Status of, and Obstacles to, the Use of the Internet as a Tool for Collecting Data for Scientific Research by the Teaching Staff of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk University

Abstract

The study investigated the extent of utilizing the Internet as
a data collecting tool, as well as, the constraints encountered by the
teaching staff members in the faculty of education at Yarmouk
University. To collect data, a questionnaire was distributed to 60 staff
members during the academic year 2004/2005. The study findings
revealed that all staff members utilized the Internet. The findings also
revealed statistically significant differences at (α ≥0.05) among staff
members in the advantages gained due to English competency in favor
of the “excellent” category, as well as in the data collection purpose
due to computer skills known by staff members in favor of the
“medium” level. The overall results revealed that the most useful
Internet application was “following up recent developments in the
specialization of every staff member, and that the most encountered
constraints by staff members were: “The scarcity of enough time to
use the internet”, and “the scarcity of the full text of articles and
studies published on the Internet”. Among Staff members, Yahoo was
the most employed site for scientific research purposes.
Recommendations emphasized the full utilization of the internet.