Peng Tai-quan and Zhu Jonathan---Don\'t blame the Internet Anymore!

Tai-Quan Peng, Jonathan J. H. Zhu Department of Media and Communication City University of Hong Kong

Internet VS. Use of Traditional Media
Displacing View (e.g., Kaye, 1998; Nie & Erbring, 2000)
Complementary View (e.g., Stempel et al., 2000; Nguyen & Western, 2006)
Internet VS. Sociability
Pessimistic View (e.g., Kraut et al., 1998; Nie & Erbring, 2000)
Optimistic View (e.g., Kraut et al., 2002; Lee & Zhu, 2002; Cole & Robinson, 2002)
Criticisms(Nie & Hillygus, 2002):
Inadequate measurement of Internet use
Limitation to bivariate analysis
Causal Relationship (Nie, 2001)

Simple, but NOT trivial!
Uni-item to Multi-item
Sophistication of Internet Usage (SIU)
To quantify but NOT to evaluate system usage (Burton-Jones and Straub, 2006)
Exploratory to Confirmatory Approach
Dimensionality & Construct Validity (Peng & Zhu, 2008)
Source: Peng & Zhu (2008) Dimensions Examples Time/Duration/Frequency Amount of online time, in Zhu & He (2002a) Frequency and Duration, in Compeau et al. (1999) Year of experience, in Gravill et al. (2006) Activities Activity scope, in Jung et al. (2001) Diversity of online time, in Zhu and He (2002a) Actions, in PEW (2007) Experience, in Gravill et al. (2006) Skills Skill of use, in Thompson et al. (1994) Cognitive experience, in Rogers (2003) Context Site Scope, in Jung et al. (2001) Assets, in PEW (2007) Attitude/Affective Evaluation of Internet Influence, in Jung et al. (2001) Attitudes, in PEW (2007)

RQ1: Is there any difference between Internet non-user’s sociability and Internet user’s sociability?
RQ2: Is there any difference between Internet non-user’s use of traditional media and Internet user’s use of traditional media?
RQ3: With the new measurement of Internet use, SIU, what is the influence of Internet use on users’ sociability when his/her use of traditional media is controlled?
RQ4: With SIU, what is the influence of Internet use on users’ use of traditional media when his/her sociability is controlled?

Data Source: Hong Kong Internet Project (HKIP) (2003-2005)
Measurement
Internet Adoption: User VS. Nonuser
Sophistication of Internet Usage
Online Activities – Composite Score
Online Time – Self-report
Online Skill – Composite Score
Diversity of Online Method – Composite Score
Diversity of Online Place – H -Statistics
Demographics: Age, Gender, Education Degree, Family Income

Internet Adoption, Use of Traditional Media, and Sociability
Generalized Linear Modeling (GLM)
Measurement Equivalence/Invariance (ME/I) Test within Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA)
ME/I: comparison of the various components of measurement models, and can be extended to structural models and mean structures (Cheung and Rensvold, 1999)
Application: Peng & Zhu (2005)
Internet Use, Use of Traditional Media, and Sociability
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
LISREL 8.0 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996)
Maximum Likelihood Estimation

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001 Overall Test (F ratio for Wilks's λ) TV Radio Newspaper Chatting with Family Members Playing/Exercising with FM Shopping with FM Internet Adoption (0 = Nonuser) 4.08 19.75 ** 2.99 6.67 * 10.78 * -0.20 * 0.04 Age 19.32 -0.19 1.05 *** 0.65 *** -0.13 0.00 0.00 * Gender (0 = Male) 5.53 14.29 ** -8.40 -7.77 *** 3.96 0.04 0.07 Family Income 3.21 -2.72 ** -2.23 -0.06 0.57 0.03 0.03 ** Education Level 14.07 -14.50 *** -7.83 ** 3.54 *** -1.90 -0.10 ** -0.07 ** Survey Year 1.78 3.36 -2.58 -0.04 -3.87 0.07 0.07 * R 2 0.07 0.033 0.065 0.003 0.005 0.009

Four Measurement Equivalence (ME) Tests:
Configural Equivalence: we are not comparing apple with orange
Metric Equivalence: measurement scale of UTM and SOC are invariant between user and nonuser
Latent Means Equivalence: difference of UTM and SOC between users and nonusers
Factor-covariance Equivalence: Correlation between UTM and SOC
Internet Nonuser Internet User Δχ2 (Δdf = 1) Latent Means Equivalence Test α SOC 0 -0.07 0.02 α UTM 0 -49.77 *** 119.5 *** Factor-covariance Equivalence Test r UTM,SOC -0.02 0.15 * 2.89 †

On average Internet users significantly spend less time on traditional media than Internet nonusers;
Internet users spend the same amount of time on sociability as Internet nonusers;
Internet adoption moderates the relationship between use of traditional media and sociability.

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001 Explanatory Variables Sophistication of Internet Usage Use of Traditional Media Sociability Age -0.41 *** 0.37 *** 0.07 Gender -0.25 *** 0.005 0.10 ** Education 0.47 *** -0.22 *** -0.21 *** Family Income 0.07 *** -0.20 *** 0.14 *** SIU N.A. -0.13 -0.05 Use of Traditional Media Sociability Sophistication of Internet Usage UTM 1.00 SOC 0.22 * 1.00 SIU -0.22 ** -0.17 *** 1.00

† p < .10; * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001 Parameters Short adoption history group Long adoption history group Δχ 2 (Δdf = 1) β UTM , SIU 0.09 = -2.41 1.21 β SOC,SIU -0.47 = 0.27 0.05 α UMT 0 = 1.48 0.38 α SOC 0 > -6.50 3.17 † α SIU 0 < 1.01 *** 62.75 *** Strength-Level Comparison Mean-Level Comparison

Internet use will NOT influence users’ sociability and use of traditional media.
‘ Strong effects based on bivariate analysis are almost always destined to evaporate after rigorous controls are exercised’ (Zhu & He, 2002a)
Internet users’ overall time budgets for media use may be larger than those of nonusers (Nguyen & Western, 2006), so that, even if they have to reallocate their traditional media budgets to compensate for Internet use, there must be a bottom line in their reduction.
Internet users’ use of traditional media and sociability will not be influenced by the sophistication of Internet usage, regardless of their adoption histories.

Nil-influence of the Internet? No!
Zoom-in examination of delicate mechanisms over long periods of time (Zhu & Wang, 2005)
Time-based Measurement of UTM and Sociability
Panel Study VS. Cross-sectional Study
Zoom-in examination of specific Internet activities (e.g., Web 2.0 technologies)

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Peng Tai-quan and Zhu Jonathan---Don\'t blame the Internet Anymore!

by Chinese Internet Research Conference on Jun 22, 2008

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Peng Tai-quan and Zhu Jonathan---Don\’t blame the Internet Anymore! — Presentation Transcript