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for an average of around 6 years (ranging from
not having used it at all to 12 years). Considering
the WWW came into practical existence around
1994, some of the respondents were obviously at
the forefront of online communications, having
used the Internet prior to the emergence of the
WWW. However, most respondents appear to
have used the Internet for between 3 and 9 years,
indicating Internet use as being dependent upon
the emergence of the WWW. Internet use appears
to have coincided largely with spreadsheet use,
with respondents having used spreadsheets for
only about a year and a half longer on average
than they have been using the Internet.
Reasons for spreadsheet and Internet use were
also investigated, and the results are reported in
Table 2. 90% of the respondents used spreadsheets
for work purposes and 73% used them at home.
The Internet was used even more heavily for
both work and personal tasks (91.7% and 93.3%,
respectively). It is worth noting that of the 60
respondents, only one reported not having used
the Internet at all. These figures suggest a rapid
increase in Internet usage in the workplace. In an
Internet demographics survey in 1998, only 50%
of Internet users were found to use the Internet
at work (Commercenet, 1999).
Web page development was not as common.
Just under half (27 or 45.0%) of the total sample
of 60 spreadsheet end-user developers surveyed
had engaged in Web page development. Of these
27 end users, 55.5% (15 people) had created
Web pages for work use and 66.7% (18 people)
had done so for personal interests. It would be
useful to further explore the nature of the Web
development that the participants had undertaken.
Simmer and Anandarajan's (2001) index of Web
page experience would provide a starting point
for future research on the nature of development
undertaken.
previous training
Respondents had had little formal training
in spreadsheets, Internet use, or Web page
development. The average level of formal
spreadsheet training was 1.98 (out of 5) and the
average level of self study training was 2.69, so
self study was the main source of spreadsheet
training. This is consistent with previous research
on spreadsheet users, which has reported that
spreadsheet users generally receive little training
(Taylor et al., 1998) and that the major means of
training is self study (Chan & Storey, 1996; Hall,
1996).
The average level of formal Internet train-
ing was 1.63, and the average level of self study
training was 2.61, so self study was again the
main source of training. This is consistent with
the findings of Simmer and Anandarajan (2001)
Table 2. Reasons for use
Number
Percentage*
Spreadsheet
Work purposes
54
90.0
Personal purposes
44
73.4
Internet
Work purposes
55
91.7
Personal purposes
56
93.3
Web page development
Any Web page development
27
15
45.0
25.0
Work purposes
Personal purposes
18
30.0
* Of total sample of 60 respondents
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