Demographic Variables of Undergraduate Students as Correlates of Attitude towards Studying Social Studies in Southwestern Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of gender, level of study, age as well as religion of undergraduate students on attitude towards studying Social Studies in higher institutions of learning. These were with the view of providing information on the influence of demographic variables on undergraduate students’ attitude towards studying Social Studies in higher institutions of learning. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study consisted of the Social Studies Education students of higher institutions of learning. The sample for the study comprised one hundred and sixty (160) students selected through multistage sampling procedure. Four states were selected out of the six states that made up southwestern Nigeria through simple random sampling technique. Four universities were purposively selected, one from each selected states, based on the fact that they are offering Social Studies as a course of study. Forty Social Studies students were selected through simple random sampling techniques from each of the four selected university. The forty students in each institution comprised ten (10) students each from Part 1 through to Part 4. The instrument used for the study is a self-developed questionnaire tagged Questionnaire on Students’ Attitudes Towards Studying Social Studies (QSATSS). The instrument was validated and subjected to Cronbach alpha reliability test which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.81. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages, frequency counts and Chi-square statistics. The results among others showed that the level of study has significant influence on undergraduate students attitude towards studying Social Studies (X2 = 11.708, p < 0.05). The study recommended among others that undergraduate students should have positive attitude towards Social Studies as a field of study.