Examination of Web page interests and computer skills of members of a professional association.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to survey membership of the Education and Technology (E&T) Division of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS). The AAFCS is a nationally recognized organization representing Family and Consumer Sciences professionals who are knowledgeable in multiple disciplines. The mission of the association has been to improve the quality of individual, family, and community life through education, research, cooperative programs, and public information. Classifications within the AAFCS membership are by divisions, indicating the member's education emphasis, and sections to represent member employment area. The research study contributed to the development of the technology strategic plan for building the E&T Division web page.; Eight objectives were established to guide the study. The objectives for the survey focused on the following areas; current visitation to the AAFCS Web Site, interest in four topics and 23 sub-topics to be included at the website, intent to use five communication utilities, level of need for seven website features, current computer use, websites visited most often in professional role, frequency of use of computer for seven processes, seven computer-related training needs, how decisions should be made about what is included at the website, and professional background of respondents.; The sample for the research study was drawn from the 1999 membership list of E&T Division supplied by headquarters office of the American Association Family Consumer Sciences. Using a researcher-developed instrument the traditional mail survey was sent out May 1999. An online version of the survey was published on the World Wide Web (WWW) May 2000. The combined responses to the two surveys (N = 371) resulted in a 24% overall return. Surveys generated both qualitative and quantitative data with regard to the questions asked.; This study was one portion of a larger effort toward developing a technology strategic plan for the E&T Division. Considerations outside of the parameters of this project such as the ability of the AAFCS organization to implement changes and to provide staffing to support the recommendations for the E&T Division web pages were unknown.