and efficiently implementing, completing and reporting their research findings. Thus, for students to overcome these difficulties, Research trainings, workshops, seminars and conferences should be regularly conducted for students; the curriculum planners for tertiary institutions and the university authorities; entwine the teaching and training of students in the methodologies of carrying out and reporting researches early enough (preferably from their hundred levels) so as to adequately equip the students with the needed skills and knowledge of research and its implementation since it remains a major criterion for their graduation from the university.
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