Challenges and Coping Strategies Adopted by Postgraduate Students of Agricultural Education in Thesis Writing in Nigerian Universities

Vincent C Asogwa,Adoo D Wombo,Charles U Ugwuoke

doi:10.4236/ajor.2014.45030

Vincent C Asogwa, Adoo D Wombo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/ajor.2014.45030

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Abstract

The study investigated challenges encountered and coping strategies adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in writing thesis in Nigerian universities. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study was conducted in Nigerian universities offering post-graduate programme in agricultural education. The population for the study was 118 made up of 14 postgraduate diploma, 66 masters and 38 doctoral students writing thesis in agricultural education. The entire population was involved in the study. An instrument tilted: Challenges and Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CCSQ) was used for data collection. Three experts validated the questionnaire. Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained. A total of 97 copies of the questionnaire were returned representing 93 percent return rate. Data collected for the study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analysis of Variance was used to test hypothesis of no significant difference at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was the tool employed to analyze the data collected. It was found out that 28 challenges were encountered by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing while 15 coping strategies were adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing. The recommendations were that postgraduate students of agricultural education who have abandoned their thesis writing should adopt the identified coping strategies to complete their programme among others.

Highlights

The importance of agriculture to mankind justified the need for equipping younger generation with knowledge and skills in agriculture through agricultural education
Research Questions 1) What are the challenges encountered by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing? 2) What are the coping strategies adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing?
There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of postgraduate diploma students, master’s students and Ph.D students of agricultural education on: 1) challenges encountered by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing. 2) coping strategies adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing

Summary

Introduction

The importance of agriculture to mankind justified the need for equipping younger generation with knowledge and skills in agriculture through agricultural education. According to [12], the challenges faced by students in research range from inability to select a researchable topic, the lack of resource materials, hostile attitude of supervisors, the lack of will power on the side of the students, the lack of finance, and ill health among others Some of these challenges are very high, with the result that many of the postgraduate students of agricultural education have been frustrated out the programme without getting their intended degree certificates after passing their course works creditably. There were still many postgraduate students of agricultural education who adopted effective coping strategies in overcoming the challenges encountered in thesis writing to be able to obtain their intended postgraduate degree certificate. The concern of the researchers in this study was to X-ray the challenges encountered by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing and the coping strategies that could be adopted for success

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