Modelo del CEAACES

Hypothesis H1: that male seniors have a higher level of Internet skills than female seniors – is only supported for the task completion of the operational Internet skills on the tablet. Men completed more operational tasks successfully on the tablet than women. Gender was not a significant predictor for the other three Internet skills on the tablet and the four Internet skills on the computer. Furthermore, the results showed that gender was not a significant predictor for the time spent on any of the four Internet skills on both devices.

Hypothesis H2: that age has a negative influence on seniors’ level of Internet skills – is partly supported for the computer and the tablet. On the computer age was a significant predictor for the task completion of the operational and strategic assignments. The results showed that younger seniors completed more operational and strategic tasks on the computer successfully than older seniors. However, age was not a significant predictor for the task completion of the formal and information Internet skills tasks or for the time spent on the four Internet skills task on the computer. On the tablet age was a significant predictor for the operational and information assignments. The results showed that younger seniors completed more operational and information tasks on the tablet successfully than older seniors. Furthermore, the results showed that older seniors needed more time to complete the operational and strategic tasks on the tablet than the younger seniors. Age was not a significant predictor for the completion of the formal and strategic Internet skills tasks or for the time spent on the formal and information Internet skills task on the tablet.

Hypothesis H3: that education has a positive influence on seniors’ level of Internet skills – is rejected. Education did not appear as a significant predictor for any of the four Internet skills on both devices.

Hypothesis H4: that Internet experience has a positive influence on seniors’ level of Internet skills – is only supported for the task completion of the formal Internet skills on the tablet. Seniors with more Internet experience completed the formal task more successful than seniors with less Internet experience on the tablet. Next to the formal Internet skills, Internet experience was also a significant predictor for the task completion of the strategic Internet skills on the tablet. However, the results showed that Internet experience was a negative contributor, which means that seniors with less Internet experience completed the strategic task more successful on the tablet than seniors with more Internet experience. Internet experience was not a significant predictor for the other two Internet skills on the tablet or for

the four Internet skills on the computer. Furthermore, the results showed that Internet experience was not a significant predictor for the time spent on any of the four Internet skills on both devices.

Hypothesis H5: that Internet usage time has a positive influence on seniors’ level of Internet skills – is rejected. Internet usage was a significant predictor for the number of Information tasks completed successfully on the tablet. However, the results showed that Internet usage has a negative influence on the level of Internet skills of seniors. Seniors who spend more hours a week on the Internet completed less information tasks successfully on the tablet than seniors who spend less hours a week on the Internet. Internet usage did not appear as a significant predictor for any of the four Internet skills on the computer or the other three skills on the tablet. Furthermore, the results showed that Internet usage was not a significant predictor for the time spent on any of the four Internet skills on both devices.

Hypothesis H6: that the more sources of support the higher the level of Internet skills of seniors – is rejected. The number of sources to social support was a significant predictor for the number of operational tasks completed successfully on the computer. However, the results showed that seniors who had access to two sources of social support completed less operational tasks successfully than seniors who had access to less sources of social support. The number of sources to social support was not a significant predictor for the other three Internet skills on the computer or for the four Internet skills on the tablet. On the contrary, marital status (i.e., widowed) was a significant predictor for the task completion of the formal Internet skills on the tablet. Marital status (i.e. widowed) was a negative contributor, which means that seniors who are not widowed completed the formal Internet skills task more successful on the tablet than seniors who are widowed. Furthermore, the results showed that the number of sources to social support and marital status were no significant predictors for the time spent on any of the four Internet skills on both devices.

Hypothesis H7: that participation in an Internet course has a positive influence on seniors’ level of Internet skills – is rejected. Participation in an Internet course was only a significant predictor for the number of operational tasks completed successfully on both devices. However, the results showed that seniors who did not participate in an Internet course completed more operational tasks successfully on the computer and the tablet, than seniors who participated in an Internet course. Participation in an Internet course was not a significant predictor for the other three Internet skills on the computer and the tablet.

Furthermore, the results showed that participation in an Internet course was not a significant

predictor for the time spent on any of the four Internet skills on both devices. ………

Hypothesis H8: that seniors have a higher level of medium-related Internet skills on the tablet than on the computer – is rejected. Results showed that seniors scored significantly higher on the medium-related skills on the computer. Furthermore, on the computer seniors needed significantly less time to complete the formal task than on the tablet.……… ………

Hypothesis H9: that seniors have a higher level of content-related Internet skills on the computer than on the tablet – is partly supported. Results showed that seniors scored significantly higher on the information Internet skills on the tablet than on the computer. However, there were no significant results for the strategic Internet skills. Although, the results indicated that on the tablet seniors needed significantly more time to complete the strategic task than on the computer.

Table 15

Overview of the supported and rejected hypotheses

Computer

(the number of tasks completed successfully)

Tablet

(the number of tasks completed successfully)

Hypotheses Operational Formal Information Strategic Operational Formal Information Strategic

H1: Gender ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ H2: Age ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ H3: Education ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H4: Years online ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ H5: Hours online ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H6: Social support ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H7: Internet courses ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H8: Medium-related skills - - - - ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H9: Content-related skills ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ - - - -

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Hypotheses Operational Formal Information Strategic Operational Formal Information Strategic

H1: Gender ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H2: Age ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ H3: Education ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H4: Years online ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H5: Hours online ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H6: Social support ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H7: Internet courses ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H8: Medium-related skills - - - - ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ H9: Content-related skills ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ - - - - ✓Hypothesis is supported ✗ Hypothesis is rejected

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