Gaze Behavior and Positioning of Referee Teams during Three-Point Shots in Basketball

study on referees in basketball, the approach we learn refereeing in other team sports, in professional team sports, teams of referees adjudicating a game. probably due to the sheer number of highly dynamic aspects of and around game action that have to be perceived to allow a high quality of referee decision making. Precision in such decisions cannot be accomplished by a single referee. However, the way in which the dynamics, rules, and conditions of other team sports affect how the team of referees is expected to behave in order to optimize their decision making, requires further research. In many sports (like soccer, American football), referees are assigned special responsibilities that might lead to certain patterns of gaze behavior different to what we observed in basketball. How far these patterns of gaze mean referees are able to perform high quality refereeing duties well as a team, has so far remained untested and unknown. Further research on this could have the practical applicability of incorporating better gaze strategies for high-quality decision making in team sports because referees are currently trained and advised to behave in a certain way without any basis for these instructions. Abstract: This study looks at the visual scan patterns of high-class basketball referees. Using mobile eye-tracking devices, referees’ gaze behavior was analyzed during the execution of three-point shots in the ofﬁcial pre-season games of Germany’s men’s professional basketball league. We evaluated the extent to which the referees fulﬁll the tasks assigned to them, where do they look, and to what extent does their gaze behavior overlap during a three-point shot. Results indicate that referees who are far away from the ball and are, therefore, not responsible for observing the actual shot, tend to comply with their areas of responsibility less often than referees standing nearer to the ball, i.e., they appear to observe the ball more than required ( ball watching ) at the expense of other areas that they are required to be observing at the beginning of the shooting process. However, referees spend a very small part of a three-point shot looking at the same areas of interest. This indicates that referee teams’ allocation of gaze is rather effective, remaining in line with FIBA recommendations and is presumably not the main cause for errors in ofﬁciating.

Introduction
In recent years, a number of studies have explored the process of decision-making by different actors in various sports. The role of these actors becomes especially important in fast-paced team games, such as basketball, football, or handball, where not only teammates but also opponents need to be observed simultaneously, often in high-stress and timesensitive circumstances. These challenges apply to athletes as well as referees, who are expected to perceive different game situations accurately and make decisions in highpressure situations [1][2][3].
The existing literature presents both efficient visual search strategies and optimally directed visual attention as important determinants of anticipation and decision-making performances in complex sports [4]. These cognitive abilities are not only relevant to players of various team sports but also to referees. In most game situations, the referees have to make their decisions based primarily on visual stimuli [5][6][7]. Referees are required, at all times, to observe the field markings, the ball, and the players actively involved, as well as the players who are not involved in any given game situation. Depending on their position and the position of the ball, the referees have continuously changing areas of responsibility. Moreover, they are expected to be able to anticipate game situations and procedures as best as possible in order to optimally adapt their gaze behavior. By means of a multitude of-primarily visually-perceived information, they should then, ideally, be able to correctly evaluate game situations and take appropriate decisions [8]. Simultaneously, they need to be able to communicate with their colleagues on overlapping areas of responsibility and/or disagreements. Therefore, optimum gaze behavior is of great significance for the overall performance of referees.
Gaze behavior and associated gaze strategies of referees have, so far, received insufficient attention in the literature. Primarily, analysis into the gaze behavior of multiple referees who have to work together in several games, has remained nearly obscure. Until now, only one case study [9] about two amateur-level handball referees has looked at gaze behavior and the coordination of gaze strategies of multiple sportspeople simultaneously. It was found that both the referees mostly fixated on the game actions with the ball (75%), while simultaneously neglecting actions without the ball. This current study evaluates the expert basketball referees' gaze behavior and their compliance to their primary area of responsibility. This investigative approach extends previous research by exploring the coordinated gaze behavior of three sportspeople (referees-"Three-Person Officiating System"; [10]), simultaneously, in specific basketball game situations (three-point shots). This approach is of particular interest, not only from a sport's practical point of view, but also from a scientific perspective, especially related to work in other areas of research on visual search behavior of more than one observer [11]. Moreover, the level of refereeing expertise of the participants in the current study is significantly higher than in the study by Fasold et al. [9]. Furthermore, while these authors [9] observed gaze patterns that seemed rather uncoordinated (i.e., gaze was often directed at the same areas of interest over and over again, neglecting other aspects of game actions which were away from the ball), it remains questionable whether the same patterns of gaze behavior can be found in a group of observers/referees with more experience.

Three-Person Officiating System and Distribution of Tasks during Three-Point Shots
The Three-Person Officiating System divides basketball referees' areas of responsibility into three sections: (i) the Lead is located along the baseline, (ii) the Center stands across the court, near the free-throw line, usually on the weak-side (i.e., the side far away from the ball), (iii) the Trail is positioned on the same side of the court as the Lead, but between the players and the basket on the opposite side of the court. There are guidelines for each of these positions in order to evaluate a three-point shot, along with all other game situations in basketball (Figure 1).
In case of a shot attempt, basketball referees are required to position themselves as best as possible to optimally cover their designated area of responsibility and be able to assess the shot attempt with all associated actions. The referee closest to the player taking the shot (the shooter), is responsible for signaling the shot and identifying it as a two-point or three-point shot (by raising the hand with two or three fingers pointed, respectively). The Trail and the Center officials share responsibility around the area comprising the free-throw line and the free-throw circle. The Lead only takes over the responsibility for this area in fast break situations (fast attack), where the Trail and the Center are unable to follow the fast break. In all other circumstances, the Lead's task is to observe the zone and the players in it.

Three-Person Officiating System and Distribution of Tasks during Three-Point Shots
The Three-Person Officiating System divides basketball referees' areas of responsibility into three sections: (i) the Lead is located along the baseline, (ii) the Center stands across the court, near the free-throw line, usually on the weak-side (i.e., the side far away from the ball), (iii) the Trail is positioned on the same side of the court as the Lead, but between the players and the basket on the opposite side of the court. There are guidelines for each of these positions in order to evaluate a three-point shot, along with all other game situations in basketball ( Figure 1).

Figure 1.
Referees' positioning (L: Lead, C: Center, T: Trail) during a three-point shot on the side of the Center (modified according to [12]).  [12]). The referee (Trail or Center) located farthest from the shot attempt, is responsible for actions and events not involving the active ball. Referees should avoid engaging in so-called ball watching, i.e., tracking the ball and its trajectory with their eyes during a shot attempt. Ball watching carries the risk of referees neglecting their own areas of responsibility and fulfilling their tasks appropriately. This could also lead to rule violations going unpunished [12]. Instead of watching the ball, it is expected that referees will stay with the play until the end of an action, e.g., the referee closest to the ball should focus on the defender until the shooter has landed on his feet after taking the shot. For the other two referees, it is necessary to keep the focus off the ball because when a shot is taken that is the key moment for the players to fight for the best position in order to snatch the rebound. Focusing on the rebound after the ball hits the rim might be too late to call an obvious foul [12] (Table 1). Table 1. Responsibilities of the three referees-divided into "Lead", "Center/Trail nearby" and "Center/Trail far away"during the three phases of a three-point shot in basketball. As referees' decisions can strongly impact a game situation, and even a game's outcome [13,14], their decision making must be at a high level [14,15] to prevent referee teams from missing relevant aspects of game action. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which referees fulfil the tasks assigned to them in relation to their gaze behavior during a three-point shot in basketball. We investigated whether referees comply with their primary area of responsibility, as indicated by the referees' manual for basketball. In order to derive results as accurately as possible, not only was the trajectory of the shot divided into three phases (before, during, and after the shot) but also a clear distinction was made between referees standing close to the ball (responsible for observing the shot) and those standing far away from the ball. We also analyzed the places where the referees looked at during a three-point shot, depending on where they were positioned-nearby or far away from the ball-in order to observe their ball watching behavior.

Phase
Additionally, the overlapping gaze behavior of the referee team was calculated, that is, how often did at least two referees direct their foveal gaze at the same spot. To answer these questions and evaluate the gaze behavior of referee teams as a potential area of improvement in high quality referees, the referee crew was equipped with eye-tracking systems during pre-season games of the highest German basketball league.

Method
This study is a part of a larger research project investigating the gaze behavior of referee teams in basketball wherein a new method has been developed to analyze the synchronized gaze behavior of more than two individuals working together in a team [16]. The current study focuses on the gaze behavior of basketball referee teams during threepoint shots.

Participants
In total, nine male basketball referees took part in the experiment. All nine of them regularly officiated matches in the second German basketball league while six of them did so in the first German basketball league during the 2018/19 basketball season. Their ages ranged from 27 to 42 years (M = 33.6 years, SD = 4.5 years), they were, on average, 1.8 m tall (SD = 0.1 m) and weighed 81.8 kg (SD = 7.0 kg). One of the nine referees' data had to be excluded as his eye-tracking footage could not be evaluated due to technical problems. At the time of the study, all the participants indicated they had been active as referees for 16.2 years on average (SD = 5.0 years), with 7.9 years of this time in competitive sports on average (SD = 4.7 years). Four participants reported that they had refereed at international level, too. Apart from their referee tasks, all participants had experience in playing basketball (M = 17.6 years, SD = 8.1 years); three of them were still active as players at the time of the study, in addition to refereeing at the highest performance level. All subjects reported normal or corrected-to-normal vision (with contact lenses, n = 2). The experiment was carried out in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and the participants signed a consent form approved by the local ethics committee (ethics proposal number: 141/2018).

Materials
The gaze behavior of each referee was recorded using a mobile eye-tracking system (Pupil Core binocular, Pupil Labs GmbH, Berlin, Germany, weight: 23 g). The pupil core headset was connected to a Motorola Moto Z2 or Z3 Play (weight: 145 g and 156 g). The front camera of the eye-tracking system was adjusted so that the entire visual field of the referee was recorded (120 frames per second). The gaze information of both eyes was recorded at 200 Hz and matched with a simultaneously captured scene video recorded at 30 Hz. and handling of the eye-tracking devices was explained to them. One hour before the game, the eye-tracking headsets were placed on the participants' heads, adjusted, and the participants had time to familiarize with the equipment. The participants were informed beforehand of the focus of the study being their communication strategies after a call in order to minimize the potential of them changing their normal gaze behavior prior to and during on-court decision making due to the eye tracker [17]. After all the participants were tested, the true purpose of the study was disclosed (single blind study). 021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 13 Figure 2. Working process to analyze the gaze coordination of the three referees (modified from [9]).

Procedure
After that, the referees performed their normal pre-game warm-up without the eyetracking system, until five minutes before the tip-off. Afterwards, the eye-tracking systems were returned to the referees and were calibrated using the Manual Marker Calibration [18]. For this, the referees stood on the free-throw line, looking towards the basket. One of the examiners held a Pupil Calibration Marker v0.4 in his/her hand while standing one meter in front of the referees. The referees were told to not move their heads and to follow the route of the marker only with their eyes. The route started at a sideline of the zone one meter in front of the referees. Then, the examiner walked sideways to the other end of the zone while holding the marker at an angle of 90 degree to the referees. At the sidelines and in the middle of the zone, the examiner moved the marker up and down and from side to side. As the examiner reached the other sideline, he/she moved one more meter back and followed the same route before the calibration was finally done.
During the halftime breaks of the games, the recordings were stopped and five minutes before the start of the second half, the same calibration procedure was performed. All videos were saved on an SD card and calibrated offline afterwards.

Data Analysis
There were different stages in analyzing the data, starting with offline calibration and mapping of the video footage of the three eye-tracking systems used in order to monitor the point of gaze of each referee. Then, all three-point shot attempts were selected from the video footage of the three recorded games. A manual frame-by-frame analysis was used to analyze the referees' gaze behavior. By replaying the "gaze overlay video" frameby-frame, two independent raters manually decided when a fixation or saccade started and/or ended and identified the areas of interest within which the fixation took place ( [19,20] for a more detailed description of this procedure). This method has been used successfully by several researchers in previous studies [21,22].
An original software, written for the purpose of this study, enabled the simultaneous playback of all four video recordings of the scenes from the same game, i.e., the recordings After that, the referees performed their normal pre-game warm-up without the eyetracking system, until five minutes before the tip-off. Afterwards, the eye-tracking systems were returned to the referees and were calibrated using the Manual Marker Calibration [18]. For this, the referees stood on the free-throw line, looking towards the basket. One of the examiners held a Pupil Calibration Marker v0.4 in his/her hand while standing one meter in front of the referees. The referees were told to not move their heads and to follow the route of the marker only with their eyes. The route started at a sideline of the zone one meter in front of the referees. Then, the examiner walked sideways to the other end of the zone while holding the marker at an angle of 90 degree to the referees. At the sidelines and in the middle of the zone, the examiner moved the marker up and down and from side to side. As the examiner reached the other sideline, he/she moved one more meter back and followed the same route before the calibration was finally done.
During the halftime breaks of the games, the recordings were stopped and five minutes before the start of the second half, the same calibration procedure was performed. All videos were saved on an SD card and calibrated offline afterwards.

Data Analysis
There were different stages in analyzing the data, starting with offline calibration and mapping of the video footage of the three eye-tracking systems used in order to monitor the point of gaze of each referee. Then, all three-point shot attempts were selected from the video footage of the three recorded games. A manual frame-by-frame analysis was used to analyze the referees' gaze behavior. By replaying the "gaze overlay video" frame-by-frame, two independent raters manually decided when a fixation or saccade started and/or ended and identified the areas of interest within which the fixation took place ( [19,20] for a more Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 6648 6 of 13 detailed description of this procedure). This method has been used successfully by several researchers in previous studies [21,22].
An original software, written for the purpose of this study, enabled the simultaneous playback of all four video recordings of the scenes from the same game, i.e., the recordings from the perspective of the three referees and from the camera outside the court. This software was developed with Delphi XE3 and the PasLibVlc components as a 32-bit Windows GUI application. When designing the user interface of the software, the focus was on the simple and efficient collection of the relevant data of all three referees. Therefore, all possible data properties were listed in the selection fields. In this way, it was possible to index the position of each referee on the court (Lead, Center, Trail [10]), his positioning in relation to the ball (near the ball, far away from the ball) depending on the respective positions in the Three-Person Officiating System [10], and if the referees covered their areas of responsibility (by comparing actual gaze with referees' areas of responsibility) in a reasonable time. Moreover, fixation times at the areas of interest (ball, basket, shot clock, other referees, shooters, and other offensive and defensive players) were determined along with overlapping gazes (i.e., gaze of at least two referees at the same area of interest at the same time).
The shooting process was divided into three different phases: Phase 1 was defined as the period starting before the shot, until the ball left the shooter's hand. Phase 2 started at the time the ball left the hand, until it touched the ring or the backboard, or until the basket was scored. Phase 3 included the time after the shot, meaning after the ball touched the ring or the backboard, until the rebound. In case of a successful shot, this phase was understandably short since no rebound was noted here. The evaluation was carried out until the ball went completely through the net.

Statistical Analysis
The distribution of the referees' coverage of their primary area of responsibility was analyzed by means of a 3 (role: Lead, Center, Trail) × 2 (relation to the ball: nearby, far away) × 3 (time: phase 1, phase 2, phase 3) ANOVA with repeated measures and the coverage of the areas of responsibility in percentage as the dependent variable. Appropriate, post-hoc tests (Tukey HSD) were subsequently performed. In addition, the gaze fixation data were analyzed by means of a MANOVA using Pillai's Trace. A similar factor structure and the different areas of interest were the dependent variables (gaze durations at ball, basket, shot clock, other referees, shooters, and other offensive and defensive players). In case of any multivariate effects, subsequent univariate tests were conducted. Greenhouse-Geisser adjustment was used to correct for violations of sphericity (if necessary). Additionally, it was calculated how often the referees (two or all three) looked at the same aspect of the game action. For all tests, alpha level was set at 0.05 and for effect size estimation, Cohen's f was used.

General Results
The collected data set comprising all video footage consisted of 10,813 frames out of which 8836 frames (81.2%) were included in the final data analysis. The other 2047 frames were excluded because they either did not show any visual foci, or no recording was available. Based on the available data, the referees' gaze behavior during 73 three-point shots (26 shots in game 1; 25 shots in game 2; 22 shots in game 3) was used for further analyses.
For the coverage of the primary area of responsibility in game 1, two shots for the Lead, one for the Center, and two for the Trail referee had to be excluded due to technical errors mentioned above. In the second game, one shot had to be excluded for the Lead and the Trail referee. Ten shots were removed for the Lead and the Trail referee, as well as nine for the Center in game 3. This resulted in 60 shots being analyzed for the Lead and Trail referee and 63 shots for the Center referee. The numbers, means, and standard deviations as well as frequency distributions of the coverage of the primary areas of responsibility of vision in percent as a function of role, time, and relation to the ball, are shown in Table S1 and Figure S1 in the supplements.

Gaze at the Areas of Interest
For the distribution of gaze fixations at the areas of interest (ball, basket, players, referees, shooter), additional shots had to be excluded, resulting in 52 shots being analyzed for each position (nearby: n = 72; far away: n = 84). Figure 4 shows the relative distribution of the referees' fixations of the areas of interest as a function of (a) time, (b) the

Gaze at the Areas of Interest
For the distribution of gaze fixations at the areas of interest (ball, basket, players, referees, shooter), additional shots had to be excluded, resulting in 52 shots being analyzed for each position (nearby: n = 72; far away: n = 84). Figure 4 shows the relative distribution of the referees' fixations of the areas of interest as a function of (a) time, (b) the role, and (c) relation to the ball.   Post-hoc analyses showed that fixation times on the shooter decreased from phase 1 to phase 3 regardless of the relation to the ball. However, in phase 1 and phase 2, referees looked more at the shooter when in a far-away position compared to a position nearby the ball, whereas this was not the case in phase 3. Fixation times on the ball of Trail and Center referees increased more during the trajectory of the ball/shot than fixation times of the Lead referee. For the offense, no differences in the fixation times were observed for phase 1 and 2 between the referees' roles, but the fixations significantly increased for the Center role compared to the Trail and Lead referee. Furthermore, the referee/referees near the ball, spent more time looking at the basket in phase 3 in comparison to the referees in a position further away from the ball. When it came to the shooters, fixation times of the referees decreased during the trajectory of the ball/shot.

Gaze at the Same Areas of Interest
For the analysis of overlapping gaze, only three-point shots with all three referees available were used (n = 52). The analysis showed that the Center and the Trail referees looked at the same area of interest in 7.54% of all frames during a three-point shot. Visual foci of the Center and Trail referee overlapped in 3.45% and visual foci of Lead and Trail referee overlapped in 2.85%. In 2.97% of the frames, all three referees gazed at the same area of interest.

Discussion
A frame-by-frame analysis of expert basketball referees' gaze behavior during threepoint shots in pre-season games of the men's highest German basketball league was carried out. This was completed to determine the extent to which referees perform the tasks assigned to them and to generally describe their gaze behavior during a three-point shot (as an avenue for performance improvement). The results showed that while being positioned near the shot attempt, most of the time, the referees fulfilled their primary responsibilities, as defined by the federation (FIBA). When the referees were positioned away from the attempt and their primary areas of responsibility, their gaze deviated, and this deviation increased significantly the farther they were from the shot attempt (especially before the ball had left the hand of the three-point shooter). Moreover, in general, the gaze of the referees varied between phases of the shot as a function of distance to the ball as well as to the referee's incumbent role (Lead, Center, Trail). That is, the general gaze of the referees seems to be the most affected factor due to physical distance from the shot attempt during a three-point shot with the areas of their responsibility (according to FIBA guidelines).
The Lead referees were found to look less often at the basket (especially at the end of the shot), but more often at the players inside the shot zone, who may be trying to "outrebound" their opponent. Additionally, the movement of gaze from areas predominantly close to the shooter to areas closer to the basket and battles for a good rebound positioning, is in line with FIBA requirements. The fact that the referee (Center or Trail) closest to the shooter spent more time looking at the basket, means they were highly likely to observe shot outcome, goaltending, etc., and this exactly meets the FIBA guidelines for the referees closest to the shooter (watch the shooter/defender first, after which gaze should be directed at the basket area). According to our findings, the only pattern of gaze that did not correspond well with FIBA requirements was that of the referees who were farther away from the ball (Center or Trail), looking at the shooter most often, even though the focus of attention should have been on activities in the zone and on players getting in position for a potential rebound (active matchups). This increases the risk of missing out critical information on the game action happening away from the ball. One wouldn't perceive what one does not focus on/attend to [23] when not using peripheral vision [24]. Therefore, this does not seem to be a pattern of gaze behavior that seems beneficial for decision-making quality. Future research would need to analyze if this pattern of gaze leads to referee teams missing critical information. If so, it would support the claim that not only the knowledge and application (of the laws of the game), the judgements in the context of game action, the fitness and positioning of the referees, and the personality and management skills of the referees are important for good officiating [15] but also the gaze (individually and as a team) predicts the quality of decision making of referee teams to a certain extent [14].
However, besides that, there were no clear indications that referees (Center or Trail), who were not directly responsible for observing the zone and players, spent more time looking at the actual shot and its outcome, i.e., ball watching (looking at the shooter in phase 1 and the ball/basket in phase 2 and 3). Although at first sight it appeared that the referees (Center or Trail) who were farther away from the ball spent more time looking at the actual shot rather than their primary areas of responsibility, it was only so at the beginning of the shot. During the remainder of the shot, the referees (Center or Trail) seemed to spend time watching other areas which were not a part of their responsibility when they were farther away from the ball (just in case they were not focusing on their actual required areas of interest). This may be related to the fact that standing farther away from the game action also means that a larger portion of the areas of interest of the current analysis could potentially catch the eye of the referee, hence, providing more sources of distraction from the actual areas of responsibility.
Additionally, the gaze of at least two referees was almost never directed at the same aspect of game action, though, some areas of interest (e.g., the basket at the end of a shot) are commonly interpreted as more salient than others (e.g., players far away from the ball). This seems to show that expert referees are able to distribute their gaze as a team very well, and in a way that makes it possible to cover as much of the game action as possible. This also means that many critical decisions (e.g., has there been a goaltending violation) have to be made based on the observations of only one referee. However, this is in line with the federation's assignments that emphasize distribution of gaze over many game aspects instead of paying extra attention to seemingly more crucial aspects of game action. This also differs from previous work on coordinated gaze in team handball referees [9], in which two amateur referees spent the majority of the time focusing on the same aspect of the game action. This discrepancy, however, could be caused by differences in aspects of both the sports (e.g., possibly the more relevant and spatially separated aspects of game action occurring at the same time in basketball compared to team handball, as reflected by the need for three instead of two referees in basketball). The expertise level of the referees could also contribute to this inconsistency and is something which requires some development [9]. However, the amateurs in the study by Fasold et al. [9], and the current participants (at least from time to time), were used to refereeing together as part of a team. That is, participants in both studies knew each other quite well and had the chance to coordinate their behavior in many games before the actual study.
There are some limitations in the current study that need to be acknowledged and considered by follow-up studies. Although gaze behavior can be recorded by eye-tracking systems, no conclusions can yet be drawn on peripheral vision [25]. Consequently, it cannot be ruled out that the referees observed peripheral areas also during the experiment. In fact, it seems probable that the referees used peripheral vision for decision making because it was observed that they were focusing on a point in the zone which, in itself, did not seem to provide any direct useful information [26,27]. So, one can argue that concentrating on the central position of the zone made it an ideal gaze anchor for the referees [21]. Future studies could control for this aspect through additional questioning of the referees.
Another limitation of this study is that only the referees' gaze behavior, and not their performance, was analyzed. In order to draw inferences about whether and (if so) in which case, gazing at the same or different aspect of game action is effective, assessments of referees' performances by expert raters will be inevitable in future. Finally, though not necessarily a limitation, the expertise and the experience of the referees in the current study was relatively high and did not vary greatly between participants, leaving research on any differences between less and more experienced referees for future endeavors.

Conclusions
In conclusion, the current study, being the first to explore the gaze behavior of expert basketball referees during three-point shots, revealed some previously unknown insights. One of the biggest revelations was that referees do not appear to neglect their own areas of responsibility very often during three-point shots, especially when they are positioned close to the ball. Further studies with larger sample sizes, are needed to confirm and validate our findings and test whether such gaze behaviors actually lead to the referees missing rule violations or not and, if so, to what extent. Repeat studies would also help to analyze how efficient current refereeing guidelines are (also in other situations than the three-point shot) and if there is room for improvement with respect to efficient gaze behavior of a team of expert referees in team sports. However, considering the fact that we analyzed the behavior of well-respected and experienced referees, we would suggest most referees behave according to the FIBA central board [10], as almost all the referees did in the current study. This means that the referee closest to the shooting is responsible for the shot and the two players (offense and defense) involved in the shot. He/she must ensure that the shooter is not fouled during the execution of the shot and recognize whether the ball goes into the basket or not. The referee standing under the basket (Lead) is responsible for everything that happens under the basket, e.g., the position battle during the rebound.
The referee who is further away from the ball is also responsible for the actions under the basket and the off-ball action. Just like the Lead, he/she is not primarily responsible for indicating a successful shot, but to punish rule violations away from the shooting action.
Supplementary Materials: The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10 .3390/app11146648/s1, Figure S1: Frequency distribution of the coverage of the primary areas of responsibility in percent as a function of role, time, and relation to the ball. Table S1: Numbers of three-point shots separated by distance to the ball and role, means of coverage the primary visual field, and corresponding standard deviations.


Purpose Driven Internet Use and Its Impact on Academic Performance of College Students

The purpose of this study was to determine how students in Middle-Level Colleges use the internet, with a special focus on the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies (NIBS). The study was conducted using a descriptive research approach. The student population was determined using a purposive sample strategy, while the stratified sampling approach was utilized to divide the population into distinct subgroups (strata) based on the eight courses that students took. Both open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect relevant data. The questionnaire was tested for validity and reliability in a group of randomly selected students. Following data collection, descriptive statistics were used to examine pertinent data. To summarize the data and report the research findings, descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies, bar graphs, and pie charts were used. This research focused on the NIBS College, which has approximately 3000 regular students. A total of 138 people were sampled from the population to participate in the study. The majority of students, according to the report, use the internet for entertainment. For communication and pleasure, students utilize social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter at nearly the same rates. The respondents also stated that using the internet has expanded their access to more up-to-date educational information and has had a good impact on their academic efficiency. When compared to traditional materials, respondents found the Internet to be more informative. The respondents also said that the internet saved time and provided reliable information. To access the internet, most students possess and use smartphones (iPhones). They use the internet in their dorms compared to other locations on campus or at home, where internet access was unreliable. The majority of students preferred Google to other Internet services. This demonstrated that students rely extensively on Google to find current and relevant information. The vast majority believed that people do not need to be trained on how to use the internet to find information. The trial-and-error method was the most prevalent strategy for obtaining relevant Internet skills. Others sought advice from their peers or took official training given by several computer colleges to learn how to utilize the internet.

Introduction
Among the most important technical innovations of the late twentieth century is the Internet. The Internet requires a set of skills, and any country that does not allow access to its youngsters to access the internet will and is likely to lag in terms of development. The internet allows people of all ages to gain access to various activities whenever they want to (Akin-Adaeamola, 2014). Internet use is a technology that has been rapid and therefore has been ingrained in many people's everyday routines. The initial idea behind the introduction of the internet is for college students and other institutions to have a better academic experience in the mid-1990s. This is because of its potential to act as a support medium in many ways depending on how individuals use it (Ngoumandjoka, 2012). Internet access has greatly increased in the present day and is now available in different localities including homes, workplaces, travel, and learning institutions (Ellore et al., 2014).
In these times of fast social and technical development, middle-level colleges are becoming increasingly relevant globally. Siraj et al (2015) discovered in Japan that the internet is a major ICT that has resulted in a worldwide revolution in the information landscape. Students need more up-to-date skills to engage in economic knowledge, as the skills they learn are becoming more obsolete. As a result, students' academic performance might be influenced by their access to information via the internet (Akande & Bamise, 2017). The utilization of trustworthy online resources is of increased relevance for academic study at any college that requires an academic evaluation of literature for educational purposes, which has proved to be at the heart of academic accomplishment.
Studies have shown that almost 78.1% of the US population utilizes the internet frequently, according to internet world statistics (2012). The United States is one of the top ten nations in the world on intense internet usage with 245 million people utilizing it. Students may use the internet to boost their creativity, conduct relevant research and do assignments using material from across the world and it also facilitates collaboration with the academic community (Ellore et al., 2014;Siraj et al., 2015). Yesilyurt et al (2014) stated that the performance of college students can be improved if they have a desktop and connection to the internet hence boosting their learning skills. the library as a good place to study and a good source of research information, but they like using the internet as opposed to the library since the latter gives constant access to the bulk of information (Kumar, 2015). Despite the importance of internet usage to kids' academic success, it has a variety of negative consequences. Some learners use the internet for non-academic activities like gaming and social networking, causing them to miss class (Singh et al., 2013). Ngoumandjoka (2012) discovered that certain pupils in Johannesburg, South Africa, utilize the internet for recreational rather than instructional objectives, which can lead to lowered academic grades. Charting, downloading, viewing movies online, playing online games, and online buying are among the most popular non-academic activities done over the internet by some middle-level college students (Akin-Adramola, 2014). As a result, if not managed properly, the internet may be a detrimental instrument for academic success (Mami & Hatami-Zad, 2014).
On December 11, Internet World Statistics (2012), reported that Africa accounted for only 6.2 percent of people who use the internet. However, available figures show that between the years 2000 and 2011, the number of people using the Internet in Africa increased from 4,514,400 to 139,875,242. In addition, mobile phone penetration increased from an estimated 1% to 50% from the year 2000 to the year 2012. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are now over 754 million connections and over 35 mobile network carriers. Several African nations, like Tunisia, Ghana and Morocco, have mobile subscriber penetration rates above 100%. According to data from Internet World Statistics, the continent's internet users increased seven times faster than the world average. The International Telecommunication Union reported that, Africa's internet penetration rate was 15.3 percent in June 2012. More individuals in Africa have adopted new forms of information transmission in the recent decade as shown in Table 1 The percentage of Africans who use the internet in the globe is 5.60% as compared to 94.40% percent in the rest of the world, as shown in Table 1.1. Given that Africa has a population of 14.8 percent of the world's population, this proportion is quite low. Africa has a low internet penetration rate (10.9 percent) compared to the rest of the globe (31.8 percent) (Internet World Statistics, 2012).
In Kenya, the primary goal of middle-level colleges is to provide students with opportunities to explore practical aptitudes, develop fundamental skills, and gain a technological perspective that will enable them to become better and more informed societal members. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology has also recommended internet use at post-secondary institutions under the Education Act (Kenya Laws & Statutes, 2012).

Problem Statement
Many academic institutions, including the Internet infrastructure, are quickly embracing data technology. Many of them are have started including ICTS (Information and Communication Technologies) in their learning programs. Despite the importance of internet usage to kids' academic success, it has a variety of negative consequences. Gaming and social networking are some of the non-academic activities that students use the internet for, causing them to miss class (Singh et al., 2013). Ngoum and Joka (2012) discovered that certain pupils in Johannesburg, South Africa, utilize the internet for recreational rather than instructional objectives, which can lead to lowered academic levels. Charting, downloading, viewing movies online, playing online games, and online buying are among the most popular non-academic activities of the internet among most intermediate-level college students (Akin-Adramola, 2014).

Theoretical Framework
This research employed the Use and Gratification Theory (Liu 2002). The hypothesis was born out of a functionalist approach to mass media communication (Liu, 2002). This theory is concerned with the many ways in which people utilize media and the pleasure they gain from it. It is concerned with what media individuals use, how they are utilized, and what reward pupils expect from their use. The Use and Gratification Theory according to Karimi et al (2020) has given a progressive approach in the early phases of every new communication platform, including newspapers, radio, television, and now the internet. The advent of computer-mediated communication has increased the importance of uses and gratifications.
The applicability of the aforementioned theory is based on the assumption that mass media products serve the audience. In this day, when the internet delivers a wealth of knowledge to society and students, in particular, they have the luxury of selecting whatever information is most useful to them, as well as utilize it for other purposes.
With the broad acceptance of new media, there is a lot of interest in the internet. As noted by Kaye and Johnson (2004), findings from Use and Gratification Studies on Television (UST) have been adapted to internet research. The UST is based on the premise that users have specific reasons and motives for choosing media, and that they purposely choose a message source that best meets their particular requirements. This idea applies to this study's goal of determining how college students utilize the internet for educational or social purposes.

Literature Review
The following difficulties were identified after a study of the literature: The historical context of internet usage, the purpose of going online by scholars and the effects of constant use of the internet on academic performance among institute scholars are all discussed.

Historical Perspective of Internet Usage
The internet has expanded the possibility of library contact beyond the physical library among users, coworkers, and other skillful activities as well as interactions among its users. Several scholars across the world, including Africa, have looked at the usage of online resources (Crocker, 2017). In today's world, higher education institutions encourage students to utilize the internet by requiring new students to have an email address and an internet access account where they may get important school information. For decades, the Internet has advanced to the point where it is now an essential component of many countries' communication and media environments, as well as everyday life, culture, and society (Calixte, 2014). This gradual development has necessitated transfer of knowledge on inventions, changes, actors and continuities not just from a technological standpoint, but from a scientific, social, political, and economic perspective as well.
The internet has not been constituted in the academic literature in the past hence a rise in the number of journal articles and books published in the last decade confirming that Internet history is a growing field in the scholarly world and technology, media, communication and culture study in a variety of settings and institutional contexts (Niels e al, 2017). Studies on the history of the internet have primarily been published in journals on a range of disciplines. These publications rarely publish articles with a clear historical focus becoming a major barrier to the field's progress.
Internet research is a diverse field of study which began in the mid-1990s in the social sciences and humanities. The key emphasis was studying the online Internet and its origin, as well as specific communities like engineers, scientists and the earliest virtual communities that arose, sometimes outside of the Internet, newsgroups especially under the banner of cyberspace and cyber studies. With the emergence of the Internet, the attention shifted to finding appropriate theories and methods for studying it.

Purpose of Using the Internet and Academic Performance
Academic achievement is critical to children's success in school and their transition to the workforce, and internet connectivity plays a critical role. Sumaiyah, Kechik, Saidi, and Chan (2018) conducted a research in Malaysia to assess the efficacy of internet use for scholarly reasons among undergraduate students studying various undergraduate courses. The study focused on the importance of internet use among university students in their academics. Findings showed that pupils' socioeconomic position had both positive and adverse influences on their academic success. The number of times learners spent more than one hour online was influenced by a variety of factors. The reasons for accessing the internet ranged from communication to academic research. Google was ranked top as the search engine commonly used. PubMed was the commonly visited database for academic searches among students. According to the literature reviewed, students felt that the use of the internet enhanced their academic performance. Yebowaah (2018) examined the usage of the internet and its influence on High School pupils ISSN 2330-9709 2022 in the Wa Metropolis in Ghana. A sample of 314 third-year students was selected and data collected. The researchers used questionaries to collect data which was later analyzed through descriptive statistics, chi-square, and ANOVA. The results suggested that the goal of accessing the internet was educational. According to the study, students' internet accessibility was also shown to have a significant influence on their academic performance. On the other hand, the research found out that there were students whose academic performances was not impacted by the internet. This is because some of the sources needed for them to excel in some disciplines were not available on the internet. Some students were not able to access the internet due to limited internet facilities in the school. As a result, the schools were advised to partner with the concerned government officials and policymakers to enhance internet accessibility among all scholars. This would enhance the academic performance of students in the school. Besides, Mohammed, Muhammad, and Tairu (2017) reported that the internet had some influence on the academic achievement of learners in one of the tertiary learning organizations in one state in Nigeria.

Effects of constant use of the Internet on Academic Performance
The internet is a technology that has become ingrained on regular basis to our daily lives. Its use has surged over years and is now available in places as diverse as homes, workplaces, travel, and schools. Yajun et al. (2014) researched conducted a study in China to ascertain the level of internet addiction among Chinese children. The study examined a national sample that represented Chinese middle school children all over the country and analyzed Internet addiction among different types of Internet users. The findings came from the National Children's Study of China (NCSC), which included 24,013 fourth-through ninth-grade kids from 100 counties across 31 Chinese provinces. Only 54.2 percent of the kids had used the Internet in the previous year. It was found that the prevalence of Internet addiction in the entire population was 6.3%, and 11.7% among regular internet users. The number of elementary school pupils who were addicted to the Internet (11.5%) wasn't considerably lower than the rate of students in middle school (11.9%). According to the study, internet addiction rates were directly proportional to the time spent online. The more time spent online, the higher the rate of addiction. Adolescents who regularly browse in Internet café s (18.1 percent) and play Internet games had the greatest rate of Internet addicts as far as the location and purpose of internet use was concerned (22.5 percent). The frequency and duration of time spent surfing the Internet each week was found to be positively associated with Internet addiction risk (Mami & Hatami-Zad, 2014). Puspita and Rohedi (2018) studied the Effects of Frequency of Internet Use for Students in Indonesia to determine the impact of internet access on academic performance. The study employed a descriptive quantitative approach. The population sample data was evaluated and re-evaluated using statistical methods. The data from a sample of 120 learners demonstrated that frequent Internet use leads to addiction and can create adverse and less supportive behavior in learning endeavors. This perspective was imminent in the study's findings, which found that 82 participants (68.33 percent) answered always and 50 participants (41.67 percent) replied frequently when using the internet for social media; 120 participants (65 participants or 54.17 percent) replied always when using the internet for online games; and 50

Journal of Education and Training
ISSN 2330-9709 2022, Vol. 9, No. 1 participants (41.67 percent) replied frequently when using the internet for online games.

Research Design
The study used a descriptive research approach. A descriptive study is one in which data is gathered without causing any changes to the environment (i.e. nothing is manipulated). This design was most appropriate because it helped the researcher obtain first-hand information in terms of institutional and human elements impacting security management in sampled public secondary schools. This type of study describe the features of a single person or a group of people (Kothari, 2005). The goal of descriptive survey design is to obtain relevant and exact information on the present condition of phenomena and if feasible, draw accurate general inferences from the facts gathered. It also entails asking consenting participants a series of questions, summarizing their replies with statistical indexes, and then noting down various inferences regarding the population from the sample's replies (Creswell, 2007). Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) asserted that a population is a collection of individual examples of items that share particular observable property. The research targeted college students who rely on the internet most of the time for access to information in their academic pursuits. Students at Nairobi Institute of Business Studies (NIBS), which has 3000 students and located along the Thika superhighway were sampled for the study. Their distribution is shown in the table below.

Sampling Procedure
Sampling is the practice of picking a subset of examples to make inferences regarding the complete set (Taherdoost, 2016). The respondents were chosen using stratified, proportional, ISSN 2330-9709 2022 and simple random sampling methods. A stratified sampling methodology was utilized, in which the total target population was split into several clusters and then the ultimate sample was randomly selected equally from the different strata (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2010). Students were chosen using stratified selection based on the sort of course they were taking and their respective departments. Stratified sampling was used because it assures that no substantial subset of respondents is left out. This implies that a wide range of courses and classes were chosen for this poll to guarantee a comprehensive representation of NIBS' full-time programs. The study sample was chosen from the strata using simple random selection. Departments were initially stratified depending on the courses they provided and then rationally sampled from each of the eight departments. Random sampling was then utilized to pick students using Fisher's Computation table of a sampling method.

Sample Size
A sample, according to Hanauer (2004) is made up of a portion or percentage of the entire components or units in a specific population. A sample size of 138 NIBS students was employed in this study, out of a total population of three thousand pupils. Students sampling was used because the population being researched was bulk yet well covered by a sample.
Fisher's algorithm was used to calculate the sample size of the study. Some writers have utilized Fisher's formula to calculate sample size (Jung, 2014).
Calculation of the an adequate sample size (n) for a population < 10,000 people Where: " N= population sample size p= the proportion of the target population thought to have the characteristics of interest. Measured at 90% (0.9).
q= (1-p) i.e. the proportion in the target population not having the characteristics of interest (1-0.9) =0.1.
d= level of significance. The level of significance in this study was 0.05. z = the level of confidence. The level of confidence in this study was measured at 95%. ISSN 2330-9709 2022 = 138

Journal of Education and Training
The interpretation of the above is that, the study used a sample size of approximately 138 respondents.

Sample Size Distribution
The proportionate technique of sample size distribution was employed to calculate the sample size of each department, which was dependent on the students population in each school. After deciding on a sample size of 138 students, the sample was dispersed proportionately across the eight departments. Below are the calculations that were used to determine the sample size distribution for each department's students.

Data collection Procedures
This research utilized two types of research instruments: a questionnaire and a document analysis guide.

Students Questionnaire
The study used self-report or self-completion questions to obtain the relevant information from the participants. The questions are well designed to obtain data from the participants.
Questionnaires were distributed to the sampled students to capture their views on internet use and its influence on academic performance.
The primary rationale for choosing the questionnaire format was because it was simple to analyze Navarro-Rivera and Kosmin (2013; it was known to everyone, and it was also less biased and intrusive than a survey. The questionnaire format was also more practical for this research because it was simple to administer and control. The survey allowed research participants to have in-depth and extensive discussions (Creswell, 2007).
The questionnaire was split into two pieces for this investigation. The first section contained social-economic information about the respondents, while the second section contained questions based on the research objectives to elicit a wide range of responses from the students on the extent to which the purpose of using the internet and frequency of internet access impact the academic performance of students at Nairobi Institute of Business studies.

Document Analysis
The evaluation of chosen textbooks also referred to as archival review of scholarly papers was done in libraries that demonstrate the present condition of students' internet use and its influence on academic performance in medium-level institutions (Arkorful & Abaidoo, 2015). The research study and arguments were based on a critical review of the available written literature. According to (Mogalakwe, 2006), documentary research is equally as excellent as, if not better than, sociological surveys, in-depth interviews, and participatory observations, and it is also more cost-efficient.

3.7Validity of the Research Instruments
Validity connotes a system's capacity to measure what it claims to measure. Instrument validity, according to (Ibiamke & Ajekwe, 2017), is the degree to which a given instrument accurately measures what it is supposed to measure. For this study, the investigator conducted a pilot study to assess the applicability of the research instrument to improve construct validity. This provided the content validity projection. The items in the surveys were delivered to the department's supervisor, who assessed the content's relevancy. The final surveys incorporated the suggestions, comments, and recommendations offered.

Reliability of the Instrument
According to Harcourt (2019), the term "reliability" connotes a test performed on an instrument to ensure that it consistently measures what it claims to measure. The precision, consistency, and accuracy of the research tool are referred to as reliability. It is a measurement of how well research equipment produces consistent results after several trials. The test-retest method was used during the pilot study to ensure that the questionnaires were reliable. The questionnaires were given to the same group of people on two separate occasions for a week.

Data Collection Procedure
Data may be collected using a variety of methods and tools. However, as Paradis et al (2016) points out, the choice of any method/tool is contingent on the nature of data being gathered, the amount of time available, the amount of money available, and the number of research assistants. These considerations aid the investigator in determining the data gathering tools and procedures to employ in the investigation. A self-completion questionnaire was the primary data gathering instrument.

Data Analysis
The data regarding the phenomenon interest was collected and analyzed. The process of extracting value from raw data is known as data analysis (Onwuegbuzie & Combs, 2015). Data on the study was cleaned and sorted before processing and analysis. The objective waw used to assess respective qualitative and quantitative findings. Relevant analysis was carried out at several points during the data gathering procedure and conclusion of the study. Statistical Packages for Social Science were used to code quantitative data. The data was subsequently analyzed and processed using descriptive statistics (SPSS 23). In regards to data presentation, percentages and frequency tables were employed. The frequency counts of various replies given by the respondents were then used to produce information on the respondents who participated in the research, to show the trend of various inferences on variables under investigation. The qualitative data was analyzed for common themes related to students' internet use and its influence on academic achievement in intermediate-level institutions. The investigation focused on the purpose of utilizing the internet and how the frequency of internet access affects students' academic performance in Kiambu County. Reports, textbooks, training manuals, seminar and conference reports, and minutes of reports linked to students' internet use and its influence on academic performance at medium-level institutions were evaluated as part of the document analysis.

General Information
The study sampled 138 college students from the Nairobi institute of business studies. Out of the 138 College students sampled only 126 questionnaires were returned and filled in. These represented a 91.3% return rate.
Results from the 126 questionnaires concerning this study were presented as follows.

Source: (Researcher, 2020)
The sample group that was administered with a questionnaire by the researcher was 138 and 126 questionnaires were returned representing a 91.3% responsive rate.

Demographic Information
The researcher felt it was vital to obtain information on the respondents' demographics to provide a logical context for the study findings presented in this chapter. This is because demographic information aids in the avoidance of assumptions during the research. The following is a list of demographic data. According to Table 4.2, business studies attracted 52 percent of responders, followed by hospitality and tourism at 24 percent, journalism and mass communication at 10%, engineering at 8%, and computer science at 6%. Table 4.2 summarizes the departments, as well as the overall number of responses from each department.

Year of Study
The year of the study reveals whether the student is in his/her first year or the second year of study. Most middle-level colleges offer training that ranges between one and two years. NIBS colleges offer certificate courses that run for a year while diploma-related courses run for two years. The table below categorizes the participants according to their year of study.

School/ Department No. of Respondents Percentage
Business studies 66 52

Computer science 8 6
Journalism and mass studies

24
Total 126 100  As shown above, data obtained from the respondents revealed that 52% of the students were in their second year while 48% were first years.

The Purpose of Using the Internet
The study examines the purpose of using the internet has an impact on academic performance by the students at Nairobi institute of business studies.

Reasons for Using the Internet
Students at the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies were asked what they use the internet for, why they use the internet and the impact of the internet on their academic performance. Individuals gave differing reasons as represented below. Students utilize the internet for educational purposes. 69 percent of participants utilized the internet for amusement and communication. Therefore it can be concluded that most students in colleges utilized the internet mostly for amusement and communication. It was also discovered that just a small fraction of students (31%) accessed the internet to do a course or education-related research. The findings match with those of Waithaka et al (2013), who discovered that impactful usage of the internet among college students is extremely low, with just 10% of students using it for educational reasons and 77.5 percent using it for enjoyment. ISSN 2330-9709 2022 This might be because students can easily be drawn to social media sites to kill boredom during their study time while searching for course-related resources on the internet. This makes it simple for them to lose focus on their studies and become involved in social activities.

Use and Frequency of Access to Internet Services
The study's second goal was to find out the effects of frequent internet access on the academic performance of the students at the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies. The study considered hours spent on the internet per day, internet service access and use of the NIBS electronic learning e-resources, other variable included benefits for using the internet.

Hours spent Using the Internet (per day)
The students were asked to self-report the duration of hours per week they spend on the internet. The students were asked to tick in the appropriate box and the findings are presented in Table 4.5. Almost all the participants responded that they do spend more hours on the internet. 29% of respondents indicated that they browse between 8 -10 hours per day, 26% revealed that they spend between 2 -4 hours per day, 21% admitted that they do spend more than 10 hours browsing the internet. 19% revealed that they spend fewer than 2 hours per day on the internet whereas only 5% of the respondents spend 5 -7 hours per day browsing the internet.
From the analysis, the students can be classified as either low-users, medium users or heavy users. For an individual student low use of the internet can be defined as spending less than 2 hours on the internet per day. Medium use can be described as spending between 5 -7 hours browsing per day on the internet. From the data analysis in figure 4.4, it can be argued that college students do spend significant hours browsing the internet. These findings concur with ISSN 2330-9709 2022 Apuke and Iyendo, (2018) whose findings revealed that college students spend considerable time browsing the internet and can thus be referred to as heavier users of the internet.

Internet Services Access
The students were asked to reveal the internet services they regularly access to browse the internet. Participants were provided with options to choose from. Among the options provided were; Email, the World Wide Web (www) instant messaging (IM) newspaper group and the other caption. World Wide Web popularly known as "www" appeared to be the most popular with site visited with a representation of 33%, emails, and instant messaging followed with a representation of 29% and 24% respectively. 10 % of the respondents revealed that they accessed the newsgroup. The other captions which had a representation of only 4%revealed a variety of internet sites that were also accessed by the respondents. Among the listed ones included; WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Hangouts and Myspace. This had a representation of only 4%. From this study, it can be argued that college students visit a variety of internet sites. The popularity of email could be attributed to the reason that almost everyone who is computer literate is required to have an active email account whereby communication with institutions and peers and lecturers is executed. The findings of this study are in agreement with that of Foen Ng, S et al (2013) whose study findings revealed that the majority of college students use a variety of electronic services.

Benefits for Using the Internet
The main aim was to examine whether the students benefited in any way by using the internet services and the findings presented are as follows. Retrieved from: Research Data, (2020) The above table shows that some of the benefits that are associated with internet use. Out of 126 respondents, 12 of the respondents with a representation of 10% revealed that the internet is user friendly, 40% of the participants with a representation of 32% stated that its timesaving, 56 of the participants with a representation of 44% revealed that it has more information, while 18 of the respondents with a representation of 14% revealed that the information was reliable to their course work.
It can also be deduced from the findings that various online books, online journals, technical reports and scientific databases are available online with a little subscription which can be beneficial to student's areas of study if wisely and properly utilized. This study report agrees with Scheerder et al (2017) who said that the internet offers numerous advantages in a student's academic life since it allows 24/7 access to worldwide sources of knowledge.

Device/Gadget used to Access the Internet
Responding to the item on the devices that the students use to access the internet, the students' responses were varied as presented in Figure 4.5. As presented in Figure 4.5, slightly more than a half 53% of the respondents said they use their smartphones to browse and access internet services, 30% said that they access the internet from their desktops computers while 17% of the respondents said that they access the internet from their laptops. This shows that most students own a smartphone which they use to access internet services at their own time and convenience. This survey report is in harmony with that of Ramanan and Santharooban, (2019) whose findings revealed that college students use their mobile devices to serve the internet. The 'other' caption provided revealed that some use the "tablet" and 'iPhone' to access internet services.

Place/ Location Where The Internet Is Accessed
The students were asked to indicate their preferred choice of internet location that they accessed frequently. Below were the responses. Among the captions given in the choices were college, home, cybercafé and halls of residents among other captions provided. The above table summarizes the findings where 47% revealed that they accessed the internet from their halls of residence, 29% preferred to use the college library, 15% preferred to browse from their homes and 9% from the cybercafé . The other options attracted no choices. The possibility of accessing the internet facilities on campus seemed more appealing than the other choices available. This may be attributed to the reason that the facility within the campus is more reliable and functional compared to those located outside and at their homes. This study contradicts the survey by Hanauer (2004) which revealed that 53% of internet users access it from their homes.

Websites Used to Access internet Information
A question on which locations students visit most on the internet was asked and the table below represents the findings. Obtained from: Research Data, (2020) As presented above, Google site was the most preferred choice with a representation of 76%, Microsoft network attracted 13%, while online databases such as Ebsco, Eric and Ask.com and college online publications were very low. The low response may be because the students had ISSN 2330-9709 2022 not started working on their selected project topics at the time of the research. More in-depth online research is required. However, none of the respondents indicated having visited sites other than the stated ones. The study findings collaborate with a study conducted by Karimi, Khodabandelou, Ehsani and Ahmad (2020) which revealed that students relied heavily on Google delivered search sites for current and up-to-date information.

Accuracy of Information on the Internet for School Work
Respondents were asked to rate themselves on the accuracy of information from the internet concerning their academic work. A scale ranging from 'never', 'sometimes', and 'always' was provided and the findings were as presented in Figure 4.6. The study revealed that 56% of the respondents indicated that information on the internet was found accurate to their academic work, 37% agreed that sometimes the information found on the internet is accurate to their course work whereas 7%said that the information they found on the internet was never accurate for their academic work. According to the findings of the survey, 56 percent of those who reacted favorably had prior instruction on how to obtain information from the internet. The 7% who responded negatively could be due to a lack of training on search techniques and the necessary skills required for a person to fully benefit from the internet. Failure to use the right search techniques may give irrelevant results. The 7% of respondents who indicated that the information found on the internet was never accurate could have been frustrated by poor search techniques. The study findings conquer with that of Bulama et al (2018) who noted that in his study 53% of the sampled respondents were satisfied with the internet resources. ISSN 2330-9709 2022

Training on the Use of the Internet
The findings are provided in Table 4.9 where the participants were questioned on whether they needed any type of training on search tactics for searching for information on the internet. As presented above, the majority, 82% of those who took part in the research said that they did not require any form of training from the internet. 18% said that they require some training to enable them to search and locate scholarly information from internet sites with ease. The findings from the study show that the 82% who indicated that they do not need any kind of training may have had prior training from computer colleges that offer basic computer skills before joining college. The 18% who opined that they require some kind of training may not have had a chance to learn basic computer skills. This could be the reason why they felt that they needed some training on internet use.

Other Sources of Information for Academic Purpose
The students were asked to state the other sources of information for academic purposes.  ISSN 2330-9709 2022 The analysis of responses as presented in Table 4.10 shows that most of the students used other sources of information for their academic work other than internet sources. Evidence revealed that 52% of sources of information were from the course books in the library; 20% indicated that at times they consult education magazines and newspapers that may occasionally have scholarly articles while 27% revealed that they source for information from journals that are available in their library. The study further revealed that only 1% sourced information from sources other than the tabulated in table 4.10. It was reported that college students do access internet sources for their education and coursework. They do consult course books to prepare for their assignments, term papers, projects and exams. They also pointed out that print media supplements internet resources.

Summary of the Findings
The study determined personal variables such as respondents' ages, academic accomplishments, and college departments. A sample group of 138 people was randomly selected and given self-guided questionnaires. The bulk of the respondents in this survey were between the ages of 21 and 24 years old. The number of female students who participated in the survey was higher (71%) than male respondents (29 percent). In terms of academic qualifications, most of the students were pursuing diploma-related courses whereas only 14% pursued certificate courses within the various departments that constitute NIBS College. These are business studies, hospitality and tourism, journalism and mass studies, engineering, computer science, community development and social work departments.

Purpose of Using the Internet and Academic Performance
In response to goal one, the survey discovered that the great majority of students (69%) believe that they use the internet for enjoyment. Downloading music, movies, playing online games, chatting with friends, and indulging in photoshops were some of the main social kinds of amusement cited by the students. A tiny minority of students, 31%, indicated they utilize the internet for their education or course-related tasks. This group stated that they use the internet to enhance their academic work as well as to finish homework for the numerous courses they are enrolled in.
The study further notes that the students use the internet mainly because of the benefits it adds up to their academic cycle. Among the benefits mentioned by the students were; it provides around-the-clock access to global sources of information, is time-saving, user-friendly, convenient to the users and enables users to conduct in-depth research through cross-referencing leading to links to the topic of the study. The study revealed that the use of the online academic database was very low. The students' reaction may indicate that they were unaware of them or that they had not yet begun working on their chosen project subjects, which would necessitate further in-depth Internet searches.

Frequency of access to the Internet and Academic Performance
The survey discovered that most students spend considerable hours surfing the internet when attempting to determine the frequency of internet access by intermediate-level college students. A majority number of the respondents 29% agreed that they browse between 8-10 hours per day. It was noted that the popular internet services accessed by the students were through the World Wide Web popularly known as (www) such as Email; instant messaging and newsgroup. E-mail was the most popular service accessed. This can be argued that anyone who is computer literate has an active Email account. Other services accessed via the internet were such Instant messaging applications as WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Hangout and Myspace. The study revealed that most of the students do not use the NIBS learning E-resources. The NIBS library and computer lab are small in size and cannot accommodate the big number of enrolled students. The majority of them prefer to visit the nearby Cybercafé : there were several privately owned Cybercafé within the halls of residence where some of them visited for the internet services.
It was also noted that almost every student owns an internet-enabled smartphone. The students only need to buy some data bundles to access the internet. Some owned laptops or tablets from where they could easily access the internet. From the study, approximately 56% of the students conquered that the information they found from the internet was accurate and relevant to their school work. The small percentage of (7%) who said that the information from the internet was inaccurate would be due to the use of the wrong search terms and techniques yielding irrelevant results. It was found that most of the students do not require any teaching on how to search for information from the internet. This can be urged that they had prior training from colleges that offer basic computer literacy skills before joining the college. The study also found out that students sort information from other sources such as education journals, education newspapers and Ebooks that have education literature. This was used to supplement the internet sources which alone are not enough to prepare and complete assignments, term papers, projects and exams.

Conclusions
From the findings, this study makes the following conclusions.
Most middle-level college students spent a greater part of their time using the internet. Therefore, they can be said to be regular consumers of the internet. Due to this, it's very difficult to separate them from the internet which has become a part of their life. The purpose of using the internet among the middle-level students varied across the individuals. Among the notable reasons cited by students were social and educational purposes. The students agreed that they use the internet to download and listen to music, watch video games and play online games. They also use the internet to communicate with their families, peers and friends. The students use the internet for educational purposes. This involves searching online for rich educator information to supplement their coursework.

Recommendations
i. Based on the fact that not all information found online is useful for educational purposes there is a need for universities and middle-level colleges to regulate or control digital learning content. The purpose is to avoid students drifting into other irreverent sites which distract learning while the student is online.
ii. Based on the fact that Colleges traditionally small libraries and computer laboratories that cannot accommodate the high number of students enrolled, they should subscribe to electronic databases to enable bonafide students to access the Internet beyond the use of smartphones and use some unscholarly Open Access (OA) information resources.
iii. Based on the fact that some of the students were not aware of some of the online resources available that are rich in educational resources, middle-level colleges should organize and have regular awareness programs aimed at sensitizing students about the various online scientific eBooks, e-Journals, and other emerging relevant sources useful to them alongside the print media.
iv. Based on the student's response that they do spend most their time searching for online education resources, the colleges should organize regular training programmes to train their students on internet search techniques to apply while searching for online information to minimize time spent online searching items of study.

Suggestions for Further Research
i. Further research was recommended in the following areas.
ii. A comparable study can be conducted at lower-level institutions, such as primary or secondary schools, to see if the pattern is comparable to that of middle-level colleges.
iii. A similar research can be conducted in other learning higher institutions. This would be valuable in providing richer insight into how internet resources impact students learning and academic performance. Business and Social Sciences,7(14), 614-629. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i14/3693