Influence of gender and expected competencies on access to and utilization of cyberspace resources and services for research by postgraduate students

In this paper, the researchers’ goal was to examine the influence of gender on cyberspace resources and services use and the expected competencies for research among postgraduates in federal universities in Southwest, Nigeria. This descriptive survey studied a purposive sample of 1008 postgraduates from five universities. For the analyses of data, the researchers used mean, standard deviation and t-test. The results indicate that postgraduate students pointed out the expected competencies that should be possessed for the effective utilization of cyberspace resources and services for research. The researchers note that there is a non-significant difference between male and female PG students’ responses in view of accessing cyberspace resources and services for research. The researchers also found a non-significant gender influence on competencies expected of PG students for utilization of cyberspace resources and services for research. The study recommended that universities should provide free access to electronic resources; and the internet connection should be improved upon.