Study of the information technology knowledge of first-semester students at a private university in Huancayo based on the Indeterminate Likert Scale and Z-numbers

Abstract

It is essential for today's professional to know and master the information technologies that are part of modern life. Otherwise, this constitutes an educational deficiency in our universities that must be reversed. This paper aims to determine the level of information technology knowledge of first-semester students at the Franklin Roosevelt Private University of Huancayo in Peru. The study population consists of 240 students. Simple random sampling was used to select a representative sample. Data collection was carried out using a survey consisting of a questionnaire containing a set of 37 questions. The survey measures students' level of skills in using information technologies. The survey was assessed utilizing an Indeterminate Likert Scale, where the respondent expresses degrees of opinion of self-perceived knowledge for each possible response option, rather than selecting a single option. In this way, the opinions of the respondents are captured more realistically. To increase the accuracy of the information obtained, a linguistic scale based on Z-numbers is used. So, we combine both the Indeterminate Likert Scale and the degree of confidence of the given response in the information processing. These models allow us to capture opinions that may be contradictory, but that more accurately reflect the opinions of respondents in complex environments.