Age Differences in the Knowledge and

Usage of QR Codes

Jonathan Mendelson and Jen Romano Bergstrom

HCI International 2013 • Las Vegas, NV • July 24, 2013

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

The Emerging Mobile Market

2

• Estimates indicate that 56% of American adults are now

smartphone users.1

• This increases the potential for advertisers to engage consumers

at their point of interest in a product, using QR codes.

1 Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 2011–May 2013

83% 91%

35%

56%

May-11 Nov-11 May-12 Nov-12 May-13

Own a smartphone

Own a cell phone

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How to Use a QR Code

3

Scan the code using a smartphone “app”

The code brings up content on the smartphone in the form of

a web link or other service

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Types of Uses

4 @forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Technology Adoption and Age

5

• Technology acceptance model: perceived usefulness and

ease of use are key factors in technology acceptance1

• Age differences in cognition2

• Some evidence for age differences in perceived ease of use3

• Research question: How does age impact QR code adoption?

• Hypothesis: QR code awareness, knowledge, and usage

highest among younger adults, lowest among older adults.

1 Davis 1989; Venkatesh, Davis, & Morris 2007

2 Craik & Salthouse 2000

3 Morris & Venkatesh 2000

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Methodology

6

• Survey Design

– Population: U.S. adults ages 25+ with influence on youth ages 12

to 21 (e.g., parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches)

– Probability-based online panel

– Continuously fielded between July 2011 and June 2012

– Weighted quarterly to be representative in terms of gender, age,

race, ethnicity, education, census region, metropolitan area, and

Internet access

– 4,541 valid responses

• 982 younger adults (ages 25–39)

• 2,654 middle-age adults (ages 40–59)

• 905 older adults (ages 60–94)

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Metric Survey Item(s)

Awareness • Do you know what this is?

Knowledge • Do you know how it is used? • Please describe how it is used.

Experience

• Have you ever used one in the past? • Where was it located (e.g., magazine, billboard, television, on a

product)? • For what product, service, or organization was the link used and

what information did it link you to?

Methodology

7

Note: For the final quarter of data collection (April–June 2012), the two open-ended questions on experience were replaced with

closed-form questions, based on respondents’ open-ended responses.

• Content Coding Methodology

– Open-ended items were coded using two independent raters. Complete agreement

was required for all coded items.

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Logistic regression results: Odds ratios by group

Awareness Knowledge Usage

Younger adults Reference group

Middle-age adults 0.63*** 0.70** 0.50***

Older adults 0.40*** 0.43*** 0.37***

High school or less Reference group

Some college 1.37* 1.41** 1.46*

College graduate 2.20*** 1.97*** 1.24

<$40k/year Reference group

$40k-$75k/year 1.24 1.35* 1.59**

$75k+/year 1.33* 1.59*** 1.73**

Have smartphone 2.55*** 2.45*** 11.23***

HH Internet 1.66*** 1.61** 1.52

Female 0.79* 0.71*** 0.58***

Pseudo r^2: 0.1214 0.1216 0.2488

QR Code Adoption by Age

8

* = p<.05; ** = p<.01; *** = p<.001

Q68a. “Do you know what this is?” Q68b. “Do you know how it is used?” Q68d. “Have you ever used one in the past?”

• Awareness, knowledge, and usage were highest for younger adults

and lowest for older adults.

• Controlling for demographics and smartphone ownership, older adults

were 37% as likely as younger adults to have used a QR code.

0

20

40

60

80

Awareness Knowledge Usage

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Younger adults

Middle-age adults

Older adults

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QR Code Adoption Over Time

9

Q68a. “Do you know what this is?” Q68b. “Do you know how it is used?” Q68d. “Have you ever used one in the past?”

0

20

40

60

80

2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2012 Q1 2012 Q2

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Awareness

2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2012 Q1 2012 Q2

Knowledge

2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2012 Q1 2012 Q2

Usage Younger adults

Middle-age adults

Older adults

• Across all four quarters, awareness, knowledge, and usage were

lowest among older adults and highest among younger adults.

• While usage only increased by 6%–7% for each group, knowledge and

awareness increased the most among middle-age adults.

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

QR Code Knowledge: Able to Describe

10

Q68c. “Please describe how it is used.”

• Given that these measures were self-reported, it is possible that some

respondents incorrectly reported knowledge of how to use QR codes.

• In fact, many older respondents who reported knowledge were not able to

explain how to use QR codes or distinguish them from barcodes.

77 76

64

17 20

23

6 4

12

0

20

40

60

80

100

Younger adults Middle-age adults Older adults

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Clearly/probably understands

Possibly understands

No indication of understanding

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Mobile Phone Ownership

11

Phone1. “Do you have a cell phone, smartphone (e.g., an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Droid), or other mobile device that is also a phone?”

Phone2. “Is your mobile phone a smartphone (e.g., an iPhone, BlackBerry, Droid, Windows Phone, or other phone with the ability to run third-party software applications or ‘apps’)?”

• Part of the decreased adoption of QR codes among older adults could

be due to their lower levels of smartphone ownership.

58

38

17

14

27

36

0

20

40

60

80

100

Younger adults Middle-age adults Older adults

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Non-smartphone

Smartphone72

66

54

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

QR Code Users: Locations and Purposes of Use

12

Note: Data are not displayed for older adults due to insufficient sample size (n=20).

Q68g. “Have you ever used one that was at any of the following locations?”

Q68h. “Have you ever used one for any of the following purposes?”

• Overall trends in the locations and purposes of QR code usage were

relatively similar among younger and middle-age adults.

70%

64%

54%

42%

29%

37%

21%

8%

12%

77%

70%

59%

53%

36%

22%

19%

6%

9%

On a product

In a store

Advertisement

Magazine; newspaper

Internet; email

Billboard; poster; sign

Letter; postcard in mail

TV

Other

Locations of Use

74%

50%

48%

39%

29%

24%

18%

5%

70%

54%

62%

30%

22%

24%

7%

4%

More info on a product,

service, or organization

Visit a website

Get a coupon or deal

Download a mobile

application or 'app'

Access multimedia

Enter a sweepstakes or

contest

Contact information

Other

Purposes of Use

Younger adults (n = 75) Middle-age adults (n = 107)

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Summary of Key Findings

13

• Self-reported awareness, knowledge, and usage were much lower

among older adults than among younger and middle-age adults

– Much of this appears to be due to lower rates of smartphone usage

• Furthermore, self-reported knowledge and usage metrics may

underestimate the actual differences by age group

– Fewer older adults who reported knowing how to use QR codes were

able to correctly describe how to use them

– Some confusion with barcodes and incorrect descriptions

• Younger and middle-age QR code users reported similar locations of

usage and purposes for using them, for the most part

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Future Directions

14

• Examine QR code adoption using Technology Acceptance Model

framework: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use

– Older adults may view smartphones and/or QR codes as less useful

and/or harder to use

• Examine QR code and smartphone adoption patterns among broader

populations

– US adults ages 18+

– Adults in other countries

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

Questions?

jmendelson@forsmarshgroup.com

Email us!

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

jbergstrom@forsmarshgroup.com

References

16

• Craik, F.I.M., Salthouse, T.A.: The handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Mahwah, NJ (2000)

• Davis, F.D.: Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information

technology. MIS Quarterly, 319–340 (1989)

• Dennis, J.M.: Summary of KnowledgePanel® Design (2010),

http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/knpanel/docs/KnowledgePanel(R)-Design-Summary-

Description.pdf

• Kato, H., Tan, K.T.: 2d barcodes for mobile phones. In: 2nd International Conference on Mobile

Technology, Applications and Systems, 1a–4. IEEE (2005)

• Mendelson, J., Lackey, M., Turner, S.: What is that thing? Knowledge and usage of QR codes. In New

Frontiers: Smart Data Collection – Innovations in the Use of Smartphones. Paper presented at the

67th Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Orlando, FL. (2012)

• Morris, M.G., Venkatesh, V.: Age differences in technology adoption decisions: Implications for a

changing work force. Personnel Psychology 53(2), 375–403 (2000)

• The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project: Device Ownership Trend Data,

http://pewinternet.org/Trend-Data-(Adults)/Device-Ownership.aspx

• Venkatesh, V., Davis, F.D., Morris, M.G.: Dead or alive? The development, trajectory, and future of

technology adoption research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 8(4), 267–286

(2007)

@forsmarshgroup @romanocog