Abstract:
ICT has influenced the conduct of research with the emergence of advanced technologies that
have enabled researchers to work with larger datasets and to improve the outcome of their
research. Despite these benefits, it was revealed that some postgraduate students were not
computer literate hence their inability to use the ICT applications in their research activities.
This problem has led to huge financial losses to the universities since they have invested in
ICT facilities, yet little use is being made. The study sought to examine the use of ICT in
research by postgraduate students in public universities. The survey design was adopted for the
study. The Stratified and Convenience sampling techniques were adopted to select 346
respondents out of 4907 postgraduate students from the University of Ghana and University of
Cape Coast. The questionnaire was the sole instrument used for data collection. The responses
were analyzed using SPSS. The finding of the study revealed that most students frequently
accessed ICT facilities such as e-resources, communication and collaboration applications,
citation and compiling bibliography applications, data analysis applications and sharing and/or
publishing in their conduct of research. Thus, it is recommended that the ICT facilities should
be marketed to students and promoted extensively through social networks; the universities’
administration should also ensure that there are adequate ICT facilities for each research
process or activity.
