Relevance and Quality of Research Undertaken by Master’s Students of Addis Ababa University
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Date
2013-11
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Addis Ababa Univerisity
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine relevance and quality of research undertaken by
Master’s students in the years from 2009 to 2011 in the department of Physics and
Mathematics education. The study employed a mixed methods approach and data collected
using questionnaires, interview together with relevant Documents. The participants of the
study included instructors, research supervisors and research examiners of Addis Ababa
University, Office for the Preparation of education policy, Office for the curriculum
preparation, Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA), Ministry of Science
and Technology, Rules and Regulation of the University and research undertaken by Master’s
students. All data was analyzed using quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the
study showed that relevance and quality status of research undertaken by Master’s students
was poor. The major factors that contributed to the problem include inadequate interaction
between the university and its stakeholders, lack of research funding, heavy load and extra
university duty of supervisors, limited research skills of the candidate (students) and time
constraints. The University has rules and regulations that clearly identified thematic areas of
research but it was ineffective or failed to ensure those thematic areas in to action. To
overcome the condition mentioned above, the researcher suggested that the University or its
departments familiarize research thematic domain to the students before they engage in title
submission and both the university and its stakeholders would be better if they work together