1.1 Introduction
The internet is a technology that has become an enormous part of people’s daily lives. Through its ability to act as a support medium in different functions for which people use it, the internet was introduced to academic institutions as a tool to enhance student’s academic experience in the mid-1990s (Ngoumandjoka, 2012). Over the last decades, internet connectivity has improved tremendously and is available everywhere such as homes, offices, travels and schools (Ellore et al., 2014). The internet is a basic technology in the development of information technology. The internet is a pool of knowledge and any country that fails to provide her youth access to the internet is unseating the country from her throne of dignity among other dignitaries (Olatokun, 2008).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Nigerians are confronted with an environment that is rapidly changing and the time spent on non-academic activities has negatively impacted academic performance. This survey investigates the contribution of time spent on the internet by students to academic achievement. The performance of students' overtime has witnessed a constant depreciation. Many scholars see this as a direct consequence of governments neglect on education; some others say the students should share a large part of the blame. There is no doubt that spending time on the internet helps to improve ones intelligent quotient and ultimately make one conversant with happenings around him/her but doing this to the detriment of one's studies has done more harm than good in our society.
Ezeife 2008 opined that for students to be able to do academically well, they have spent little or no time on the internet. But doing this according to oluwatobi 2013 could as well be detrimental to students' academic performance. it is no longer news that Nigerian students have so taken to the internet that do spend little or no time in their studies and these have to the decline of education in Nigeria. In sum, this study may help to develop a conceptual framework for guiding efforts to improve academic performance, as it relates to time used on the internet.
The use of credible internet resources is of greater importance for academic study, especially in high class courses which require an academic review of literature (Sahin et al., 2010). Internet use for educational purpose is found by Kim (2011) to be the heart of adolescent academic achievement. The availability of internet is almost everywhere, most students have had access to internet on their smart phones (Ellore et al. 2014). This helps students to broaden their academic knowledge, research and assignments by accessing information worldwide and also enhances easy communication to the academic community (Siraj, et al., 2015).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to carry out a Regression Analysis on the Hours Spent on the Internet and Time Spent to Study on the Academic Performance of Students.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the internet is one of the best invention in the history of mankind but the educational sector is seeing both the good and bad side of internet. The bad side could be seen in the areas where students spend several hours on the internet doing thing that may not improve their academic performance. Most of them watch movies online instead downloading academic journal for study. Secondly there have been series of studies on the internet but not even single study has been carried out on a regression analysis of hours spent on the internet and academic performance of students.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to carry out a Regression Analysis on the Hours Spent on the Internet and Time Spent to Study on the Academic Performance of Students. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To determine the effect of hours spent on the internet on the academic performance of students
- To determine the relationship between hours spent on the internet and the academic performance of students
- To investigate on other factors affecting the academic performance of students
- To proffer solution to the above problems
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the effect of hours spent on the internet on the academic performance of students?
- What are other factors affecting the academic performance of students?
- What is the relationship between hours spent on the internet and the academic performance of students?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between hours spent on the internet and the academic performance of students
- H1: There is a significant relationship between hours spent on the internet and the academic performance of students
1.7 Significance of Study
The study on regression analysis of hours spent on the internet and academic performance of students will be of immense benefit to statistics students; the study will determine the relationship between hours spent on the internet and the academic performance of students and also serve as a repository of information to other researchers that desire to carry out similar research on the above topic.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on regression analysis of hours spent on the internet and academic performance of students will cover for one academic year.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Regression Analysis:
It is a statistical method used to examine the relationship between two or more variables. It helps in understanding how the typical value of the dependent variable is varied, while the other independent variables are held fixed (Frost, 2019).
Dependent Variable:
The dependent variable is the outcome factor; it is the variable that researchers are trying to explain or predict. in the context of this study, the time spent studying would be the dependent variable (Laerd Statistics, 2015).
Independent Variable:
The independent variable is the factor that is manipulated or categorized to determine its effect on the dependent variable. In this study, the hours spent on the internet would be the independent variable (Salkind, 2010).
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