Doctoral research supervision is one of the major avenues for sustaining students’ satisfaction with the programme, preparing students to be independent researchers and effectively initiating students into the academic community. This work reports doctoral students’ evaluation of their various supervision models, their satisfaction with these supervision models, and development of research-related skills. The study used a descriptive research design and was guided by three research questions and two hypotheses. A sample of 310 Ph.D. candidates drawn from a federal university in Eastern part of Nigeria was used for this study. The data generated through the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics andt-tests. Results show that face-to-face interactive model was not only the most frequently used, but also the most widely adopted in doctoral thesis supervision while ICT-based models were rarely used. Students supervised under face-to-face interactive model reported being more satisfied with dissertation supervision than those operating under face-to-face noninteractive model. However, students supervised under these two models did not differ significantly in their perceived development in research-related skills.

Globally, the post graduate education landscape simultaneously undergoes rapid and tremendous changes with emphasis on research through equipping students with the necessary skills and knowledge to foster the growth of independent, creative and lifelong researchers. Among the resources to facilitate this aim, mentoring plays a vital role. This paper investigated the characteristics of research mentoring provided to postgraduate students in universities in Southern Nigeria. Two research questions were used. Proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select 180 post graduate students for the study. A 27-item questionnaire was used to collect data which was analysed using frequencies and percentages. Findings indicate that research mentoring across institutions was characterized by supervisor's criticisms without providing insights, setting of unrealistic deadlines and expectations, and erosion of students' self-esteem. Focus on improving technical research skills, communicating high expectations, self-monitoring processes, encouraging active knowledge construction process, widening networks for research improvements, and supervisor-supervisee brainstorming were almost lacking. The observed characteristics would not in any way serve as catalysts for research as they are most unlikely to promote quality post graduate research. Recommendations were made to propose curricular enhancement strategies to reinvigorate research mentoring for quality postgraduate research.

Empirically investigated in this study is the effect feedback with remediation has on academic achievement in quantitative economics among students’ of secondary school. The design of the study was quasi experimental. 164 Senior Secondary 3 (SS3) students offering economics in the three co-educational schools consisted of the study sample. The three schools were purposely selected from Nnewi Education Zone of Anambra State in Nigeria and allocated to 2 experimental groups and 1 control group. Students’ responses to two instruments titled Diagnostic Quantitative Economics Skill Test (DQEST) and Test of Achievement in Quantitative Economics (TAQE) constituted relevant data used in the study. ANCOVA was used for data analysis. Results show that feedback with remediation has a significant effect in enhancing students’ achievement in quantitative economics. Nevertheless, gender and treatments did not interact to influence achievement in quantitative economics. Teachers need to focus not just on continuous testing but going further to assist students using feedback with remediation on any type of test given to them.

A diagnostic test in economics to aid the teachers determine student's specific weak content areas was developed and validated. Five research questions guided the study. Preliminary validation was done by two experienced teachers in the content area of secondary economics and two experts in test construction. The pilot testing was conducted for grammatical checking and compatibility bench marking while the test was try-out tested for item analysis. The overall number of test items was 83. The test difficulty indices ranged from 0.24 to 0.79 and discrimination indices were within 0.22 to 0.65. The content validity index for the 83 items was 0.76 and the Kappa statistic reliability value of the test was 0.83. The test was found to be of good quality, valid and highly reliable. The test is therefore recommended for identifying specific mastered and least learned content areas in economics in Nigeria, South Africa and other countries with emerging economies.

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