The effects of computerized versus paper-and-pencil administration on measures of negative affect

Computer-administered versions of personality tests were examined for differences from the identical tests in standard paper and pencil formats. It was hypothesized that, when measuring negative affect via computer terminals, significant differences would be found relative to a paper-and-pencil control group, particularly in those individuals identified as computer anxious. Undergraduate student volunteers (N = 97) were administered a written version of the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS; Heinssen, Glass, & Knight, 1987) prior to being assigned to one of the two conditions. Subjects were then administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1967) and Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970). In support of the hypotheses, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant differences between computer and control conditions on the personality inventories. Mean differences were found across administration conditions for the Beck and State Anxiety inventories. Further analyses revealed that the correlation between BDI and CARS scores was significantly greater in the computer versus the control condition. This suggests that computer anxiety may artificially inflate negative affect scores during computer administration.