An Investigation of Textbook Purchase and Usage Patterns among Undergraduate Students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

A textbook is a printed or electronic material that serves as a guideline for instructors and students in the form of a schoolbook, coursebook and workbook. This study investigates textbook purchase and usage patterns among students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The study is a quantitative observational study. Data were collected using the Collegiate Student Assessment of Textbooks. A convenience sampling technique (N=674) was used to recruit first-year undergraduate students from KNUST in Ghana to complete an online questionnaire using Google Forms. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the demographic data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows Version 26.0. The data consisted of responses to the CSAT, using reliability analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha & McDonald’s Omega), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the measurement model. The findings revealed that the cost of textbooks did not seem to affect students’ textbook purchasing intentions. Textbook usage is positively influenced by features such as study guides, chapter summaries, and alignment with instructor use. In conclusion, this study provides a quantitative examination of the complex factors that influence the purchase and use of textbooks among students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. We recommend that Departments and libraries within the University, work with publishers to co-create textbooks that fit the local context, curricula, and students’ learning needs. This study will serve as a resource material for policymakers, universities, publishers and libraries in textbook development.