Students’ Perceptions About Independent Study at the University Level: Issues, Benefits, and Outcomes

Irfan Ghaffar; Zakir Ali; Dr. Sumera Ishrat

doi:10.5281/zenodo.13929580

Authors

Irfan Ghaffar Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Social Work, University of Karachi, Karachi
Zakir Ali Zakir Ali, Research Coordinator, Agha Khan University, Karachi
Dr. Sumera Ishrat Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Karachi, Karachi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13929580

Keywords:

Independent Study, Perceptions, Issues, Benefits, Outcomes, University

Abstract

The purpose of this research study is to know the students’ perceptions about independent study at the university level and to explore the benefits and effectiveness of independent study. This research study also aim to explore the outcomes of independent study among students. The current study is quantitative in nature while the type of the study was descriptive. The population of the study was the students studying at SZABIST University, Iqra University, and Hamdard University in Karachi, the purposive sampling technique from the nonprobability sampling method was used to select the samples from the population, and the sample size of the current study was 131 where a questionnaire was used as the tool for data collection consisting of twenty-five statements. The data was analyzed with the help of social science group statistics packages (SPSS) and the hypotheses were checked with the help of chi-square. The results indicate that more than 50% of respondents were engaged in doing independent study as part of their academic education in which 70% of respondents found independent study interesting. It is also analyzed in Table 4 that the independent study helps more than 82% of respondents to organize their work in a better way as well as in Tables number 5, 6, and 7 it was evaluated that the progress, confidence level, and sense of responsibility of the students increased with the independent study. However, it was identified in table number 9 that sometimes independent study is found to be distracting and boring for the students. The research study recommends the promotion and appreciation of independent study among students as well as strategies should be planned in educational institution to promote and aware the importance of independent study.

Keywords: Independent Study, Perceptions, Issues, Benefits, Outcomes, University

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