Assessing the impact of ICT on research activities in Ghana: a case study of selected council for scientific and industrial research (CSIR) institutes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on research activities in selected institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The research methodology adopted for this study was the case study approach, specifically multiple cases. This study employed structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews as a data collection instrument to collect data from respondents in the five selected research institutes of CSIR. The study shows that ICTs have a positive impact on research activities. ICT tools have been proven to be very helpful to researchers and other non-core staff of CSIR in finding needed information quickly and easily, expedition in the research process, improvement in job performance and have also helped in information access, management and communication. The study also identified lack of training in ICT, insufficient computer hardware and suitable software applications, lack of competent Information Technology (IT) professionals, non-existent budgetary allocations for ICT and lack of required Internet bandwidth as the major hindrances faced by the researchers and senior staff in the CSIR. The study recommended improvement in ICT infrastructure, appointment of competent IT personnel and proper training and guidance for optimum utilisation of ICT-based technologies