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Volume 12 Numbers 3 & 4, 2002

The Internet: Producing or Transforming Culture and Gender?

Nai Li and Gill Kirkup
The Open University

Abstract. This paper explores gender differences between the Internet use of British and Chinese students. It reports on a questionnaire survey carried out on male and female undergraduate students aged between 18 and 23 in four universities in China and in Britain. The results showed some significant geographical and gender differences, but no significant difference in attitude toward the Internet between the two cultures.

The ability to use information and communication skills is becoming a necessary form of literacy at all levels of education. The particular skill of searching the global Internet for reliable information resources, evaluating these resources and making use of them is becoming a crucial skill for students in higher education. The 'digital divide' has many facets - gender is one, geographical location and language are two important others. The dynamics of these at the global level seems to be changing. Surveys of Internet users show increasing numbers of women using the Internet in many countries worldwide, and an exponential increase in access to technology and networks in some less developed countries. Most research on gendered use of the Internet comes from research in the more developed countries, and it is yet unclear whether gender differences in attitude to, and use of the Internet, are stable over time, or consistent across countries and cultures.

This paper reports on research carried out with higher education students studying in China and Britain, which investigated their attitudes towards using the Internet and their Internet searching skills, to explore what, if any, gender differences are observed between the two countries/cultures. It reports on only one aspect of the research: a questionnaire survey carried out with samples of male and female undergraduate students in the 18-23 age group.

Basic common gender differences were observed in students in both countries. These cannot be explained by shared cultures or shared language, only by shared technology. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to debates about the nature of cultural difference in a global society, and whether gender is best understood as located in particular places or as one of the many aspects of cultural 'flows' identified by Castells (1996) as replacing 'place' in the new global economy.

Two Cultures: Gender

There has been a great deal of research on gender differences in access to and use of computers and more recently of the Internet. This body of research is too great to be summarised effectively in this paper, but findings seem to suggest certain consistent trends. Studies revealed that women have more negative attitudes to computers, and have higher computer anxiety than men (Kirkpatrick and Cuban 1998; Comber, Colley, Hargreaves and Dorn, 1997; Siann, Macleod and Durndell, 1990). There is abundant evidence that women's use of, and liking for, computer technology is less than that of men (Durndell, MacLeod, Glissov and Siann, 1987; Meredith, Helen and Woodcock, 1998; Brosnan, 1998; Collis, 1985; Frenkel, 1990). Even when given equal access to computers, women use them less than men do (Shashaani, 1993, 1997; Scragg, Smith, and Geneseo, 1998; Kirkup, 1995). Research with young adults shows that information technology was found to be male stereotyped (Kiesler, 1984). Women are less likely to be attracted to computer courses and to a computer-related career; Durndell and Lightbody's research (1993) shows that this phenomenon has not changed during the last decade, although women have more chances to access computers.

Similarly, studies have suggested that there are differences in attitudes toward Internet searching and Internet usage patterns between women and men, although women and men have little difference in general attitudes toward the Internet. For example, Ford and Miller (1996) suggested that women were more likely to report significantly greater levels of disorientation and disenchantment in relation to the Internet compared with their male counterparts. A GVU Centre (1999) survey also indicated that women had more difficulty and were less confident in finding information on the Internet than men. Morahan-Martin (2000) found that women college students went online less frequently, spent less time per session, and used the Internet for fewer purposes than men. Although surveys (NUA, 1999, 2000; Emarketer, 2000; and NetSmart America, 2000) suggest that there is an increasing number of women going online and that the gender gap in Internet use may be narrowing, actual behaviour once online, e.g., sites 'visited', reasons for searching, the authors would predict, are still gendered.

However very little of this work on gender and Internet use has been done in 'non-western' cultures. The few examples of cross-cultural studies on issues of people's perception of computers that have been done suggest that in different cultures, people might have different perceptions and uses of computers and the Internet (Sensales and Greenfield, 1995; Omar, 1992; Martin, Heller, and Mahmoud, 1992; Makrakis,1992; Brosnan and Lee, 1998). Allwood and Wang (1990) studied conceptions of computers among students in China and Sweden. They found that Chinese students were more optimistic about the effect of computers on society than were Swedish students. Other research (Omar, 1992; Martin et al., 1992; Makrakis,1992; Brosnan and Lee, 1998; Collis and Williams, 1987) also suggests that students' attitudes toward computers and their usage was found to be related to certain cultural and background characteristics of students in different countries. Makrakis' study (1996) confirmed that the culture and the society in which people live appears to be of great importance in determining people's attitudes toward computers. However, how far culture influences people's perception of the Internet and use, and how far the Internet impact on natural and local culture, still needs research.

It is possible to argue that there are two cultures with respect to the Internet and these are organised by gender. The question remains whether these two cultures exist across all national cultures, or whether there is a different interplay of gender and the Internet in different national contexts. This is the main question addressed by this research, in which two geographical cultures - China and Britain - were also addressed.

Two Cultures: Geography

In both Britain and China, educational policy makers in government, and in most higher education institutions, recognise the importance of the Internet as an educational resource. The history of the use of computers in the universities of both countries has been very different, until recently, when these histories may be converging.

Higher education settings in the UK have been eagerly embracing the new information technology, especially the Internet, since early 1990s, to improve their teaching and learning. It is estimated that UK higher education currently (2001) spends up to one billion pounds a year on communications and information technology: up to 10% of the total higher education budget. The most important report focusing on British higher education for 30 years, known as the Dearing Report (Dearing, 1997), identified transferable skills such as communication, numeracy, and the use of information technology and effective learning as necessary outcomes of higher education. Following the Dearing Report, the Fryer Report entitled Learning for the 21st Century was published in 1998. It further addressed the importance of integrating ICTs into higher education.

The development of ICTs in higher education in China started later than in Britain, as China is an underdeveloped country. Just a decade ago, few people in China had telephones in their homes. In 1994, the majority of people had very little idea of what a PC was. But by the end of 1999, China was the fastest growing IT and Internet market in the Asia-Pacific region. Internet users have been growing at an amazing speed from over 1 million in December 1998 to 4 million by June 1999 and over 6 million by the end of 2000 according to CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Centre), with over 14 million PCs. Chinese people have already felt the strong impact of ICTs on the higher education. China's Ministry of Education has recently (2001) taken tentative steps into the online learning environment. Besides the first batch of four universities, another 27 universities throughout the country are allowing open access to their online courses. The number of Chinese universities offering degree and diploma programs over the Internet are 31 and the number of enrolled students runs into tens of thousands (Mooney, 2000). According to Mooney (2000), "[i]t is China's active response to the world's fast growing long-distance education system, and e-learning has become one of the most promising ways to popularise higher education at a low cost in China".

Research Design

The participants for this study consisted of 465 Chinese and British students aged 18-23. The Chinese participants come from four Chinese universities: Beijing Normal University, Xia Men University, South China Normal University, and Xi An Jiaotong University. These four universities are representative of the general size and the academic level of universities in China. Of the 220 Chinese participants in the study, 110 were women and 110 were men. The British participants mainly come from four universities: Plymouth University, York University, Luton University, and North London University. Of the 245 UK participants in the study, 138 were women and 107 were men. Basic background information about the participants is presented in Table.1. It is very difficult to have absolutely equality between subjects in cross-cultural research, but in this study, best efforts were made to ensure that participants in the two groups were equally matched in age and subject of study.

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Table 1. Participants' background information

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The study uses three means of data collection: a questionnaire survey; observations of practical Internet searching activities; and post-search interviews, to explore students' Internet information searching behaviours in depth. The aims of the questionnaire survey were to obtain basic information about students' prior experience of computers and the Internet, attitudes toward the Internet, and their Internet usage patterns, and computer-technology self-efficacy. The observation of practical information searching activities aimed to investigate students' practical Internet skills, the extent of their familiarity with the Internet system, and their general practical Internet skills. Further, the relationship between their experience of the Internet, their attitudes toward the Internet, and factors that affect their Internet searching was explored by interviews. This paper focused only on the results of the questionnaire survey.

The semi-structured questionnaire was designed to explore students' attitudes toward the Internet and usage in both Chinese and British backgrounds. A portion of the questionnaire consists of statements that have been adopted and modified from previous research (Ford and Miller,1996; Ropp,1999; Murphy, Coover and Owen, 1989).

The questionnaire consisted of four sections. First, basic participants' background information, such as age, gender, status, subject of study, was obtained. To assess the extent of students' experience with computers and the Internet, 15 single or multiple-choice format questions were developed in a second section. For example, a computer ownership question asked: "do you have a computer your own?" The questionnaire also explored whether students had taken any computer-related course, and how they had learned to use computers. They were asked about their experience of the Internet, e.g. "when did you first use the Internet?", "how much time per week do you spend using the Internet for course study and personal interests respectively?".

Previous studies (e.g. Presno, 1998) revealed that students' knowledge about computer systems and the Internet, and their self-efficacy in computer-technology did influence their perception of the Internet and the way they used it for information searching. So it was decided to investigate participants' knowledge about computer systems and the Internet, and their self-efficacy in computer technology. A computer technology self-assessment scale was used. A portion of the questions, modified from previous research (Ford, and Miller,1996; Ropp,1999; Murphy et al., 1989), was used to test participants' self-efficacy in computer-technology.

The fourth section of the questionnaire measured students' attitudes toward the Internet. This section is made up of three categories of questions about attitudes. First, general attitude toward the Internet, through 27 statements about the Internet, such as "I enjoy using the Internet", with a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 6, with 1 indicating 'strong disagreement' (reflecting a strong negative attitude) and 6 indicating 'strong agreement' (reflecting a strong positive attitude). Since the statements were positively and negatively worded, the values of the negative statements were re-ordered before grouping them. Thus, in the analysis, the higher scores indicate more positive attitudes toward the Internet. The second category of question measured gender stereotypes concerning computing and the Internet, though 15-items on a 6-point Likert scale. The third category attempted to measure the depth of students understanding about the Internet and its influence on education by questions such as "How do you think the Internet will impact on education?". Six open-end questions were developed for this category.

The questionnaire was initially constructed in English, and then translated into Chinese. Translation of the instrument was verified by two bilingual Chinese people living in England. Every attempt was made to provide a Chinese version that was as faithful a representation of the English as possible. After a pilot study to test the questionnaire, it was felt that the scale could be taken as a convenient, reliable and valid measure of the Internet attitudes and usage.

The questionnaires were handed out to British subjects by the researcher at beginning of their lectures, and they were asked to fill them in at their leisure and return to researcher by post. Chinese students were given the questionnaire during regular class time by the researcher's Chinese colleagues in China and returned by post. Responses to the questionnaire were coded and analysed through the use of the SPSS V10.0 statistical package. The analysis focused upon the calculation of descriptive statistics and t-test statistics to investigate students' differences on the basis of country and gender with regard to experience of computers and the Internet, attitudes toward the Internet and usage, and cultural influences on the perception and use of Internet. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also carried out to investigate the relationship between factors.

Gender Differences in Internet Use

There was no significant difference in access to the Internet for men and women in the sample in each country. But the British students overall had been using the Internet longer than Chinese students. More than half the Chinese students reported that they had less than 5 years but more than one year of Internet experiences (52.3%). One third of Chinese students (31%) had less than one year but more than six months of Internet experiences. 15% of Chinese students reported that they only used the Internet recently and had less than 6 months Internet experience. This compared with 76.7% British students having less than 5 years but more than 1 year Internet experience (see Figure 1).

In Britain, male students had been using the Internet longer than women, and a significant gender difference was found (t=4.309, df=243, p<0.000). However, in both Britain and China men used the Internet more frequently at the time of the questionnaire than women (Figures 2 and 3). Although when asked about their agreement with a statement "men spend more time on computers and surfing the Internet than women", only Chinese women recognised this to be the case, and almost 80% of Chinese women agreed with the statements.

Although when students were asked about general computer use for all reasons not just the Internet, only in the Chinese group did male students say they spend more time on computers than women. Chinese male students reported that they spend an average 5-10 hours per week, while female students reported that they spend less than 5 hours average per week, a significant difference was found here (t= 5.510, df=218, p<0.000). This was recognised by Chinese women in response to a different question. There was no significant gender difference in overall use for British students (t=1.269, df=243, p=0.206). This suggests that women and men are using computers for different reasons. If the time spent is the same for both, but men are using the Internet more than women, then women are spending longer on other computer related activities.

In both British and Chinese groups men spent more time using the Internet for personal interests purposes (Figures 4 and 5), although in the British group the difference was greatest (t =6.121, df=243, p<0.000).

This gender difference was compounded in the British sample by the fact that women said that they were more likely to use the Internet for study purposes and men for 'personal information' (Figure 6). This difference was not observed in the Chinese data.

Some more geographic and gender differences emerged from this study. Men reported using email more often than women, and British men most (t=5.1232. df=463, p<0.000). Chinese students reported using 'chat rooms' more than British students (t=4.368, df=463, p<0.000). Men students reported using the Internet more for playing games (t=8.784, df=463, p<0.000). Chinese men played games most frequently among all of the groups, while Chinese women played least frequently. British students and men students browse for personal information more often than Chinese, and women students (t=6.881,df=463, p<0.000; t=8.784, df=463, p<0.000). British students browsed for research and study more than Chinese students (t=5,241,df=463, p<0.000) but the British women browsed for this purpose more than men (t=4.638, df=243, p<0.000).

Internet Confidence and Skills

Students were asked about their confidence in using the Internet for various activities. Men tended to report greater confidence in using the Internet. This was measured on the computer technology self-assessment scale. In both national samples, men reported themselves more confident in knowing how to use search engines to find information (Figures 7 and 8), more confident in downloading materials from the Internet (Figures 9 and 10), and more confident about keeping records of Web sites (Figures 11 and 12).

Although in response to a more general question about ability to the use the Internet, it was only in the British sample that men were significantly more confident (Figure 13) (t= 5.038, df=243, p<0.000).

In both national groups women were significantly more likely to report that they 'get lost' when searching the Internet (Figures 14 and 15). And in both groups men were significantly more likely to feel that the Internet was useful (t=6.121, df=243, p<0.000).

Attitudes Toward the Internet

The questionnaire asked students about their attitudes toward the Internet, and the results showed some significant geographical and gender differences existed, though a significant difference in students' attitudes toward the Internet in general was not found. In general, all students agreed with the statement that the Internet is a useful source of information. And students reported that they enjoyed using the Internet in general, however, male students showed stronger positive attitudes than women (t=5.692, df=463, p<0.000). Chinese students felt more strongly that the Internet was useful for cross-cultural exchange (t=9.134, df=463, p<0.000). On the other hand, Chinese students were more likely to have language problems using the Internet (t=21.557, df=463, p<0.000). Women tended to hold less gender stereotyped about the relationship between computers and the Internet than did men. They felt that women were just as skilled as men with the Internet (t=4.820, df=463, p<0.000), and that the Internet was not male dominated (t=6.373,df=463, p<0.000). Men, on the other hand, were more likely to believe that men in general were better at using the Internet than women (t=4.833, df=463, p<0.000), and that computer science was a more suitable job for men (t=10.857, df=463, p<0.000).

Conclusions

The research shows a snapshot of students' attitudes and behaviour in two different countries. In one country Internet use in the general population is now well established. In the other a rapid learning has taken place at least in educational institutions. But what is interesting is the consistency of many gender differences in behaviour and attitudes in both countries; length of use of the Internet has not decreased gender differences in use. In some cases there is less significant gender difference in Chinese students who have had a shorter exposure to the technology. However, it may be that we should expect gender differences in patterns of use to increase, in China and Britain, as content and activity minors gendered social patterns.

With respect to cross-cultural learning, the Chinese students in the sample were obliged to learn English to access sites and felt that the Internet was for them a tool for cross-cultural understanding. This is not the case for British students. Cultural flow on the Internet seems overwhelmingly in one direction. Gender attitudes and behaviour are likely to follow this flow.

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