DIGITAL LITERACY AND STUDENTS’ RESEARCH COMPETENCE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM A NIGERIAN POLYTECHNIC

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary higher education demands remarkable digital skills for credible academic and research engagement among the students, yet empirical evidence points to increasing utilization of digital tools, but limited skills for credible research outputs among students especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the extent to which the level of digital literacy among students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State predicts their proficiency in research, particularly in three domains of higher education students' research activities - literature and information search, data processing and analysis, and research report documentation. Grounded in the Transfer of Learning Theory, the study conceptualized digital literacy as a foundational competence that is often transferred into the different activities embedded in research endeavour, evaluating their interaction in determining students’ proficiency for desirable research outcomes. Using a cross-sectional online survey, data were collected from 467 Higher National Diploma students selected through purposive and snowball sampling, with data collection spanning a period of 3 weeks. The Digital Literacy and Research Competence Questionnaire (DLRCQ), designed on a 4-point Likert rating scale, was adapted from validated scales and analyzed using linear regression to test three hypotheses. Results show a strong, significant relationship between digital literacy and literature/information search competence (R = 0.730, R² = 0.533, p < 0.001), indicating that over half of the variance in students’ search abilities is explained by digital skills. Digital literacy also significantly predicted research documentation competence (R = 0.628, R² = 0.394, p < 0.001), demonstrating its importance for structuring reports, applying citation styles, and using digital writing tools. Conversely, digital literacy exhibited only a weak but significant effect on data processing and analysis competence (R = 0.264, R² = 0.070, p = 0.008), revealing a critical skills gap in students’ data analysis proficiency and readiness, despite their general digital literacy. Digital literacy generally has significant positive contributions to research capability among students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, with a weakness in data analysis skills among the students, indicating a mismatch between general digital abilities and specialized research competence for data analysis. Strengthening institutional support for advanced digital skills, particularly statistical software use, data interpretation, and problem-solving is recommended to enhance students’ data analysis proficiency and overall research capability.