Perceptions of ability to program or to use a word processor

摘要

The study reported here examined perceptions of ability at computer programming and at word processing. Factors relating to personal attributes and experience were rated for importance for programming and for word processing by 117 undergraduates. Experience factors, “enjoying working with machines”, “liking technology”, and “enjoying solving complex problems” were given the highest importance ratings for programming ability, while “being good at maths” and “being good at science” were given lower ratings. Previous training and having keyboard skills were given the highest ratings for word processing. Experience of the application resulted in lower ratings being given to the importance of formal training and, in the case of experience of word processing, lower ratings on a number of other factors describing abilities which might relate to word-processing skill. The results are discussed in the context of previous work on computing stereotypes.