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
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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
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
