ASSESSMENT OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS' OPINION ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT SUPERVISION

The study assessed by determines the Supervised Undergraduate Students (SUS) opinion on Undergraduate Research Project (URP) supervision and Gender difference on SUS opinion on URP supervision. Content analysis design was used for the study. The study consisted of two (Federal and State) universities, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, (ATBU) Bauchi from North East and Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi from North Central geo political zones of Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 434 final year supervised undergraduate research project students. Proportionate stratify random sampling was used to select 205 (122 male and 84 female) SUS. Supervised Undergraduate Students Opinion (SUSO) questionnaire was developed, validated and used for the data collection. Hypothesis was tested at α=0.05 level of significance. To ensure the quality of the analysis, table was used where the co researchers made transparent process from raw data to results in form of tally and frequency. The data was analyzed using conceptual analysis and Chi Square test. URP supervisors were appointed in respective of their expertise or field of specialization; male and female SUS differs significantly (Ҳ² = 96.265, df= 10, ρ<0.05) on opinion regarding URP supervision were among the findings from the study. Some of the recommendations from the study include academic staff with administrative responsibility to be exempted from URP supervision; similar study to be carried out with Post Graduate thesis supervision.