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An analysis of methods used to examine gender differences in computer-related behaviour

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Robin Holding Kay at University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Robin Holding Kay
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An analysis of methods used to examine gender differences in computer-related behaviour. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 8(3), 323-336.
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Kay, R. H. (1992a). An analysis of methods used to examine
gender differences in computer-related behaviour. Journal of
Educational Computing Research, 8(3), 323-336.
... To date, this research has mainly employed a questioimaire based approach. This chapter will argue that while this approach is valuable, it has yet to provide a coherent understanding of the why males and females differ in their behaviour towards computers (Kay, 1992a). In doing so, a case will be made for the need for more qualitative studies of children's responses to information technology. ...
... Boys are also far more likely to use computers for extra-curricular activities and to participate in computing clubs (Culley, 1993). Similarly, in the USA, boys are far more likely than girls to go to summer computer camps (Hess & Miura, 1985;Kay, 1992a). ...
... For example, in a survey of boys than girls liked the computer at all ages. Gender differences in attitudes seem to increase with age, with greater differences among secondary school and university students than among primary and junior school students (Kay, 1992a, Whitley, 1997. As Whitley (1996) notes, an important point to bear in mind is that while boys and men &equently score higher than girls and women on attitude scales, the average scores for both groups tend fall well above the midpoint for the scales. ...
Children talking about computers : a discourse analysis perspective on gender issues in information technolgy
Thesis
  • Jan 2000
p>This thesis is concerned with gender differences in children's responses to information technology. From primary school onwards girls participate less in computing activities than boys. For researchers attempting to understand these differences one important focus of interest has been children's attitudes towards computers. The vast m^ority of studies in this area have employed a questionnaire based methodology. However, while this research suggests that there are small but persistent differences in girls and boys attitudes towards computers, it goes little way to helping us understand these differences. This thesis adopted a discursive perspective to address the question of gender differences in response to IT. The analysis is based on a small set of in depth interviews in which 13-14 year olds were asked about their experiences with computers in school and at home. The aim of the analysis was to make explicit some of the rhetorical strategies available to the children for reasoning about their experiences with information technology, and to explore how (if at all) gender mediated these understandings. Although the small number of participants in this study make it difficult to draw any firm conclusions, the analysis suggests that girls and boys responses to computers may be differentiated, not in terms of their overall attitude towards computers, but in terms of their enthusiasm for and participation in different computing activities. The analysis also explored how the children themselves negotiated the significance and meaning of gender in the context of computer technology. The participants drew on the idea that boys were far more Sequent and enthusiastic computer game players than girls, and characterised girls and boys preferences for computer games as polarised along traditional gender lines. However, there was strong resistance to the idea that there were any comparable differences in girls and boys interactions with computers in school. Overall, the analysis suggests that the significance of gender varies across different contexts of computer use. Future research should focus on the way gender mediates children's responses to different kinds of computing activities. Such research should differentiate, not only between the use of computers for games and the use of computers for school, but also between the different activities within these two contexts.</p
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... Furthermore, Kay (2006) argues that, males use computers more often than females. Also in his meta-analysis on gender differences on computer use, Kay (1992) concludes that 37 in 72 studies on computer use show that males report higher frequency use of computers than females, whereas only 10 out of 72 studies show higher frequency of females. Durndell & Thomson (1997), report that boys use computers more frequently than girls for any applications. ...
... Even though girls participating in their study believe that girls are as confident as boys on computers, they need boys' help when they face a problem about computers. Kay (1992)'s review supports these findings. In his review, 15 out of 33 studies on computer use abilities show that males report themselves skilled users. ...
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... Background. Numerous studies have investigated the role of gender in computer behaviour (see AAUW, 2000; Barker & Aspray, 2006; Kay, 1992; Sanders, 2006; Whitley, 1997 for detailed reviews of the literature) and the following conclusions can be made. First, most studies have looked at computer attitude, ability, and/or use. ...
... Conclusion. Given that gender differences have been fairly small, but persistent over the past 25 years (AAUW, 2000; Barker & Aspray, 2006; Kay, 1992; Sanders, 2006; Whitley, 1997), one might have expected differences to emerge with respect to learning objects. However, no significant differences were observed between males and females for any of the four dependent student variables. ...
Understanding Factors that Influence the Effectiveness of Learning Objects in Secondary School Classrooms
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Jan 2009
The design, development, reuse, and accessibility of learning objects has been examined in some detail for almost 10 years (Kay & Knaack, 2007c, 2007d), however, research on the effectiveness of learning objects is limited (Kay & Knaack, 2005; Nurmi & Jaakkola, 2006a, 2006b, Sosteric & Hesemeirer,2004), particularly in the K-12 environment. Until recently, learning objects were solely used in higher education (Haughey & Muirhead, 2005; Kay & Knaack, 2005, 2007c). The purpose of the current chapter is to examine factors that influence the effectiveness of learning objects in secondary school classrooms. These factors will include learning object qualities, gender, self-efficacy, grade, subject area, and teaching strategies.
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... In order to evaluate gender difference in students, a MANOVA was used with four different variables. Although there are many previous studies related with gender bias in computer related behavior in favor of males (Kay, 1992;1993a;Whitley, 1997;Kay, 2006), this study indicate that there is no gender difference about learning objects benefit, learning object quality, and computer comfort level. This result can be explained with the ease of using learning objects or the population in this study. ...
Evaluation of learning objects from different aspects of effectiveness: Learning, learning object benefit, and learning object quality
Conference Paper
  • Mar 2010
Learning objects (LOs), generally seen as digital learning resources stored, shared, accessed, and reused to support learning in multiple learning contexts (Willey, 2000; Robinson, 2002;Shank, 2003; Weller, 2004), have a great enthusiasm in the field of educational technology (Allert, 2004). Learning objects have different and many possibilities to change educational practices; however there is a lack of empirical evidence of the effectiveness and usefulness of LOs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and report results of three studies under five major headings in terms of the effectiveness and usefulness of learning objects in various educational settings. The assessment headings are learning object benefit, learning objects quality, computer comfort level, gender, and learning. According to results there was an interaction between effectiveness of LOs and different instructional conditions. Although learning objects can provide suitable structure for constructing learning process (courses), it is acceptable that LOs are not enough alone to get high quality learning performance and to create meaningful learning activities. Nevertheless, LOs are very effective in a well prepared learning environment.
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... It calls for more research by educationists to find out why teachers did not find DLP significant in life even after showing great interest and acceptance for the programme. Earlier studies on attitude to digital technology by male and female teachers exhibited a case of high negative attitude by female teachers as opposed to male teachers (Dupagne & Krendi, 1992;Kay, 1992;Koohang, 1987;Wozney et al., 2006). This is in contrast to the findings of this study. ...
Gender and teacher attitude toward digital literacy programme in Kisii county primary schools
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2021
Digital technologies have been associated with improved and enriched learning experiences which include more student-centered learning. These technologies have made teaching and learning experiences more interesting. In view of the crucial role of digital technologies in enhancing learning, this study sought to assess teacher attitudes towards the Digital Literacy Programme (DLP) in Kisii County based on gender differences. Does the gender of the teachers involved in the Digital Literacy Programme in Kisii County affect their readiness to uptake and implement the program? A survey research design was applied in the study. The population of the study constituted of 1,420 standard one and two teachers selected from randomly sampled schools of the county. The sample size was determined using the Fisher formula and the sample consisted of 302 standard one and two teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select the specific teachers. Simple random sampling was used to select the specific schools to include in the study and proportionate sampling was used to determine the number of respondents from each school. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. To ascertain the reliability of the research instruments, a pilot test was carried out and a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.76 was realized. Data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics in SPSS. The study established that difference in gender has no effect on the teachers’ attitude to the Digital Literacy Programme.
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... If computers play an increasingly prominent role in our society, one could argue that significant power and success rest with those who know how to use this technology effectively. It seems vital that both genders have equal opportunities to learn computers, but the difference prevails due the positive attitude and better abilities of males in computer usage (Kay, R. H., 1992). More recent literature reviews show that male dominance is still prevalent with respect to computer attitudes, ability and use. ...
Gender Differences In Computer Usage
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2020
Today in every walk of life both genders play their own roles in all fields which creates equilibrium in respected fields. This balance is seemed to be falling apart in the field of computers due to the comparatively less representation of female in this field. There are many reasons of this gender imbalance which seem to define computer technology as a male dominating field. Computers have intruded our lives in a big way. This technology has much evolved in the past two decades, and now it has become part of our lives. In today’s world the growth of the internet has changed the social dynamics. This includes their personal interaction with all others and the ways they form communities. In this article facts are highlighted that how society and personal relationship are changing in the computer’s age, and I highlighted some measures that can be helpful to reduce the gender bias at any work place.
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... One of the most important learner characteristics influencing online education is the gender of learners (Volery & Lord, 2000). Being able to use computer easily is another variable which can have an interaction with gender (Kay, 1992). focus directly. ...
Factors Predicting e-Learners' Satisfaction on Online Education
Conference Paper
Full-text available
  • Aug 2016
The study aims to investigate the satisfaction of the learners who are taking part in the online education and the factors affecting their satisfaction. The factors that are taken into consideration are perceived usefulness, feeling of flexibility, feeling of security, active participation, feeling free for asking questions, instructor response time, perceived ease of essence of counselli-Learning and a scale for perceived e-learner satisfaction were conducted. Students enrolled in an online educational institution in Turkey are the subjects of the study. Data were analysed using multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that students, regardless of gender, who think that online education is useful and promotes active participation during lessons as well as believe that it contributes their success are more satisfied on online education. Support for study habits, feeling of flexibility and security are significant predictors for male learners only. Also, flexibility and security of online education system with common significant predictors for girls.
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... Researchers have found mixed results in the study of gender differences in interest, attitudes, access to computers, use of computers, and experiences in the classroom (Kay, 1992). Whitley (1996) proposed that one possible reason for the Community College Students and CSL 30 apparent conflict in the literature regarding attitudes toward computer technology is that many researchers treat attitudes toward computers as a unitary construct rather than as a multifaceted construct. ...
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International Students’ Gender Impact to Use Mobile Learning in Tertiary Education
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Jan 2020
This study aims to design a model on mobile learning used by international students in tertiary education. It has used a survey questionnaire distributed through the LimeSurvey. A total of 12 international students from a tertiary education (6 female students and 6 male students) participated in Canada. The results revealed that male students got higher impact to the performance expectancy (PE), social factors (SF), and facilitating condition (FC) but on the other hand, female students got an impact on PE and FC. Furthermore, female students got a significant impact on PE and SF on behavioral intention (BI). Gender is having an impact on EE and FC. Finally, PE and SF have an impact on the BI to use mobile learning in tertiary education. These findings will help practitioners, educators, policymakers to implement mobile learning in tertiary education for international students in Canada and abroad.
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