The development of a measure of subjective computer experience

The present study examined the psychometric properties of a recently developed measure of subjective computer experience using a sample of 179 first year psychology students. The Subjective Computer Experience Scale (SCES) was developed to measure the construct of subjective computer experience, defined for present purposes, as a private psychological state reflecting the thoughts and feelings a person ascribes to some previous or existing computing event. Factor analysis revealed five factors that were labelled, Frustration–Anxiety, Autonomy–Assistance, Training–Education, Enjoyment–Usefulness and Negative Performance Appraisal, respectively. Acceptable internal-consistency estimates of the five subscales were obtained. Convergent validity was evidenced by significant correlations between the SCES and measures of computer attitude and objective computer experience. Evidence for divergent validity was obtained with scores on four of the five subscales of the SCES being unrelated to dispositional coping style. In sum, the SCES was found to have promise as a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring subjective computer experience.