Exploring the attitudes of undergradate students towards research course at the institute of adult education, Tanzania

This study explored the students’ attitude towards research. The participants of the study were undergraduate students at the Institute of Adult Education Tanzania. This cross sectional study was done in April-July 2018. The sample comprised of 120 students selected through simple random sampling technique. The study population were all undergraduate students at the Institute. Cochran equation formula was used to determine the sample size. The Attitude Towards Research scale (ATR) was adapted for data collection. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from students. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Independent T- test and ANOVA test were used to assess differences between the groups. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. 84.2 % of the students love research course, 69.2% of respondents think it as a necessary and important course and useful in everyday life and 88.3 % of respondents said research course is helpful in future. Student’s attitudes towards research in terms of the usefulness in their career, and relationship with everyday life was positive. Students’ attitudes towards research course did not have a meaningful variation according to gender [t (118)= 0.768, p>.05]. The findings also showed that there was insignificant difference between the variables of age [F(3, 116) = 6.7299; p>0.05] and year of study [F(2, 117) = 1.6383; p>0.05] and the attitude of students towards research. It was concluded that there is no significant different between male and female students attitude towards research course. This study concludes that research orientation and research anxiety should be considered and addressed by teachers when conceptualizing research courses.