Demographic Variables and Research Skills Acquisition among Postgraduate Students in Public Universities in Cross River State, Nigeria

The study is aimed at determining the influence of demographic variables on research skills acquisition among postgraduate education students in public universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve aim of this study, two purpose of the study was stated that were transformed into two research questions. The research question was further transformed into two null hypotheses. Literature review was carried out based on the sub-variables of the study and ex-post facto research design was used for the study. The population for this study was made up of 2,938 Post graduate students from the two public Universities in Cross River State. Stratified sampling technique was adopted for the study to select a sample of 400 post graduate students. The instrument for data collection was a 15-item Questionnaire structured on a four-point rating Likert scale titled “Demographic Variables and Research Skills Acquisition questionnaire (DVRSAQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts in measurement. While reliability yielded a reliability index of 0.78. One-way analysis of Variance was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. The result obtained indicated that students’ gender and institution ownership (state and federal) significantly influence research skill acquisition in Universities in Cross River State. Based on the findings, it was concluded that postgraduate students' demographic variables in terms of gender and institution ownership influenced their acquisition of research skills. Based on findings and conclusion, it was recommended among others that Educators are encouraged to focus on identifying effective strategies to enhance research interest and explore the long-term impacts of these strategies on students’ academic and professional success.