Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.4, No.12, 2013 33 An Analysis of Utilization of Educational Research Findings for Qualitative Decision Making for Undergraduate Business Education Degree Programme in Nigerian Universities Dr. William J. Ubulom 1 * Ebenezar O. Enyekit 2 1. Faculty of Technical and Science Education, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P. M. B. 5080, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2. Department of Office Technology, Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, Nigeria *E-mail of the correspondence author: will.ubulom@yahoo.com Abstract The study was poised to investigate into the utilization of research findings for qualitative decision making for business education undergraduate programmers. The study consists of 62 respondents drawn from 3 tertiary institutions that offer business education programmes in rivers state. One research question as well as one hypothesis was generated to guide the study. a 4 point Likert scale ranging from categories of strongly Agree (SA – 4 points), Agree (A – 3 points), Disagree (D – 2 Points) and strongly Disagree (SD – 1 point) were used for the items on the questionnaire. Simple percentage was used for the item analysis. A mean score of 2.5 was determined as the cut-off point for the items. The t-test statistic was used to test the only generated hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. It was discovered that research findings as well as the recommendations were not used for qualitative decision making for business education undergraduate programmes in tertiary institutions in Rivers State. The implications of the study were highlighted. Key Words: Research Findings, Educational Research, Body of Knowledge, Decision Making 1. Introduction There is a myriad of problems confronting individuals, groups or institutions. Every such problem should be properly identified and defined so that appropriate solutions could be proposed and implemented. Research is an integral requirement and component of the university system. It is a requirement for the completion of a programme in the educational system. Universities are considered as centres of excellence; places through which technological and otherwise development could be attained globally and therefore, the one very way of universities teachers help to promote development or advancement is through research of which academic staff are expected to contribute to the work bank of knowledge. The layman ordinarily defines research as the search for something that is of interest to the researcher. But research means more than searching for something. Any significant definitions of research must border on a lot of things namely problem identification, solution and the defined process of arriving at all these. Then it must be seen as a discipline and the process as an activity that must be both systematic and objective (Ubulom & Enyekit, 2001). Asika (2006) stated that research involves critical thinking comprising definition and redefinition of problems, information, organizing and evaluating them in order to discover truth that can lead to the solution of problems and theory. According to Ubulom & Enyekit (2001), research is a formal systematic and robust process of carrying organized body of knowledge. This process leads to generalizations and predications of certain events or phenomenon. The explosion of knowledge today is due to research. In research, there is controlled observation, description, objective and analysis, which lead to formulation of principles and theories. Principles and theories help serve in forecasting what may occur later in life and how such future occurrences can be controlled. Research is the process of finding the solution to a problem (Nwana, 2007). The acceptable method brings research into forms as a part of science. Science is an activity involving gathering and use of information. However, all process of information gathering and analysis may be described as scientific. According to Asika (2006), a process can be scientific if it follows the steps of scientific inquiry such as; i. Identification of problems ii. Problem definition and delimitation iii. Analysis of the problem iv. Deductions based on the analysis including recommendation of solution to the problem and v. Implementation of recommended solution. This again is explained to mean that research is an intellectual endeavour to discover, develop and verify knowledge. The definitions reviewed so far reveal that a meaningful interpretation of research involves the