Jonathan Mendelson presented this talk at HCI in Las Vegas. Data are from a probability-based online panel with US adults over the age of 25. We found that QR Code awareness, knowledge, and usage were highest for young adults and lowest for older adults. See slides for more details and see Jonathan's blog post about this talk at: http://www.forsmarshgroup.com/index.php/blog/post/hcii-2013-preview-age-and-qr-codes

1. 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

2. 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
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

3. 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
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

4. Types of Uses
4
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5. 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

6. 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)
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

7. 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

8. 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
%ofRespondents
Younger adults
Middle-age adults
Older adults
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

9. 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
%ofRespondents
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

10. 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
%ofRespondents
Clearly/probably understands
Possibly understands
No indication of understanding
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

11. 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
%ofRespondents
Non-smartphone
Smartphone
72
66
54
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Questions?
jmendelson@forsmarshgroup.com
Email us!
@forsmarshgroup @romanocog
jbergstrom@forsmarshgroup.com

16. 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