Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (1991) 7,187 - 194

School children’s attitudes towards computers as a function of gender, course subjects and availability of home computers

R. Martin, Department of Psychology, University College of Swansea

Abstract The attitudes of 328 British Secondary School children towards computers were examined in a cross-sectional survey. Measures of both general attitudes towards computers and affective reactions towards working with computers were examined in relation to the sex of the subject, courses studied (computer related/non- computer related) and availability of a home computer. A differential pattern of results was observed. With respect to general attitudes towards computers, main effects were found for all three independent variables indicating that more favourable attitudes increased a s a function of being male, doing computer courses and having a home computer. In contrast to this, affective reactions to working with computers was primarily related to doing computer courses, such that those doing computer courses reported more positive and less negative reactions. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords: Secondary pupils; Gender; Home; Attitudes; Computers; Curriculum.

Introduction

It is widely becoming accepted that the future prosperity of most industrialized countries depends upon their ability to take advantage of recent developments in information technology. Applications of information technology can be divided into two broad categories. First, there are those which are specifically related to the production process, such as, computer-based machines, robots and automated guided vehicles (AGV) and second, those concerned with information control, such as, computer-aided design, information control systems and word processors.

As the introduction of such technology increases, there is a corresponding need for people trained in computer skills. Giuliano (1982), for example, estimates that by the end of the century more than 40% of workers will deal daily with a

Accepted: 1st September 1990.

Correspondence: Robin Martin, Department of Psychology, University College of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP.

187

188 R.Martin

computer. While estimates of the future requirements for computer literate people varies, it is generally agreed that demand is currently outstripping supply.

To meet this challenge a number of initiatives have been introduced. Prominent amongst these, which is of particular concern here, has been the policy to encourage school children to gain experience of working with computers. This is reflected by the fact that all British Secondary Schools now have one or more micro-computers, although they differ in how they are used (Mohamedali et al., 1987). The implicit belief behind the use of computers in schools is that early experience with computers will facilitate greater subsequent use.

Pupils’ experience of computers a t school is derived from two main sources. First, direct experience is gained in courses where computers form an integral part of the course syllabus, such a s computer studies. The popularity of these courses, as indicated by the number of examination entrants, is steadily rising, although males tend to outnumber females by 3: 1 (Newbould, 1982). The second, and more indirect, way in which pupils gain experience of computers a t school is through their use a s a teaching aid (often termed ‘computer-assisted learning’, CAL). Courses such as, business studies and sciences regularly use computers in their teaching. Similarly, computers are also used, to a lesser degree, a s word processors on many courses.

A growing research literature has developed looking at the causes of school children’s attitudes towards computers. The three most researched causes of computer attitudes have been gender, computer-related courses studied at school and availability of a home computer. The research relevant to each of these factors is described below.

By far the most frequently studied antecedent of school children’s attitudes towards computers has been gender. Studies have consistently found that males tend to be more in favour of computers than females (Collis & Ollila, 1986; Collis & Williams. 1987; Drambrot et al., 1985; Harvey & Wilson, 1985; Moore, 1985; Fife-Schaw et al., 1986, see also Swadener & Hannafin, 1987, for a contrasting account). The most favoured explanation of this focuses on the differential socialization of males and females which results in stereotypical sex-specific roles. Males are seen as being technically minded and interested in ‘how things work’ while females are seen as being more artistic and less concerned with practical issues. As well as affecting attitudes towards technology, these differences in socialization are believed to underlie the selection of school subjects; males preferring sciences while females opting for the social sciences and arts.

The second factor which has been examined in relation to school children’s computer attitudes has been using computers at school (Page et al., 1981). Moore (1985), for example, found that pupils taking computer studies and science courses had the most favourable attitudes towards computers compared to those not taking such courses. Furthermore, there is evidence that those who had a scientific orientation at school subsequently had the most favourable attitudes towards computers when at university (Fife-Schaw et al., 1987).

The third factor relating to computer attitudes concerns availability ofa home

Children’s attitudes towards computers 189

computer. Both Fife-Schaw et al. (1986) and Mohamamedali et al. (1987) report that over 5O0/o of school children have access to a home computer and that males are more likely to have a home computer compared to females. The most popular use of home computers is playing games followed by using educational software and programming. In all computer activities, males use computers more than females. Given the similarity between home computers and those used at schools, it is thus reasonable to assume that there is a link between the use of computers at home and those used at schools.

In general, research into computer attitudes, typically examines a relatively limited (often only a single number of possible antecedents and therefore ignores the fact that computer attitudes may be multiply determined. The aim of the present study, therefore, is to address this issue by examining school children’s attitudes towards computers in relation to the three factors discussed above, namely; gender, computer-related courses at school and availability of a computer at home. To the best of our knowledge no single study has examined all three factors at the same time.

Subjects and Method

Subjects

The subjects were 328 fourteen and fifteen-year-old fourth year pupils from a comprehensive school in North Derbyshire in England. All pupils in the schools’ fourth year took part (only one unusable questionnaire was returned). The subjects completed a questionnaire, during class time, designed to measure their attitudes towards computers. The survey took place in 1988.

Independent variables

On the basis of information collected from the questionnaire, subjects were categorized according to three independent variables. In terms of the dichotomous categories, gender and whether they had a home computer, allocation was straight forward. In the case of experience of computers a t school, however, allocation was more complicated a s it is possible to gain experience of computers from courses not obviously related to computers. In this case, following discussion with teachers at the school, it was decided to consider subjects a s doing computer-related courses if they were taking any of the following; computer studies, business studies, office practices or technology. All other subjects taught at the school had minimal, if any, association with computers and therefore were considered to be non-computer courses. The distribution of subjects into these categories is shown in Table 1.

Dependent variables

The questionnaire contained two main groups of dependent measures, general

190 R.Martin

Table 1. Distribution of subjects in independent variables

Course Non Computer-Related Computer-Related

Home computer No Yes No Yes Male 20 69 10 56 Female 40 76 25 32

attitudes towards computers and new technologies and affective responses to working with computers. All the items were accompanied by a five-point response scale from ‘Strongly Agree’ to ‘Strongly Disagree’.

General attitudes towards computers

Computer Attitude Scale (CATT) is a 20-item scale developed by Drambrot et al. (1985) and measures general attitudes towards computers. Examples from the scale include, ‘I think computers are fascinating’, ‘Computers control too much of our world today’ and ‘A computer can make learning more fun’. Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency of this scale was 0.83.

General Benefits (GB) is a 12-item scale developed by Breakwell et al. (1986) and measures the extent to which new technologies are seen as having potential benefits for society. Example items are, ‘The expansion of new technologies will lead to a rise in the standard of living’, ‘Automation will lead to a society with a lot of leisure time which will benefit every one’, and ‘Only a minority will benefit from new technology’. The internal alpha for this scale was 0.73.

Attitudes towards working with computers

To measure subjects’ affective reactions to using computers 12 items were developed to examine how subjects felt when they worked with a computer. A factor analysis using a principal-components analysis with varimax rotation, revealed two independent factors with eigen values greater than one. The first factor, accounting for 33% of the variance, was composed of five items and was concerned with positive aspects of working with computers and is called positive use.

’l’hese items were, ‘I feel relaxed when using the computer’, ‘The computer makes me work quickly’, ‘I try to avoid using the computer’ (reverse-scored), ‘The computer can be exciting to use’ and ‘The computer is interesting to use’. The second factor, accounting for 11.5°/~ of the variance, contained the remaining seven items and refers to negative elements of working with computers and is termed negative use. The items were ‘I don’t like to be interrupted when using the computer’, ‘I get irritated with the computer’, ‘I have no choice with the way I work with the computer’, ‘It takes a lot of skill to use the computer’, ‘I feel tied down to the computer’, ‘Using the computer is tiring’ and ‘I feel isolated when

Children’s attitudes towards computers 191

Table 2. Results of regression analyses

Catt Gb Posuse Neguse beta P < beta P < beta P < beta P <

Gender 0.179 0.0009 0.270 0.0001 0.116 0.04 -0.057 ns

Homecomputer 0.204 0.001 0.177 0.002 0.082 ns -0.08 n s

Note; higher scores on Neguse indicates greater negative reactions. coding: Gender: female = 0, male = 1 Course: non computer-related = 0, computer-related = 1 Home computer: no = 0, yes = 1

Course 0.262 0.0001 0.069 ns 0.291 0.0001 -0.126 0.03

using the computer’. High scores on this scale indicate more negative reactions to working with computers. The coefficient alpha indices of internal reliability for these scales were 0.8 and 0.64 respectively.

Results

In order to analyse the data, three separate sets of regression analyses were conducted for each dependent measure. The first set of analyses involved entering dummy coded variables for the three main effects into the regression equation, that is, gender, course and home computer. These analyses show the level of significance for each main effect whilst controlling for the other two. The second set of analyses involved entering the 3 two-way interactions after first controlling for the 3 main effects. The final analyses involved entering the three- way interaction after first controlling for the 3 main effects and 3 two-way interactions. Table 2 contains a summary of the first set of analyses concerning the main effects.

The results for the CATT scale shows significant main effects for all three factors. This shows that attitudes towards computers becomes progressively more favourable as a function of being male, doing a computer course and having a home computer. The results for the GB scale show a similar pattern except that there is not a main effect for doing a computer course. Thus general beliefs about new technologies increase a s a function of being male and having a home computer.

Turning to consider attitudes to working with computers, we find that those doing computer courses report more positive and less negative reactions to computers. Additionally, males report more positive reactions than do females. Having a home computer had no effect upon these attitudes.

For the second and third set of analyses concerning the two and three-way interactions, the only significant effect was a two-way interaction between gender and course for neguse (beta = 0.216, P < 0.02). Examining this further reveals the following pattern: whilst females report the same level of negative

192 R.Martin

reactions regardless of whether they do a computer course, males report fewer negative reactions when they do computer courses than when they do not.

Experience of home computers

A further set of analyses were conducted for those subjects who have a home computer (n = 233, 71% of sample) concerning the relationship between using a home computer and attitudes. The questionnaire contained five questions re- lating to possible factors affecting use of a home computer, namely, if they had a previous computer (yeslno), whose computer it belonged to (minelother), whether a member of their family had a job involving use of a computer (yeslno), how long they had the computer and the number of hours use per week. For each dependent measure a series of regression analyses were conducted where dummy coded variables for the first three variables together with the last two variables were entered into the regression equation after first controlling for gender and course.

The only significant effects found was with the factor concerning whether they had a previous computer. This showed that those who had a previous computer held more favourable attitudes towards computers (CATT, beta = 0.152, P < 0.03) and reported fewer negative reactions to working with computers (Neguse, beta = 0.145, P < 0.04).

Discussion

The aim of this survey was to explore school children's attitudes towards computers in relation to three main factors, namely, gender, courses studied and having a home computer. Consistent with previous research, all three independent factors were related to computer attitudes. The main findings of the study can be summarized into two parts.

First, there is a differential pattern of results concerning school children's general attitudes towards computers and their affective reactions when working with computers. Their general attitudes are most related to gender and having a home computer, such that males who have a home computer have the most favourable attitudes. On the other hand, affective reactions to working with computers tends to be related to courses studied at school, such that those doing computer courses have more favourable attitudes compared to those doing non- computer courses. In this case, gender and home computer had little or no effect on attitudes.

These results suggest that the determinants of general attitudes and reactions to working with computers may be independent. Whilst the former may be related to stereotypical views of how the person represents the world (for example, technology is a male orientated discipline), the latter may be related to personal experiences of using computers.

An additional finding worthy of mention concerns the two-way interaction between gender and computer courses for the neguse variable. This shows that

Children’s attitudes towards computers 193

computer courses had a more pronounced effect upon males in terms of reporting negative reactions to computers. For females the level of negative reactions was the same whether they did computer courses or not.

The second main area of findings concerns those people who have a home computer. Here we find, contrary to expectations, no relationship between attitudes and who owned the computer, length of time having the computer and average use per week. Instead the results show that those who had had a previous computer held more favourable attitudes. This may relate to a motivational factor, in that those who have had previous computers may be more interested in computing. To these people computing may be a hobby where they change computers to be commensurate with their ability.

An issue not addressed in the present survey, which may be important when considering the nature of computer experience, is the use of computers in primary schools. Computers are used in many primary schools to such an extent that some young people are experienced with computers before they go to secondary school. Whilst, it is not possible to determine whether the pupils in the present study received experience in such a way, it is clear that this factor needs to be considered in future research. Moreover, there is a need to consider both the quantity and quality of such computer experience, received in primary and secondary schools, in determining computer attitudes.

The practical implications of research into school children’s computer atti- tudes are many. Prominent amongst these is the ability to highlight groups of indi- viduals who are most likely to have unfavourable attitudes towards computers and are therefore likely to resist computer instruction. According to this study, females who are not doing computer courses and have no home computer are such a group which require additional support and encouragement. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that pupils reactions to working with computers is determined by whether they take computer-related courses. Gender and having a home computer has only a minimal effect. This strengthens the argument that schools should actively encourage pupils to learn computer skills.

Such conclusions have to be met with caution as it is not possible to generalize from a single study. It is clear, however, that the benefits to be gained, both theoretically and practically, from such research are many and that these issues warrant further examination.

References

Breakwell, G. M., Fife-Schaw, C. R., Lee, T. R. & Spencer, J. (1986) Attitudes to new technology in relation to social beliefs and group memberships: a preliminary investigation. Current Psychological Research and Reviews. 5. 34-47.

Collis, B. A. & Ollila, L. 0. (1986) An examination of sex differences in secondary school students’ attitudes toward writing and toward computers. The Alberta Journal o f Educational Research, 32, p. 297-306.

Collis, B. A. & Williamq, R. L. (1987) Cross-cultural comparison of gender differences in adolescents’ attitudes towards computers and selected school subjects. Journal o f Educationnl Research, 81, p. 17-27.

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Drambrot, F. H., Watkins-Malek, M. A., Silling, S. M., Marshall, R. S. & Garver, J. A. (1985) Correlates of sex differences in attitudes toward and involvement with computers. ]ournaI of Vocational Behaviour, 27, p. 71-86.

Fife-Schaw, C., Breakwell, G. M., Lee, T. & Spencer, 1. (1986) Patterns of teenage computer usage. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2, p. 152-61.

Fife-Schaw, C. R., Breakwell, G. M., Lee, T. R. & Spencer, J. (1987) Attitudes to new technology in relation to scientific orientation at school: a preliminary study of undergraduates. British ]ournal of Educational Psychology, 57, 114-21.

Giuliano, V. E. (1982) The mechanization of office work. Scientific American, 247,

Harvey, T. J. & Wilson, B. (1985) Gender differences in attitudes towards micro-computers shown by primary and secondary school pupils. British lournal of Educational Technology, 16.

Mohamedali, M. H., Messer, D. J. & Fletcher, B. C. (1987) Factors affecting micro-computer use and programming ability of secondary school children. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 3, p. 224-39.

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42, p. 2-4.

26, p. 55-63.

p. 37-42.

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