Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 1246 – 1250
WCPCG-2011
Comparing computer anxiety of humanistic, basic science, and technical and engineering students in the University of Tehran regarding gender Saeed Mazloumiyan a, AhmadReza Akbari a, Ahmad Rastegar a, Reza Ghorban Jahromi b* a
Payame Noor University, Fars, Shiraz 71955-1368, Iran University of Tehran, Tehran, Tehran 14155-6456, Iran
b
Abstract In the last decade, there has been emphasis on computer technology usage in everyday life, and even more, in universities. Multimedia classes with computer related technologies have vastly become norm in university space. Students are increasingly required to provide their tasks on computers and apply computer hardware and software for class projects. In the present study, in order to investigate the amount of computer anxiety of humanistic, basic science, and technical and engineering students, 384 (211 female and 173 male) people were selected through stratified ratio sampling and answered to Becker & Schmidt’s (2001) computer anxiety scale (BSCAS). The results showed that among all students, individuals studying in humanistic fields had the highest amounts of computer anxiety. After them, were basic science and technical and engineering students respectively. The findings also indicated that there was no significant difference between male and female students in computer anxiety. © 2011 Published PublishedbybyElsevier Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. © 2011 Ltd.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance.
Keywords: Computer anxiety, gender, field of study;
1. Introduction Computer has caused a change in society that is comparable to the change brought about by the industrial revolution. Information & Communication Technology is the main distinction of our age compared to the past. In accordance with the new developments in the age of informational technology, educational systems should also adopt some developments so as to find their effective status in sociological developments and improvements. In such an atmosphere, educational systems face two main problems: on the one hand, they should provide the learners with the necessary skills required for living in the age of information, on the other, they should utilize new technologies and tools in providing educational services (Jahromi, Lavasani, Rastegar & Mooghali, 2010). In two recent decades, besides the classic psychological concepts of anxiety, like separation anxiety and test anxiety, in motivation framework, a new kind of anxiety has been proposed as social and individual pathology, and theorists in this domain have set out to analyze and interpret this modern pathology of last years of the second
* Saeed Mazloumiyan. Tel.: +989171904652; fax: +982188244328. E-mail address:
[email protected]. 1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.241
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millennium, namely computer anxiety (Jahromi et al. 2010). Therefore, it is pretty conceivable that computers may cause tension and anxiety in students. In this case, many of them will avoid confronting computers due to the aforementioned anxiety, which will result in being deprived from the contemporary vast world of information, speed and precision in the field of research and educational activities. Therefore, such conditions call for all the people especially university students and the elites to be familiar with computer and working with it and have no anxiety caused by it. In order to obtain such results, it is necessary to recognize, understand and become aware of the phenomenon of computer anxiety and identify the factors influencing it (Jahromi et al. 2010). Lavasani (2002) assumes that computer anxiety is a kind of emotional and cognitive reaction that occurs while the individual is working and interacting with computer and it happens as a consequence of the lack of awareness and the individual’s attitude towards the computer as a threatening object. Since computer anxiety is a response to an external danger or threat, and is not an intrinsic concept or a personality characteristic, we can call it a kind of state anxiety and distinguish it from trait anxiety. We can, therefore, categorize it with other psychological phenomena like mathematics anxiety and test anxiety. In everyday life, computers have spread everywhere. As a result, many people experience computer applications directly or indirectly. However, there are people who hate or afraid of working with computers. Obviously, suffering from such fear may cause people to avoid computers entirely, and thus, never obtain the necessary skills to be successful in the new information era. Furthermore, it is assume that the fear itself will worsen the performance. Maybe that is why those who afraid of these devices act poorly against them. This study, therefore, is to explain the role of achievement goals and epistemological beliefs in students’ computer anxiety, and this way, add to the existing knowledge in this area. Researchers have estimated the prevalence of computer anxiety in various samples of student and professional careers between 10 and 55 percents (Rosen, Sears, 1990; Bradley & Russell, 1997; Bozionelos, 2001; Rosen, Sears & Weil, 1987; Bowers & Bowers, 1996). While performance at university or any other learning environment can be influenced by the extent to which a person uses computer. Some research has shown that factors such as computer acquaintance, computer experience, gender, and field of study are related to computer anxiety (Lavasani, 2002). For example, Rosen et al. (1987), Ghorban Jahromi (2007), Lavasani (2002), Dorinina (1995), and Brosnan’s (1998) findings demonstrated that basic science and technical and engineering students experienced less computer anxiety than humanistic students. But the findings are different concerning gender. While some studies have shown that there is no difference between men and women in computer anxiety (Ghorban Jahromi, 2007; Lavasani, 2002; Brosnan M, Davidson, 1996; North AS, Noyes, 2002; Bowers & Bowers, 1996; Gaudron J, Vignoli, 2002), some other has reported that women have more amounts of computer anxiety than men (Todman, 2002; Chua, Chen & Wong, 1999; Brosnan, 1998; Bradley & Russell, 1997; Heinssen, Glass & Knight, 1987; McIlroy, Bunting, Tierney & Gordon, 2001). Moreover, in two researches it was demonstrated that males had more computer anxiety than females (Brosnan & Lee, 1998; Rosen & Weil, 1990). In the present study we intend to compare the computer anxiety of students studying in different fields in terms of their gender. 2. Method
2.1. Participants The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students from three fields of study in University of Tehran. Participants were 128 males and 194 females who were chosen through stratified sampling. 2.2. Measures In order to assess the computer anxiety of our sample, Beckers & Schmidt Computer Anxiety Scale (BSCAS)
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was used. It contains 32 Likert-type items (from 6 subscales), consisting of statements on computers that could be scored between 1 (entirely disagreed) and 5 (entirely agreed) (α = .78). To determine the validity of the scale, the correlation coefficients between the total score of computer anxiety and its subscales were computed. So, in the following table these coefficients have been presented. Table 1. correlation coefficients between the total score of CA and its subscales Computer anxiety subscales
Total score of computer anxiety
Computer literacy
-0.74
Computer self-efficacy
-0.71
Affective feelings
-0.75
Positive beliefs
-0.63
Physical arousal
0.58
Negative beliefs
0.66
With regard to the correlation coefficients between the total score of computer anxiety and its subscales we can infer that it has adequate validity. 2.3. Procedure To collect data, the scale was administered voluntarily among students. 3. Results The indices regarding descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum score are presented in table 2. It should be noted that the possible range of scores for computer anxiety is from zero to 24. Table 2. Mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum score of computer anxiety Variable
Mean
SD
Maximum score
Minimum score
Computer anxiety
11.26
2.41
18.85
2.2
To compare the amount of computer anxiety in students studying in different fields, the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance was utilized. In table 3 the results of this analysis has been presented. Table 3. Kruscak-Wallis analysis of variance Field of study
N
Mean rank
Basic Science
78
123.91
Technical & Engineering
105
74.12
Humanistic
201
343.22
As can be seen in the above table, the results of Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance indicate that there is difference between students from various fields of study concerning computer anxiety. According to the mean ranks and statistics presented in table 4, it is observable that technical and engineering students have significantly lower levels of computer anxiety than other students. After them, basic science and
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humanistic students have the least to the most amounts of computer anxiety respectively. Table 4. statistics of Kruscak-Wallis analysis of variance Statistics
Computer anxiety
x2
298.13
df
5
P-value
0.01
To compare the computer anxiety of male and female students, t-test was used. In table 5, the result of t-test for comparing the means of two separate groups is presented. Table 5. t-test for comparing the means of two independent groups Variable Computer anxiety
Group
N
Mean
SD
t
df
p
Males Females
148
9.93
2.21
-1.51
382
0.08
236
10.07
2.52
As it is observed, no significant difference is seen between these two groups of students in terms of computer anxiety.
4. Discussion The overall findings showed that there is difference between students of different fields of study in computer anxiety. Namely, humanistic students suffer more than basic science students and basic science students, in turn, suffer more than technical and engineering students from computer anxiety. This finding is in line with Dorinina [9], Rosen et al. (1987), Brosnan (1998), and Lavasani’s (2002) research findings. This finding is very considerable and should be thought carefully. In other words, humanistic students like others need computer and its facilities for their scientific promotion. Obviously, the existence of computer anxiety in these students is a major obstacle for working with computers and attending training courses. As previously mentioned, one of the main outcomes of computer anxiety is avoidance and withdrawal from computers. Therefore, in ideal condition we shouldn’t see any difference in computer anxiety between students of different fields of study so that they have much less computer anxiety. Of course, one of possible reasons why these students differ in computer anxiety may be the nature of their courses. It seems that the courses technical and engineering and basic science students pass encourages more acquaintance and working with computers than humanistic ones. Furthermore, more familiarity of these students with courses like mathematics which is a fundamental basis for learning computers leads to less anxiety in them. The results also showed that there is no difference in computer anxiety between male and female students. This is in line with Brosnan & Davidson (1996), North & Noyes (2002), Bowers & Bowers (1996), Gaudron & Vignoli (2002), and Lavasani’s (2002) findings. Of course, some researchers have stated that girls have significantly more computer anxiety than boys (Todman, 2002; Chua, Chen & Wong, 1999; Brosnan, 1998; Heinssen, Glass & Knight, 1987; McIlroy, Bunting, Tierney & Gordon, 2001). Moreover, in two research males had more computer anxiety than females (Brosnan & Lee, 1998; Rosen & Weil, 1990). Gender differences in computer anxiety seem to be a socio-cultural issue. Hence, it’s better to look for its origin in socio-cultural factors of each society. Probably in communities where obvious differences is seen between the two sexes, fewer opportunities for working with computers is provided for girls compared to boys.
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