UTILIZATION OF DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR 21ST CENTURY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the utilization of digital resources for 21st century research activities in public Universities in Rivers State. Three research questions and three related hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Population of the study was 2,734 academic staff in the three public Universities in Rivers State. The sample for the study was 610 comprising 325 male academic staff and 285 female academic staff selected through systematic random sampling technique. The minimum sample size used for the study was estimated using Taro Yamane minimum sample size determination technique. The instrument used for collection of data was a21-item questionnaire titled “Digital Resources for University Research Activities Questionnaire” (DRURAQ). The DRURAQ was face and content validated by two Educational Management Experts in the Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt. Cronbach alpha statistic was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire with a co-efficient of 0.79. The research questions were answered using percentage, mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using z-test at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there was a high extent to which statistical data base is used for research activities while e-books were utilized to a low extent in public Universities in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that academic staff should be given stipends to regularly subscribe to e-book sites that are relevant to the research activities of staff of these Universities. Article visualizations: