Post Graduate Students’ Technology Based Research Experiences, Challenges And Opportunities During Covid-19: A Case From Pakistan

Abstract

The pandemic COVID- 19 mightily moved the mode of instructing and learning from traditional to online in all institutions including schools, colleges and universities. For research students, it was a challenge to conduct their research in Lock down but Online facilities provided them opportunity to continue their activities. The present research aims to investigate the post graduate research students’ experiences, challenges and opportunities in Pakistani universities during Covid-19.   Qualitative research design was selected to get in depth knowledge of phenomena.  Purposively 12 post graduate students were selected who submitted their thesis in early 2022 from 4 universities of Lahore. Among them 3 were public and 1 was in private sector. 3 post graduate students from each university were accessed to conduct interview. Thematic analysis was carried out. It was found that first wave of Covid -19 badly affected their research activities, especially data collection and their mental health(stress, depression etc). Majority of students took it as challenge and found opportunities for themselves.  They reported that Online mode like Monkey surveys, interviews on ZOOM/Whats app  etc not only saved their time but equipped them with new technology skills too. Although Internet connectivity had been a big problem but personal hot spot resolved it.