Institutional Support as a Catalyst for Academic Writing and Research Skills among Graduate Students in the Selected Public Universities in Uganda
Abstract
The study examined the influence of institutional support on graduate students’ academic writing and research in selected public universities in Uganda. It involved the use of an embedded design with a dominant quantitative approach. It involved graduate students, academic staff and academic administrative staff as the study population. These participants/respondents were purposively selected from four public universities in the different regions of Uganda. Each of the four universities was represented by 100 students of which 50 were selected from the science faculties/colleges and 50 from the humanities faculties. The respondents were sampled using stratified random and purposive sampling. Data from graduate students were collected using a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ). A FGD for graduate students was the second data collection tool. Data from academic administrative staff and academic staff were collected using an interview guide. Descriptive quantitative data were analyzed using means and standard deviations while the study hypothesis was analyzed using, Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient Index and Simple Linear Regression Analysis. Qualitative data was thematically analyzed. Findings from this study revealed a positive significant relationship between institutional support and academic writing and research among graduate students, where r = 0.441**, P - value = 0.000 less than 0.05. The study concluded that institutional support significantly relates to graduate students’ academic writing and research skills. It was further concluded that as graduate students are offered a conducive research environment like high-quality supervisory support, research funds, ICT facilities, library facilities, and mentorship among others, this would cultivate a positive writing behaviour and mentality which would eventually lead to scientific writers and researchers. The study recommended that there should be an emphasis on academic writing development programs as viable strategies to enhance scholarly writing and research. In addition, supervisors should be encouraged to provide proper guidance, feedback and adequate consultation time to individual graduate students especially those struggling at different stages of their research projects
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