An Assessment of Basic Computer Proficiency Among Active Internet Users: Test Construction,Calibration,Antecedents and Consequences

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe our efforts to create a test of basic computer proficiency, examine its properties using parametric test scoring methods, and identify some antecedents and consequences that accompany differences in performance. We also consider how much insight people have into their level of knowledge by examining the relationship between our tested measure of computer knowledge and self-rated knowledge scores collected at the same time. This research also adds to the large body of existing empirical work on computer literacy in the student population, by looking at computer literacy in a more general sample of the Internet-using population. A further purpose of this research, as a result, is to make our dataset available for future research.