A Comparison of the Aptitude and Attitude of College Students Toward Social and Technical Computer Technology

The purpose of this study was to investigate college students\u27 technical and social technology competencies based upon their attitudes toward computers and their perception of technical computer knowledge. The participants for this investigation were college undergraduates majoring in apparel merchandising and design and other related and non-related majors at the University of Arkansas. The research model selected for use in this study was the survey design method. There were a total of 1270 students responding to the survey with 1052 usable surveys remaining after cleaning the data for missing entries. This constituted an 83% response rate. The findings included significant effects of social aptitude by age and major, and technical aptitude by major. Males had significantly higher perceptions of technical aptitude, and both social and technical attitude toward computer technology than females. Whites had significantly higher perceptions of social aptitude toward computer technology than Nonwhites. Class standing had no significant effect on college student\u27s perceptions of either aptitude or attitude in social or technical computer technology. There were strong correlations between social aptitude and technical aptitude and social attitude and technical attitude. Colleges and universities as well as industry are taking advantage of social technology not only for recruitment but in the classroom and on the job as well. A strong relationship between social and technical aptitude and social and technical attitude would tend to indicate that students are ready for this type of interaction

Improving Validity and Reliability in Children’s Self Reports of Technology Use

Researchers working in child computer interaction are constantly seeking new methods and new techniques that will enable them to carry out more valid and more reliable research. Much of this research typically considers the design and development of new products and of new interactive techniques and researchers seek to understand how easy such innovations are for children, how much fun they are to use and how attractive they may be for use. The impact of prior technology use on the children’s responses in those contexts is the core concern of this thesis. The thesis provides a set of tools (survey instruments and guidelines) that can be used by the CCI research community to ascertain the prior experience of children with any technology and with any task. These tools are generated using theory, experience and literature and are validated through user studies. The PETT survey tool comprises three questionnaires, CTEQ, CTUQ and CTHQ and an associated user guide that clearly articulates how to use PETT and demonstrates the flexibility of PETT to be used in many contexts. The guidelines (RWC, SWC and SRT) can be applied on three levels, for general use in research with children, in the design of surveys and in the specifics of designing self-report tools for prior technology experience

Development and evaluation of the Windows Computer Experience Questionnaire (WCEQ)

The software market has been inundated with Windows-based application programs claiming increased usability and convenience. Although this trend is indeed prolific, it has resulted in two important implications: (a) an increase in the need to select employees with high levels of Windows-based computer expertise or to identify current employees who require enhanced training, and (b) an increase in the need to measure user expertise to support human-computer interaction research. Despite these increasing demands, questionnaires used to determine general computer experience are scarce. Furthermore, questionnaires regarding computer experience in a Windows environment are seemingly nonexistent. A reliable means of measuring experience in a Windows environment could substantially facilitate both human-computer interaction research and training. This article describes the procedures used to develop and test the reliability of the Windows Computer Experience Questionnaire (WCEQ). A test-retest correlation revealed that the WCEQ is a reliable measure of computer experience. Furthermore, a subsequent factor analysis revealed that the WCEQ is composed of four main factors: general Windows experience, advanced Windows experience, formal instruction, and reliance on help functions