Assessing Knowledge and Attitude on Usage of Software for Questionnaire Designing and Data Coding Among Final Year Science Students at Chancellor College, University of Malawi (303528)

Keywords: Data Coding, Knowledge and Attitude, Software Usage, Questionnaire Designing

Good-quality data and methods of collecting it are very essential for developmental planning and decision at all government or private departments in each country. Usage of software to design questionnaires and for data coding and entry should therefore be of paramount importance to every other individual involved in processes of data collection and analysis. To measure level of knowledge and attitude on usage of software for questionnaire designing and data coding (QDDC), this study performed an in-depth analysis of knowledge and attitude on QDDC among final year science students at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, who are among prospective employees for government and private sectors in Malawi. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and entered and analyzed in SPSS and Excel. Of the 89 simple randomly sampled students, 86 were able to complete the questionnaire, representing a 97% response rate. Univariate analysis results indicated that only (36.1%) had comprehensive knowledge on usage of software for QDDC. On the other hand, chi-square test of association showed that only variables, age group with p-value of (0.005) and marital status (0.036), were observed to be significantly associated with level of knowledge on usage of software for QDDC. However, multivariate analysis results indicated that only age group (0.004) was useful in predicting comprehensive knowledge on usage of software for QDDC. It is therefore recommended that institutions that train prospective government and company employees focus on software usage trainings as well in addition to the usual theoretical courses offered irrespective of the program differences.