Bruce Rocheleau

Computer use by School-Age Children: Trends, Patterns, and Predictors

Patterns of computer use are studied based on analysis of data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) in which a cohort of students and their parents were surveyed for five consecutive years. Special attention is given to students who were heavier users of computers. Heavier use is associated with high SES as well as superiority in grades. Heavier use declined as this cohort progressed from the seventh grade to high school despite increasing access to computers at home. Parents with computers at home reported that their children used computers mostly for educational purposes. Males were significantly more likely to be heavier users until the 1992 survey when the gap with females narrowed. A substantial proportion but less than half (42%) of heavier users remained more frequent users from 1988 to 1992. Analysis suggests that computer ownership and parental interest in their children using computers exerted the biggest impacts on the likelihood of being a heavier user.

Public Versus Private Information Systems Do they Differ in Important Ways? A Review and Empirical Test

Bozeman and Bretschneider’s (1986) seminal work posited that there are important differences between public and private information systems and that different principles should be used in the management of these systems. However, little empirical research has been conducted concerning this topic. The authors developed hypotheses based on the argument that competition forces businesses to use information technology (IT) as a weapon to gain competitive advantage that makes it more likely they will view IT as more important and be willing to invest more resources in IT. They test these hypotheses by comparing samples of municipalities and private organizations. The results confirmed that private sector organizations do invest more resources in IT training. However, public organizations, despite the low amounts they invest in training, rate IT as important as does the private sector.

Prescriptions for Public-Sector Information Management A Review, Analysis, and Critique

This article reviews, analyzes, and assesses prescriptions for public-sector management of information technology (IT). It draws on four sources of such prescriptions: (a) the best-practices literature, based primarily on expert opinion and focused on managerial processes; (b) the empirical IT research literature, based primarily on quantitative analyses of the IT function; (c) benchmarks (the attempt to develop objective measures of the success of IT in public-sector organizations); and (d) the problem/disaster literature, based primarily on analyses of problems and disasters that have occurred in public-sector IT systems. The best-practices literature offers guidance, but the prescriptions are too general, and the methods for identifying best practices need expansion. The empirical literature is valuable and can provide prescriptions for specific technological questions, but the body of research is too sparse and offers contradictory prescriptions. Benchmarking has potential, but the approach is very undeveloped and subject to corruption. The problem/disaster literature offers cautionary examples, but its empirical base is unrepresentative of most failures.

Evaluating public sector information systems: Satisfaction versus impact

Abstract Police information systems are evaluated using both satisfaction and impact measures. Police reported high rates of satisfaction with their systems, but, with the exception of reporting, little or no impact in areas such as productivity, personnel allocation, and other forms of decision making. The dynamics of satisfaction are explored. Nearly half of the departments report that their satisfaction has changed. A new classification is developed that takes into consideration both satisfaction and the nature of the change. It is argued that this measure would help to identify organizations where users are in the process of changing their attitudes toward the system. Implications for the evaluation of information systems are discussed.

WHAT, CONSUMER FEEDBACK SURVEYS AGAIN? A Guide to Improving the Utility of Consumer Evaluations

Although popular, consumer feedback surveys have not been very successful evaluative tolls in the sense of providing useful information to management. Lack of variability in client satisfaction and low survey response rates have been among the problems that have plagued consumer satisfaction studies. Four steps are discussed that help to overcome these problems. Each is illustrated by examples drawn from a client survey conducted in an integrated human services department. It is concluded that a consumer feedback survey can provide useful information well worth the cost of the study if sufficient preparation and imagination are devoted to designing and implementing the surveys.

The MPA Core Course in Information Technology: What Should Be Taught? Why?

Although several articles have surveyed the coverage of information technology in Master of Public Administration (MPA) courses, there has been little substantive discussion of what should be cover...

Public perception of program effectiveness and worth: A review

Abstract Most studies of the impact of program evaluations have focused on the utilization of evaluations by program administrators and staff. Very little attention has been paid to other important issues: (1) What differences are there between objective and perceived effectiveness of public programs? (2) What role does the media play in the formation of these perceptions? (3) How do other factors such as elites and program characteristics affect the way in which programs are perceived? In conclusion, a conceptual framework of the major factors which influence public perceptions of program effectiveness is presented.

Computing in Higher Educational Institutions in an ERA of SEA Change

This article makes use of College and University Systems Exchange (CAUSE) surveys from 1994 through 1996 concerning how higher educational institutions are responding to demands for increased use of information technology in classes and by students and faculty. Student and faculty access to the Web jumped by a remarkable extent from 1994 to 1995 and thus institutions successfully provided access to this new technology. Student and faculty use of the Web also jumped greatly, though less than access. Use of computing and e-mail in the classroom increased at a much slower rate from 1994 to 1996. The equipping of classrooms for computing also remained at a low level. An analysis was conducted to determine if higher educational policies and structures had any impact on access to and use of computing by students and faculty but no consistent and strong findings were obtained.

Networks and bulletin board systems in government: Will they be the third computer revolution ?

This article reviews computer networking and other computer communication technologies. The positive and negative aspects of these new technologies are explored. Guidelines for interested practitioners are discussed. Important research issues are identified. Emphasis is given to organizational variables and their interaction with these new technologies.

Grantsmanship Among the States

Grantsmanship, the ability to secure as much federal support as possible, has become an important concept in both contemporary public administration and politics. In a recent work, Martha Derthick has shown that certain states are much more aggressive than others in attempting to secure funds under the public assistance titles of the Social Security Act. Likewise, Robert and Rosemary Stevens, in an analysis of the Kerr-Mills