Computer use and online access

By Michael Pratt
VCU Center for Urban Development

Richmond, VA – An overwhelming proportion of Richmond area residents are connected, according to a new Virginia Commonwealth University poll. Seventy-six percent of the area residents polled report using a computer on at least an occasional basis and 71% report having access to the Internet or a commercial online service.  Moreover, 70% of respondents with Internet access report having made an online purchase in the last year.  

Interviewing for the Spring/Summer edition of the Metro Poll was conducted by telephone June 14 – July 2 with 763 randomly-selected adult residents of the city of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico.  The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 3.5 percentage points.  Where the answers of subgroups are reported, the sampling error would be higher.   The Metro Poll was first conducted by VCU’s Virginia Center for Urban Development in May 1997.

The diffusion of computer use and Internet access into the Richmond area population has been dramatic over the last five years.  In 1997, 64% of that spring’s Metro Poll respondents reported using the computer on at least an occasional basis and 38% reported having access to the Internet or a commercial online service.  When fist asked in the spring of 1998, only 26% of the respondents with Internet access reported having made an online purchase in the last year. 

“These Richmond results reflect national trends.  In a national poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates during June, 74% of the respondents reported using a computer on at least an occasional basis and 66% reported going online to access the Internet or World Wide Web or to send and receive e-mail, “ said Michael D. Pratt, Professor of Economics and Director of the Virginia Center for Urban Development at VCU.

Over the last five years, both the white and black populations in the Richmond area have made significant gains, but the digital divide between individuals based upon race still seems to exist when considering the aggregate results.  In 1997, 66% of white (and other racial groups) and 58% of black respondents reported using a computer on at least an occasional basis.  Internet access was reported by 41% of white (and others) and by 28% of the black respondents.  In this new poll, 77% of white (and others) and 71% of the black respondents report computer use while 75% of whites and 56% of blacks report Internet access.  

“When we control for income and education, the digital divide is not statistically significant.  This says that in the Richmond area, the digital divide exists between individuals based upon their level of education and their income and not necessarily their race,” said Pratt.  “Given these results, programs like the Verizon TechnoTrain and open access at area public schools and libraries should be recognized as extremely important to breaking down the digital divide that does exist in our community.“

METHODOLOGY OF THE METRO POLL

Interviewing for the Metro Poll was conducted by telephone from the facilities of the Survey Research Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.  The interviewing is conducted by a staff of professionally trained, paid interviewers using computer-assisted telephone interviewing software. 

This edition of the Metro Poll was conducted June 14 – July 2, 2000 with a randomly-selected sample of 763 adult Richmond area residents. 

The sample of telephone numbers was prepared by Genesys Sampling Systems of Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania, and was designed so that all residential telephones, including new and unlisted numbers, had a known chance of inclusion. The cooperation rate for the survey was 46.3%.  Using the CASRO response rate calculations, interviews were obtained with respondents in 36% of the known or assumed residential households in the sample. The data were weighted on sex, race, education and population by jurisdiction of residence so as to reflect the demographic composition of the Richmond metropolitan area adult population. Percentages reported in the text and tables are weighted, while the number of cases shown in the tables for various subgroups is the actual number of respondents.

Questions answered by the sample of 763 adult residents are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 3.5 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. This means that in 95 out of 100 samples like the one used here, the results obtained should be no more than 3.5 percentage points above or below the figure that would be obtained by interviewing all adult residents with telephones. Where the answers of subgroups are reported, the sampling error would be higher.  At the 95 percent level of confidence, results based on the sample from the City of Richmond (172) are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 7.5 percentage points.  Chesterfield County (235) and Henrico County (265) results are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 6.5 percentage points and results based upon the Hanover County sample (91) are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 10 percentage points. 

Because of nonresponse (refusals to participate, etc.), standard calculations of sampling error are apt to understate the actual extent to which survey results are at variance with the true population values. Surveys are also subject to errors from sources other than sampling.  While every effort is made to identify such errors, they are often difficult or impossible to measure. Readers making use of the results are urged to be mindful of the limitations inherent in survey research.

Questions reported in this release were worded as follows: Now I have a few questions about your use of computers.  Do you use a computer at your workplace, at school or at home on at least an occasional basis? If yes: probe where: yes, home; yes, work; yes, school; yes, home & work; yes, home & school; yes, school & work; yes, all three; yes, somewhere else (specify); no.  Do you have access to the Internet or a commercial online service such as America Online, Erols or the Microsoft Network? yes; no. Have you ever used the Internet or an online service to purchase anything? Yes, have purchased; no, have not purchased.