Understanding Trends in Health Communication and Appropriate Design for Outstanding Research Outcome in Nigeria (Published)
This study evaluated the frequency of health communication issues published in Journal of Communication and Media Research (JCMR) as a percentage of the total publications, the dominant themes on health communication in the JCMR and the dominant research designs used in the studies on health communication in the JCMR. A qualitative research design was employed in this study with survey of literature in the JCMR. The study found that the average coverage of health communication by health communication scholars in JCMR. was the predominant thematic area of health communication covered by JCMR. It established that the theme of assessment and evaluation of health interventions and campaigns and the theme of Doctor-Patient Communication is the lowest area of attention. This can be justified by the fact that it is relatively a new area of health communication research in Nigeria. It was discovered that majority of researchers did not specify the research design employed in the various articles in JCMR while case study research was the dominant design that scholars used in JCMR.
Keywords: Evaluation, Frequency, Research design, health communication, publication, validity
Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (PUTME) As Predictors of Undergraduate Students’ Final Grades (Published)
This study set out to investigate UTME and PUTME Examinations as predictors of undergraduate students’ final grades. The research design is the ex-post-facto. The population of this study comprises of 100 and 200level undergraduate students in four different departments. The sample for the analysis is 436 students. Data were collected from the official students’ records at the Management Information System (M.I.S) Unit of the University of Benin. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) and linear regression. The findings of the study revealed that JAMB/UTME, PUTME scores do not significantly predict undergraduate final grades in Nigeria University and both JAMB/UTME and PUME scores combined do not significantly predict undergraduate final grades in Nigeria University. The need for stakeholders in education to examine the relevance of the JAMB/UTME and PUTME examinations in the selection of students into the tertiary institution which has led to multiplicity of examination and other attendant problems for the students, parents and even the institutions; and the need for every tertiary institution to be allowed to conduct their screening examination and not a stooge of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board were recommended.
Keywords: : Academic Performance, Examination, Predictive, validity