The influence of prototype fidelity and aesthetics of design in usability tests: effects on user behaviour, subjective evaluation and emotion

An empirical study examined the impact of prototype fidelity on user behaviour, subjective user evaluation and emotion. The independent factors of prototype fidelity (paper prototype, computer prototype, fully operational appliance) and aesthetics of design (high vs. moderate) were varied in a between-subjects design. The 60 participants of the experiment were asked to complete two typical tasks of mobile phone usage: sending a text message and suppressing a phone number. Both performance data and a number of subjective measures were recorded. The results suggested that task completion time may be overestimated when a computer prototype is being used. Furthermore, users appeared to compensate for deficiencies in aesthetic design by overrating the aesthetic qualities of reduced fidelity prototypes. Finally, user emotions were more positively affected by the operation of the more attractive mobile phone than by the less appealing one.     

Motivation profiles of online Poker players and the role of interface preferences: A laddering study among amateur and (semi-) professionals

Online Poker has become an increasingly popular form of gambling. In this study, the qualitative method of laddering interviews based on means-end chain theory was used to offer new insights in online Poker players’ psychological motives, and the way in which Poker website characteristics shape gambling preferences. A total of 18 Belgian young adults, experienced in Poker playing, were recruited via snowball sampling, of which 6 professionals (relying on online Poker as the sole source of income), 6 semi-professionals (playing for money, but not relying on it as a sole source of income) and 6 amateurs (not relying on Poker money for income). We focused on 2 Poker websites, PokerStars and Facebook Zynga Poker. Results revealed that an increase in the dependency on Poker profits shifted motives from learning towards monetary incentives. Yet, playing for real money could not be considered as a purely extrinsic motivation as it greatly determined the game play dynamics and experiences, and this both in the (semi-) professionals and amateur players. Finally, our study indicates that responsible gaming features should reconcile monetary worth with values of control, trust, entertainment and game play action.     

The effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes: A comparative case study in an undergraduate engineering course

This study focuses on the investigation of the effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes in an undergraduate engineering course. The revised Bloom's taxonomy, which consists of six categories in the cognitive process domain, was employed in this study. Five of the six categories were investigated, including remember, understand, apply, analyze, and evaluate. Data were collected via a think‐aloud protocol involving two groups of student participants: One group learned a worked example problem with a CSA module, and the other group learned the same problem with traditional textbook‐style instruction. A new concept called frequency index was proposed for use in qualitative research that involves the quantitative comparison of the overall popularity of a particular mental activity performed by two groups of students. The results show that as compared to traditional textbook‐style instruction, CSA significantly increases students' activities in the understand category of the revised Bloom's taxonomy during learning and significantly increases students' activities in the understand, apply, analyse, and evaluate categories during subsequent problem‐solving. That learning via CSA has a profound impact on subsequent problem‐solving is attributed to intensive human–computer interactions built in the CSA learning module.