GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in Akwa Ibom State using the public tertiary institutions in the state (University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State University, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Akwa Ibom State College of Education Afaha Nsit, and Akwa Ibom State College of Science and Technology). The population of the study comprised post graduate students in the two universities and academic staff from the five institutions. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 60 post graduate students from University of Uyo, 30 post graduate students from Akwa Ibom State University, and 50 academic staff from each of the 5 institutions, giving a total of 340 respondents for the study. The Instrument titled “THE ROLES AND CHALLENGES OF OBJECTIVITY IN RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE (RCORQ)” was used. Face validation of the instrument was carried out by research experts in business administration while Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the level of reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.86 which was proved high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to percentage analysis which was used to answer the research questions and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis for testing the hypothesis. The test for significance was done at 0.05 alpha levels. The study revealed that there is high need of the application of objectivity in research. The result also proved that the roles of objectivity in research were numerous including elimination of bias and high dependability of research results. Also, the challenges of objectivity in research were observed to be numerous too including personal prejudices and biases and value Judgment. It was concluded that most researches carried out are without optimum level of objectivity and as a result of that, the findings are not dependable for solution of the prevalent problems and challenges. Also, there is significant relationship between objectivity in research and dependability of the results. One of the recommendations was that researchers should prioritize objectivity and minimize bias in research to ensure dependability of the results obtained.

KEYWORDS: Objectivity in Research, Academic Staff, Post Graduate Students, Akwa Ibom State