Evaluation of Lecturers’ Competencies in the Use of Data Analysis Software for Quality Research in Faculties of Education in Rivers State Universities

Abstract

The study evaluated lecturers’ competencies in the use of data analysis software for academic research in Faculties of Education in Rivers State Universities. Two research questions and two hypotheses drawn from two objectives guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 315 lecturers from the Faculties of Education of Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The entire 315 lecturers were studied as a census without sampling due to the manageable size of the population. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed questionnaire tagged “Lecturers’ Competencies in the Use of Data Analysis Software for Academic Research Questionnaire”. The instrument was validated by two experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha method. Reliability coefficients of 0.83 and 0.79 were obtained for the two clusters of the instrument indicating that the instrument was reliable. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using the t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that lecturers have low competency in the use of Microsoft Excel in entering research raw scores and data analysis software for analyzing research data. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Deans of Faculties of Education of public Universities in Rivers State should organize periodic trainings for lecturers on how to use Excel sheet and other relevant software for inputting raw data collected for research purposes. Also, that lecturers in public universities should make commitments to engage in data analysis trainings which will equip them with the much needed competence in data analysis, and improve on their quality of research.