The eighth validation study: The effects of key demographic variables on markers' perceived ease of use and acceptance of onscreen marking

This chapter provides an account of the penultimate study described in this book. The study aimed to investigate the effects of three key demographic factors: the language of marking; gender; and age on marker reactions to onscreen marking. A total of 1743 markers completed a post-marking questionnaire consisting of two previously validated scales, i.e., Ease of Use in the OSM Environment and Acceptance of OSM scales. Rasch analysis results showed that the two scales had good psychometric properties. Markers generally reported finding the system easy to use and showed positive acceptance of OSM. Markers marking in both English and Chinese had higher perceived ease of use and acceptance than markers who marked only in English or only in Chinese. Gender also had a significant impact on markers' responses to the two scales – favouring males. Age was not a significant factor in influencing markers' perceived ease of use but slightly surprisingly, older markers revealed a significantly higher level of acceptance than younger markers. Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.