General Bulleted List
Actual Job
- These show a more fine-grained breakdown of the jobs held by survey respondents.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
Age
- The average age of users responding to the Eighth survey is 35.7 years old. This average is slightly higher than the Seventh survey average (35.2), and continues the trend of increasing average age, which has been noted since the Fourth survey. The average age reported in this Survey is within the margin of error reported by FIND/SVP's 1997 American Internet User Survey of 36.5 yr. old. The consensus on average age between our data, collected through the Web, and FIND/SVP's data, collected through the traditional method of random telephone calls, helps increase our confidence that the core demographics in the Eighth Survey are representative.
- Consistent with previous surveys, European respondents are generally younger than US respondents (30.19 yrs Europe vs. 36.53 yrs US), and the distribution of ages for European respondents is also more skewed toward the younger age ranges than the distribution for US respondents.
- Also consistent with previous surveys, there appears to be no difference in average age or the distribution of ages between male and female respondents.
- On average, novices who answered this survey were older than experts and intermediate users (Novice:38.6 yrs, Intermediate: 34.48 yrs, Expert: 33.49 yrs). The distribution of ages for novices was also flatter than the distribution for experts, which showed a peak around the ages of 21-30.
Community Building
- As with the Sixth and Seventh Surveys, almost half (45.47% Eighth vs. 45.06% Seventh vs. 46.1% Sixth) of the respondents felt more connected to people who share their interests since coming online. Only 2.29% report feeling less connected, although more than a quarter of the respondents (28.45%) state that they do not know. The other 23.79% report feeling equally connected since going online. This provides some evidence for the claim that the Internet is more than just an information resource, rather it is building new communities based on common interests.
- European respondents feel more connected overall than their US counterparts. Younger respondents also feel more connected than older respondents. There is little effect of gender on the feeling of connectedness.
- People with more experience on the Internet are likely to feel increasingly connected. Less experienced respondents were more likely to respond "Don't know".
Community Membership
- Respondents from the US were most likely to feel more connected with people with similar hobbies (45.15%), while respondents from Europe were most likely to feel connected to people with a similar profession (52.37%).
- Women were more likely than men to feel connected with their families (32.49%) and with people in similar life situations (19.3%). Men were more likely than women to feel connected with people with similar hobbies (46.39%) and with people in similar professions (33.6%).
- Feeling connected because of hobbies decreases with age and increases with experience. Feeling connected to family increases with age. Feeling connected because of profession was greatest for the 19-25 and 26-50 age groups, and for experts.
State or Country
- This table gives the numbers and percentages for the states and countries from which people answered the Survey.
Disability
- Most respondents reported having no disability, with vision being the most commonly reported at 4.42%. There was little to no difference by gender or location.
- Older respondents (50+) reported slightly higher levels of motor (5.44%) and hearing (5.02%) problems.
- Reports of disability seem to decrease with experience, although this is probably more an effect of age.
Education Attainment
- The distribution of educational attainment has been virtually unchanged since the Fourth survey. For the Eighth Survey, 46.96% of respondents have completed a college or advanced degree. (This percentage was 54.24% for the Seventh Survey).
- European respondents continue to report higher levels of educational attainment than US respondents. Commercial Internet service providers are not as wide spread in Europe as they are in the US; as a result, many European users access the Web as a result of their affiliation with a university.
- The only notable difference across gender occurs in the number of respondents that have completed some college (35.03% of females compared to 31.01% of males). The higher proportion of female users with some college experience was also found on the Sixth and Seventh Surveys.
- Respondents with College and advanced degrees were primarily expert users, while respondents with a high school education, some college and vocational/technical education were primarily novice users.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
Falsification of Information
- For the Eighth Survey, 58.02% of respondents said they had never provided false information to a site when registering (compared to 59.93% Seventh and 63.1% Sixth). This means that approximately 40% of respondents have provided false information. A total of 14.02% of users report falsifying information over 25% of the time--a disturbing number if you are trying to make the claim that the collected demographics of a site's online registered users are representative of the entire set of users for that site.
- A larger percentage of females than males report never having falsified information (63.16% of females vs. 54.87% of males). Also, the likelihood of having provided false information decreases with age and increases with experience.
Gender
- The percentage of female respondents to the survey (38.5%) has increased from previous surveys. For the past 1-1/2 years, the gender ratio was very consistent (5th-31.5%, 6th-31.4%, 7th-31.3%), so an increase of 7% was quite unexpected.
- Consistent with previous survey results, European respondents continue to be predominantly male (78%).
- The gender vs. age graph shows the percentage of male respondents increasing with age, while the percentage of female respondents decreases with age. Similar slopes are found on the gender vs. experience graph. The percentage of male respondents increases with experience, while the percentage of female respondents decreases with experience.
Household Income
- The mean average household income is $53k (USD), which is slightly lower than the previous survey (7th-$58k).
- European respondents reported a lower average income ($48.5k) than US respondents ($54k). Europe has a higher percentage of users with incomes less than $19K, which is not surprising since many European users are students.
- The percentages of men and women reporting incomes under $50k are very similar. Above $50k, male respondents outnumber female respondents by about 2-3 %.
- As one would expect, older users report higher income levels, although there was generally little difference between the 26-50 group and the 50+ group.
- Results also show that, on average, income increases with experience. Novices outnumbered the other two groups for incomes from $10k-$49k, but experts outnumbered the other groups for incomes from $50k-$100+k.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
How You Heard About Survey
- As with all previous Surveys, most users came to the Survey because they saw a link on another web page (52.89%). This is a useful data point for those trying to increase the traffic on their own web sites--having links from other (perhaps related) sites can be very effective in drawing traffic to a site. The next most common way of coming to the survey was through banners (9.14%), then by a search engine (8.78%). Again these are techniques which other sites can easily take advantage of. Other effective means include: Usenet news (7.27%), our www-surveying mailing list which reminds users to participate (5.92%), and word-of-mouth via friends (5.6%). Approximately 14% of respondents reported hearing about the survey through "other methods" that were not included in the list of possible responses.
- European respondents were more likely than US respondents to hear about the survey from a search engine and from our mailing list. Younger respondents were also more likely to rely on a search engine, while older respondents were more likely to hear about us by Usenet. Novices were more likely to find the survey from a banner or web page link, while experts were more likely to be on our mailing list, or use a search engine or printed media. There was no difference by gender.
Major Geographical Location
- The percentage of respondents from the US increased slightly from the previous Survey (from 80.05% to 84.19%).
- 88.67% of female respondents and 81.39% of male respondents were from the US. Europe had a higher percentage of male respondents than female respondents.
- With the exception of the 10-18 age group, older respondents are more likely to be from the US than younger respondents (93.05% of those over 50 yr. old compared to 76.38% of those 19-25 yr. old).
- Respondents from the US were more likely to be Novices, while respondents from Europe and Canada were more likely to be Intermediate or Expert users.
Major Occupation
- On average, 20.63% of respondents reported being in a Computer related field, 23.14% in Education, 21.4% in Professional, 11.69% in Management, and 23.14% in other occupations. Compared to the previous survey, the percentage of respondents in Computers decreased (30.24%), and the percentage in other occupations increased (14.73%).
- European users were more likely to be in Computers or Education than their US counterparts.
- Female respondents are less likely than male respondents to be in Computer related fields (20.28% Female vs. 34.77% Male) and in Management (9.1% Female vs. 13.32% Male). Women are more likely to be in Education and other occupations. Professional occupations were equal for men and women.
- Almost all of those aged 10-19 (89.79%) and half of those aged 19-25 (51.78%) are in Education (which includes being a student). Those aged 26-50 (25.97%) are more likely to be in Computer fields than any other age group. A majority of those aged 50+ reported being in other occupations.
- As would be expected, experts work primarily in computer-related fields (39.94%). Most novices reported being in other occupations.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
Marital Status
- The proportion of married respondents dropped slightly from the 6th and 7th surveys (6th-45.7%, 7th-45.44%, 8th-40.2%), but the percentage of single respondents remained approximately the same (37.91%). There was no difference in marital status between male and female respondents.
- Respondents from Europe were more likely to be single (47.63%) or living with another (20.18%), while respondents from the US were most likely to be married (41.84%).
- Older respondents (26+) were more likely to be married or divorced, while younger respondents (10-25) were more likely to be single.
- Novice respondents were more likely to be divorced (11.48%) than the other two groups, while Intermediate and Expert respondents were more likely to be single or living with another.
Most Important Issue Facing the Internet
- The order of the top two responses has changed from the past two surveys. Currently, the issue that respondents say is most important is privacy (30.49%), followed by censorship (24.18%) and navigation (16.65%).
- Among European respondents, navigation and censorship were equally most important, with the next most important being privacy.
- Among women, privacy was the most important issue. For men censorship is most important, with privacy a close second.
- As with the last survey, younger people are more concerned about censorship than are older respondents. Older respondents are more concerned about privacy. In addition, concern over navigation increases with age.
- With experience, concern over privacy decreases, while concern over censorship and encryption increases.
Opinions on Censorship
- One interesting note is that not even one respondent agreed strongly with this statement. On average, respondents somewhat disagree that there should be censorship on the web. There were no large differences in means for any two groups.
- More than half of the respondents in each of the following groups strongly disagree with censorship on the web: men, USA, and ages 26+. Women had the largest percentage to somewhat agree.
Primary Language
- Among European respondents, 43.92% reported English as their primary language. Other languages reported by European respondents were German (12.17%) and Dutch (10.53%) - all other languages were less than 5%.
- Women were slightly more likely to report English as their primary language than men (by 5%).
- All age groups reported using primarily English. The lowest % was the 19-25 age group, of which 10% reported a primary language other than English.
- Novices were slightly more likely to speak English (96%) than intermediates and experts (91%).
Primary Place of WWW Access
- As with past Surveys, the majority of respondents report that they primarily access the web from home (65.17% Eighth vs. 60.38% Seventh vs. 63.6% Sixth).
- In Europe, however, only 28.93% (40.10% Seventh, 36.7% Sixth) report having their primary access from home (59.49% report having it primarily from work). Across all age groups, most access the web primarily from home, but that is especially true for users over age 50 (84.51%). Novices clearly are accessing the web from home (85.96%), while experts access the web both from work (53.36%) and from home (42.22%). There are no observable gender differences.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
Race
- The majority of respondents identified themselves as "Caucasian/White" (88% Eighth vs. 89.35% Seventh & 88.1% Sixth) which is nearly identical to previous surveys.
- There are little to no differences for race with respect to location, gender, or experience.
- 5.33% of those aged 19-25 identified themselves as "Asian", with 93.81% of the older users reporting being "Caucasian/White."
Reasons for Not Purchasing
- Not trusting that credit card information will be handled securely is the main reason for not purchasing online (43%). This is followed by not being able to judge the quality of the product (38%) and not trusting that personal information will be kept private (30%). Only 2% of respondents say that they have had a bad experience with online purchasing.
Registered to Vote
- Consistent with past surveys, the Web remains a very viable political medium, with 82.85% of respondents reporting that they were registered to vote, a slight decrease from previous surveys (89.33% Seventh, 88.8% Sixth, 91.9% Fifth). Older respondents are still more likely to be registered than younger respondents. The percentage registered increases slightly with experience, but does not vary by age or location.
Sexual Preference
- Of those users who specified, 85.76%% stated that they are heterosexual. This figure is slightly lower than the result from the previous survey (92.61%). Out of the other choices, 2.99% reported being bisexual, 3.67% gay males, 1.16% lesbian, and 0.24 transgender. (Note, the "gay male" and "lesbian" responses would each be selected by a single gender, whereas the other categories could be selected by both genders.)
- There were no major differences between European and US respondents, between men and women (other than for gay males and lesbians), or by experience level.
- There appears to be a slight difference by age. The 26-50 age group is less likely to be heterosexual than the other age groups, but only by 2-4 %.
Web Ordering
- On average, 2/3 of our respondents (68.14%) have ordered products or services using the web. Men (73.4%) are more likely to have used the web to order than are women (59.75%). Having ordered on the web increases with age, except for the 50+ group. They are slightly less likely to have ordered than the 26-50 group. Experience also increases the likelihood of having ordered on the web.
Web Page Creation
- 46% of all respondents have created a web page. European respondents (67.66%) were more likely to have created a web page than US respondents (43.42%). Male respondents (51.38%) were more likely to have created a web page than female respondents (37.42%). Older respondents (50+) are less likely to have created a web page than other age groups. The percentage of respondents creating web pages increases with experience, (19.45% of novices, 78% of experts).
Who Pays for Access
- For this question, respondents could choose more than one answer.
- The proportion of respondents who report paying for their own Internet access (70.88%) is slightly higher than in the past 2 surveys (65.04% Seventh vs. 66.62% Sixth). This may be a continuation of a prior trend of increasing self-payment for Internet services (66.62% Sixth vs. 57.7% Fifth vs. 51.0% Fourth). The next most popular response is having it paid for by work (Eighth: 26.86%, Seventh: 32.78%, Sixth: 28.76%). This supports the notion that Internet access is becoming a personal and professional resource, and not a heavily governmental and educational subsidized resource.
- Compared to respondents from the US, European users typically have their access to the Internet paid for by work (55.93% Europe vs. 23.77% US) rather than by themselves (49.55% Europe vs. 73.53% US).
- The percentages of respondents who pay for access themselves increases with age and decreases with experience. Expert users are most likely to have their access paid for by work (55.93%) rather than paying themselves (49.55%). Men are slightly more likely than women to pay for access themselves.
Willingness to Pay Fees
- Results from the eighth survey are very similar to the seventh survey. Almost half of the respondents cited being able to access the content on other sites as the main reason (41.11%). Next in line, people feel that they are already paying to access the Web via connectivity charges, so why should they pay to access specific sites (33.66%). Another popular reason is that is costs too much to access (8.02%). Only 1.18% state that they would pay regardless.
- European users are more concerned than their US counterparts about the poor quality and that there is no easy mechanism to pay for content. Women cite that they are already paying to access the Web as their main reason (40.14% female vs. 29.6% male) followed by the existence of other sources (37.99% female vs. 43.06% male). Older users (50+) and novices also feel the main reason is that they are already paying, while younger users and experts feel they can find other sources of the same information.
Years on Internet
- Results from this category were used to split respondents into categories of Novice, Intermediate, and Expert users, which were used to analyze other data from this survey. Novices were evenly split - half started on the Internet in the past 6 months and half in the past 6-12 months. Most experts (as we have defined them) have been on the Internet for 4-6 years (72.33%), with the rest being on for 7 years or more.
- The continued migration of users to the Internet is still seen in the Eighth Survey, where 36.62% of the users have gone online in the past year. This percentage is higher than for the previous survey (25.34%), but is similar to results from the 6th survey (36.11%). About 7% of respondents have been on the Internet over 7 years, compared to 10% in the Seventh Survey and 7.14% in the Sixth Survey. This longitudinal data shows the clear bump of when the Internet began to gain wide acceptance in 1994 and 1996.
- Respondents from the US are more likely to have started on the Internet within the past year, while respondents from Europe are more likely to have been on for 1-3 years.
- Female users still are flocking to the Internet, with 42.64% having gone online in the past year, compared to 32.86% for males. Men are more likely than women to have been on the internet for greater than 4 years.
- Use of the internet by the 50+ age group has increased over the previous survey, with 52.65% having gone online in the past year compared to 33.72% for the 7th survey, 48.26% in the Sixth Survey and 55.86% in the Fifth Survey. The 26-50 group have the largest percentage of people on the internet for 7+ years, while the 19-25 group have the largest percentage on the Internet for 1-6 years.
- WebTV respondents differed from other respondents for this question. For a discussion of these differences, see WebTV Respondents.
Georgia Tech Research Corporation Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0415 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Usage Restrictions |
send e-mail to www-survey@cc.gatech.edu.
GVU's WWW Surveying Team |