Gender and Class Differentials on the Utilization of E-Resource Provisions to Enhance Research Skills among Economics Education Students’ In South East, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated gender and class differentials on the utilization of e-resource material provisions to enhance research skills among economics education students’ in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted an Ex-post factor research design. The sample consisted of 451 undergraduate and 41 postgraduate students. Five public universities were purposively selected. Instrument for data collection were a researcher developed questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on utilization of e-resource materials provisions” (QUEMP) and an observational Schedule on Student’s utilization skills of e-resource material provision (OSSUEMP) were used for data collection. seven research questions were answered using frequency counts and simple percentage and seven null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Mann Whitney U test, and kruskal wallis H test. The findings reveal that gender and class influences utilization of e-resources and that effective utilization of e-resources enhances students’ research skills. Based on the findings the researcher recommended that introductions of proficiency courses for effective use of library electronic resources for undergraduate students and integration of relevance of electronic resource utilization in Economics education curriculum for year one and year two students should be incorporated.