This page provides links and brief descriptions of Internet-based studies that the research group has or is conducting using our toolkit, WebLab-UX. Feel free to click on the study links below to explore the study sites as they appeared to study participants.
To examine different studies or different study conditions, close and shut down your browser and then restart the browser and reopen the study you are interested in viewing.
The Effect of Textual Previews and Navigational Menus on User Perceptions, Comprehension, and Behavior. This study was recently conducted by graduate students and Professor Jan Spyridakis. It investigated the effect of textual overviews (present with embedded links, present with link list, absent) and navigation menus (present, absent) on comprehension, perceptions, and navigation behavior. Results are currently being analyzed but intial findings reveal that previews with embedded links positively influence inferential comprehension and the navigation menus encourage site exploration. Further, users tend to prefer link arrangements that give them freedom to click and they tend to dislike having to read an overview paragraph and click embedded links in order to explore a Web site. Intriguingly, as we have found before, users do not always like what is good for them. Mobrand, K., Cuddihy, E., Galore, E., and J.H. Spyridakis. For more information, see The Effect of Structural Cues on User Comprehension, Navigational Behavior, and Perceptions in the Proceedings of the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (Seattle, October), 2007.
The Effect of Motivational Elements, Text Structure, and Comprehension Timeframe on Retention, Comprehension, Perceptions, and Behavior with an Instructional Web Site. This study was recently conducted by three researchers visiting from the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands. The study investigates the effect of motivational elements in text (none, relevant information, confidence engendering information), text structure (steps, paragraphs), and test time (immediately after reading, three-day delay) on comprehension and perceptions of instructional information. Results are currently being analyzed.
The Effect of Intra-Article Navigation Design on Web Site Users' Comprehension, Perceptions, and Behavior. This study evaluated the effect of four alternative designs for navigation within a Web-based article. The study assessed users' comprehension, perceptions, and browsing behavior with an article on minimally invasive knee surgery. Results are being analyzed. For more information, see Conducting Remote, Internet-based Experiments on Web Design in the Proceedings of the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (Ireland, July), 554-561, 2005.
The Effect of Heading Phrasing on on Browsing Behavior, Comprehension, and Perceptions. This study evaluated the effect of heading phrasing (elaborate wording, Plain English, question syntax) on browsing behavior, comprehension, and perceptions of a Web article on Rheumatoid Arthritis. The study ended early due to subject recruitment contstraints.
The Effect of Generic, Informative, and Intriguing Link Wording on Browsing Behavior, Comprehension, and Perceptions. This study examined the effect of three versions of hyperlink wording (generic, informative, or intriguing) in two link locations (navigation menus and embedded in text) on the browsing behavior, comprehension, and perceptions of people who browsed a Web site about American Samoa at the time and location of their own choice. Participants browsed the Web site and then took a post survey about their perceptions of the site and their factual and inferential comprehension of the information presented in the site. Background to the study and preliminary methods are reported in Evans et al. (2004); the tools we constructed to support the work (such that the experimental conditions were dynamically generated and assigned as subjects came to the study, and such that data could be parsed from specially constructed log files) are discussed in Barrick et al. (2004). A full article about the project is under review (Wei et al. (2005). Presentations about this study can be found on our Presentations Page.