DIGITAL RECORD-KEEPING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF PRINCIPALS FOR EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the digital record-keeping management practices of principals for effective administration of secondary schools in urban and rural areas in South East, Nigeria. It was a descriptive study guided by one research question and one null hypothesis. The population of this study comprised 1,300 principals in the 1,300 public secondary schools in the five states in South East Nigeria. The sample size of this study comprises 750 principals selected using proportionate stratified sampling technique. Data for this study were collected using a structured questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on Data Management Practices for Administration of Secondary Schools” (QDMPASS) developed by the researcher. The instrument has two main sections; A and B. Section A contains two items on the demographic data of the respondents covering school location while Section B contains five clusters on the variables of the study. The instrument is structured on a 4-point scale of Strongly Agree (SA); Agree (A); Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) with nominal values 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. To ascertain the face validity of the instrument for the study, the researcher submitted it together with the research topic, purpose of the study, research questions and hypotheses to two experts in Department of Educational Management and Policy and one expert in the measurement and evaluation, all from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instrument was determined through a trial testing. Copies of the instrument were administered to 20 principals in 20 selected public secondary schools in Delta State in South-South, which was not part of the study population. The data collected were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha to measure the internal consistency of the instrument and reliability co-efficient values of 0.89 was obtained for the study. The researcher sent instrument through email to four Research Assistants which are colleague teachers in the five states of South East, those whom she briefed on the modalities of how to administer them to the principals using "on-the-spot" method. A period of four weeks was allowed for the principals to complete the survey. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and determine the closeness or wideness of the respondents’ mean ratings. The null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test of independence. Findings indicated that principals disagreed on digital record-keeping management practices for effective administration secondary schools in South East Nigeria. Accordingly, it was recommended, among others, that the Ministry of Education should organize intensive training programs and workshops to build principals’ capacity on digital record-keeping tools and systems.