Affinity for technology interaction and fields of study: implications for human-centered design of applications for public administration

Abstract

Affinity for Technology Interaction (ATI) describes whether a person approaches or avoids interaction with technology [1], making it an important variable in human-centered design.

To determine whether ATI will likely remain an important variable in the future, we compared the ATI scores of those who will develop applications (students of media and computer science) with those who will use them in a specific context (students of public administration). We also looked for possible selection biases when conducting online samples regarding technology, by comparing a self-selected online sample of public administration employees with a sample of students of public administration conducted in a classroom, in which no selection biases should have had occurred. To locate the samples in the general population we also compared them with a quota sample of the German population.

Results indicate markedly different approaches to technology interaction between the student samples and the online sample being more similar to the media and computer science students. We discuss consequences for the human-centered design process, especially for understanding the users.