3/2007 “Technology Use of College Students: An Exploratory Study” Published by the Department of Communication, Rochester Institute of Technology Stabb, J. (2007). Technology use of college students: an exploratory study. Converent for Undergraduate Research in Communication, 177-185.

1. TECHNOLOGY USE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
Jameelee Ford
Joseph Stabb
March 5, 2007

2. Abstract
Several studies have shown that the gay and lesbian population is an early adopter of
technology. This research project set out to prove that theory among college age students at Utica
College and Syracuse University. Entertainment technology, such as MP3 players, Personal Digital
Assistants (PDA), Cell Phones, and the Internet are all technologies heavily used by today’s college
student, but when did it all begin. Were these students considered one of the first?
Introduction
This research project would like to know if gay and lesbian college students at Utica College
and Syracuse University, ages 18 to 25, are early adopters of entertainment technology.
Entertainment technology can be defined as a computerized device that serves an entertainment
need, such as the computer, internet, cell phones, MP3 players, and personal digital assistants.
This study will explore the gay and lesbian student population at Utica College and Syracuse
University (ages 18-25) to examine their characteristics as they relate to established characteristics of
early adopters of entertainment technology. According to an article from the Academy of Marketing
Science Review, an early adopter is “extremely sophisticated and product/technology savvy.” The
researchers would like to determine if, in fact, gay and lesbian college students in this population are
early adopters of entertainment technology.
Since the early 1990’s gay and lesbian consumers have been sought by technology companies
because research indicates they are good consumers of the latest and most sophisticated technology
products on the market. Since this time, researchers have scrambled to explore and define the
characteristics of this market niche. According to current research by Planet Out, Inc., new
technologies are adapted quickly by the gay and lesbian community.
As the gay and lesbian market continues to grow, companies and organizations are looking
for new ways to market to this community. “To the extent that gay and lesbian consumers

3. constitute a distinct consumer niche for marketers, what makes them an especially interesting group
is not household income as such, but instead the community’s unique characteristics as consumers,”
according to Howard Buford of The Gay and Lesbian Review. “Two lifestyle facts in particular
account for much of the difference in the gay community’s patterns of consumption: higher
discretionary income and more disposable time.” Our research will confirm that the gay and lesbian
community, in fact, is full of early entertainment technology adopters.
Literature Review
According to Forrester Research, “gay consumers are among the earliest technology
adopters. Gay and lesbian consumers are defined as being tech-savvy and consumers that use
technology at a higher rate according to their Annual Consumer Technographics Benchmark Study.
Their research also indicates that 29% of gay men and women have been online for more than seven
years. In addition to internet usage, gay men and women are more likely to own other
technologies,” (Blake).
Early adopters have their own characteristics according to marking professionals. “New
products and services typically follow a predictable adoption curve,” Neale Martin, writer,
Telephony. “[Geoffrey] Moore postulated that with products based on high technology, there is a
caveat: The path is not a smooth growth curve. Instead, an ominous chasm separates the early
adopter from the early majority. Many products based on new technologies appear to be on a high-
growth trajectory but fail to reach sufficient velocity to cross the abyss. Early adopters are
visionaries seeking competitive advantage, not a group that the early majority looks to for buying
guidance,” (Martin, Telephony).
Other statistics show that the gay and lesbian community have been adopting and using new
technologies in much larger numbers than the general population (Gay Media 2003). Sixty-two
percent of gays and lesbians own a personal computer and fifty-two percent subscribe to online

4. services (Gay Media 2003). “In addition to being wealthier and better educated gay men and women
are avid internet users. Eighty percent of gay men and seventy-six percent of lesbians are online,
compared with 70 percent of straight men and 69 percent of straight women. Gays are also one-
third more likely to have broadband connections and have been online longer than heterosexuals.
Twenty-nine percent of gay men and women have been online for more than seven years, versus
18% of heterosexuals,” according to a study by Gay Media Express in July of 2003 (Gay Media
2003). Seventy-nine percent of gay and lesbian adults own a cell phone over 72 percent of non-gays
and 16 percent of gay and lesbian households own a television with high-definition capabilities
versus 9 percent of non-gays (Rainbow).
According to the 2000 United States Census there are a an estimated fifteen million
individuals that identify as gay or lesbian in the United States that live in 99.3 percent of all United
States counties (Condon). Cities across the United States are trying to attract more gays and lesbians
because this population is more willing than others to move into and devote income to improving
distressed neighborhoods.
Companies have increased marketing efforts to niche marketing groups, including the gay
and lesbian community (Nicholson). Spending on advertising in gay publications has jumped 20.2
percent over the previous year as corporations are competing for advertising placement. Companies
want a larger market share in this community. “Seventy-seven percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender people would chose products from companies with a positive stance toward equality,”
according to Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive.
Starting in September of 2006, global retail leader, Wal-Mart, began working with a gay-
marketing agency. This retailer claims the gay market is mainstream and wants this niche market to
shop in Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart believes in a deal for all, both straight and gay (Advertising Age,
Wal-Mart). According to Human Rights Campaign, “78% of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender

5. people would switch brands to companies that advertise in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
media.”
The Human Rights Campaign rates companies based on their activities toward the gay and
lesbian community, including domestic partner benefits, advertising to this market, and also
supporting the gay and lesbian community. Some of these companies are Best Buy, General Mills,
Proctor & Gamble, SC Johnson & Sons, Estee Lauder, Microsoft Corporation, Viacom, At&T,
Motorola, Eastman Kodak, Xerox, American Airlines, Ford Motor Company, Chevron, American
Express, MetLife Insurance, GAP, Kraft, Starbucks, and UPS. All of these companies see a need to
gain market share in this niche community (Joe S., Human Rights Campaign).
The buying power of the gay and lesbian community has grown immensely over the past
several years. According to calculations of the Board of Commerce in the United States
government, out of the $9.1 trillion U.S. buying power, $610 billion of that is from the gay
community (Paul Varnell). Members of the gay and lesbian community tend to have higher
discretionary incomes and more disposable time. Gays and lesbians are three times more likely to
purchase products and services online than the average American, according to Rainbow Referrals.
Gay and lesbian individuals are four times as likely to spend over $150 on long distance phone usage
and twice as likely to spend $250 on cellular phone use, according to Rainbow Referrals (Rainbow).
Other statistics show that 77 percent believe in indulging in themselves, 57 percent prefer to buy
top-of-the line products, and 59 percent of gay and lesbian individuals buy themselves whatever they
want. According to Jessica Twentyman from the magazine Director, “The travel industry is very
active, today, in marketing to the gay and lesbian consumer because gay and lesbian consumers tend
to spend more on travel the average traveler,” (Twentyman).
Other than having more disposable income, the gay and lesbian community is considered
highly educated. According to the first ever gay and lesbian market study conducted by Simmons

6. Market Research Bureau, “gays and lesbians are outstanding in almost every category. 48% of gays
and lesbians hold an undergraduate degree; 22% hold a graduate degree; 57% are employed in
leading sectors such as professional/managerial, high tech, executive, sales and marketing, medical
and education. Also 25% of all surveyed own or operate their own business, and the Gays and
Lesbians are over twice as likely to be professionals or managers,” (Rainbow).
Amy Falkner, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and an Assistant Professor of Advertising
at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, is the lead researcher for
the Gay & Lesbian Census, the first national study involving the gay and lesbian population and still
continues today. Studies like these, on the gay and lesbian population is important as not much is
known about the gay and lesbian demographic. More and more companies want information on
this market niche.
Research Question
Are gay and lesbian college students at Utica College and Syracuse University ages 18 to 25
early adopters of entertainment technology?
Methodology
The subjects will be self-identified gay (men), lesbian (women), and heterosexual college
students age 18-25. The respondents will be students from Utica College and Syracuse University.
Heterosexual respondents are being included as a comparison group only.
Research will be conducted as an online survey. Respondents will be recruited via electronic
and print media and sent to a specific web address. Once there, the respondents will first see the
informed consent form and asked if they agree or disagree to continue (Appendix A). If they agree,
they will proceed to the survey itself.

7. The survey will be given in an electronic format for ease of use by the gay and lesbian
student population. This will also allow the respondents to answer the survey on their own time.
The survey will be administered online. All precautions available will be used to safeguard
the responses and the identities of the participants completing the survey. The researchers will use
an anonymous electronic survey data collection method to conduct research. The survey will be
hosted on the Utica College web site and accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.
A respondent’s e-mail address will not be tracked or in any other way be associated with the
participant’s responses. It is totally anonymous. The researchers will not know or collect
respondent e-mail addresses. All data gathered by this survey will be reported in aggregate form
(combined with other responses) only. All survey information will be destroyed at the conclusion of
the research project. The participant’s will not be required to supply their name or e-mail address to
complete the survey and the data will be protected on a secure server at Utica College.
Participants will be selected and contacted with the help student organizations at both Utica
College and Syracuse University, which means using both purposive and snowball sampling
techniques. The researchers will reach out to these groups and ask them to promote participation
from their memberships. The researchers will also promote the survey via promotion to be placed
in the college’s student media outlets, including print, radio, and television. None of this media will
be paid promotion. All promotion will reflect that this study is for students only at Utica College
and Syracuse University.
Our survey includes both minor demographic questions, but also specific questions on the
individual’s ownership of certain forms of technology and the length of time they have owned that
specific type of product. This is important because if, for example, MP3 players came out in 1998
and the individual has owned one since then, that makes them an early adopter. They were one of
the first people to purchase the product. See Appendix B for the survey instrument.

8. Here are the questions that the researchers are asking in the survey:
Are you currently enrolled in college?
How old are you?
How do you self-identify your sexual orientation?
These first three questions are the demographic questions of the survey. The
researchers need to know the answers to these questions to be sure that the
individual responders are part of the demographic that is needed to be
reached.
How often do you incorporate technology into your everyday life?
For this research project, technology is defined as any computerized
electronic device. The researchers need to know that the individual
respondents do, in fact, use technology and how often they use the
technology.
The next set of questions will ask about the individual’s ownership of certain types of technology.
The researchers selected certain technology products that they feel are most heavily used by college
students.
Do you own a computer?
How long have you owned a computer?
Do you use the internet?
When did you start using the internet?
Do you own an MP3 player?
How long have you owned an MP3 player?
Do you own a cell phone?
How long have you owned a cell phone?

9. Do you own a personal digital assistant (PDA)?
How long have you owned a personal digital assistant (PDA)?
Do you communicate via text messaging on a cell phone?
How long have you been using text messaging to communicate?
These questions will gauge whether or not the respondents use these forms
of popular technology. For this research project, an MP3 player is an
electronic device for playing digital audio files, such as MP3 files; a personal
digital assistant is a hand-held electronic organizer or computer; text
messaging is a brief written message sent between mobile phones. These
forms of technology, if purchased within the first year it, will make the
individual an early adopter of that technology product.
On average, how many hours per day would you currently estimate you are engaged
in using technology such as computers, the internet, cell phones, MP3 players,
PDA’s, and text messaging?
If an individual is actually an early adopter, they will not only purchase the
product, but use it consistently. An early adopter by definition will purchase
a product, use it, and promote the product to others around them, making
them an influencer on others.
How often do you pay attention to advertising and other informational sources to
learn about new or updated technology products?
An early adopter is someone who knows the newest technologies and is
current on the industry, by definition. The researchers need to know if the
person not only owns these forms of technology, but do they also keep
updated on new forms of technology that are coming to the market.

10. These methods and questions should accurately determine if the gay and lesbian students at
Utica College and Syracuse University are indeed early adopters of technology. There is a
foreseeable weakness to this research study, though. The sample size may not be big enough for us
to generalize the findings to the general population. The goal is to get enough responses to do so,
but the researchers are not totally confident that it will happen.
Data Analysis/Results
The date collected during for this research is only in the preliminary stages and cannot be
generalized to the whole population, but certain trends can be viewed in the data. Of the 26
responses, all were enrolled students at either Utica College or Syracuse University with 24%
identifying as gay or lesbian and 76% identifying as heterosexual. Of the 100%, 12% are gay/lesbian
age 18-21, 12% are gay/lesbian age 22-25, 64% are heterosexual age 18-21, and 12% are
heterosexual age 22-25 (see appendix C).
The figure in Appendix D shows the hours per day that the respondents use forms of
entertainment technology. From this we can see a trend that the gay population is using technology
more hours per day than heterosexual counterparts. On the contrary, Appendix E shows that
people, no matter what their sexual identification are not paying that much attention to technology
advertising or other forms of technology information.
Adoption time plays an important part of whether someone or a group is identified as being
an early adopter. Unfortunately, due to the response rate of this survey, no generalizations can be
made for the population as a whole. By looking at the graphs in Appendix F thru K, one can make
the assumption that the college aged individual is pretty technology savvy. Most of the responses
were high with regards to the use and ownership of the forms of entertainment technology asked
about. Maybe the trend can show that the college aged population as a whole is technology savvy
and could be considered early adopters.

11. Conclusion
This research is a great preliminary study and test of the methodology. With more
responses, this study could show some great incite into technology use and adoption of college aged
gay, lesbian, and heterosexual individuals. Both the gay/lesbian population and the college student
population are becoming marketing interests to many companies and organizations.
Based on the data collected and current trends from other literary research, one could infer
that the gay/lesbian college student age 18-25 is in-fact an early adopter of technology, but so are
many other college aged students. With more research responses, this data could be used for
generalizing over the larger population.
Bibliography
(2005). Survey Says… The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, 12(1), 17.
Anonymous. (2006, Sept. 4). Wal-Mart right to market to gays. Advertising Age, 77, 12.
Brain Dear (Jan 28, 2003) Birdock Ventures,: Brainstorms, Early Adopters, 1-3
Blake, Monica. (2003). The Information Society. The Electronic Library, 21(6), 618-621.
Buford, Howard. (2000). Understanding Gay Comsumers. The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide,
7(2), 26.
Buford, Howard. (2005). The Gay Market Goes Mainstream. The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide,
12(1), 22.
Carroll Lachnit (January, 2001) Innovation, HR and Early Adopters- Technology Innovation Learning
Styles
Condon, Lee. (2001, Sept. 25). By the Numbers. The Advocate. 37-40.
Donald Altschiller, (June 1995), The Reference Shelf, The Information Revolution, New York, Vol. 67,
No. 5, pg 7
Eliot Buskirk (January 21, 2005), Cambridge Sound Works: MP3 Insider, Introducing the Worlds first
MP3 player.
Everett Rogers, (1995), the Free Press: New York, Diffusion of Innovations

12. Gay Media Express, (July 2003) Gay Tech, Gay Consumers are Among the Earliest Technology Adopters, 1
Harris Interactive. (2005). The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Population At-A-Glance.
Washington, DC: Author.
Joe Solmonese, (2005), Human Rights Campaign: Buying For Equality, A Guide to Companies and
Products that Support Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Equality
Laurence, Emily. (2006, April 27). Newhouse School Releases results of survey on gay and lesbian
demographics. The Daily Orange, online.
Lewine, Edward. (2006). The Gay 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. New York Times Magazine. 76.
Lydia Lum (March 9, 2006) Vol.23, Iss 2, Diverse Issues in Education, The Power of Podcasting, 34
Mike Williams (Dec 2004) Witeck-Combs Communications, Trendsetting and Product Upgrades:
Statistics
Neale Martin, (October 2006), ABI/INFORM Global, The elusive early majority, pg 40.
Newstream/Arraycomm (April 2003), the New York Times Company, Martin Cooper and the First Cell
Phone, 1
Nicholson, Joe. (1999). Big National Advertisers are Eyeing Gay Press. Editor & Publisher.
132(11), 30-31.
Paul Varnell (August 30, 2006) Independent Gay Forum: New Light on the Gay Market, 1-5
Planet Out, Inc. (2006). The Gay & Lesbian Market. New York City, NY.
Rainbow Referrels (1999-2005) National Marketing Studies Confirm the Affluence of the Gay And Lesbian
Market. WWW. RainbowReferrels.com
Ran Wei (Dec 2001) Vol 78, Iss 4 Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Columbia, From
Luxury to Utility: A longitudinal analysis of cell phone laggards, 702
Rebecca, Gardyn (December 2001) American Demographics v.23 no.12, Toplines: Make a Connection,
17-19
Riggle, Ellen D., Rostosky, Sharon S., and Reedy, C. Stuart. (2005). Online Surveys for BGLT
Research: Issues and Techniques. Journal of Homosexuality. 49(2), 1.
Susan Brown and Viswanath Venkatesh, (April 2003) Vol. 46, No. 4, Communications of the ACM,
Bringing Non-Adopters Along: The Challenge Facing the PC Industry, 76-80
Talley-Seijn, Margaret. (2006). Slice of the Pie; Capturing the Gay and Lesbian Dollar. Infurniture,
7(9), 27.

13. Thane Peterson (Feb 21, 2005) Iss 3921, Business Week, That’s Not Junk. That’s Early Tech, 82
The Brookings Institute. (2001). Technology and Tolerance: The Importance of Diversity to High-Technology
Growth. Washington, DC: Florida, Richard and Gates, Gary.
Twentyman, Jessica. (2006). In the Pink-against all odds. Director, 60, 2.
Said, Carolyn. (2006, June 25). Marketing Comes Out of the Closet / Advertisers woo gays and
lesbians in ways they never did before. San Francisco Chronicle. p. F1
Urban Institute. (2006). Gay and Lesbian Demographics. Washington, DC.
Wikipedia.com, Online Encyclopedia, History of Mobil Phones

14. Appendix A
Technology Use of College Students
Research Consent Form
Online Survey
This survey involves basic questions that will generate data strictly for research for a Public
Relations Research and Planning course at Utica College.
The purpose of this research is to collect data about college students’ use and ownership of
technology.
You must self-identify as gay, lesbian, or heterosexual to complete this survey and also
affirm that you are between the ages of 18 to 25.
It will take about 10 minutes to fill out the 18 question online survey. Once the survey has
been compeleted the participant is no longer needed. The online survey asks respondents about their
ownership and use of various types of technology. After the compeletion of the survey the
information will be supplied to the researchers in aggregate form only.
Respondents may experience feelings of anxiety or slight discomfort when filling out the
online survey. This survey is voluntary and refusal after this point will NOT result in any harm,
penalty or loss of benefits to the participant. By completing this survey, you will help us better
understand technology ownership and technology use by college students at Utica College and
Syracuse University.
Because confidentiality is extremely important to the researchers as well as the participants,
no personal information will be asked such as name, address or phone number. No personal
identifying e-mail links will be connected with your survey responses. Once the online information
is gathered all information will be destroyed.
For more information about the research to which you will particapte in you can contact Joe
Stabb at: (315)886-9544 or Jameelee Ford at (518)225-6343.
As a participant, if you have any questions about your rights, please contact Dr. Laura
Dorow at 315-792-3311 or by e-mail at ldorow@utica.edu.
By clicking “agree,” you give your consent to take this survey. If you click “disagree,” you will not
be able to complete the survey.
Agree Disagree

15. Appendix B
Utica College IRB Approval
Questionnaire
October 5, 2006
1. Are you currently enrolled in college at Utica College or Syracuse University?
( ) yes ( ) no
2. How old are you?
( ) 18-21 ( ) 22-25
3. How do you self-identify your sexual orientation?
( ) gay ( ) lesbian ( ) heterosexual
4. How often do you incorporate technology into your everyday life?
Note: For this research project, technology is defined as computerized electronic devices.
( ) everyday ( ) one or more times per week ( ) one or more times per month
( ) one or more times in every 6 month period ( ) one or more times per year
5. Do you own a computer?
( ) yes ( ) no
6. How long have you owned your own computer?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) 7-10 years ago ( ) more than 10 years ( ) I do not use a
computer
7. Do you use the internet?
( ) yes ( ) no
8. When did you start using the internet?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) 7-10 years ago ( ) Have never used the Internet
9. Do you own an MP3 player?
Note: For this research project, MP3 player is defined as An electronic device for playing digital audio files in the
MP3 format (and, in many cases, also files in some other formats).
( ) yes ( ) no
10. How long have you owned an MP3 Player?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) 7-10 years ago ( ) I have never used an MP3 Player
11. Do you own a cell phone?
( ) yes ( ) no

16. 12. How long have you owned a cell phone?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) 7-10 years ago ( ) I do not own a cell phone
13. Do you own a personal digital assistant (PDA)?
Note: For this research project, we define PDA as A hand-held electronic organizer or computer.
( ) yes ( ) no
14. How long have you owned a personal digital assistant (PDA)?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) 7-10 years ago ( ) Do not own a PDA
15. Do you communicate via text messaging on a cell phone?
Note: For this project, text messaging is defined as a brief written message sent between mobile phones; often
abbreviated by leaving out vowels or using phonetic spellings.
( ) yes ( ) no
16. How long have you been using text messaging to communicate?
( ) less than 6 months ( ) 6 months to year 1 year ago ( ) 1-3 years ago
( ) 4-6 years ago ( ) I have never text messaged
17. On average, how many hours per day would you currently estimate you are engaged in using
technology such as computers, the Internet, cell phones, MP3 players, PDAs, and text
messaging?
( ) Less than one hour ( ) 1-2 hours per day ( ) 3-4 hours per day
( ) 5-6 hours per day ( ) More than 7 hours per day
18. How often do you pay attention to advertising and other informational sources to learn about
new or updated technology products?
( ) Never ( ) Sometimes ( ) Often ( ) Very Often ( ) Don’t Know

17. Appendix C
Age Distribution
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
18-21 22-25
Age Groups
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

18. Appendix D
Hours of Technology Use Per Day
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
<1 hour 1-2 hour 3-4 hour 5-6 hour >7 hour
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

19. Appendix E
Attention to Advertising & Other Technology Information
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
N
ever
Som
etim
es
O
ften
Very
O
ften
D
on'tKnow
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

20. Appendix F
Computer Use & Lenth of Time Owned
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
N
o
U
se<6
M
onths6
M
o.-1
year
1-3
year
4-6
year
7-10
year
>10
year
Time of Adoption
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

21. Appendix G
Lenth of Time Used Internet
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Have
never
used the
internet
Less
than 6
months
6
months
to 1
year
ago
1 year
to 3
years
ago
4 to 6
years
ago
7 to 10
years
ago
Length of Use
NumberofPeople
gay
heterosexual

22. Appendix H
Own an MP3 Player
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
gay heterosexual
Sexual Orientation
NumberofRespondents
yes
no
Time Began Using MP3 Player
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
No Use <6
Months
6 Mo.-1
year
1-3
year
4-6
year
7-10
year
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

23. Appendix I
Ownership of a Cell Phone
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
No Use <6
Months
6 Mo.-1
year
1-3 year 4-6 year 7-10
year
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

24. Appendix J
PDA Ownership & Use
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
No Use <6
Months
6 Mo.-1
year
1-3
year
4-6
year
7-10
year
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual

25. Appendix K
Text Message Use
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
No Use <6
Months
6 Mo.-1
year
1-3 year 4-6 year
NumberofRespondents
gay
heterosexual