Evidence for an Elders' Advantage in the Naive Product Usability Judgments of Older and Younger Adults

Stephens, Eric C.; Carswell, C. Melody; Schumacher, Mitzi M.

doi:10.1518/001872006778606778

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Second, because signs that are easily comprehended by healthy young adults may be poorly comprehended by those who are older or less healthy, we must improve participant sampling to include more heterogeneous user groups when designing and evaluating signage. In fact, recent evidence suggests that older people are better than their younger counterparts at assessing the usability of such products as stoves, instructions, and virtual navigation commands (Stephens et al, 2006). Finally, in environments populated by the elderly, especially the cognitively impaired, it makes sense to avoid signage that relies only on icons to convey its meaning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of such iconic devices has been common in the control and regulation of driving behaviour (Moeur, 2006) and is becoming more common as a means of facilitating way-finding in hospitals, airports, shopping centres, etc. Icons are used to indicate available services and are common with technologies such as Internet browsers and household appliances (Stephens, Carswell, & Schumacher, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Iconic Sign Comprehension in Older Adults: The Role of Cognitive Impairment and Text Enhancement

et al. 2008

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Canadians are experiencing increased life expectancy and chronic illness requiring end-of-life care. There is limited research on the multiple roles for family members providing home-based palliative care. Based on a larger ethnographic study of client-family-provider relationships in home-based palliative care, this qualitative secondary analysis explores the enactment of multiple roles for family members providing home-based palliative care to seniors with advanced cancer. Family members had multiple expectations to provide care but felt their expectations of services were unmet. The process of enacting multiple roles was depicted by three interrelated themes: balancing, re-prioritizing, and evolving. Positive and negative health responses resulted from attempts to minimize personal health while simultaneously maintaining health. "True" family-centred care was found to be lacking, but should be a goal of health professionals involved in end-of-life care.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Iconic Sign Comprehension in Older Adults: The Role of Cognitive Impairment and Text Enhancement

et al. 2008

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“…However, in general, older users tend to be more critical judges of usability than younger ones (Stephens et al, 2006). While the five older users who evaluated the smart home interface described in were more positive than younger users, Möl-ler et al (2008) report no significant differences in user satisfaction between older and younger users in a larger trial of the same system.…”

Section: Adapting Sds To Older Usersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Reducing working memory load in spoken dialogue systems

Wolters

Georgila

Moore

et al. 2009

Interacting with Computers

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a b s t r a c tWe evaluated two strategies for alleviating working memory load for users of voice interfaces: presenting fewer options per turn and providing confirmations. Forty-eight users booked appointments using nine different dialogue systems, which varied in the number of options presented and the confirmation strategy used. Participants also performed four cognitive tests and rated the usability of each dialogue system on a standardised questionnaire. When systems presented more options per turn and avoided explicit confirmation subdialogues, both older and younger users booked appointments more quickly without compromising task success. Users with lower information processing speed were less likely to remember all relevant aspects of the appointment. Working memory span did not affect appointment recall. Older users were slightly less satisfied with the dialogue systems than younger users. We conclude that the number of options is less important than an accurate assessment of the actual cognitive demands of the task at hand.

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“…It should be added that the array of hotplates used was the standard square design, which does not have high compatibility with any control arrangement. Stephens et al (2006) compared usability judgements of three forms of hotplate/control arrangements with young and older adults. The forms used were displaced hotplates as in Chapanis and Lindenbaum (1959), sensor lines showing linkages between hotplates and controls and also a standard square arrangement of hotplates.…”

Section: Using Laterally Displaced Hotplates and Sensor Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative approaches to the design of four-burner stoves

Hoffmann

Chan

2011

Ergonomics

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The spatial arrangement of stove hotplates and associated controls and linkages has been of concern to ergonomists. In this study, two different approaches were used to determine preferred arrangements. In the first, one group of participants were given locations of controls and asked to place hotplates; a second group was given hotplate locations and asked to place controls. In each case, linkages were to be indicated. In the second approach, drawings of stove layouts with controls and linkages were given. Scales of preference of control/hotplate layouts were established. Arrangements having high spatial congruence between hotplate and controls were nominated and most preferred by participants in the first approach. In the second approach, it was found possible to discriminate between arrangements that had high spatial congruence and high compatibility between hotplate and control and, hence, to determine 'best' designs in terms of participant preferences. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Most research on stove layout has been with hotplates in a square arrangement. Two different approaches to design show the importance of spatial congruence between hotplate and control for obtaining preferred designs having high compatibility, which are superior from an ergonomics viewpoint.

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Evidence for an Elders' Advantage in the Naive Product Usability Judgments of Older and Younger Adults

Abstract: Because older adults are more discerning about potential product usability problems, they may be particularly valuable as research participants in early-stage design research (prior to the availability of working prototypes).

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Iconic Sign Comprehension in Older Adults: The Role of Cognitive Impairment and Text Enhancement

Iconic Sign Comprehension in Older Adults: The Role of Cognitive Impairment and Text Enhancement

Reducing working memory load in spoken dialogue systems

Alternative approaches to the design of four-burner stoves

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