Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
the withoutA&F group were in the range 22 < 26.6 < 32 years old (twelve
women and eight men). Fourteen had technical background. All but one had a
university degree. All had a good understanding of English.
Subjects were signed up through the experimenters' friends and colleagues
and were given movie tickets in return for participation.
Tasks and procedure
The withA&F group was first asked about their age, gender, occupation,
education, command of English, as well as their experience of computers
and the web.
Subjects in the withA&F group got the following instruction (in Swedish):
Imagine this situation: you are at home one evening and you have nothing in
particular to do and you are not especially tired. You have a fast and efficient
computer at home with a good and fast connection to the Internet. A friend
has suggested some cool web sites on the net that you might want to have a
look at. Check out the web link the same way you would do if you were sitting
at home. I'll be in the other room and you can come and get me when you
are finished.
The system was started and Agneta & Frida would appear on the screen.
The experimental leader would at this point leave the room to allow subjects
to feel free to do what they wanted and stay as long as they wanted. Subjects'
interactions with the system and facial expressions were video-recorded.
Afterwards they were interviewed about their experience based on the
question: “If you met a friend downtown and were asked to describe what this
system was all about, what would you say (in as many details as you can)?”
Interviews were taped on audiocassette.
They filled in a questionnaire with three sets of questions:
2
a.
Estimated time spent and estimated number of pages visited.
b.
A number of Likert-scale questions on whether they perceived Agneta &
Frida as believable characters and whether they found them entertaining
or disturbing. In total, 14 questions were asked in various ways in order to
get at users' experience of the system.
c.
Finally, they marked which of a set of 20 statements they could agree with.
Therewerestatementssuchas“IhavethesamekindofhumorasAgneta
& Frida”, or “I do not like animated characters”.
