Determinants of Utilization of Local Research Content by Graduate Students for Academic Purpose in Selected Universities in Kenya
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Date
2019
Authors
Mugo, Monicah Mukami
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Research is a major component to national development. Local research content is
closer to most of the problems affecting the society and the people. The government
of Kenya has continued to support research activities by allocating a lot of resources
towards research and universities and other research institutions are daily engaged in
carrying out research. However, evidence as indicated from citation and referencing
of research by graduate students shows overreliance on research content of foreign
origin. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish the state of utilization of
local research content by graduate students in Kenyan universities. This study was
guided by the following research objectives: to establish the level of utilization of
local research content amongst university graduate students, to examine the various
platforms hosting the local research content, to investigate the accessibility and use of
local research content to university graduate students, to find out challenges to the
utilization of local research content amongst university graduate students. A
descriptive study was conducted where simple random sampling was used to select a
sample population consisting of 608 graduate students from Jomo Kenyatta
University of Agriculture and Technology and 54 graduate students from United
States International University. Data was collected using a questionnaire comprising
of both closed and open-ended questions. The researcher also conducted document
analysis through the institutional repositories of the two universities under study in
order to determine how much of local research content is cited by graduate students
during thesis writing. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were used
to analyze the data collected using SPSS software. Data was then presented in form of
frequencies, percentages, narrative reports, pie-chart, tables, percentages and graphs.
The study indicated that local research is found in various formats in Kenya. Much of
the research generated locally is not utilized by researchers. Barriers to use of this
research ranged between poor communication channel, lack of awareness, low
internet connectivity, poor accessibility and non-availability to researchers. Solutions
to low utilization of research lies in digitization of local content, acquisitions of
databases rich in local content, online communication of local research and user
education programs to train users on appropriate retrieval skills for local contents.
Based on these findings, the study recommends that more sensitization on use of local
research content for national development should be done by all stake holders.
Policies pertaining to local research should be put in place to enhance use of local
research content. Deliberate effort should be made in acquisition and communication
of local research in our information centers. Graduate researchers should be trained
and encouraged to use and reference local research more to increase local research
visibility.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Education in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of Masters of Library and Information Science Degree of Kenyatta University, November, 2019