Use of search engines for research by postgraduate students of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria

The study was motivated by the methodological requirements of a related study on the coverage of Africa-specific information by Internet search engines, and the need to promote understanding of the search engine experiences, preferences and training needs of postgraduate research students in an African university setting. The data were collected through a structured 25-item questionnaire administered to 327 postgraduate students in a population of 6525. Data were collected only from students who had been using search engines. They were resident in the hostels, and were available during the study. The questionnaire response rate was 75.9%. Google and Yahoo! were by far the most popular engines with the students in that order. Most of the students frequently used the two search engines together for browsing; and about 75% of them learned how to use search engines through friends or by trial and error. Students relied on search engines mostly for their academic work, and for job search. Although almost 90% of the students were at least 'somewhat confident' with their most preferred engines, only a third of them were aware of the advanced and Boolean search options provided by the engines, apart from experiencing problems with how to select words for searches. The findings of the study confirm the continuing need for educational planners and administrators in African universities to integrate adequate information (technology) literacy content into the curricula for postgraduate and research students in the universities.