Gender disparity in internet utilisation habits of medical students

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating gender disparity existing among male and female students, first in their internet utilization for academic purposes; and also for recreational purposes. It adopted the descriptive survey design. Two null hypotheses we re formulated and tested at a significance level of 0.05. 1,119 students comprising students of Basic Medical and Clinical sciences, constituted the population of the study. 120 students were selected as the sample for the study using Stratified Random Sam pling Technique. A researcher developed structured questionnaire tagged Gender Disparity and Internet Utilisation Habits Questionnaire (GDIUHQ) was developed and used to gather data for the study. This was found to be reliable at a coefficient of 0.56 usi ng Spearman Brown’s formula. Data collected were presented with percentages and graphs and analysed using t - test statistic. Results indicated a significant disparity between male and female students’ internet utilization for academic purposes in favour of boys. On utilization for recreational purposes, an overwhelming disparity was revealed still in favour of boys. Paper concluded that there still exists gender inequality in internet utilization by students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It recommends paradigm shift in teaching, information dissemination patterns and policy implementation to accomplish the desired change.

Keywords: Internet, Utilization, Habits, Gender, Disparity, Digital, Divide.