Abstract

The study examined the use of the Internet by researchers in Agricultural Research Institutes in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey method was used for the study. A purposive sampling technique using an interval of two was employed to select 50% of the researchers from each of the research institutes to give a total of 106 respondents from the research institutes. Data were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire. A total number of ninety eight questionnaires were retrieved which is 92.45% of the total sample. The data were subjected to frequency counts and percentages. The result showed that most researchers acquired computer knowledge without undergoing formal training in the use of the internet. Mostly they learnt through self-development (51.02%), friends (30.61%), workshops seminars and conferences (20.41%) and computer school (15.31%). The researchers used the Internet mostly for research purposes (76.53%), communication (40.82%), knowledge acquisitions (20.41%) and news sourcing (10.20%). However, researchers in agricultural research institutes have identified slow Internet connections (75.51%) as the major problem in their use of the Internet. The study identified the readiness of the researchers to use the Internet for their research work but the usage of the resource is limited due to the slow speed of connections available to them. The study therefore recommends that various institutes should acquire more bandwidth for their Internet connections to accommodate more computers and to improve the Internet speed. Internet networks must be active and continuously sustained in order to make this valued resource effective in all our agricultural research institutes.

Keywords: Researchers, agricultural research institutes, internet use.