Use of online search engines and students’ information seeking behaviour of undergraduates in College Of Health Technology, Calabar, Cross River State

Abstract

This study examined the use of online search engines and students’ information seeking behaviour of  undergraduates in College of  Health Technology, Calabar, Cross River State. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. Survey research design was  used. The population for the study constituted 971 final year students with a sample of 486 final year students from the total population  selected using purposive and accidental sampling approach. The instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation  while the structured questionnaire titled “Online Search Engines and Students’ Information Seeking Behaviour Questionnaires  (OSESISBQ)” was used for data collection. The data collected was analyzed with (One-Way ANOVA) and independent t-test. All hypotheses  were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant influence of use of internet search  engine (Yahoo, Firefox and Chrome) on students’ information seeking behaviour and use of internet search engine significantly influence  students’ information seeking behaviour in terms of their gender. From the result of the study, it was recommended among others that the authorities of College of Health Technology, Calabar and the library management in particular should make internet  connectivity more and readily available to students irrespective of their gender status. This in retrospect will eliminate the discrepancy  emanating as a result of genderdisparities towards seeking information.