A REVIEW ON STUDIES OF COMPUTER ANXIETY

IN THE 1990s

 

Chua Siew Lian

National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

469 Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 259756

Tel.: (65)4427527 Fax.: (65)4481557

email : ewn@moe.ac.sg

 

Abstract: This paper reviewed studies of computer anxiety published in the 1990s. The review focused on three main areas: (a) the nature of computer anxiety, (b) the existence of computer anxiety, and (c) the relationships between computer anxiety and its three correlates, namely, gender, age and computer experience. It was conducted using two methods, vote-count method and meta-analysis.

Reviews as to the nature of computer anxiety yielded five statements: (a) computer anxiety is a fear about computers and when considering the possibility of computer use; (b) computer anxiety is a kind of "state anxiety" which can be changed; (c) computer anxiety is measurable in multiple dimensions; (d) computer anxiety is perceived differently by people from different countries; and (e) computer anxiety causes computer user avoidance. The review had also confirmed that computer anxiety still exists in the 1990s despite the fact that computers are now widely used. Finally, empirical studies on computer anxiety indicated that (a) the relationships between computer anxiety and gender remain inconclusive; (b) computer anxiety is not directly related to age; and (c) the more computer experience individuals are exposed to, the less they exhibit computer anxiety.

 

 

Objectives

The objective of this study is to review research studies regarding computer anxiety published in the 1990s. Specifically, this review focuses on three main areas: (a) the nature of computer anxiety, (b) the existence of computer anxiety, and (c) the relationships between computer anxiety and its three correlates, namely, gender, age and computer experience.

 

Significance

Although computer anxiety has been investigated by numerous researchers, many issues still remain unsolved and, therefore, require further study and review. Among these issues are: (a) lack of a common definition of computer anxiety, (b) inconsistent findings from previous studies, (c) threat to validity of previous review conclusions, and (d) lack of a quantitative analysis of the literature. Findings of this review can provide useful insight into some of these issues.

 

Design Methodology

The review was conducted using two methods, vote-count method and meta-analysis. The vote-count strategy was based on the criterion of 70 to 30 in making a claim for a conclusion. For example, if more than 70 % of the studies under investigation had a common finding , says A, and less than 30 % of them suggested an oppose finding, says B, the review conclusion to be drawn is A.

The meta-analysis was conducted using the five-stage model of the integrative review suggested by Cooper Harris (1982). The five stages are: (1) Problem Formulation, (2) Data Collection, (3) Data Evaluation, (4) Analysis and Interpretation, and (5) Public Presentation.

 

The quantitative analytic procedures for meta-analysis were used to investigate the relationships between computer anxiety and its three correlates. Three meta-analytic questions guided this query. They include :

1) What is the relationships between gender and computer anxiety?

2) What is the relationships between age and computer anxiety ?

3) What is the relationships between computer experience and computer anxiety ?

 

In the Data Collection stage, an extensive data collection procedure had been carried out. Two inclusion criteria for inclusion of studies in the meta-analysis were also derived at this stage. Over 60 published studies regarding computer anxiety were collected for review.

 

The Data Evaluation stage consisted of three major components: (a) evaluation of articles, (b) development of a coding sheet, and (c) coding of data . After evaluation of the data (i.e. studies), only 36 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The information of these studies was coded using the developed coding sheets. The purpose of coding this information was to identify the moderators which explain the finding of each study and their differences (Glass et.al., 1981).

 

In the Analysis stage, two moderator variables, sample population and measuring instruments, were identified. The meta-analyses were conducted on three different types of sample population, namely, university undergraduates, high school students and student teachers. Three groups of studies which used computer anxiety scales developed by Raub (1981), Loyd & Gressard (1984), and Rosen, Sear & Weil (1987) respectively, were also grouped for conducting the meta-analysis. The reason for such grouping was that the findings of these studies depended greatly on the computer anxiety instrument used and the type of sample population investigated. Therefore, applying meta-analysis to those studies using the same measuring instrument allowed drawing meaningful conclusions. Similarly, it was more feasible to be able to draw practical conclusion by conducting meta-analysis on computer anxiety for a particular type of sample population instead of a mixed type of sample population.

 

In this meta-analysis, correlation coefficient ( usually Pearson r ) was used as the Effect Size (ES) indicator. ES indicators not in r were first converted into r using the formulae suggested by Wolf (1986). The r’s were then transformed into Fisher’ r ( i.e. Zr's ). The test of homogeneity of Zr's (i.e. the diffuse test) was conducted by examining the Chi-square value of the Zr’s. For the homogenous set of Zr’s, the value of combined Zr’s (i.e. ) was computed. From the value of , its associated p-value can be found by checking the normal distribution table. Using the value of p, one can interpret the overall significant level of the relationships between computer anxiety and its correlates. Heterogeneous set of Zr’s means the results of the studies in the group disagree with one another. In this case, in addition to combining ’s as described above, a focused test (comparing ’s based on some theories) for testing the trend of the effect size indicators may also be in order. In this study, a focus test was conducted to test for the differences between two categories of computer experience: exposure and amount. The theory for this focused test was to examine whether studies investigating computer exposure reported different results from studies investigating the amount of computer experience.

 

 

 

Findings

 

 

The findings of the vote-count review of computer anxiety include:

(a) computer anxiety is a fear about computers when using the computers, or when considering the possibility of computer use;

  1. computer anxiety is a kind of "state anxiety" which can be changed;
  2. computer anxiety is measurable in multiple dimensions;
  3. computer anxiety is perceived differently by people from different countries;
  4. computer anxiety causes computer user avoidance;
  5. computer anxiety still exists in the 1990s, in spite of the fact that the computer is now widely used;
  6. the relationships between computer anxiety and gender remain inconclusive;
  7. age is related to computer experience which is inversely related to computer anxiety;
  1. the more computer experience individuals are exposed to, the less they exhibit computer anxiety; and

(j) the inverse relationship between computer experience and computer anxiety is higher for males than for females.

 

The findings of the meta-analysis revealed that:

  1. in general, the relationships between computer anxiety and gender are inconclusive;
  2. for university undergraduates, females are generally more anxious than males, but the extent as to how they differ is inconclusive;
  3. instruments measuring computer anxiety are generally reliable, but not compatible with one another;
  4. computer anxiety and computer experience are inversely related, but the extent as to how they are inversely related remain uncertain; and
  5. studies focusing on computer exposure and studies focusing on the amount of computer experience tend to report different results even though the same computer anxiety measuring instrument was used.

 

Implications of the findings

 

These research findings have broad implications for countries whose goal is to promote computer literacy for their citizens. Computer anxiety can be reduced along the path of different dimensions. It is measurable in multiple dimensions and is a "state anxiety" which can be changed; therefore it can be reduced in different ways. For example, attending computer courses and computer training programmes is one way to increase computer experience which, in turn, reduces computer anxiety. Another way to reduce computer anxiety is to reduce it along two fundamental dimensions, namely, computer equipment anxiety and computer learning anxiety. Computer equipment anxiety involves fear of handling new machines and equipment before actually using them. Computer learning anxiety involves the fear when interacting with the computer and learning how to use a computer. Therefore, in order to reduce computer anxiety, it is considered essential to reduce computer equipment anxiety first and then to reduce computer learning anxiety.

 

This research has direct implications in the area of computer anxiety and, should be taken seriously in the implementation of IT programmes, as computer anxiety causes computer user avoidance. These problems should be handled first before one can promote the use of computers since it is necessary to promote the use of computers in order to implement IT programmes. Therefore, IT course designers should investigate methods to minimise computer anxiety.

 

Older people were found to be generally more anxious than younger people when using computers. However, the differences are not due to age, but due to the older generation’s late exposure to computers. This finding illustrates that older people should not use "old" as an excuse for avoiding computer use. Instead, they should be encouraged to take up more relevant computer courses so as to enjoy all the advantages provided by the use of computers.

 

Lower grade students are more anxious than higher grade students when using computers. This finding is also not due to age, but due to the fact that higher grade students have more years of computer exposure than lower grade students. This finding implies that older students are not necessarily more confident than younger students when using computers.

 

Finally, the inconclusive findings of the relationships between computer anxiety and gender indicate that the common belief that females are more anxious than males when doing computer related tasks is not always true. This means that if females are given appropriate computer exposure, they can also be as confident as males in the use of computers and the management of computer related jobs.

 

Conclusion

 

Computer anxiety is a fear about computers that can cause computer user avoidance. Therefore, the promotion of computer literacy should not only focus on providing computer equipment, but should also pay attention to the problems caused by computer anxiety.

 

Computer anxiety is also a kind of "state anxiety" which can be changed and measured in multiple dimensions. This implies that computer anxiety can be minimised along the paths of multiple dimensions using different methods. These methods differ from country to country as computer anxiety is perceived differently by people from different countries. Therefore, methods for reducing computer anxiety should be developed specifically for the use of an individual country.

 

Generally, more computer exposure will result in less computer anxiety. However, not all types of computer exposure, specifically computer courses, reduce computer anxiety. For example, exposure to computer application software minimises computer anxiety. This is not true for exposure to computer programming. It seems that computer anxiety can only be reduced by exposing users to simple and user-friendly types of software. For example, software with graphical users interface (GUI) which are user-friendly can be used to reduce computer anxiety.

 

Computer anxiety is inversely related to computer experience; therefore, people with more computer experience are less anxious when using computers than those with less computer experience. This finding is easily observed in all types of institutions. Beginner computer users and non-frequent computer users usually exhibit higher computer anxiety than those experienced and frequent computer users. They usually prefer to have someone who they feel is computer literate in close proximity when they are using computers. Once they are left alone with the computer tasks, problems can arise due to lack of confidence and nervousness. Conversely, experienced and frequent computer users normally prefer to work without any disturbance as they are more confident they will be able to accomplish the tasks.

 

Though computer anxiety is inversely related to computer experience, it does not mean that the individual with a lot of computer experience will not have computer anxiety. Through observation, experienced and frequent computer users do, at times, exhibit a certain degree of computer anxiety when they are working on new computer hardware or learning new software, especially when they are carrying out tasks in-front of others. The anxiety may be partly due to the "fear of unknown" and partly due to the "social expectation" that they have been recognised as "computer literate" or even "computer experts". They often feel embarrassed when they are unable to solve the problems of a computer system in front of others. As a result, they are more prone to make mistakes in areas such as machine anxiety and learning anxiety. These anxieties may then lead to computer anxiety. Overall, these observations indicate that even though increase of computer experience decreases computer anxiety, computer anxiety can still be generated through its various paths or dimensions. Its’ existence is due to many internal and external factors affecting the use of the computer. Internal factors are those related to the characteristics of the users such as brave or timid, cautious or adventurous, flexible or inflexible etc. External factors refer to those environmental issues such as types of occasions, surrounding environment and types of audiences.

 

In conclusion, the issues of computer anxiety requires further studies. The suggestions of future studies can be based on six areas: (1) developing methods reducing computer anxiety, (2) developing computer anxiety measuring instruments which are suitable for use in an individual country, (3) replicating studies with rigorous methodology in order to have good quality studies, (4) replicating studies in the context of each respective country, (5) reviewing the relationships between computer anxiety and other correlates in addition to age, gender and computer experience, and (6) developing new meta-analysis methods such as the interactive effect of the variables. These six areas are based on various aspects which are all desirable.

 

To summarise, the literature on computer anxiety should be well researched in order to develop appropriate methods for reducing it. Only if computer anxiety is successfully reduced, can problems caused by computer avoidance be minimised. In other words, the promotion of computer literacy for the implementation of IT programmes will encounter fewer problems when computer anxiety is generally reduced.

 

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