Factors influencing use of the internet. A questionnaire survey of the students of University of Ibadan, Nigeria
| Date | 07 August 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470910979651 |
| Pages | 718-734 |
| Published date | 07 August 2009 |
| Author | E. Williams Nwagwu,Janet Adekannbi,Olayiwola Bello |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Factors influencing use
of the internet
A questionnaire survey of the students
of University of Ibadan, Nigeria
E. Williams Nwagwu, Janet Adekannbi and Olayiwola Bello
Africa Regional Centre for Information Science,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing use of the internet by
students of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and to establish the variation of this use by students’
personal characteristics, and as a result to recommend improvements where necessary to the benefit of
the student community.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants are recruited through a random sampling
technique, and data are collected from them using a questionnaire. A one-way analysis of variance
is used for the analysis to uncover the variation of use across demographic and other factors.
Findings – It is shown that students who communicate with varies significantly with age, gender
and level of study while the various tools they use vary significantly with age, gender, faculty and
level of study. Both younger users (,24 years) and older colleagues (.24 years) use chat rooms.
Across gender, educational purpose dominates the use of the internet, but it varies with age, level of
study and faculty. Higher educational level is associated with less use of the internet for leisure and
entertainment. About 73 per cent of the respondents considers internet information as useful while
much less than this (44.4 per cent) reported finding internet information as trustworthy.
Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of this paper is that data are collected
using only a questionnaire, whereas interview sessions would have uncovered more issues.
Practical implications – Based on this result, this paper suggests discriminated internet education
programmes and access by faculty, level of study and gender in order to maximise the use of the
internet services by the students in the university.
Originality/value – This study provides useful research information that can guide the university
in fine-tuning its internet projects for optimal benefits of the student community. Other universities in
similar situations in Africa as well as elsewhere can also benefit from the findings.
Keywords User studies, Universities, Internet, Nigeria
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Since the expansion of the internet in the early 1990s, it has become customary for
individuals to turn to the global information infrastructure whenever they need
information and facts. The internet is an unsurpassed repository of information of all
kinds – from specific to general, from minutiae to trivia to depth of detail, to historic
and up-to-the minute. It is an unsurveilled and non-punitive place where almost anyone
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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The authors acknowledge the postgraduate class of 2006/2007 session who participated in data
collection for the survey that resulted to this paper.
TEL
27,4
718
Received 9 May 2008
Revised 23 June 2008
Accepted 10 July 2008
The Electronic Library
Vol. 27 No. 4, 2009
pp. 718-734
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640470910979651
can freely deposit information products for those who might need them. It is therefore
expected that the internet will contain both the good and the bad, showcasing, for
instance, the scholarly outputs of different research bodies and educational institu tions
around the world, as well as bringing to the doorsteps of homes the green light streets
of Bangkok.
The history of internet expansion favours its serving mainly academic purposes of
increasing the ease and speed of knowledge dissemination. The infusion of the internet
into higher education has intensified access to archived information sources from
various parts of the world, thus it forms a first port of call for students and others when
they seek for information. As a result, institutions of higher learning are investing
much to exploit the advantages of the information infrastructure for the benefit of their
staff and students. Consequently, studies have been carried out in many places to
understand how staff and students of universities utilise the internet for teaching,
learning and other purposes. Studies focusing on specific institutions could be
important sources of information to the institutions’ authorities regarding the
development, management and evaluation of their information technology projects.
The University of Ibadan is Nigeria’s premier higher educational institution and a
major provider of postgraduate education in the country. Apart from hosting the oldest
computer science department among more than 80 higher institutions in Nigeria today,
the institution also hosts the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science, thus
placing it on the edge in information and information technology education ahead of
others. A major milestone in developing the information technology capacity of the
university staff and students was marked by collaboration with the MacArthur
Foundation in 2006 that resulted in the latter funding the installation of internet
connectivity in the university. As a result and in addition to several private and older
information businesses, which provide fee-based internet services to the members of
the university community, a highly subsidized cybercafe
´and internet access in the
main library as well as in academic and other staff offices have been established.
Internet access in the University of Ibadan is primarily expected to help students and
staff to access literature and to engage in academic communication.
In this study, we examined the use of internet by the University of Ibadan students.
We wanted to find out, for instance, whom they communicated with; the internet tools
most used; the purpose of using the internet; as well as students’ opinions regarding
the characteristics of the infrastructure and the problems they encounter using it. We
basically wanted to discover how students’ personal characteristics related to these
aforementioned variables. This information is crucial in ensuring efficient utilisation of
the facility within the university. According to Ogunsola (2005), research on the use
of the internet in Nigerian universities is scanty. Despite being the first university to
have an index of web pages (Nwagwu and Agarin, 2007), as well as to have remarkable
information and communication technologies projects, a study on the use of the
internet by the staff and student community of the University of Ibadan has not been
identified.
Literature review
Many colleges and universities provide internet access to their students to foste r
educational activities of research, instruction, and literature searching and to serve as a
source of information to meet other needs (Hannah, 1998). Several studies have been
Factors
influencing use
of the internet
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