Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference © 2011 IAABD
of significance (see Table 2), meaning that Internet experience and level of study are related. Cramer’s V
test also yielded significant results (V = .350; p = .010), suggesting students’ exposure to the Internet
increases with progression of studies. Since the likelihood of conducting online searches increases at
university, the latter findings seem reasonable.
Figure 1 compares Internet experience by gender. It indicates higher Internet experience among women.
A Chi-square test of association 0.05 level of significance between experience and gender (x 2 = 9.749; p =
.045) confirms women’s high Internet experience.
Figure 1: Internet experience by gender
% of respondents
25
20
15
10
5
0
< 1 year 1 to 3 years 3 to 5 years 5 to 7 years 7+ years
Table 2: Chi-square tests’ comparison of Internet experience and demographic profile
Internet experience vs. … x 2 (p-value)
Perceptions of Internet Safety and Security 0.646 (.958)
Gender 9.749 (.045)*
Study status (part-time or full-time) 5.169 (.270)
Level of study** 6.633 (.010)*
Type of Internet access** 3.980 (.046)*
*significant at 0.05 level; ** Chi-square results of transformed variables
Male
Female
Daily Internet usage
In terms of daily Internet usage, results indicate that on average respondents spend 3.4 hours surfing the
Internet with a standard deviation of 2.8 hours. Daily Internet usage between male and female
respondents was compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results (z = -.531; p > .05) show that there is
no significant difference in daily Internet usage across gender. Internet experience also affects the amount
of time spent on the Internet (Table 3).
The Mann-Whitney U test was also used to investigate differences in amount of time spent on the Internet
between those that considered exchanging information on the Internet to be safe and secure with those
that felt otherwise. Again, the difference in daily Internet usage indicated there was no difference between
the two groups (z = -.150; p > .881). The notion of Internet security across gender tested using Pearson’s
Chi-square produced significant results (x 2 = 4.26; p = .039). Although a significant proportion (76 per
cent) indicated security concerns, female users expressed security issues the most.
Table 3: Mann-Whitney U tests of daily Internet usage hours and demographics
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