[Air-L] Surveys of current AND previous computer ownership and use?

[Kevin Guidry]

All,

I'm quickly approaching the end of my doctoral coursework and I am
actively working towards my dissertation.  As part of my literature
review leading into my methodology, I'm poking around to see if there
are instruments already developed that address my topic or if I need
to develop one.  I'm interested in how current and previous computer
ownership and access ("digital divide" and "participation gap"
concepts) may influence people to not respond to online surveys (i.e.
non-response bias).  To look at this, I have to quantitatively
operationalize the concepts of ownership and access.  Moreover, I have
to operationalize those concepts in a retrospective manner (e.g. not
just "Do you currently own a computer" but "In the last __ years, have
you always owned a computer?").  There are quite a few surveys that
look at current ownership and access but I have not yet found any that
examine these issues in a retrospective manner.

My primary goal at this point is to identify existing survey
instruments or items that I might be able to use or adapt.  If you
know of any such instruments or research efforts that might be using
or developing such instruments, could you please point me in the right
direction?  Of course, I welcome other sage advice and guidance you
are willing to share!

Thanks so much for your time!


Kevin Guidry
PhD student, Higher Education and Student Affairs
Indiana University Bloomington