Abbreviated Technology Anxiety Scale (ATAS)

Abstract

The Abbreviated Technology Anxiety Scale (ATAS; Wilson et al., 2023) is an 11-item self-report questionnaire designed to efficiently quantify an individual’s level of Technology Anxiety (TA). The scale’s construction began with an initial pool of 21 negatively-worded items, grounded in the definition of TA proposed by Wilson (2018) and a thorough literature review.

Through rigorous piloting with undergraduate populations and subsequent content review, the instrument was refined to its final, concise 11-item format. The items specifically target personal sentiments and emotional responses related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Psychometric evaluation, including a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), supported a robust unidimensional model, demonstrating excellent internal consistency and strong criterion validity.

Keywords

Technology Anxiety, Computer Anxiety, Information and Communication Technology, ICT, Human Computer Interaction, Negative Emotions, Psychometric Scale, Self-Report.

Authors

Matthew L. Wilson, Anne Corinne Huggins-Manley, Albert D. Ritzhaupt, Krista Ruggles.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ATAS is to provide a concise and psychometrically sound measure for researchers and practitioners to quantify an individual’s degree of apprehension, discomfort, or fear associated with the use or interaction of modern technology, specifically Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

By quantifying this trait, the ATAS facilitates studies investigating the relationship between technology-related affective states and educational outcomes, workplace performance, and digital adoption rates.

Construct

The ATAS measures Technology Anxiety (TA), which is defined as the negative emotional and affective responses—such as tension, apprehension, or fear—that individuals experience when confronted with, or thinking about using, technology, particularly computers and the internet.

The scale items are formulated to capture personal sentiments and emotional reactions, distinguishing TA from related concepts like low technology self-efficacy or simple lack of experience. The strong support for a unidimensional structure suggests that the scale assesses a single, underlying psychological construct related to generalized technological discomfort.

Validity

The psychometric development of the ATAS established two key forms of validity: Content Validity and Criterion Validity.

Content Validity: Content validity was ensured through a rigorous, multi-phase development process. Items were meticulously retained, adapted, or introduced based on findings from prior piloting phases and comprehensive content review, ensuring that the final 11 items adequately cover the domain of Technology Anxiety as defined by the authors.

Criterion Validity: The study reported significant correlations between ATAS scores and theoretically related constructs, demonstrating strong criterion validity:

• The correlation with attitudes toward technology was strong and negative (r = −0.65, p < 0.001), indicating that higher anxiety is associated with more negative attitudes.

• The correlation with self-efficacy toward technology was moderate and negative (r = −0.47, p < 0.001).

• The correlation with frequency of technology use was moderate and negative (r = −0.28, p < 0.001), suggesting that anxious individuals tend to use technology less frequently.

Reliability

The ATAS demonstrates excellent Internal Consistency, a measure of reliability indicating how closely related a set of items are as a group. The reliability analysis utilized the omega coefficient, which is often preferred over Cronbach’s alpha in factor analysis contexts.

The computed omega coefficient for the final 11 items was 0.95. This value is exceptionally high and confirms that the items reliably measure the same underlying construct, Technology Anxiety.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the ATAS was primarily assessed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The CFA was conducted to test the hypothesis that the 11 items load onto a single factor, confirming the scale’s unidimensional model.

The CFA results demonstrated acceptable fit to the data, supported by the following indices: χ²(44) = 195.70, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.10; CFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.97. Furthermore, a complementary exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a single factor with a highly dominant eigenvalue, providing convergent evidence for the instrument’s structural simplicity and its focus on measuring a singular construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Rating Scale

Format: Items are rated on a five-point Likert scale, with responses ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The items are negatively worded.

Language Available: English.

Population Group: Human (Male, Female, Non-Binary, Third-Gender, Other sexual orientations reported).

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older).

Population Details: The initial validation study participants consisted of college students located in the United States.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Content Validity, Criterion Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Technology Anxiety, Technophobia, Psychometrics, Measurement, Likert Scale, Educational Technology, Affective Computing, Scale Development.

Authors

The corresponding author for the ATAS is Matthew L. Wilson.

Author ORCID Identifier: Matthew L. Wilson: orcid.org/0000-0003-4548-921X; Albert D. Ritzhaupt: orcid.org/0000-0002-0655-8633

Affiliation Email addresses: Matthew L. Wilson (Kennesaw State University): [email protected]; Anne Corinne Huggins-Manley (University of Florida); Albert D. Ritzhaupt (University of Florida); Krista Ruggles (Utah Valley University).

Correspondence Address: Kennesaw State University, 585 Cobb Avenue Kennesaw Hall – MD Box #0127, Kennesaw, Georgia, United States, 30144-5591, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author (Matthew L. Wilson).

Fee: No fee is required for use.

Test Year: 2023.

Reference’s

Wilson, M. L., Huggins-Manley, A. C., Ritzhaupt, A. D., & Ruggles, K. (2023). Development of the Abbreviated Technology Anxiety Scale (ATAS). Behavior Research Methods, 55(1), 185–199. doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01820-9

Items of the Abbreviated Technology Anxiety Scale (ATAS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

No data is Available.