The effect of internet usage on the academic performance of university students

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to find out the effect of internet usage on the academic performance of university students of Makerere using third year students of school of statistics and Planning as the case study. Five hypotheses guided the study. To achieve this, univariate analysis, bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis were adopted. The study focused on university students, stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 120 students. A questionnaire titled: Research questionnaire of the effect of internet usage on the Academic performance of University students was used to collect data from the students. Univariate analysis consisted of descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages, ANOVA and linear regression were used in testing the research hypotheses at 95% confidence interval. The results obtained showed that, there was a significant relationship between CGPA and Gender; significant relationship between CGPA and sponsorship; No relationship between number of hours of usage of internet and CGPA; no significant relationship between internet usage and CGPA; no significant relationship between reasons for access and CGPA; no significant relationship between residence and CGPA; no significant relationship between programme of the study and CGPA. In conclusion, the study revealed that the final year students that used internet had a relatively higher CGPA than those who don’t use internet. It was recommended among others that school of statistics and planning should embark on awareness programmes that will sensitize the students to take advantages derived from the use of the internet for academic purpose.