This is a survey or inventory of items developed by Loyd and Gressard (1984) that claims to measure people's attitudes towards computers. We ask that you complete this survey to provide data for the lab class in Week 2 of semester.
In this class we will be exploring issues for "measuring" people's attitudes. As a working example we will consider what factors might contribute to people's attitudes towards computers, and how we might quantify these factors.
The use of surveys or inventories in examining people's attitudes, beliefs and behavior is prolific in psychological research. The question arises how valid is survey data and how generalisable and reliable are the subsequent analysis and interpretation of data derived from "paper and pencil" methods. We will cover some of the many issues that need to be consideed when utilising surveys in psychological research as we discuss the results from the Computer Attitude Survey you completed in Week 1.
For this task, you will need to consider what experimental hypotheses you might test with the instrument. The rationale for conducting an experiment is that you collect data to test a hypothesis. The Method section describes the method by which you collect your data and the method by which you propose to analyse it. Therefore you need a hypothesis in order to write the Method. This hypothesis need not be the one you ultimately use in your short report work.
Assume that you will be using the Loyd & Gressard (1984) instrument to collect data for the experiment. If you need to generate different versions of the test (i.e. computer-based versus paper, differently ordered items etc.), describe how this would be done. Describe the subject population(s) you will be sampling. Make up plausible numbers for number of subjects, age ranges etc.
The Method section you prepare should be sufficiently detailed to allow us to run the actual experiment from your description. It is important that you articulate precisely what form your data will take, and how it might be analysed.