Effect of Qualifi cation in ICT, Age and Income on Use of Computers among Postgraduate Students in Makerere University School of Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the relati onship between: qualifi cati on in using ICT, age and level of income; and use of computers among postgraduate students in Makerere University School of Educati on. The study was carried out following a cross-secti onal survey design and involved 69 students. Primary data, which were collected using a self-administered questi onnaire, were analysed using summary stati sti cs, t-test, analysis of variance, correlati on and multi ple regression analyses. The study found an insignifi cant relati onship between possession of qualifi cati ons in using ICT and the use of computers; a signifi cantly negati ve relati onship between age and the use of computers; and a signifi cantly positi ve relati onship between level of income and the use of computers. It was, therefore, concluded that possession of qualifi cati ons in using ICT is not suffi cient to enhance the use of computers; age can negati vely aff ect the uti lisati on of computers; and income enhances the uti lisati on of computers. Thus, it is recommended that, to enhance the use of computers among the said students, relevant managers should give special ICT training to the older students; and provide access to computers, to ensure that students whose incomes do not enable them to acquire personal computers have access.