CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The prime place of education in the development effort of nations has never been doubted the world over.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the education and research cannot operate in its way without integrating its work into the great subject of development of Africa. Unfortunately with few exceptions researchers and students on one side and the emerging African industry on the other side suffer from the inability to engage in collaborative projects that would lead to the real problem solving.

The quality of education and its output, scientific research, Technology Development and innovation for Africa will only be valid if are made –in- Africa to solve real problems of Africans in its own Development challenges.

African Universities needs to produce agile forward-thinker and leaders who are aware of the national needs and global trends. At the moment, Africa is suffering from absence of data for critical analysis and proper planning, preventing and forecasting issues.

Various nations including Nigeria, has for long been making efforts to develop this sector for optimal development.

Although, much has been achieved in this regard, a lot more needs to be done so that the ever-increasing challenges of our time and the time to come can be most effectively confronted.

In Nigeria, for example, the challenges have been that of poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy and general underdevelopment. How we are able to tackle these problems will reflect on the value and commitment we attach to education, which according to Professor Backie is the biggest industry that touches on every fabric of our endeavour.

The system of education for any country is developed to solve the problem of the country. Suffice to say that the survival of a country depend largely on the quality of her educational system.

Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument ‘par excellence for affecting National development. In Nigeria’s philosophy of Education, we believe among others that there is need for functional education for the promotion of a progressive united Nigeria. To this end, school programms need be relevant, practical and comprehensive, while interest and ability should determine the individual’s direction in education. (NPE 2004)

One thing about education is that it is designed to solve societal problem at a particular point in time and it becomes counter productive where it can no longer perform such basic function.

Thus the integration of research courses and writing of project research in the school curriculum. Students at the tertiary level of our educational system who offer courses in the academic discipline of education require an in-depth knowledge of educational research as a foundation course for their journey into their academic world and beyond.

Research is the wheel of progressive of any educational profession. Its importance can never be overemphasized. Research in Education is justified on the educative process. These problems require solution based on convincing evidence. Research is the only credible basis for making rational decisions in the face of several perplexing situations and conflicting practices that abound in education. these perplexing situations and conflicting practices are addressed in educational research from the theoretical and practical view points.

Educational Research also forms the bedrock of professional preparation of the students, as no one deserves to be called a graduate without the full grasp of the content of educational research. This is the reason why it forms an integral part of educational curricular particularly for the higher institution. As such, students who gain admission into higher institutions of learning must singularly or in groups as the case may be participate in research activities irrespective of field of study.

Inspite of the academic programmes in educational research in several higher institutions in Nigeria today, many Nigerians including the ‘academicians’ are yet best described as ‘Research reluctant’. Thus it is difficult for many scholars to see the need for any theoretical bases for research courses, much more the need for any research project work.

With immense disappointment, many scholars find it difficult to conduct an academic research freely with minimum tears. These students find it very uneasy to develop research topics, collect data, present data and analyse data collected fresh from the field.

Many young people emerging from our system of higher learning were unable to find their feet in the labour market. Unemployment rate increases with the number of graduates that lack professionalism in their areas of specialization.

Research problems as used in this context do not refers to the problems encountered by the researchers in the process of his activities while tackling the problems that set of the tasks; rather they are the questions the research is posed to answer.

The issues at stake in this study is therefore whether students do recognize what constitute research project effectiveness criteria or whether their emotional disposition do influence the stability or reliabily of their attitudes towards research project. Attitudes are very important in life and activities of man as they determine direction. If individuals have favourable attitude towards something they approach it or support it. On the other hand, if they have unfavourable attitude, it leads to avoidance or conflict Eze (2009).

That the research is contending with poor attitude of students towards it, is incontestable. Research has been under the influence of wide spread negative perception of students. A social malady that has nearly defiled all efforts by the school.

Compared to the situation up to the late 1970’s, academic publishing in Nigeria, the concomitant and index of scholarly research, has declined in terms of output, quality and regularity of publications. This reflects a general decline in the standard of education Ayodeji Olukoju (2002).

This situation necessitated this study which investigates attitudes of graduates and undergraduates towards educational research.