Computers in Human Behavior 18 (2002) 521535 www.elsevier.

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Computer self ecacy, computer anxiety, attitudes towards the Internet and reported experience with the Internet, by gender, in an East European sample
Alan Durndella,*, Zsolt Haagb
a b

Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4OBA, UK Department of Computing, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4OBA, UK

Abstract Seventy-four female and 76 male Romanian university students, from a wide mixture of courses, completed a Computer Self Ecacy Scale, a Computer Anxiety Scale, an attitude to the Internet Scale and gave information about their use of the Internet. Signicant zero order correlations were obtained with the relationships being between higher computer self ecacy, lower computer anxiety, more positive attitudes towards the Internet and longer reported use of the Internet. Signicant gender eects were found throughout, with males tending to report greater computer self ecacy, lower computer anxiety, more positive attitudes towards the Internet and longer use of the Internet than females. However, regression analysis indicted that reported Internet experience (use) was the only variable independently linked to gender. It is argued that the results tend to support the contention that the literature on attitudes and anxiety towards computers is liable to extrapolate to the Internet. In particular this may apply to the gender dimension of this literature. It is also argued that the countries of Eastern Europe may now be manifesting the gender variations in relation to technology that are found in Western Europe. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Self ecacy; Gender dierences; East Europe; Computer anxiety; Internet attitudes; Internet experience

1. Introduction The research literature on gender and computing is quite large. It might be asked whether in this age of apparently ubiquitous usage of computers, at least in the
* Corresponding author. Fax: +44-141-331-3636. E-mail address: adu@gcal.ac.uk (A. Durndell). 0747-5632/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0747-5632(02)00006-7

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developed word, such a literature has become redundant. This, however, is patently not the case, as for example the latest gures in the UK (HESA, 2000) show that only 17% of enrolments to study computing at University are female. More males than females study computing in the USA as well, with accumulating evidence that the proportion of females is actually going down in recent years (Balka & Smith, 2000; Holdstock, 1998). Not surprisingly this genderisation of computing is also found in school option choices in the UK (Roger & Dueld, 2000) and the USA (Farenga & Joyce, 1999). It is quite clear that there are still phenomena here to investigate, and the arrival and widespread use of the Internet has added another dimension to the issues (Gackenbach, 1998). This paper pursues two themes within the context of arguing that issues related to gender and computing are important: rst whether computer anxiety and self ecacy are related to reported use of and attitudes towards the Internet, and second whether there is anything of particular interest about these issues to be discovered in the ex Communist countries of Eastern Europe. The research on gender and computing has often, although not always, produced results which indicate greater male than female experience and use of computers (Brosnan & Lee, 1998 in the UK; Balka & Smith, 2000, in the USA). There is also a tendency to nd that females may have on average more negative attitudes towards computers than males (Durndell & Thomson, 1997, in the UK; Whitely, 1997, in the USA). Similarly, there is a tendency to nd greater computer anxiety amongst females than males (Maurer, 1994; McIlroy, Bunting, Tierney, & Gordon, 2001). Brosnan and Lee (1998) provide one of the few examples of a reverse nding in Hong Kong, where males were more computer anxious than females. Todman (2000) found that the male female gap in computer anxiety, with females being more anxious, was increasing through the 1990s in the UK, whilst McIlroy et al. (2001) found this dierence to be slightly declining but persisting in the USA. Research on computer self condence or self ecacy (Bandura, 1997) has also often produced the nding that males on average have more computer self ecacy than females (Torkzadeh & Koufteros, 1994), and Brosnan (1998) argued that computer self ecacy is important as a major determiner of persistence in studying computing. The size of the gender dierences in many of these studies is often not large, and there has been something of a proliferation of scales of computer anxiety, computer attitude and computer self ecacy without any becoming the standard in the area. A number of large literature reviews and meta analyses have tried to assess the relationships between computer anxiety, computer attitudes, computer self ecacy and computer experience (Con & Mackintyre, 2000; Chua, Chen, & Wong, 1999; Whitely, 1997). These reviews and analyses usually reinforce the tendency to nd the gender eects referred to earlier, and suggest that greater levels of computer experience are associated with computer anxiety and computer attitudes (Maurer, 1994). However, Levine and Donitsa-Schmidt (1998) argued that computer experience can be negative for some people, and they also argued that computer self condence and computer anxiety are essentially the same thing. Beckers and Schmidt (2001) also treat computer self ecacy as part of computer anxiety, whilst Colley, Gale, and

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Harris (1994) argued that all three, computer self condence, anxiety and attitudes, were part of the same construct, which they preferred to call attitudes. The rapid growth of the use of the Internet, almost always accessed via computers until the recent development of telephone-based technologies, raises the question of whether the gendered nature of the results reported earlier would repeat itself with regard to the Internet. Gackenbach in 1998 argued that the few studies existing which did examine Internet use and attitudes, closely resembled research on computers, suggesting a parallel between the two. Schumacher and Morahan-Martin (2001) also comment on the limited research comparing computing and Internet use. Would one expect Internet access to show similar features to computer use? As indicated earlier until recently most Internet access was obtained by using a computer screen and keyboard, and could be argued to be a natural extension of computer use. Internet access certainly involves using a machine or technology. The recent rapid development of mobile phones is complicating this picture, although where Internet access is available through mobile phones it could be argued that they too are functioning as mini computers. Early Internet use was limited to a few computer enthusiasts, but has of course now become ubiquitous amongst the young in industrialised countries. Once the issue of access is resolved by becoming normal, rather like the use of the telephone or reading and writing, the manner of the use may still show distinct feature for dierent groups of people. In this context one can return particularly to gender, and ask whether the gender features of the computer literature outlined earlier will extend to Internet use. Researchers have found that more males than females use the Internet and that they tend to access more domains, use it more often than females and for longer periods of time (Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, & Scherlis, 1998). The nature of communication on the Internet may vary by gender (Sussman & Tyson, 2000), and there may be dierences in web navigation strategies (Balka & Smith, 2000). Griths (1999) argued that Internet addiction was likely to be male, and Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) found pathological Internet use to be 4 times more likely amongst males than females. These types of study in this developing research area have indeed been explained as a continuation of the computer literature (Morahan-Martin, 1998). Pohl (1997) commented that this could also be because of the masculine nature of online culture, reected by things like aming (uncensored hostility online) and Internet pornography. The ex communist countries of East and central Europe are of some interest in this context. Whilst their level of technological development now lags behind that of Western Europe, they have a history of producing proportionally far more female technologists, engineers and physicists than Western Europe or the USA (Alting & Brand, 1992; Durndell, 1991; Durndell, Uzunova, Asenova, Asenov, & Thomson, 1998). This has been relatively little researched, but Reinen and Plomp (1997), as part of a large cross cultural study on school childrens knowledge about computers and use of computers found that their Bulgarian sample provided amongst the smallest gender dierences, often not signicant although still to the advantage of males. Wright (1997) utilising UNESCO data in another cross national comparison

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of a large number of countries, found that the majority of students in maths and computing in Bulgaria and Romania were female, making up more than double the proportion of females that were found on similar courses in the UK. Durndell, Cameron, Knox, Stocks, and Haag (1997) found that whilst Romanians had less direct experience of computers than their western counterparts, they were at the same time more positive about computers. However, Durndell, Haag, and Laithwaite (2000) found that the Romanian females were less self condent about their use of computers than males were, thus replicating the Western Europe situation. The particular interest of the emerging ex Communist countries in Eastern Europe is that they were considerably industrialised in the Soviet era. Historically, these previous regimes emphasised both gender equality and the role of technology, and appeared to create a relatively gender neutral technology. Thus, as late as the 1980s, as many if not more females than males were studying to be engineers in these countries (Durndell, 1991), at a time when under 10% were doing so in the UK. It seemed that at the time the sex role expectations in these countries were somewhat dierent from those of the Western industrialised countries. However, with the collapse of the regimes, the question arose as to whether the apparent relatively gender neutral approach to technology would survive or would turn into the Western pattern of relatively greater male dominance. Would relatively gender neutral attitudes towards technology be deeply embedded or would they be jettisoned as features of the now old discredited Communist society? A relationship was therefore hypothesised, on the basis of the review earlier, between computing measures and Internet measures, i.e. that there would be a positive relationship between less computer anxiety, greater computer self ecacy, more positive attitudes towards the Internet and greater reported Internet experience. It was also hypothesised on the basis of the historical changes and the limited research literature reported above that Romanians would produce a gender dierence with males reporting more Internet experience, more positive attitudes to the Internet, less computer anxiety and more computer self ecacy than females.

2. Method 2.1. Sample The sample consisted of 150 participants, 76 of whom were male and 74 of whom were female. They were all university students at a university in Romania. The sample was obtained in small groups from a wide variety of courses, such as physics, law, medicine and sociology. They were spread over dierent years of their studies, with an average age of just under 21 and a half years. 2.2. Materials Following on from questions that collected basic demographic characteristics age, gender and chosen university course, four questionnaires were utilised:

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1. Concerned aspects of Internet experience, namely participants reported length of time in months as an Internet user and reported uses to which the Internet was put. 2. The Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS, see Appendix A) was used to assess an individuals level of computer anxiety. The CARS is a 19 item self-report inventory, approximately balanced for direction of answer, designed and validated by Heinssen, Glass, and Knight (1987). Items eight and 17 in the CARS had to be changed slightly. Participants responded on a ve point Likert type scale (1=strongly disagree; 3=undecided; 5=strongly agree). Total score could range from 19, indicating a low level of computer anxiety, to 95, which would indicate a high degree of computer anxiety. 3. The Internet Attitude Scale (IAS, see Appendix B) is a modied version of the Computer Attitude Scale, developed and validated by Nickell and Pinto (1986). In order to measure attitudes towards the Internet, the word computer was replaced with the Internet throughout the scale. For example, item 5 Soon our lives will be controlled by computers became Soon our lives will be controlled by the Internet. The IAS consists of 20 statements, balanced for direction of response, rated on a ve point Likert type scale. Scores on the IAS could range from 20, indicating an extremely negative attitude towards the Internet, to a score of 100, which would imply an extremely positive attitude towards the Internet. 4. Torkzadeh and Koufteross (1994) Computer Self Ecacy (CSE) Scale, with the following slight modication: it was decided that the three mainframe statements were not needed, as the move to stand alone machines had made the concept irrelevant. Two additional statements that were originally used by Murphy, Coover, and Owen (1989) were included, giving a total of 29 statements. The items are shown in Appendix C. Each item was preceded by the phrase I feel condent. A ve point Likert type format was employed (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). All items were positively worded statements that reected a variety of computer related skills. High scores indicated a high degree of condence in ones ability to use computers (see Durndell et al., 2000). Scores could range between 29 and 145. All items were translated into Romanian by a completely bilingual Romanian working in Scotland who spoke English like a native speaker. This translation was independently checked by a bilingual Romanian in Romania. 2.3. Procedure The materials were distributed in teaching situations in a Romanian university towards the end of the academic year. All participants were volunteers. Completed questionnaires were sent to the UK, and data analysis was then carried out using SPSS.

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3. Results Zero order correlations for the whole sample between the CARS, IAS and the CSE Scales and reported time of use of the Internet in months are shown in Table 1. Means and SDs are also displayed. Zero order correlations for the whole sample between components of the CSE scale: all three correlations between the three components of the total CSE score identied by Torkzadeh and Koufteros (1994) were highly signicant (P > 0.001). Beginning skills CSE correlated at +0.81 with advanced skills CSE, beginning skills CSE correlated at +0.89 with le and software skills CSE, and advanced skills CSE correlated at +0.86 with le and software skills CSE. Reliability: the reliability of the three main scales was assessed using alpha: for the AIS, the alpha was 0.8977, and if single items were deleted the minimum alpha was 0.8883. For the CSE, the alpha was 0.9696, and if single items were deleted the minimum alpha was 0.9677. for the CARS, the alpha was 0.9089, and if single items were deleted the minimum alpha was 0.9001. The corrected itemtotal correlations are shown in Appendices AC. Gender: the average score by gender for IAS, CARS, CSE and reported time used the Internet are all shown in Table 2. For each variable, an ANOVA by gender, academic year and course was carried out, with age as a covariate. (Courses were categorised into science and non science). In all cases there was a signicant difference by gender, see Table 2. There were no signicant interactions. Regression: each of the four dependent variables (IAS, CARS, CSE and reported time used the Internet) were in turn regressed on a set of seven predictors, using the direct method. In each case three of the seven predictors were the other three dependent variables, the remaining four being sex, age, academic year and course (science/non science). (a) AIS: the multiple R=0.55, F(7, 109)=6.77, P < 0.0001, indicating that this set of predictors accounted for 30% of the variance in AIS. Table 3 shows the Beta coecients and T values, for the signicant predictors and gender. (The T values show the signicance of each variable over and above the eects of the other predictors.) This shows that the only signicant predictor for AIS was CARS, and that there was no separate gender eect accounting for variance over and above the signicant predictor.
Table 1 Zero order correlations for the whole sample between computer anxiety, attitude to the Internet, computer self ecacy and reported duration of Internet use CARS Computer Anxiety (CARS) Attitude to the Internet (IAS) Computer Self Ecacy (CSE) Duration of Internet Use (in months) * P < 0.001. X X IAS 0.59* 0.50* X CSE 0.71* 0.28* 0.43* X USE 0.37* Mean 39.8 74.2 100.2 21.0 SD 11.4 11.3 24.9 15.7

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Table 2 Computer anxiety, attitude to the Internet, computer self ecacy and duration of Internet use, mean scores and F ratios, by gender Sample group (a) Computer anxiety, CARS, by gender Males Females Mean score 37.7 42.0 F ratio 4.60, P < 0.05

(b) Attitude to the Internet, IAS, by gender Males 77.0 Females 71.3 (c) Computer Self Ecacy, CSE, by gender Males 107.3 Females 93.0 (d) Reported duration of Internet use, by gender) Males 25.1 Females 16.6

9.35, P < 0.01

12.02, P=0.001

7.76, P < 0.01

Table 3 Beta coecients and T values for signicant predictors and gender Variable Beta T 1.605 3.277 0.606 3.277 6.974 1.219 6.974 2.618 2.291 2.618 Signicance of T 0.1115 0.0014 0.5456 0.0014 < 0.0001 0.2253 < 0.0001 0.0101 0.0239 0.0101

(a) Regression on Attitude to the Internet, IAS Gender 0.1406 CARS 0.3648 (b) Regression on Computer Anxiety, CARS Gender 0.0441 IAS 0.2458 CSE 0.5601 (c) Regression on Computer Self Ecacy, CSE Gender 0.0874 CARS 0.5509 USE 0.1965 (d) Regression on reported Internet use, USE Gender 0.2000 CSE 0.3012

(b) CARS: the multiple R=0.73, F(7, 109)=17.59, P < 0.0001, indicating that this set of predictors accounted for 53% of the variance in CARS. Table 3 shows the Beta coecients and T values for the signicant predictors and gender. This shows that the signicant predictors for CARS were AIS and CSE, and that there was no separate gender eect accounting for variance over and above the signicant predictors.

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(c) CSE: the multiple R=0.73, F(7, 109)=18.15, P < 0.0001, indicating that this set of predictors accounted for 54% of the variance in CSE. Table 3 shows the Beta coecients and T values for the signicant predictors and gender. This shows that the signicant predictors for CSE were CARS and reported time used the Internet, and that there was no separate gender eect accounting for variance over and above the signicant predictors. (d) Reported time used the Internet: the multiple R=0.54, F(7,109)=6.43, P < 0.0001, indicating that this set of predictors accounted for 29% of the variance in reported time used the Internet. Table 3 shows the Beta coecients and T values for the signicant predictors and gender. This shows that the signicant predictors for reported time used the Internet were gender and CSE. Reported use of the Internet: Table 4 shows the percentage of males and females who reported using the Internet for 12 suggested uses.

4. Discussion Within the context of arguing that the exploration of gender issues with respect to computing and Internet use is important, this study investigated the relationships between computer anxiety, computer self ecacy, attitudes to the Internet and Internet experience. The study also sought to investigate whether the East Europe setting for the study would produce gender eects. On the basis of the review outlined in the Introduction, it was thought to be reasonable to predict that lower computer anxiety would correlate positively with higher computer self ecacy, and that these in turn would correlate with more positive attitudes towards the Internet and reported length of time using the Internet. All of the six possible zero order correlations were in the predicted direction,
Table 4 Reported type of use of the Internet, by gender Male % Responding yes, had used the Internet for : Downloading software and games 22 Shopping 7 Research 30 Newsgroups 11 Games 25 Product and service information 42 FTP tool 30 Entertainment 49 Education 42 E mail 70 Electronic papers 26 Chat rooms 38 ns, non signicant, P, probability. Female 11 5 35 7 20 28 9 35 24 70 27 39 Signicance ns ns ns ns ns ns chi-squared=10.14, P < 0.01 ns chi-squared=5.33, P < 0.05 ns ns ns

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and all were highly signicant. It is notable that Schumacher and Morahan-Martin (2001) found a zero order correlation of 0.64 between computer comfort/competence and Internet comfort/competence. The regression analyses emphasised the complexity involved when trying to identify the independent eects of these related variables. However, it also illustrated how the computing measures and the Internet measures were intertwined. On balance the results tend to support Colley et al.s (1994) argument that anxiety, attitudes and self ecacy were all in fact aspects of one construct. Taken overall, it does seems reasonable to argue that the results support Gackenbachs (1998) contention that research on the Internet may well mirror research on computing in many ways. The lack of generally agreed measures in this area was remarked on in the Introduction. The reliability data produced in this study was acceptable for the three scales used. The Computer Anxiety Scale showed relatively little variation in item total correlations. The Internet Attitude Scale, which was the newest in that the authors had replaced the word computer with the Internet throughout, was the least satisfactory. Two of the items, number 7 There are unlimited possibilities of Internet applications that have not been thought of yet, and number 14, The Internet is a fast and ecient means of gaining information, had a poor relationship to the overall score. The authors would not have picked these items out in advance as potentially being a problem, whilst other items that might have been predicted as not having a terribly clear relationship to the scale, such as Soon our world will be run by the Internet (is it positive or negative towards the Internet to agree with this?) were not a problem. The Computer Self Ecacy Scale had the highest alpha, slightly higher than that reported by Durndell et al. (2000) on another Romanian sample. The developers of this scale identify dierent subscales within the overall scale (Torkzadeh & Koufteros, 1994), which normally correlate signicantly with each other. This was found here, with the three subscales correlating between 0.81 and 0.89 with each other, somewhat higher than the correlations (0.64 to 0.79) found with the same scale in Romania by Durndell et al. (2000). When the data was analysed by gender, the results also supported the predictions. A signicant gender variation was found on all the measures, with on average females reporting a smaller time of use of the Internet, less positive attitudes towards the internet, greater computer anxiety and lower computer self ecacy than males. The regression analyses were particularly interesting here, as the only independently signicant relationship found with gender was with respect to reported use of the Internet. This result clearly supports the views of researchers such as Maurer (1994), who have argued that gender may interact indirectly with computer experience by aecting computer anxiety and computer-related attitudes. The extension in the present study is that the measure of use is of the Internet rather than computing per se, and attitudes to the Internet as well as computer anxiety may be aected. This would again also seem to support Gackenbachs (1998) contention that research on computing and the Internet will be closely linked. A feminist oriented literature exists in this area. Turkle (1995) has produced classic analyses of the relationship between technology and gender, whilst Grundy (1996) has produced an explicit analysis of gender, power and computing. Such

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analyses, applied to computers, see computing as part of a masculine dominated technology which pays little heed to human values and is often connected to a military or aggressive purpose. It could be argued that the Internet can be viewed as an extension of this as opposed to being a medium encouraging human equality, or as Weiser (2000) puts it, much of the research fails to conrm the Internets Great Equalizer metaphor. The Internets use as a source of pornography emphasises this lack of equity. Sussman and Tyson (2000), with reference to computer mediated interaction, argued that gendered power dierentiation in communicative style transcends the medium. In other words, if gendered power relations exist in the world, they are to be expected in computer use and Internet use as well. Thus, the results obtained in the current study appear to indicate that the literature on Internet use and attitudes is liable to follow the existing equivalent literature on computing, in particular in tending to produce evidence of a gender eect. The precise nature of this eect with regard to the Internet, and how it manifests in different situations will no doubt be quite complex, as with the computing literature, but this study does provide some evidence of the direction in which it may go. It was indicated in the Introduction that there was some evidence and history behind the contention that the countries of ex Communist East Europe may not produce the gender eects with respect to technology that have been frequently identied in the West (Alting & Brand, 1992). On the other hand, as these countries leave their past behind, it is possible that a side eect could be that they will begin to produce the technological gender eects of their western mentors. There has been some argument as to whether the Soviet system really did produce much gender equality. Buckley (1989), for example, used the phrase womens double burden for the situation in the USSR where women had to both be responsible for bringing up children and going out to work in order to survive. It also may have been the case that really high status technology in the military industrial complex was primarily in the hands of men in the Soviet Union. On the other hand, as Durndell et al. (1998) found, when women engineers in Bulgaria were explicitly asked about the large number of women engineers to be found in their country, they tended to give credit to the former system, particularly to its achievements in education. The unication of Germany was a special and extreme case where two states were turned into one, and where relative gender neutrality for technology in the old East Germany rapidly became male dominated in the new unied Western dominated state (Nickel, 1993). It may be doubtful that other states will quite follow this pattern with its special circumstances. However, Durndell et al. (1997) and Durndell et al. (2000) produced some evidence that this may be beginning to happen more slowly elsewhere, and the existence of the signicant gender results found in this study in Romania supports that point of view. Finally, the reported uses to which the Internet was put by this sample provides a pattern not too dissimilar to that found elsewhere (Miller & Durndell, 2001), perhaps rather surprisingly in the light of the relatively poor technological provision in Romania. Table 4 shows that males were on occasions more likely to report using the Internet for particular purposes, but that there was also a certain amount of similarity in the uses that males and females reported for the Internet. Males were

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also more likely to report themselves as being amongst the heaviest users of the Internet, as measured by reported time spent online per week. Other studies, such as Sherman et al. (2000) and Odell, Korgen, Schumacher, and Delucchi (2000) indicate a similar picture whilst varying in detail. The big picture seems to be that whilst there might be a declining, though still existing, dierence between males and females in overall use of the Internet, there are remaining variations in use between the genders. In conclusion, this study would seem to support the contention that the research literature on the use of computers probably will extrapolate to the Internet, and that this will include the frequent nding of variations due to gender, in contradiction to the hopes of some Internet enthusiasts. This study also tends to support the point of view that the emerging countries of Eastern Europe will not be immune to the gender related eects of technology as found in the west. Finally, it would be useful to develop measures of attitudes, anxiety and self ecacy towards the Internet.

Appendix A. Corrected itemtotal correlations Computer Anxiety Items (CARS) Item 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. I feel insecure about my ability to interpret a computer printout I look forward to using a computer on my job I do not think I would be able to learn a computer programming language The challenge of learning about computers is exciting I am condent that I can learn computer skills Anyone can learn to use a computer if they are patient and motivated Learning to operate computers is like learning any new skill, the more you practice, the better you become I am afraid that if I begin to use computers more I will become more dependent upon them and lose some of my reasoning skills I am sure that with time and practice I will be as comfortable working with computers as I am in working by hand I feel that I will be able to keep up with the advances happening in the computer eld I would dislike working with machines that are smarter than I am I feel apprehensive about using computers I have diculty in understanding the technical aspects of computers It scares me to think that I could cause the computer to destroy a large amount of information by hitting the wrong key 0.44 0.69 0.47 0.52 0.66 0.53 0.59 0.40 0.68 0.65 0.43 0.73 0.46 0.59

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15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

I hesitate to use a computer for fear of making mistakes that I cannot correct You have to be a genius to understand all the special keys contained on most computer terminals If given the opportunity, I would like to learn more about and use computers more I have avoided computers because they are unfamiliar and somewhat intimidating to me I feel computers are necessary tools in both educational and work settings

0.69 0.62 0.52 0.62 0.57

Appendix B. Corrected itemtotal correlations, Internet Attitude Items (IAS) Item 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. The Internet will never replace human life The Internet makes me uncomfortable because I dont understand it People are becoming slaves to the Internet The Internet is responsible for many of the good things we enjoy Soon our lives will be controlled by the Internet I feel intimidated by the Internet There are unlimited possibilities of Internet applications that have not been thought of yet The overuse of the Internet may be harmful and damaging to humans The Internet is dehumanising to society The Internet can eliminate a lot of tedious work The use of the Internet is enhancing our standard of living The Internet turns people into just another number The Internet is lessening the importance of too many jobs done now by humans The Internet is a fast and ecient means of gaining information The Internets complexity intimidates me The Internet will replace the working human The Internet is bringing us into a bright new era Soon our world will be run by the Internet Life will be easier and faster with the Internet The Internet is dicult to understand and frustrating to work with 0.34 0.67 0.61 0.69 0.64 0.60 0.10 0.48 0.65 0.30 0.61 0.74 0.59 0.11 0.54 0.48 0.56 0.62 0.60 0.32

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Appendix C. Corrected itemtotal correlations, Computer Self Ecacy Items (CSE) Item I feel condent: 1. working on a personal computer (microcomputer) 2. getting software up and running 3. using the users guide when help is needed 4. entering and saving data (numbers or words) into a le 5. escaping (exiting) from the programme (software) 6. calling up a data le to view on the monitor screen 7. understanding terms/words relating to computer hardware 8. uerstanding terms/words relating to computer software 9. handling a oppy disc correctly 10. learning to use a variety of programmes (software) 11. learning advanced skills within a specic programme (software) 12. making selections from an onscreen menu 13. using the computer to analyse number data 14. using a printer to make a hard copy of my work 15. copying a disc 16. copying an individual le 17. adding and deleting information from a data le 18. moving the cursor around the monitor screen 19. writing simple programmes for the computer 20. using the computer to write a letter or essay 21. describing the function of computer hardware (e.g. keyboard, monitor, disc drives, computer processing unit) 22. understanding the 3 stages of data processing: input, processing, output 23. getting help for problems in the computer system 24. storing software correctly 25. explaining why a programme (software) will or will not run on a given computer 26. using the computer to organise information 27. getting rid of les when they are no longer needed 28. organising and managing les 29. troubleshooting computer problems 0.80 0.76 0.50 0.78 0.70 0.70 0.76 0.79 0.78 0.76 0.77 0.74 0.69 0.75 0.79 0.83 0.76 0.52 0.61 0.58 0.66 0.68 0.50 0.84 0.69 0.73 0.72 0.80 0.67

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