Table 1.

Reliability Statistics
Cronbachs Alpha

Cronbachs Alpha Based on

Standardised Item

Number of Items

0.693
0.810
24
SPSS The impact of internet usage on students academic performance - 2012
The study considered also the ethical issues such as: the right of the students to either accept
or not to respond to the questionnaire, the right to confidentiality and anonymity. The
research ensured the need to adhere to ethical principles during the data collection such as:
the avoidance of any embarrassment, stress or discomfort to the participants in the survey. In
the same time, the research assured an appropriate ethical behaviour and objectivity from the
researchers. The researchers explained from the beginning the purpose of the survey and
respected current protocols imposed by the higher education institution.

Furthermore,

according to ethical principles associated with data processing and storage, the study will
ensure that the personal data is processed fairly and lawfully, accurate, not transferred in
another country. The personal data may be stored and kept secure for six years. Finally, the
study will consider the ethical issues related to data analysis and reporting. Thus, the
maintenance of objectivity of the researcher during the analysis stage is a very important
issue and this study will ensure that there will be no misrepresentation of data collection,
neither misrepresentation of statistical data. The researchers integrity is a last concern which
this research will also assure.

DATA ANALYSIS
This study will explore the students perception/attitude regarding the internet usage and its
impact on study performance. The research will analyse whether there is a relationship
between students technology satisfaction, internet usage, technology resistance and students
academic performance. Particularly, the research will identify whether any of the following:
internet usage, technology satisfaction and technology resistance will predict students
academic performance. In other words, the study will analyse if there is a positive impact of
the internet usage, technology satisfaction and technology resistance upon students academic
performance.

To analyse the data and address the research questions and test the hypothesis, the study used
a few statistical techniques. Thus, the first technique employed by the study was factor
analysis. According to Pallant (2007) this technique does not test the hypotheses but it
provides a reduction technique for the data. In this study the factor analysis technique
reduced a large number of items/questions such as 24 questions/items to a smaller and more
manageable number of items such as four, in order to carry out other techniques such as
linear regression. Tabachnick and Fidell (Pallant, 2007) recommended bigger sample and
they argued that factors obtained from small sets of data cannot be generalised easily.
However, as suggested by other authors (Stevens cited in Pallant, 2007), this sample with 120
respondents might be considered as sufficient for generalization (the ratio of this study is
30:1, greater than the recommended one 10:1).
This technique involved a procedure and followed three steps: the assessment of the
suitability of the data for factor analysis technique; factor extraction and the last step - factor
rotation and interpretation. To see if the data of this sample is suitable for factor analysis
technique, the study considered the sample size and the strength of the inter-correlations
among the items. This is provided in the Correlation matrix (Table 2 & Appendices-Table 6)
by Bartletts Test of Sphericity which must be < 0.05 in order for the factor analysis to be
appropriate. The second statistical measure provided by SPSS to assess the factor ability of
data is the Kaiser Meyer - Olkin (KMO) index which ranges from 0 to 1, with a minimum
0.6 suggested value in order for the factor analysis to be good (Pallant, 2007).
From the analysis of Correlation Matrix (Table 1) most of the factors are less than 0.3 or
around 0.3. This acknowledged us that the technique was appropriate. In the same way,
KMO index was within the recommended range with a minimum of 0.6 value (see the
Appendices 0,671; 0.684; 0,635 and 0.500). Additionally, the Bartletts Test of Sphericity
is in all cases significant, less than 0.05 for each group of variables (see Tables & Appendices
Sig. 0.000; 0.000; 0.000; 0.009).
The second step followed by the study within the factor analysis technique is factor extraction
by using Principal Component Analysis. The phase of the analysis attempts to determine the
smallest number of factors that can be used to depict the interrelations between the variables
within a group and it employs different approaches of extracting a particular number of
factors. The study attempted to experiment with different number of factors until the correct

solutions were found. According to this phase it seems that the most appropriate number of
factors for each group of variables either dependent or independent is as follows:
o Group 1/ Internet Usage (Independent variable) - the study extracted the following
factors: Academic Information, Communication with Tutors, Frequency of using
Campus Network and Where do you access the Internet at University;
o Group 2/Technology Satisfaction (Independent Variable) - the study extracted the
following factors as appropriate: Attitudes/I find using the PC easy; Attitudes/I like
using the PC; Attitudes/Using the internet increases my study performance;
o Group 3/Technology Resistance (Independent Variable) - the study extracted the
following factors: Tools used to access the internet; Additional training to use the
Internet;
o Group 4/Students Academic Performance (Dependent Variable) the study extracted
the following factors: The level of degree expected; Using technology is enhancing
your academic performance.
The last step of the procedure involved factor rotation and interpretation. After determining
the number of factors for each group of variables, to ease the interpretation process, the
factors were rotated by using an oblique technique Direct Oblimin. According to
Tabachnick and Fidell (Pallant, 2007) it seems that the oblique technique is more difficult to
interpret than the orthogonal technique which is easier for the interpretation. Nevertheless,
whilst the orthogonal technique incorrectly attempts to start with the presumption that the
variables are not correlated, the oblique technique allows the factors to be correlated. It
seems that this is the advantage of using such technique.
Additionally, the Correlation Matrix shows the strengths between the two factors.

For

example, a higher value demonstrated that the components are related. Thus, the items from
technology satisfaction are strong correlated, also the items belonging to internet usage and
finally the items belonging to technology resistance group.

Finally, the Table labelled

Communalities gives information about how much variance within each factor is
explained. A high value explained that the items fit well with the other elements within its
component.

Thus, the study has good communalities with high values for Technology

Resistance (0.620), Technology Satisfaction (0.832; 0.850; 0.623), Internet Usage (range
between 0.455 0.847) and Students Academic Performance (0.671) proving that the items
fit well within its component.

The second statistical technique used within this research is regression analysis multiple
regression. This type of statistical technique allowed the study to use the best set of variables
to predict the dependent variable. Within the process of interpretation of the results from the
survey, there was a need to check on the existence of any correlations between the dependent
and the independent variables (see the Table labelled Correlations).

From the

Correlations Table it could be seen that there are correlations between the dependent
variable Students Academic Performance and one independent variable Technology
Resistance. The relationships are significant as the proposed level is 0.314 which is above the
minimum level 0.3. The first stage of the analysis also advises to check on the correlation of
each of the independent variables not to be too high. It has been suggested that the bivariate
correlation should not be more than 0.7. Thus it could be observed that there is a good
correlation of 0.349 between two independent variables: Technology Satisfaction and Internet
Usage. This result suggests that the existence of a positive attitude towards internet and PC
(computers) which at its turn has a positive impact upon the increase of internet usage. A
second good correlation is between the two independent variables Internet Usage and
Technology Resistance and is showed by Pearson Correlation, r = 0.314.
As part of the multiple regression procedure, there is another stage called collinearity
diagnostics on the variables. The results of this are in the Table 3, named Coefficients
where more detailed information is presented. From Coefficients table, under the section
called Collinearity Statistics the two values of Tolerance and VIF demonstrate that the
multiple correlation with other variables is low. This is indicated in the Table/Tolerance
column, by the value of 0.819; 0.865 and 0.889 which are higher than 0.10. This indicator
explains how much variability of the independent variable such internet usage is not
explained by other independent variable such as technology satisfaction and technology
resistance. The next given value from the Table is VIF (Variance Inflation Factor = 1
divided by Tolerance) which at a value above 10 could indicate multicollinearity. In this case
VIF values are less than 10 (e.g. 1.222; 1.156; 1.125) and in conclusion we do not have
multicollinearity.
Another way of checking the assumptions of the study is by observing the Normal Probability
Plot of the Regression Standardised Residual which is part of the analysis. Based on this it
could be concluded that the points lie in a straight diagonal line from bottom left to top right.
Therefore, there are no major deviations from normality for the dependent variable student
s academic performance and as a result, the assumptions regarding this variable are proved to
4

be correct. Furthermore, no major deviations from normality it could be seen from the
second plot Scatterplot. There is a systematic pattern, rectangularly distributed with scores
mainly concentrated in the middle. It could be seen a few outliers on the Scatterplot, above
3.3 the allowed margins for which the study will not consider to take action.
As instructed by Pallant (2007) to check whether this small deviation of one case is having an
influence on the final results, the research will need to see the value for Cooks Distance from
the Table Residual Statistics. According to Tabachnick and Fidell (Pallant, 2007) cases
with values larger than 1 could be a problem for the final result of the research. However, the
data from this study demonstrates that Cooks Distance is only 0.161, less than 1. In
conclusion there is no need for the abnormal case to be removed.
Within the next stage of standard multiple regression the study needed to check on Adjusted
R Square (see the Table labelled Model Summary). R Square will tell how much of the
variance in the dependent variable is explained by the research model. I our case the value is
0.102 = 10.2% of the dependent variable students academic performance is explained by
this model. Furthermore, the study needs to assess the statistical significance of the result.
From ANOVA Table, it could be observed that the value of statistical significance for
Regression is Sig = 0.007 which is smaller than 0.05. The next stage of the Standard
Multiple Regression is to evaluate each of the independent variables. The study needs to
know which of the variables included in the model contributed to the prediction of the
dependent variable. Within the table labelled Coefficients the standardised coefficient
Beta will help the research to compare the contribution of each independent variable. The
independent variable with the largest Beta value makes the strongest contribution to
explaining the dependent variable.

A lower value will show less contribution to the

prediction of the dependent variable. For each of the variables the study needs to check the
value under the column marked Sig. This will show whether this variables are making a
statistically significant unique contribution to the equation.
According to the values from the Table Coefficients, the independent variable with the
strongest contribution is Technology Resistance with a Standardised Coefficient = 0.295.
The values of the other two variables shows lower values 0.031 and 0.044 which
demonstrate less contribution to the dependent variable. The next step it is to check each
value of the variables under the column labelled Sig. It can be observed that only one
variable has a Sig value = 0.002 (TecgResFA1) less than 0.05. In conclusion this variable
5

Technology Resistance is making a significant contribution towards the prediction of the

dependent variable students academic performance.

DATA DISCUSSION
The results of the analyses presented above allow the study to answer the questions posed at
the beginning of the section and also to test the Hypotheses. Accordingly, the technology
resistance predicts students academic performance and there is a relationship between
internet usage, technology satisfaction, technology resistance and students academic
performance.

The statistical analysis of this research is testing the significance of the

relationship between the variables from the research model. Within the statistical analysis,
the technique of correlation analysis in the study depicts only the strength and the direction of
a linear relationship between two variables and it does not describe the factor/variable which
causes the phenomena (Pallant, 2007).
To indicate the relationship between the variables, Pallant (2007) in her book provided three
groups of values as follows: r = 0.10 to 0.29 which indicates a weak relationship between
variables; r = 0.30 to 0.49 which shows a medium relationship and the last group of values
with r = 0.50 to 1.0 which indicates a strong relationship. Besides these values, 0
demonstrates no relationship between variables, whilst 1.0 and 1.0 indicates a perfect
positive and a perfect negative relationship (Pallant, 2007). Accordingly, in Table 5, the
research found that Pearson Correlation (r) is 0.314 indicated the existence of a medium
positive relationship between Student Academic Performance and Technology Satisfaction.
Additionally, further information was given by Sig value which is 0.001. More information
could be found from the note below the Table, which stated that the correlation is significant
at the 0.01 level.

This means that Sig = 0.001 indicates a good result for the tested

hypothesis, meaning that there is a significant correlation between these variables.

Equally important are the results from Table 5 indicating that there is a medium relationship
between Technology Satisfaction and Internet Usage (r = 0.349, Sig = 0.000; the correlation
is significant at the 0.01 level). Furthermore, there is also a medium relationship between
internet usage and technology resistance displayed by the Pearson correlation value, r = 0.313
with Sig = 0.001, where correlation is significant at the 0.01 level. Finally, there is also a

weak correlation between technology resistance and technology satisfaction (r = 0.216, Sig =
0.019, where correlation is significant at the 0.05 level).
Table 5. Correlations
InternetUsageF
TechSatisFA1
TechSatisFA1

Pearson Correlation

A1

Sig. (2-tailed)
N
InternetUsageFA1

TecgResFA1

StudPerfFA1

120

Pearson Correlation

.349

TecgResFA1

StudPerfFA1

.349**

.216*

.119

.000

.019

.198

120

118

119

**

.139

.001

.132

**

.313

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000

120

120

118

119

**

.314**

Pearson Correlation

.216

Sig. (2-tailed)

.019

.001

118

118

118

117

Pearson Correlation

.119

.139

.314**

Sig. (2-tailed)

.198

.132

.001

119

119

117

.313

.001

119

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 1. Correlations among the construct Pearson Correlation

Students
Academic
Performance
1.000

Internet Usage

Students Academic
0.139
Performance
Internet Usage
0.139
1,000
Technology
0.119
0.349
Satisfaction
Technology Resistance
0.314
0.313
Adapted from Norzaidi and Intan-Salwani (2009)

Technology
Satisfaction

Technology
Resistance

0.119

0.314

0.349
1,000

0.313
0.216

0.216

1,000

Table 2. Exploratory Factor Analysis Results

Construct

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
Measure of Sampling
Adequacy

Bartletts Test of
Sphericity/Sig.

Percent of total
variance explained
(%)

Technology
Resistance
Students Academic
Performance
Internet Usage
Technology
Satisfaction
Adapted from: Norzaidi and
level.

0.500

0.009

61.98

0.500

0.000

67.13

0.639
0.671

0.000
0.000

49.41
76.97

Intan- Salwani (2009). Correlation is significant at the 0.05

Table 3. Regression Coefficients

Model

Standardized Coefficients

t
Sig
0.033
0.974
0.031
0.316
0.753

Correlations
Partial
Part
0.030
0.028

(Constant)
Internet
Usage
Technology
0.044
0.463
0.644
0.044
Satisfaction
Technology
0.295
3.118
0.002
0.281
Resistance
Adopted from Norzaidi and Intan Salwani (2009)
-

Collinearity Statistics
Tolerance
VIF
0.819
1.222

0.041

0.865

1.156

0.278

0.889

1.125

Table 4. Model Summary and ANOVA

Model

R Square

1
0.320
0.102
Regression
Adopted from Norzaidi and Intan Salwani (2009)

Adjusted R
Square
0.078
-

Sig
0.007

Drawing on the findings from the data analysis, which were based on the respondents
answers, it seems that they confirm the hypotheses of the research. Additionally, these
findings support Norzaidi and Intan Salwani (2009) research which suggests that the internet
usage has a positive impact on the students academic performance. As opposed to Norzaidi
and Intan Salwani (2009) research, the new findings of this study prove that the technology
resistance is a predictor of students academic performance. It was also revealed that students
with effective access to campus network will be satisfied if additional training will be
provided by the university infrastructure. This was demonstrated by the positive moderated
association between technology resistance and technology satisfaction. At the same time the
findings show that (Bar Graph) about 80% of the respondents have been using the internet
8

more than 7 years. It could be concluded that the need for additional training is advisable to
be focused on the other segment of student population with either 3 6 years experience or
less than 3 years (20%).
About 87.5% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed that they accessed the internet on
university campuses for academic purpose. This result demonstrated an effective use of
campus network and at the same time an effective service provided by the university
campuses. At its turn, a good service offered by the university could lead to increase in
university standards towards international level and also toward performance management.

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

This research paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in terms of filling the gap
and also acknowledging the existence of a causal effect between technology resistance and
students academic performance. Moreover, building on previous studies (Norzaidi and Intan
Salwani, 2009) this research demonstrated the viability of the hypothesis that there is a
relationship between internet usage, technology resistance, technology satisfaction and
students academic performance.
In conclusion, the key findings from this empirical analysis are as follows:

It was demonstrated in this study that the respondents perceived the internet to be an
effective mean which contributes to the increase of their academic performance.
However, the research revealed that about 20% of the respondents need additional

training either for accessing resources or technical training.

It was perceived that tha lack of training and tools used to access the internet could be

a barrier to effective use.

The correlation analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between
additional training to access the internet, the tools used to access the internet and the
perceived belief that technology enhanced performance and the degree perceived to
achieve (Technology Resistance and Student Academic Performance: r = 0.314, Sig =

0.001).
Additionally, the study depicted a second significant positive association between
communication with tutors, the reason for accessing the campus internet academic

information and the perceived degree or additional training (Internet Usage and

Technology Resistance: r = 0.320, Sig = 0.000).

Finally, the results demonstrated the association between the perceived attitude
towards the access of internet (like/dislike), the place of access (university), the
purpose (academic information) and communication (tutors). (Technology satisfaction
and Internet usage: r = 0.345, Sig = 0.000)

This paper is aiming to help university in finding solutions to improve the services provided
to students towards international standards in the context of knowledge society. However,
given the limited sample size, the interpretation of the survey results may not be ready for
generalization. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies to design a bigger sample
size, across universities and cultures.

APPENDIX 1 DATA CODIFICATION

GROUP 1 - INTERNET USAGE:
IU1 Q3 the use of internet for general info, academic info, communication;
IU2 Q5 time of the day when you use internet
IU3 Q6 hrs spend on internet
IU4 Q7 how often do you use the campus network?
10

IU5 Q13 for how long have you been using the internet?
IU6 Q10 reason for using the internet
IU7 Q4 where from accessing the internet
IU8 Q2 my tutor encourage use of the internet
GROUP 2 TECHNOLOGY SATISFACTION
TS1 1- attitudes and perceptions
TS2 16 indicate agreement/disagreement with the statement: I am eager and curious to
learn more about using internet for academic purpose
GROUP 3 TECHNOLOGY RESISTANCE
TR1 Q9 barriers to access the internet
TR2 Q11 tools used to access internet
TR3 Q14 additional training to use the internet
GROUP 4 STUDENT PERFORMANCE
SP1 Q8 level of study
SP2 Q12 using technology is enhancing your academic performance
SP3 Q15 the level of degree expected
GROUP 5 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA Q17, Q18, Q19, Q20
APPENDIX 2
Table 6. FACTOR ANALYSIS

Correlation
Matrix
KMO Measure
of Sampling
Adequacy
Communalities
Extraction

TechResFA1
0.240

StudPerfFA1
0.343

TechSatisFA1
0.573

InternetUsageFA1
0.444

0.500

.0500

0.671

0.639

0.620

0.671

0.850

0.508

11

Variance
61.98
67.13
Explained %
Component
0.787
0.819
Matrix
Sig
0.009
0.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

76.97

70.64

0.922

0.713

0.000

0.000

Table 8. Using the internet is increasing my study performance

For how long have
you been using the
internet?
1-3 yrs
3.6 yrs
>7 yrs
Total

Agree & Strongly

Agree

Neither

Disagree & Strongly

Disagree

7
14
64
85

1
7
8

2
3
22
27

Using the internet increases my perfomance

70
60
50

1-3 yrs
3-6 yrs

40
Respondents

>7 yrs

30
20
10
0
Agree & Strongly Agree

REFERENCES
Alshare, K. A. and Lane, P. L. 2011. Predicting Student-Perceived Learning Outcomes and
Satisfaction in ERP Courses: An Empirical Investigation. Communications of the Association
for Information Systems. Vol. 28, Article 34, June 2011, pp. 571-584.
Awais, Bilal, Usman, M., Waqas, M. and Sehrish. (n. d.) Impacts of Internet Usage on
Students Academic Performance (CGPA). Research Paper. [Online]. www.Google [Accessed
Date: March 2012].

12

Brotcombe, P. 2005. Making Sense of Internet: Exploring Students Use of Internet-based

Information Resources in University. Paper presented at the British Educational Research
Association Annual Conference. 14-17 November 2005. UK: University of Glamorgan.
Bryman, A. and Bell, E. 2011. Business Research Methods. 3rd ed. USA, New York: Oxford
University Press Inc.
Djebarni, R. 2012. Research Methods. Lecture. [Online]. www.glamlife.ac.uk/Blackboard
[Accessed date: March 2012].
Doppelt, Y., Schunn, C. D., Silk, E. M., Mehalik, M. M., Reynolds, B. and Ward, E.
2009. Evaluating the impact of a facilitated learning community approach to professional
development on teacher practice and student achievement. Research in Science and
Technological Education, Vol. 27, No. 3, November 2009, pp. 339-354.
Limayem, M. and Cheung, M. K. 2011. Predicting the continued use of Internet-based
Scholar.learning technologies: the role of habit. Behaviour and Information Technology. Vol.
30, No. 1, January-February 2011, pp. 91-99.
Norzaidi, M. D. and Intan Salwani, M. 2009. Evaluating technology resistance and
technology satisfaction on students performance. Campus Wide Information Systems. Vol.26,
No. 4, 2009, pp. 298-312.
Pallant, J. 2007. SPSS Survival Manual. 3rd ed. USA, New York: Open University Press,
McGraw-Hill Education
Robinson, C. C. and Hullinger, H. 2008. New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student
Engagement in Online Learning. Journal of Education for Business. November/December
2008. Heldref Publication. JISC [Online]. [Accessed date: 20.01.12].
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. 2007. Research Methods for Business Students.
4th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R. 2010. Research Methods for Business. 5th ed. UK, West Sussex:
John Wile & Sons Ltd.
Selwyn, N., 2003. Why Students Do (and Do Not) Make Use of ICT in University.
Proceeding of Conference: Finding Common Ground: IT Education, Dearing and

13

Democracy in the Information Society. July 9th 2003. Leeds: University of Leeds, Department
of Computing.
Tavares, J., Pereira, A., Cabral, A. P., Carvalho, R., Fernandes, C., Huet e Silva, J. and
Monteiro, S. 2004. Facing New Higher Education Challenges Under and Postgraduate Web
based Courses. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research. 22-25
September 2004. Crete. University of Crete.
Uskov, V. and Uskova, M., 2003. Application of Telecommunication in Education: National
Science Foundation. Projects on Advanced Technological and Online Education in
Information Engineering Technology. [Online]. IEEE. www.glam.ac.uk/ [Accessed Date:
18.01.2012].
Wang, M. H. 1993. Electronic Communication in a University Campus. International
Professional Communication Conference. 1993. National Chiao Tung University, Hsinch,
Taiwan. [Online]. www.glam.ac.uk/ [Accessed Date: 18.01.12].
Wisker, G. 2008. The Postgraduate Research Handbook. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

TOPIC: IMPACTS OF INTERNET USAGE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE
REFLECTIVE SECTION FLORICA TOMOS Ph D 07135599
Internet usage is a powerful resource for academic performance (Jefferries and Hussain,
1998; Norzaidi et al., 2007 a, b, c cited in Norzaidi and Intan Salwani, 2009). This study
explored the impact of internet usage on students academic performance, identified barriers
14

to students satisfaction regarding the access to internet and evaluated the relationship
between internet usage, technology satisfaction, technology resistance and students academic
performance. The research tested the following four hypotheses:
H1: The internet usage predicts students academic performance in Higher Education
H2: Technology satisfaction predicts students academic performance
H3: Technology resistance predicts academic performance
H4: There is a relationship between internet usage, technology satisfaction, technology
resistance and students academic performance.
The empirical analysis proved as viable and accepted two of the hypotheses: H3 and H4.
Accordingly, the study found that technology satisfaction is a predictor of students
performance.

Also, the correlation analysis demonstrated the existence of significant

relationship between internet usage, technology satisfaction, technology resistance and

students academic performance.
With regard to this Assignment, I could say that the topic of the project was of great interest
to me, as I had a collection of articles about Internet and Information Technology. Besides
the articles received from the group, the collection of articles was very helpful. I also had the
determination, the drive and desire to carry on with my work, to organise, direct, inspire and
work at my very best with and within the group.

I also understood ones limitations,

knowledge, willingness and capabilities, strengths and weaknesses and I was able due to my
interpersonal skills and experience to cope with hard work and sometimes to work on my
own. The knowledge to adapt to different situations, to work only with restricted means and
often working harder than other members of the group, I believe it was my strongest point.
There was a time when I needed the group to help me with data collection or codification and
I must say that the group tackled that.
I started this research project by designing a structure, a research framework, a PowerPoint
Presentation and a Questionnaire with 20 questions.

The Questionnaire was based on

previous researches and inspired from four articles mentioned within the literature review. I
distributed 125 questionnaires over two days and I was helped by one member of the group.
The group helped me with data codification and witnessed while I inputted the data on SPSS
over about seven hours.

In my work either alone or within the group and also when

15

distributing questionnaires to the students, I adhered at all time to the research ethics. I was
aware of the way I needed to formulate the questions, to design and collect data, and finally
to process, store, analyse and write up our report ethically and in a responsible way. Every
student was given the choice to answer or not and sufficient time to think and answer
honestly to the questionnaire. The effect of the research on the respondents will be an
increase of students awareness regarding the existence of any barriers in accessing the
internet, technology satisfaction and the impact of internet usage on their academic
performance.
The philosophical framework that guided how the research was conducted, it was a positivist
paradigm. According to the positivist perspective, the study used as a main research method
the Survey with 125 direct administered questionnaires. Primary data was collected from a
sample designed from the undergraduate, graduated and postgraduate population in Higher
Education institution in Wales. Data collection and analysis was also guided by a hypotheticdeductive perspective. The research attempted to prove four hypotheses mentioned in the
literature review. The hypotheses comprised either direct causal path, indirect or reciprocal
causation (Figure 1). The study was aimed to generalize the end product from sample to the
population and will try to adopt the result into different HE institutions in Wales and the UK.
Furthermore, by testing the hypotheses, the theory of a positivist paradigm suggested that the
outcome of the research will have high reliability and low validity.
The study critically investigated the effectiveness of the internet usage and in order to make
recommendations. In achieving the aim of the study as presented in the literature review, the
focus of the research was in exploring students view and perceptions with regards to internet
usage, technology satisfaction, technology resistance and academic performance.

The

previous studies revealed the existence of a significant association between internet usage and
students academic performance and no proved association between technology resistance
and students academic performance. However, the results of this study discovered another
significant positive correlation between technology resistance and student academic
performance. Thus the study is bringing a contribution to knowledge and to the increase of
university effectiveness in providing quality service to students.
Based on the above results it would be appropriate the following recommendations: 1.
Promote awareness of the benefits of additional IT training between students. 2. Effective
training and provision of users support for internet access to all students who require. 3.
16

Ensure adequate training and student development are easy identified via e-Resources. 4.
Review students progress and update their records.
This is a critical reflection on the research activity, which gave me the opportunity to reflect
on all the experiences met along the research process and to develop reflective skills. It also
helped me to develop transferable skills such as project management, data collection and
analysis, academic writing skills and critical analysis skills, along the project. Furthermore, it
contributed to an increase in knowledge and understanding of the difference between causal
and correlation study, between different school of thoughts and approaches to research.
Additionally, this research gave me the satisfaction of a contribution to knowledge, but
especially a contribution to the development and effectiveness of universitys infrastructure.
Finally, the results and the recommendations based on this study, gives others a chance to
undertake more research with larger sample across the universities. The internet usage is a
very debatable topic gaining the attention of more researchers across the world. I hope all the
hard work will be rewarded by the final result of the assignment.

17