i

Research in Information and Knowledge Management: Principles,

Methods and Practices (Second Edition)

© K.N. IGWE, PhD

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-978-55583-1-9

2022
Published in Nigeria

Printed by
Waltodany Visual Concept Limited,
Lagos, Nigeria.

Cataloguing in Publication (CIP)

IGWE, K.N.
Z Research in information and knowledge management:
669.7 principles, methods and practices/ K. N. Igwe. – 2nd ed. –
.I6 Lagos, Nigeria: Waltodany Visual Concept Ltd, 2018.
xii, p. 316.; ill
ISBN 978-978-55583-1-9
I. Information and Knowledge Management –
Research.
II. Library and Information Science – Research.

For enquiries, contact:

Tel: +234 (0) 8034157776, +234 (0) 8086649580
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

ii
 DEDICATION
To researchers across the universe that are not only providing
solutions to diverse problems affecting humanity, but also extending
the frontiers of knowledge

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to The Most High God, The Almighty Alpha and
Omega, the Giver of Life, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and my ever
faithful Lord, for His inspiration and guidance, not only in the course of
developing this text, but also in all my endeavours on the universe. My
Dear Father in Heaven, I cannot do without You, I cannot act without
You, and above all, I cannot exist without You. Abundance of Your
grace, goodness and mercy I pray for, believing with faith that You
have granted them to me, in Jesus Christ name, Amen.
Sincere thanks to Prof. Jesse Uneke, Vice Chancellor, David
Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi State;
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, Former Vice Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme
Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State; Prof. Sulyman
Abdulkareem Age, Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara
State and the Rector of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic Unwana,
Ebonyi State, Dr. Felix U. Attah; for their support and contributions in
my academic endeavours.
Special thanks to erudite scholars and mentors that tutored me
in the art and science of research, especially Prof. L.O. Aina, Prof. A.O.
Issa, Prof. A.N. Uhegbu, Prof. Ishola Ajiferuke, Prof. (Mrs). A.O. Idowu,
Prof. Udo Nwokocha, Prof. A.O. Unagha, Prof. S.O. Popoola, Prof. K.I.N.
Nwalo, Prof. S.O. Uwaifo, Prof. A. Tella, Dr. A.A. Salman, and Dr. K.T.
Omopupa. Thanks to all other academic staff in the Faculty of
Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin,
Kwara State, Nigeria.
I appreciate the ideas and inspirations from scholars like Prof.
G.O. Alegbeleye, Prof. Virginia Dike, Prof. R.U. Ononogbo, Prof. Iyabo
Mabawonku, Prof. V.I. Unegbu, Prof. Steve Egbo, Dr. C.P.C. Onwubiko,
Dr. A.O. Ahmed, Dr. U.N. Opara, Dr. Oliver Ugocha, Dr. D.U. Imeremba,
Dr. Samuel Ibenne, Dr. V.N. Nwachukwu, and Dr. Emmanuel Anyanwu.
I also appreciate my colleagues, both senior and contemporary,
especially Dr. C.O. Nnadozie (of blessed memory), Dr. C.P. Uzuegbu,
Mrs. M.B. Aliyu, Dr. R.A. Jimoh, Dr. S.U. Omeluzor, Dr. S.A. Olarongbe,
Dr. S.A. Sadiku, Dr. G.O. Adigun, Dr. A.M. Adegbore, Dr. (Mrs) A. F.
Awodoyin, Dr. B.O. Edom, Dr. Victor Benson, Dr. Cletus Yissa, Prince S.
Olanipekun, Barr. G.A. Esimokha, Dr A.O. Adebayo, J.A. Ijiebor, K.Y.
Salawu, Dr. N.A. Emezie, Dr E.U. Igwebuike, Dr C.N. Onyishi,
Uwabunkeonye Bassey, and C.J. Aiyelabegan. Others are C.N. Nworu,

iv
S.S. Musa, P. Odenigbo, A.A. Ayandokun, E.O. Ndubuisi-Okoh, U.U.
Akubue, C. Okoche, C.K. Ume, N.C. Ndupu, J.K. Ukwuoma, I.C.
Okechukwu, Ikpo Okoroafor, C.M. Onyemachi, and a host of others, for
their collaborations in academic issues.
I am very grateful for the support, assistance and
encouragements of eminent personalities like High Chief E.E.
Onyeneho, Dr (Elder) U.O. Ugwuogu, Dr. R.O. Attama, Otunba A.A.
Kolawole, Dr. J.K.J. Okonkwo, Bro Wale Adewumi, Eke Arunsi, Dr. M.C.
Nwosu, Dr. Edward O. Uwa, Dr. A.O. Dike, Dr Dan Igwegbe, G.S. Obah,
Max O. Okite, B.N. Enemchukwu, Paulinus Okoro, Lady Catherine C.
Okafor, Ethelbert E. Anyanwu Jnr and Chinedu C. Anukaeme. The
foundation laid by Igwe Emmanuel Uwakwe, Ezinne Nwanyiobioma
Joy Ihuchukwu Igwe and Elder Brother Chukwu Emeka Igwe, is not
quantifiable. Never to be forgotten are my darling wife (Queensley –
Daddy’s Angel) and lovely children, they make my day and serve as the
strongest support in all ramifications. To all other individuals and
personalities, too numerous to mention, who had contributed to the
successful completion of this book, and or those that are instrumental
to my academic endeavours, I thank you very sincerely.
To all scholarly authorities consulted, I appreciate your efforts
for pushing the frontiers of knowledge, providing solutions to
problems of humanity and facilitating human and societal
development. Thanks to my former and present students for their
encouragements and confidence in me. I assume responsibility for all
inadequacies in this book (if any), welcome objective criticisms and
useful suggestions for future editions.

K. N. IGWE, PhD
David Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences,
Uburu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

v
 PREFACE
Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) covers library
and information science, information management, archives and
records management, media and communication, publishing and
multimedia technology, information and communication technology,
and knowledge management, management, education, and associated
social sciences. IKM is at the forefront of issues and themes associated
with information management, information retrieval and utilization, as
well as knowledge creation/generation, sharing and management
issues, not only in libraries, but also in other related information
agencies such as archival and records management centres,
documentation outlets, media firms, and other corporate
organizations. It is an emerging nomenclature cum multidisciplinary
field that takes care of all activities in the information and knowledge
cycle.
Research in Information and Knowledge Management:
Principles, Methods and Practices is tailored towards exposing the
rudiments, basics and fundamentals associated with carrying out
research studies in all areas of the information and knowledge
management professions. The book is not only an introductory work,
but also a comprehensive attempt to x-ray issues and themes as well as
principles, methods and practices of research in information and
knowledge management.
Topics covered are understanding information and knowledge
management, research and the society, basic concepts of research,
classification of research, approaches to research/research paradigms,
and research proposal. Others are the research process, statement of
problem and conceptualization of research, literature review, research
design, instruments for data collection, validity and reliability of
instruments for data collection, data analysis and discussion of
findings, as well as strategies of planning and implementing research
projects by students. There is an example of a completed research
project in the second to the last chapter of the book. This example

vi
stated clearly how the various sub-areas and sub-headings should be
treated in a research project. It is to serve as a useful guide to students
using this book to learning the principles and methods of research in
information and knowledge management as well as allied areas.
Another special chapter on issues of scholarly communication was also
added, with appendix on American Psychological Association (APA)
style of citation and references (6th edition), thus, with contemporary
perspectives that will guide researchers on what scholarly research,
writing and publishing entails in the 21st century.
It is hoped that this book will go a long way in enlightening
students, scholars, educators and the general public on the principles,
methods and practices of research in all aspects of information and
knowledge management, and allied areas in the society.

K.N. IGWE, PhD

David Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences,
Uburu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

vii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface

Chapter One
Understanding Information and Knowledge Management
 Introduction
 Background to Information and Knowledge Management
 Description of Information and Knowledge Management
 Constituents of Information and Knowledge Management
 Nature and Scope of Research in Information and Knowledge
Management
 Future of Research in Information and Knowledge Management

Chapter Two
Research and the Society
 Introduction
 Understanding Research and the Associated Characteristics
 Purpose and Essence of Research in the Society
 Problems of Research in Developing Countries

Chapter Three
Basic Concepts in Research
 Introduction
 Scientific Method of Enquiry
 Concept and Variables
 Theory
 Conceptual Framework
 Theoretical Framework
 Hypothesis
 Triangulation
 Unit of Analysis

viii
Chapter Four
Classification of Research
 Introduction
 Basic Research Versus Applied Research
 Conceptual Research Versus Empirical Research
 Qualitative Research Versus Quantitative Research
 Analytical Research Versus Descriptive Research
 Disciplinary Research Versus Multidisciplinary Research

Chapter Five
Approaches to Research/Research Paradigms
 The Background
 Approaches to Research or Research Paradigms: What are they?
 Description of Various Approaches to Research

Chapter Six
Research Proposal
 Introduction
 Meaning of Research Proposal (Research Protocol and Research
Synopsis)
 Structure/ Content of Research Proposal
 Weaknesses of Research Proposals in IKM

Chapter Seven
Research Process
 Introduction
 Understanding Research Process
 Description of Processes involved in Research

Chapter Eight
Statement of Research Problem and Conceptualisation of Research
 Introduction
 Identification of Research Problem
 Sources of Research Problem
 Conceptualisation of Research

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Chapter Nine
Literature Review
 Introduction
 Review of Related Literature
 Important Elements to Note in Literature Review
 Benefits of Literature Review in Research
 Common Mistakes associated with Review of Related Literature
 Developing/Writing a Literature Review
 Understanding Information Synthesis

Chapter Ten
Research Design, Population and Sampling
 Conceptual Explanation of Research Design
 Factors/ Questions to Note when Planning a Research Design
 Types of Research Designs
 Population
 Sampling and Sample Size
 Sampling Technique

Chapter Eleven
Instruments for Data Collection
 Introduction
 Questionnaire
 Interview
 Observation
 Documentary Sources

Chapter Twelve
Validity and Reliability of Instruments for Data Collection
 Introduction
 Validity of Instruments for Data Collection
 Reliability of Instruments for Data Collection

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Chapter Thirteen
Data Analysis and Interpretation
 Statistics for Research in Information and Knowledge
Management
 Understanding Data Analysis
 Scales of Measurement
 Appropriate Statistical Tools for Data Analysis and Interpretation
in IKM Research

Chapter Fourteen
Planning and Implementing Research Projects by Students
 Resources for Planning Research Project
 Developing Research Proposal
 Format of Research Projects
 Project Cover Page and Preliminary Pages
 Structure of Completed Research Projects
 Ethical Issues in Information and Knowledge Management
Research
 Citations and References: Focus on APA Style 6th Edition, 2010
 Example of a Completed Project

Chapter Fifteen
Issues in Scholarly Communication
 Introduction
 Concept of Academic Writing
 Methods/Ways of Incorporating Literature in Writing Scholarly
Works
 Methods of Disseminating Research Findings
 Scholarly Publishing/ Scholarly Communication
 Purpose of Scholarly Communication
 Historical Development of Scholarly Communication
 Scholarly Communication Process
 Emerging Trends in Scholarly Communication in the Digital Era
 Summary and Conclusion
References

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER ONE
UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
In all activities of man, notwithstanding the area or sector
involved, challenges are usually encountered; and there is need to adopt
and use systematic approach in order to address the identified
challenges. The solutions that would address the challenges usually
come in the form of information, like ideas and facts. Such information
should be available, accessible, reliable, timely, accurate and easy to use,
in order to address the challenges. This chapter is a preamble of what
information and knowledge management (IKM) entails. Specifically, it
discussed issues such as background to IKM, descriptive analysis of IKM,
constituents of IKM, as well as the nature and scope of research in IKM.
The essence is to give the reader, who may either be a novice or even an
expert, a clear picture of the environment of information and knowledge
management, thereby laying a solid foundation for thorough
understanding of the principles, methods and practices of research in
IKM as described in this book.

Background to Information and Knowledge Management

Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) is a
contemporary nomenclature for all fields, issues and themes, that focus
on managing information, information resources, and knowledge assets
of man, in areas such as library and information science, information
management, archives and records management, media and
communication, publishing and multimedia, and knowledge
management, as well as the combination of other related fields of study
that engage, participate and associate with the activities that take place
in the information and knowledge cycle. These activities in information
and knowledge cycle are creation/generation, selection and acquisition,
description and organization, storage and preservation, dissemination
and communication, as well as facilitating use/utilization of information
resources and knowledge assets in diverse media formats; thus, leading
to the creation of new knowledge, and the cycle continues.

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 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Library Science and Information Science are two different but

related fields that came together to form Library and Information
Science (LIS). Library science focuses on the application of scientific
methods in managing human and information resources in various
kinds of libraries for meeting the information needs of their diverse
users. The information science aspect of LIS is associated with
controversies, especially in developing countries in Africa, like Nigeria. It
is argued that information science is basically computing, and that
majority of that aspect of LIS is mainly treated as information studies or
information management in the education and training of future
practitioners.
With the emergence of globalization tools, information and
knowledge explosions are the order of the day in the society. Apart from
information agencies (such as libraries, information centres,
documentation centres, archives, museums, records management
agencies, media centres and multimedia outfits, and the like),
organisations of all types, (formal and informal organisations,
government and non-governmental organisations, as well as corporate
establishments), now attach a lot of importance on information and
knowledge as strategic tools for decision making, productivity, growth
and development. This is most especially as we are in the knowledge-
based society, where knowledge (both tacit and explicit) is treated as
great assets and commodity for organizational success, outstanding
business operations and actualization of competitive advantage. As such,
these developments demand preference for information and knowledge
management (IKM) as the contemporary nomenclature for LIS
education and training in the knowledge society.
In addition, based on societal perceptions, LIS as a name appears
too limited in terms of career and entrepreneurial opportunities,
especially to parents, guardians and secondary school graduates. They
mostly see LIS as a field of study that will give job opportunities only in
libraries; unfortunately, these libraries are underdeveloped in African
societies, like Nigeria’s case with its associated poor reading habits and
culture. However, these perceptions are not true. There are so many
career and entrepreneurial opportunities for graduates of LIS with the
requisite knowledge, skills and competences, which they acquired from
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education that offer LIS
programmes. In fact, information and knowledge drives the society, and
because LIS deals with information and knowledge management, there
is no area of human endeavour or sector of the society that LIS
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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

graduates will not fit in. Meanwhile, the preference for IKM is
appropriate to correct the perceptions at first instance, and then enlarge
the coast of the profession with a crop of intelligent young men and
women having ideas and innovations.
There are also arguments that IKM is the appropriate
replacement for LIS considering that libraries are not the only
information sources for addressing human information needs in the
society. In fact, the position of libraries as agency for satisfaction of
information needs of man in the society appears to be declining,
especially if operated traditionally with only print-based information
resources and onsite information services. Other information sources
like the Internet, information and documentation centres, museums,
archives and records management agencies, media centres and
multimedia outfits, are also competing with libraries in provision of
information and associated information services to all classes of
individuals in the society. Therefore, the justification of library as key
concept in LIS is very slim, because of other information sources with
contemporary nomenclatures. However, with the emergence and rapid
development of hybrid libraries that combine both print-based and
digital-based resources as well as onsite and online services
simultaneously, libraries of all types still remain the major certified and
reliable source of information resources and knowledge assets of man
for satisfying information needs of humanity, engaging in further
research and continuous development of the society.

Description of Information and Knowledge Management

Having provided a preamble to information and knowledge
management (IKM), there is need for further descriptive analysis of
what the concept stands for. According to Technical University of Kenya
(2013), IKM as a multidisciplinary field of study, provides education and
training through an interdisciplinary approach by integrating
information and communication technology, knowledge management,
library and information studies, records management, publishing and
book trade, information systems and user studies, with emphasis on
problem solving, application, synthesis of knowledge, change
management and innovations. This is to enable trainees to be able to
respond to the challenges of information and knowledge provision and
management, and contribute to improving professional ethics and
standards in the knowledge society.

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 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

For Tampere University Finland (n.d.), IKM is a discipline that

studies and develops tools, processes, techniques and practices for
gathering, analysing, refining and using knowledge throughout an
organisation. This holistic approach is needed when resolving practical
challenges in both the private and public sectors of the society. Thus,
IKM serves as a bridge for the fields of information technology, the
environment, business, administration and health sciences, with a
multidisciplinary approach towards addressing challenges facing the
society.
To the University of Technology Sydney (2011), IKM courses are
designed to produce information and knowledge professionals that are
able to create and manage information and knowledge assets which are
increasingly in digital formats, and also in print formats. They equip
graduates with a deep, theoretically informed understanding of how
knowledge and information are created, represented, communicated
and used by individuals and groups both online and in the physical
world. In addition, students develop the technical and project
management skills needed to design, build and manage online
information resources such as websites and digital repositories.
IKM is the study of how ideas, information and knowledge are
created, represented and communicated in social, business, and other
contexts, as well as examines strategies and practices for the delivery of
knowledge-based services for individuals, organizations and
communities in the 21st century. IKM is interdisciplinary in nature and
multidisciplinary in scope, and adopts a unique approach towards
understanding the strategic role of information and knowledge in the
globalized evolving society, and the mechanisms for managing them for
the overall benefit of humanity.

Constituents of Information and Knowledge Management

According to the University of Johannesburg (2016),
information has become an integral part of all aspects in modern-day
life. Acquiring the necessary skills for the effective utilisation of
information and information sources is imperative for every
knowledge worker - from the highest level of governmental decision-
making to the lowest decision-making individual entrepreneur.
Furthermore, the Internet is changing the way people communicate
with one another, do business, exchange ideas, study and transmit
information. We all know that the right information at the right time is

4
 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

essential for good decision-making. A working knowledge of the

Internet and its applications, as well as the know-how of information
management, therefore is an essential skill needed in the modern
corporate world.
There are possibilities that exist in the new electronic
information environment for a person to develop into an entrepreneur
who can process and add value to information for financial gain, who
can use information technology to achieve a competitive edge, and
who can utilise information to improve productivity, create new
marketing opportunities and identify challenges to develop new
information products.
Information and knowledge management programme provides
understanding of foundational information technology concepts,
fundamental information and knowledge management principles, and
develops further knowledge and understanding of specialist areas
within information and knowledge management, which are
librarianship, records management, archival science, information
architecture, knowledge management. Thus, education and training for
IKM should gear towards enabling individuals to:
i. have knowledge and understanding of the major theoretical and
professional issues in information and knowledge management;
ii. be able to critically review, analyse, consolidate, and synthesize
information in order to respond to information and knowledge
management issues;
iii. have the knowledge and skills to be able to analyse problems in
business, social or community settings, design IKM solutions and
assess their effectiveness;
iv. have thorough knowledge and understanding of information and
knowledge management systems for professional practice;
v. have developed professional social, ethical and communication
skills in industry and community setting;
vi. be able to communicate findings and rationale of design
solutions to a full range of stakeholders;
vii. have knowledge, understanding, and experiences that are
technology independent and are robust over time so that they
are well placed to deal with ongoing, rapid changes in the
information and knowledge management field; and
viii. have all other specific knowledge, understanding and skills to
meet the requirements for professional recognition by
associations and organizations involved in IKM (Monash
University, 2016).
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 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Nature and Scope of Research in Information and Knowledge

Management
Most importantly, research in Information and knowledge
management (IKM) are geared towards investigating and unraveling
IKM problems through systematic approach; and then providing
solutions that will address the problems for the benefit of humanity;
and this covers all components or constituents of the field, as
described in the preceding sub-heading. Thus, these researches in IKM
can take place in different environments.
In terms of nature, research in IKM adopts the social sciences
approach in its investigations. Social science is the study of society and
the manner in which people behave and influence the world around
them. To Bhattacherjee (2012), social science is the science of people
or collection of people, such as groups, firms, societies, or economies,
and their individual or collective behaviours; thus, social sciences can
be classified into disciplines such as psychology (the science of human
behaviours), sociology (the science of social groups), and economics
(the science of firms, markets and economies).
The multidisciplinary nature of IKM touches a broad range of
social science disciplines such as sociology, demography, psychology,
anthropology, human geography, political science, public
administration, law, education, management, economics, business
studies, development studies, social statistics, and the likes. Thus,
social science research approach which IKM adopts engages in
gathering, analyzing and interpreting data and information for
addressing a variety of social issues, using both quantitative and
qualitative approaches. IKM researchers critically appreciate the
contemporary society and social issues based on sound foundation of
social-related theories and range of social research methods,
methodology and styles. In addition, social research design
encompasses not only theoretical and methodological, but also ethical
considerations relating respect for the rights and welfare of all parties
involved in the research.
Thus, the nature and scope of research in IKM addresses all
areas and constituents of the multidisciplinary field. Sub-areas of IKM
include library and information science, knowledge management,
media and communication, publishing and multimedia technology,
archives and records management, health information management
(health informatics), business information management (business
informatics), agricultural information management (agricultural
informatics), as well as other associated areas of social and
6
 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

management sciences, scientific and technological information

management. IKM research also covers knowledge repositories,
information and knowledge user behavior, Web 2.0 technology/ social
media and networks, search technologies and open source software for
content management, digital marketing, information and knowledge
retrieval, social informatics, digital innovations and technologies,
knowledge management practices in diverse organizations,
organisational knowledge systems, indigenous knowledge
management, infopreneurship and knowledge entrepreneurship,
business innovations and applications, learning and knowledge
diffusion, knowledge and innovation management in various
organizations, among others.
Furthermore, many challenges are associated with the
provision of library-based and associated information services to
different categories of individuals in the society in different types of
libraries, information centres and allied information-based
organizations, and thus require investigation. They include, but not
limited to:
 Enabling factors for increased patronage of information
services in libraries;
 Aligning service delivery systems in line with the demands and
preference of digital natives and 21st century information
users;
 Attitude of users’ to the information resources and services of
information centres;
 Extent of use of information resources and services of
information agencies;
 Determinants of theft and mutilation issues in information and
knowledge centres;
 Staff training and development, staff motivation and reward
system, staff discipline, staff productivity, staff turnover, and
labour mobility among information workers;
 Education and training for IKM in the 21st century;
 Societal perception of information practitioners and
knowledge managers;
 Availability and use of information resources and services in
information agencies;
 Adoption and use of information and communication
technologies (ICTs) for service delivery in information agencies
and other associated organisations;
7
 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

 Level of Internet accessibility to different classes of

information users in the society;
 Extent of application of ICTs especially in the areas of
management of library routines, digitization of information
resources, development of library web portals, content
management systems and electronic resources management
systems;
 Funding pattern and constraints to delivery of information
services to users;
 Preservation and conservation of information resources in
knowledge economies;
 Extent of information and records management practices in
government and non-governmental organisations for research,
planning and development; as well as
 Level of awareness and implementation of knowledge
management programmes, knowledge sharing and competitive
advantage strategies in organizations.
In addition, there are other areas of information and knowledge
management that requires empirical investigations for the benefit of
humanity. Some of these areas include:
 Rural libraries, community information centres and services.
Studies on feasibility of establishing community information
centres, and rural libraries in various communities, localities
and towns. State of rural libraries or community information
centres in local government areas and ways out. Public private
partnership for the development and management of
community information centres in rural areas. Organizations
and corporate social responsibility for rural information
centres development and management, among others
 Development of reading habits and culture among primary and
secondary school students, including the role of libraries,
teachers, management team of schools, and ministries of
education in the process; as well as state of school libraries.
 Condition of public libraries, and the solutions for the sake of
humanity.
 Information environment and patterns of information
utilization by different classes of individuals, professions and
professionals in the society – nurses, teachers, lecturers,
researchers, students, para-military officers, police men, legal

8
 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

practitioners, military officers, media practitioners, journalists,

pastors, civil servants, doctors, engineers, rural dwellers,
business dealers.
Also, research in IKM involves specific topics like overall
information environment of various classes of individuals in the
society, such as teachers, students, lecturers, civil servants, security
officers, legal practitioners, health practitioners, librarians, traders,
artisans, farmers, among others. Information environment covers
information needs (general or specific), information sources,
information and knowledge seeking behaviour, information retrieval
mechanisms, information retrieval tools, information skills,
information literacy, information ethics, evaluation of information
sources, information utilization, and knowledge creation factors.
Furthermore, other areas of research interest in IKM include all
elements that constitute the information and knowledge cycle (from
creation/generation, organization, storage, preservation,
dissemination/communication, to utilization); service delivery
patterns and the associated factors; issues concerning knowledge
capturing, organization, sharing, utilization and application by
individuals in various environments and societies; IKM training and
development, resource sharing and networking, application and use of
information and communication technologies (ICT), among others.

Future of Research in Information and Knowledge Management

Information and knowledge management (IKM) is not only
multidisciplinary, but also interdisciplinary. Multidisciplinary involves
people and perspectives from different disciplines working together,
each drawing on their disciplinary knowledge, whereas interdisciplinary
entails integrating knowledge and methods from different disciplines, all
geared towards achieving certain purposes. In many cases, IKM is
compressed as knowledge management, considering that holistic
description of knowledge management takes into account of both
explicit and tacit knowledge.
Meanwhile, at the 2017 satellite conference of the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), with focus on
“New Directions in Knowledge Management”, Dr. Joanna Paliszkiewicz, a
Professor at Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland, who is known
for her expertise in knowledge management and trust management,
notes that linkages with other disciplines need to be taken into
9
 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

consideration in future information and knowledge management

research. The linkages with other disciplines, as outlined by
Paliszkiewicz (2017), are in the areas of LIS, economy, philosophy,
sociology, psychology, information systems, and management; and they
are highlighted as follows:
 Library and Information Sciences: Knowledge management
plays important role in the work of librarians, especially in
managing codified or recorded knowledge. The use and sharing of
knowledge can improve the quality of service as well as the
creation and maintenance of a learning culture. There are so many
areas that can be further explored as applicable to LIS. Research
merging knowledge management and strategic planning should
be conducted, for example, applying knowledge management
systems to strategic planning, and developing new strategic
planning models in combination with knowledge management
models. This can improve the quality of library strategic planning.
There is a gap in the digital library project management literature
in regard to the role of knowledge management in digital library
management. As knowledge management focuses more on human
issues like tacit knowledge and intuition management, a new set
of skills and competencies are needed for librarians to work in the
existing and emerging knowledge management environment.
Librarians should promote a knowledge sharing culture through
the initiation of communities of practice, organizational learning,
change management, collaboration, management of best
practices, and use of appropriate knowledge sharing technologies.
Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of these
approaches. In addition, there are challenges for librarians related
to the development of mobile applications and social media. There
is a need to educate librarians in this area. Librarians have to
acquire skills to keep themselves updated so as to cope
effectively, intelligently, and objectively with knowledge
management in libraries, and use ICTs to equip libraries to
provide better, faster, and pinpointed services to users.
 Economy: The concept of the “knowledge economy” started to
appear in the early 1960s. From this time, a lot of researchers and
practitioners have been trying to identify and explain the logic
and mechanisms behind the economy in which knowledge has
become very important. Case studies of national economies

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

evolving into the knowledge economy are needed in future

research to understand and explain it better. A better
understanding of the critical factors that can facilitate or hinder
successful development of the knowledge economy is needed.
Research is needed in the area of knowledge transfer from
emerging economies to more cost-effective locations, and the
connection between knowledge transfer and transactional costs
should be researched. Another important issue worthy of study
can be to discern if the balance between globalization and
localization relates to a balanced culture and how the balance
between globalization and localisation influences the transfer of
knowledge.
 Philosophy: One of the main concerns of philosophy has been to
define what we know. In this scientific area, it is important to
develop “cognitive maps” of the organization. These maps can
help managers to understand the organization and its
environment. It can help also to locate information and
knowledge. Another important issue is ethics. Ethics is described
as behavioural codes that are regarded as good and right by
individuals and the society at large. But ethics is not only a
philosophical abstract theory but also a critical guideline in the
collective or personal practice. Members of the organization
should respect the collective ethical norms. Where favouritism
rules, individuals are likely to punish the unfair member, e.g. by
refraining from the transfer of knowledge. Fairness is practiced
when the needs of both individuals and organisations are treated
as equally important and members of the organization are treated
as equals. Ethical issues are very important and further research
is needed, especially in the area of trust building, fairness,
organizational justice, and ethical organizational climate. A
deeper study related to ethical aspects of knowledge management
may focus on the power of managers over individuals. Another
future research direction is to study the relationships between
conceptualisations of ethical knowledge (as tacit knowledge and
as explicit knowledge) and moral development.
 Sociology: A research area of potential interest is the connection
of social capital and knowledge management. Social capital
constitutes some aspect of the social structure and facilitates the
actions of members of organization within the structure. Social
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 UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

capital consists of three dimensions: the structural dimension, the

relational dimension, and the cognitive dimension. The structural
dimension is related to the overall pattern of connections
between actors (who can influence others). The relational
dimension focuses on relations people have (trust, respect,
friendship). The cognitive dimension is related to cultural and
societal norms. All of these dimensions are very important in
knowledge management especially in the sharing of knowledge.
Future research is needed to expand knowledge in this regard.
Another important aspect related to sociology and knowledge
management is working in groups and teams. It is very important
to develop knowledge-oriented cultures in which the transfer of
knowledge among individuals is provided. One option to create
and develop a knowledge-oriented culture is through the use of
groups, teams, and communities of practice within the
organisation. This aspect also needs further research. The
knowledge in an organisation is produced collectively. Usually,
many intellectual tasks cannot be executed by a single individual,
instead, they require the collaboration of multiple persons (team
work). This means that knowledge management is becoming
more and more a social activity. More research is needed which
will link sociology and knowledge management.
 Psychology: Study in the area of psychology should explicate the
complexity of knowledge transfer behavior. Researchers have
emphasized how individual differences are important in the
organization environment, but there is a need to expand the
research related to the effect of individual characteristics
(personality traits) or individual dispositions in knowledge
sharing. For example, openness to experience has been found to
positively correlate with individuals’ knowledge sharing, but also
individual learning orientation can be an important aspect in
predicting individual knowledge sharing activities. Some
researchers have proved that knowledge sharing can foster and
enhance learning. There is a gap in the research in this area.
Another interesting topic can be related to investigating how
individual characteristics can interact with contextual factors to
predict knowledge sharing. This kind of study will connect trait
activation perspectives and interactional psychology. It would be
good also to investigate why and when people hide knowledge. To

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decrease knowledge hiding, managers should focus on practices

that can reduce employees’ self-perception of possession of
knowledge and territoriality. This can increase the strength of
employees’ psychological ownership for organizations, but
further research is also needed. Also interesting is to check the
relation between the propensity to trust and knowledge sharing.
As the role of knowledge is very important, advances in
knowledge sharing will contribute to the success of organizations,
individuals, and the development of academic theory.
 Information Systems: The development of information systems is
opening a lot of new possibilities to develop knowledge
management. The number of ways people can communicate has
increased. Social media, which has become part of life, opens a lot
of new possibilities to transfer information and knowledge.
Research is needed in the area of using social media for
organizational purposes like localising, acquiring, developing,
transferring, using and coding of knowledge. Social media has
become a place for communication, networking and content
sharing. It is important to use this as a way to develop knowledge
management. The development of social media has also created
some problems related to privacy issues, for example cyber-
stalking and location disclosure, social profiling and third party
disclosure, and invasive privacy agreements. This area is also
worthy of research. Information systems security has become a
major concern for organizations. Successful security management
mainly depends on the involvement of users in the active
defending of information systems, but most users do not have
appropriate knowledge about it. Security tools and mechanisms
have a limited effectiveness for the reason that security depends
on users. Designers of knowledge management systems can
introduce levels of security for different types of knowledge that
reside within the organisation. There exists a general lack of focus
on protection and security in knowledge management systems —
both in a research setting and in practical applications.
Knowledge is different from data and information and needs
special consideration in the organization. The concept of secure
knowledge management and protecting organizational knowledge
needs more attention.

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 Management: A better understanding of tacit knowledge is

needed, as is the ability to apply this knowledge in the process of
work to solve and identify complex problems in organizations.
The following gaps have been identified in the existing literature
in this area: the organizational benefits to tacit knowledge
transfer, the role of tacit knowledge in organizational learning and
development, the influence of tacit knowledge in intellectual
capital, the transfer of tacit know-how and its use in communities
of practice, and the role of ICTs with regard to sharing tacit
knowledge. Another problem is how to effectively manage
workers who own the organization’s knowledge assets.
Challenges which still exist are related to identifying, developing
and evaluating knowledge workers to maximize their
effectiveness and the quality of work. Knowledge workers possess
higher levels of both tacit and explicit knowledge and are engaged
in more complex, less routine tasks involving greater levels of
original work, creativity, and problem solving. More research is
needed to increase the possibility and quality of more effective
management of knowledge workers. Also the area of knowledge
protection is important, for example: the prevention of unwanted
knowledge spillovers, which focus on leakage of knowledge to
non-authorized people, and the prevention of knowledge loss
which focuses on unavailable employees, e.g. those leaving or
retiring. One major issue for organizations is finding a balance
between sharing and protecting knowledge. This issue also needs
further research.
In sum, as reviewed by Paliszkiewicz (2017), different approaches
about how IKM research may evolve via the literature focus on
processes and structures within organisations, such as leadership,
organizational culture and learning, and technologies for knowledge
storage and transfer to enhance productivity, quality and sales, reduce
cost, or increase innovation. There are also further possible research
directions, for example, the role of knowledge management in digital
library management, transfer of knowledge and globalization, ethical
issues and sharing of knowledge, shaping social capital for creating
collective knowledge, personality characteristics and knowledge
sharing, and the protection, and security of knowledge. In addition,
general areas that need more attention and development are:

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 Country comparison — more studies are needed that take into

consideration country differences and development of the
knowledge economy.
 Cultural comparison — more studies are needed that take into
consideration cultural differences.
 Long-term studies — this could enable observation of how
knowledge management has changed over time in
organizations or countries.
 Mixed-methods approach — using different kinds of methods,
such as combining qualitative and quantitative measures to get
a better view of knowledge management processes
(Paliszkiewicz, 2017).
Further interdisciplinary research is needed in knowledge
management. It is believed that the knowledge management is now an
independent academic field, but with a high degree of interaction with
other disciplines, and will become more prominent, when more is
learned about current paradigms and key research themes in
knowledge management studies, how they relate, and what they stand
for (Boyes, 2017; Paliszkiewicz, 2017)

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 RESEARCH AND THE SOCIETY

CHAPTER TWO
RESEARCH AND THE SOCIETY

Introduction
The existence of humanity is associated with challenges,
thereby requiring research-based approach towards addressing the
challenges. Thus, the importance of research in the society cannot be
underestimated; and as such research needs to be pursued in order to
provide solutions to the challenging problems affecting man and his
environment. As noted by Zarah (2017) learning to engage in research
is an integral part of a person’s education. Unfortunately, many lazy
students will reject it, and an uninteresting academic could just be
doing it for promotion purposes. Yet, for those who like to learn,
whether or not they are members of a learning institution, conducting
research is not just an imperative, but a need. What does research
entails, and what reasons could drive one to appreciate research and
engage in doing it? These are explored in the following sub-headings.

Understanding Research and the Associated Characteristics

The challenging problems of man cut across different sectors
like social, economic, political, scientific, technological, environmental,
and even international; and therefore require a process that will
identify the root causes of the challenges, and provide solutions to
solving those challenging situations. This calls for research, which
involves a systematic and organized process of providing solutions for
solving human problems.
The word ‘Research’ is etymologically derived from the French
word “recherché”, which means to travel through, to survey or to look
for again. That is, it is composed of ‘re’ meaning ‘again’, and then
“cherche” implies “to look for”. From the English angle, research is also
made up of ‘re’ and ‘search’. The word ‘re’ can be a reference to an
event that had already occurred. It can also simply mean ‘again’,
‘reappear’, ‘refloat’, and ‘replay’. The word ‘search’ on the other hand
can mean an attempt at finding something, especially by looking
carefully for it.

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Many authorities and scholars have made descriptive

explanation of what research entails. Research can therefore be
described as the process of arriving at dependable solutions to
problems in the society through a carefully planned, organized and
systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data. Research can
also be seen as an investigation carried out by individuals in a
scientific and systematic manner, with a view to creating new
knowledge, contributing to the advancement of humanity and solving
societal problems. Thus, IKM research is a careful, systematic,
objective, valid and reliable method of investigation that is geared
towards solving problems related to any aspect or area of the
multidisciplinary field for the benefit and advancement of humanity.
Such IKM research is:
 a systematic and structured study with the intention of
addressing a specific problem;
 directed towards providing solutions to problems or providing
answers to problems that are not yet resolved;
 involves careful collection, organisation and articulation of
what is already known about the problem, and what is yet to be
known;
 a structured process which follows a systematic and logical
order;
 characterised by rigorous logic and objectivity in its processes
of design and analysis;
 demands accurate observation and description of phenomena;
 involves gathering data from primary, secondary and even
tertiary sources in order to actualize the research purposes;
 involves logical explanation of the research findings;
 replicable and emphasizes the development of generalization,
principles and theories that can be used in predicting future
occurrences; and
 expensive in terms of time, money, energy, and other resources
(Hassan, 1995).
Research is expected to be thorough, systematic, organised, well
thought-out and purpose-driven process of investigation in accordance
with laid down procedures for the purpose of finding solutions to
defined problems. The individuals that carry out research are
researchers, and they are expected to possess attributes of patience,

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 RESEARCH AND THE SOCIETY

perseverance, humility, honesty, objectivity, truthfulness and time

management skills, among others.
Research, which involves scientific method of investigation,
possesses certain characteristics. Scientific method refers to a set of
assumptions, attitudes, and procedures that guide researchers in
creating questions to investigate, in generating evidence, and drawing
conclusions. It is associated with detailed observations, collection and
analysis of the data/information observed and or collected, and
formulation of questions or hypothesis that explains the behaviour of
the phenomena observed. Thus, the characteristics of research or
scientific investigation, which are applicable to studies in all areas of
information and knowledge management, are:
i. Research is Systematic: This means that research is sequential,
orderly and logical, and involves a set of procedures and steps
which have to be followed. It begins from problem
identification down to the actual collection of data, analysis,
interpretation, and dissemination of finding.
ii. Research is Objective: This means that research is not based on
the wish or aspirations of the investigator, but rather on
objective observation and evidences. Findings of a research are
reported as they are. In other words, the biases, prejudices,
beliefs or interests of the researcher or that of the society is not
allowed to interfere with research procedure and/or research
results.
iii. Research is Measurable/Testable: This means that scientific
research is empirical and based on facts and figures, which can
be tested and measured. Research is not speculative but
quantifiable. It becomes imperative that data collected for a
study must be measurable and tested in order to actualize the
research objectives.
iv. Research is Verifiable and Replicable: This means that results or
findings of a research can be verified by the researcher or
another researcher that is interested in the study, by going
through the data used or the process adopted. The research
can be replicated by administering the same research
instrument to the same subject or similar group of subjects.
This replication can help to justify the authenticity or
otherwise of earlier findings.

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Replication is a critical step in validating research to

build evidence and to promote use of findings in practice.
Replication involves the process of repeating a study using the
same methods with the assurances that you will get same or
similar results. Replication is important for a number of
reasons, which are assurance that results are valid and reliable,
determination of generalizability or the role of extraneous
variables, application of results to real world situations,
inspiration of new research combining previous findings from
related studies; and assurances that the schema used is
available, reusable and reliable in terms of producing same or
similar results. Whatever be the case, for a study to be
replicated, there should be good and justifiable reasons as
follows:
 Controversial findings or findings that are of doubtful
validity;
 Methodological imperfections or the need to use a new
method in re-investigating the problem; and
 Change in time or place (Chukwuneke, 2008).
v. Research is Cumulative and can be Generalized: Research is
cumulative implies that knowledge is built on one another, i.e.
new theories are seen to be correcting, extending, and
redefining the older ones. Scientific research is cumulative
because it tries to build upon existing knowledge, while also
creating new ones. On the other hand, that research can be
generalized implies that scientific laws are universal; therefore,
research findings can be applied to similar conditions, and or
generalized to the entire population.

Purpose and Essence of Research in the Society

There are factors that motivate an individual towards engaging
in research activities. These are as a result of the desire to attain a
certain level or achieve some aims and objectives. Examples are the
desire to get a diploma or degree along with its associated benefits,
desire to face the challenge of solving the unsolved societal problems
i.e. concern over exiting problems leads to research, desire to get the
intellectual joy of doing some creative work, desire to be of service to

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the society, desire to get promotions among educators, and also desire
for scholarly recognition and respect in the society.
In the society, research is carried out for various reasons. The
various reasons justify the purpose and essence of research in the
society. Research is aimed at:
 discovering new facts,
 finding solutions to scientific, non-scientific, social and
behavioral problems,
 identifying the cause and effect relationship between and
among variables,
 verifying and testing important facts,
 developing new scientific tools, concepts and theories, as well
as
 analyzing events, processes and issues.
In addition, many more factors such as directives of the government,
employment conditions, curiosity about new things, desire to
understand causal relationships, social thinking and awakening,
among others may motivate or at times compel people to engage in
research endeavours and operations (Kothari & Garg, 2014).
From the perspective of Zarah (2017), the importance or essence
of research in the society covers a tool for building knowledge and
efficient learning, an aid to business success, facilitates job search,
means to understand various issues of life, a way to prove lies and to
support truths, as well as a seed to love reading, writing, analyzing,
and sharing valuable information. Furthermore, Issa (2012) adds that
the importance of research in the society are many, especially in areas
of advancing the frontiers of knowledge, promoting progress in the
society, enabling man to relate more effectively with his environment,
assisting man to accomplish his purpose, helping man to resolve his
conflicts via getting answers to his numerous problems. For students,
participating in research provides training on strategies of problem
identification and solving, encourages students involvement in
capacity building and leadership development, results of students’
research adds to the pool of data required for planning and
development as well as contribution to the growth of knowledge.

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Problems of Research in Developing Countries

There are many problems serving as impediments to the
effective conduct of research in developing countries like Nigeria. They
include:
a. Inadequate funding.
b. Uncooperative attitude of those in authority – for fear of
exposing secrets, confidential government documents and
inadequacies.
c. Attitude and perception of prospective respondents.
d. Paucity of available data, inadequate information and poor
records management.
e. Poor communication network.
f. Lack of research orientation.
g. Poor motivation for researchers.
h. Poor knowledge of the research process.
i. Absence of visibility of research findings.

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 BASIC CONCEPTS IN RESEARCH

CHAPTER THREE

BASIC CONCEPTS IN RESEARCH

Introduction
Research is associated with various concepts and terms. These
concepts are some of the key principles which researchers are
expected to be very familiar with. The ones explained here are
scientific methods of enquiry, concept, variables, theory, conceptual
framework, theoretical framework, and hypothesis.

Scientific Method of Enquiry

Science is seen as knowledge acquired through scientific method.
Scientific method refers to a standardized set of techniques for building
scientific knowledge, such as how to make valid observations, how to
interpret results, and how to generalize those results. The scientific
method allows researchers to independently and impartially test pre-
existing theories and prior findings, and subject them to open debate,
modifications, or enhancements. The scientific method, as applied to
social sciences and generally to information and knowledge
management, includes a variety of research approaches, tools, and
techniques, such as qualitative and quantitative data, statistical analysis,
experiments, field surveys, case research, and so forth. This book is
devoted to learning about these different methods and their
applications. However, recognize that the scientific method operates
primarily at the empirical level of research, i.e., how to make
observations and analyze and interpret these observations. Very little of
this method is directly pertinent to the theoretical level, which is really
the more challenging part of scientific research (Bhattacherjee, 2012).

Concept
A concept is a notion, an idea or a thought conceived in the
mind. It could be a principle or an idea of how something is formed
with the associated features. It could also be regarded as the idea a
person has on what a particular process/object/issue entails. Different

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fields of study have developed concepts on different phenomena. In

research parlance, a concept provides specificity and direction for
constructs to guide development of a research study; the concept must
be clear and defined; and should be defined generally and/or
specifically within the context of the specific problem.

Variable
A concept that is operationalised or measurable is referred to
as a Variable. It is also seen as a measurable characteristic that varies;
which may change from group to group, person to person, or even
within one person over time. Several variables may, however, be used
to represent one concept. Concept operationalisation involves
identifying variables that represent concepts in a framework,
identifying how the variable is to be measured (operational definition),
and ensuring that methods of measurement or observation is
consistent with how the variable is conceptually defined.
All research projects are based around variables. A variable is
the characteristic or attribute of an individual, group, educational
system, or the environment that is of interest in a research study.
Variables can be straightforward and easy to measure, such as gender,
age, or course of study. Other variables are more complex, such as
socio-economic status, academic achievement, or attitude toward
school. Variables may also include an aspect of the educational system,
such as a specific teaching method or reading habits. Characteristics of
the environment may also be variables, such as the amount of school
funding or availability of learning resources. Therefore, once the
general research topic has been identified, the researcher should
identify the key variables of interest.
For example, a researcher is interested in low levels of
information literacy. Information Literacy itself is still a broad topic. In
most instances, the broad topic and general variables need to be
specifically identified. For example, the researcher needs to identify
specific variables that define information literacy, such as skills in
identification of information needs, using information sources,
information seeking strategies, information synthesis, information
ethics, among others. It could also be other areas of general literacy
like reading fluency (the ability to read a text out loud), reading
comprehension (understanding what is read), vocabulary, interest in
reading, etc. If a researcher is interested in motivation, what specific
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motivation variables are of interest? External motivation, goals, need

for achievement, etc? Reading other research studies about your
chosen topic will help you better identify the specific variables of
interest.
Identifying the key variables is important for the following
reasons:
 The key variables provide focus when writing the introduction
or background to the study.
 The key variables are the major terms to use when searching for
research articles for the literature review.
 The key variables are the terms to be operationally defined
under the operational definition of terms section or sub-
heading.
 The key variables provide focus to the methodology to be
adopted.
 The research instrument will measure the key variables. These
key variables must be directly measured or manipulated for the
research study to be valid.

Variables are of many types. However, the two main types of

variables that are usually featured in research investigations are the
dependent variable and independent variable(s).
 Dependent Variable: This is the variable that depends on other
factors that are measured. These variables are expected to
change as a result of the manipulation of the independent
variable(s), which could be experimental or otherwise. It is the
presumed effect.
Dependent variables show the effect of manipulating or
introducing the independent variables. For example, if the
independent variable is the use or non-use of a new teaching
procedure, then the dependent variable might be students'
scores on a test of the content taught using that procedure. In
other words, the variation in the dependent variable depends
on the variation in the independent variable.
 Independent Variable: The variable that is stable and unaffected
by the other variables you are trying to measure. It refers to the
condition of an experiment or otherwise that is systematically
manipulated by the investigator. It is the presumed cause.

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Independent variables are those variables that the

researcher has control over. This "control" may involve
manipulating existing variables (e.g., modifying existing
methods of instruction) or introducing new variables (e.g.,
adopting a totally new method for some sections of a class) in
the research setting. Whatever the case may be, the researcher
expects that the independent variable(s) will have some effect
on (or relationship with) the dependent variable(s).
However, it is important to know the difference because
framing a study using these variables is a common approach to
organizing the elements of information and knowledge
management research study, in order to discover relevant and
meaningful results. Specifically, it is important for these two
reasons: researchers need to understand and be able to evaluate
their application in other people's research, and also need to
apply them correctly in their own research.
Kerlinger (cited in Ekeanyanwu, 2012) defines an
independent variable (IV) as the presumed cause of the
dependent variable (DV), the presumed effect. The independent
variable is the antecedent, while the dependent variable is the
consequent. In other words, independent variable could be
distinguished thus:
The independent variable is observed and its value
presumed to depend on the effects of the dependent
variable. In other words, the dependent variable is what the
researcher wishes to explain. The independent variable may
be manipulated or it may just be measured. In contrast, the
dependent variable is what we are studying, with respect to
how it is related to or influenced by the independent
variable or how it can be explained or predicted by the
independent variable. It is sometimes called the response
variable or the criterion variable. It is never manipulated as
a part of the study. DVs are the things we measure about
people.

Apart from the dependent and independent variables, there

are also other variables that interact between the two key variables
in a study. They are intervening variables, moderator variables,
control variables and extraneous variables.

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 Intervening Variables refer to abstract processes that are not

directly observable but that link the independent and dependent
variables. For example, if the use of a particular teaching
technique is the independent variable and mastery of the
objectives is the dependent variable, then the learning processes
used by the subjects are the intervening variables.
 Moderator Variables affect the relationship between the
independent and dependent variables by modifying the effect of
the intervening variable(s). Unlike extraneous variables,
moderator variables are measured and taken into consideration.
Typical moderator variables in some studies/research (when
they are not the major focus of the study) include the sex, age,
culture, or proficiency level of the research subjects).
 Control Variables – Multidisciplinary field like information and
knowledge management is broad and complex, with its
associated sub-areas. It is not possible to consider every variable
in a single study. Therefore, the variables that are not measured
in a particular study must be held constant,
neutralized/balanced, or eliminated, so they will not have a
biasing effect on the other variables. Variables that have been
controlled in this way are called control variables.
 Extraneous Variables are those factors in the research
environment which may have an effect on the dependent
variable(s) but are not controlled. Extraneous variables are
dangerous. They may damage a study's validity, making it
impossible to know whether the effects were caused by the
independent and moderator variables or some extraneous
factor. If they cannot be controlled, extraneous variables must at
least be taken into consideration when interpreting results.

Theory
A theory can be regarded as an assumption, a conjecture, or a
postulation developed over time to explain observations of different
phenomena. It is a set of assumptions and propositions that attempts
to provide a rational explanation of cause-and-effect relationship
among a group of observed phenomenon. A theory is also regarded as
generalization about a phenomenon, an explanation of how and why
something occurs. Indeed, any statements that explain what is
measured or described – any general statements about cause and
effect – are theory based, at least implicitly. Thus, theory is a
generalization about a phenomenon that explains how and why the
phenomenon occurs.

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A theory can also be seen as a set of systematically interrelated

constructs and propositions intended to explain and predict a
phenomenon or behaviour of interest, within certain boundary
conditions and assumptions. Functions of a theory include describing,
explaining, predicting or controlling human phenomena in a variety of
contexts. Therefore, theories are formulated to explain, predict, and
understand phenomena and, in many cases, to challenge and extend
existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding assumptions.

Conceptual Framework
Framework can simply be regarded as the basic structure or a
platform designed to uphold something. It is a set of ideas or facts that
provide support for something. It also means a broad overview of
interlinked ideas which supports a particular approach to a specific
aim. In terms of research, a framework is a research tool intended to
help a researcher develop awareness and understanding of the
situation under investigation and to communicate same appropriately.
Conceptual Framework is where the researcher articulates
the various concepts/factors/variables associated with the study, and
how they relate with one another. It may be accompanied with a
carefully constructed diagrammatical representation by the researcher
in order to visualize the direction of the investigation. In other words,
conceptual framework is a written or visual (or both written and
visual) presentation that explains either graphically or in narrative
form (or both narrative and graphical) the main ideas and key factors
to study in the investigation, and the presumed relationships among
them. It provides the structure and content of the whole study based
on literature and personal experience. Designing a conceptual
framework involves identifying the keywords and concepts that are
involved in the study, taking one key concept/idea at a time and seeing
the ones that are related, and setting out the variables and possible
relationships between them together. Conceptual framework can be a
chart, diagramme, or a sketch with illustrations. The aim of conceptual
framework is to enable the researcher to move beyond description to
explanation of why?, what?, or how? It is also a means of setting out an
explanation that can be used to define and make sense of data that
flows from research objectives.

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Theoretical Framework
Theories are formulated to explain, predict and understand a
phenomena, and in many cases to challenge and extend an existing
knowledge. Theoretical framework involves reviewing various
theories and postulations by scholars and authorities that are related to
the topic of investigation. Selection of theoretical framework will
depend on its appropriateness and application to the study. Theoretical
framework provides explicit statements of theoretical assumptions, and
connects the researcher to an existing knowledge. In choosing
theoretical framework, researchers are to look at the problem and
variables critically, group the independent and dependent variables, and
review key theories in the topic/area of study. The researcher is
expected to adopt some of the theories that explained the variables in
his/her topic, i.e. the theory or theories must be relevant to the study by
linking up the variables in that particular study.
Meanwhile, the multidisciplinary nature of information studies,
and information and knowledge management (IKM) linking social,
behavioural and management sciences demands that theories in those
diverse areas are usually adopted and applied in IKM researches. Thus,
psychological theories, social theories, information and
communication theories, management and organisational theories,
economic theories, education and learning theories, and the like are
always used in IKM studies. For instance, Uhegbu (2009) examined
various theories that are applied in library and information science
research, such as:
 deviance theory, for studies involving library crime/
information seeking behaviour (i.e. a social theory);
 information provision and capacity utilization theory, for
studies involving pattern of use of information, information
resources and knowledge assets (i.e. information and
communication theory);
 management theories like human relations theory,
organisational behaviour theory, motivation theory, system
theory, and contingency theory, which are applicable to studies
associated with management of resources and administration
of information institutions; as well as
 theories of learning, which are applicable to studies involving
information-user instruction or library-user education (i.e.
education/learning theories).

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Other theories mostly used in IKM studies are information search

process models, information seeking models, technology acceptance
model (TAM) theories, diffusion of innovations theory, anomalous states
of knowledge, principle of least effort, social network theory, grounded
theory, service quality theories, and so on.
Both conceptual framework and theoretical framework assist
the researcher to identify research variables and the relationships
among the variables. The major difference between the two is that
conceptual framework centres only on the concepts and ideas used in
the study, whereas theoretical framework discusses certain theories
used in that field of study that are associated or in line with the
objectives/variables of investigation.

Hypothesis
Hypothesis is a tentative statement about research problem,
which is the basis for investigation, but yet to be proved. It is a
statement which gives an insight of what a researcher expects to be the
outcome of his/her study regarding the variables identified and
investigated, as contained in the problem statement of a study. In other
words, the hypothesis is in itself an explanation for certain observed or
observable events, behaviours, phenomena or predictions with
regards to how they occur, why they occur or when they occur. These
expectations and explanations must be clear, succinct, testable and
verifiable. The aim of a hypothesis is not to prove anything, but to test
whether it should be accepted or rejected. This is done with data
rigorously and painstakingly collected using requisite data collection
instruments like questionnaire.
Hypotheses are important and indispensable tools of scientific
research. Setting up and testing hypotheses are essential part of
scientific investigation, and statistical inference. Hypotheses have also
been referred to as calculated guesses or suggested problem solutions
which are expressed as generalizations or propositions, and are
expected to explain, describe or predict occurrences and events.
Hypotheses must be testable, i.e. the investigator/researcher
should be able to reject or not reject the hypotheses. This, therefore,
explains why hypotheses are better stated as a statement of
expectations, and not as questions. Questions may be useful in defining
a research problem, but they cannot specify an expectation that can be
confirmed or rejected. It is only hypotheses that can do that. Thus, the
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 BASIC CONCEPTS IN RESEARCH

characteristics of good and well-stated hypotheses are many, such

as:
 It should state the relationship between two or more variables.
 It should be stated clearly and unambiguously in the form of a
declarative sentence.
 It should be testable.
 The hypothesis must have direct bearing with the problem
statement.
 It must be consistent with known facts.
 The guessed solution contained in the hypotheses should be
plausible
 It is better to state and test many/multiple hypotheses, as a
single hypothesis allows only for one implication to be rejected
or not to reject.

There are two main types of hypothesis as applicable to

empirical and scientific research – these are the alternative hypothesis
H1 or Ha (also known as research hypothesis, and the null hypothesis
H0.
a) The alternative hypothesis represented as H1 or Ha, The
alternative hypothesis is stated in positive manner; for
instance, hypothesis one states that there is a statistically
significant difference or relationship between two or more
variables. The difference could be positive (greater than) or
negative (less than).
b) The null hypothesis represented as H0. The null hypothesis,
always stated in the negative manner, is that H01 is a no
significant difference or relationship hypothesis. It states that
there is no statistically significant difference or relationship
between the two groups or two variables or more under study
- meaning that the tested variables are equal to each other.

It should be noted that hypothesis is tested at a level of

significance or alpha level, i.e. what we call the tolerable error level.
The significance level or alpha level describes the probability that a
hypothesis will be rejected or not. This probability is the significance
level. The significant level is usually determined by the nature of the
research, which is usually 0.05 level (5%), especially in researches in
information and knowledge management, and allied areas.
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There are two major risks involved in decision making with

reference to testing hypothesis. These are the Type I and Type II
errors. If we reject a hypothesis when it should be accepted, we say
that a Type I error has been made. On the other hand, if we accept a
hypothesis when it should be rejected, we say a Type II error has been
committed. In other not to commit any of the errors, researchers are
expected to be familiar with the entire research principles, methods
and practices, method of testing hypotheses and the
acceptance/rejection level, and above all functional research designs
for empirical studies.

Triangulation
Triangulation in research is the use of more than one approach
to researching a question. The objective is to increase confidence in the
findings through the confirmation of a proposition using two or more
independent measures. The combination of findings from two or more
rigorous approaches provides a more comprehensive picture of the
results than either approach could do alone. Triangulation is typically
associated with research methods and designs. However, there are
several other variations on the term. Triangulation may be the use of
multiple theories, data sources, and methods. Triangulation involves
using multiple data sources in an investigation to produce
understanding. Rather than seeing triangulation as a method for
validation or verification, qualitative researchers generally use this
technique to ensure that a study is rich, robust, comprehensive and
well-developed. The reasons for using triangulation are that a single
method can never adequately shed light on a phenomenon, rather
using multiple methods can help facilitate deeper understanding.
Triangulation refers to the use of multiple references to draw
conclusions about what constitutes the truth. Triangulation can also
involve the use of different data collection tools with the same sample
of participants; different qualitative methodologies to answer the same
research question; a combination of quantitative and qualitative
research methodologies to answer the same research question; as well
as the same data collection tools with different samples.
The types of triangulation are (Denzin, 1978; Patton, 1999):
i. Methods Triangulation - checking out the consistency of
findings generated by different data collection methods. It is
common to have qualitative and quantitative data in a study.

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These elucidate complementary aspects of the same

phenomenon. Often the points were these data diverge are of
great interest to the qualitative researcher and provide the
most insights. Method triangulation can also be described as
the use of multiple methods in collecting data about the same
phenomenon.
ii. Data Sources Triangulation - examining the consistency of
different data sources from within the same method. For
example: at different points in time, in public verse private
settings, and comparing people with different viewpoints. Data
triangulation also involves the use of multiple data sources in
the study in order to get diverse views to aid in validating the
conclusions - this includes time triangulation, space
triangulation, and person triangulation
iii. Analyst/Investigator Triangulation - using multiple analyst
to review findings or using multiple observers and analysts.
This can provide a check on selective perception and illuminate
blind spots in an interpretive analysis. The goal is not to seek
consensus, but to understand multiple ways of seeing the data.
It could also be tagged investigator triangulation, which refers
to the use of two or more trained researchers to analyse and
interpret a set of data.
iv. Theory/perspective Triangulation - using multiple
theoretical perspectives to examine and interpret data. Theory
triangulation also involves the use of competing theories or
hypotheses in the analysis and interpretation of a single set of
data.

Unit of Analysis
One of the first decisions in any IKM research is the unit of
analysis. The unit of analysis refers to the person, collective, or
objects that is the target of the investigation. The unit of analysis is the
major entity that an individual/ a researcher is analyzing in a study.
Typical unit of analysis in studies include individuals, groups,
organizations, countries, technologies, objects, artifacts (books, photos,
newspapers), geographical units (town, census tract, state), social
interactions (relations, divorces, arrests), among others.

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For instance, if we are interested in studying peoples’ shopping

behavior, their learning outcomes, or their attitudes to new
technologies, then the unit of analysis is the individual. If we want to
study characteristics of street gangs or teamwork in organizations, then
the unit of analysis is the group. If the goal of research is to understand
how firms can improve profitability or make good executive decisions,
then the unit of analysis is the firm. In this case, even though decisions
are made by individuals in these firms, these individuals are presumed
to represent their firm’s decision rather than their personal decisions. If
research is directed at understanding differences in national cultures,
then the unit of analysis becomes a country.
Even inanimate objects can serve as units of analysis. For
instance, if a researcher is interested in understanding how to make web
pages more attractive to its users, then the unit of analysis is a web page
(and not users). If we wish to study how knowledge transfer occurs
between two firms, then our unit of analysis becomes the combination
of firms that is sending and receiving knowledge (Bhattacherjee, 2012).
Why is it called the 'unit of analysis'? This is because it is the
analysis you do in your study that determines what the unit is. For
instance, if you are comparing graduating students in two classrooms on
information literacy competence (using achievement test scores), the
unit is the individual student because you have a score for each student.
On the other hand, if you are comparing the two classes on classroom
climate, your unit of analysis is the group, in this case the classroom,
because you only have a classroom climate score for the class as a whole
and not for each individual student. For different analyses in the same
study you may have different units of analysis. If you decide to base an
analysis on student scores, the individual is the unit. But you might
decide to compare average classroom performance. In this case, since
the data that goes into the analysis is the average itself (and not the
individuals' scores) the unit of analysis is actually the group. Even
though you had data at the student level, you use aggregates in the
analysis. In many areas of IKM research these hierarchies of analysis
units have become particularly important and have spawned a whole
area of statistical analysis. This is true in education, for instance, where
we often compare classroom performance but collected achievement
data at the individual student level (Trochim, 2006).

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CHAPTER FOUR

CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Introduction
Classification of research is all about various types of research. It
should be noted that research is of various types. It appears that there
are different approaches in classifying the various types of research.
Although there is hardly any consensus on how research types can be
classified, however, there are certain obvious considerations used in
classifying research. For instance,
I. Goal-based Classification: Researches can be classified based
on the goals of the particular investigation and the use to be
made of it; thus, in this case we have basic research and
applied research.
II. Method-based Classification: Research can be classified based
on the method of investigation adopted. In this case we can
refer to experimental research and descriptive research
(surveys, casual-comparative, case study, etc).
III. Research can also be classified on the basis of the kind of
evidence and analysis used, such as quantitative, qualitative,
and multiple perspective research (Olaita & Nwoke, 1998;
Aina, 2002; Anaekwe, 2002; Osuji, 2012).
However, the classification adopted here will be based on the following:
a. Basic research versus applied research.
b. Conceptual research versus empirical research.
c. Qualitative research versus quantitative research.
d. Analytical research versus descriptive research.
e. Disciplinary research versus Multidisciplinary research.

i. Basic Research and Applied Research

Basic Research is also known as pure research or
fundamental research. The aim of basic research is to add to existing
knowledge, and it leads to generalization, principles and the
development of theories thereby extending the frontiers of knowledge.
It may not have practical application at present, but will be useful in
the future.
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On the other hand, Applied Research is a scientific study or

research that seeks to solve practical problems or used to find
solutions to everyday problems. Such research aims at finding a
solution to an immediate problem facing a society, an industrial
establishment or business organization. In applied research, there is a
problem at hand that needs a solution, and this type of research is
expected to provide a solution to the problem. In other words,
research aimed at certain conclusions facing a concrete social or
business problem is an applied research, i.e. a research to identify
social, economic or political trends that may affect a particular
institution or establishment. Thus, the central aim of applied research
is to discover a solution to some pressing practical problems.
Applied research can be sub-divided into the following:
a) Action Research: Action research involved providing a
solution to a local problem. It involves developing skills and
finding answers to solve problems of current concern. Thus,
the primary objective of action research is to find solutions to
localized day-to-day problems.
b) Evaluation Research: Evaluation research is aimed at
assessing programmes and services with a view to improving
their efficiency by making necessary revisions or
modifications.
c) Research and Development (R&D): R&D is directed towards
developing innovative products and services for improvement
of processes and practices or lead to development of new
products, services and procedures. It is also geared towards
creating new knowledge and technology that can improve the
effectiveness of products or make the production of products
and creation of services more efficient. In the context of an
organisation, R&D involves processes by which new knowledge
is obtained, which can be used to create new technology,
products, services, or systems that it will either use or sell to
customers.
d) Market Research: Market research is the systematic and
objective search for, and analysis of, information relevant to
the identification, and provision of solution to problem(s)
associated with marketing of products and services. It could
also mean the process of assessing the viability of a new good
or service through research conducted directly with the
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

consumer which allows a company to discover the target

market and record opinions and other input from consumers
regarding interest in the product or service. Market research
may be conducted by the company itself or by a third-party
company that specializes in the market research field. Test
subjects are usually compensated with product samples
and/or paid a small stipend for their time. The purpose of
market research is to examine the market associated with a
particular good or service to determine how the audience will
receive it. This can include information gathering for the
purpose of market segmentation and product differentiation,
which can be used to tailor advertising efforts or determine
which features are seen as a priority to the consumer.
Market research also entails the process of gathering,
analyzing and interpreting information about a market, about a
product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and
about the past, present and potential customers for the product
or service. It could also be research into the characteristics,
spending habits, location and needs of a business's target
market, the industry as a whole, and the particular
competitors. Accurate and thorough information is the
foundation of all successful business ventures because it
provides a wealth of information about prospective and
existing customers, the competition, and the industry in
general. It allows business owners to determine the feasibility
of a business before committing substantial resources to the
venture.
Market research provides relevant data to help solve
marketing challenges that a business will most likely face; thus,
it is an integral part of the business planning process. In fact,
strategies such as market segmentation (identifying specific
groups within a market) and product differentiation (creating
an identity for a product or service that separates it from those
of the competitors) are impossible to develop without market
research.
Market research involves two types of data. It could be
primary information type, which is a research someone
conducts for himself/herself, or hire someone to execute on

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his/her behalf. For the target group, questioning them to

gather required information could be through:
 Direct mail (direct mail questionnaire) – For increase in
response rate, it is required that the questions are
short and straight to the point; the questionnaire
should be addressed to specific individuals and will be
of interest to the respondents; preferably the
questionnaire should not be more than two pages;
requires a professionally-prepared cover letter that
adequately explains the aim of the questionnaire;
either using a postage-paid and self-addressed
envelope to return the questionnaire or use of online
questionnaire method; and an incentive that will
facilitate completion and return of the questionnaire.
 Telephone – Phone surveys can be cost-effective. Here
are some telephone survey guidelines: it is necessary to
have a script and memorize it, always confirm the name
of the respondent at the beginning of the conversation,
avoid pauses because respondent interest can quickly
drop, ask if a follow-up call is possible in case you
require additional information. In addition to being
cost-effective, speed is another advantage of telephone
interviews. A rate of five or six interviews per hour is
typical, but experienced interviewers may be able to
conduct more. Phone interviews also can cover a wide
geographic range relatively inexpensively. Phone costs
can be reduced by taking advantage of less expensive
rates during certain hours.
 Personal Interview – This is one of the most effective. It
may be a group survey, used mostly by big business,
and such group interviews or focus groups are useful
brainstorming tools for getting information on product
ideas, buying preferences, and purchasing decisions
among certain populations; or the in-depth interview,
which is one-on-one interviews, either focused
interviews based on questions selected ahead of time,
or nondirective interviews which encourage
respondents to address certain topics with minimal
questioning.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

On the other hand is the secondary information type, which is a

research that is already compiled and organized for someone,
such as reports and studies by government agencies, industries
and industrial organisations, trade associations, labour unions,
media sources, chambers of commerce and industry, or other
businesses within one’s industry or area of business. They are
usually published in pamphlets, newsletters, trade
publications/trade literature, magazines and newspapers, and
accessing them may be through government departments,
business departments of public libraries, subscription and
association fees or via educational institutions.
e) Investigative Research: Investigative research is a collection
of research techniques and methods used by researchers,
including journalists, social scientists, and others, that is
intended to unearth secret, hidden or obscure information that
can build a more comprehensive picture of the issues under
investigation. Ho, Ho and Ng (2006) state that investigative
research is a method of knowledge generation that integrates
two truth-seeking traditions – one is investigative journalism
/investigative reporting as a research method, and the other
falls under the rubric of field research, ethnography, case study
and so forth in social science. It has the advantage of bringing
the investigator to observe closely and directly the
phenomenon of interest; tends to rely on disciplined,
naturalistic, and in-depth observations over a time span in
diverse contexts; as well as suitable for uncovering,
understanding, and reporting social phenomena that may be
hidden from or not easily accessible to observers.

ii. Conceptual Research and Empirical Research

Conceptual research involves some abstract ideas and theories,
especially the use of logic, reasoning, intelligence and intuition by
philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or re-interpret
existing ones. In other words, conceptual research is based on the
internal knowledge of the researcher, and focuses on the concept or
theory that explains the phenomenon being studied. The conceptual
researcher sits at his/her desk with pen in hand and tries to solve
identified problems by critically thinking and reasoning about them.

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On the other hand, empirical research is a data-based research,

which involves formulating research questions, and testing
hypotheses, and arriving at facts that are verifiable through
experiment or observation. Empirical research relies on experience or
observation as well as researcher’s control of the variables under
study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its
effects. Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that
certain variables affect other variables in some way. Evidence gathered
through experiments and empirical studies are considered to be the
most powerful support possible for testing a given hypotheses
(Kothari & Garg, 2014).

iii. Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research is a research study that makes use of data
generated through interviews, observations, documentary sources,
audio and visual materials among others. It could be analysed using
transcription, coding, historical and philosophical analysis. This can
introduce elements of subjectivity in explaining, describing, collecting
and even analysing generated data. Most conceptual researches fall
under qualitative research.
On the other hand, in quantitative research, data is expressed
in numerical values, which usually involves hypotheses formulation
and testing in order to arrive at statements of theory and valid
conclusions. Most experimental studies fall under this type or
category. Data collection methods include tests of various types,
experiments, questionnaire, rating scales, and in some cases
structured-interview schedule. Quantitative data are analysed using
either descriptive or inferential statistics.

 Experimental Research: Experimental research is a type of

both quantitative research and empirical research. This type of
research involves experiments – either laboratory based,
which is predominant in the pure and applied sciences, or field
based, which is usually adopted by social science researchers.
Experimental research is the most frequently used research
type to study the cause and effect relationships between and
among variables on the studied subjects/participants. Thus, in
applying it in the information science disciplines, it requires
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

the application of three key characteristics of control,

manipulation and observation. In experimental research, two
major variables are involved – the independent variable and
the dependent variable, in which the independent variable(s)
are manipulated to observe the effects on the dependent
variable. It serves to determine possible outcomes given
certain conditions. There are two groups – experimental or
treatment group and the control group. The experimental
group receives the treatment while the control group may not
receive any treatment. The difference is noted and used. In
other words, in experimental method, the researcher
manipulates one or more independent variables in an attempt
to influence the characteristics of the subjects/participants.
The researcher is saddled with enormous task of making
his/her groups equivalent and of controlling all other variables
that are capable of influencing his/her outcome, except the one
he/she is interested in manipulating.
Example: a study titled, Effects of Information Literacy
Instructions on Adherence to Ethical Issues in Digital Content
Utilization by Knowledge Management Students of Akanu Ibiam
Federal University, Unwana, Nigeria, will require getting a
sample of students, dividing them into two groups, and
exposing one of the groups to information literacy instructions.
The objective will be to determine whether exposure to
information literacy instructions will result in improved
adherence to ethical issues in digital content utilization or not.
It will be framed as a null hypothesis like: There is no
significant effect of information literacy instructions on
adherence to ethical issues in digital content utilization. Then,
the outcome of both groups, that is, level of adherence to
ethical issues in digital content utilisation will be compared to
ascertain if there is a difference between the two groups. If the
analysis favours the group exposed to information literacy
instructions, we can then state that relationship exists between
information literacy instructions and level of adherence to
ethical issues in digital content utilization. In other words,
information literacy instructions had effects on level of
adherence to ethical issues in digital content utilization.

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iv. Analytical Research and Descriptive Research

In analytical research, the researcher uses facts and
information already available, such as documents and records, analyse,
and then make a critical evaluation of the material. According to
Popoola (2012), analytical research includes mathematical, linguistic,
historical and philosophical analyses, as well as any deductive system
that can be adopted to derive relationships, not necessarily an
empirical nature. It assists to unveil the assumptions and possible
consequences of proposed innovations. Analysis could also be used to
help establish criteria for the evaluation of an innovation. Analytical
research is a qualitative inquiry drawn from the disciplines of
philosophy, history, and biography, which is primarily a non-
interactive document research. In information sciences, we can have
analysis of information concepts, analysis of historical development of
information professions and analysis of legal issues in information
sciences, of which all will involve the use of sources like documents.
Analytical research is also seen as a specific type of research that
involves critical thinking skills and the evaluation of facts and
information related to the research being conducted. Within analytical
research, data and other important facts that pertain to a study is
compiled and evaluated to prove a tentative statement or support an
idea. It is composed of fact-based evidence and offers an interpretation
that is backed up by primary and secondary sources that ultimately
support the conclusion.
From the above submissions, it can be stated that analytical
research is synonymous with documentary analysis (i.e.
documentary research methods), which are bibliometrics
(bibliometric research), citation analysis and content analysis. This is
because analytical research is based on documents, which is the same
with documentary research methods. Therefore, analytical research
can either be qualitative or quantitative, depending on the nature of
analyses to be carried out on the documents.

 Bibliometrics: According to Aina (2002), Bibliometrics is

formerly known as statistical bibliography. Bibliometrics is
related to both scientometrics and informetrics, i.e. it overlaps
with scientometrics (study of the quantitative aspects of
science as a discipline or economic activity) while it is
incorporated by informetrics (study of the quantitative aspects
of information in any form).
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Pritchard (1969) coined the term bibliometrics, and defined

it as “application of mathematics and statistical methods to
books and other media of communication”. It is the study of the
quantitative aspects of the production, dissemination and use of
recorded knowledge. It is the use of statistical methods in the
analysis of a body of literature to reveal the historical
development of subject fields and patterns of authorship,
publication and use. The scope of bibliometrics includes:
a. Statistical aspects of language, word, and phrase
frequencies, in both natural language text and indexes, in
both printed and electronic media;
b. Characteristics of authors – productivity measured by
number of papers or other means, degree of collaboration;
c. Characteristics of publication sources, most notably
distribution of papers in a discipline over journals;
d. Use of recorded information – library circulation and in-
house books and journal use, database use;
e. Obsolescence of the literature, as measured by both use and
citation;
f. Growth of subject literatures, databases, libraries,
concomitant growth of new concepts.
g. Citation analysis – This is the analysis of references listed at
the end of a document. It involves distribution over authors,
papers, institutions, journals, countries; use in evaluation;
co-citation based mapping of disciplines;

 Citation Analysis: It is seen as an aspect of bibliometrics.

Citation analysis is a way of measuring the relative importance
or impact of an author, an article or a publication by counting
the number of times that author, article, or publication has been
cited by other works. Today, the focus is increasingly shifting
from whether a researcher has published a paper to where
he/she has published it and the impact that piece of research
has on the scientific community and the world at large. How can
you measure the quality of a research paper? More importantly,
how can you determine whether your research is making an
impact and is considered important? An objective way is
through citation analysis. Why conduct citation analysis?

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Citation analysis may be conducted for the following

purposes:
i. To establish the impact that a particular work has had by
identifying which other authors based their work upon it
or cited it within their own papers.
ii. To learn more about a field or a topic by identifying
seminal works in that area.
iii. To determine what impact a particular author has had
within his/her own discipline and beyond by looking at
his/her total number of citations broken down by
discipline and by country.
iv. For promotion and tenure purposes by looking at the
quality of sources where a scholar’s work has been
published and cited.
Citation analysis can be carried out on published
journals, may be using up to ten volumes or less; theses,
dissertations, and even undergraduate projects submitted for
the award of certificates for a specific period of time (may be
up to ten academic sessions or less). In addition, there are
other several tools available for citation analysis; some are
subscription-based and others are free. Each tool has its
strengths and weaknesses and none of them covers the entire
universe of scholarly publications. Therefore, it is important to
use more than one tool to get a fuller picture of the scholarly
impact of an author or a journal.
According to Ohio State University (2017), the
following table highlights the characteristics of three major
citation analysis tools (Web of Science, Scopus and Google
Scholar):

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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Web of Science (WOS) Scopus Google Scholar

Subject Science, Technology, Science, Medical, Scientific,

Focus Social Sciences, Arts & Technology, Technical, Business, Social
Humanities Medical, Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities
Sciences, Arts &
Humanities

Component Composed of 3 citation  Life Sciences  Selections from

s indexes: PubMed, IEEE, American
 Health Sciences,
 Science Citation 800 titles Institute of
Index Expanded — (including 100% Physics, proceedings of the
to 1900 coverage of National Academy of
 Social Sciences Medline titles) Sciences, Nature.com,
Citation Index – to American Medical
 Physical
Association and other
1956 Sciences > 7,200
medicine journals,
 Arts & titles
Ingenta, SpringerLink,Wile
Humanities  Social Sciences > y Interscience, Cambridge
Citation Index –to 5,300 titles journals, Taylor and
1975
Francis, Sage Publications,
 Conference Blackwell-Synergy, OCLC
Proceedings -- to First Search and others
1990
 Open access journals and
pre-prints
 Online dissertations and
theses

Coverage Over 10,000 journals 16,500 journals Unknown

Time Span Some journal files 38 million records, Theoretically, whatever is

going back to 1900 of which: available on the Web
 19 million
records include
references
going back to
1996 (78%
include
references)
 19 million pre-
1996 records
go back as far
as 1823

Updating Weekly 1-2 times a week Monthly on average

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Strengths  Deeper  User friendly  Provides a more

back-files search comprehensive picture of
especially interface scholarly impact as it
for Science  Broader indexes non-traditional
Journals coverage of sources not covered by WOS
 While journals (16, and Scopus.
controversi 500 versus  Includes peer-reviewed
al, its 10,000 in WOS) papers, theses, books,
journal  Downloadable abstracts, and articles from
citation reference list academic publishers,
reports, professional societies,
impact preprint repositories,
factors, and universities, and other
h-index are scholarly organizations
most widely  Better coverage of newer
used. materials than both WOS
and Scopus
 International and multi-
lingual coverage

Weaknesse  Can lead to  Citation  Limited search features

s low citation tracking is  Inflated citation counts due
counts due limited to to inclusion of non-scholarly
to errors in the relatively sources such as
citations narrow time promotional pages, table of
provided by span of contents pages, course
authors, 1996+ readings lists etc.
and
different
 Weeding irrelevant hits is
time consuming
citation
styles used  Difficult to export citations
by journals  No way to determine what
leading to sources, and time spans are
poor covered.
indexing  Limited to what is available
on the Web

Source: Ohio State University (2017)

Meanwhile, developments in the digital era led to the

emergence of altmetrics. Altmetrics is the creation and study of
new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing, and
informing scholarship (http://altmetrics.org/ about/).
Altmetrics is a developing field that seeks to supplement the
traditional forms of citation analysis, such as article citation and
journal impact factor, with usage measures that can be captured
through social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and
bibliographic management tools like Mendeley and Zotero.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

 Content Analysis: Content analysis is the systematic

examination of written or recorded communication in order to
break down, identify, and analyse the presence or relations of
words, word sense, characters, sentences, concepts, or
common themes. Content analysis can also be seen as any
technique for making inferences by objectively and
systematically identifying specified characteristics of
documents. The focus of the analysis should be a critical
examination, rather than a mere description, of the content.
Examples of content analysis include student journals, essays,
online discussions, or any form of written, visual, or oral
communication, and documents. Content analysis works best
when the purpose is to gain insight into a precise and focused
research problem or topic. It can help you to recognize
patterns that you might miss using other methods.
The following are suggested uses of content analysis:
 Gaining insight into a precise and focused research
problem or topic
 Examining trends, patterns, and consistency within
educational content
 Use for economic reasons such as to save time, effort,
or money
 Providing a preliminary study for an interview, survey,
or observation. Interview questions, survey questions,
or an observation checklist can be informed by content
analysis
 Use for inaccessible subjects or when you want to avoid
interaction
 Can permit longitudinal analysis
 Identify the communication trends of target population
Content analysis has certain limitations, such as the following:
 Content may be incomplete or missing
 Transcription of oral communication may be time
consuming
 Data is restricted to what already exists
 Cannot determine causal effects (University of Texas at
Austin, 2011).

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On the other hand, descriptive research uses description,

classification, measurement, and comparison to describe what
phenomena are (Yang, 2001). According to Popoola (2012), descriptive
research represents an attempt to provide an accurate description or
picture of a particular situation or phenomenon at one or more points in
time. It helps to point out the extent of a problem to be investigated and
indicate how serious and widespread it is. Descriptive research includes
surveys, correlational, case studies, causal-comparative (ex-post-facto),
historical, longitudinal and cross-sectional research.

 Survey Research: Survey research is a non-experimental

descriptive research method that is useful when a researcher
wants to collect data on phenomenon that cannot be directly
observed. It involves a systematic collection of data/information
about the opinions, attitudes, and behaviours of individuals on a
particular social problem, and the consensus of opinions is
expected to provide the solution to the identified problem. In
other words, it critically examines events, opinions, objects,
attitudes, subjects or ideas with the aim of providing accurate
information about the phenomenon being studied. This requires
the use of a number of data-gathering tools and procedures,
such as questionnaires, tests, checklists, rating scales, score
cards, inventories, interviews, etc. The study can be used to
ascertain the nature of a phenomenon from a relatively large
number of cases. When one studies the entire target population,
the survey is called census. Most of the times, the entire
population is too large to be handled. In this case, the researcher
has to use appropriate sampling technique to obtain a truly
representative sample. It should be noted that
representativeness of sample is critical to survey research, in
order to make reliable inferences about the target population.
According to Popoola (2012), the survey research design
requires systematic and scientific collection of data or
information from the population or sample, through the use of
personal interviews or scale opinion questionnaire, or direct
observation or a combination of the stated methods. The survey
research design specifies types and volume of data to be
collected, methods of data collection, sampling method(s) to be
used and statistical tools of analysis to be adopted and
generalize the findings on the population of study.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Uhegbu (2009) notes that survey research can be

analytical survey, descriptive survey or both. In other words,
some survey research will be concerned with description by
measuring the distribution of certain characteristics in a given
population, others centre on explanation, as well as many that
will require both description and explanation. Survey research is
of two types – exploratory survey and comparative survey
(Uhegbu, 2009). Exploratory survey is a survey research taken
as an attempt to bring to light some new grounds or facts in
relation to some problem observed in a society. The exploratory
research involves large population that may or may not be
heterogeneous, widely dispersed in a geographical area, and it
seeks to explain an emerging trend or events in the society.
Comparative survey on the other hand is applied when two or
more research subjects, institutions, or sample variables are
involved, with the purpose of seeing how the two variables are
similar or dissimilar. In other words, comparative survey is used
to test the difference between two or more variables; but
comparison is better appreciated when it involves only two
variables to see the effect of certain conditions on both.

 Correlational Research: Correlational study determines

whether, and to what degree or level, a relationship or
association exists between two or more random variables that
are statistically independent. In other words, correlational
research investigates the relationship between or among
variables and also expresses the strength and the direction of
the relati onship. Correlational research is capable of studying
different variables among the same subjects at the same time;
same variables, same subjects and at the same time; and same
variables, different subjects and at the same time (Alegbeleye,
Maba wonku & Fabunmi, 2006).

 Case Study Research: A case study is an intensive research

study geared towards an understanding of a given social unit,
which could be an individual, a community, a group of
individuals, library establishment, an agency or research
institution. It usually involves the study of a social unit that is
thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and largely exploratory;
but it is not possible to generalize the findings.

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 Causal-Comparative Research (Ex-Post-Facto Research): Ex-

Post-Facto is a Latin word for “after the fact”, i.e. research
conducted to find causes of events or conditions that had
already occurred. Both the effect and the suspected cause have
already occurred and must be studied in retrospect. In other
words, a research study in which a researcher attempts to
conduct experimental study and in the process he/she will not
be able to directly manipulate the independent variables, is
known as ex-post-factor research. In other words, this research
is adopted when a researcher cannot manipulate the
independent variable(s) and establishes the controls that are
needed in ‘true experiments’. Indeed, the researcher only
attempts to link some existing effects or observation to some
variable as causative agents. Kerlinger (1973) and Popoola
(2012) submit that ex-post-facto research design is a systematic
empirical inquiry in which the researcher does not have direct
control of independent variables because their manifestations
have already occurred or because they are inherently cannot be
manipulated. Inferences about relationship among variables are
made without direct intervention from concomitant variation of
independent and dependent variables.

 Historical Research: Historical Research is a systematic and

objective location, evaluation and synthesis of evidence in order
to establish facts and draw conclusions about past events with a
view to explain the occurrence of the present events and
predicts that of the future (Popoola, 2012). It involves the
location, documentation, evaluation and interpretation of
available evidence in order to understand past events.
Understanding past events may lead to greater understanding of
present and future events. It may also prevent future pitfalls, or
even suggest hypotheses which should be used for the solution
of existing problems. In historical research, data has to be
collected from primary sources such as manuscripts, annual
reports, inventories, artefacts, documents, gazettes, etc;
interviews have to be conducted with personalities who
witnessed the developments; and occasionally secondary
sources may be used (Aina, 2002).
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Historical research is having its focus on the

determination of relevant and significant features of the past
with the hope of achieving better understanding of the present
and of suggesting guidelines for the future. Historical research
also means the critical investigation of events, developments
and experiences of the past, the careful weighing of evidence of
the validity of sources of information on the past and the
interpretation of the evidence. From these descriptions of the
historical research, you have seen that it is a past oriented
research that deals with the determination, evaluation and
explanation of past events, for the essential purpose of gaining
a better and clearer understanding of the present and in order
to make a more reliable prediction of the future. Historical
research is an attempt to discover what has happened. Legal
research that involves painstaking examination of the original
sources and documentary study, analytical works of a
bibliographical nature etc. are classified as historical research
(Osuji, 2012).
There are two main sources of data in historical
research. These are primary sources and secondary sources.
Primary sources are those sources which contain account of an
event or phenomenon given by someone who actually
observed the event or phenomenon. It could be an eye-witness
account or testimonies, autobiography, oral evidence, remains
of manuscripts, certificate, equipment, attendance register,
inventories, report cards etc. Primary sources include original
documents, photographs or records from eye-witnesses. Have
you witnessed an accident before? If you are called to say
exactly what had happened as you saw it happened, the
evidence you give is a primary source of historical research. On
the other hand, secondary sources are those materials which
contain account of an event or phenomenon by someone who
did not actually witness the event or phenomenon. These
include textbook, newspaper reports, review of researches etc.
In this case, a non-observer mediates between the original
evidence and the investigator i.e. from a third party (Osuji,
2012).

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 Developmental Research: This is a type of descriptive study

which involves an investigation of patterns and sequences of
growth or changes that take place with time. You can study the
development of education in a particular district, or the
development of interest patterns in children. Developmental
research seeks to ascertain how some dimensions, variables or
characteristics of given population change with time. Its thrust
generally lies in finding out how these characteristics of the
target population change over time, at what rate, in which
direction and the factors which possibly contribute to these
changes. Developmental research can be longitudinal or cross-
sectional.
o Longitudinal Research: According to Popoola (2012),
longitudinal design is when an individual or group of
subjects is studied longitudinally i.e. when the
researcher follows the group over a period of time. In
this type, the same groups of subjects are studied for a
period of time. Observations are carried out on these
subjects from time to time within the period of
research to note any changes in the particular
characteristics under study. The data are collected and
analysed to see if there are patterns and sequences
which underlie the development or unfolding of these
characteristics. It provides a more valid approach for
studying developmental trends.
But it has its own limitations. You will recall
that it involves observing
the subjects over a period of time. Don’t you think that
some may drop out on account of transfer, ill-health, or
death? What if something happens to the researcher to
prevent him from continuing the study? It takes a long
time to complete. That means that there must be
enough funds to sustain the study. If this is not the case,
what happens? Again, by the very nature of
longitudinal research, modifications are not possible
once the study has started.
o Cross Sectional Research: In this approach, different
persons or subjects are selected at each stage of
development at nearly the same time. This involves
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 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

sampling a cross-section of the subjects of varying ages

for the study. It means that instead of following the
same group of subjects for a very long time, a cross-
section is sampled to be observed at the same time. The
characteristics of the subjects at different age levels are
examined and analysed to reveal possible trends in
development. This approach makes it possible for
many subjects to be studied at the same time.
It is cheaper and quicker. But it is less accurate
than longitudinal research. Because the subjects differ
in other relevant respects apart from age, the
differences in the developmental patterns and
sequences observed at different age levels may not
solely be attributable to age alone (Osuji, 2012).

v. Disciplinary Research and Multidisciplinary Research

Disciplinary here implies various disciplines, fields of study or
branches of knowledge. By disciplinary research, we mean research
"designed to improve a discipline" (Johnson, cited in Yang, 2001). It
dwells on theories, relationships, and analytical procedures and
techniques within the discipline. Examples are economic research,
social research and information science research. Multidisciplinary on
the other hand involves various fields of study combined together in a
research. This is usually encouraged the more in today’s academic
engagements.

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CHAPTER FIVE
APPROACHES TO RESEARCH/RESEARCH
PARADIGMS

The Background
Research endeavours are usually based on philosophical
assumptions. On the philosophies guiding research, Alzheimer Europe
(2013) argues that research projects usually fit into one of the four main
categories of research: positivist/postpositivist, social constructivist,
pragmatic, and participatory. This is because researchers have different
world views or belief systems which guide them in their research,
influencing the decisions they make about how to conduct their studies,
what counts as valid knowledge, what is the right way to obtain that
knowledge, how it should be analysed (e.g. using quantitative or
qualitative-based methods) and what their own role in the process is.
According to Alzheimer Europe (2013), the various approaches to
research are sometimes called research paradigms, and the whole issue of
research paradigm can be traced back to the influential book of Thomas S.
Kuhn, titled ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ published in 1970 by
the University of Chicago Press.
For quite some time, the two main paradigms were the
positivist/postpositivist paradigm (linked to quantitative research) and
the constructivist paradigm (usually associated with qualitative research).
A few decades ago, there were huge methodological debates as to which
of the two paradigms was right. Some researchers argued that only the
positivist/postpositivist paradigm was “real science”. Others argued that
it was not suited to the study of complex human and social issues. This
debate came to be known as the paradigm wars and there was an
“incompatibility theory” which stated that the two approaches were
irreconcilable due to their very different underlying philosophies.
The postpositivist tradition emerged in the 19th century based on
the work of writers such as Auguste Comte, Mill, Durkheim, Newton and
Locke. They challenged the positivist attempts to seek “absolute truth”
arguing that this was not appropriate when studying the behaviour and
actions of people. This led to an acceptance that absolute truth can never
be found and that research evidence is not infallible or perfect.

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 APPROACHES TO RESEARCH/RESEARCH PARADIGMS

Researchers attempt to look for and describe associations, as well as

cause and effect relationships. This is an ongoing process, whereby
positive findings form the basis for additional research. Data which does
not support their theory may result in necessary revisions followed by
additional testing.
According to the constructivist paradigm, people try to make
sense of the world they live in. Through interaction with other people,
they develop subjective understandings and meanings of their experience
and they do this within specific social, political, cultural and historical
contexts. Constructivists believe that there is not one reality but rather
varied and multiple realities. Based on this theory of reality, researchers
are interested in trying to understand the way people experience and
make sense of the world.
However, there were also arguments in favour of a compatibility
theory which acknowledged the different philosophical assumptions but
stated that each approach had its strengths and weaknesses, that neither
was right or wrong and that methods typically used by each could even be
mixed in the same study. This is known as the pragmatic paradigm and is
generally accepted nowadays as being a valid approach to research. A
possible fourth paradigm is the advocacy/participatory approach which is
often associated with research involving marginalised or vulnerable
groups (Alzheimer Europe, 2013).

Approaches to Research or Research Paradigms: What are they?

The various approaches to research are sometimes called
research paradigms. Research is based on certain underlying
philosophical assumptions about what constitutes valid research and
which research technique or method is applicable for the development
of knowledge in a given study. The term paradigm refers to a research
philosophy with a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that a researcher
has in common concerning the nature and conduct of research. Paradigm
is not theory, but provides a lens that guides the choice of theory and
methods in research (Creswell, 2013).
In simple terms, research paradigm is an approach to thinking
about and doing research. A research paradigm is “the set of common
beliefs and agreements shared between scientists about how problems
should be understood and addressed” (Kuhn, 1970). Research paradigm
is all about the knowledge claim by researchers on how they begin
research with certain assumptions about how they will learn and what
they will learn during their inquiry. Philosophically, researchers make

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claims about what are knowledge (ontology), how we know it

(epistemology), and the processes for studying it (methodology).
Therefore, research paradigms are associated with the concepts
of ontology, epistemology, and methodology. That is, these three elements
define research paradigms, meaning that inquiry should be based on
ontology (i.e. the way the investigator defines the truth and reality),
epistemology (i.e. the process in which the investigator comes to know
the truth and reality), and methodology (i.e. the method used by the
investigator in conducting the investigation).
In other words, the various research paradigms, be it positivism,
constructivism, pragmatism (mixed methods), and even
participatory/advocacy can be characterized through their ontology,
epistemology, and methodology (Patel, 2015). On the importance,
ontology and epistemology create a holistic view of how knowledge is
viewed and how we can see ourselves in relation to this knowledge, and
the methodological strategies we use to un/discover it. Awareness of
philosophical assumptions, the three elements that define research
paradigms, and the respective paradigms, will increase quality of research
and can contribute to the creativity of researchers in information and
knowledge management.
Meanwhile, there is need for researchers, especially in
information and knowledge management, as well as generally in other
allied fields of study, to understand the research paradigm which their
research belong to. In simple terms, the three most common research
paradigms are (Patel, 2015):
 Positivism – Positivists believe that there is a single reality, which
can be measured and known, and therefore they are more likely
to use quantitative methods to measure this reality.
 Constructivism (Interpretative) – Constructivists (Interpretivist)
believe that there is no single reality or truth, and therefore reality
needs to be interpreted, and therefore they are more likely to use
qualitative methods to get those multiple realities.
 Pragmatism – Pragmatists believe that reality is constantly
renegotiated, debated, interpreted, and therefore the best method
to use is the one that solves the problem. The mixed method is
usually associated with pragmatism.

The table (by Patel, 2015) gives a more detailed overview of what
each research paradigm entails (with the inclusion of subjectivism and
critical perspectives as additional dimensions of research paradigms).
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 APPROACHES TO RESEARCH/RESEARCH PARADIGMS

Source: Patel, 2015.

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Description of Various Approaches to Research

Meanwhile, Alzheimer Europe (2013) explained the approaches
to research cum research paradigms in line with the various types of
research that suit the respective paradigms. These are positivism
(quantitative research), constructivism (qualitative research),
pragmatism (mixed methods), with the addition of
advocacy/participatory approach to research (emancipatory) for
marginalized and vulnerable groups.

i. Positivism (Quantitative Research)

Quantitative research is generally associated with the
positivist/post-positivist paradigm. It usually involves collecting and
converting data into numerical form so that statistical calculations can
be made and conclusions drawn.
The Process: Researchers will have one or more hypotheses.
These are the questions that they want to address which include
predictions about possible relationships between the things they want
to investigate (i.e. variables). In order to find answers to these
questions, the researchers will also have various instruments and
materials (e.g. paper or computer tests, observation check lists etc.) and
a clearly defined plan of action.
Data is collected by various means following a strict procedure
and prepared for statistical analysis. Nowadays, this is carried out with
the aid of sophisticated statistical computer packages. The analysis
enables the researchers to determine to what extent there is a
relationship between two or more variables. This could be a simple
association (e.g. people who exercise on a daily basis have lower blood
pressure) or a causal relationship (e.g. daily exercise actually leads to
lower blood pressure). Statistical analysis permits researchers to
discover complex causal relationships and to determine to what extent
one variable influences another.
The results of statistical analyses are presented in journals in a
standard way, the end result being a p-value. For people who are not
familiar with scientific research jargon, the discussion sections at the end
of articles in peer reviewed journals usually describe the results of the
study and explain the implications of the findings in straightforward
terms.
Principles: Objectivity is very important in quantitative
research. Consequently, researchers take great care to avoid their own
presence, behaviour or attitude affecting the results (e.g. by changing
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 APPROACHES TO RESEARCH/RESEARCH PARADIGMS

the situation being studied or causing participants to behave

differently). They also critically examine their methods and conclusions
for any possible bias.
Researchers go to great lengths to ensure that they are really
measuring what they claim to be measuring. For example, if the study
is about whether background music has a positive impact on
restlessness in residents in a nursing home, the researchers must be
clear about what kind of music to include, the volume of the music,
what they mean by restlessness, how to measure restlessness and
what is considered a positive impact. This must all be considered,
prepared and controlled in advance.
External factors, which might affect the results, must also be controlled
for. In the above example, it would be important to make sure that the
introduction of the music was not accompanied by other changes (e.g.
the person who brings the CD player chatting with the residents after
the music session) as it might be the other factor which produces the
results (i.e. the social contact and not the music). Some possible
contributing factors cannot always be ruled out but should be
acknowledged by the researchers.
The main emphasis of quantitative research is on deductive
reasoning which tends to move from the general to the specific. This is
sometimes referred to as a top-down approach. The validity of
conclusions is shown to be dependent on one or more premises (prior
statements, findings or conditions) being valid. Aristotle’s famous
example of deductive reasoning was: All men are mortal, à Socrates is a
man, à Socrates is mortal. If the premises of an argument are
inaccurate, then the argument is inaccurate. This type of reasoning is
often also associated with the fictitious character Sherlock Holmes.
However, most studies also include an element of inductive reasoning
at some stage of the research.
Researchers rarely have access to all the members of a
particular group (e.g. all healthcare professionals). However, they are
usually interested in being able to make inferences from their study
about these larger groups. For this reason, it is important that the
people involved in the study are a representative sample of the wider
population/group. However, the extent to which generalizations are
possible depends to a certain extent on the number of people involved
in the study, how they were selected and whether they are
representative of the wider group. For example, generalizations about

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

psychiatrists should be based on a study involving psychiatrists and not

one based on psychology students. In most cases, random samples are
preferred (so that each potential participant has an equal chance of
participating) but sometimes researchers might want to ensure that
they include a certain number of people with specific characteristics and
this would not be possible using random sampling methods.
Generalizability of the results is not limited to groups of people but also
to situations. It is presumed that the results of a laboratory experiment
reflect the real life situation which the study seeks to clarify.
When looking at results, the p-value is important. P stands for
probability. It measures the likelihood that a particular finding or
observed difference is due to chance. The P value is between 0 and 1.
The closer the result is to 0, the less likely it is that the observed
difference is due to chance. The closer the result is to 1, the greater the
likelihood that the finding is due to chance (random variation) and that
there is no difference or relationship between the groups/variables.

ii. Constructivism (Qualitative Research)

Qualitative research is the approach usually associated with the
social constructivist paradigm which emphasises the socially
constructed nature of reality. It is about recording, analysing and
attempting to uncover the deeper meaning and significance of human
behaviour and experience, including contradictory beliefs, behaviours
and emotions. Researchers are interested in gaining a rich and complex
understanding of people’s experience and not in obtaining information
which can be generalized to other larger groups.
The Process: The approach adopted by qualitative researchers
tends to be inductive which means that they develop a theory or look for
a pattern of meaning on the basis of the data that they have collected.
This involves a move from the specific to the general and is sometimes
called a bottom-up approach. However, most research projects also
involve a certain degree of deductive reasoning (see section on
quantitative research for more details).
Qualitative researchers do not base their research on pre-
determined hypotheses. Nevertheless, they clearly identify a problem or
topic that they want to explore and may be guided by a theoretical lens -
a kind of overarching theory which provides a framework for their
investigation.
The approach to data collection and analysis is methodical but
allows for greater flexibility than in quantitative research. Data is
collected in textual form on the basis of observation and interaction with
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the participants e.g. through participant observation, in-depth

interviews and focus groups. It is not converted into numerical form and
is not statistically analysed.
Data collection may be carried out in several stages rather than
once and for all. The researchers may even adapt the process mid-way,
deciding to address additional issues or dropping questions which are
not appropriate on the basis of what they learn during the process. In
some cases, the researchers will interview or observe a set number of
people. In other cases, the process of data collection and analysis may
continue until the researchers find that no new issues are emerging.
Principles: Researchers will tend to use methods which give
participants a certain degree of freedom and permit spontaneity rather
than forcing them to select from a set of pre-determined responses (of
which none might be appropriate or accurately describe the
participant’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behaviour) and to try to
create the right atmosphere to enable people to express themselves.
This may mean adopting a less formal and less rigid approach than that
used in quantitative research.
It is believed that people are constantly trying to attribute
meaning to their experience. Therefore, it would make no sense to limit
the study to the researcher’s view or understanding of the situation and
expect to learn something new about the experience of the participants.
Consequently, the methods used may be more open-ended, less narrow
and more exploratory (particularly when very little is known about a
particular subject). The researchers are free to go beyond the initial
response that the participant gives and to ask why, how, in what way
etc. In this way, subsequent questions can be tailored to the responses
just given.
Qualitative research often involves a smaller number of
participants. This may be because the methods used such as in-depth
interviews are time and labour intensive but also because a large
number of people are not needed for the purposes of statistical analysis
or to make generalizations from the results.
The smaller number of people typically involved in qualitative
research studies and the greater degree of flexibility does not make the
study in any way “less scientific” than a typical quantitative study
involving more subjects and carried out in a much more rigid manner.
The objectives of the two types of research and their underlying
philosophical assumptions are simply different. However, as discussed
in the section on “philosophies guiding research”, this does not mean
that the two approaches cannot be used in the same study.
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iii. Pragmatism (Mixed Methods)

The pragmatic approach to science involves using the method
which appears best suited to the research problem and not getting
caught up in philosophical debates about which is the best approach.
Pragmatic researchers therefore grant themselves the freedom to use
any of the methods, techniques and procedures typically associated with
quantitative or qualitative research. They recognise that every method
has its limitations and that the different approaches can be
complementary.
Pragmatists may also use different techniques at the same time
or one after the other. For example, they might start with face-to-face
interviews with several people or have a focus group and then use the
findings to construct a questionnaire to measure attitudes in a large
scale sample with the aim of carrying out statistical analysis.
Depending on which measures have been used, the data
collected is analysed in the appropriate manner. However, it is
sometimes possible to transform qualitative data into quantitative data
and vice versa; although transforming quantitative data into qualitative
data is not very common.
Being able to mix different approaches has the advantages of
enabling triangulation. Triangulation is a common feature of mixed
methods studies. It involves, for example:
 the use of a variety of data sources (data triangulation)
 the use of several different researchers (investigator
triangulation)
 the use of multiple perspectives to interpret the results (theory
triangulation)
 the use of multiple methods to study a research problem
(methodological triangulation)
In some studies, qualitative and quantitative methods are used
simultaneously. In others, first one approach is used and then the next,
with the second part of the study perhaps expanding on the results of
the first. For example, a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews
or focus group discussions might serve to obtain information which will
then be used to contribute towards the development of an experimental
measure or attitude scale, the results of which will be analysed
statistically.

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iv. Advocacy/participatory approach to research

(emancipatory)
To some degree, researchers adopting an
advocacy/participatory approach feel that the approaches to research
described so far do not respond to the needs or situation of people from
marginalised or vulnerable groups. As they aim to bring about positive
change in the lives of the research subjects, their approach is sometimes
described as emancipatory. It is not a neutral stance. The researchers
are likely to have a political agenda and to try to give the groups they are
studying a voice. As they want their research to directly or indirectly
result in some kind of reform, it is important that they involve the group
being studied in the research, preferably at all stages, so as to avoid
further marginalising them.
The researchers may adopt a less neutral position than that
which is usually required in scientific research. This might involve
interacting informally or even living amongst the research participants
(who are sometimes referred to as co-researchers in recognition that
the study is not simply about them but also by them). The findings of the
research might be reported in more personal terms, often using the
precise words of the research participants. Whilst this type of research
could by criticised for not being objective, it should be noted that for
some groups of people or for certain situations, it is necessary as
otherwise the thoughts, feelings or behaviour of the various members of
the group could not be accessed or fully understood.
Vulnerable groups are rarely in a position of power within
society. For this reason, researchers are sometimes members of the
group they are studying or have something in common with the
members of the group.

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CHAPTER SIX
RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Meaning of Research Proposal

Having understood the various classifications of research, their
sub-types and the respective approaches to research, it is now
necessary to understand what a research proposal is, and how its
structure looks like. This is required before engaging deeply and
holistically in the research process that will lead to research findings
that addressed identified problem(s).
To some authorities and scholars, research proposal is used
interchangeably with research protocol, but there is a minor difference
between the two. Research proposal is a more detailed and
comprehensive description of research intention. On the other hand,
research protocol appears to be abridged, briefly and concisely stated,
without exhaustive description but will contain all elements of
research intention, including the time-frame and budget for the
research.
Research Proposal is a document of intent, which shows how a
study would be executed, i.e. it is all about setting out what the
researcher intends to do in the form of a statement of intent. It is more
or less a work plan which guides the researcher at every stage of the
execution of the research process. Research proposal can also be
described as a statement of intention, whose language should be clear
and unambiguous, contains carefully delineated statement of research
problem, outline of research design, clear indication of the significance
of the study as well as the time and financial implications of the
proposed study. A research proposal spells out:
 What (problem needing a solution);
 Why (reason why the problem needs solution);
 Whom (population from which the study sample is selected);
 When (time when the study will begin and finish); and
 How (method of investigation and statement of objectives).
Research proposal is a plan and a road-map which gives insight on the
nature and essence of a study as well as the method to be adopted,
time frame and budget required in carrying out the investigation. A
good proposal must answer the following questions:
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i. What do you want to do? – problem statement;

ii. Why do you want to do it? Why is it so important? –
significance of the study;
iii. Who has done similar work? – literature review;
iv. How do you want to do it? – methodology;
v. How long will it take and what will it take? – time plan and
budget.

Structure/Content of Research Proposal

The structure/content of research proposals varies.
In Nigeria, a typical research proposal usually contains the
following:
I. Preliminary title (tentative title that should reflect important
variables, show scope)
II. Introduction (background to the study, statement of the
problem, research objectives, research questions/hypotheses,
significance of the study, scope, delimitations,.);
III. Literature review (related studies, conceptual framework,
theoretical framework);
IV. Methodology (research design, population of the study, sample
size and sampling technique, instrument(s) for data collection,
validation of instruments, reliability of the instrument,
procedure for data collection, method of data analysis);
V. Budget, income and expenditure required for the study; and
VI. Time frame, for starting and completing the study.

However, in India, specifically at the North-Eastern Hill University,

Shillong, State of Meghalaya, research proposals are preferably
described as research synopsis, which are usually prepared under the
following headings respectively:
 Title (the tentative title of the research)
 Introduction (background information on key variables and elegantly
noting the importance of the research. And in a sub-heading, the
operational definition of important terms the readers will find in the
paper are listed)
 Literature review (analysis of studies, concepts and theories that
relate to the variables on the tentative title. They are presented in
sub-headings and also includes a summary)
 Research gap (discussing what has been covered in the literature
reviewed, the gaps noted and justifying the need for the proposed
research in relation to how it will fill the gap)
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 Statement of problem (arguments on why the proposed research is

important vis-à-vis a noticed worrisome situation at the moment)
 Research questions (outlining the questions the proposed research
will answer as informed from the statement of problem)
 Objective of the study (outlining what the researcher wants to achieve
at the end of the research. This is usually a paraphrased of the
research questions)
 Hypothesis (testable statements framed from statement of problem)
 Research methodology (includes proposed research design and
duration of research, study area, population of the study, data
collection tools, procedure and analysis, cost implication, and
tentative chapterisation of the project report)

Weaknesses of Research Proposals in Information and Knowledge

Management
Some research proposals may have common weaknesses,
which may lead to its rejection/non-acceptability by the appropriate
authorities like universities or funding bodies. Some of the common
weaknesses of research proposals are (Lategan, Lues & Friedrich-
Nel, 2011):
- the problem is trivial and of peripheral interest that lacks
significance;
- the literature review is limited, may not be relevant, not wide
enough, not specialized enough or out-dated;
- the problem is not demarcated, but broad and not specifically
stated;
- aims and expected outcome not scientifically justifiable or not
logically matching the problem;
- the methodology is lacking the details appropriate to the
proposed study;
- the budget is unrealistic, and the time plan is not feasible.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

RESEARCH PROCESS

Understanding the Research Process

Research Process is an integrated cycle of steps that must be
followed in order to carry out a research, which involves choosing a
research topic/research problem, literature review, formulation of
objectives and research questions/hypotheses, research design,
organisation and presentation of data, analysis and discussion of data,
conclusions and recommendations, as well as dissemination of
research findings (Aina, 2002). In other words, the research process
involves various phases, which a research must pass through before it
can be accepted as a scientific research thereby solving identified
problem (s) in the society.
The process or steps described in this chapter are
identification of research problem and conceptualization of research,
review of related literature, research design, data collection, data
analysis and interpretation, conclusion and recommendations, and
dissemination of research findings. Although they are briefly explained
in the next sub-heading, however, others are elaborately treated as
chapters.

Description of Processes involved in Research

o Identification of Research Problem and Conceptualization
of Research
It is always stated that without a problem, there will be no
research. In other words, no problem identified, no research to be
conducted. This implies that problem identification is the first and
critical step a researcher has to unravel first before any other thing in
an investigation. Problem identification involves the discovery and
definition of a problem or problems within an area of interest in a field
of study; in this case librarianship, information sciences, knowledge
management, and allied fields.

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Some of the sources of research problems are:

a. personal experience – insights based on work experience,
physical encounter in an environment, observations, etc.
b. academic and professional literature – reading earlier
research works.
c. experts’ opinion – interactions with researchers,
supervisors, academic advisers.
d. government publications – all publications from the tiers of
government (federal, state and local), and arms of
government (executive, legislature and judiciary).
e. internet and innovation-based sources, among others.
While selecting a research problem, the researcher should
ensure that:
 the problem has not been investigated by someone else within
the same geographical locality, but if it is replication of an
existing study, the research effort should be justified, or else it
is un-ethical to recycle an existing study;
 ascertain that the research problem is actually researchable
(i.e. it should be observed and measured, and the findings
should be verifiable and replicable);
 ensure that him/her has the theoretical background and
training to investigate the problem; and
 be realistic as much as possible, considering financial and time
constraints in carrying out research.
The above submissions imply that a research problem must undergo
evaluation and satisfy certain criteria to justify its usefulness. This
implies criteria for problem selection for investigation. Thus, it should
be evaluated to ascertain that it will be of significance to man, it is
researchable, it is suitable to current issues in branch(es) of
knowledge, will contribute to knowledge, should be viable and will
create room for further research, the feasibility of the study,
environment, financial considerations and researcher’s interest in the
problem.
On the other hand, conceptualization of research involves
putting the identified research problem in measurable perspective that
can be investigated. Here, we have framing the research topic with key
variables known, formulation of objectives, research questions and
hypotheses, all in line with the problem identified. All research
endeavours should have objectives to be achieved, which in turn be
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converted to research questions and then hypotheses (if applicable). In

constructing research questions, researchers should note that
simplicity and clarity of language are very important. Use of short,
crisp and precise questions is encouraged. Again, the question should
seek answer to one thought or idea, and not otherwise. Then, the
hypotheses, if applicable, should be framed in a way that key variables
and research subjects in the study are taken care of.

o Review of Related Literature or Literature Review

Literature refers to information sources and resources, such as
journals, monographs, conference proceedings, theses and
dissertations, both print and digital, which a researcher consulted and
used in the process of carrying out his/her investigation. Literature
review is the systematic study of all existing information resources
that are relevant to the research work that is being conducted. It is
concerned with locating, reading, evaluating and citing reports of
related research. Review of related literature can also be seen as the
careful and systematic identification and or location, documentation,
analysis and reporting of scholarly works which are relevant, related
and useful to the present study. It involves making an extensive
searching, reading and assessment of all available scholarly
information materials that are related to the problem of investigation.
In an investigation, citing related studies and research findings
that show substantial agreement and those that seem to present
conflicting conclusions help to sharpen and define understanding of
existing knowledge in the problem area, provides a background for the
research study, and makes the reader aware of the status of the issue.
Meanwhile, only those related studies that are plainly relevant,
competently executed and clearly reported should be included in the
review. In addition, researchers should note certain important
elements such as:
 Including reports of studies of closely related problems that
have been investigated;
 Design of the study including procedures employed and data
gathering instruments used;
 Populations that were samples and sampling methods
employed;
 Variables that were defined;

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 Extraneous/intervening variables that could have affected the

findings;
 Faults that could have been avoided; and
 Recommendations for further research.
Thus, the review of related literature is a valuable guide to defining the
research problem, recognizing its significance, suggesting possible
data-gathering devices, appropriate study design and sources of data.
Other benefits of literature review are:
 It enables the researcher to see clearly the gap his/her
research will fill at the end of the day;
 It helps the researcher to discover the extent of work already
done in the area of interest;
 It helps to eliminate duplication of research or possible
plagiarism;
 It provides a roadmap to what the possible solution to the
problem will look like;
 It sharpens the general picture of the problem under focus;
 It reviews research techniques, arguments, analysis and
conclusion of previous studies of similar condition; and
 It enables a researcher to fine tune his or her strategies to be
taken against the backdrop of what he or she has seen others
do in similar research cases
(Uhegbu, 2009).
It is preferable to synthesize scholarly works through paraphrasing
and summarization while reviewing related scholarly works; thus,
researchers should use their own words.
Meanwhile, there are mistakes commonly made in reviewing
research literature. Gall, Borg and Gall (1996) claim that the most
frequent mistakes made in reviewing the literature are that the
researcher:
 does not clearly relate findings of literature review to the
researcher’s own study;
 does not make sufficient time to define the best descriptors
and identify the best sources to use in review literature related
to one’s topic;
 relies on secondary sources rather than on primary sources in
reviewing literature;

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 uncritically accepts another researcher’s findings and

interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all
aspects of the research design and analysis;
 does not report the search procedures that were used in the
literature review;
 reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing
them by chi-square or meta-analytic methods; and
 does not consider contrary findings and alternative
interpretations in synthesizing quantitative literature.
Researchers are expected to avoid the mistakes.

The conceptual framework and theoretical framework for the

study should also be part of the literature review, especially as
applicable to studies in Nigeria. Conceptual framework is where the
researcher articulates the various variables and key concepts in with
the study, and how they relate with one another. It may be
accompanied with a carefully constructed diagrammatical
representation by the researcher in order to visualize the direction of
the investigation. In other words, conceptual framework is a written or
visual (or both written and visual) presentation that explains either
graphically or in narrative form (or both narrative and graphical) the
main ideas and key factors to study in the investigation, and the
presumed relationships among them. It provides the structure and
content of the whole study based on literature and personal
experience. Designing a conceptual framework involves identifying the
keywords and concepts that are involved in the study, taking one key
concept/idea at a time and seeing the ones that are related, and setting
out the variables and possible relationships between them together.
Conceptual framework can be a chart, diagramme, or a sketch with
illustrations. The aim of conceptual framework is to enable the
researcher to move beyond description to explanation of why?, what?,
or how? It is also a means of setting out an explanation that can be
used to define and make sense of data that flows from research
objectives.
On the other hand is the theoretical framework. This involves
reviewing various theories and postulations by scholars and
authorities that are related to the topic of investigation. Selection of
theoretical framework will depend on its appropriateness and
application to the study. Theoretical framework provides explicit
statements of theoretical assumptions, and connects the researcher to

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an existing knowledge. In choosing theoretical framework, researchers

are to look at the problem and variables critically, group the
independent and dependent variables, and review key theories in the
topic/area of study. The researcher may adopt some of the theories
that explained the variables in his/her topic that are relevant to the
study, or may adapt by modifying the existing theories to suit the
direction/mission of his/her study.
Both conceptual framework and theoretical framework assist
the researcher to identify research variables and the relationships
among the variables. The major difference between the two is that
conceptual framework centres only on the concepts and ideas used in
the study, whereas theoretical framework discusses certain theories
used in that field of study that are associated or in line with the
objectives of investigation.
The last part of the literature review carries the appraisal of
reviewed literature. Appraisal of reviewed literature is the
researcher’s scholarly estimation and evaluation of the worth of
literature reviewed in justifying the need for the study. Thus, it is
where the researcher assesses and evaluates all the reviewed works
related to the study, then identify and establish the gap(s) which the
present study is expected to fill at the end. All cited scholarly works
should be referenced accordingly using recommended style, either
American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Languages
Association (MLA) style.

o Research Design
Research design is plan of action or specification for collecting
information or data necessary and suitable for providing answers to
research questions (and testing hypothesis, where applicable) under
specified conditions. The research design expresses the plan, structure
and strategy for investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to
research questions, test hypotheses (where applicable) and to control
variables. It covers sampling, grouping, research conditions, data
analysis and interpretations. It also consists of research methods and
data collection instruments. Research methods provide the specific
details of how one accomplishes a research task (procedures and
methods). It provides specific and detailed procedures of how to
initiate, carry out, and complete a research task by mainly focusing on
how to do it. The type of research design (research method and data
collection instruments) to be adopted when conducting a study with a

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view to provide solutions to problems at hand in information sciences

depends on the nature of the problem. The following are specific
questions that a researcher could ask when planning a research design
(Aina, 2002; Popoola, 2012):
 What are the data needed?
 Where are the data located?
 How will the data be collected?
 How will the data be analysed?
 How will the data be interpreted?
Under research design, the researcher explains the type of research
design he will employ. There are many types of research designs as
explained in details under the chapter that specifically focused on
research design. In choosing any research design, the researcher has to
justify the one he/she chooses for the design as preference to others.
Justification means providing reasons for selecting the one adopted
instead of others (Uhegbu, 2009). In designing the research, the
research environment should be known, the population of the study,
the sample size and sampling technique to be adopted should be
clearly stated.
Population or total number of research subjects can be finite
(known, and countable) or infinite (unknown, and cannot be easily
counted). Finite population helps in selecting appropriate sample size.
Examples of widely used methods for determining sample size for
different population include the Krejcie and Morgan (1970),
percentage system of Borg and Gall, or statistical formular of Yaro
Yammanne. These are explained in detail with examples under chapter
ten, titled, ‘research design, population and sampling’.
After determination of sample size, what follows is the
sampling technique, which is the method through which the research
subjects from the sample size would be chosen, based on defined
criteria by the researcher. We have probability sampling methods and
non-probability sampling methods. Probability sampling methods are
those methods that specify the probability or likelihood of each
element of the population to be included in the sample. Probability
sampling technique ensures that the sample selected is validly
representative of the target population. This is done by employing the
mathematical or statistical theory of probability or chance and
randomisation in composing the samples. The methods/examples of
probability sampling are simple random sampling, systematic
sampling, cluster sampling and stratified sampling. On the other hand,
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non-probability sampling generates samples that are not truly

representative of the target population from which they are drawn.
Such may have sampling error and findings may not be used for
generalisation beyond the samples. Under this, we have quota
sampling, purposive sampling, volunteer sampling, snowball sampling,
and convenience/availability sampling.
The instruments for data collection and method of data
analysis are also covered in research design. Data collection
instruments are questionnaire, interview, observation, checklist and
documentary sources. Sometimes triangulation is adopted in research,
which refers to a process in which different research methods,
techniques of data collection and analysis are combined in a single
study, i.e. it is not unusual to combine both quantitative and qualitative
methods in a research (Aina, 2002).
In research design, general conduct of research and publishing,
it is necessary to consider associated ethical issues and adhere strictly
to them. The main ingredient of research is honesty, and any deviation
from this is unethical (Aina, 2002). Osuji (2012) opines that
researchers should exhibit the attitude of openness (in data collection,
treatment of findings and literature review), honesty (in data
collection, treatment and interpretation), humility (in validation of
instrument), and objectivity (in drawing conclusions from the research
findings). The behaviours in information science research and
publishing that are termed unethical are: lack of protection of the
rights of the participants in research, fabrication and falsification of
data, copyright violation and plagiarism, documentation of false
information and wrong citation and referencing, over citation of an
author, among others.

o Data Collection
Data collection involves obtaining the necessary data required
for the study. As earlier stated, instruments for collecting data are
questionnaire, interview, observation, checklist, and documentary
sources. This stage in the research process involves developing the
content of instrument for data collection, validating and ensuring that
the instrument is reliable. It also includes field work for pre-testing the
tools, and actual data collection for research analysis. Choosing
research assistants is also an aspect of this stage.

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o Data Analysis and Interpretation

Data analysis is the process of subjecting the collected data to
statistical and descriptive analysis in line with the objectives of the
study. The nature of study, and the type of data collected will determine
the statistical tools for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as
frequency percentages and measurement of central tendency (mean,
mode and median) are used for answering research questions, whereas
inferential statistics like t-test or z-test, chi-square, Pearson Product
Moment Correlation (PPMC), spearman rank order, multiple regression,
analysis of variance, etc. are used for testing hypotheses. This depends
on the type of hypotheses formulated that guided the research.
Computer systems play a strategic role in data analysis. The
descriptive presentation of data can be done either by graphical or by
numerical techniques. The graphical representation can take the form of
any of the following: pie chart, bar graph, frequency histogram,
frequency polygon, of which Microsoft excel is used in the process. In
addition, there are many software packages for data analysis. A good
example is the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS), which
is now known as Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS), because
it is not only used by social sciences.

o Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion implies what the researcher can deduce from the
outcome of the findings. This outcome of the findings will now
determine the nature of recommendations to give by the researcher,
which is expected to put the research problem in a perspective that is
solvable.

o Dissemination of Research Findings

Dissemination of research findings or writing a research report
is the final stage of the research process. It is a fact that research is not
yet completed unless the findings are disseminated for criticisms,
utilization and possible application for societal development. For the
award of certificates in tertiary institutions, it is bound and submitted as
projects, theses and dissertations, depending on the level of study.
Scholars and other researchers in academic and research institutions
present their research findings at conferences and workshops, as well as
publish their research findings in journals, so that they can be read, and
possibly applied, by peers and colleagues.

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CHAPTER EIGHT

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM AND

CONCEPTUALISATION OF RESEARCH

Introduction
The basis for engaging in research is to solve identified
problems. Thus, the identification of problems, and stating them in
proper context is a necessity in all research endeavours. Strategies for
identification of research problems, sources of research problems, and
proper conceptualization of research topics for investigation are
covered in this chapter.

Identification of Research Problem

It is always stated that without a problem, there will be no
research. In other words, no problem identified, no research to be
conducted. This implies that problem identification is the first and
critical step a researcher has to unravel first before any other thing in
an investigation. Problem identification involves the discovery and
definition of a problem or problems within an area of interest in a field
of study; in this case librarianship, information sciences, knowledge
management, and allied fields.
According to Issa (2012), one cannot over-emphasize the need
to state the problem very clearly and precisely, since the whole
process of the investigation depends on it. If the problem is not well
defined/stated, the researcher may be working on the wrong issues,
may design, develop and use inappropriate samples and instruments,
and may even engage himself or herself in studying an inconsequential
issue. Thus, the language here should be definite and quantifiable;
since once this is done, the type of research, the approach and
procedures to use are often a matter of simple logical deductions.
There is no doubt that an adequate statement of the research
problem is the most important part of a research process. This is
because the entire process of investigation hinges on it, and it is
usually related to some of the following: a missing link, an imbalance, a
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need, an unsatisfactory state of affairs or an unanswered question. The

statement of the problem gives direction to the rest of the research
work; indicating and highlighting the main variables of interest to the
researcher as well as specific relationships between them (Issa, 2012).
While selecting a research problem, the researcher should
ensure that:
 the problem has not been investigated by someone else within
the same geographical locality, but if it is replication of an
existing study, the research effort should be justified, or else it
is un-ethical to recycle an existing study;
 ascertain that the research problem is actually researchable
(i.e. it should be observed and measured, and the findings
should be verifiable and replicable);
 ensure that him/her has the theoretical background and
training to investigate the problem; and
 be realistic as much as possible, considering financial and time
constraints in carrying out research.
The above submissions imply that a research problem must undergo
evaluation and satisfy certain criteria to justify its usefulness. This
implies criteria for problem selection for investigation. Thus, it should
be evaluated to ascertain that it will be of significance to man, it is
researchable, it is suitable to current issues in branch(es) of
knowledge, will contribute to knowledge, should be viable and will
create room for further research, the feasibility of the study,
environment, financial considerations and researcher’s interest in the
problem.

Sources of Research Problems

There are situations that usually give rise to research
problems, such as an imbalance in research findings, an unsatisfactory
state of affairs, a missing link, a need and unanswered questions
(Chukwuneke, 2008).
Some of the sources of research problems are:
 Personal experience – insights based on work experience,
physical encounter in an environment, observations, etc.
 Academic and professional literature – reading reports of
earlier research works.
 Experts’ opinion – interactions with researchers, supervisors,
academic advisers.

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 Government publications – all publications from the tiers of

government (federal, state and local), and arms of government
(executive, legislature and judiciary).
 Theories and postulations of scholars.
 Internet and innovation-based sources, among others.

Conceptualization of Research
Conceptualization of research involves putting the identified
research problem in measurable perspective that can be investigated.
Here, we have framing the research topic with key variables known,
formulation of objectives, research questions and hypotheses, all in line
with the problem identified. All research endeavours should have
objectives (or purpose) to be achieved, which in turn should be
converted to research questions, and then hypotheses (if applicable). In
other words, having identified problem that requires investigation, the
researcher is expected to develop a research topic in line with the
problem identified; then, the topic and the problem will be expanded
into major objective (purpose) and specific objectives of the study. The
researcher will need to decide how to approach the research process, by
converting the objectives into research questions, and formulation of
hypotheses (if feasible or applicable).
Meanwhile, understanding the difference between research
questions and hypotheses, and choosing the correct approach will drive
the rest of the research project.
For research questions, it comes in the form of interrogations
seeking to establish definite relations among the key variables of
investigation. It is written as a question and is inquisitive in nature. A
properly written question will be clear and concise. It should contain the
topic being studied (purpose), the variable(s), and the population. Three
main types of questions:
o Causal Questions – Compares two or more phenomena and
determines if a relationship exists. Often called relationship
research questions. Example: Is there any significant
relationship between information literacy competence and
utilization of open educational resources among graduating
students of Akanu Ibiam Federal University, Unwana, Nigeria?
o Descriptive Questions – Seek to describe a phenomena and often
study “how much”, “how often”, or “what is the change”.
Example: How often do polytechnic students use social media
platforms for academic engagements?
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 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM AND CONCEPTUALISATION OF RESEARCH

o Comparative Questions – Aim to examine the difference between

two or more groups in relation to one or more variables. The
questions often begin with “What is the difference in...”. Example:
What is the difference in the information literacy competence of
science-based and art-based students of Akanu Ibiam Federal
University, Unwana, Nigeria?
The type of research question will influence the research design. In
constructing research questions, researchers should note that simplicity
and clarity of language are very important. Use of short, crisp and precise
questions is encouraged. Again, the question should seek answer to one
thought or idea, and not otherwise. Research questions normally serve as
the basis from where the questionnaire items/ questions would
eventually be derived. Once data has been collected, it will be analyzed
and conclusions can be made.
For hypothesis, if applicable, it should be framed in a way that
key variables and research subjects in the study are taken care of.
Hypothesis is a tentative statement about research problem, which is the
basis for investigation, but yet to be proved. It is a statement which gives
an insight of what a researcher expect to be the outcome of his/her study
regarding the variables contained and investigated in the statement of the
problem. In other words, the hypothesis is in itself an explanation for
certain observed or observable events, behaviours, phenomena or
predictions with regards to how they occur, why they occur or when they
occur. These expectations and explanations must be clear, succinct,
testable and verifiable. The aim of a hypothesis is not to prove anything,
but to test whether it should be accepted or rejected. This is done with
data rigorously and painstakingly collected through empirical research.
Thus, characteristics of a good hypothesis includes that it should
conjecture upon a relationship between two or more variables, be stated
clearly and unambiguously in the form of a declarative sentence, and be
testable.
In addition, hypothesis is predictive in nature and typically used
when significant knowledge already exists on the subject which allows the
prediction to be made. Data is then collected, analyzed, and used to
support or negate the hypothesis, arriving at a definite conclusion at the
end of the research. It is always written as a statement and should be
developed before any data is collected. A complete hypothesis should
include the variables, the population, and the predicted relationship
between the variables. It is commonly used in quantitative research, but
not qualitative research, which often seeks answers to open-ended
questions (Grand Canyon University, Arizona, n.d.).
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CHAPTER NINE

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
This chapter focuses on the review of related literature in line
with the study topic and research objectives. It covers meaning of
literature and literature review, important elements to note in literature
review, benefits of literature review in research, and understanding the
concept of information synthesis.

Review of Related Literature or Literature Review

Literature refers to information sources and resources, such as
journals, monographs, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations,
both print and digital, which a researcher consulted and used in the
process of carrying out his/her investigation. Literature review is the
systematic study of all existing information resources that are relevant
to the research work that is being conducted. A literature review
discusses published information in a particular subject area, sometimes
even restricted to a certain period of time. It is concerned with locating,
reading, evaluating and citing reports of related works of research; in
many cases both empirical findings and conceptual ideas. Review of
related literature can also be seen as the careful and systematic
identification and or location, documentation, analysis and reporting of
scholarly works which are relevant, related and useful to the present
study. It involves making an extensive searching, reading and
assessment of all available scholarly information materials that are
related to the problem of investigation.
A literature review can as well be described as an examination of
the existing research publications on the topic area of a new study,
involving discussing their theorizing patterns, research designs, data
collection methods, findings, strengths, limitations and contexts as
relevant to the new study. This often includes the researcher’s own
views, observations and alternative explanations to the findings as to
what other factors may have given rise to those findings (University of
Pretoria, 2018). .
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In an investigation, citing related studies and research findings

that show substantial agreement and those that seem to present
conflicting conclusions help to sharpen and define understanding of
existing knowledge in the problem area, provides a background for the
research study, and makes the reader aware of the status of the issue.
Meanwhile, only those related studies that are plainly relevant,
competently executed and clearly reported should be included in the
review.

Important Elements to Note in Literature Review

It should be noted that the depth and breadth of the literature
review emphasizes the credibility of the researcher in his or her field.
The main focus of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize
the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.
Use quotes sparingly and precisely, always summarize and synthesize,
then keep your own voice. Thus, while the literature review presents
others’ ideas and findings, the researcher’s or writer’s voice should
remain front and centre. The researcher should be cautious when
paraphrasing i.e. when paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be
sure to represent the author’s information or opinions accurately and
in your own words. Continuous revisions of the reviewed works are
strongly encouraged.
There are other certain points which researchers should bear
in mind while engaging in literature review. In other words,
researchers and scholarly writers should note certain important
elements such as:
 Including reports of studies of closely related problems that
have been investigated;
 Design of the study including procedures employed and data
gathering instruments used;
 Populations that were sampled and sampling methods
employed;
 Variables that were defined;
 Extraneous/intervening variables that could have affected the
findings;
 Faults that could have been avoided; and
 Recommendations for further research.
Other important tips associated with literature review are that,
researchers should;

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a) Read the most relevant works to the topic of investigation, and

not to read everything;
b) First draft will not be perfect, rather writing as many drafts as
possible is necessary to refine ideas; thus, always write
something as the reading of related literature goes on;
c) Keep full bibliographic information of every source, as failure
to do so can easily lead to plagiarism;
d) Organize literature review by ideas, rather than just organizing
it chronologically. In others words, organizing literature by
ideas and chronology is preferable, as this will show that the
researcher has analysed and evaluated sources and found
commonalities among them;
e) Keep the literature review focused. This can be done by
remembering purpose of the study (University of Pretoria,
2018).

Benefits of Literature Review

The review of related literature is a valuable guide to defining the
research problem, recognizing its significance, suggesting possible
data-gathering devices, appropriate study design and sources of data.
Bhattacherjee (2012) notes that the purpose of a literature review
is three–fold:
a. to survey the current state of knowledge in the area of inquiry,
b. to identify key authors, articles, theories, and findings in that
area, and
c. to identify gaps in knowledge in that research area.
Literature reviews should be reasonably complete, and not restricted
to a few information resources like journals and conference papers, a
few years, or a specific methodology. A well-conducted literature
review should indicate whether the initial research questions (and or
hypotheses) have already been addressed in the literature (which
would obviate the need to study them again), whether there are newer
or more interesting research questions available, and whether the
original research questions should be modified or changed in light of
findings of the literature review. The review can also provide some
intuitions or potential answers to the questions of interest and/or help
identify theories that have previously been used to address similar
questions.

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Specifically, other benefits of literature review are as follows:

 It enables the researcher to see clearly the gap his/her research
will fill at the end of the day;
 It helps the researcher to discover the extent of work already
done in the area of interest;
 It helps to eliminate duplication of research or possible
plagiarism;
 It provides a roadmap to what the possible solution to the
problem will look like;
 It sharpens the general picture of the problem under focus;
 It reviews research techniques, arguments, analysis and
conclusion of previous studies of similar condition; and
 It enables a researcher to fine tune his or her strategies to be
taken against the backdrop of what he or she has seen others do
in similar research cases
(Uhegbu, 2009).
It is preferable to synthesize scholarly works through paraphrasing and
summarization while reviewing related scholarly works; thus,
researchers should use their own words.

Common Mistakes associated with Review of Related Literature

Meanwhile, there are mistakes commonly made in reviewing
research literature. Gall, Borg and Gall (1996) claim that the most frequent
mistakes made in reviewing the literature are that the researcher:
 does not clearly relate the findings of the literature review to the
researcher’s own study;
 does not make sufficient time to define the best descriptors and
identify the best sources to use in review literature related to
one’s topic;
 relies on secondary sources rather than on primary sources in
reviewing the literature;
 uncritically accepts another researcher’s findings and
interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all
aspects of the research design and analysis;
 does not report the search procedures that were used in the
literature review;
 reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing them
by chi-square or meta-analytic methods; and
 does not consider contrary findings and alternative
interpretations in synthesizing quantitative literature.
Researchers are expected to avoid the mistakes.

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Developing/Writing a Literature Review

While writing the literature review, there are certain issues to
bear in mind in the process. First of all, the aim of a literature review is to
show your reader that you have read, and have a good grasp of the main
published works in a particular topic or area of investigation. The review
is expected to be guided by the objectives of the study, which will be
converted to research questions (and or hypotheses) as the case may be.
It is very important to note that your review should not be simply a
description of what others have published in the form of a set of
summaries, but should take the form of a critical discussion, showing
insights and an awareness of differing arguments, theories and
approaches. It should be a synthesis and analysis of the relevant
published work, linked at all times to your own purpose and rationale.
Literature review has various aims and purposes, such as to
define and limit the problem you are working on, to avoid unnecessary
duplication, to evaluate promising research methods, and to relate your
findings to previous knowledge and suggest further areas of research. The
literature review should compare and contrast different authors' views on
an issue, group authors who draw similar conclusions, criticize aspects of
methodology that are controversial or possibly misleading, note areas in
which authors are in disagreement, highlight exemplary studies, highlight
gaps in research, show how your study relates to previous studies and the
literature in general, conclude by summarising what the literature says,
and then identify the possible gap(s) which your present study is
expected to fill at the end. Thus, a good literature review, therefore, is
critical of what has been written, identifies areas of controversy, raises
questions and identifies areas which need further research.
The structure of the literature review varies from one
institution to another. There are some institutions that structure their
literature review into:
a. Introduction, conceptual framework, other sub-headings covering
the concept(s)/variables/objectives of the study, and summary of
literature review.
b. Introduction, concepts/variables in the study (with their various
sub-headings), theoretical framework, conceptual framework
(with diagrammatical representation), and appraisal of the
literature reviewed. Under this structure, especially various sub-
headings of concepts/variables in the study, virtually all the
literature reviewed should be empirical studies. Adherents of this
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structure believe that everything about explaining

concepts/variables under study should be discussed under
introductory background to the study.
c. Conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical studies,
and summary of the literature review. Under this structure, the
concepts/variables under study are treated under conceptual
framework with their various sub-headings.
d. Introduction, conceptual framework, theoretical framework,
theoretical studies, empirical studies, summary of the literature
review. In this structure, the respective objectives of the study are
expected to be treated under conceptual framework, theoretical
studies, and empirical studies.
Structure (a) is mostly applicable to National Diploma, Higher National
Diploma and Bachelors degree projects. On the other hand, structure (b),
(c), and (d) are associated with postgraduate studies like PGD, MSc and
PhD theses/dissertations; but in rare cases can be applicable to HND/BSc
projects depending on institutions. However, the overall structure of a
literature review will depend largely on the topic of investigation or
research area, including controversial issues with varying approaches and
theories.
Within each of the sections and sub-headings, researcher are
expected to discuss what the different literature argues, and remembering
to link them to their own objectives/ purpose of the study. Linking words
are important. If you are grouping together writers with similar opinions,
you would use words or phrases such as: similarly, in addition, also, again.
More importantly, if there is disagreement, you need to indicate clearly
that you are aware of this by the use of linkers such as: however, on the
other hand, conversely, nevertheless. At the end of the review you should
include a summary of what the literature implies, which again links to
your research questions and or hypothesis.
In writing the review, it is important, therefore, to try and decide
on the parameters of your research. What exactly are your objectives and
what do you need to find out? In your review, are you looking at issues of
theory, methodology, policy, quantitative research, or what? Before you
start reading, it may be useful to compile a list of the main areas and
questions involved, and then read with the purpose of addressing them in
the review. A good literature review needs a clear line of argument. You
therefore need to use the critical notes and comments you made whilst
doing your reading to express an academic opinion.
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Researchers should make sure that:

o they include a clear, short introduction which gives an outline
of the review, including the main topics covered and the order
of the arguments, with a brief rationale for this.
o there is always a clear link between their own arguments and
the evidence uncovered in the reading. Include a short
summary at the end of each section/sub-heading reviewed. Use
quotations if appropriate in that context.
o they always acknowledge opinions which do not agree with
their project/thesis. If researchers ignore opposing viewpoints,
their argument will in fact be weaker.
Your review must be written in a formal, academic style. Keep your
writing clear and concise, avoiding colloquialisms and personal
language. You should always aim to be objective and respectful of
others' opinions; thus, this is not the place for emotive language or
strong personal opinions. If you thought something was rubbish, use
words such as "inconsistent", "lacking in certain areas" or "based on
false assumptions"!
When introducing someone's opinion, don't use "says", but
instead an appropriate verb which more accurately reflects this
viewpoint, such as "argues", "claims" or "states". Use the present tense
for general opinions, theories and conceptual ideas, or the past when
referring to specific research findings or experiments. Example:

“Although Amadioha (2018) argues that attack is the best form of

defence, Mustapha posits that living in peace and unity are key to
national development, which Adebayo (2016) collaborated and
claims that using peaceful approach towards negotiation is a
solution to harmonious co-existence in the society”.

“In an empirical study on knowledge sharing behaviour of

researchers, Igwe (2015) found that . . . . “

And remember at all times to avoid engaging in plagiarism of sources.

Always separate your source opinions from your own hypothesis,
making sure you consistently reference the literature you are referring
to (or cited) in your work.

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The conceptual framework and theoretical framework for the

study should also appear in the section under literature review.
Conceptual framework is where the researcher articulates the various
variables and key constructs associated with the study, and how they
relate with one another. It may be accompanied with a carefully
constructed diagrammatical representation by the researcher in order to
visualize the direction of the investigation. In other words, conceptual
framework is a written or visual (or both written and visual) presentation
that explains either graphically or in narrative form (or both narrative
and graphical) the main ideas and key factors to study in the investigation,
and the presumed relationships among them. It provides the structure
and content of the whole study based on literature and personal
experience. Designing a conceptual framework involves identifying the
keywords and concepts that are involved in the study, taking one key
concept/idea at a time and seeing the ones that are related, and setting
out the variables and possible relationships between them together.
Conceptual framework can be a chart, diagramme, or a sketch with
illustrations. The aim of conceptual framework is to enable the researcher
to move beyond description to explanation of why?, what?, or how? It is
also a means of setting out an explanation that can be used to define and
make sense of data that flows from research objectives.
On the other hand is the theoretical framework. Theories are
formulated explain, predict and understand a phenomena, and in many
cases to challenge and extend an existing knowledge. Theoretical
framework involves reviewing various theories and postulations by
scholars and authorities that are related to the topic of investigation.
Selection of theoretical framework will depend on its appropriateness
and application to the study. Theoretical framework provides explicit
statements of theoretical assumptions, and connects the researcher to an
existing knowledge. In choosing theoretical framework, researchers are to
look at the problem and variables critically, group the independent and
dependent variables, and review key theories in the topic/area of study.
The researcher may adopt some of the theories that explained the
variables in his/her topic that are relevant to the study, or may adapt by
modifying the existing theories to suit the direction/mission of his/her
study.
Both conceptual framework and theoretical framework assist the
researcher to identify research variables and the relationships among the
variables. The major difference between the two is that conceptual

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framework centres only on the concepts and ideas used in the study,
whereas theoretical framework discusses certain theories used in that
field of study that are associated with objectives of investigation.
The last part of the literature review carries the appraisal of
reviewed literature. Appraisal of reviewed literature is the researcher’s
scholarly estimation and evaluation of the worth of literature reviewed in
justifying the need for the study. Thus, it is where the researcher assesses
and evaluates all the reviewed works related to the study, then identify
and establish the gap(s) which the present study is expected to fill at the
end. All cited scholarly works should be referenced accordingly using
recommended style, either American Psychological Association (APA) or
Modern Languages Association (MLA) style.

Understanding Information Synthesis

Perhaps the most essential, and certainly one of the most complex
research skills, is the ability to synthesize information, which usually
comes from various sources. This ability of people to assimilate
information they find into coherent personal strategies, is perhaps the
critical modern survival skill, especially in this digital era with multiple
sources of information.
According to Lundstrom, Diekema, Leary, Haderlie and Holliday
(2015), information synthesis is the process of analyzing and evaluating
information from various sources, making connections between the
information found, and combining the recently acquired information with
prior knowledge to create something new. Information synthesis
strategies are essential skills. Without them, we cannot derive new
knowledge from these large amounts of data. Effective information
synthesis is also vital in developing effective writing and communication
skills to share new knowledge. Coherent information synthesis is,
therefore, required to productively participate in and contribute to our
information-rich society. Yet students have difficulty analyzing and
synthesizing different pieces of information in writing and other academic
endeavours.
Information synthesis is a key skill for participants in our
knowledge society and requires complex processing. Unfortunately,
information literacy instruction and practice tend to favour easily-defined
skills that often focus on search component of the research process,
thereby leaving out higher order processing skills like information
synthesis. (Lundstrom, Diekema, Leary, Haderlie & Holliday, 2015).
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CHAPTER TEN

RESEARCH DESIGN, POPULATION AND

SAMPLING

Conceptual Explanation of Research Design

The research design refers to the overall strategy chosen by a
researcher to integrate the different components of the study in a
coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring that the research problem
is effectively addressed. In other words, it constitutes the blueprint for
the collection, measurement, and analysis of data. Researchers should
note that research problem determines the type of design to use, not
the other way around.
The research design describes the purpose of the investigation,
methods or procedures to be followed, data to be collected,
comparisons or other analysis to be made. The function of a research
design is to ensure that the evidence obtained enables you to
effectively address the research problem logically and as
unambiguously as possible. In information and knowledge
management research, obtaining information relevant to the research
problem generally entails specifying the type of evidence needed to
test a theory, to evaluate a program, or to accurately describe and
assess meaning related to an observable phenomenon. With this in
mind, a common mistake made by researchers is that they begin their
investigations far too early, before they have thought critically about
what information is required to address the research problem.
Without attending to these design issues beforehand, the overall
research problem will not be adequately addressed and any
conclusions drawn will run the risk of being weak and unconvincing.
As a consequence, the overall validity of the study will be undermined.
According to Bhattacherjee (2012), research design is
concerned with creating a blueprint of the activities to take in order to
satisfactorily answer the research questions identified (and or test the
hypotheses formulated) for the study, and it includes selecting a
research method, operationalizing constructs of interest, and devising
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an appropriate sampling strategy. Operationalization is the

process of designing precise measures for abstract theoretical
constructs. Operationalization starts with specifying an “operational
definition” of concepts of interest. Next, the researcher can search the
literature to see if there are existing pre-validated measures matching
their operational definition that can be used directly or modified to
measure their constructs of interest. If such measures are not available
or if existing measures are poor or reflect a different conceptualization
than that intended by the researcher, new instruments may have to be
designed for measuring those constructs. This means specifying
exactly how exactly the desired construct will be measured (e.g., how
many items, what items, and so forth). This can easily be a long and
laborious process, with multiple rounds of pretests and modifications
before the newly designed instrument can be accepted as
“scientifically valid.” Simultaneously with operationalization, the
researcher must also decide what research method they wish to
employ for collecting data to address their research questions of
interest (and or test hypotheses). Such methods may include
quantitative methods such as experiments or survey research or
qualitative methods such as case research or action research, or
possibly a combination of both (mixed research methods). If an
experiment is desired, then what is the experimental design? If survey,
do you plan a mail survey, telephone survey, web survey, or a
combination? For complex, uncertain, and multifaceted social
phenomena, multi-method approaches may be more suitable, which
may help leverage the unique strengths of each research method and
generate insights that may not be obtained using a single method.
Researchers must also carefully choose the target population from
which they wish to collect data, and a sampling strategy to select a
sample from that population. For instance, should they survey
individuals or firms or workgroups within firms? What types of
individuals or firms they wish to target? Sampling strategy is closely
related to the unit of analysis in a research problem. While selecting a
sample, reasonable care should be taken to avoid a biased sample (e.g.,
sample based on convenience) that may generate biased observations
(Bhattacherjee, 2012).
The length and complexity of describing research designs can
vary considerably, but any well-developed design will achieve the
following:
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i. Identify the research problem clearly and justify its selection,

particularly in relation to any valid alternative designs that
could have been used,
ii. Review and synthesize previously published literature
associated with the research problem,
iii. Clearly and explicitly specify research questions central to the
problem,
iv. Effectively describe the data which will be necessary for an
adequate testing of the hypotheses and explain how such data
will be obtained, and
v. Describe the methods of analysis to be applied to the data in
determining whether or not the hypotheses are true or false
(De Vaus, 2001; Vogt, Gardner & Haeffele, 2012; Gorard, 2013;
Leedy & Ormrod, 2013).

Factors/Questions to Note when Planning a Research Design

Research Design is plan of action or specification for collecting
information or data necessary and suitable for providing answers to
research questions (and testing hypothesis, where applicable) under
specified conditions. The research design expresses the plan, structure
and strategy for investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to
research questions, test hypotheses (where applicable) and to control
variables. It covers sampling, grouping, research conditions, data
analysis and interpretations. It also consists of research methods and
data collection instruments. Research designs provide the specific
details of how one accomplishes a research task (procedures and
methods). It provides specific and detailed procedures of how to
initiate, carry out, and complete a research task by mainly focusing on
how to do it. .The type of research design to be adopted when
conducting a study with a view to provide solutions to problems at
hand in information and knowledge management depends on the
nature of the problem. The following are specific questions that a
researcher could ask when planning a research design (Aina, 2002;
Popoola, 2012):
 What are the data needed?
 Where are the data located?
 How will the data be collected?
 How will the data be analysed?
 How will the data be interpreted?

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In choosing any research design, the researcher has to justify why

he/she chooses one design in preference to others. Justification means
providing reasons for selecting the one adopted instead of others
(Uhegbu, 2009).

Types of Research Designs

The various types/classification of research and their sub-
types operate with their respective research designs. In other words,
all types of research require appropriate research designs that would
be adopted in order to address the central issues raised in the study,
especially the statement of the problem and objectives. According to
Popoola (2012), basically, there are three main broad types of research
designs, which are applicable and can be used in IKM research. They
are:
i. descriptive research design (e.g. survey research, correlational
research, case study research, causal-comparative research,
longitudinal and cross-sectional research, historical research,
and action research),
ii. experimental research design, and
iii. analytical research design.

As noted by Osuji (2012), researchers need to note that in general, the

type of design for a particular study could be correctly inferred or
derived from the title or topic of study. It means that right from the
time you choose your research topic, you are already battling with the
choice of the design of the work. If you take a close look at the table
below, you will notice that some operational words in your topic direct
you to the design for that particular topic.
S/N Nature of Research Topic Type of Research Design
1 (a). Relationship Between . . . . . . .
(b). A Correlational Study of . . . . . Correlational Research
(c). X and Y as Covariant of . . . . . . Design
(d). A Comparative Study of . . . . . .
2 (a). Influence of . . . . .
(b). Incidence of . . . .
(c). Perception of . . . . . Survey Research Design
(d). Impact of . . . . . . . .
(e). Evaluation of . . . . .
(f). Attitude of . . . . . . . .
3 Effect of . . . . . . . . Experimental Research
Design
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Korb (2013) notes that after the key variables have been
identified in a study, the researcher needs to identify how those
variables will be studied, which is the heart of the research design.
Thus, descriptive research design, causal-comparative research design,
correlational research design, as well as experimental and quasi-
experimental research designs, are elaborated described here:

 Descriptive Research Design: A descriptive research design

describes some phenomenon at a specific point in time. A
descriptive study needs a clearly defined phenomenon of
interest (e.g., teachers' knowledge of literacy development)
that is systematically and precisely measured. After explaining
what a descriptive study is and why the descriptive study was
chosen, then the Research Design sub-section should also
include the specific phenomenon of interest (the variable) in
the particular research study. Descriptive research design
describes the current state of variables. For example, a
descriptive study might examine teachers' knowledge of
literacy development. This is a descriptive study because it
simply describes the current state of teachers' knowledge of
literacy development.

 Causal-Comparative Research Design: Causal comparative

designs are also called ex-post-facto design (i.e. after the fact).
Causal comparative designs examine the effect of an
independent variable that cannot be manipulated by the
researcher (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, age, etc.) on a
dependent variable. After explaining the causal-comparative
design and why the causal-comparative design was chosen
(typically because the independent variables cannot be
manipulated), then the independent variables should be clearly
identified, as well as the dependent variables. How participant
were classified into the groups should also be clearly
explained. For example, how was it determined whether
participants were of high or low socioeconomic status? Causal
Comparative Design examines the effect of one variable that
cannot be manipulated on other variables. An example would
be the effect of gender on examination malpractice. A
researcher cannot manipulate a person's gender, so instead

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males and females are compared on their examination

malpractice behavior. Because the variable of interest cannot
be manipulated, causal comparative studies (sometimes also
called ex post facto) compare two groups that differ on the
independent variable (e.g., gender) on the dependent variable
(e.g., examination malpractice). Thus, the key identifying factor
of a causal comparative study is that it compares two or more
groups on a different variable.

 Correlational Research Design: The primary characteristic of

a correlational design is that it examines the relationship
between two or more variables, mostly within the same group
of people. Thus, it describes the relationship between
variables. Correlational studies must examine two variables
that have continuous values. For example, academic
achievement is a continuous variable because students' scores
have a wide range of values - oftentimes from 0 to 100.
However, gender is not a continuous variable because there
are only two categories that gender can have: male and female.
A correlational study might examine the relationship between
motivation and academic achievement - both continuous
variables. Note that in a correlational design, both variables
must be studied within the same group of individuals. In other
words, it is acceptable to study the relationship between
academic achievement and motivation in students because the
two variables (academic achievement and motivation) are in
the same group of individuals (students).
However, it is extremely difficult to study two variables
in two groups of people, such as the relationship between
teacher motivation and student achievement. Here, the two
variables are compared between two groups: teachers and
students. This nature of study is always not advisable.

 Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research Design:

Both experimental and quasi-experimental research designs
examine the effect of an independent variable that is
manipulated by the researcher on a dependent variable. To
manipulate the independent variable, participants are placed
in groups: a treatment group that receives the treatment and a
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control group that is identical to the treatment group except

that they do not receive the treatment. Then these two groups
are compared on the dependent variable. Experimental and
Quasi-Experimental Design examines the effect of a variable
that the researcher manipulates on other variables. An
experimental or quasi-experimental study might examine the
effect of telling stories on children's literacy skills. In this case,
the researcher will "manipulate" the variable of telling stories
by placing half of the children in a treatment group that listens
to stories and the other half of children in a control group that
gets the ordinary literacy instruction.
o Both experimental and quasi-experimental research
designs examine the effect of an independent variable
that is manipulated by the researcher on a dependent
variable. To manipulate the independent variable,
participants are placed in groups: a treatment group
that receives the treatment and a control group that is
identical to the treatment group except that they do not
receive the treatment. Then these two groups are
compared on the dependent variable.
o Example, let's consider a study examining the effect of
Web-based instruction on information literacy skills,
which will be measured by an information literacy (IL)
assessment test (i.e. an achievement test). There are
many factors that could influence a student's score on
an IL test: age, quality of instruction, interest in IL,
value of education, sickness, distraction, etc. All of these
variables are extraneous variables, any variable
besides the independent variable that might unduly
contribute to differences between the treatment and
control group. It is the researcher's responsibility to
control for extraneous variables, meaning that they
carefully plan the research study so that extraneous
variables are limited. For example, imagine that the
treatment group has a different teacher than the
control group. The treatment group's teacher might be
better than the control group, so any difference
between the treatment and control group on the
dependent variable might be caused by the teacher, not

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by the web-based instruction. This means that the

researcher needs to carefully consider any differences
between the treatment and control group and make an
effort to minimize these differences in the planning
stage. The research design should report the steps that
were taken to minimize the influences of extraneous
variables.
o The only difference between an experimental and a
quasi-experimental design is how the participants were
placed in the groups. Experimental designs must have
random assignment to the two groups. Quasi-
experimental designs use intact groups, such as a
specific classroom. Random assignment (sometimes
also called randomization) is different from random
selection, and it is important to be clear in these two
concepts. Selection refers to how participants were
selected from the population to participate in the study
as part of the sample. On the other hand, assignment
occurs after participants have already been selected.
The researcher already has a list of names of those
people who will participate in the study, so
assignment refers to how those participants are
assigned to the treatment and control groups. Random
assignment means that participants are randomly
assigned to the treatment and control groups: not
assigned based on previous test scores, not assigned
based on their class teacher, not assigned based on any
characteristic of the person, but using random
procedures.
o The reason that researchers use random assignment is
to control for extraneous variables. As previously
described, there are a million different factors that can
influence scores on the dependent variable. However,
when participants are assigned to the treatment and
control groups using random procedures, then it is
assumed that these extraneous factors balance out.
When randomly assigned, one group might be slightly
smarter, but the other group might have higher
motivation. One group might be slightly sicker on the
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day of the test, but the other group might have more
personal problems that caused anxiety. Random
assignment assumes that all of these extraneous
variables balance each other out.
o Note that the term random, whether in random
assignment or random selection, does NOT mean
haphazard. Instead, random is a technical term that
means that every case has an equal and independent
chance of being selected (or assigned). Thus, to
accurately use the word random, a study must use
specific procedures. Researchers have developed a
number of procedures for achieving "random" -
whether random assignment or random selection.
However, the most simple and most common is the ‘Hat
and Draw Method’. In the hat and draw method, the
names of individuals are placed in a hat and drawn out
at random. For random assignment, the first name
drawn out of the hat is assigned to the treatment group,
the second name drawn is assigned to the control
group, the third name is assigned to the treatment
group, and so on.
o If a study uses random assignment, a pre-test is not
necessary. In some cases, such as achievement tests, a
pre-test can actually be harmful. In an achievement
test, when participants see the questions on the pre-
test, they might learn the answers on the questions
outside of the treatment. In this case, the pre-test is
what influenced the post-test scores and not the
treatment itself. Therefore, in some cases, pre-testing is
harmful and should be avoided. The researcher should
carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of
giving a pre-test as they are planning the study. Again,
if random assignment to groups is used, a pre-test is
not needed because random assignment assumes that
both groups are equal at the start of the treatment.
o In sum, both experimental and quasi-experimental
research designs, as applicable to IKM research, have a
control group and at least one treatment group. The
only difference between the two research designs is

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that the experimental design uses random assignment

whereas the quasi-experimental design does not use
random assignment.
In designing the research, the research environment should be known,
the population of the study, the sample size and sampling technique to
be adopted should be clearly stated.

Population
Population is the total number of research subjects (like
individuals) for a study, which can be finite (known) or infinite
(unknown). Finite population is known in the sense that the total
number can be counted and recorded, or there is a document that
shows the total number of the research subjects. Examples of finite
population are students in a school or university, lecturers in a
polytechnic, librarians in university libraries in South-East, Nigeria,
etc. Finite population helps in selecting appropriate sample size. On
the other hand, infinite population is not easily counted and recorded,
like Market Women.

Sampling and Sample Size

Sampling is the statistical process of selecting a subset (called a
“sample”) of a population of interest for purposes of making
observations and statistical inferences about
that population. Research in information and knowledge management,
which adopts social science approach is generally about inferring
patterns of behaviors within specific populations. We cannot study
entire populations because of feasibility and cost constraints, and hence,
we must select a representative sample from the population of interest
for observation and analysis. It is extremely important to choose a
sample that is truly representative of the population so that the
inferences derived from the sample can be generalized back to the
population of interest (Bhattacherjee, 2012).
Researchers commonly examine traits or characteristics
(parameters) of populations in their studies. A population is a group of
individual units with some commonality. For example, a researcher may
want to study characteristics of female smokers Nigeria. This would be
the population being analyzed in the study, but it would be impossible to
collect information from all female smokers in the country. Therefore,
the researcher would select individuals from which to collect the data.
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This is called sampling. The group from which the data is drawn is a
representative sample of the population, and the results of the study
can be generalized to the population as a whole.
The sample will be representative of the population if the
researcher uses a random selection procedure to choose participants.
The group of units or individuals who have a legitimate chance of being
selected are sometimes referred to as the sampling frame. If a
researcher studied developmental milestones of preschool children and
target registered or licensed preschools to collect the data, the sampling
frame would be all preschool aged children in those preschools.
Students in those preschools could then be selected at random through a
systematic method to participate in the study. This does, however, lead
to a discussion of biases in research. For example, children of low-
income earners may be less likely to be enrolled in registered or
licensed preschool, and therefore, may be excluded from the study.
Extra care has to be taken to control biases when determining sampling
techniques (Grand Canyon University, Arizona, n.d.)
Sample is a subset of a population. Sample Size is a fraction of
the entire population which a researcher selected in order to carry out
his/her data collection and analysis, whose findings will be generalized
on the entire population. The sample size is an important feature of
empirical studies, in which the aim is to make inferences about a
population from a sample.
Sample Size Determination is the act of choosing the number
that will represent the entire population in a study. Researchers are
encouraged to select a sample which is large enough to improve the
possibility of getting results which may be similar to what would have
obtained if the entire population were used. Meanwhile, the sample size
is dependent on a number of factors. According to Ali (1996), such
factors include:
 expense in terms of time and money;
 research subjects availability to participate in the study;
 size of the population of the study;
 management and control abilities of the researcher;
 complexity of the research conditions and that of the data to be
collected and analysed;
 efficiency in drawing the sample itself; and
 level of cooperation expected of and available from the
proposed sample.

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However, a large sample is much more likely to be representative of

the population, since there is no single number which has been fixed as
an ideal sample size (Osuji, 2012).
Furthermore, there are many recommended ways of
determining sample size, especially for finite population, such as
through percentage system, the use of statistical formula, and
approved tables. The methods of determining sample size for a study
with finite population are:
a. With percentage system, Borg and Gall (cited in Uhegbu, 2009)
recommends that for a population of up to 1,000, use 20%; for
5,000, use 10% whereas for up to 10, 000, use 5%. They
emphasized that what matters most is ensuring that the
sample size chosen covers all categories of elements in that
population.
b. With the use of statistical formula, Yaro Yamanne’s formula
(Okeke, 1995; Uhegbu, 2009) is widely used for determining
the sample of finite population. The formula is:

n= N
1+N(e)2
Where:
n= the required sample,
N = the total population,
1 = constant,
e = the level of significance or tolerable error (i.e 0.05)2

c. For approved table, an example of a widely used method of

determining sample size for different population as developed
by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) is shown below:

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Table for Determining Sample Size from a Given Population

N S S N S N
10 291 10 220 140 1200
15 297 14 230 144 1300
20 302 19 240 148 1400
25 306 24 250 152 1500
30 310 28 260 155 1600
35 313 32 270 159 1700
40 317 36 280 162 1800
45 320 40 290 165 1900
50 322 44 300 169 2000
55 327 48 320 175 2200
60 331 52 340 181 2400
65 335 56 360 186 2600
70 338 59 380 191 2800
75 341 63 400 196 3000
80 346 66 420 201 3500
85 351 70 440 205 4000
90 354 73 460 210 4500
95 357 76 480 214 5000
100 361 80 500 217 6000
110 364 86 550 226 7000
120 367 92 600 234 8000
130 368 97 650 242 9000
140 370 103 700 248 10000
150 375 108 750 254 15000
160 377 113 800 260 20000
170 379 118 850 265 30000
180 380 123 900 269 40000
190 381 127 950 274 50000
200 382 132 1000 278 75000
210 384 136 1100 285 1000000

Note.—N is population size; S is sample size.

Source: Krejcie and Morgan, 1970.
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Source: Krejcie and Morgan, 1970.

Sampling Technique
After determination of sample size, what follows is the
sampling technique, which is the method through which the research
subjects from the sample size would be chosen, based on defined
criteria by the researcher. We have probability sampling methods and
non-probability sampling methods. In other words, there are two main
types of sampling: probability and non-probability sampling. The
difference between the two types is whether or not the sampling
selection involves randomization. Randomization occurs when all
members of the sampling frame have an equal opportunity of being
selected for the study. Following is a discussion of probability and non-
probability sampling and the different types of each.
Probability Sampling methods are those methods that specify
the probability or likelihood of each element of the population to be
included in the sample. Probability sampling technique ensures that
the sample selected is validly representative of the target population.

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This is done by employing the mathematical or statistical theory of

probability or chance and randomisation in composing the samples.
Probability Sampling uses randomization and takes steps to
ensure all members of a population have a chance of being selected.
There are several variations of this type of sampling; and following is a
list of ways probability sampling may occur, i.e. the methods/examples
of probability sampling are simple random sampling, systematic
sampling, cluster sampling and stratified sampling.
 Random sampling – every member has an equal chance of
being selected.
 Stratified sampling – population divided into subgroups
(strata) and members are randomly selected from each group.
 Systematic sampling – uses a specific system to select members
such as every 10th person on an alphabetized list.
 Cluster random sampling – divides the population into clusters,
clusters are randomly selected and all members of the cluster
selected are sampled.
 Multi-stage random sampling – a combination of one or more
of the above methods.

Non-probability Sampling methods generate samples that

are not truly representative of the target population from which they
are drawn. Such may have sampling error and findings may not really
be used for generalisation beyond the samples.
Non-probability Sampling does not rely on the use of
randomization techniques to select members. This is typically done in
studies where randomization is not possible in order to obtain a
representative sample. Bias is more of a concern with this type of
sampling. Examples are quota sampling, purposive sampling, volunteer
sampling, snowball sampling, convenience/availability sampling.
The different types of non-probability sampling are explained
as follows:
 Convenience or accidental sampling – members or units are
selected based on availability.
 Purposive sampling – members of a particular group are
purposefully sought after

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 Modal instance sampling – members or units are the most

common within a defined group and therefore are sought after.
 Expert sampling – members considered to be of high quality
are chosen for participation.
 Proportional and non-proportional quota sampling – members
are sampled until exact proportions of certain types of data are
obtained or until sufficient data in different categories is
collected.
 Diversity sampling – members are selected intentionally across
the possible types of responses to capture all possibilities.
 Snowball sampling – members are sampled and then asked to
help identify other members to sample and this process
continues until enough samples are collected.
(Grand Canyon University, Arizona, n.d.)
The instruments for data collection and method of data analysis are
also covered in research design. Data collection instruments are
questionnaire, interview, observation, checklist and documentary
sources. Sometimes triangulation is adopted in research.
Triangulation refers to a process in research where different
methods/techniques of data collection or sources of data are combined
in a single study. It is not unusual to combine both quantitative and
qualitative methods in a research (Aina, 2002).
In research design, general conduct of research and publishing,
it is necessary to consider associated ethical issues and adhere strictly
to them. The main ingredient of research is honesty, and any deviation
from this is unethical (Aina, 2002). Osuji (2012) opines that
researchers should exhibit the attitude of openness (in data collection,
treatment of findings and literature review), honesty (in data
collection, treatment and interpretation), humility (in validation of
instrument), and objectivity (in drawing conclusions from the research
findings). The behaviours in information and knowledge management
research and publishing that are termed unethical are: lack of
protection of the rights of the participants in research, fabrication and
falsification of data, copyright violation and plagiarism, documentation
of false information and wrong citation and referencing, over citation
of an author, among others.

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION

Data Collection
Data collection involves obtaining the necessary data required
for a particular study. This stage in the research process involves
developing the content of instrument for data collection, validating and
also ensuring that the instrument is reliable. In constructing
instruments for data collection, it should be done strictly in line with
the study objectives, which are usually converted to research
questions.
Some of the widely used instruments for data collection are:
questionnaire, interview, observation, and documentary sources.
These are explained below:

Questionnaire
This involves a set of questions that explore a specific
topic/issue, either formulated by a researcher or adopted/adapted
from existing studies, in line with the objectives of the study, which the
prospective research subjects are expected to respond to by answering
the questions in writing, thereby providing data about demographics,
opinions, attitudes and behaviours. Questionnaires are used to collect
data from a large group of subjects on a specific topic/issue.
Questionnaire is categorized into open/unstructured and
closed/structured.
o Open-ended or unstructured questionnaire provides
avenues for the prospective respondents to freely comment in
the topic of investigation in their own words and style.
o For close-ended or structured questionnaire, respondents
are provided with alternative answers from which they will
select one or more answers depending on the way the
questions are structured and the associated instructions.

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Meanwhile, it is common to find both open/unstructured and

closed/structured designs in one questionnaire, with each set to actualize
its set of objectives in a study.
Qualities of a good questionnaire are:
 it should have an introductory letter to state explicitly the
objectives and significance of the research;
 items should be as short as possible and convey the idea to get the
essential data;
 its appearance should be attractive by being neatly arranged and
clearly printed;
 each item in the questionnaire should deal with a single idea with
simple statement;
 the questions must be objective and devoid of ambiguity; and
 the questions must be set up in such a way as to start from the
general to the specifics, in order to enable respondents organise
their own thinking logically and objectively (Issa, 2012).
According to Osuji (2012),
for you to construct a questionnaire, you need to clearly identify
the objectives for which the questionnaire is expected to
accomplish. This will make the questionnaire to yield information
pertinent to the problem of study. After identifying the objectives,
you then start to construct the items. To be able to write good
questionnaire items, you have to consider such factors like: the
sample characteristics, type of questionnaire format to adopt and
the length of the questionnaire.
In other words, in constructing questionnaire the language and
illustrations (where applicable) should be simple; whether to adopt open-
ended, close-ended or mixture of both in a study, depends on the type of
data to be collected and the nature of analysis required; the instrument
should neither be too short nor too long, but moderate; avoid including
items that have no relationship with the research objectives; as well as
avoiding unnecessary presumptions.
Questionnaires often make use of checklist and rating scales,
which helps to simplify and quantify peoples’ behaviours and attitudes.
 Checklist: Checklists structure a person’s behaviour or evaluation
of a performance. They can be simple lists of criteria that can be
marked as present or absent, or can provide space for observer
comments. Checklist could also be a list of behaviours,
characteristics, or other entities that a researcher is looking for.
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Either the researcher or survey participant simply checks

whether each item on the list is observed, present or true or vice
versa. Checklists can be used to evaluate databases, virtual IM
service, the use of library space, or for structuring peer
observations of instruction sessions.
 Rating Scale: A rating scale is more useful when behaviours,
attitudes, and opinions need to be evaluated on a continuum.
They are also known as Likert Scales.
Likert Scale is a psychological measurement device and the most
commonly used type of rating scale, usually applied in developing
questionnaire, in other to gauge or assess the attitudes, values,
behaviours, and opinions of individuals in topics/issues/variables under
investigation in a research. It functions by having individuals (i.e.
prospective research respondents) complete questionnaire that requires
them to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with a series
of statements associated with a study/research. It was developed by
Rensis Likert in 1932. Each Likert Scale usually consists of several likert
items. A likert item is an individual statement or question which asks
people to indicate the extent to which they agree or otherwise by
choosing one of the several ranked options.
Although Likert was originally meant to be five-point scale, but
there are some studies that use seven-point scale, with the middle of both
appearing neutral/undecided. However, there are also many cases where
four-point scales are used without a neutral/undecided option; this is in
consideration that prospective respondents are very familiar with
issues/variables under investigation, and therefore must select option(s)
of their choice. See examples below:
Five Point Likert Scale:
 Strongly Agree (SA) = 5 points Fully Aware Very Often
 Agree (A) = 4 points Aware Often
 Neutral/ (N) =3 points Don’t Know/ Neutral
Undecided Neutral
 Disagree (D) =2 points Unaware Occasionally
 Strongly Disagree (SD) =1 point Fully Unaware Never
 Very Satisfactory Highly Appropriate Definitely Yes
 Satisfactory Appropriate Probably Yes
 Undecided Neutral Uncertain
 Unsatisfactory Inappropriate Probably No
 Very Unsatisfactory Highly Inappropriate Definitely No

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NB: The points are applicable to other scaling formats, respectively.

The benchmark mean for five-point scale is calculated thus:
1+2+3+4+5 = 15/5 = 3.0. This is applied in a way that statements or
likert items with mean of 3.0 and above will be accepted, where likert
items with mean below 3.0 will be rejected.

Modified Four Point Likert Scale:

 Strongly Agree (SA) = 4 points Fully Aware Very Often
 Agree (A) = 3 points Aware Often
 Disagree(D) = 2 points Unaware Occasionally
 Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1 point Fully Unaware Never
NB: The points are applicable to other scaling formats, respectively.
The benchmark mean for four-point scale is calculated thus: 1+2+3+4
= 10/4 = 2.5. This is applied in a way that statements or likert items
with mean of 2.5 and above will be accepted, where likert items with
mean below 2.5 will be rejected.
In constructing questionnaire for data collection, students
should be conscious or preferably avoid the use of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
response options. There are situations where the use of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
options will not be able to elicit the appropriate opinion/view of
respondents on issues of investigation. Rather students should prefer
the use of likert scale. They are to make relevant statements on issues
of investigation and give the options in Likert Scale format – either 5-
point scale or modified 4-point scale.

Applications of Likert Scale

Example One:
Calculation of likert scale by applying percentages, mean and decision.

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Impediments to Human Resource Development (HRD)

Programmes in Academic Libraries in Kwara State, Nigeria

Challenges of SA A D SD Total Mean Decision

HRD
Programmes
in Academic
Libraries in
Kwara State,
Nigeria.
a Poor attitude 42 39 20 4 105
of my (40.0) (37.0) (19.0) (4.0) (100) 3.1 Accepted
institutional
management
to the library
b Absence of 35 52 17 1 105
written (33.0) (50.0) (16.0) (1.0) (100) 3.2 Accepted
policy on
human
resources
development
for the
library
c Inadequate 32 49 22 2 105
funding for (30.4) (46.6) (21.0) (2.0) (100) 3.1 Accepted
HRD
programmes
d Unwillingnes 20 41 30 14 105
s of library (19.0) (39.0) (29.0) (13. (100) 2.6 Accepted
personnel to 0)
go for HRD
programme
e Politics of 39 45 19 2 105
favouritism (37.0) (43.0) (18.0) (2.0) (100) 3.2 Accepted
and
partiality in
tertiary
institutions.

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Example Two
With the use of four-point Likert scale to determine mean scores of
respondents‘ responses or perceptions of issues raised. The values
assigned to the different scaling statements will be as follows:
 SA - Strongly Agree =4
 A - Agree =3
 D - Disagree =2
 SD - Strongly Disagree =1
On the 4-point Likert type scale, the cut-off point will be obtained by
adding the values in the scale (1+2+3+4=10) and dividing by 4 to obtain a
mean of 2.50 (10/4). Any item ranked 2.50 and above will be regarded as
positive (i.e. accepted) while any item below mean of 2.50 will be
regarded as negative (rejected). The scores given to any item will be
computed by adding the values of the ratings by the respondents. The
means will be computed from the sum of the value points and divided by
the number of the responses. The formula that will be used in calculating
the means is X=Σx/n.
Where:
X = Mean
x = Value
n = number of responses
Σx = sum of values.
Let assume that we have a population of 120, and the responses from
research subjects are as follows:
SA A D SD
70 20 10 20
70 X 4 = 280 20 X 3 = 60 10 X 2 = 20 20 X 1 = 20

 SA =4
 A =3
 D =2
 SD =1

70 X 4 = 280
20 X 3 = 60
10 X 2 = 20
20 X 1 = 20

280 + 60 + 20 + 20 = 380
Mean is
380/120 = 3.1 (Accepted)
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Another Example: The responses to any item in the questionnaire will be

based on a 4-point scale of 1 – strongly disagree, 2 – disagree, 3 – agree,
and 4 – strongly agree. In order to effectively analyze responses, nominal
values will be assigned to the response categories in the scale and
computation carried out, while decisions on the cut-off points will be
made based on Gregory and Ward (1978) formula for determining the
lower and upper limits in means thus:
 0.50 to 1.49 = strongly disagree;
 1.50 to 2.49 = disagree;
 2.50 to 3.49 = agree;
 3.50 to 4.49 = strongly agree.
Administration of Questionnaire:
Many questionnaires are printed on paper, requiring
respondents’ attention. People are more truthful while responding to
questionnaire regarding controversial issues in particular due to the
fact that their responses are anonymous. But questionnaire also have
drawbacks. Majority of the people who receive questionnaires don’t
return them, thereby resulting to poor response rate as reported in
many studies.
There are many ways of administering copies of
questionnaire to the prospective respondents:
o By Mail: In this case, the questionnaire is sent by mail to the
respondents who are expected to complete and also return
through the post. If you want to use this method, then you have
to encourage a high response and return rate by enclosing
stamped self-addressed envelopes for the return. Some of the
times, you need to send appropriate, tangible inducements
such as gifts or suitably-worded and non-threatening
reminders to those who have not returned by due time. You
should also make arrangements for substitute respondents
where possible.
The advantage of using the mail is that suitably
qualified respondents can be used in the research while they
are very far away. Again, the respondents can afford to consult
sources of information. It can also increase the chances of
obtaining valid but socially unacceptable responses. Again time
and travelling expenses are conserved.
The disadvantages are:
 Very poor response or low percentage returns which tend
to reduce the sample size and leads to sampling bias;
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 Not suitable for persons of low intelligence or low

educational background, since you are not there to explain
any misinterpretation;
 The instrument may be given to a more competent person
to fill. This may result in the distortion of the sample and
results;
 You cannot follow any chronogram, since you do not have
control of the time to receive the responses and therefore
plan to start the analysis;
 You cannot guarantee the return of the instrument by post,
especially in Nigeria where the postal services are very
poor (Osuji, 2012).

o Personal Administration with on-the-spot collection: In this

case, you and your research assistants can deliver the
questionnaires to the respondents in person, wait for them to
complete and collect them back. This method can give you a
100% delivery and return. It will also provide the opportunity to
clarify misinterpretations, while ambiguities are kept to a
minimum. You are also in control of the time for completing the
project. But if the respondents do have the answers on-the-spot,
he may need to access the information before completing the
questionnaire. Again, your presence may influence the
respondents to fake responses or put them under psychological
tension. The personality of the researcher may positively or
negatively affect the diligent completion of the instrument.
o Personal delivery with collection after a time interval: In this
case, you need to deliver the questionnaires in person, but return
after some time to collect them. This mode affords the
respondents time to look up information. They are more relaxed
while completing the instrument. Therefore, it is preferred when
documents and other sources need to be consulted. But you may
not be sure of 100% return. Again, time and money may be
wasted in repeated trips to check on the respondents. There may
be mass consultation of respondents in close proximity in your
absence. This may give rise to uniform responses which will
reduce the validity of the data. Note that these modes may be used
in combinations, depending on the choice of the researcher (Osuji,
2012).

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o Web-based Questionnaire: There is also a contemporary

method tagged ‘web-based questionnaire’, in which e-mail or
other e-based applications are used in gathering data from
prospective respondents. This involved receiving an e-mail that
will link one or direct to a website or blog, in which the
questionnaire will be opened for ticking/filling. Three most
popular computer programmes that allow researchers to create
online surveys/questionnaires are Survey Monkey, Google Forms,
and Poll Everywhere. This online/web-based questionnaire is
always quicker and less cumbersome, but the disadvantage is the
exclusion of people without access to computers and the Internet.
Interview
Interview involves an interaction between a researcher and
respondent(s), in which the researcher (questioner) asks questions for
the respondents (interviewees) to answer in line with the objectives of
the study. The purpose of interviews is to probe the ideas of the
interviewees about the phenomenon under investigation. Interviewing
is a technique that is primarily used to gain an understanding of the
underlying reasons and motivations for people’s attitudes, preferences
or behavior. Interviews can be undertaken on a personal one-to-one
basis or in a group. They can be conducted at work, at home, in the
street or in a shopping center, or some other agreed location.
Interviews are used to collect data from a small group of subjects on a
broad range of topics.
Issa (2012) describes interview as oral questionnaire, since the
respondents/interviewees do not have to give written responses;
instead they provide needed information orally, either through face-to-
face or via telephone. Some interviews could be in-depth, which
include individual interviews (e.g., one-on-one) as well as ‘group’
interviews (including focus group). The data can be recorded in a
variety of ways including stenography, audio recording, video
recording or written notes.
Like the questionnaire, interviews are of two categories:
structured/close and unstructured/open. Structured interviews are
comparable to a questionnaire, with the same questions in the same
order for each subject. For unstructured interviews, questions can
differ per subject and can depend on answers given on previous
questions, there is no fixed set of possible answers. In other words,
when the questions to be asked at the interview session have been
listed in what is called an Interview Schedule, such is considered as

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being structured. In this case, the interviewer will be guided by, and
adheres strictly to the questions listed in the schedule. On the other
hand, an unstructured interview is open ended, and allows for freedom
of both questions and answers. It is more flexible than the structured
one, as further probing questions and associated issues not listed in
the interview schedule could be asked.

Observation
Observation is seen both as a research method and an
instrument for data collection. As a tool for data collection, it involves
recording the behavioural patterns of people, objects and events in a
systematic manner. This can be done directly or indirectly with the
research subjects knowing or unaware that a researcher is observing
them. It could be through continuous observation or via set time
periods, depending on the nature of the study.
Observational methods may be structured or unstructured,
disguised or undisguised, natural or contrived, personal, mechanical,
non-participant, and participant, with the participant taking a number
of different roles.
 Structured or Unstructured: In structured observation, the
researcher specifies in detail what is to be observed and how
the measurements are to be recorded. It is appropriate when
the problem is clearly defined and the information needed is
specified. In unstructured observation, the researcher
monitors all aspects of the phenomenon that seem relevant. It
is appropriate when the problem has yet to be formulated
precisely and flexibility is needed in observation to identify key
components of the problem and to develop hypotheses. The
potential for bias is high. Observation findings should be
treated as hypotheses to be tested rather than as conclusive
findings.
 Disguised or Undisguised: In disguised observation,
respondents are unaware they are being observed and thus
behave naturally. Disguise is achieved, for example, by hiding,
or using hidden equipment or people disguised as shoppers. In
undisguised observation, respondents are aware they are
being observed. There is a danger of the Hawthorne effect –
people behave differently when being observed.
 Natural or Contrived: Natural observation involves
observing behavior as it takes place in the environment, for
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example, eating hamburgers in a fast food outlet. In contrived

observation, the respondents’ behavior is observed in an
artificial environment, for example, a food tasting session.
 Personal: In personal observation, a researcher observes
actual behavior as it occurs. The observer may or may not
normally attempt to control or manipulate the phenomenon
being observed. The observer merely records what takes place.
 Mechanical: Mechanical devices (video, closed circuit
television) record what is being observed. These devices may
or may not require the respondent’s direct participation. They
are used for continuously recording on-going behavior.
 Non-participant and Participant: The observer does not
normally question or communicate with the people being
observed. He or she does not participate. In participant
observation, the researcher becomes, or is, part of the group
that is being investigated. Participant observation has its roots
in ethnographic studies (study of man and races) where
researchers would live in tribal villages, attempting to
understand the customs and practices of that culture. It has a
very extensive literature, particularly in sociology
(development, nature and laws of human society) and
anthropology (physiological and psychological study of man).
Organizations can be viewed as ‘tribes’ with their own customs
and practices.

Documentary Sources
Documentary Sources are information materials like primary
and secondary sources that are referred to and used while conducting
some studies like historical research, bibliometrics and content
analysis. Such sources include eye-witness accounts, personal papers,
archival records, local government publications, autobiographies,
memoirs, committee meetings, collected speeches, articles, and board
deliberations.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF INSTRUMENTS

FOR DATA COLLECTION

Introduction
Understanding and testing validity and reliability of instruments
for data collection is the focus of this chapter. The conduct of research
requires that instruments or tools used for data collection are valid and
reliable. These two concepts make the results of research to be
authentic, widely acceptable to the scholarly community, and also to the
likely end-users of the research findings. Bhattacherjee (2012) notes
that reliability and validity, jointly called the “psychometric properties”
of measurement scales, are the yardsticks against which the adequacy
and accuracy of our measurement procedures are evaluated in all
scientific research. A measure can be reliable but not valid, if it is
measuring something very consistently but is consistently measuring
the wrong construct. Likewise, a measure can be valid but not reliable if
it is measuring the right construct, but not doing so in a consistent
manner. Thus, it is therefore imperative that researchers must ensure
that instruments they are going to use for data collection in the course of
their studies are valid and reliable, i.e. the validity and reliability must
be ascertained using the requisite mechanisms.
According to Li (2016), validity and reliability are two important
factors to consider when developing and testing any instrument (e.g.,
content assessment test, questionnaire) for use in a study. Attention to
these considerations helps to insure the quality of your measurement
and of the data collected for your study.

Validity of Instruments for Data Collection

Validity means a way of showing the appropriateness of an
instrument in measuring what it is intended to measure (Uzoagulu,
1998). In other words, it is the degree to which an assessment
measures what it is supposed to measure (Kazi & Khalid, 2012). To
validate instrument in a research is to examine whether such
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instrument is the right one to use for that research, so that the
right data are collected, and what is intended to measure is achieved.
Validation of instruments for data collection can be done
through content, face value, criterion-related and /or construct
methods. In the process, the purposes to be achieved are to confirm
the appropriateness and the measurability of the instrument to the
intended research objectives; and such valid questionnaire helps to
collect better quality data with high comparability which reduces the
effort and increases the credibility of data (Uhegbu, 2009; Kazi &
Khalid, 2012). Thus, a valid instrument for data collection like
questionnaire must have certain characteristics, which are simplicity
and viability, reliability and precision in the words, adequate for the
problem intended to measure, reflect underlying theory or concept to
be measured, and capable of measuring change (Kazi & Khalid, 2012).
Validity refers to the degree to which an instrument accurately
measures what it intends to measure. The common types of validity for
researchers and evaluators to consider are face, content, construct,
and criterion validities.
 Face validity ascertained that the measure appears to be
assessing the intended constructs under study. In other words,
face validity refers to whether an indicator seems to be a
reasonable measure of its underlying construct “on its face”.
For instance, the frequency of one’s attendance at religious
services seems to make sense as an indication of a person’s
religiosity without a lot of explanation. Hence this indicator has
face validity.
 Content validity indicates the extent to which items adequately
measure or represent the content of the property or trait that
the researcher wishes to measure.
Content validity also means an assessment of how well a set of
scale items matches with the relevant content domain of the
construct that it is trying to measure. Content validity ensures
that the measure covers the broad range of areas within the
concept under study (Phelan & Wren, 2014). Subject matter
expert review is often a good first step in instrument
development to assess content validity, in relation to the area
or field you are studying.
 Construct validity indicates the extent to which a measurement
method accurately represents a construct (e.g., a latent

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variable or phenomena that can’t be measured directly, such as

a person’s attitude or belief) and produces an observation,
distinct from that which is produced by a measure of another
construct. Common methods to assess construct validity
include, but are not limited to, factor analysis, correlation tests,
and item response theory models.
 Criterion-related validity indicates the extent to which the
instrument’s scores correlate with an external criterion (i.e.,
usually another measurement from a different instrument)
either at present (concurrent validity) or in the future (predictive
validity). A common measurement of this type of validity is the
correlation coefficient between two measures.
Often times, when developing, modifying, and interpreting the validity
of a given instrument, rather than view or test each type of validity
individually, researchers and evaluators test for evidence of several
different forms of validity, collectively.

Example of how to engage in Validation of instruments for data

collection:
A study on “Determinants of Digital Competence of Lecturers in
State Universities in Southern Nigeria” made use of questionnaire and
achievement test as instruments for data collection. The questionnaire
alongside the achievement test were given both face and content
validation by the research supervisor, and other senior academic staff
in the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (made up of
library and information science, computer science, information and
communication science, telecommunication science, and mass
communication departments), University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. They
were also validated by a Professor of Library and Information Science
in Abia State University Uturu, an Associate Professor of Statistics from
the University of Nigeria, and a Senior Lecturer in Measurement and
Evaluation from University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The observations
and suggestions from the experts were given due consideration, and
necessary adjustments were made, before submitting the final draft to
the supervisor. The final drafts of the questionnaire and achievement
test were certified by the supervisor, a measurement and evaluation
expert, and a statistician before proceeding for reliability test.

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Reliability of Instruments for Data Collection

Reliability, on the other hand, is one of the characteristics of a
valid instrument for data collection, like the questionnaire. According to
Uhegbu (2009), reliability of an instrument tries to establish the
dependability of an instrument in assisting the research to realize its set
target. It is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and
consistent results (Phelan & Wren, 2014). Thus, reliability refers to the
degree to which an instrument yields consistent results. The measures
of estimating reliability include test-retest method, alternate-form
method, split-halves method, internal consistency method, and inter-
rated method.
 Test-retest Method: This method measures the correlation
between scores from one administration of an instrument to
another, usually within an interval of 2 to 3 weeks. Unlike pre-
post tests, no treatment occurs between the first and second
administrations of the instrument, in order to test-retest
reliability. It should be noted that test-retest involves the
repeated administrations of the instrument to the same people
on two occasions. It is usually recommended that the time
interval be between two weeks to three weeks. The scores
resulting from the two administrations of the test are correlated
to determine the coefficient of stability. You will have to note
that if the time interval is too short, the memory of the
responses to the first test will affect the second. A long time
interval may create opportunity for candidates to learn more or
to forget what they had known.
 Alternate-Forms Method: This is also called parallel form
method. In this method, two parallel forms of an instrument are
administered to the same respondents at a single sitting or with
a short time interval between the two. The scores from the two
tests are correlated to determine the coefficient of equivalence.
You have to note that parallel forms of an instrument are
expected to have the same specification of content and
objectives and measures the same behaviours.
 Split-Halves Method: This is a measure of internal consistency. It
requires the administration of a single test instrument to the test
subjects once, then the items of the instrument are split into two
parts. In other words, the total set of items is divided into halves.

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The scores on the halves are correlated to obtain the estimate of

reliability. We can split the items using odd and even numbers,
or randomly dividing the items into two groups.
 Internal Consistency Reliability: The estimate here is obtained
through an analysis of the individual items following a single
administration of the measuring instrument. This method looks at
the consistency of the score of individual items on an
instrument, with the scores of a set of items, or subscale, which
typically consists of several items to measure a single construct.
Cronbach’s alpha is one of the most common methods for
checking internal consistency reliability. Group variability, score
reliability, number of items, sample sizes, and difficulty level of
the instrument also can impact the Cronbach’s alpha value.
 Inter-rater Reliability Method: This method checks the degree of
agreement among raters (i.e., those completing items on an
instrument). Common situations where more than one rater is
involved may occur when more than one person conducts
classroom observations, uses an observation protocol or scores
an open-ended test, using a rubric or other standard protocol.
Kappa statistics, correlation coefficients, and intra-class
correlation (ICC) coefficient are some of the commonly reported
measures of inter-rater reliability.
Developing a valid and reliable instrument usually requires multiple
iterations of piloting and testing which can be resource and time
intensive. Therefore, when available, it is suggested to use already
established valid and reliable instruments, such as those published in
high impact peer-reviewed journal articles. However, even when using
these instruments, you should re-check validity and reliability, using
the methods of your study and your own participants’ data before
running additional statistical analyses. This process will confirm that
the instrument performs, as intended, in your study with the
population you are studying, even though they are identical to the
purpose and population for which the instrument was initially
developed.

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Example of how to determine reliability of instruments for data

collection:
A study on “Determinants of Digital Competence of Lecturers in
State Universities in Southern Nigeria” made use of questionnaire and
achievement test as instruments for data collection. For the pilot study
to determine the reliability of the instruments for data collection, test-
retest method was adopted. Test - retest reliability is a measure of
reliability obtained by administering the same test instrument twice
over a period of time to a group of individuals. The scores from the
first time and the second time can then be correlated in order to
evaluate the test for reliability and stability (Phelan & Wren, 2014);
and it had had been used in related studies.
In order to ascertain the reliability of the research instrument
in terms of stability and internal consistency, the instrument was
administered to thirty (30) trial-test participants (undergraduate
students) of the University of Ilorin, which is in North-central Nigeria,
and not among the 9 universities selected for the study. The
instruments were retrieved and re-administered to the same group of
students after two weeks interval at the university library. The scores
from the first and second administration of the research instruments
on the test sample were collated and analyzed using Pearson Product
Moment Correlation. Specifically, seven sub-sections were computed,
and the results produced reliability co-efficients of 0.91 for Section A;
0.89 for Section B; 0.83 for Section C; 0.90 for Section D; 0.87 for
Section E; 0.88 for Section F; and 0.81 for Section G. Then, the overall
average coefficient yielded r=0.87. These indicate strong internal
consistency of the research instruments, since the values were close to
1 and well above average. Hence, the trial-test confirmed the
instrument as reliable for use in the study.

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Statistics for Research in Information and Knowledge Management

Research in information and knowledge management may not
be meaningful without the application of statistics, especially in
studies that adopt quantitative approach. Statistics is required in
identification of the population, calculation of the sample size,
determination of the sampling technique for adequate representation,
data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, and reporting of
findings.
Statistics is a branch of science that deals with the collection,
organization, summarization, presentation and interpretation of data,
so as to draw valid conclusions and make reasonable decisions on the
basis of such analysis. In short, it is the science of collection and
analysis of data (Chikezie, 2008). Statistics also involves observation,
collection of data, organisation of data, presentation of data, analysis of
data, interpretation of data and decision making. Statistics serves in
two capacities by giving methods for organizing, summarizing and
communicating data, and providing methods for making inference
beyond the observations.
Descriptive and inferential statistics are the two broad classes
of statistical methods or phases of statistics. Descriptive statistics are
typically distinguished from inferential statistics. With descriptive
statistics, the researcher will simply describe what it is or what the
data shows. With inferential statistics, the researcher will work
towards trying to reach conclusions that extend beyond the immediate
data alone. For instance, we use inferential statistics to try to infer
from the sample data what the population might think. Or, we use
inferential statistics to make judgments of the probability that an
observed difference between groups is a dependable one or one that
might have happened by chance in the study. Thus, we use inferential
statistics to make inferences from our data to more general conditions;
we use descriptive statistics simply to describe what's going on in our
data (Trochim, 2006).

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Descriptive Statistics: Descriptive statistics are used to describe the

basic features of the data in a study. They provide simple summaries
about the sample and the measures. Together with simple graphics
analysis, they form the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis of
data (Trochim, 2006).
Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data
that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way such
that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data. Descriptive
statistics do not, however, allow us to make conclusions beyond the data
we have analysed. They are simply a way to describe our data.
Descriptive statistics are very important because if we simply presented
our raw data it would be hard to visualize what the data was showing,
especially if there was a lot of it. Descriptive statistics therefore enables
us to present the data in a more meaningful way, which allows simpler
interpretation of the data. For example, if we had the results of 100
pieces of students' coursework, we may be interested in the overall
performance of those students. We would also be interested in the
distribution or spread of the marks. Descriptive statistics allow us to do
this. Typically, there are two general types of statistic that are used to
describe data:
 Measures of central tendency: These are ways of describing the
central position of a frequency distribution for a group of data.
In this case, the frequency distribution is simply the distribution
and pattern of marks scored by the 100 students from the
lowest to the highest. We can describe this central position using
a number of statistics, including the mode, median, and mean.
 Measures of spread: These are ways of summarizing a group of
data by describing how spread-out the scores are. For example,
the mean score of 100 students may be 65 out of 100. However,
not all students will have scored 65 marks. Rather, their scores
will be spread out. Some will be lower and others higher.
Measures of spread help us to summarize how spread-out these
scores are. To describe this spread, a number of statistics are
available to us, including the range, quartiles, absolute deviation,
variance and standard deviation.
When we use descriptive statistics, it is useful to summarize our group
of data using a combination of tabulated description (i.e., tables),
graphical description (i.e., graphs and charts) and statistical
commentary (i.e., a discussion of the results).

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Inferential Statistics: We have seen that descriptive statistics provide

information about our immediate group of data. For example, we could
calculate the mean and standard deviation of the exam marks for the
100 students and this could provide valuable information about this
group of 100 students. Descriptive statistics are applied to populations,
and the properties of populations, like the mean or standard deviation,
are called parameters as they represent the whole population (i.e.,
everybody you are interested in).
Often, however, you do not have access to the whole
population you are interested in investigating, but only a limited
number of data instead. For example, you might be interested in the
exam marks of all secondary school students in Nigeria. It is not
feasible to measure all exam marks of all the students in the whole of
Nigeria, so you have to measure a smaller sample of students (e.g.,
1000 students), which are used to represent the larger population of
all Nigerian secondary school students. Inferential statistics are
techniques that allow us to use these samples to make generalizations
about the populations from which the samples were drawn. It is,
therefore, important that the sample accurately represents the
population. The process of achieving this is called sampling. Inferential
statistics arise out of the fact that sampling naturally incurs sampling
error and thus a sample is not expected to perfectly represent the
population.
The methods of inferential statistics (statistical inference) can
be broadly classified into two: (i) the estimation of parameters and (ii)
testing of statistical hypotheses. Estimation is a process of
summarizing the information contained in a sample (e.g. calculating
the mean), to make inferences about related population, and the value
obtained by the procedure is called an estimate; whereas a hypothesis
is an assumption, which can be tested about a population; but the test
is usually carried out using sample (Chikezie, 2008). Most of the major
inferential statistics come from a general family of statistical models
known as the general linear model, which includes the t-test, Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), regression
analysis, and many of the multivariate methods like factor analysis,
multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and so on (Trochim, 2006).

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Understanding Data Analysis

Data analysis is one of the most important steps in conducting
a research study. It is very important that the researcher is very
accurate and careful when working with the data by continually
checking and double-checking their work. If a researcher makes one
thoughtless mistake in data analysis, such as mistyping one number,
then their entire research study can be incorrect. When a research
study is incorrect, then the results and recommendations made will
likely be unproductive, and misleading. Therefore, a researcher should
always check, double-check, triple-check, and quadruple-check their
work at every stage in the data analysis process. If the research study
has been well planned out, then the data analysis step is actually quite
straight-forward. The statistical techniques for analyzing the research
questions and or hypotheses should have already been identified in
the method of data analysis sub-heading that precedes the actual data
analysis (Korb, 2013).
Data processing is a preliminary procedure that must take
place for data analysis to make sense. In other words, data analysis
usually begins with a preliminary process called data processing and
management, especially editing and coding of the collected data, before
data entry into computer systems, and subsequent analysis. Data
processing and management is the all encompassing and the entirety
of the processes by which raw data collected from the field of
investigation are refined, cleaned, organized ad structured, so as to
enhance or facilitate data analysis and interpretation of the research
findings. The data processing is carried out through data editing and
data coding (Ekeanyanwu, 2012).
 Data Editing: Editing refers to the process of examining and
thoroughly checking the raw data that had been collected for
possible incorrect entries and other similar errors. The
essence of data editing primarily is to detect any possible
incorrect entries and errors and rectify them. Please note that
editing may be carried out on any type of data irrespective of
the instrument through which they were collected or the
expertise of the researcher(s) who carried out the data
gathering exercise.
Generally, the objectives of editing are, to: enhance the
quality of field data by making sure that all information are
complete, unambiguous, legible, uniform, accurate and true;

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eliminate coding difficulties; facilitate data analysis and

interpretation of results; detect errors/incorrect entries and
correct them; and facilitate interpretation of results.
 Data Coding: Coding is the process by which data gathered
from the field are put in categories, and given numbers or
letters of the alphabet to enhance storage, retrieval, tabulation,
and data analysis. The basic data coding operations are:
o Establishment of categories or classes. Example is
highest educational qualifications, with items like:
HND, BSc/B.A., PGD, Masters, Ph.D.
o Assigning of numbers or labels to these
categories/classes. Example:
HND …………………………….1
BSc………………………………..2
PGD………………………………3
Masters………………………….4
Ph.D……………………………….5
o Sorting the raw data into the categories/classes. After
you have established the category system and finished
assigning numbers to the classes, you can then
commence the process of sorting your raw data into
the classes.
The objectives of coding differ according to the type of
study, the nature of data gathered and aims of carrying out
such a study. For qualitative based studies, coding is carried
out to ensure orderliness and structure in data processing so
as to enhance analysis and interpretation. In quantitative based
studies like surveys, coding is carried out to properly classify
all possible range of responses into limited categories to
enhance analysis and interpretation.
Coding is one of the vital ways to organize a mass of
data into manageable components so that the arduous task of
analyzing such mass of data does not scare the researcher. In
essence, the ultimate purpose of coding is to ensure
orderliness and proper organization while the ultimate
objective is to enhance data analysis and result interpretation
(Ekeanyanwu, 2012).

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Data Analysis involves the process of treating data with statistical

tools so that a mass of data can be summarized, simplified and
interpretable. This is based on the fact that data do not make any
meaning without a form of analysis. They have to be scientifically
processed for such data to make sense. Thus, the process involved in
analyzing data scientifically in order for such data to make sense is
called data analysis, and it is of two broad types: descriptive data
analysis and inferential data analysis (Ekeanyanwu, 2012).
Descriptive data analysis is a type of data analysis that occurs
when data are analysed in such a way as to describe and summarise
the content therein. The tools which are used in descriptive data
analysis are descriptive statistics, which is an aspect of statistics that
studies a body of statistical data and no generalizations are made from
the results obtained. Descriptive statistics only seeks to describe and
analyze a given set of data without drawing any conclusions or
inferences about the population. In other words, everything dealing
with collection, processing, analysis, presentation and interpretation of
numerical data belongs to this aspect of statistics. Descriptive statistics
include tabulation, graphical representation of data (e.g. bar chart,
histogram, pie chart, etc) and measures of central tendency
(Ekeanyanwu, 2012).
Inferential data analysis happens when the researcher is
interested in doing more than just description of the data. At this stage,
parametric or inferential statistics is used. Inferential statistics is a
branch of statistics that studies a group of data in order to use the
results obtained in making generalization on a larger group of data. In
other words, statistical inference is the use of sample results to reach
conclusions about populations from which the samples have been
drawn. Inferential statistics involves making generalizations about the
whole population based on data obtained from a sample. Inferential
statistics include estimation theory, hypothesis testing, parametric
test, etc. Thus, analyses done on this basis are used for testing
hypotheses and making inferential decisions, based on some sample
data. Thus, on the basis of analyzed sample data, generalization can be
made about the overall population from which the sample was
originally drawn (Ekeanyanwu, 2012).

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Scales of Measurement
There are four measurement scales (or types of data): nominal,
ordinal, interval and ratio. These are simply ways to categorize
different types of variables. These four measurement scales (nominal,
ordinal, interval, and ratio) are best understood with example, as
presented below (Steven, 2017):

Nominal: Nominal scales are used for labeling variables, without any
quantitative value. “Nominal” scales could simply be called
“labels.” Here are some examples, below. Notice that all of these scales
are mutually exclusive (no overlap) and none of them have any
numerical significance. A good way to remember all of this is that
“nominal” sounds a lot like “name” and nominal scales are kind of like
“names” or labels.

Examples:

Note: a sub-type of nominal scale with only two categories (e.g.

male/female) is called “dichotomous.”

Ordinal: With ordinal scales, it is the order of the values that is

important and significant, but the differences between each one is not
really known. Take a look at the example below. In each case, we
know that #4 is better than #3 or #2, but we don’t know, and cannot
quantify how much better it is. For example, is the difference between
“OK” and “Unhappy” the same as the difference between “Very Happy”
and “Happy?” We can’t say.
Ordinal scales are typically measures of non-numeric concepts
like satisfaction, happiness, discomfort, among others. “Ordinal” is easy
to remember because it sounds like “order” and that is the key to
remember with “ordinal scales”. It is the order that matters, but that is
all you really get from these. The best way to determine central

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tendency on a set of ordinal data is to use the mode or median; the

mean cannot be defined from an ordinal set.

Examples:

Meanwhile, there is a contending issue associated with ordinal

data, especially when Likert scale is involved. Likert scale responses
are ordinal data, and as such may not be appropriate to apply mean
and standard deviation in their analysis. However, some authorities
believe that when framing likert scale type questionnaire for attitude
or perception-based study, if all the items are in positive statements,
mean can be applied in that direction. But if it is a combination of
positive and negative statements (items), there is no need of applying
mean and standard deviation, because the results will appear
controversial. However, the fact remains that, statistically, mean and
standard deviation are not meant to be applied to ordinal data.

Interval: Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know not only
the order, but also the exact differences between the values. The
classic example of an interval scale is Celsius temperature because the
difference between each value is the same. For example, the difference
between 60 and 50 degrees is a measurable 10 degrees, as is the
difference between 80 and 70 degrees. Time is another good example
of an interval scale in which the increments are known, consistent, and
measurable.
Interval scales are nice because the realm of statistical analysis
on these data sets opens up. For example, central tendency can be
measured by mode, median, or mean; standard deviation can also be
calculated.
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Like the others, you can remember the key points of an “interval
scale” pretty easily. “Interval” itself means “space in between,” which is
the important thing to remember. Interval scales not only tell us about
order, but also about the value between each item.

Ratio: Ratio scales are the ultimate when it comes to measurement

scales because they tell us about the order, they tell us the exact value
between units, and they also have an absolute zero–which allows for a
wide range of both descriptive and inferential statistics to be
applied. At the risk of repeating myself, everything above about
interval data applies to ratio scales, and ratio scales have a clear
definition of zero. Good examples of ratio variables include height and
weight.
Ratio scales provide a wealth of possibilities when it comes to
statistical analysis. These variables can be meaningfully added,
subtracted, multiplied, divided (ratios). Central tendency can be
measured by mode, median, or mean; measures of dispersion, such as
standard deviation and coefficient of variation can also be calculated
from ratio scales.
In summary, nominal variables are used to “name,” or label a
series of values. Ordinal scales provide good information about the
order of choices, such as in a customer satisfaction survey. Interval
scales give us the order of values, and the ability to quantify the
difference between each one. Finally, Ratio scales give us the ultimate
order, interval values, plus the ability to calculate ratios since a “true
zero” can be defined.

Summary of Data Types and Measurement Scales:

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Appropriate Statistical Tools for Data Analysis and Interpretation

in IKM Research
The objectives/purposes of a study are usually converted to
research questions and or hypotheses accordingly. The Method of Data
Analysis section outlines exactly which statistical tool(s) will be used to
answer each research question and/or test research hypothesis. For
every research question, describe the descriptive statistics that is
appropriate for answering the question. For every research
hypothesis, describe the inferential statistics that is appropriate for
analyzing the hypothesis. For simple statistics (e.g., percentage, mean,
t-test), it is possible to also give the formula for the statistics. The
following general guidelines should help you determine which
statistics is appropriate for each research question and hypothesis.
Note that in many research studies, a range of different
statistics will be necessary. This means that researchers should
examine each research question and hypothesis separately to consider
which statistics is appropriate.

Research Questions:
Research questions are always answered with a descriptive
statistics: generally either percentage or mean. Percentage is
appropriate when it is important to know how many of the
participants gave a particular answer. Generally, percentage is
reported when the responses have discrete categories. This means that
the responses fall in different categories, such as female or male,
Christian or Muslim, and smoker or non-smoker. Sometimes
frequencies are also reported when the data has discrete categories.
However, percentages are easier to understand than frequencies
because the percentage can be interpreted as follows. Imagine there
were exactly 100 cases in the sample. How many cases out of those
100 would fall in that category?
The mean is reported when it is important to understand the
typical response of all the participants. Generally, mean is reported
when the responses are continuous. This means that the data has
numbers that continue from one point to the last point. For example,
age is continuous because it can range from 0 to 100 or so. Scores on
an exam are also continuous. In these cases, the mean describes the
typical score across all participants.

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Research Hypotheses using "Relationship":

Whenever a research hypothesis uses the word "relationship,"
it generally means that a correlation will be calculated. The correlation
statistics examines the relationship between two continuous variables
within the same group of participants. For example, the correlation
would quantify the relationship between digital competence and
knowledge sharing or academic achievement and achievement
motivation. The null hypothesis of a correlation is stated as “there is no
significant relationship between digital competence and knowledge
sharing” or "there is no significant relationship between academic
achievement and achievement motivation."
When calculating the correlation, it is important to not just
calculate the correlation, but also the significance of the correlation.
The p-value determines whether the relationship is significant. If the p-
value is greater than 0.05, then the null hypothesis is retained: there is
indeed no relationship between the two variables. Since no significant
relationship exists between the variables, then no further
interpretation is necessary. If the p-value is less than 0.05, then the
null hypothesis is rejected, meaning that there is a significant
relationship between the two variables. The correlation (symbolized
as r) then can be interpreted.
The correlation has two dimensions. The direction of the
correlation is indicated by the sign of the correlation. If the correlation
is positive, that means that as one variable increases, the other
variable also increases. ‘The higher the digital competence, the more
frequent the extent of knowledge sharing’ or ‘The greater the
achievement motivation, the greater the academic achievement’.
However, a negative correlation means that as one variable increases,
the other variable decreases. The more time a person spends watching
television, the lower their academic achievement
The second dimension of a correlation is its strength. The
strength of the correlation is indicated by the absolute value of the
number (i.e., the value of the number itself without the positive or
negative sign). The closer the absolute value is to 1, the stronger the
relationship, while the closer the absolute value is to 0, the weaker the
relationship. For example, a correlation of -0.71 and 0.87 are both
strong correlations while correlations of -0.18 and 0.09 are both weak
correlations.

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When the term "relationship" is used in a research hypothesis,

sometimes a chi-square statistic may be calculated. Chi-square should
be used when both of the variables are discrete, meaning that both
variables are represented by categories, not numbers. For example, a
chi-square would be used to determine if there is a relationship
between gender and smoking status. Gender can only be represented
as categories (male and female) as well as smoking status (smoker and
non-smoker). However, most of the time, chi-square is misused. Some
researchers will group participants into categories based on numerical
data, such as taking academic achievement and grouping students into
"high achievement" and "low achievement" categories based on their
numerical scores on an examination. This is not correct. It is much
better to keep the original scores on the exam and calculate a
correlation, because it keeps the data in its original form. Researchers
are more likely to get a significant result when original data is used,
instead of grouping participants into artificial categories (Korb, 2013).

Research Hypotheses using either "Effect" or "Difference":

When a research hypothesis looks at the "effect of a treatment"
or "difference between groups," then there are three possible statistics
that can be used. The specific statistics depends on the research design.
First, consider whether the study will administer the instrument once or
twice (e.g., pre-post test experimental or quasi-experimental design). If
the study will use a pre-post test design, then an Analysis of Covariance
(ANCOVA) should be used. If the instrument will only be administered
once, then consider how many groups will be used in the study (either
treatment/control group or various groups for the causal-comparative
design). If there will be only two groups, then a t-test should be used to
compare the two groups. If there will be three or more groups, then the
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) should be used.

t-test : When comparing two groups on one dependent variable, a t-test

should be used. For example, use a t-test to compare a treatment group
to a control group or to compare males and females.

ANOVA: When comparing three or more groups on one dependent

variable, an Analysis of Variance is the statistics to use. There are two
basic types of ANOVAs.

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 One-way ANOVA: A one-way ANOVA compares multiple

groups on the same variable. For example, a one-way ANOVA
would be used to compare the achievement motivation of
students in JS1, JS2, and JS3.
 Factorial ANOVA: The factorial ANOVA compares the effect of
multiple independent variables on one dependent variable. For
example, a 2x3 factorial ANOVA could compare the effects of
gender and grade level on achievement motivation. The first
independent variable, gender, has two levels (male and female)
and the second independent variable, class, has three levels
(JS1, JS2, and JS3). This makes the factorial ANOVA a 2x3.
Another study might have three treatment groups and three
grade levels. Because the independent variables each have
three levels, it would be a 3x3 ANOVA.

ANCOVA: When using a pre-post test research design, the Analysis of

Covariance allows a comparison of post-test scores with pre-test
scores factored out. For example, if comparing a treatment and control
group on achievement motivation with a pre-post test design, the
ANCOVA will compare the treatment and control groups' post-test
scores by statistically setting the pre-test scores as being equal.

The p Statistic
Any of the statistics used to answer research hypotheses are
called inferential statistics (correlation, chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and
ANCOVA). Information and knowledge management researchers may
not sample the entire population. Instead, a sample is chosen to
represent the population. However, the researcher still wants to draw
conclusions about the entire population even though only a sample
actually participated in the study. In other words, the researcher wants
to make inferences about the population based on the results from the
sample. The purpose of inferential statistics is to determine whether
the findings from the sample can generalize to the entire population,
or whether the findings were simply the result of chance.
A way of thinking about significance testing is this: imagine you
wanted to determine if there was a difference between males and
females in science achievement. To do this, you administer a science
achievement test to 50 males and 50 females. Then you calculate the
mean (average) science achievement score for the males and the mean
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(average) science achievement score for the females. It is practically

impossible for the mean scores to be exactly identical. In other words,
there will always be at least some small difference between the groups.
However, this difference may be very small: perhaps the mean score
for the males is 50.21 (out of 100) while the mean score for the
females is 50.25. Yes, there is a difference between males and females.
However, is this difference large enough to be significant, a meaningful
difference? The inferential statistic will determine whether this
difference is large enough to conclude that yes, the difference is
significant and there is a meaningful difference between males and
females in science achievement.
For the t-test, ANOVA, and ANCOVA, four statistics are
important to report. First, the p-value determines whether the
differences between the groups are significant. If the p-value is less
than 0.05, then we say that the differences are significant and the null
hypothesis can be rejected. For example, if the null hypothesis was that
there is no significant difference between males and females on
achievement motivation and the p-value is 0.02, then we reject the null
hypothesis and say there is a significant difference between males and
females in achievement motivation. However, if the p-value is greater
than .05, then the statistic is not significant. This means the null
hypothesis is retained: indeed, there is no difference between males
and females in achievement motivation.
When reporting the p-value, the value of t (for t-test) or F (for
ANOVA and ANCOVA) and the number of degrees of freedom must
also be included. The mean scores and standard deviation for each of
the groups on the dependent variable must also be reported, which
helps the reader to interpret which group has the highest average on
the dependent variable (Korb, 2013).

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH

PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

Resources for Planning Research Project

Project writing is one of the major academic requirements for
students of tertiary institutions before graduation. It is believed often
that ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. Proper planning is required in all
areas of human endeavour. Thus, the success of project writing depends
on adequate planning and implementation, especially by the concerned
students, but with the assistance of supervisors. The following resources
are needed and essential for planning research projects:
a. Human Resources – cordial relationship that is formal and polite
is required between supervisors and their supervisees (research
students). Students are expected to have fundamental knowledge
of the principles, methods and practices of research, familiar with
the research process, and possess information literacy skills. The
information literacy skills enable students to articulate their
information needs, devise information seeking strategies, access
information from various sources, critically evaluate information
from different sources, engage in information synthesis using
various sources and integrate the synthesized information into
their knowledge base, thereby creating new knowledge. In the
process, the students should also possess and apply knowledge of
ethical and legal issues associated with information accessibility
and utilization, especially citation and referencing in line with
approved standards. In addition, they are also expected to adhere
to principles of cyber ethics, and reject acts that constitute
plagiarism while using information resources.
b. Financial Resources – budgeting for the research project is very
important. The financial implication of the work, and cost
implications of the various segments of the research, ranging from
sourcing information resources from libraries and the Internet,
foolscap sheets, typing, binding, and so on.

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c. Information Resources – books, journals, magazines, online

resources, for preparing background to the study, literature
review and other parts of the project.
d. Time Management – this is very essential. In many cases, second
semesters of academic sessions are always shorter, and may not
be up to the usual 16 weeks. Student researchers should work
towards completing their projects on time.
Issa (2012) adds that significant contributors to project writing are the
student-researcher, the supervisor, the library, the Internet, and the
typist.
Other points to note are:
I. For information resources to be consulted and used for project
writing, students should concentrate on recent publications that
are not more than ten years old. Although, there are few cases of
research that may require old publications for historical
development, however, such resources should be used with
caution. Students should be encouraged to source for various
kinds of information resources. Thus, there are many free online
open educational resources on the internet that can be
downloaded and used for project writing.
II. Meanwhile, students should ensure that there is proper
application of citation and referencing in research writing. There
should be strict adherence to the citation and referencing style
of American Psychological Association (APA), 6th edition, 2010.
This can be accessed via www.apastyle.org for guidance and
appropriate use.

Developing Research Proposal

Research Proposal is a guide, a plan and statement of intention,
that stipulates the processes, methods and techniques that will be
adopted by a researcher in the process of carrying out his/her
investigation. It acts as the roadmap and shows the way and method of
operation which a researcher will follow in the course of engaging in
research process. What a research proposal is to a researcher is likened
to what an architectural plan is to a building.
Students are expected to present a research proposal, may be a
mini type to their supervisors before commencing their research
project. The proposal is to serve as a guide on the approach to be
adopted by the student in carrying out his/her project work. It is from
the proposal that the supervisor will determine whether the student(s)

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have good understanding of what the topic entails, appropriate problem

statement, relevant objectives, sub-headings for literature review and
appropriate methodology to be adopted. If otherwise, the supervisor
will modify the proposal by indicating the necessary points and steps to
follow by the student. When properly written, the proposal will serve as
a companion to the student researcher, which s/he will always fall back
on when the need arises in the course of his/her research work (project
writing). The proposal should be in the present tense because the
supervisees are yet to go to the field for data collection.
The structure/content of the proposal should include:
a) Preliminary Title (which may be tentative)
b) Introduction (Background to the Study – explanation of
keywords (or variables) in the research topic and the
environment/organisation(s) to be used as case study or to be
covered; Statement of the Problem; Objectives of the Study,
research questions and or hypotheses; as well as Significance
of the Study.
c) Literature Review (Appropriate sub-headings for Literature
Review. This is very important as most students find it difficult
to devise relevant and necessary sub-topics for review in
chapter two, which should cover the topic and all the issues in
the study objectives.)
d) Methodology: Scope/limitation, research design, population
and sample, instrument(s) for data collection and why, method
of data analysis and why.
e) Budget for the project (income and expenditure).
f) Timeline, which is the timeframe for starting and completing
the work.

The brief background to the study is expected to provide description of

the concepts and variables associated with the project topic and the
entire study as revealed in the literature. It should also be able to
identify and clarify the environment to be used for the study.
Statement of the problem is expected to highlight the observation(s) of
the researcher that is necessitating or propelling the study. This may
also be found either in the literature or through personal
experience/observation of the researcher. The objectives of the study
and the significance of the study to humanity should also form part of
the proposal, as any meaningful investigation is expected to provide a

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solution to a challenge facing humanity. Subheadings for literature

review, which should cover the study objectives, should also form part
of the proposal. The methodology to be adopted covering scope,
research design, population, sample, instrument for data collection,
validation and reliability of instruments, procedure for data collection
and method of data analysis, should also be part of the proposal.

An Example of a Mini Research Proposal

MEDIA LITERACY, DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND UTILIZATION OF

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE
STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EBONYI STATE

A Research Proposal
By
OKAFOR, Maureen Chidera Queensley
IKM/MSC/22/1826

Introduction
Learning resources such as books, journals, course modules,
and monographs are essential in the educational process. With the
emergence of the Internet and other information and communication
technologies, the issue of open educational resources came up. The
emergence of open educational resources (OER) started with the idea
of Wayne Hodgins in 1994, when he coined the term ‘learning objects’.
This was followed by the introduction of ‘open content’ by David
Wiley, a term that was popular as a result of its importance and
relevance in the introduction of open publications (Ipaye & Ipaye,
2013). In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
introduced Open Course Ware (OCW), a web-based publication of
virtually all MIT course contents. This was when MIT decided to put its
course contents for free public access and use. OCW is free and
available to the world through MIT website, educators improve
courses and curricular, making their schools more effective; students
find additional resources to make them succeed; and independent
learners enrich their lives and use the content to tackle some of our
world’s most difficult challenges associated with sustainable
development (Akomolafe & Olajire, 2014).
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Coinciding with the year 2002, when the open access

movements started, UNESCO organised a global forum on the impact of
Open Course Ware in higher education in Paris, where the term, open
educational resources (OER) was coined, and defined as ‘the open
provision of educational resources, enabled by information and
communications technologies, for consultation, use and adaption by a
community of users for non-commercial purposes’ (Hodgkinson-
Williams, Willmers, & Gray, 2009; McNally, 2012; Cobo, 2013).
OER are web-based resources that are freely available on the
Internet for use by all in the society. These OERs typically refer to
online resources, including those in multimedia formats, and such
materials are generally released under a creative commons or similar
license that supports open use of the contents in online, e-learning or
hybrid environments. They can originate from colleges, universities,
libraries, archival organizations, government agencies, commercial
organizations such as publishers, faculty or other individuals who
develop educational resources and are willing to share with the public
(EDUCAUSE, 2010).
OER could be offerings from a single institution, such as when a
college or university makes available online the resources from its
courses, or they can be collections of materials gathered from
individuals or departments from a wide range of separate institutions.
Instructors and individual learners can download OER and use them in
formal or informal learning situations. One of the hallmarks of OER is
their flexibility; many are modular in nature, and are used in novel
combinations to suit different learning activities. Also, OER are so
malleable, they can be adapted to keep pace not only with new
technologies but also with changes to academic disciplines and
teaching methods (EDUCAUSE, 2010).
OER include online resources, online materials and online
tools, that are accessible through the information superhighway.
Examples are web pages, open access books, open access journals,
open archives, digital repositories, journal databases, multimedia
learning resources, course wares, video clips, e-course materials, e-
lecture notes, e-learning resources, e-books, course readings, learning
contents, simulations, games, and other learning applications. Others
are syllabi, quizzes, assessment tools, and virtually any other material
that could be retrieved and used for educational purposes.

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It should be noted that OERs are unique in several ways.

Although there are proliferations of online resources via the Internet,
and probably used for teaching, research and learning processes, many
are bogus, disorganized and could be misleading (Komolafe-Opadeji &
Haliso, 2012). That is why Ilo and Ifijeh (2010) see the Internet as a
‘chaotic library’ because it displays no discernable order, classification
system or categorization. It therefore poses challenges on the ability of
information users, especially undergraduate students, to distinguish
between information from referred and peer-reviewed scholarly
publications available digitally in open access and the rival vanity
press publications.
However, OERs are specifically developed for use and re-use in
the teaching and learning process. Despite the fact that they reside on
the Internet, their reliability is sure and ascertained (Amadi & Igwe,
2015), and studies show that these OERs enhance the quality of
education, as it concerns teaching, learning and research activities
across the universe (Donkor, 2011; Akomolafe & Olajire, 2014). The
use of OERs promoted access on demand by students, better contact
with the learning materials, learning at learner’s own pace and
learner-centred approaches in teaching and learning. It facilitated the
demonstration of practical skills, through the wide range of content
the students had access to. These benefits to both learners and
teachers increased the acceptance of OER in the teaching and learning
system of universities (Donkor, 2011).
Furthermore, it appears the emergence of OERs is related to
the need to enhance functional open and distance learning for the
benefit of humanity. However, OERs are not specifically for only open
and distance learning. They are also used, re-used and applied in
conventional learning system, and all learning environments geared
towards human development, as well as improve learning outcomes,
academic performance and lifelong learning (Amadi & Igwe, 2015).
Undergraduate students are set of individuals in universities
that are studying for the award of first degrees. They are known as
digital natives and citizens of the Internet generation because of their
interests in the online environment. These students are familiar with
ICT facilities, computers, scanners, and other digital accessories,
including the Internet for communication and socialization. They are
also prone to the use of resources of the Internet such as e-mail,
WWW, social media platforms, and the like. They are therefore

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required to access and use various OERs, which are available in the
online environment for learning and acquisition of knowledge. This
however, will depend on the students’ state of exposure and level of
media literacy and digital competence.
Media is all about electronic and digital means, as well as print
and artistic visuals used to transmit messages and information.
Literacy is the ability to read, write and communicate well in a given
language and specific situations. Media literacy refers to the ability to
access, analyse, evaluate and use media contents. It is a set of
competencies that enable people like students to access, critically
evaluate, use and apply media content and messages in their academic
affairs and related endeavours. Media literate students are better able
to understand the complex information received from media outlets
such as television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, books,
billboards, video games, music and all other forms of media (Media
Literacy Project, n.d). To the National Association for Media Literacy
Education (2014) media literacy entails the ability to access, analyse,
evaluate and communicate information in a variety of forms, including
print and non-print messages. Thus, media literacy represents a
necessary, inevitable, and realistic response to the complex, ever-
changing information and communication environments that surround
man. The Center for Media Literacy (2015) adds that media literacy is
about helping students become competent, critical and literate in all
media forms so that they control the interpretation of what they see or
hear rather than letting the interpretation control them. This is
specifically, not about how to memorize facts or statistics about the
media, but rather to learn to raise the right questions about what
students are watching, reading or listening to, so as to ascertain their
credibility and reliability. That is why Terras, Ramsay and Boyle
(2013) note that opportunities associated with OERs can only be
realized if both providers and users possess and utilize the
appropriate media literacy skills that enable them to make full use of
the educational content available.
On the other hand, students are expected to possess digital
competence for the use of OER. The term competence covers
knowledge, skills and abilities for meeting complex demands in a
particular context. In this case, digital has to do with tools and
technologies of the 21st century. Some related terms such as ICT skills,
information technology skills, and digital literacy and 21st century
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skills are used interchangeably with digital competence, to describe

technology-related skills. Digital competence is associated with skills
for manipulation and use of digital tools and technologies especially
ICT. According to European Union, digital competence refers to the
confident, critical and creative use of ICT to achieve goals related to
work, employability, learning, leisure, inclusion and/or participation in
society (Punie & Cabrera, 2006). Digital competence is a transversal
key competence which, as such, enables acquiring other key
competences (e.g. language, mathematics, learning to learn, creativity)
(Ferrari, 2013). It is amongst the so-called 21st century skills which
should be acquired by all citizens, especially students, to ensure their
active socio-economic participation in society and the economy. Digital
competence is grounded in basic skills in ICT, i.e., the use of computers
to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information,
and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the
Internet. Timmus (2014) posits that digitally competent person has
effective ICT skills, an ability to critically evaluate information, and
social awareness. In other words, students that are digitally competent
can use most common technologies and use digital resources on the
Internet. Furthermore, digital competent students can critically
evaluate information they found online, understand internet ethics,
and consider appropriateness and reliability of online resources.
From the above submissions, it can be stated that media
literacy and digital competence are essential in the present 21st
century, especially for students in tertiary institutions. Students, no
doubt, need to be media literate and also digitally competent in order
to explore and use various open educational resources that are
available online for learning and acquisition of knowledge. This study
therefore intends to examine the influence of media literacy and digital
competence on the use of open educational resources, using
undergraduate students of English Language in universities in Ebonyi
State of Nigeria.

 Statement of the Problem

With the emergence and proliferations of open educational
resources (OER) over a decade ago, there have been continuous
increase and growth of OER which are accessible to learners with
Internet accessibility across the universe. It is a fact that information
resources and knowledge assets, including OER will remain worthless

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if they are not accessed and used. This reinforces the strategic
importance of carrying out empirical studies on extent of use and
factors influencing utilization of instructional and learning resources.
Meanwhile, there are series of studies on access to and use of
the OERs in developed climes (McKerlich, Ives & McGreal, 2012); but
not the case in developing countries like Nigeria. In other words, there
are very few studies on the use of OER in Nigeria. With the use of
academic staff of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso
and Federal University of Technology, Minna, the study by Okonkwo
(2012) revealed that educators (academic staff) of universities have
not really embedded OER in the teaching and learning process, but are
very eager to be trained in the rudiments of OERs. Through survey,
Ipaye and Ipaye (2013) lamented that there are indications that
stakeholders in Nigerian universities do not know much yet about OER
and the opportunities that accrue from its use. On the part of
Akomolafe and Olajire (2014), their investigation in universities in
South West Nigeria showed that undergraduate students derived
many benefits with the use of OER, especially in sharing quality
resources that facilitates acquisition of knowledge and academic
performance. The case of Agber (2015) in tertiary institutions in
Benue State, socio-economic and institutional factors influence use of
OERs among agricultural science lecturers.
The above studies on use of OER centred on South West and
North Central geo-political zones of Nigeria. Such studies are yet to be
carried out in South East geo-political zone of Nigeria. Furthermore,
the reported findings of Okonkwo (2012), Akomolafe and Olajire
(2014), and Agber (2015) did not address factors like media literacy
and digital competence, which are 21st century issues that could
influence the use of OER by undergraduate students in Nigerian
universities. These constitute the gap the present study is proposed to
fill in which undergraduate English Language students in universities
in Ebonyi State are subjects of study.

 Objectives of the Study

The major purpose of the study is to ascertain the influence of media
literacy and digital competence on the use of OERs by undergraduate
students of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State of Nigeria.
The specific objectives are to:

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1. determine the extent of use of OER by the undergraduate

English Language students of universities in Ebonyi State;
2. ascertain the level of media literacy of undergraduate students
of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State;
3. establish the digital competence level of the undergraduate
students of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State;
4. ascertain the ways by which undergraduate students acquire
media literacy and digital competence;
5. identify the challenges affecting the use of OER by the
undergraduate students.
The following questions have been posed to guide the study:
1. What is the extent of use of OER by the undergraduate students
of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State?
2. What is the level of media literacy of undergraduate students
of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State?
3. What is the digital competence level of the undergraduate
students of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State?
4. What are the ways by which undergraduate students acquire
media literacy and digital competence?
5. What are the challenges affecting the use of OER by the
undergraduate students?

The study will test the following hypotheses at 0.05 level of

significance:

H01 – Media literacy has no significant influence on the use of open

educational resources by undergraduate students of English Language
in universities in Ebonyi State.

H02 – Digital competence has no significant influence on the use of

open educational resources by the undergraduate students of English
Language in universities in Ebonyi State.

H03 – Media literacy and digital competence will not have significant
influence on the use of open educational resources by undergraduate
students of English Language in universities in Ebonyi State

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 Significance of the Study

The finding of this study will be significant and relevant in
many ways. Meanwhile, there is no doubt the fact that open
educational resources (OERs) are revolutionizing the teaching and
learning process of universities. Access to and use of these OERs
enables students to succeed in their academic endeavours.
Undergraduate students of English Language need to have unhindered
access to OER in languages and allied areas associated with their study.
The study will ascertain the level of use of these OER, as well as find
out if students’ media literacy and digital competence levels influence
the use of these OER. This will therefore enable planners of our
tertiary educational system to put in place measures that will facilitate
students’ unhindered access to and use of OER for improved academic
performance and lifelong learning. In addition, the report of this study
will add to already existing scholarly findings and literature on OER in
Nigeria.

Literature Review
The study will review literature under the following sub-headings:
 Introduction
 Conceptual Framework of the Study (Diagrammatical
Representation)
 Concept and Nature of Open Educational Resources
 Concept and Nature of Media Literacy
 Concept of Digital Competence
 Theoretical Framework
 Review of Empirical Studies
 Summary of the Literature Review

Methodology
Survey research design will be adopted for the study. Survey is one of
the descriptive research designs that involve systematic and
comprehensive collection of data about the opinions and behaviours of
people on a particular issue or problem. Furthermore, the study is a
correlational survey because it aims at discovering the influence and
relationships between the variables under study, which already exist
or have existed. The variables in the study are:
a) Independent Variables: Media Literacy and Digital Competence.
b) Dependent Variable: Use of Open Educational Resources.
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The study population will involve all undergraduate students from

100 level to 400 level in the Department of English Language in
Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) and Ebonyi State
University (EBSU) Abakaliki, all in Ebonyi State. Stratified sampling
technique will be used in selecting the sample, so that each university
and level of study will get appropriate number of representatives.
Stratified sampling method seeks to recognize the various strata of a
study’s population. In this case, the population is divided into strata
using some criteria before a decision on the number of members to
be chosen from each of the strata is taken. Thus, the strata do not
contribute an equal number to the sample, but a number in
proportion to the expected or known sizes of these strata in a
population (Issa, 2007). The choice of stratified sampling technique
is to cover the various levels in the two departments of the two
universities involved.
Questionnaire will be the major instrument for data collection.
The questionnaire will be drafted with modified four-point likert scale.
The questionnaire, which is for undergraduate students, will be given
both face and content validation by experts. For the trial testing of the
instrument so as to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, test-
retest method will be adopted. The scores from the first test and the
second test will then be correlated in order to establish reliability and
stability of the instrument.
The research student will visit the departments in the two
universities involved, inform their Heads of Department about the
study, then get approval before administering the instruments on the
undergraduate students. For analysis, all the completed copies of the
questionnaire from each university will be verified in the field. They
will be collated and coded into computer system, which will be
subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics will be used to
answer the research questions, whereas inferential statistics
specifically PPMC (for hypothesis one and two) and Multiple
Regression analysis (for hypothesis three) will be used to test the
hypotheses, as applicable. All the hypotheses will be tested at 0.05
level of significance.

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Budget
This covers the income and expenditure for the project. The income for
the project will come from my parents with support from family
relations and friends. The expenditure will be in the areas of sourcing
for materials for the project, using the Internet, purchasing writing
materials, typing and printing and photocopying as the need arises.

Timeline
The project is expected to last for a period of six months, from the
conceptualization to defense and binding.

FORMAT OF RESEARCH PROJECTS

Students are expected to adhere strictly to the standard format
for projects as shown below. Only the chapters and their
headings/titles should be in bold/highlighted capital letters. In
addition, sub-headings of a chapter must be highlighted as well and
should only be in initial capital of keywords.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables (if any)
List of Abbreviations (if any)
Abstract

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
1.2. Background Information (Historical Development) of the Library/
Institution/Establishment/Community/Town/Environment, etc
used as case study.
1.3. Statement of the Problem
1.4. Objectives of the Study
1.5. Research Questions
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1.6. Hypotheses
1.7. Scope and Delimitation of the Study
1.8. Significance of the Study
1.9. Operational Definition of Terms and Concepts

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
2.2. ………………….......?
2.3. ……………………..?
2.4. ……………………..?
2.5., 2.6., 2.7., 2.8.,,...? etc. depending on the sub-topics in Literature
Review
2.9. Review of Related Empirical Studies
2.10. Summary and Appraisal of Literature Review

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Research Design
3.3. Population of the Study
3.4. Sample Size and Sampling Technique
3.5. Instrument(s) for Data Collection
3.6. Validation of Instrument for Data Collection
3.7. Reliability of Instruments for Data Collection
3.8. Procedure for Data Collection
3.9. Method of Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Analysis of Research Questions
4.2.1. Research Question One
4.2.2. Research Question Two
4.2.3. Research Question Three
4.2.4. Research Question Four
4.2.5. Research Question Five (etc depending on the number)
4.3. Test of Hypotheses (where applicable)
4.4. Findings of the Research
4.5. Discussion of Findings

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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Summary of Findings
5.2. Implications of the Findings
5.3. Conclusion
5.4. Recommendations
5.5. Suggestions for Further Research
References
Appendix (if any)

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Examples of Project Cover Page and Preliminary Pages

PROJECT COVER

TITLE OF PROJECT

BY

NAME OF CANDIDATE(S)
MATRICULATION NUMBER OF CANDIDATES(S)

HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA

PROJECT

DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE,

AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC UNWANA,
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

DATE

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

An Example of Cover Page

MEDIA LITERACY, DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND UTILIZATION OF

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE
STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EBONYI STATE

BY

CHUKWUMA, ABUBAKAR ADEBAYO

LI/HND/F15/1345

HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA

PROJECT

DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE,

AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC UNWANA,
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

SEPTEMBER, 2018

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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

An Example of Title Page

MEDIA LITERACY, DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND UTILIZATION OF

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE
STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EBONYI STATE

BY

ADEBAYO, ABUBAKAR CHUKWUMA

LI/HND/F15/1345

HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA

PROJECT

SUBMITTED TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE,
AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC UNWANA,
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

AWARD OF
HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA (HND) IN
LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

SEPTEMBER, 2018

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An Example of Certification Page

CERTIFICATION

This project has been read and approved as meeting the

requirement of the Department of Library and information Science,
Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the Award of Higher National Diploma (HND)
in Library and Information Science.

________________________ ______________
Chukwuma, Adebayo Abubakar Date
(Researcher)

___________________________ ______________
Dr. K.N. IGWE Date
(Project Supervisor)

_______________________ _______________
Dr. C. N. NWORU Date
(Head of Department)

________________________ ______________
External Examiner Date

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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

Structure of Completed Research Projects

The completed project – Navy Blue Colour - should have the following
structure:
a. Size of Paper: The National Diploma (ND) and the Higher
National Diploma (HND) is A4.
b. Font Size: 12 with double line spacing (except for quotations)
and Times New Roman font. Extra lines should be left between
paragraphs.
The left margin should be 1.5cm and the right margin should
be 0.5cm. The top and bottom margin should be 1cm each.
Pagination should be central and should be down at the bottom
the page.
c. The spine of the bound project work should bear the Name of
Researcher (Surname first, then followed by initials), Category
of Award, followed by the year. E.g.
ABUBAKAR, C.A. - ND LIS - 2018
ADEBAYO, A.C. - HND LIS - 2018
CHUKWUMA, A.A. - BSc. IKM - 2018.

Project students are expected to direct their typists to adopt the

project format.

Ethical Issues in Information and Knowledge Management

Research
In conducting research involving human beings as participants,
there are several ethical considerations to be observed, and ethical
issues that need to be addressed. This is applicable to IKM research,
because emphasis is mostly on human participants as research
subjects. Institution, especially polytechnics, universities, colleges of
education and agriculture, research institutes, industrial and even
corporate establishments, may develop guides that serve as ethical
requirements for conducting ethical research.
In carrying out the research process, scientific attitudes should
be brought to bear, such as:
 Openness – especially in the areas of data collection, treatment
of findings and literature review.
 Honesty – especially in the areas of data collection, treatment
and interpretation.
 Humility – especially in the areas of validation of instruments.

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 Objectivity – in all aspects of the research, but especially in

drawing conclusions from the research findings (Osuji, 2012).
In addition, there are various ethical issues that are associated
with research, and therefore, needs to be observed while conducting
research. They include:
 Voluntary Participation, which requires that people must not
be coerced into participating in research.
 Informed Consent, which requires that research participants be
fully informed about the procedures and risks involved in
research, and must give their consent to participate.
 Risk of Harm, which requires that researchers should not put
participants in a situation where they might be harmed,
physically or psychologically, by participation in the study.
 Privacy, which must be maintained either through
confidentiality or anonymity.
o Confidentiality is an assurance that any information
provided in the study will not be accessible to anyone
not directly involved in the study.
o Anonymity is harder to achieve and means that no one
will know who the participant is, not even the
researcher.

Furthermore, principles of information ethics are other ethical issues

associated with research and project writing, and they include
plagiarism, copyright, fair use policy, intellectual property, censorship,
intellectual freedom, citation and referencing styles. Thus, students
should avoid acts that constitute plagiarism, arm-chair researching,
faking, and over-citation of a particular author. Students are also
enjoined to adhere strictly to the use of citation and referencing style
recommended by their institution, such as American Psychological
Association (APA) style, 6th edition, 2010. Visit www.apastyle.org for
details.

Citations and References: Focus on APA Style, 6th Edition, 2010

APA stands for American Psychological Association. It is one of
the citation and referencing styles, mostly used in social and
behavioural sciences, including information and knowledge
management fields.

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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

APA style is an author-date citation style. It was developed

mainly for use in psychology, but has also been adopted by other
disciplines. There are two major components to the APA author-date
style: the in-text author-date citation at the appropriate place within
the text of the document, e.g. (Smith, 2010), and the detailed reference
list at the end of the document. All in-text citations must have a
corresponding reference list entry, and the converse applies for
reference list entries.

Citations
A citation is the part of the reference that you include within
the main body of your work whenever you directly quote from,
paraphrase, summarise or refer to work produced by another
author(s). In other words, when you use others' ideas in your paper,
you should credit them with an in-text citation. Several different
systems of citation are in use in various academic communities (such
as footnotes and endnotes), but APA Style uses a kind of parenthetical
referencing called the author–date system.
Citations appear in the body of your paper and point your reader
to your references. For that reason, we sometimes call them in-text
citations. They are also sometimes called simply cites. Citations can
appear in a paper in two ways:
 parenthetically: (Becker, 2012; Lee, 2016; McAdoo, 2017) and
 narratively: Becker (2012), Lee (2016), and McAdoo (2017)
wrote blog posts about APA Style.
Include them in a paper to support claims you have made and/or to
provide the sources for paraphrases and direct quotations. As shown
in the examples above, citations are almost always composed of an
author surname or surnames and a date. The surname(s) that appear
in a citation must exactly match those used in the reference. Likewise,
the year in the citation matches the year shown in the reference. When
the reference has a more precise date, the in-text citation includes the
year only, e.g. works in blogs.

Basic In-Text Citation Style: As the name author–date system implies,

APA Style in-text citations include the author and date, either both
inside parentheses or with the author names in running text and the
date in parentheses. Here are two examples:

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

 After the intervention, children increased in the number of

books read per week (Smith & Wexwood, 2010).
 Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported that after the
intervention, children increased in the number of books read
per week.
The "and" in Smith and Wexwood is written as an ampersand (&)
inside parentheses and as the word and outside of parentheses, as
shown in the examples above.

Multiple In-Text Citations: When multiple studies support what you

have to say, you can include multiple citations inside the same set of
parentheses. Within parentheses, alphabetize the studies as they
would appear in the reference list and separate them by semicolons. In
running text, you can address studies in whatever order you wish.
Here are two examples:
 Studies of reading in childhood have produced mixed results
(Albright, Wayne, & Fortinbras, 2004; Gibson, 2011; Smith &
Wexwood, 2010).
 Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported an increase in the
number of books read, whereas Gibson (2011) reported a
decrease. Albright, Wayne, and Fortinbras (2004) found no
significant results.

Dealing with Missing Information

Sometimes the author and/or date are not immediately
obvious, but a bit of citation sleuthing will bring them to light. Here are
some tips on determining authorship and on figuring out dates.
However, sometimes one or both of these elements are truly missing.
The table below shows what substitutions to make for in-text citations
if that happens.

What information do you

Solution Position A Position B
have?
I have both author and Author
n/a year
date surname(s)
Substitute the Title of Book
Author is missing title for the or "Title of year
author name Article"
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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

Use "n.d." for Author

Date is missing n.d.
"no date" surname(s)
Combine
solutions for Title of Book
Author and date are both
author and or "Title of n.d.
missing
date being Article"
missing

Note. Titles of books and reports are italicized in in-text citations, and
titles of articles and other documents are put in quotation marks.
Capitalize the important words in titles in the text.

References
References appear at the end of a manuscript. They follow a-who–
when–what–where format. They appear so you can give credit to your
sources and provide a path for your readers to retrieve those sources
and read them firsthand, if need be.

Examples:
Igwe, K.N. (2018). Research in information and knowledge
management: Principles, methods and practices. Lagos, Nigeria:
Zeh Communications Ltd

Reference list: General notes

 Begin your reference list on a new page and title it References,
then centre the title on the page.
 Double-space your reference list and have a hanging indent
o Left align the first line of each reference with
subsequent lines indented to the right to a width by
o 5 -7 spaces or 1.25 cm.
 All of the references in the reference list must also be cited in
the text.
 All references cited in text must also be included in the
reference list (unpublished items, such as personal
correspondences, is an exception).
 List the references in alphabetical order by author
surname/family name according to the first listed author.
(Note: the order of the authors on a document is important do
not rearrange them)

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 Where there are two articles with the same authors and date,
order the references alphabetically by article title and add a
letter suffix to the year of publication (e.g. 2003a, 2003b...).
 Provide organisation names in full, unless they are obviously
recognisable as abbreviations (e.g. APA for American
Psychological Association).
 Do not add full stops to URLs (e.g.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/)
 In an article, chapter or book title capitalize only the first word
of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns.
(Note: book titles should be italicised)
 In a periodical, journal, or serial title, give the title in full, in
upper and lower case letters. The title should be italicised (e.g.
Harvard Business Review)
 Check the reference details against the actual source - you are
indicating that you have read that source when you cite it.
 Be consistent with your referencing style across the document.

Author layout guidance

Where a
List authors in the reference list as:
publication has:

One author Author, A. A.

Two authors Author, A. A., & Author B. B.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C.,

Three to seven
Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., &
authors
Author, G. G.

Eight or more
authors - list first Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C.,
six authors, add a Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F.,
three dot elipse, ...Author, Z. Z.
then the last author

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No author Transfer the title to the author space

Use author's name for all entries and list

Two or more entries by year - earliest year comes first.
works by same If they are the published in the same year, list
author alphabetically by title, assigning a suffix of a, b,
c, d etc after the year (e.g. 2011a, 2011b)

a group or
Spell the name out
corporate author

Citing and Referencing with examples

Citing an idea
 The leading medical cause of Aboriginal mortality is due to
circulatory system disease. Other important causes of death
include diseases of the respiratory system and injury or poisoning
(Anderson, 1999; Saggers & Gray, 1999; Thomson, 1995).
OR
 Anderson (1999), Thomson (1995), and Saggers and Gray
(1999) all state that the leading cause of Aboriginal mortality is
due to circulatory system disease, and that other important
causes of death include diseases of the respiratory system and
injury or poisoning.

Citing a quotation
 Indeed, one researcher commented that “technological
innovations have saved or extended the lives of many patients”
(Lumby, 2001, p. 44).

Citing a source within a source

Where your source quotes or refers to another source, for example
Unsworth refers to previous work by Halliday on linguistics, the
citation might read thus:
 (Halliday, 1987, cited in Unsworth, 2004, p. 15)
Only Unsworth will appear in the Reference list at the end of your
written work
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Reference list
Your reference list should be ordered alphabetically by author and
then chronologically by year of publication. The APA 6th style requires
the references to be indented as illustrated below in the examples.

Book
Lumby, J. (2001). Who cares? The changing health care system. Sydney,
Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Book chapter
McKenzie, H., Boughton, M., Hayes, L., & Forsyth, S. (2008). Explaining
the complexities and value of nursing practice and knowledge.
In I. Morley & M. Crouch (Eds.), Knowledge as value:
Illumination through critical prisms (pp.209-224). Amsterdam,
Netherlands: Rodopi.

Journal article
Boughton, M., & Halliday, L. (2008). A challenge to the menopause
stereotype: Young Australian women's reflections of 'being
diagnosed' as menopausal. Health & Social Care in the
Community, 16(6), 565 – 572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111
/j.1365-2524.2008 .00777

Webpage with an author

Welch, N. (2000, February 21). Toward an understanding of the
determinants of rural health. Retrieved from http://www. Rural
health.org.au/welch.htm

Webpage with no author

ANCI national competency standards for the registered nurse and the
enrolled nurse. (2000). Retrieved from http://
www.anci.org.au /competencystandards.htm

Newspaper article
Bagnall, D. (1998, January 27). Private schools: Why they are out in
front. The Bulletin, pp. 12 – 15.

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Government publication
The Health Targets and Implementation (Health for All) Committee.
(1988). Health for all Australians. Canberra, Australia:
Australian Government Publishing Service.

Company and Industry Reports

Magner, L. (2016). IBISWorld industry report OD5381. Coffee shops in
Australia. Retrieved from IBISWorld database.

NB: For more details and other frequently asked questions about
APA style, visit http://www.apastyle.org

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Example of a Completed Project

MEDIA LITERACY AND DIGITAL COMPETENCE AS DETERMINANTS

OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES UTILIZATION AMONG
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

BY

OKAFOR, MAUREEN CHIDERA QUEENSLEY

(Registration Number)

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT,
AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL UNIVERSITY, UNWANA,
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

SEPTEMBER, 2018

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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

MEDIA LITERACY AND DIGITAL COMPETENCE AS DETERMINANTS OF

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES UTILIZATION AMONG ENGLISH
LANGUAGE STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EBONYI STATE,
NIGERIA

BY

OKAFOR, MAUREEN CHIDERA QUEENSLEY

(Registration Number)

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL,

AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL UNIVERSITY, UNWANA, EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA,
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.Sc.) IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT,
IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT,
FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCES,
AKANU IBIAM FEDERAL UNIVERSITY, UNWANA,
EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA.

SEPTEMBER, 2018

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title
Page……………………………………………………………………………………………
Declaration …………………………………………………………………………………..
Certification………………………………………………………………………………..
Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………….
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………
Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………
List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………….
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study………..……………………………………….
1.2. Background Information on Tertiary Institutions in Ebonyi
State …
1.3. Statement of the Problem…………….……………….…………………
1.4. Objectives of the Study ……………………..….……...............................
1.5. Research Questions………………….…………………….
1.6. Hypotheses……………………………………………..………………………..
1.7. Scope of the Study ………………………………………………………….
1.8. Significance of the Study……………………………...…………………

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction
2.2. Conceptual Framework of the Study (Diagrammatical
Representation) ..
2.3. Concept and Nature of Open Educational Resources……………
Concept and Nature of Media Literacy………………………………..
2.4. Concept of Digital Competence………………………………………….
2.5. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………….
2.6. Review of Empirical Studies…………………………………………….
2.7. Summary of the Literature Review…………………………………….

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………..
3.2. Research Design ………………………………………………………………
3.3. Population of the Study…………………………………………………..
3.4. Sampling Technique and Sample Size…………………………………

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3.5. Instrument for Data Collection …… ……………………………………

3.6. Validity of the instrument ………………….………………………..
3.7. Reliability of the Instrument…………………………………………...
3.8. Method of Data Collection …………………………………………….
3.9. Method of Data Analysis……………………………………………….

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1. Questionnaire Distribution and Response……………………….
4.2. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents……………………
4.3. Answer to Research Questions………………………………………
4.4. Test of Hypotheses………………………………………………………..
4.5. Discussion of Findings…………………………………………………….

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Summary of Findings…………………………………………………………
5.2. Implications of the Study…………………………………………………..
5.3. Conclusions………………………………………………………………….
5.4. Recommendations………………………………………………………….
5.5. Suggestions for Further Research………………………………………

References……..……………………………………………………………….
Appendix A: Validated Instrument…………………………………………..
Appendix B: Validates’ Comments………………………………………….
Appendix C: Researcher’s Instrument before Validation……………..
Appendix D: Reliability Test of the Instrument Used for Data
Collection…

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ABSTRACT
The rapid development of Internet applications such as the World
Wide Web led to the emergence of open access movement and
associated initiatives like open educational resources (OER) in 2002.
OER are web-based resources that are freely available on the Internet
for adoption and use in teaching, learning, acquisition of knowledge,
research and development activities. The few studies on the use of OER
in Nigeria have neither captured South-East geo-political zone of
Nigeria, nor assessed students of various academic disciplines. In
addition, the studies were unable to address factors like media literacy
and digital competence, which are 21st century issues that could affect
the use of OER. This study, therefore, was to examine influence of
media literacy and digital competence on the use of OER by English
Language students in Ebonyi State. Survey research design of the
correlational type was adopted. A sample of 300 were selected from a
population of 1,212 students. In line with the objectives, five research
questions were formulated and answered, whereas three null
hypotheses were tested. Researcher-designed questionnaire, which
was validated by three experts, with overall reliability index of r=0.78,
was used for data collection. The findings revealed that the extent of
use of OER was very poor and unsatisfactory among the students;
there is poor level of media literacy among the students; digital
competence level is very high among the students, but could not result
to high level use of OER; and the major ways students acquired media
literacy and digital competence were through use of Internet, social
media, and self study. In addition, the key challenges affecting use of
OER among the students were that most locally produced learning
materials are not integrated in OER, subscription to Internet data is
expensive for accessing and using OER, lecture notes and course
materials are hardly found in OER, lack of awareness with OER
websites, absence of institution’s library links to OER, poor
information literacy skills for using OER, and epileptic power supply.
Other findings were that there are strong, significant and positive
influences of media literacy and digital competence on the use of OER
among the students. The study concluded that media literacy and
digital competence influence the use of OER by English Language
students in Ebonyi State. The study therefore, recommended that
seminars and workshops should be conducted for the students on the
importance, availability and use of OER; tertiary institutions should
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develop websites with links to OER for use by the students; media
literacy education should be included in the curriculum of English
Language in Nigerian tertiary institutions; digital competence of
students should be improved the more, and then channeled to use of
OER for academic performance; tertiary institutions in Nigeria should
develop their respective indigenous repository of OER; and lecturers in
the institutions should be encouraged and motivated to develop their
course materials and make them available in OER repository of their
institutions for easy access and use by students.

Keywords
Open Educational Resources, Media Literacy, Digital Competence,
Utilization, English Language Students

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

Universally, education is a factor that is widely acknowledged
as instrument per excellence for development. Through education, one
acquires the required knowledge, skills and abilities to solve problems
so as to be relevant to oneself and society at large. This development
cuts across all sectors of the society such as political, economic,
agricultural, social, scientific, technological and academic
developments, and most importantly human development. The role of
education in human development cannot be over emphasized. From
early childhood through primary, secondary to tertiary levels, these
stages of education are tailored towards the training of human
resources that will be relevant in different areas of life for the benefits
of society.
The actualization of the role of education in human
development will not be feasible without access and use of
instructional and learning resources by educators, lecturers, teachers
and students. These instructional and learning resources include
books, journals, magazines, newspapers, audio-visuals, digital
resources, and other electronic learning materials including web-
based resources. Educators and teachers need the resources for lesson
preparation in order to teach and inculcate knowledge in students. The
students on the other hand need the learning resources for effective
learning and for the acquisition of knowledge in order to succeed in
their academic pursuits.
With the emergence of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) such as computers, telecommunication facilities,
multimedia resources and other digital storage media, various changes
are taking place in the educational system across the world. Examples
of such changes are e-learning, e-teaching, availability of online
information resources, and online education. According to Donkor
(2011), the ICT boom significantly influenced the higher education
sector, and opened the way for harnessing the technologies to enhance
education. ICT has tremendously influenced the way knowledge was
developed, disseminated and acquired and in effect, opened up vast
opportunities for enhancing teaching and learning.

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Specifically, with the arrival of the Internet in 1967, the

continuous evolvement of its allied applications, and the sophisticated
development of its associated resources such as electronic mail, World
Wide Web and social media platforms, there are continuous growth
and development of online contents, digital materials and e-learning
resources. The Internet enables easy access to information, facilitates
sharing, dissemination, communications and collaborations among
friends, colleagues and associates across the globe, thereby leading to
the information explosion that is encountered by all. In that direction,
learning horizons are no longer restricted by physical resources of
libraries; rather the internet with its vast repositories and service
platforms enables people across the universe to access information in
a way which is unprecedented in history (Terras, Ramsay & Boyle,
2013). E-learning, web 2.0 tools and subsequently, open educational
resources are some of the innovations that this era produced.
The rapid development of Internet applications such as the
World Wide Web and social media led to the emergence of open access
concept in 2002, and was formally defined by an international group of
faculty members, publishers, and librarians that converged in
Budapest, Hungary in 2002 at the instance of the Open Society
Institute. According to the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI)
(2002), open access entails free availability on the public internet,
permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search,
or link to the full texts of scholarly or scientific articles, crawl them for
indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other
lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other
than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The
only constraint is on reproduction and distribution, and the only role
for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the
integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and
cited.
The open access movement calls upon researchers and
academics to provide open access to their research works by either
publishing their findings in open access journals that provide open
access to their contents online or by depositing their work into
repositories which make their content freely available over the
Internet. As time went on, the open access movement, which aims at
eliminating barriers, improving and promoting access to information
resources that is open to all and devoid of technological and economic

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restraints (Papparlado, 2008), led to the arrival of different open

access initiatives such as open source software, open access scholarly
publishing, open data, open innovation, open access resources, open
education, open educational resources, and massive online open
courses (McNally, 2012). These dimensions of open access initiatives
such as open education, open access publishing, massive online open
courses, open educational resources, and so on operate in different
perspectives. However, one thing is central and unifying in all of these
open access initiatives is that they are facilitated via the Internet. A
good example of these open access initiatives are open educational
resources, which are specially developed learning materials for use
and re-use in teaching, learning and acquisition of knowledge. These
resources are contributing to the teaching and learning process of
educational institutions.
The emergence of Open Educational Resources (OER) started
with the idea of Wayne Hodgins in 1994, when he coined the term
‘learning objects’. This was followed by the introduction of ‘open
content’ by David Wiley, a term that was popular as a result of its
importance and relevance in the introduction of open publications
(Ipaye & Ipaye, 2013). In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) introduced Open Course Ware (OCW), a web-based
publication of virtually all MIT course contents. This was when MIT
decided to put its course contents for free public access and use. OCW
is free and available to the world through MIT website, educators
improve courses and curricular, making their schools more effective;
students find additional resources to make them succeed; and
independent learners enrich their lives and use the content to tackle
some of our world’s most difficult challenges associated with
sustainable development (Akomolafe & Olajire, 2014).
Coinciding with the year 2002, when the open access
movements started, UNESCO organised a global forum on the impact of
Open Course Ware in higher education in Paris, where the term, open
educational resources was coined, and defined as ‘the open provision
of educational resources, enabled by information and communications
technologies, for consultation, use and adaption by a community of
users for non-commercial purposes’ (Hodgkinson-Williams, Willmers,
& Gray, 2009; Richter & McPherson, 2012; McNally, 2012; Cobo, 2013).
Other descriptions of OER as outlined by Okonkwo (2012) are:

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 OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside

in the public domain or have been released under the
intellectual property right license that permits their free use or
re-purposing by others. OER include full courses, course
materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests,
software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to
support access to knowledge (Atkins, Brown, & Hammond,
2007).
 OER are digitized materials offered freely and openly for
educators, students, and self-learners to use and reuse for
teaching, learning and research. OER includes learning content,
software tools to develop, use, and distribute content, and
implementation resources such as open licenses (Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007).
 OER are materials that may be freely used to support education
and may be freely accessed, reused, modified and shared by
anyone (Downes, 2011).
 OER are teaching, learning and research materials in any
medium that reside in the public domain or have been released
under an open license that permits their free use by learners
(Creative Commons, 2012).
In line with this, OER are web-based resources that are freely available
on the Internet for use by all in the society. These OER typically refer
to online resources, including those in multimedia formats, and such
materials are generally released under a creative commons or similar
license that supports open use of the contents in online, e-learning or
hybrid environments. They can originate from colleges, universities,
libraries, archival organizations, government agencies, commercial
organizations such as publishers, faculty or other individuals who
develop educational resources and are willing to share with the public
(EDUCAUSE, 2010).
OER could be offered from a single institution, such as when a
college or university makes available online the resources from its
courses, or they can be collections of materials gathered from
individuals or departments from a wide range of separate institutions.
Instructors and individual learners can download OER and use them in
formal or informal learning situations. One of the hallmarks of OER is
their flexibility; many are modular in nature, and are used in novel
combinations to suit different learning activities. Also, OER are so

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malleable, they can be adapted to keep pace not only with new
technologies but also with changes to academic disciplines and
teaching methods (EDUCAUSE, 2010).
As noted by Donkor (2011), Commonwealth of Learning sees
OER as digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators,
students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and
research. Knowledge and educational materials became accessible in
ways that were hitherto extremely restricted. The value of such
resources to educational institutions in developing countries is even
more significant considering the many challenges they face as the
resource constraints deepen and students’ intake increases.
OER include online resources, online materials and online
tools, that are accessible through the information superhighway.
Examples are web pages, open access books, open access journals,
open archives, digital repositories, journal databases, multimedia
learning resources, course wares, video clips, e-course materials, e-
lecture notes, e-learning resources, e-books, course readings, learning
contents, simulations, games, and other learning applications. Others
are syllabi, quizzes, assessment tools, and virtually any other material
that could be retrieved and used for educational purposes.
It should be noted that OERs are unique in several ways.
Although there are proliferations of online resources via the Internet,
and probably used for teaching, research and learning processes, many
are bogus, disorganized and could be misleading (Komolafe-Opadeji &
Haliso, 2012). That is why Ilo and Ifijeh (2010) see the Internet as a
‘chaotic library’ because it displays no discernable order, classification
system or categorization. It therefore poses challenges on the ability of
information users, especially undergraduate students, to distinguish
between information from referred and peer-reviewed scholarly
publications available digitally in open access and the rival vanity
press publications.
However, OERs are specifically developed for use and re-use in
the teaching and learning process. Despite the fact that they reside on
the Internet, their reliability is sure and ascertained (Amadi & Igwe,
2015), and studies show that these OERs enhance the quality of
education, as it concerns teaching, learning and research activities
across the universe (Donkor, 2011; Akomolafe & Olajire, 2014). The
use of OERs promoted access on demand by students, better contact
with the learning materials, learning at learner’s own pace and
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learner-centred approaches in teaching and learning. It facilitated the

demonstration of practical skills, through the wide range of content
the students had access to. These benefits to both learners and
teachers increased the acceptance of OER in the teaching and learning
system of universities (Donkor, 2011).
Furthermore, it appears the emergence of OERs is related to
the need to enhance functional open and distance learning for the
benefit of humanity. However, OERs are not specifically for only open
and distance learning. They are also used, re-used and applied in
conventional learning system, and all learning environments geared
towards human development, as well as improve learning outcomes,
academic performance and lifelong learning (Amadi & Igwe, 2015).
Students are set of individuals in tertiary institutions that are
studying for the award of academic certificates. They are known as
digital natives and citizens of the Internet generation because of their
interests in the online environment. These students are familiar with
ICT facilities, computers, scanners, and other digital accessories,
including the Internet for communication and socialization. They are
also prone to the use of resources of the Internet such as e-mail, World
Wide Web (WWW), social media platforms, and the like. They are
therefore required to access and use various OERs, which are available
in the online environment for learning and acquisition of knowledge.
This however, will depend on the students’ state of exposure and level
of media literacy and digital competence.
Media is all about electronic and digital means, as well as print
and artistic visuals used to transmit messages and information.
Literacy is the ability to read, write and communicate well in a given
language and specific situations. Media literacy refers to the ability to
access, analyse, evaluate and use media contents. It is a set of
competencies that enable people like students to access, critically
evaluate, use and apply media content and messages in their academic
affairs and related endeavours. Media literate students are better able
to understand the complex information received from media outlets
such as television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, books,
billboards, video games, music and all other forms of media (Media
Literacy Project, n.d). To the National Association for Media Literacy
Education (2014) media literacy entails the ability to access, analyse,
evaluate and communicate information in a variety of forms, including
print and non-print messages. Thus, media literacy represents a

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necessary, inevitable, and realistic response to the complex, ever-

changing information and communication environments that surround
man. The Center for Media Literacy (2015) adds that media literacy is
about helping students become competent, critical and literate in all
media forms so that they control the interpretation of what they see or
hear rather than letting the interpretation control them. This is
specifically, not about how to memorize facts or statistics about the
media, but rather to learn to raise the right questions about what
students are watching, reading or listening to, so as to ascertain their
credibility and reliability. That is why Terras, Ramsay and Boyle
(2013) note that opportunities associated with OERs can only be
realized if both providers and users possess and utilize the
appropriate media literacy skills that enable them to make full use of
the educational content available.
On the other hand, students are expected to possess digital
competence for the use of OER. The term competence covers
knowledge, skills and abilities for meeting complex demands in a
particular context. In this case, digital has to do with tools and
technologies of the 21st century. Some related terms such as ICT skills,
information technology skills, and digital literacy are used
interchangeably with digital competence, to describe technology-
related skills. Digital competence is associated with skills for
manipulation and use of digital tools and technologies especially ICT.
According to European Union, digital competence refers to the
confident, critical and creative use of ICT to achieve goals related to
work, employability, learning, leisure, inclusion and/or participation in
society (Punie & Cabrera, 2006). Digital competence is a transversal
key competence which, as such, enables acquisition of other key
competences (e.g. language, mathematics, learning to learn, creativity)
(Ferrari, 2013). It is amongst the so-called 21st century skills which
should be acquired by all citizens, especially students, to ensure their
active socio-economic participation in society and the economy. Digital
competence is grounded in basic skills in ICT, i.e., the use of computers
to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information,
and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the
Internet. Timmus (2014) posits that digitally competent person has
effective ICT skills, an ability to critically evaluate information, and
social awareness. In other words, students that are digitally competent
can use most common technologies and use digital resources on the
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Internet. Furthermore, digital competent students can critically

evaluate information they found online, understand internet ethics,
and consider appropriateness and reliability of online resources.
In line with the above, it can be stated that media literacy and
digital competence are essential in the present 21st century, especially
for students in tertiary institutions. Students, no doubt, need to be
media literate and also digitally competent in order to explore and use
various open educational resources that are available online for
learning and acquisition of knowledge. Upon this background, it
became pertinent to investigate the influence of media literacy and
digital competence on the use of open educational resources, using
English Language students of tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.

1.2. Background Information on Ebonyi State and Tertiary

Institutions in the State offering English Language
Programme
The area covered in the study is Ebonyi State of Nigeria. It is
specifically focused on tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State that offer
English Language programme. Thus, it was limited to all levels of
students studying English Language in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi
State. There are three institutions in Ebonyi State that run
programmes in English Language, which are Federal University,
Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI); Ebonyi State University Abakaliki (EBSU)
and Ebonyi State College of Education (COE), Ikwo. FUNAI and EBSU
have programmes leading to the award of Bachelors degree in English
Language, whereas COE Ikwo has programme leading to the award of
National Certificate in Education (NCE) in English Language.
Meanwhile, there are additional three tertiary institutions in
Ebonyi State, which are Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu (FCAI);
Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana (AIFPU), Afikpo; and
Evangel University, Abakaliki (EUA). However, these three institutions
do not have students studying English Language as a discipline. Rather
in FCAI and AIFPU, they run National Diploma (ND) and Higher
National Diploma (HND) programmes, and use of English is just
treated as general studies course. In the case of EUA, they intend to
commence degree programme in English Language in 2016/2017
academic session.

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1.3. Statement of the Problem

With the emergence and proliferations of Open Educational
Resources (OER) over a decade ago, there have been continuous
increase and growth of OER which are accessible to learners with
Internet accessibility across the universe. It is a fact that information
resources and knowledge assets, including OER will remain worthless
if they are not accessed and used. This necessitates the need for
carrying out empirical studies on utilization of instructional and
learning resources.
Meanwhile, there are series of studies on access to and use of
the OERs in developed countries (McKerlich, Ives & McGreal, 2012);
reverse is the case in developing countries like Nigeria. In other words,
there are very few studies on the use of OER in Nigeria. The study by
Okonkwo (2012) revealed that academic staff of two universities (a
state and a federal) in South-West and North-Central Nigeria have not
really embedded OER in the teaching and learning process, but are
very eager to be trained in the rudiments of OER. Ipaye and Ipaye
(2013) lamented that there are indications that stakeholders in
Nigerian universities do not know much yet about OER and the
opportunities that accrue from its use.
But the investigation of universities in South-West Nigeria by
Akomolafe and Olajire (2014) showed that undergraduate students
derived many benefits from the use of OER, especially in sharing
quality resources that facilitates learning and academic performance.
In the study by Agber (2015) involving tertiary institutions in Benue
State, it was revealed that socio-economic and institutional factors
influence use of OER among agricultural science lecturers.
So far, the few studies on the use of OER in Nigeria have not
captured South-East geo-political zone of Nigeria. The reported
findings of Okonkwo (2012), Akomolafe and Olajire (2014), and Agber
(2015) did not address factors like media literacy and digital
competence, which are 21st century issues that could influence the use
of OER by students in Nigerian tertiary institutions. In addition, there
are hardly studies that reported use of OER specifically by students of
various academic disciplines. Based on the above context, this study
was designed to explore Media Literacy, Digital Competence and
Utilization of Open Educational Resources among English Language
Students of Tertiary Institutions in Ebonyi State. These constitute the
gap the present study is proposed to fill.
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1.4. Objectives of the Study

The major purpose of the study is to ascertain the influence of
media literacy and digital competence on the use of OERs by
undergraduate students of English Language in tertiary institutions in
Ebonyi State. The specific objectives are to:
1. determine the extent of use of OER by the English Language
students of tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State;
2. ascertain the level of media literacy of these English Language
students.
3. establish the digital competence level of these students
4. ascertain the ways by which English Language students in
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State acquire media literacy and
digital competence
5. identify the challenges affecting the use of OER by these English
Language students.

1.5. Research Questions

The following questions have been posed to guide the study:
1. What is the extent of use of OER by English Language students of
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State?
2. What is the level of media literacy of these English Language
students?
3. What is the digital competence level of these English Language
students?
4. What are the ways by which English Language students in
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State acquire media literacy and
digital competence?
5. What are the challenges affecting the use of OER by these
English Language students?

1.6. Hypotheses
The study tested the following hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance.
H01 Media literacy has no significant influence on the use of open
educational resources by English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State.
H02 Digital competence has no significant influence on the use of
open educational resources by these students.
H03 Media literacy and digital competence have no significant
influence on the use of open educational resources by these students.

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1.7. Scope of the Study

The study focused on the influence of media literacy and digital
competence on the use of open educational resources by English
Language students of tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. Kinds of
OER are covered in this study, ranging from open access e-books, open
e-journals, e-course materials, multimedia resources, e-reference
materials, online instructional videos, digital repositories, educational
websites, e-libraries, social media tools, e-question papers, online
assessment tests, to massive open online courses (MOOCs).
The study was limited to all levels of students studying English
Language in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. There are three
institutions in Ebonyi State that run programmes in English Language,
which are Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI); Ebonyi State
University Abakaliki (EBSU) and Ebonyi State College of Education
(COE), Ikwo. FUNAI and EBSU have programmes leading to the award
of Bachelors degree in English Language, whereas COE Ikwo has
programme leading to the award of National Certificate in Education
(NCE) in English Language.
Meanwhile, there are additional three tertiary institutions in
Ebonyi State, which are Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu (FCAI);
Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana (AIFPU), Afikpo; and
Evangel University, Abakaliki (EUA). However, these three institutions
do not have students studying English Language as a discipline. Rather
in FCAI and AIFPU, they run National Diploma (ND) and Higher
National Diploma (HND) programmes, and use of English is just
treated as general studies course. In the case of EUA, they intend to
commence degree programme in English Language in 2016/2017
academic session.

1.8. Significance of the Study

The findings and recommendations of this study will be
significant and relevant in many ways, specifically to students,
educators and instructors, curriculum planners, and the society at
large.
There is no doubt the fact that OER are revolutionizing the
teaching and learning process of tertiary institutions across the world.
To students, access to and use of these OER enable them to succeed in
their academic endeavours. With free access to OER, students are
always kept abreast with contemporary issues associated with their
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areas of study. OER encourage learner-centered approach to learning.

Students learn at their own pace, at any time without any cost, except
the possible financial implication of accessing the Internet. Most
students cannot afford the cost of textbooks and other instructional
materials; OER is the way to make sure every student has access to
course materials free of charge. Students have easy and free access to
their instructors’ learning materials and lecture notes through OER.
OER allows students to share knowledge and skills with other students
across the globe. With OER, knowledge is not limited; students enjoy
more practical, fulfilled and productive teaching and learning process.
To educators, lecturers and instructors, access and use of OER
make them more resourceful with the capacity to impart requisite
knowledge and skills in students. The cost of production and
distribution of course materials is high but OER help reduce this cost
by creating avenue for educational instructors to download the
materials they need for teaching at a very low cost. Through OER,
educators can make their teaching materials available to other
educators and get them back updated. OER encourages the sharing of
knowledge and ideas among educators and instructors across the
globe. OER enable them deliver educational content that are
contemporary and relevant in line with the stated learning objectives
and current situation in the society, so as to produce students that will
be relevant to themselves and the society at large. Through OER,
instructors have easy access to current editions information materials
and other instructional resources. With vast availability of OER,
instructors are able to create more practical and productive learning
environments and better learning materials. Teaching and learning are
made easier and interesting for teachers with OER. Thus, the findings
of this study will enable educators and instructors to understand the
extent of using OER by students, and the possible challenges they face
in the process, and therefore contribute in addressing them.
On the part of curriculum planners and experts, the study will
ascertain the level of use of these OER by students, as well as find out if
students’ media literacy and digital competence levels influence the
use of these OER. This will therefore enable curriculum planners of
tertiary educational system to put in place measures that will facilitate
students’ free access to and use of OER for improved academic
performance and lifelong learning. In planning curriculum objective,
content, learning experiences, OER enable curriculum planners to be

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up to date, include contemporary issues that will suit the

contemporary situations in the society, so as to enable students fit in
the society with the knowledge they acquired in school. Knowledge of
OER will serve as guide to curriculum planners to put up appropriate
policies that will encourage faculties and lecturer to create their own
indigenous OER and always make their lecture notes, course material
and other learning material feely available to students.
To the society at large, OER make it possible for society to
receive well rounded students full of knowledge and adequate skills to
contribute positively to the society. OER expose every individual in the
society to proper and adequate knowledge about themselves and the
society they are in thereby curbing corruption and crime.
Finally, the report of this study will add to already existing
scholarly findings and literature on OER in Nigeria that would be of
immense benefit to scholars and researchers in the future.

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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction
The review of literature related to this study was discussed under
the following sub-headings: Conceptual framework of the study, concept
and nature of open educational resources, concept and nature of media
literacy, concept of digital competence, theoretical framework, review of
empirical studies, and summary of literature reviewed.

2.2. Conceptual Framework of the Study (Diagrammatical

Representation)
The key variables that are central to this study are utilization of
open educational resources (dependent variable), media literacy and
digital competence (independent variables), whereas English Language
students are the subject of investigation. These concepts are briefly
described as follows:
 Utilization of Open Educational Resources: OER are learning
resources that are freely available online which can be accessed
and used in order to actualize learning objectives. Utilization of
OER means putting into actual use the accessed and retrieved
OER by students for addressing their academic tasks and
satisfaction of their information needs.
 Media Literacy: Literacy is generally seen as the ability to read,
write, speak and listen in a way that allows an individual to
communicate effectively. It is also described as the ability to
identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and
compute, using printed and written materials in varying contexts.
Such literacy could also mean knowledge and competence in a
specified area, like media literacy. Media Literacy is the ability to
access, analyse, evaluate, use and communicate information and
content created and disseminated by various kinds of media.
 Digital Competence: Competence is all about the knowledge, skills
and ability to do something well. Digital Competence therefore
entails an aggregate of knowledge, skills and abilities for
manipulating and using computer systems, digital tools and
technologies, multimedia devices and navigating the Internet.
 English Language Students: This refers to students in tertiary
institutions that are undergoing academic programme leading to
the award of academic certificates such as Bachelors degree and
National Certificate of Education in English Language.

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The variables, media literacy, digital competence and utilization of

open educational resources were then subjected to a diagrammatical
representation (i.e. the conceptual framework) in order to describe
the direction of the study.

Media Literacy
(ability to
understand, access, Utilization of
evaluate, use & Open
Educational
create media content)
Resources
(open access e-
books, e-journals,
e-course
materials,
Digital Competence
learning videos, &
(ability to use
online quiz/ tests)
computer, office
applications, e-mails,
WWW, social media,
storage devices)

Figure I: Media Literacy, Digital Competence and Utilization of

Open Educational Resources Framework
(Source: Researcher-Designed)

The message in the diagrammatical representation is that

utilization of OER will be influenced by media literacy level and digital
competence level of the users, separately. Then, in the arrow linking
media literacy with digital competence and vice versa, it means that
the combination of the two independent variables (i.e. media literacy
and digital competence) will collectively influence the extent of
utilization of OERs by the research subjects, which are undergraduate
English Language students in Ebonyi State.

2.3. Concept and Nature of Open Educational Resources

As earlier noted, the concept of Open Educational Resources
(OER) emerged as a result of the open access movements that started
over a decade ago with the aim of promoting and facilitating free

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online access to information resources and knowledge assets of man

worldwide through the Internet. OER are online and digital
information resources such as open access journals, open access
books, open access databases, open archives, web pages, course wares,
multimedia learning resources, e-lecture notes, and other e-resources
developed by individuals, organisations and associations for teaching,
learning and research, and are accessible through the Internet.
Utilisation of OER by students is the actual use of identified, accessed,
evaluated and synthesized OER in line with principles of information
ethics, for problem solving, satisfaction of information needs as well as
addressing other related academic issues.

2.4. Concept and Nature of Media Literacy

Media Literacy (ML) involves the ability to access, analyse,
evaluate, critique and digest information created and disseminated by
media of various kinds. It can also be referred as the ability to encode
and decode the symbols transmitted via media, and the ability to
synthesize, analyze and produce mediated information and messages.
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
(2014) posits that the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and
communicate information in a variety of forms is interdisciplinary by
nature. Thus, media literacy represents a necessary, inevitable, and
realistic response to the complex, ever-changing electronic
environment and communication variables that surround man in the
society. It is a constellation of life skills that are necessary for full
participation in our media-saturated, information-rich and knowledge-
driven society. The Centre for Media Literacy (2011, p.1) provides an
elaborate description of ML thus:
Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It
provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and
participate with messages in a variety of forms, from print to
video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of
the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry
and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.

It can be inferred that the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and also
create media messages has become a set of essential skills in the 21 st
Century. Media literate individuals, such as students, youth and adults
are better able to understand the complex messages from television,

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radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video

games, music, and all other forms of media (Media Literacy Project,
n.d.). Therefore, to become a successful student, responsible citizen,
productive worker, or competent and conscientious consumer,
individuals need to develop expertise with the increasingly
sophisticated information and communication media that address us
on a multi-sensory level, affecting the way we think, feel, and behave.
Media literacy empowers people to be both critical thinkers, rational
and creative users of an increasingly wide range of messages such as
images, languages and sounds. It is the skillful application of literacy
skills to media and technology information and messages. Media
literacy skills help individuals, youth, adults and specifically students
to:
i. develop critical thinking skills;
ii. understand how media messages shape our culture and
society;
iii. identify target marketing strategies;
iv. recognize what the media maker wants us to believe or do;
v. name the techniques of persuasion used;
vi. recognize bias, spin, misinformation, and lies;
vii. discover the parts of the content that are not being told;
viii. evaluate media messages based on experiences, skills, beliefs,
and values;
ix. create and distribute our own media messages; and
x. advocate for a changed media system (Media Literacy Project,
n.d.)
In addition, media literacy enables children, adolescents, students and
young adults to interpret the content of media outlets accordingly, and
apply appropriate measures and approach in responding and using the
content.
The concept of media literacy has also received many other
descriptions and conceptualisations. This may not be unconnected
with the existence of the media over the years, with continuous
evolvements. Jolls and Wilson (2015) traced the development of media
literacy and summed up that it has survived over the years, till our
present society that is explosively encountering all forms of media
outlets and messages; thus summed up that it has survived over the
years, till the present new media and sophisticated media technologies
around.

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Meanwhile, information content exist in various media

formats, such as print, electronic, visual, audio-visual, digital, online
and virtual. Thus, the media include books, newspapers, magazines,
radio, television, movies, videos, billboards, recorded music, video
games, and everything available via the Internet (Scheibe & Rogow,
2008). These forms of media convey messages; thus, the arrival of
media literacy, which is the focus of this paper.
Onumah (2008) posits that media literacy is the ability to
review, critique and digest information created and disseminated by
media of various kinds, which is a vital skill for young people in many
countries. In this regard, the National Film and Video Censors Board of
Nigeria (2011) sees media literacy as the ability to critically consume
and analyze the contents of the media to avoid negative effect of what
we see from various media that come our ways on daily basis. To Ende
and Udende (2011), the theoretical base of media literacy is rooted in
key concepts, thereby giving teachers a common language and a
framework for discussion. These include: all media are constructions,
audience negotiate meaning in the media, media have commercial
implications, media contain ideological and value messages, media
have social and political implications, and the likes. The heart of media
literacy is informed inquiry and critical thinking about the media,
involving awareness, analysis, reflection and action.
Media literacy also imply the ability to interpret and create
personal meaning from the hundreds, even thousands of verbal and
visual symbols we take in everyday through television, radio,
computers, newspapers and magazines, and of course advertising. It is
the ability to choose and select, the ability to challenge and question,
the ability to be conscious about what is going on around and not be
passive and vulnerable (Cooper, 2002). Thus, in the old days, people
got most of their information through books, with focus on literacy and
learning to read print. Nowadays, with cable television, satellite
networks and video streaming on the web, viewers are bombarded
with a blinding array of verbal and visual messages. Various open
resources and content flow on the Internet, thus creating an urgent
need to become "literate" about the media. It is no longer enough to
simply read and write. Students must also become literate in the
understanding of media images and messages. Our children need to
learn how to spot a stereotype, isolate a social cliché, and distinguish
facts from propaganda, analysis from banter and important news from
coverage (Cooper, 2002), and most importantly, relevant OERs from
vanity press publications.

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2.5. Concept of Digital Competence

The concept of digital competence is associated with skills and
abilities for manipulating and using ICTs. To European Commission
(cited in Punie & Cabrera, 2006), digital competence involves the
confident and critical use of ICTs, which may be for employment,
learning, self- development and general participation in society.
According to Ferrari (2013), digital competence is a transversal key
competence which enables acquiring other key competences (e.g.
language, mathematics, learning to learn, creativity). It is amongst the
so-called 21st century skills which should be acquired by all citizens,
especially students, to ensure their active socio-economic participation
in society.
YouthPass (2015) posits that digital competence implies the
use of ICT in both free and working time, and as a means of
communication. Producing, storing, analysing information, sharing
information via Internet, using different media means as mobile
phones, digital cameras, and the like constitute digital competence. An
individual like student using different digital tools for preparing,
realizing, and evaluating information, initiatives, projects and
disseminating the results are said to be engaging in the application of
their digital competence. Other examples of digital competence are:
searching in the internet for information; using computer for filling an
application form; learning new computer programmes and
applications; communicating via e-mail; and using the Internet,
mobiles phones, digital cameras and other ICT-based media.
The application of an individual’s digital competence, like
students, may lead to asking questions like:
 Which digital media (computer, telephone, Internet, camera,
etc.) did one use for preparation of academic seminars?
 How did one collect, store and work with information and data
in research projects? Did one use the Internet for it?
 What new computer programmes and applications did one use
to learn?
 By what digital means did one communicate with his team and
partners? Did he/she create any communication network?
 By what concrete actions did one take to improve the use of
digital media? Is it self-learning approach or with the
assistance of others?

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 What are the challenges in working with such digital tools and
technologies?
 How did one develop his confidence in using digital media?
(YouthPass, 2015, p.2).
Digital competence involve skills, concepts, attitudes, and approaches
associated with searching information, retrieving information,
evaluating information, sharing online content and other skills that
involve the use of digital tools, computing technologies and Internet
communications. In other words, digital competence covers set of
knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required when using ICT,
digital media and tools to perform tasks, solve problems,
communicate, manage information, collaborate, create and share
content; and build knowledge for work leisure, participation, learning,
socializing, consuming and empowerment. The diagramme below
shows an overview of digital competence.

Source: www.ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com

Analysis of the above diagram shows that digital competence covers

technical skills to use digital technologies; abilities to use digital
technologies in a meaningful way for working, studying and for
everyday life; abilities to critically evaluate digital technologies; and

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motivations to participate in digital-related cultures in the society,

such as social computing, internet navigations and online
communications.

2.6. Theoretical Framework

Theoretical framework looks at explanation of theories that are
relevant and related to a particular study. The two theories very
relevant and directly related to this study are Information Utilization
Theory (IUT) by Neelemeghan (1981) and Itoga (1992), as well as
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davies (1989).
Information utilization theory (IUT), propounded by
Neelemeghan (1981) and Itoga (1992), is a theory that argues that
pattern of access and use of information is not equal to all classes of
users and the capacity to use equally differs among individuals in the
society. This difference could be according to individual’s profession,
occupation, gender, age, culture, education or social status. The
difference in the level of information utilization among individuals
could be attributed to extent of provision, availability, accessibility,
utility of the information. Thus, does the information user have access
to it, and if it is accessible, is it in the language and format
understandable to the user? Uhegbu (2009) writes that information
utilization theory is attributed to Neelemeghan (1981) and Itoga
(1992). This theory is relevant to this study because it is on the use of
open educational resources (OER); and the use of OER depend on the
capacity of the undergraduate students with respect to their level of
media literacy and digital competence.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is an information
systems theory that models how users come to accept and use a
technology. The TAM theory, propounded by Davis (1989), argues that
when users are presented with a new technology, a number of factors
influence their decision on the use of such technology, notably
perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use (See Figure II for
details).

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Figure II. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Source: Davis (1989)

Perceived usefulness is the degree to which a person believes that

using a particular technology or system would enhance his or her job
performance, and perceived ease-of-use is the degree to which an
individual believes that using a technology would be free from effort
(Davis, 1989). This theory is relevant to use of open educational
resources (OER), because OER are products of technology. In other
words, OERs are new technology and products of ICT, so the perceived
usefulness may be for learning and acquisition of knowledge by the
students, where as perceived ease-of-use may be due to possession of
media literacy and digital competence for result-oriented use of OER.
Thus, this theory is very relevant, as the use of OER may be influenced
by students’ level of media literacy and digital competence.

2.7. Review of Empirical Studies

Studies on the utilisation of various types of OER such as open
access journals, e-resources, online resources, e-journals, e-books,
internet, web pages and the likes have been reported in the literature.
Hughes (2005) studied the use of online information resources by
international students at Central Queensland University Australia.
Both undergraduates (UG) and postgraduates (PG) which are 12 in
number from countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Mexico,
Thailand, Poland, Israel and England constituted the study population.
Structured interviews were used for data collection, and participants
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reported strong ICT skills, extensive use of the Internet as general

purpose online source, and moderate use of journal databases. It was
also found that the students lack search and evaluation skills, thereby
signifying the need for instructions, which the author advocated for all
students.
In India, Dhingra and Mahajan (2007) investigated the use of e-
journals by 150 users comprising PG students, research scholars and
faculty members of Panjab University India. Survey research design
was adopted, with questionnaire used for data collection. Findings
show that the respondents use e-journals mainly on daily basis for
their research works; and factors such as timeless availability, easy
search and accessibility, hyperlinks to references and access from
different locations accounted for their satisfaction with the use of e-
journals.
Millawithanachi (2012) carried out a study at the University of
Colombo in Sri Lanka to ascertain critical success factors (CSFs) on
usage of e-resources by 302 PG students in seven faculties of the
university. Questionnaire was used for data collection and multiple
regression analysis used to determine the relationship of the CSFs with
overall e-resources usage. The study found that technology, library
support, information literacy, computer competency, usefulness and
user attitudes were identified as CSFs for using digital and e-resources
for learning. It therefore recommended for priority in developing ICT
infrastructures in the university.
In Uganda, Kinengyere (2007) conducted a study on usage of e-
resources in academic and research institutions in the country, with
focus on Makerere University, Martyrs University Nkozi, and National
Agricultural Advisory Services. Data was collected using interview
involving two library staff in charge of e-resources and ten students or
researchers from each institution. In addition, user statistics for 2004-
2005 and IL training sessions conducted were part of the main sources
of information used in the study. The usage statistics were compiled
and interpreted, and the findings show that some of the available
resources have not been utilized at all. This means that users are not
aware of the availability of such e-resources, they do not know how to
access them or they do not know what the e-resources have to offer;
thus pointing to the fact that availability of information resources does
not mean actual use. The author recommended continuous training for
the users and researchers.
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Still in Uganda, Gakibayo, Ikoja-Odongo and Okello-Obura (2013)

assessed the utilisation of e-resources in Mbarara University by 266
undergraduates. Data was collected with the use of questionnaire,
documentary analysis and interview guide. The study found that
utilisation of e-resources was poor with search engines as the most
frequently used OER on weekly basis. The utilisation as discovered in the
study was not only affected by lack of computer and information literacy
skills, but also lack of enough computers and slow internet connectivity in
the university library. The study recommended, among others, a
compulsory course on IL for all students irrespective of academic
discipline.
In Nigeria, Salako and Tiamiyu (2007) surveyed the use of search
engines by PG students of the University of Ibadan resident in the hostels.
The data were collected through a structured 25-item questionnaire
administered to 327 PG students out of a population of 6525, which had
been using search engines. The response rate of the questionnaire was
75.9% and the findings revealed that google and yahoo are the most
frequently used search engines for browsing, which they learnt through
friends and by trial and error. However, only few students are aware of
the advanced and Boolean search options. The authors expressed the
continuing need for educational planners and administrators to integrate
ICT literacy content into the curricular for PG and research students in the
university.
From the medical direction, Baro, Endouware and Ubogu (2011)
investigated the awareness and use of online resources by undergraduate
medical students at Delta State University of Nigeria. Questionnaire was
used for data collection, and findings indicated that majority of the
students are not aware and hardly use the online resources related to
medicine and allied courses. The poor use was attributed to lack of user
training and information literacy programmes in the medical school.
Egberongbe (2011) examined the use and impact of e-resources
at the University of Lagos, with 182 lecturers and students as
respondents. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire
and findings showcased that e-journals, e-mail and the World Wide Web
are the most frequently used resources by the respondents.
Recommendation on user training on the use of e-resources was made by
the author.
Still on PG students, Okiki and Asiru (2011) determined factors
influencing the use of electronic information sources (EIS) by PG students
of six universities in South western Nigeria, namely University of Ibadan,

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University of Lagos, Onabisi Onabanjo University Ogun State, University

of Agriculture Abeokuta, Federal University of Technology Akure, and
Lagos State University. Questionnaire was used for data collection from
2187 respondents, and SPSS was used for data analysis. The study
identified the need to carry out research, write term papers, do course
assignments, quick access to information and the desire to excel in their
courses of study as factors influencing the use of EIS; and recommended
for increased bandwidth in the respective universities. Although the
study discussed what EIS are all about, found that more males use EIS
than females, however, it did not outline and address the exact types of
EIS used by the respondents.
Okonkwo (2012) carried out a survey on needs assessment and
use of OER with a structured questionnaire. The population consisted of
academic staff from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology
(LAUTECH) in Ogbomosho and the Federal University of Technology
(FUTA) in Minna. The sample consisted of twenty academic staff from
the two universities directly involved with the development of course
materials for distance learners. Out of the 20 participants, 19 responded
to the questionnaire items. The 19 respondents consisted of 16 males
and 3 females, with ages ranging between 31 and 56 years. They had
varied amounts of teaching experience, ranging from 2 to 25 years in
tertiary teaching as graduate lecturers in conventional institutions.
Findings reveal that the participants have used OER before (63.2%) and
they are very familiar with OER (84.2%). Their level of familiarity is also
moderately high (high, 10.5%) and (moderate, 47.4%). However, they
have not really used the various formats of OER meaningfully, and this is
obvious from their described experience of using OER, which was below
the acceptable cutoff point.
Still in Nigeria, Ivwighreghweta and Onoriode (2012a) surveyed
the use of open access (OA) journals by 50 lecturers at Western Delta
University Oghara, Delta State. The collection of data was done with the
use of questionnaire and analysed with descriptive statistics. The
findings disclosed that all the respondents (100%) have taken
advantage of OA journals via accessing, downloading, printing, using,
citing and referencing OA journals, as well as publication of their
research findings in OA outlets. This implies the acceptance of OA
movements by scholars, and determined efforts towards the
development and sustenance of OER. The study also revealed the
benefits of using OA journals such as free publications for authors,
reduction in publication delay, and easy accessibility to published

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works. The study recommended that researchers who use OA journals

should make efforts to sensitize others about them as a way of
contributing to the OA movements. Similarly, Ivwighreghweta and
Onoriode (2012b) investigated the level of awareness and use of OA
journals by Masters degree students of the Department of Library,
Archival and Information Studies, University of Ibadan. It was found that
61% of the respondents were not aware of some existing OA journals;
however majority indicated that they have accessed, downloaded,
printed, cited and referenced OA journals. They recommended the
creation of awareness about OA journals through collaborations with
the university library and other stakeholders.
Adetimirin (2012) conducted a study on the ICT literacy skills of
undergraduate students in seven Nigerian universities. Descriptive
survey research design was adopted, four faculties purposely selected
from the universities with a study population of 8,497. Random
sampling procedure was employed using a sampling percentage of 20%
to give a sample size of 1,702. Results revealed that computers,
telephone and Internet were the three ICT mostly used by the
undergraduates, mainly on occasional basis. Students in state
universities were found to have poor ICT literacy, compared to those in
federal universities with moderate ICT skills. Major factors affecting ICT
literacy of the students were identified as irregular power supply,
inadequate ICT facilities and limited duration on the use of ICT. The
study suggested that university administrators should introduce more
ICT courses for increased ICT literacy, especially for first year students,
and encourage lecturers to use ICT for teaching and learning.
In another development, Ekenna and Mabawonku (2013)
studied the information retrieval skills and use of e-resources by
undergraduate students in 10 Nigerian universities. Descriptive
research design was adopted and multistage sampling technique
involving two thousand four hundred and sixty nine 400-level
undergraduates were used for the study. Questionnaire was the major
instrument for data collection; and PPMC, descriptive statistics, and
multiple regressions were used for data analysis. The results show that
library e-resources were not used as it should be; the Internet was the
most frequently used where as e-abstracts were the least used by the
students. It was also revealed that generally the undergraduates have
average information retrieval skills, which correlated with their extent
of use of e-resources. The study recommended constant awareness
programmes for students to use open educational resources.

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Akomolafe and Olajire (2014) examined the utilization of OER

by undergraduate students in universities in Southwest, Nigeria.
Descriptive research design was adopted with questionnaire as tool for
data collection. It was revealed that the awareness of OER and use was
moderate among the students. Their usage of OER revealed lots of
benefits to the students like sharing world learning resources and
students’ capacity building, as well as enhanced sharing of common
knowledge, course structures, access to quality learning materials and
use of real instructional materials online. Challenges such as epileptic
power supply, lack of familiarity with OER websites, and poor level of
awareness of numerous OER.
Agber (2015) assessed the use of online OERs by agricultural
science lecturers of six tertiary institutions in Benue State, Nigeria.
Survey research method was adopted with a structured questionnaire
used for data collection, which involved 193 lecturers randomly
sampled from the population of 775. Findings revealed that the
respondents possessed general computer skills, internet were accessible
to them mostly via cyber café and the OERs frequently used were e-
journals, e-books, search engines, encyclopedia, abstracts, dictionaries,
videos, pictures and graphics. Socio-economic and institutional factors
that significantly influenced the use of OERs included age and number of
years spent on formal education. Challenges perceived by the
respondents as militating against access and use of OERs were unstable
power supply, high cost of accessing and using OERs, non-subscription
of relevant online resources by their institutions, slow internet
connectivity, and lack of sponsored training from their institutions. The
study recommended for efficient internet services and subscription of
online resources by their institutions.
A study on utilization of e-learning resources by business
education students was conducted by Omoni and Ifeanyichukwu (2015)
using tertiary institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research
questions and two hypotheses were posed and formulated for the study,
with sample size of 320, out of 1603 students. Researcher-designed
instrument was used for data collection, with mean rating and z-test for
data analysis. The findings revealed that students often search for
educational resources online, and do check their results online too; they
fairly use e-books, e-journals and undertake online courses on the
Internet. It was recommended that learning management system should
be introduced in the tertiary institutions and business education

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lecturers should make their books in e-book format so as encourage

students’ utilization.
A framework for open access to knowledge was developed by Ola
(2016), and it was noted that open access plays strategic roles that can
facilitate Nigeria’s national development, but its implementation is
hindered by knowledge gap, digital divide, fear of culture erosion and
consumer partners. The study recommended, among others, that Nigeria
should develop national open access policy, open government initiatives
and OER policy; universities, other tertiary institutions, research
institutes and government agencies should adopt open access policy and
establish institutional repositories for access and use of knowledge.
Nwokolo-Ojo, Igwe and Umar (2016) studied the availability and
impact of e-learning and open educational resources on the teaching
and learning of metal work trades in technical colleges in Benue State,
Nigeria. Survey research method was adopted, with questionnaire as
tool used for data collection, involving 100 teachers in technical colleges
as research subjects. The findings showed that the resources are
available, and are making positive impact in the teaching and learning of
metal work trades in the technical colleges. The study recommended
that government should ensure that all tertiary institutions where
teachers are trained are provided with e-learning facilities and access to
OER, so as to make would-be teachers to be e-learning compliant.
Ukwuoma (2016) studied the digital literacy skills possessed by
students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the extent to
which they use the skills in their academic work. Descriptive survey
design was adopted, with structured questionnaire as instrument for
data collection. 281 copies of questionnaire were distributed, out of
which 184 (65%) responded and used for analysis. The findings showed
that students of UNN possess digital literacy skills, use same daily, and
that affected their academic performance to a great extent. The major
challenges of acquiring digital literacy skills among the students were
electricity failure, low Internet bandwidth, ICT facilities, and lack of
development of digital literacy programme and standard. The study
recommended provision of more ICT facilities to enhance literacy
learning and national development.
The use of OER by students at the University of Lagos, Nigeria
was investigated by Onaifo (2016). Mixed research method was
adopted, with 417 respondents that completed the surveys and 20
interview participants. It was found that although the students
frequently use OER, have positive attitude towards the resources and

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have benefitted from the resources in multiple ways; however, their

overall knowledge of the OER and awareness of OER repositories was
limited. In addition, various challenges inhibit their use of OER,
especially the high cost of Internet access. The study developed a model
of OER use, and urged institutions and governments to facilitate better
use of OER in the society.
Another scholarly effort by Anikpa and Aer (2016) assessed
challenges affecting harnessing OERs for science teaching in Nigeria.
Through literature review, it was revealed that use of ICTs, poor
infrastructure, inability to develop OER locally, finding suitable and
quality OERs on the web, and availability and accessibility of ICT-based
services to teachers and students are key challenges affecting use of
OERs in Nigeria. The study recommended development of OERs that are
in line with goals of education in Nigeria, encouragement of knowledge
sharing attitude among teachers and academics, and for the government
to live up to its responsibility for functional educational resources to
thrive in the country.

2.8. Summary of Literature Review

The literature reviewed the concept of media literacy, digital
competence, and use of open educational resources, theoretical
framework, and empirical studies. The concept of media literacy
comprises description, forms of media literacy, and the importance of
media literacy. Digital competence is all about knowledge, skill and
abilities for using ICTs, navigating the Internet, and use of digital tools
and technologies for communication.
The various research findings reviewed on the use of open
educational resources (OER) cut across different types of OER like open
access books, e-resources, e-journals, open books, online materials and
online tools, that are accessible through the Internet. Others are open
access journals, open archives, digital repositories, journal databases,
multimedia learning resources, course wares, video clips, e-course
materials, e-learning resources and other learning applications.
However, in all the reviewed literature, there is yet to be a study on the
influence of media literacy and digital competence on the use of OER by
students of English Language, specifically in tertiary institutions in
South-East Nigeria. This is the gap the present study intends to fill.

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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction
The methodology covered research design, population of the
study, sample size and sampling technique, instrument for data
collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument,
procedure for data collection and method of data analysis.

3.2. Research Design

Survey research design was adopted for the study. Survey is
one of the descriptive research designs that involve systematic and
comprehensive collection of data about the opinions and behaviours of
people on a particular issue or problem.
Survey research design is appropriate for the study (Nworgu,
2015; Uzoagulu, 1998), considering the fact that the population of the
prospective respondents i.e. students, runs into thousands, spreading
across a large area like Ebonyi State. So, collecting the prospective
respondents’ opinions on the study objectives for description, analysis
and interpretation require sample. Furthermore, the study is a
correlational survey because it aims at discovering the relationships
among the variables under study.

3.3. Population of the Study

The total population of the study is 1,212. The study
population involves all undergraduate students from 100 level to 400
level in the Department of English Language in Federal University,
Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Abakaliki,
and College of Education (COE), Ikwo, all in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. As
earlier noted, other three tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State, which
are Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu (FCAI); Akanu Ibiam Federal
Polytechnic, Unwana (AIFPU), Afikpo; and Evangel University,
Abakaliki (EUA), do not have students studying English Language.
Rather in FCAI and AIFPU, they run National Diploma (ND) and Higher
National Diploma (HND) programmes, and use of English is just
treated as general studies course. In the case of EUA, they intend to
commence degree programme in English Language in 2016/2017
academic session.

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Preliminary investigations in the three institutions show that

the populations according to levels of study are as follows:

Level of FUNAI EBSU COE, Ikwo

Study
100 Level 32 123 248 (NCE I)
200 Level 26 No Student because of 193 (NCE II)
accreditation
challenge
300 Level 12 No Student because of 157 (NCE III)
accreditation
challenge
400 Level 21 400 No 400 Level
Total 91 523 598

Source: Preliminary investigation in the tertiary institutions in Ebonyi

State, 2016.
Total population of the study is 91 + 523 + 598 = 1,212

3.4. Sample and Sampling Technique

The sample for the study was 300 students selected from a
population of 1,212 in line with Krejice and Morgan (1970) formula for
determination of sample size.
Stratified sampling technique was used in selecting the sample,
so that each institution and level of study will get appropriate number
of representatives. Stratified sampling method seeks to recognize the
various strata of a study’s population. In this case, the population is
divided into strata using some criteria before a decision on the number
of members to be chosen from each of the strata is taken. Thus, the
strata do not contribute an equal number to the sample, but a number
in proportion to the expected or known sizes of these strata in a
population (Issa, 2007). The choice of stratified sampling technique is
to cover the various levels in the three departments of the two
institutions involved.

3.5. Instruments for Data Collection

Questionnaire was the major instrument for data collection.
The questionnaire was drafted with modified four-point likert scale.
This is to ascertain the level of agreement of the prospective research
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subjects with the points raised in the research questions and for the
test of hypotheses.
The questionnaire has the following content:
 Demographic characteristics (gender, institution and level of
study)
 Extent of utilization of OER (12 items, with four-point scale)
 Level of Media Literacy (12 items, with four-point scale)
 Level of Digital Competence (12 items, with four-point scale)
 Ways Students acquire Media Literacy and Digital Competence
(12 items, with agree and disagree options)
 Challenges affecting Students’ Use of OER
(14 items, with agree and disagree options).

3.6. Validation of the Instrument

The questionnaire, which is for undergraduate students was
given face validation by experts in Curriculum and Instructional
Technology, Measurement and Evaluation, and Library and
Information Science in the College of Education, Michael Okpara
University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State. Their comments and
suggestions were considered and used, where necessary, to produce
the final draft of the instrument used for the study.

3.7. Reliability of the Instrument

For the trial testing of the instrument so as to determine the
reliability of the questionnaire, test-retest method was adopted. The
scores from the first test and the second test were then correlated in
order to establish reliability and stability of the instrument. An interval
of two weeks was given for the test-retest, using ten undergraduate
students of English Language, Abia State University, Uturu. The
calculation was done with Pearson Product Moment Correlation
(PPMC) coefficient and a reliability index of r=0.78 got, which was
considered high enough for the study (See Appendix D for details).

3.8. Method of Data Collection

The research student visited the departments in the three
institutions involved; informed the Heads of Departments about the
study, then got permission before administering the research
questionnaire on the students. the researcher instructed the
respondents on how to fill the questionnaire. The instrument was

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collected afterwards with the help of research assistance from the

institutions and sorted for further analysis.

3.9. Methods of Data Analysis

All the completed copies of the questionnaire from each
institution were verified in the field. They were collated and coded into
computer system, which were subjected to descriptive and inferential
statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions. The
Section B of the questionnaire have cluster one, two and three, which
were developed with 4-point likert scale. The benchmark mean is 2.5,
meaning that statements with mean of 2.5 and above were accepted
whereas those below 2.5 were rejected. For cluster four and five in the
same Section B, the questions were answered with frequency counts
and percentages.
For testing the hypotheses, inferential statistics were used
specifically Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC)
(for hypothesis one and two) and Multiple Regression analysis (for
hypothesis three). All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance.

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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1. Introduction
This chapter presented and discussed results of data analysis.
Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions,
whereas inferential statistics specifically PPMC (for hypothesis one
and two) and Multiple Regression (for hypothesis three) were used to
test the hypotheses, at 0.05 level of significance.

4.2. Questionnaire Distribution and Response

A total of 300 copies of the questionnaire were distributed, out
of which 284 (94%) were returned representing response rate.
However, after careful scrutiny and assessment of the returned copies,
273 (91%) were properly completed and found usable for the analysis
(See Table 4.1). The 91% validated and used for analysis was
considered adequate because the standard acceptable for most
research studies is 60% response rate (Dulle, Minish-Majanja & Cloete,
2010).

Table 4.1. Questionnaire Distribution, Response Rate and

Percentage Used for Data Analysis

Institution Copies of Copies of Copies of % of Copies

Questionna Questionn Questionn Properly
ire aire aire Completed
Distributed Returned Properly and Used
Completed for Analysis
and Used
for
Analysis
FUNAI 60 60 58 96%
EBSU 110 101 97 88%
COE, Ikwo 130 123 118 90%
Total 300 284 273 (91%) 91%
(94%)

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4.3. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

The demographic characteristics of the respondents, which are
gender, tertiary institution and level of study were shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

Gender Frequency Percentage

Male 119 43.6%
Female 154 56.4%
Total 273 100

Tertiary Institution Frequency Percentage

FUNAI 58 21.3%
EBSU 97 35.5%
COE, Ikwo 118 43.2%
Total 273 100%

Level of Study Frequency Percentage

100 level 72 26.4%
200 level 74 27.1%
300 level 41 15.0%
400 level 86 31.5%
Total 273 100%

As shown in Table 4.2, majority of the respondents are females

(154 or 56.4%) whereas the rest are males (119 or 43.6%). On their
tertiary institution, 118 (43.2%) are from COE, Ikwo, signifying the
majority, and followed by 97 (35.5%) from EBSU. However, the least
are from FUNAI with 58 or 21.3%.
On the level of study of the respondents, 400 level secured the
majority with 86 (31.5%), 200 level were 74 (27.1%), 100 level got 72
(26.4%), whereas 300 level had the least which is 41 (15.0%). This
distribution may not be unconnected with the unavailability of 300 and
200 level students in the case of EBSU due to accreditation challenges.
It should also be noted that COE Ikwo does not have students
up to 400 level. This is because National Certificate in Education (NCE)
programmes end at 300 level. In addition, the institution does not run
degree programmes, unlike sister colleges of education that
collaboratively offer degree courses in affiliation with universities.

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4.3.1. Research Question 1: What is the extent of use of OER by

English Language students of tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State?

Table 4.3.1. Extent of Use of OER by the Respondents

Extent of use of Very Very

Open Low Low High High
Educational Extent Extent Extent Extent
Resources (OER) (1) (2) (3) (4) Mean Remark
Open access books
1 (e-books) 101 64 69 39 2.17 Reject
Open access
journals
2 (e-journals) 91 74 78 30 2.17 Reject
Open access thesis
and dissertations
3 (e-thesis) 123 43 59 48 2.12 Reject
e-Course materials
and e-Lecture
4 notes 73 89 55 56 2.34 Reject
Online instructional
videos/ teaching &
5 learning videos 81 109 63 20 2.08 Reject
Open archives and
digital
6 repositories 124 75 51 23 1.90 Reject
Multimedia
learning resources
and reference
7 materials 85 60 91 37 2.29 Reject
Massive Open
Online Courses
8 (MOOCs) 120 68 35 50 2.05 Reject
e-Quizzes and
online assessment
9 tests 105 99 54 15 1.92 Reject
E-Question papers
and sample
10 answers 82 75 63 53 2.32 Reject
Educational
websites and open
11 e-libraries 50 50 112 61 2.67 Accept
Social media tools
e.g YouTube, Face
12 book, Twitter 24 31 116 102 3.08 Accept
Grand Mean 2.26 Reject

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Table 4.3.1 shows the extent of use of OER by the respondents. With
the exception of item 11 and 12 which are educational websites and
open e-libraries, and social media tools (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter)
having mean scores of 2.67 and 3.08 respectively, it can be seen that
the extent of use OER by the students is generally poor. This was
justified by the grand mean of 2.26, which is below the benchmark.

4.3.2. Research Question 2: What is the level of media literacy of

English Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State?

Table 4.3.2. Level of Media Literacy of the Respondents

Very Very
I have the Low Low Great Great
ability/capability Extent Extent Extent Extent
to … (1) (2) (3) (4) Mean Remark
1 understand media
messages that
82 62 78 51 2.36 Reject
shape beliefs and
values
2 access and use
information from
47 48 109 69 2.73 Accept
various media
types and sources
3 analyse media
messages in order
80 68 55 70 2.42 Reject
to get the point of
view
4 critically evaluate
media content for
91 99 36 47 2.14 Reject
objectivity or
otherwise
5 recognize possible
bias or
85 110 48 30 2.08 Reject
misinformation in
a media message
6 understand what
media maker
wants audience to
53 78 92 50 2.51 Accept
believe

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7 create media
messages using
102 80 45 46 2.13 Reject
persuasion
technique
8 disseminate
created media
91 75 49 58 2.27 Reject
messages via
media outlets
9 understand the
marketing
66 93 58 56 2.38 Reject
strategy used in a
media message
10 understand that
all media are
constructions
with ideologies,
108 65 56 44 2.13 Reject
and possible
commercial, social
and political
implications
11 critically evaluate
effects of media
83 96 52 42 2.19 Reject
messages on the
society
12 evaluate media
contents
thoroughly before 125 50 51 47 2.07 Reject
use and
application
Grand Mean 2.29 Reject

The level of media literacy of the respondents is shown in Table 4.3.2.

Out of the twelve items measured, ten fell below the benchmark mean
of 2.5. The remaining two, which are ability to access and use
information from various media types and sources (mean score = 2.73)
as well as the ability to understand what media maker wants audience
to believe (mean score = 2.51) are above the benchmark mean. This
finding implies that generally the level of media literacy of the
respondents is very poor and unsatisfactory. This was buttressed by
the grand mean of 2.29, which is also below the benchmark.

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4.3.3. Research Question 3: What is the digital competence level of

English Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State?

Table 4.3.3. Digital Competence Level of the Respondents

Very Very
Low Low High High
I have the ability/capability Extent Extent Extent Extent
to … (1) (2) (3) (4) Mean Remark
start up, log on and shut
1 down computer systems 23 24 80 146 3.28 Accept
use mouse pointing devices
2 and keyboards 25 16 84 148 3.30 Accept
use word processing tools
(Ms word) for creating
3 documents 39 57 87 90 2.84 Accept
use Microsoft excel for
calculations, drawing tables
4 and charts 62 66 75 70 2.56 Accept
use Power point for
preparing slides and
5 making presentations 59 70 64 80 2.60 Accept
use e-mails for composing,
sending and receiving
6 messages 20 34 115 104 3.11 Accept
use search engines for
finding information on the
7 web 25 46 86 116 3.07 Accept
navigate the World Wide
Web for documents and
8 images 26 43 88 116 3.08 Accept
copy files/documents from
hard disks to other storage
9 devices 23 36 84 130 3.18 Accept
create folders on
computers for storing &
10 retrieving documents 34 42 78 119 3.03 Accept
use printers, scanners,
compact disks and other
11 digital devices 17 41 128 87 3.04 Accept
use social media tools for
online communications
(e.g. Face book, twitter,
12 YouTube,) 9 22 121 121 3.30 Accept
Grand Mean 3.03 Accept

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The level of digital competence of the respondents is shown in Table

4.3.3. All mean scores of the twelve items used in measuring the digital
competence level of the students are above 2.5. In addition, the grand
mean is 3.03, which is also above the benchmark mean of 2.5. The
implication is that the respondents have a very reasonable level of
digital competence.

4.3.4. Research Question 4: What are the ways by which English

Language students in Ebonyi State acquire media literacy and
digital competence?

Table 4.3.4. Ways the Respondents Acquire Media Literacy and

Digital Competence
I acquired Media Literacy and
Digital Competence through: Agree Disagree
Course(s) on Media Literacy and
1 Digital Competence 99 (36%) 174 (64%)
Course(s) on Use of Library and
2 Information Sources 127 (47%) 146 (53%)
Course(s) on Basics of
Computers Systems
3 /Information Technologies 144 (53%) 129 (47%)
Use of computers and laptops in
ICT centres/ cybercafes in the
4 university 185 (68%) 88 (32%)
Use of University Library and
5 guidance from library staff 131 (48%) 142 (52%)
Internet navigation via
cybercafés and personal
6 computers 199 (73%) 74 (27%)
7 Use of Social Media 229 (84%) 44 (16%)
Assistance from friends, relatives
8 and colleagues 176 (64%) 97 (36%)
9 Trial and error approach 180 (66%) 93 (34%)
10 Self-study with user guide 211 (77%) 62 (23%)
Reading books on Media,
Communications, ICT and Digital
11 Competence 142 (52%) 131 (48%)
Seminars and workshops on
Media Literacy, ICT and Digital
12 Competence 135 (49%) 138 (51%)
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As shown in Table 4.3.4., the major avenues through which the

respondents acquired media literacy and digital competence are use of
social media (84%), self study with user guide (77%), Internet
navigation via cybercafés and personal computers (73%), use of
computers and laptops in ICT centres/cybercafés (68%), trial and
error approach (66%), as well as assistance from friends and relatives
(64%). Unfortunately, course(s) on basics of computers
systems/information technologies (53%), use of libraries and
information sources (47%), as well as media literacy and digital
competence (36%) do not make significant impact in the overall level
of media literacy and digital competence of the respondents.

4.3.5. Research Question 5: What are the challenges affecting the

use of OER by the English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State?

Table 4.3.5. Challenges affecting Use of OER by the Respondents

Challenges affecting Use of Open Agree Disagree
Educational Resources (OER)
1 I am not aware of free access to
learning materials online 158 (58%) 115 (42%)
2 I am not familiar with OER
websites in my area/field of study 192 (70%) 81 (30%)
3 Lack of awareness on the
availability of OERs like MIT open
course ware 168 (62%) 105 (38%)
4 I am not aware that teaching and
learning videos could be watched
online 111 (41%) 162 (59%)
5 Lack of personal computers for
downloading and using OERs 164 (60%) 109 (40%)
6 My institution’s library website
does not have links to OERs 177 (65%) 96 (35%)
7 Internet services and browsing
facilities are very poor in my
institution 166 (61%) 107 (39%)
8 I cannot access the Internet for
OERs due to poor digital
competence 143 (52%) 130 (48%)
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9 Poor electricity supply affects

access to and use of OERs 174 (64%) 99 (36%)
10 Subscription to Internet data is
expensive for accessing and using
OERs 196 (72%) 77 (28%)
11 I do not have positive attitude
towards use of OERs 87 (32%) 186 (68%)
12 I do not have requisite
information literacy skills for
using OERs 177 (65%) 96 (35%)
13 Lecture notes and course
materials are hardly found in
OERs 196 (72%) 77 (28%)
14 Most locally produced learning
materials are not integrated in
OERs 203 (74%) 70 (26%)

Table 4.3.5 indicated the various challenges affecting use of

OER by the respondents. The key challenges are that most locally
produced learning materials are not integrated in OERs (74%),
Subscription to Internet data is expensive for accessing and using
OERs (72%), lecture notes and course materials are hardly found in
OERs (72%), non-familiarity and lack of awareness with OER websites
in the respondents’ field of study (70%), tertiary institution’s library
website does not have links to OERs (65%), poor information literacy
skills for using OER (65%), and epileptic power supply (64%), among
others.
It is also interesting and worthwhile that a good number of the
respondents rejected the idea of not having positive attitude towards
use of OER (68%). In other words, they are interested in accessing and
using OER in their learning process, bearing in mind that 21st
education is based on problem-based learning (PBL). Such PBL
approach lies on the capacity of learners to access and use learning
resources and apply them in their learning process in order to
actualize the learning objectives and outcome.

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4.4. Test of Hypotheses

This section presents the results of analysis of the three null
hypotheses that were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of
significance. The results are presented in sequence as shown below.

Hypothesis 1
H01 – Media literacy has no significant influence on the use of open
educational resources by English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State.
The outcome of this hypothesis tested using Pearson’s
Correlation analysis at 0.05 level of significance is summarized in
Table 4.4.1.

Table 4.4.1. Correlation Analysis between Media Literacy and Use

of OERs by English Language Students in Tertiary Institutions in
Ebonyi State

Correlations
Media Literacy Use of OERs
Media Literacy Pearson Correlation 1 .996**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 273 273
Use of OERs Pearson Correlation .996** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 273 273
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The correlation value of 0.996 indicates a very strong positive

relationship between media literacy and the use of open educational
resources by English Language students in tertiary institutions in
Ebonyi State. Also, since the p-value 0.000 is less than 0.05
(significance level), the null hypothesis is rejected and concludes with
95% confidence that media literacy has a significant influence on the
use of open educational resources by English Language students in
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.

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Hypothesis 2
H02 – Digital competence has no significant influence on the use of
open educational resources by English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State.
The outcome of hypothesis two tested using Pearson’s
Correlation analysis at 0.05 level of significance is summarized in
Table 4.4.2.

Table 4.4.2. Correlation Analysis between Digital Competence and

Use of OERs by English Language Students in Tertiary Institutions
in Ebonyi State

Correlations

Digital Competence Use of OERs

Digital Comp. Pearson Correlation 1 .911**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 273 273
Use of OERs Pearson Correlation .911** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 273 273
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The correlation value of 0.911 indicates a very strong positive

relationship between digital competence and the use of open
educational resources by English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State. Also, since the p-value 0.000 is less than
0.05 (significance level), the null hypothesis is rejected and concludes
with 95% confidence that digital competence has a significant
influence on the use of open educational resources by English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.

Hypothesis 3
H03 – Media literacy and digital competence will not have significant
influence on the use of open educational resources by English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State

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The outcome of hypothesis three tested using multiple

regression analysis at 0.05 level of significance is summarized in the
following tables.

Table 4.4.3(a). Descriptive Statistics for Regression Analysis

Descriptive Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
Use of OERs 27.1099 11.74776 273
Media Literacy 27.4286 12.46065 273
Digital Comp. 36.3883 11.08371 273

Table 4.4.3(b). Model Summary Table for Regression Analysis

Model Summaryb
Adjusted R Std. Error of
Model R R Square Square the Estimate Durbin-Watson
a
1 .996 .993 .993 .99932 .193
a. Predictors: (Constant), Digital Competence, Media Literacy
b. Dependent Variable: Use of OERs

Table 4.4.3(c). Relative Contributions and Prediction of the

Independent Variables on the Dependent Variable

Coefficients a
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients Correlations
Std. Zero-
Model B Error Beta t Sig. order Partial Part
1 (Constant) .471 .235 2.007 .046
Media Literacy .890 .011 .944 78.181 .000 .996 .979 .403
Digital Comp. .061 .013 .058 4.803 .000 .911 .281 .025
a. Dependent Variable: Use of OERs
R2 = 0.993
Use of OERs = 0.471 + 0.890 Media Literacy + 0.061 Digital
Competence

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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

The above table (coefficients) shows that a positive and

significant relationship exists between media literacy, digital
competence and use of open educational resources by English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. In other
words, it can be concluded that Media literacy and digital competence
have a significant influence on the use of open educational resources
by English Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
The coefficient of determination value is 0.993 or 99% this implies that
both media literacy and digital competence have 99 percent influence
or contribution over the use of open educational resources by English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.

Table 4.4.3(d). ANOVA Table for Regression Analysis with

Summary of Joint Effect of Media Literacy and Digital Competence
on Use of OERs
ANOVAb
Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 37269.071 2 18634.536 18659.96 .000a
1
Residual 269.632 270 .999
Total 37538.703 272
a. Predictors: (Constant), Digital Competence, Media Literacy
b. Dependent Variable: Use of OERs

The analysis of variance table (ANOVA) depicts F-calculated value of

18659.961 with a probability value (sig.) of 0.000. This implies that
media literacy and digital competence have significant influence on the
use of open educational resources by English Language students in
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. This conclusion was made since
the p-value of 0.000 is less than the significance level of 0.05.

4.5. Discussion of Findings

The findings of this study were discussed based on the
research questions raised and answered as well as the hypotheses
formulated and tested.

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

4.5.1. Extent of Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) by the

Respondents
Findings from Table 4.3.1, revealed that the use of OER is very
poor among the students. The major exceptions were educational
websites and open e-libraries and social media tools like YouTube,
Facebook and Twitter. The inadequate use of OER among the students
is a thing to worry about, knowing too well that these OER are
contributing tremendously to the advancement of education across the
universe. This poor use of OER aligns with the earlier findings of
Gakibayo, Ikoja-Odongo and Okello-Obura (2013), Ekenna and
Mabawonku (2013), Omoni and Ifeanyichukwu (2015), which stated
that the poor utilization of OER was not only as a result of lack of
computer and information literacy skills but also lack of enough
computers and slow internet connectivity in the university libraries.
This is also applicable to the universities in Ebonyi state used as area of
study. Among other challenges, most of these English Language students
in Ebonyi state are not aware of contemporary search strategies and
lack knowledge of online information search.

4.5.2. Level of Media Literacy of the Respondents

The level of media literacy of the students was found to be very
poor, except the ability to access and use information from various
media types as well as capability of understanding what media maker
wants the audience to believe (as shown in Table 4.3.2). This is an issue
of concern, considering that students of English language should be
versatile with all forms of the media for communication. The study by
Adetimirin (2012) concurs with this finding that poor media literacy
among undergraduate students in Nigeria.

4.5.3. Digital Competence Level of the Respondents

The digital competence levels of the students were found to be
high. This is a welcome development, and may be in connection with the
fact that students of nowadays are digital natives. Digital natives in the
sense that they want virtually everything they do be via computer
systems, hand-held electronic devices and the Internet. Unfortunately,
the high level of digital competence of the students did not result to
extensive use of OER, thereby contradicting the findings of Ukwuoma
(2016) that majority of students indicated that digital literacy affected
their use of online resources for academic performance to a high extent.
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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

4.5.4. Ways the Respondents Acquire Media Literacy and Digital

Competence
There are many channels through which one can acquire media
literacy and digital competence. As shown in Table 4.3.4., use of social
media was the main avenue through which the respondents acquired
media literacy and digital competence. This was followed by self study
with user guide, Internet navigation via cybercafés and personal
computers, use of computers and laptops in ICT centres/cybercafés,
trial and error approach, as well as assistance from friends and
relatives. Meanwhile, courses on basics of computers
systems/information technologies, use of libraries and information
sources, as well as media literacy and digital competence appear not
making significant impact in the overall level of media literacy and
digital competence of the respondents.
There is the need for functional education and training of
students on acquisition of requisite skills for effective use of OER. This
is in agreement with the submission of Egberongbe (2011)

4.5.5. Challenges Affecting Use of OER by the Respondents

Table 4.3.5 indicated the various challenges affecting use of
OER by the respondents. The key challenges are that most locally
produced learning materials are not integrated in OER, subscription to
Internet data is expensive for accessing and using OER, lecture notes
and course materials are hardly found in OER, non-familiarity and lack
of awareness with OER websites in the respondents’ field of study,
tertiary institution’s library website does not have links to OER, poor
information literacy skills for using OER, and epileptic power supply.
These are in tandem with the challenges unraveled by Adetimirin
(2012), Oniafo (2016), and Ukwuoma (2016).

4.5.6. Correlation of Media Literacy, Digital Competence and Use

of OER by the Respondents
Test of hypotheses revealed that media literacy and digital
competence, both individually and collectively, influenced the use of
OER by the English Language students. The implication is that if the
media literacy and digital competence levels of the students are
improved the more, and the challenges identified addressed, it would
result to extensive use of OER for academic purposes that can enhance
performance and actualization of learning outcome by the students.

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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Summary of Findings

Based on the results of analysis of the research questions and
hypotheses, the following are findings made:
1. The extent of use of Open Educational Resources (OER) is very
poor and unsatisfactory among the English Language students
in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
2. There is poor level of media literacy among the English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
3. Digital competence level is very high among the English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
Unfortunately, this could not result to high level use of OER;
and as such could be attributed to challenges affecting use of
OER.
4. The major ways English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State acquired media literacy and digital
competence were through use of social media, self study with
user guide, Internet navigation via cybercafés and personal
computers, use of computers and laptops in ICT
centres/cybercafés, trial and error approach, as well as
assistance from friends and relatives.
5. The key challenges affecting use of OER among English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State were
that most locally produced learning materials are not
integrated in OER, subscription to Internet data is expensive
for accessing and using OER, lecture notes and course
materials are hardly found in OER, non-familiarity and lack of
awareness with OER websites in the respondents’ field of
study, tertiary institution’s library website does not have links
to OER, poor information literacy skills for using OER, and
epileptic power supply.
6. There is a strong significant and positive influence of media
literacy on use of OER among English Language students in
tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
7. There is also significant and positive influence of digital
competence on use of OER among English Language students
in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.
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 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH PROJECTS BY STUDENTS

8. The combination of media literacy and digital competence

significantly influenced the use of OER among English
Language students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State.

5.2. Implications of the Study

The findings of this study have implications in tertiary
education in Nigeria. OER of various kinds and types are making
significant impact in education, training and human development
across the universe. This however depends on the extent of use of
these OER, which are domiciled on the online environment and are
freely accessible to all and sundry, including students and their
lecturers. Even with the arrival of many MOOCs, people acquire
knowledge, skills and competences at their pace, with or without
certification. Unfortunately, the use of these OER and their various
types, as revealed in this study, are very poor among English Language
Students in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. This is an issue of
concern.
Media literacy knowledge and skills are essential and required
for use of OER. But unfortunately, the students surveyed have poor
media literacy level. This needs to be addressed through media literacy
education. On the other hand, the possession of high digital
competence among the students did not result to extensive use of OER.
In addition, the challenges affecting use of OER are many including
absence of indigenous course materials in OER repositories; and
therefore need to be looked into, as well, among others.

5.3. Conclusions
In view of the findings, the study concluded that media literacy
and digital competence are variables that influence the use of OER.
Poor media literacy level results to inadequate use of OER. Digital
competence should be redirected towards academic-related issues,
especially among students for actualization of learning outcome. Other
challenges as revealed in the study also require urgent attention.

5.4. Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following
recommendations are made:
1. Seminars and workshops should be conducted for English
Language students of tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State on

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the importance, availability and use of OER for actualization of

learning objectives, academic performance and lifelong
learning.. This could be organized by the English Language
lecturers of the institutions with resource persons that are
familiar and conversant with the various opportunities offered
by OER.
2. Tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State should develop websites
that have links to OER for use by the students. This could be
through the website of the institution library or through the
institution website, thereby facilitating extensive use of OER
for academic performance.
3. Media literacy education should be included in the curriculum
of English Language in Nigerian tertiary institutions, so as
enable students acquire the requisite skills and competence
that constitute media literacy.
4. Digital competence of students should be improved the more,
and then channeled to use of OER for academic performance.
5. Tertiary institutions in Nigeria should develop their respective
indigenous repository of OER. Lecturers in the institutions
should be encouraged and motivated to develop their course
materials and make them available in OER repository of their
institutions for easy accessibility and use by students.

5.5. Suggestions for Further Research

This study centred on English Language students in tertiary
institutions in Ebonyi State. Students from other departments should
be studied, to either concur or refute the findings of this study. In
addition, lecturers’ perception of creating indigenous OER for teaching
and learning should also be explored.

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QUESTIONNAIRE ON MEDIA LITERACY AND DIGITAL

COMPETENCE AS DETERMINANTS OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES UTILIZATION BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE
STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EBONYI STATE
Dear Respondent,
I am a postgraduate student in the Department of Information and
Knowledge Management, Akanu Ibiam Federal University, Unwana,
Ebonyi State, Nigeria. I am conducting a study entitled: Media Literacy
and Digital Competence as Determinants of Open Educational
Resources Utilization by English Language Students of Tertiary
Institutions in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. This research is a requirement for
the award of M.Sc.
Please assist to answer the questions. It is strictly for academic
purpose and your responses will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
Thank you in anticipation of your kind assistance, cooperation and
support.

Okafor, Maureen Chidera Queensley (Research Student)

Demographic Characteristics

Gender: Male Female

Institution: FUNAI EBSU COE

Level of Study: 100 200 300 400

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Question 1: What is your extent of Utilization of the following Open

Educational Resources?
Extent of Using Open Very Low High Very
Educational Resources Low Extent Extent High
(OERs) Extent (2) (3) Extent
(1) (4)
1 Open access books (e-
books)
2 Open access journals (e-
journals)
3 Open access thesis and
dissertations (e-thesis)
4 e-Course materials and e-
Lecture notes
5 Online instructional
videos/ teaching &
learning videos
6 Open archives and digital
repositories
7 Multimedia learning
resources and reference
materials
8 Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs)
9 e-Quizzes and online
assessment tests
10 E-Question papers and
sample answers
11 Educational websites and
open e-libraries
12 Social media tools e.g
YouTube, Face book,
Twitter

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Question 2: What is your level of Media Literacy as an Undergraduate

Student?
I have the ability/capacity Very Low High Very
to … Low Extent Extent High
Extent (2) (3) Extent
(1) (4)
1 understand media
messages that shape
beliefs and values
2 access and use
information from various
media types & sources
3 analyse media messages
in order to get the point of
view
4 critically evaluate media
content for objectivity or
otherwise
5 recognize possible bias or
misinformation in a media
message
6 understand what media
maker wants audience to
believe
7 create media messages
using persuasion
technique
8 disseminate created media
messages using via media
outlets
9 understand the marketing
strategy used in a media
message
10 understand that all media
are constructions with
ideologies, and possible
commercial, social and
political implications
11 critically evaluate effects
of media messages on the
society
12 evaluate media contents
thoroughly before use and
application

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Question 3: What is your level of Digital Competence as an

Undergraduate Student?

I have the ability/capacity Very Low High Very

to … Low Extent Extent High
Extent (2) (3) Extent
(1) (4)
1 start up, log on and shut
down computer systems
2 use mouse pointing devices
and keyboards
3 use word processing tools
(Ms word) for creating
documents
4 use Microsoft excel for
calculations, drawing
tables and charts

5 use Power point for

preparing slides and
making presentations
6 use e-mails for composing,
sending and receiving
messages
7 use search engines for
finding information on the
web
8 navigate the World Wide
Web for documents and
images
9 copy files/documents from
hard disks to other storage
devices
10 Create folders on
computers for storing &
retrieving documents
11 Use printers, scanners,
compact disks and other
digital devices
12 Use social media tools for
online communications
(e.g. Face book, twitter,
YouTube,)

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Question 4: What are the ways you acquired Media Literacy and
Digital Competence?

I acquired Media Literacy and Digital Agree Disagree

Competence through:
1 Course(s) on Media Literacy and Digital
Competence
2 Course(s) on Use of Library and
Information Sources
3 Course(s) on Basics of Computers Systems
/Information Technologies
4 Use of computers and laptops in ICT
centres/ cybercafes in the university
5 Use of University Library and guidance
from library staff
6 Internet navigation through cybercafés and
personal computers
7 Use of Social Media
8 Assistance from friends, relatives and
colleagues
9 Trial and error approach
10 Self-study with user guide
11 Reading books on Media,
Communications, ICT and Digital
Competence
12 Seminars and workshops on Media
Literacy, ICT and Digital Competence

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Question 5: What are the challenges affecting your Use of Open

Educational Resources?

Challenges affecting Use of Open Educational Agree Disagree

Resources (OERs):
1 I am not aware of free access to learning
materials online
2 I am not familiar with OER websites in my
area/field of study
3 Lack of awareness on the availability of OERs
like MIT open course ware
4 I am not aware that teaching and learning videos
could be watched online
5 Lack of personal computers for downloading
and using OERs
6 My university library website does not have
links to OERs
7 Internet services and browsing facilities are very
poor in my university
8 I cannot access the Internet for OERs due to
poor digital competence
9 Poor electricity supply affects access to and use
of OERs

10 Subscription to Internet data is expensive for

accessing and using OERs
11 I do not have positive attitude towards use of
OERs
12 I do not have requisite information literacy skills
for using OERs
13 Lecture notes and course materials are hardly
found in OERs
14 Most locally produced learning materials are not
integrated in OERs

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ISSUES IN SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

Introduction
The conduct of research may be for the award of certificates
like diploma or degrees, for promotion in academic and research
institutions, or for the purpose of recognition in the scholarly
community. It could also be as a result of passion for research, thereby
contributing towards solving societal problems. Whatever be the case,
it is a fact that research is not yet complete until the findings are
disseminated or communicated to the end-users using appropriate
channels. The essence is, not only to let the scholarly community
involved know what had been done, so as to avoid duplication of
research efforts, and create gaps for further studies, but also to
announce to the direct beneficiaries of such research findings that
solutions to their problems have been discovered. This chapter focuses
on academic writing, writing research reports and dissemination of
research findings.

Concept of Academic Writing

Academic writing is the formal and impersonal style of writing
that is intended for scholarly or academic audiences as found in
universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and agriculture, other
allied tertiary institutions, and in all other forms of scholarly
engagements. Such style of writing which includes research papers like
journal articles, conference and seminar papers, thesis and
dissertations, academic essays and textbooks, and the likes are
expected to be clear, concise, focused, structured and backed up by
solid evidence via citations and references. The purpose is to aid the
reader’s understanding. It has a formal tone and style, but it is not
complex and does not require the use of long sentences and
complicated vocabulary. Each subject discipline will have certain
writing conventions, vocabulary and types of discourse that students
will become familiar with in the course of their academic programmes.

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Characteristics of Academic Writing

The following are the key characteristics of academic writing:
 Planned and Focused: answers the question and
demonstrates an understanding of the subject.
 Structured and Organized: is coherent, written in a logical
order, and brings together related points and material. It is
usually organized based on sub-headings and all linked with
the mission of the work.
 Formal in Tone and Style: uses appropriate language and
tenses, and is clear, concise and balanced without bias. It is
devoid of colloquialism and slangs.
 Based on Evidence: demonstrates knowledge of the subject
area, supports opinions and arguments with evidence, and is
cited and referenced accurately.
Academic writing must be supported by evidence such as data,
facts, quotations, arguments, statistics, research, and theories. This
evidence will add substance to your own ideas; allow the reader to see
what has informed your thinking and how your ideas fit in with, and
differ from others in your field; demonstrate your understanding of the
general concepts and theories on the topic; show you have researched
widely, and know about specialists/niche areas of interest.
However, there are some general characteristics of academic
writing that are relevant across all disciplines. For instance, the
audience is the academia or scholarly community, the purpose is to
inform the readers with solid evidence, the style is formal and
impersonal with standard structure specific to different disciplines, the
language is formal and avoids colloquialism and casual language, and
usually contain citations and references as evidence backing up
arguments and lines of thought. These characteristics differentiate
academic writing from other forms of non-academic writing that is
meant for the mass public.
In academic writing, there are usually guidelines set for the
preparation of manuscripts. In the course of developing the
manuscripts, there are principles of information ethics that must
be adhered to by academic writers. These are:
i. Acknowledgement of sources: This is a form of consciousness
that should operate in the minds of academic writers that all
forms of information resources that would be used in

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supporting their writing (i.e. evidence) must be acknowledged

as people’s intellectual property.
ii. Citation and referencing according to standards: This
accompanies acknowledgement of sources that should be done
in line with set standards/styles or guidelines. There are many
styles for citation and referencing like the APA style, MLA style,
Harvard Style, Chicago Style of Manual, Turabian style, etc.
iii. Avoid activities that constitute plagiarism: From the Latin
word, “Plagiarius” meaning kidnapper, plagiarism is a violation
or breach of academic integrity. Plagiarism means taking or
presenting someone else’s work or ideas as one’s own by
integrating it into your work without full acknowledgement is
a serious issue in academic setting and the society at large.
Plagiarism implies academic theft or academic sin, and that
means that one has failed to complete the learning process, and
it is punishable.
There are different ways plagiarism may occur like verbatim
quotation without clear acknowledgement, cutting and pasting from the
Internet without clear acknowledgement, paraphrasing without
acknowledgement, inaccurate citation, etc. Specific kinds of plagiarism are
direct plagiarism (intentional), mosaic plagiarism (un-intentional), self
plagiarisms, accidental plagiarisms, and source-based plagiarism
(misleading sources). The major causes of plagiarism especially among
students are fear of failure, poor time management skills, poor reading
habits, poor information literacy competence, inferiority complex, etc.
Plagiarism is subject to sanctions like penalties, suspension, expulsion
from school, substantial fines, even imprisonment, and undermines
standards of institutions.
Plagiarism is dangerous to the society. It kills ideas, buries
innovative thoughts, destroys originality and innovations, and also
encourages laziness. Many have suffered and some are still suffering
today due to plagiarism. There are cases of withdrawing issued
certificates to students, many lecturers have been sacked whereas others
demoted due to plagiarism, even top chief executives of companies have
been affected too, including many cases in court as a result of plagiarism.
Scholars and students are encouraged to be creative, innovative, rational
and avoid acts that constitute plagiarism.

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Methods/Ways of Incorporating Literature in Writing Scholarly

Works
There are several methods that can be used to incorporate or
integrate other people's work into your own written work. in other
words, in scholarly writing, there are formal ways of integrating literature
in one’s writing. These are:
 paraphrasing
 summarising
 synthesising
 quoting.
You are likely to use a combination of these throughout your writing,
depending on the purpose that you are trying to achieve. Be aware that
your writing should not just be a patchwork of other people's ideas made
up of quotes, paraphrases and summaries of other people's work. You
need to show how the information you found has helped you to develop
your own arguments, ideas and opinions. Organising your evidence
(sources) can be an overwhelming task especially when you need to
manage many different sources.

Paraphrasing: How to paraphrase others’ work

Paraphrasing is using your own words to express someone else’s ideas.
When paraphrasing, make sure that you:
 identify a relevant theme or point, depending on your purpose;
 write the point in your own words;
 focus on the meaning of an idea or argument;
 include a reference to the original author.
Common pitfalls associated with paraphrasing include:
 describing an author's idea/argument but not explaining the
significance to your own argument, or the point that you are
trying to make;
 using too many of the original author's words, this includes
using the same structure;
 not distinguishing between the author's point and your own
viewpoint; and
 providing too much detail.

Summarizing: How to summarise others’ work

Summarising is providing a condensed version of someone else’s key
points. When summarising other people’s work, make sure that you:

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 ISSUES IN SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

 identify the relevant points of the idea or argument, depending

on your purpose;
 write a shortened version, in your own words, to show your
understanding;
 include an in-text citation and reference to the original author.
Common pitfalls involving in summarizing include:
 describing an author's idea/argument but not explaining the
significance to your own argument or point you are trying to
make;
 providing too much detail such as examples, anecdotes,
unnecessary background information rather than being
selective and applying the information to the question you are
trying to answer.

Synthesising: How to synthesise others’ work

Synthesising involves combining different information and ideas to
develop your own argument. When synthesising others’ work, make
sure that you:
 Group sources into relevant categories, for example, authors
with similar viewpoints or research that reveals the same
results;
 Write about these in your own words. Do not discuss each
author separately; you must identify the overall points you
want to make;
 Include references to all the original authors.
Common pitfalls associated with synthesizing include:
 Not distinguishing clearly which viewpoint/s belong to which
author/s;
 Listing authors separately or one by one, thus not grouping
relevant authors or points together;
 Giving too much detail about different perspectives rather than
being selective of the key features relevant to your line of
argument;
 Describing the idea/argument but not explaining the
significance to your own argument or point you are trying to
make.

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Quoting: How to quote from others’ work

Quoting is where you copy an author's text word for word, place
quotation marks around the words and add a citation at the end of the
quote. When quoting others’ work, make sure that you:
 copy the quote exactly from the original, as the author has
written it, taking care to include quotation marks;
 show where you have made any changes to the text;
 include an in-text citation and reference to the original author.
Common pitfalls involved with quoting include:
 Using too many quotes throughout your work;
 Incorporating a quote without explaining the significance to
your own argument or point you are trying to make.
(University of Leeds Library, 2022)

One thing to note is that in all forms of academic writing, provided

information resources are consulted and used through paraphrasing,
summarizing, synthesizing or quoting, the sources must be
acknowledged, cited and referenced accordingly.

Methods of Disseminating Research Findings

In some disciplines, it is required that the research should be
publicized at the conceptual stage so that it can be followed and
monitored. In Nigerian tertiary institutions, research findings/outputs
for the award of diploma and degree certificates are presented in the
form of projects, theses and dissertations, with the following structure:
Chapter One – Introduction; Chapter Two – Literature Review; Chapter
Three – Methodology; Chapter Four – Data Analysis and
Interpretation/Results and Discussions; as well as Chapter Five –
Summary of Findings, Conclusion and Recommendations.
The research projects, theses and dissertations may later be
abridged and disseminated to wider audience through scholarly
journals and monographs. From his extensive experience in
information and knowledge management research and publication
with postgraduate students, Ocholla (2011), provided a formula that
can be used for producing research publications by combining various
sections of projects, thesis and dissertations:
1. Preliminaries (title, address, abstract, and keywords)
2. Introduction
3. Problem statement, purpose, aim and objectives
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 ISSUES IN SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

4. Literature review
5. Methodology
6. Results
7. Discussions
8. Summary, conclusion and recommendations
9. References

Formula:
 A = 1+2+4+5+7+8+9
 B = 1+2+3+5+6+8+9
 C = 1+3+5+6+8+9
 D = 1+2+3+4+8+9
 E = 1+3+5+7+8+9
 F = 1+3+4+7+8+9
Successful publication from projects, theses and dissertations calls for
significant support for and mentorship of novice researchers by
research supervisors, experienced peers and established researchers,
and this calls for a great deal of collaborations (Ocholla, 2011).
It is also usual in academic circles to disseminate research
findings through seminars, conferences and workshops via verbal
presentations, after which the peers of the researcher can make
further inputs in order to enhance the quality of the research work. For
research institutes, human resource development organizations,
ministries, departments and agencies of government, the
dissemination of research findings is done in the form of a research
report or monographs. In sum, Aina (2002) listed the major methods
of disseminating research findings as through seminars, conferences,
theses/dissertations, reports, journals, books/monographs, and web
publishing (e-publishing, digital publishing, online publishing).

Scholarly Publishing/ Scholarly Communication

Publishing is the process of making information and
knowledge public/known by distributing and circulating that
information/knowledge beyond the jurisdiction of its origin/source
through the publication of content, mainly in print and electronic
formats. We have general, commercial and scholarly/academic
publishing. A scholar is viewed to be a learned person, could be an

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academic or a person involved or engaging with investigative or

knowledge-based activities, mainly as a learner, researcher or teacher
(Ocholla, 2011). Thus, scholarly publishing is done by scholars for the
scholarly community.
The concept of scholarly publishing is sometimes used
synonymously with scholarly communication. Few authorities use
them together as scholarly publishing and communication. Scholarly
communication is broad and comprehensive, and covers all activities
that a researcher will embark on before publishing his/her research
findings. Scholarly Communication is the process of conducting
research and sharing the results – from creation, to dissemination, to
preservation of knowledge for teaching, research, and scholarship
(Purdue University Libraries, 2015). In other words, it can be seen as
the system through which research and other scholarly writings are
created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly
community, and preserved for future use. The system includes both
formal means of communication, such as publication in peer-reviewed
journals, and informal channels, such as electronic outlets”
(Association of Research Libraries, 2014). It can also take a variety of
forms, such as face-to-face communication at conferences or seminars,
through peer-review process, and web-based communications on
wikis, blogs, or podcasts. Thus, the scholarly community prefers using
scholarly communication, but in the context of this work, scholarly
publishing and scholarly communication are used synonymously.
Scholarly publishing is the result of research from which
scholarly writings are created. Scholarly publishing exists to: 1)
describe the research; 2) evaluate its reliability and reproducibility; 3)
disseminate it through multiple channels; and 4) preserve what has
been done for future use. Further inquiry and subsequent knowledge
is created from this system, which in turn results in additional
communication among scholars. Scholarly publishing is also defined as
the creation, dissemination, and application of new knowledge, which
is fundamental to the development of an informed citizenry and a
healthy global economy. Institutions of higher education exist to fulfil
these functions. From the lab to the library to the classroom to
industry to the public, the advancement of knowledge through
research and teaching is an invaluable contribution made by higher
education to the public good.

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Scholarly publishing is the process through which newly

discovered knowledge is refined, certified, distributed to, and
preserved for researchers, professors, students, and the public. Most
scholars' primary reason to publish the results of their research is to
disseminate the newly-created or discovered knowledge to other
scholars. However, many secondary reasons to publish exist. The
quantity and quality of a scholar's publications are used as a metric in
the tenure process at many academic institutions. Academic
institutions themselves may be judged based on the publishing records
of their researchers and research programmes. Some grants require
that the results of the research funded be published (Brown, 2015).

Purpose of Scholarly Communication

Scholarly publishing system includes the process of creating
and evaluating scholarly content, disseminating it to the scholarly
community, and preserving it for future use. Most scholarly
publications are conveyors of scientific knowledge and research
output. One of the fundamental purposes of the system of scholarly
publishing is to facilitate inquiry and the creation of new knowledge.
The majorities of scholars pursue their research and disseminate the
results with little or no expectation of direct financial reward
(University of Iowa, 2015). Thus, the purpose of scholarly publishing is
to promote and support scholarship, research, and academic or
learning activities. In addition, authors (scholars) are motivated to
write and publish to disseminate new research findings or ideas, for
career progression/promotion as job requirement, gaining recognition
for work done/ boosting one’s ego, for preventing others from taking
credit for one’s work, for knowledge sharing, for announcement of
propriety/ownership, and the likes.

Historical Development of Scholarly Communication

Although great scientists have written books for millennia, the
history of the scientific journal can in fact be traced back a few
hundred years. One of the earliest scientific journals was the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1665. The word
"philosophical" in the title derives from the phrase "natural
philosophy", which was the equivalent of what we would now
generically call "science". In the 17th century, the act of publishing
scientific papers was controversial. It was not unusual, for example, for

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new discoveries to be announced secretly using code-words and

anagrams whose purpose was to protect the identity of discoverers;
often, the codes were indecipherable for anyone except insiders in on
the discovery. In fact, Isaac Newton and Leibniz used this approach.
Secrecy had enormous implications for subsequent research and
scholarship. Robert K. Merton, a sociologist, found that 92% of cases of
simultaneous discovery in the 17th century ended in disputes.
Disputes dropped in number to 72% in the 18th century, 59% by the
latter half of the 19th century, and 33% by the first half of the 20th
century. The decline in contested claims in research discoveries can be
credited to the increasing acceptance of the publication of papers in
modern academic journals. The Royal Society was steadfast in its belief
that science could only move forward through a transparent and open
exchange of ideas backed by evidence. It is this principle that has been
a motivating, driving force for researchers for hundreds of years. In
2008, STM publishing is a frequently-used abbreviation for
publications in science, technology, and medicine.

Scholarly Communication Process

What is the overall process for getting an article/paper
published in a scholarly journal? Let’s look at who does what from a
couple of different perspectives. Here is the (typical) linear flow of the
process:
i. Author submits manuscript to academic journal editor.
ii. Editor determines whether manuscript has sufficient merit to
be reviewed by editorial board or selected external
reviewers/assessors.
iii. Manuscript will either be sent back to the author with a
rejection letter or sent on to reviewers/assessors.
iv. Reviewers return the manuscript to the editor with comments
and recommendations (depending on peer review model).
v. Editor sends manuscript back to the author with either a
rejection letter or a request for revisions.
vi. Author revises manuscript and resubmits to editor.
vii. Editor (sometimes) sends revised manuscript back to external
reviewers.
viii. Editor accepts or rejects manuscript.
ix. If accepted, author provides editing or proofreading of final
copy before publication.
x. Paper/article is eventually published in journal.

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This model has held sway since the beginning of scholarly publishing. It
relies on many individuals playing distinct roles within the overall
process of journal publishing.
According to Ocholla (2011), scholarly publishing would not be
what it is today without peer review, which acts as the traditional
instrument of quality control that involves the screening of intellectual
outputs for quality, reliability and credibility. Peers are assumed to be
credible scholars and qualified adjudicators in a discipline or branch of
knowledge, on whom scholars, editors or journals rely upon for views
and comments on the content suitability of a manuscript for publication
in a scholarly outlet. Peer review is standard practice among scholars,
where research output undergoes thorough evaluation by peers who are
mostly in the same research domain or discipline. This is done in order
to vet or determine the quality of output in terms of originality,
relevance/significance, and contribution to knowledge.
Peer reviews are important quality control mechanisms used by
the scholarly community and most scholarly journals and publishers to
establish the suitability of a manuscript for publication. In other words,
a key convention in the publication of research is the peer review
process, in which the quality and potential contribution of each
manuscript is evaluated by one’s peers in the scientific community. Like
other scientific journals, information and knowledge management
journals routinely utilize a peer review process to guide manuscript
selection and publication decisions. Towards the goal of impartiality, the
majority of all journals follow an established masked review policy, in
which authors’ and reviewers’ identities are concealed from each other
(American Psychological Association, 2010). Peer Reviewers are
normally required to evaluate and rate the manuscript, and either
recommend for publication – without corrections, with minor
corrections, with substantial corrections that may demand a complete
revision of the manuscript and a follow-up review – or outright
rejection. Good reviewers should be competent researchers, objective
assessors, and comparative evaluators. The following criteria are
normally used in assessing submissions in information-based journals:
o The advancement of knowledge, new information or data;
o Theoretical validity (use of appropriate theory or multiple
theories);
o Level of scholarship (quality of analysis and author’s ability to
generate new knowledge);

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o Acceptable research design, appropriate methodology and

analysis that assists referees in establishing levels of
‘contribution in terms of knowledge conveyed;
o Originality of the contribution; and
o The soundness of methodology, findings and the structure.
There are various methods of rejecting manuscripts that did not meet
the standard for publication in journals. The editor serves as gatekeeper
that ascertains the suitability of a paper for publication in a journal or
rejects the paper using the following criteria:
- The paper does not fit the journal’s editorial mission;
- The submission is poorly written;
- The use of out-of-date literature;
- Inadequate levels of scholarship (no academic rigour or
opinion, no validation of viewpoints); and
- Unwieldy writing (e.g. overly complex, poorly organized)
Some of the top errors and challenges of publishing in peer-reviewed
information and knowledge management journals which are discovered
via content analyses are categorized under research methodology,
presentation/organization, readability/language, literature review and
referencing. Therefore, authors for publication of research findings in
scholarly journals are advised to take note of the following pieces of
advice based on referees’ and editors’ comments (Fischer, cited in
Ocholla, 2011):
a) One must pick one’s level and build up (begin with less
competitive publication sources or outlets and build on them);
b) Diversity your portfolio of submissions (decide whether you
want to go a mile wide and an inch deep or an inch deep and a
mile wide);
c) Follow your comparative advantage (explore and engage co-
authorship for sharing expertise and to reduce your workload);
d) Partake in apprenticeships (work with experienced authors);
e) Network to enable partnership and knowledge sharing;
f) Learn from the best – access and read the ‘best papers’ in
journals or as declared in conferences;
g) Get critical feedback – benefit from the expertise of colleagues
who offer critical feedback, some of which can be offered at
conferences or other paper presentation forums;
h) Learn critical evaluation skills – look at your own work critically
and market your submission to the editor (a good covering
letter clarifying items in the paper is worthwhile).

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Organizing and participating in authors’ workshops, seminars, and

conferences is essential. Above all, actively participating in scholarly
communication at various levels regularly, learning from one’s
mistakes, and not being afraid of the peer review process produce
good results.

Emerging Trends in Scholarly Communication

Apart from the traditional model of publishing research
findings in journals, which are paper-based in line with the scholarly
publishing process, there are contemporary models that are emerging,
which are internet-mediated. As noted by Ocholla (2011), web-based
scholarly publications are growing increasingly popular in the
academic community for the rapid dissemination of research results.
E-publishing is an activity and a process for all types of publications,
such as scholarly or research work on the web by an individual or
organization for private and public access and use. Scholarly e-
publishing can be done through publishing in open access journals,
self-archiving and institutional repositories. This enables better access,
easy search, usability and visibility of research outputs.

Scholarly Publishing/ Open Access Routes/Options

Green Route The author can self-archive at the time of submission
of the publication whether the publication is grey
literature, a peer-reviewed journal publication, a
peer-reviewed conference proceedings paper or a
monograph
Golden The author or author institution can pay a fee to the
Route publisher at publication time, the publisher
thereafter making the material available ‘free’ at the
point of access.
Pre-prints Pre-prints are articles that are pre-peer-review
Post prints Post-prints are articles that are post-peer-review
e-prints e-prints can be either pre-prints or post-prints but in
electronic form
White White literature is peer-reviewed, published articles
Literature
Grey Grey literature is pre-prints or internal ‘know-how’
Literature information material
Source: Ocholla, 2011.
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Open access (OA) journals are published on the web, and

provide avenue for scholars to easily publish their findings for easy
accessibility across the universe. These journals are funded and
sustained through article processing/publishing charges/fees (APC)
paid by authors. However, there are concerns with some of the journals
due to issues of their peer-review mechanism, credibility and level of
impact factor. These OA journals are on the increase of virtually daily
basis. Some of them are predatory journals that lack formal and credible
peer review system (mostly without impact factor or fake impact factor
calculation) just because the founders of such journals are fraudulent
business men that are only interested in making high returns via article
processing/publication charges/fees (APC). Majority of these journals
are from developing countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and
Nigeria. Even the address and actual location of the journals are
sometimes misleading; it may be in Pakistan or Nigeria, whereas the
founders will be claiming and referring them as UK or USA journals.
Authors are advised to be careful with some of these journals.
Self-archiving, which involves posting or publishing one’s
research output and documents in digital form, on private (e.g. blogging)
and/or public web space (e.g. institutional repositories, library portals,
websites) is increasingly popular in scholarly e-publishing. Authors can
self-archive in their personal websites, free open platforms on the web,
or any other web-based medium that facilitates easy accessibility.
Meanwhile, institutional repositories provide a more credible and
reliable channel, but not many higher education institutions are having
such digital repository. Institutional repositories are digital platforms
where scholarly output of researchers, lecturers, and even postgraduate
students are domiciled for easy accessibility and visibility. Whether
published in print-based or OA journals, authors/scholars are
encouraged to make their publications available in open access, either
through self-archiving or via their institution’s repository. Publication in
institutional repositories of universities, polytechnics, colleges of
education and other research institutions are strongly encouraged for
authors and scholars in Africa. This is a critical factor that aids in
webometric ranking.
At present, webometric analysis and ranking of higher education
institutions (HEIs) is an issue of concern in developing countries,
especially Nigeria that has many HEIs that are doing very well in
research and publications of findings, but ranks low in webometrics
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ranking. The question is why? How did webometrics emerge and what
is actually webometrics? According to Thelwall (2012), the term
webometrics was coined in 1997 by Tomas Almind and Peter
Ingwersen in recognition that informetric analyses could be applied to
the web. The field really took off, however, with the introduction of
the Web Impact Factor (WIF) metric to assess the impact of a website
or other area of the web based upon the number of hyperlinks pointing
to it. WIFs seemed to make sense because more useful or important
areas of the web would presumably attract more hyperlinks than
average. The logic of this metric was derived from the importance of
citations in journal impact factors, but WIFs had the advantage that
they could be easily calculated using the new advanced search queries
introduced by AltaVista, a leading commercial search engine at the
time. Webometrics subsequently rose to become a large coherent field
within information science, at least from a bibliometric perspective,
encompassing link analysis, web citation analysis and a range of other
web-based quantitative techniques. In addition, webometrics became
useful in various applied contexts, such as to construct the world
webometrics ranking of universities and for scientometric evaluations
or investigations of bodies of research or research areas (Thelwall,
2012).
Webometrics is, "the study of the quantitative aspects of the
construction and use of information resources, structures and
technologies on the Web drawing on bibliometric and informetric
approaches" (Björneborn & Ingwersen, 2004). The Webometrics Rank
of a university or any other HEI is strongly linked to the volume and
quality of the contents it publishes on the Web. Such contents should
be originated by the faculty (academic staff) and other members of the
university or by special agreement with external authors
(http://www.webometrics.info). Academic staffs in Nigerian HEIs are
creating content and developing scholarly outputs, but the major
challenge is that they are not available on the website/portal or digital
repository of their institutions. This accounts for low ranking of
universities and other HEIs in Nigeria. Therefore, administrators in
Nigerian HEIs should move towards making development and
management of institutional repositories by librarians, with functional
websites as top priority. It is only when this is done that what these
HEIs are doing in terms of research and publishing can be visible
across the universe for societal development.

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 RESEARCH IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Summary and Conclusion

Research is a process of identifying problems, and solving the
problem through systematic approach which leads to publishing
quality findings (i.e. information resources) for addressing the
problems. This piece extensively discussed the concept of research,
classification of research, research proposal, and components of the
entire research process. It also examined the concept of scholarly
publishing, purpose and historical development of scholarly
publishing, scholarly publishing process and the emerging trends in
scholarly publishing in the digital era. Thus, readers no doubt will be
guided with rudiments of research and scholarly publishing.
As noted by Maron and Smith (2008), the emerging publishing
models for scholarly communication are new because they offer a new
genre (or form of presentation), business model, new way for authors
and readers to communicate, approach to peer review, or some
combination of these. One common factor is that they are Internet-
mediated. New models also may combine forms of content that could
not usefully be published together in print form. Research articles can
be integrated with primary source material on a single site,
commentary can be integrated into a monograph, learning objects,
working papers, and a blog may be available from a single site. Entirely
new dissemination processes create opportunities for researchers to
share and make openly accessible the results of their research work
more broadly than in the past. Research funders are requiring authors
to deposit some copy of their work into public repositories. With the
new models, scholars and researchers today are profoundly reshaping
their communication practices.
In Africa, and mostly Nigeria, the practice whereby researchers
and authors publish their works in international outlets that require
their affiliated institutional libraries to subscribe should be
discouraged in this open access digital era. Universities and other
tertiary institutions are already raising alarm on serials crisis caused
by very high cost of journals subscription and low budget for libraries
in developing countries. This is not only affecting developing countries,
but also developed countries, as a result of economic meltdown. Then
imagine the situation in underdeveloped climes. The way out for
managing this scenario that is fast eating deep into the fabrics of
research, teaching and learning is through open access publishing.
Thus, higher education institutions should create a reliable and
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functional platform for supporting their researchers and scholars,

especially in the area of research funding and article processing
charges, for the publication of their research findings in reliable and
reputable open access outlets, which will also be deposited in their
institutional repositories, that are easily accessible to all, without
financial requirements for subscription.

APA Citation and Referencing Style, 6th edition, 2010, visit

www.apastyle.org

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