世論 What Japan Thinks

Another detailed survey from goo Research, this time looking at information device usage amongst older folk, the third time they have conducted their survey.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 22nd of June 2011, 8,393 older members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 76.6% of the sample were male, 48.6% of the men and 66.5% of the women were aged between 60 and 64 years old, 24.6% of the men and 21.6% were aged between 65 and 69 years old, 17.2% of the men and 8.7% of the women were aged between 70 and 74 years old, 7.9% of the men and 2.6% of the women were aged between 75 and 79 years old, and 1.6% of the men and 0.7% of the women were 80 years old or older.

Although the number of smartphone and tablet users is relatively low, I was suprised to see that between 40% and 50% have downloaded at least one paid app. It would have been very interesting to see what sort of applications they are paying for; newspapers or electronic books would be the stereotypical image I have, but what is the reality?

Research results

Q1: Which of the following information devices do you usually use? (Sample size=8,393, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=6,425	Female N=1,968
Computer	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Digital television	87.0%	87.2%	86.5%
Fixed-line telephone	73.3%	72.0%	77.5%
Mobile phone	70.2%	69.6%	72.0%
DVD, Blu-ray player	29.2%	30.6%	24.6%
Portable audio player	14.6%	15.8%	10.7%
Hard disk recorder	12.5%	13.9%	8.0%
Digital photo frame	8.0%	8.7%	6.0%
Smartphone (to SQ1)	4.7%	5.4%	2.5%
Tablet computer (to SQ2)	2.4%	2.6%	1.7%
Electronic book	0.8%	0.9%	0.7%

Q1SQ1: What kinds of apps do you download to your smartphone? (Sample size=394)

	All	Male N=345	Female N=49
Download both free and paid apps	38.6%	38.3%	40.8%
Download only free apps	46.7%	48.4%	34.7%
Download only paid apps	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
Don’t download myself, but get someone to do it for me	0.5%	0.3%	2.0%
Don’t download at all	12.2%	11.3%	18.4%
Don’t know	1.8%	1.4%	4.1%

Q1SQ2: What kinds of apps do you download to your tablet computer? (Sample size=200)

	All	Male N=166	Female N=34
Download both free and paid apps	46.5%	51.8%	20.6%
Download only free apps	30.0%	28.9%	35.3%
Download only paid apps	0.5%	0.6%	0.0%
Don’t download myself, but get someone to do it for me	3.0%	1.8%	8.8%
Don’t download at all	17.5%	14.5%	32.4%
Don’t know	2.5%	2.4%	2.9%

Q2: What kinds of internet services do you use? (Sample size=8,393, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=6,425	Female N=1,968
Online shopping	69.3%	68.3%	72.6%
Search engine	66.3%	68.4%	59.6%
Online banking	45.7%	47.9%	38.4%
Price comparison site, review site	38.5%	39.9%	33.9%
Movie viewing, download	36.7%	38.0%	32.6%
Internet auctions	25.9%	27.1%	21.8%
Personal blogs	21.1%	20.6%	22.5%
Music listening, music software download	12.4%	13.4%	9.5%
Bulletin board, chat	11.2%	11.5%	10.4%
Community site, SNS	10.4%	10.8%	9.2%
Microblog (Twitter, etc)	7.8%	8.3%	6.1%
Online game	7.4%	6.9%	9.1%
Video, photo sharing site	6.7%	7.1%	5.5%
Electronic book, magazine	3.5%	4.4%	1.8%
Other	1.1%	1.2%	1.0%

Q3A: About how long do you use each kind of media on an average day? (Sample size=8,393, multiple answer)

	Less than 1 hour	1 to 2 hours	2 to 3 hours	3 to 5 hours	More than 5 hours	Not at all
Newspapers N=8,393	70.9%	18.8%	2.1%	0.2%	0.0%	8.1%
Television N=7,920	7.2%	23.0%	31.0%	25.2%	13.4%	0.2%
Radio N=8,393	45.0%	10.2%	5.4%	3.8%	3.6%	32.1%
Book, magazine N=7,920	57.9%	18.8%	5.2%	1.0%	0.3%	16.8%
Computer N=7,920	6.5%	24.8%	28.5%	24.4%	15.8%	0.0%
Mobile phone N=6,190	83.5%	3.0%	0.6%	0.2%	0.3%	11.6%
Tablet computer N=200	67.0%	21.0%	4.5%	2.5%	0.5%	4.5%

Q3B: About how long do you read newspapers for on an average day? (Sample size=7,920)

	All	Male N=6,080	Female N=1,840
Less than an hour	7.2%	8.0%	4.7%
One to two hours	23.0%	25.1%	15.9%
Two to three hours	31.0%	31.4%	29.6%
Three to five hours	25.2%	23.7%	30.3%
More than five hours	13.4%	11.5%	19.4%
Not at all	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%

Q3C: About how long do you use computers for on an average day? (Sample size=8,393)

	All	Male N=6,425	Female N=1,968
Less than an hour	6.5%	5.7%	9.1%
One to two hours	24.8%	23.6%	28.8%
Two to three hours	28.5%	28.5%	28.3%
Three to five hours	24.4%	25.3%	21.7%
More than five hours	15.8%	16.9%	12.1%

Q4: How much do you trust each of the following kinds of media? (Sample size=various, multiple answer)

	Completely	To some degree	Can’t say	Not really	Not at all
Newspapers N=7,717	22.5%	62.7%	10.2%	4.0%	0.7%
Radio N=5,700	12.0%	61.5%	22.1%	3.9%	0.5%
Television N=7,903	10.7%	58.8%	21.1%	7.7%	1.7%
Books, magazines N=6,984	5.4%	50.7%	34.8%	8.1%	1.0%
Internet N=8,392	5.7%	50.1%	35.5%	7.9%	0.8%

Q5: From where do you obtain information about your local area? (Sample size=8,393, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=6,425	Female N=1,968
Circulars	67.8%	68.5%	65.4%
Internet	39.2%	40.7%	34.3%
Physical bulletin boards	30.9%	31.3%	29.5%
Friends, family	30.5%	26.6%	43.6%
Places people gather for hobbies	14.4%	12.2%	21.4%
District welfare officers, city hall workers	5.2%	5.6%	4.2%
Other	7.4%	7.2%	7.9%
Don’t obtain information	8.7%	9.1%	7.4%