Assessing Demographic Differences of Postgraduate Students about Usage and Awareness of Electronic Information Resources: A case study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess demographic differences of Nigeria postgraduates about usage and awareness of EIR and also to explore the extent level of usage and awareness of EIR among these postgraduates. In order to evaluate the usage and awareness of EIR, two scales were adopted from the existing literature on EIR. Self-report instruments comprising the two scales as well as demographic items were incorporated into the online questionnaire. Findings from the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruska-Wallis test conducted on usage of EIR with the gender, University of study, Age, status and year of study as independent variable, did not record any statistically significant mean rank differences. Findings from independent t-test and 1Way ANOVA test conducted on awareness of EIR with the gender, University of study, Age, status and year of study as independent variable, did not record any statistically significant mean rank differences. A Spearman's rho correlation test was performed to examine the relationship between usage of EIR and awareness of EIR. The results showed a statistically significant mean positive correlation between usage of EIR and awareness of EIR. The findings of this study offer a partial support for the postulated hypotheses. The results revealed that demographic variables such as gender, age, year of study, status, and university of study have an effect in usage and awareness of EIR. This finding has first discovered the relationship between usage and awareness of EIR.