Institutional Policies Affecting Needs-Driven Research in Automobile Engineering and Technology in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated institutional policies that affects needs-driven research in
Automobile Engineering and Technology in Bayelsa State. The study adopted a descriptive
survey research design. The study was guided by two purposes, two research questions and
two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study at 0.05 level of significant. The
population of the study consists of 64 lecturers from 4 Higher Institutions in Bayelsa State.
Data were collected using a structured questionnaire on five-point rating scale with a total
of 32 items. The questionnaire was validated by three experts to ensure its content validity.
To establish reliability of the instrument, the Cronbach Alpha test was used and the
reliability coefficients was 0.82, indicating that the instrument was highly reliable. Mean
and Standard Deviation were used to answered the research questions. The findings
revealed, among other things, that, misalignment of research objectives with societal and
industrial demands and bureaucratic inefficiencies were significant barriers hindering
needs-driven research in automobile engineering and technology in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Based on the findings, the study recommended that the government should establish
national research priorities that align with industry and academia across institutions.