Institutional and supervisory support as predictors of research preparedness among final-year students of selected Ghanaian Colleges of Education (COE)

Undergraduate research plays a critical role in developing students’ research skills, critical thinking abilities, and academic competence. Despite its significance, little is known about the extent to which students in Ghanaian Colleges of Education are prepared to undertake research and the support available to facilitate the research process. This study investigated final-year students’ perceived research preparedness and institutional and supervisory support for conducting undergraduate research across nine Colleges of Education in Ghana. A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive-correlational survey design was adopted for the study. Data was collected from 227 final-year students using a structured questionnaire comprising research preparedness and institutional and supervisory support scales. The reliability coefficients for the scales were 0.73 and 0.80, respectively. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and simple linear regression were employed to analyse the data. Students generally perceived themselves as adequately prepared to conduct undergraduate research. Respondents reported a strong understanding of key research concepts and confidence in independently undertaking their project work. However, respondents reported limited access to online libraries and academic databases. Correlation analysis revealed significant moderate positive relationship between institutional and supervisory support and research preparedness (r = .487, p < .001). Regression analysis further showed that institutional and supervisory support significantly predicted research preparedness, explaining 23.7% of the variance in preparedness (R² = 0.237, F(1,225) = 70.063, p < .001). Despite these positive findings, students reported limited access to online libraries and academic databases. The study recommends strengthening digital research infrastructure and enhancing supervisory support to further improve undergraduate research preparedness and outcomes. Not applicable.