Challenges and Coping Strategies Adopted by Postgraduate Students of Agricultural Education in Thesis Writing in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

The study investigated challenges encountered and coping strategies adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in writing thesis in Nigerian universities. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study was conducted in Nigerian universities offering post-graduate programme in agricultural education. The population for the study was 118 made up of 14 postgraduate diploma, 66 masters and 38 doctoral students writing thesis in agricultural education. The entire population was involved in the study. An instrument tilted: Challenges and Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CCSQ) was used for data collection. Three experts validated the questionnaire. Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained. A total of 97 copies of the questionnaire were returned representing 93 percent return rate. Data collected for the study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analysis of Variance was used to test hypothesis of no significant difference at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was the tool employed to analyze the data collected. It was found out that 28 challenges were encountered by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing while 15 coping strategies were adopted by postgraduate students of agricultural education in thesis writing. The recommendations were that postgraduate students of agricultural education who have abandoned their thesis writing should adopt the identified coping strategies to complete their programme among others.