WHAT REALLY HAPPENS TO COMPLIMENTARY TEXTBOOK SOFTWARE - A CASE-STUDYIN SOFTWARE UTILIZATION

College textbook publishers often provide free instructional software with books as a sales incentive. This makes computerized instruction p rograms available to many potential users, including many professors w ho are largely unfamiliar with the technology but interested in its us e. This raises an important question: what happens to supplementary so ftware? This study investigated one software program designed for intr oductory psychology courses. The software was typical of supplemental programs and capable of running on commonly available machines. The pr ofessors who received it were interviewed to determine if the software had been used or not. Reasons for non-use were gathered. Results show ed that one-quarter of the recipients actually used the software. The remaining three-quarters reported personal, technical, production, eco nomic, and political barriers that prevented adoption.