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An instrument for measuring five aspects of children's attitudes towards microcomputers
Author(s) -
Ransley Wayne
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
british journal of educational technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.79
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-8535
pISSN - 0007-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8535.1991.tb00063.x
Subject(s) - novelty , psychology , semantic differential , measure (data warehouse) , point (geometry) , appeal , sample (material) , adjective , mathematics education , computer science , social psychology , mathematics , natural language processing , data mining , chemistry , geometry , noun , chromatography , political science , law
The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument which would identify and measure independent dimensions of children's attitudes towards microcomputers. The sample consisted of 501 sixth and seventh grade Tasmanian children. The instrument produced by Williams, Coulombe, and Lievrouw (1983) was used as a starting point. Exploratory factor analytic procedures were used to arrive at a final instrument consisting of 17 adjective pairs in semantic differential format. Composite scores are calculated for five dimensions: ‘functioning’, ‘difficulty’, ‘involvement’,‘appeal’ and ‘novelty’. Recommendations are given for the use of these dimensions in studies of differences.