Institutionen för datavetenskap

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1 Institutionen för datavetenskap Department of Computer and Information Science Final thesis A Method for Evaluating the Persuasive Potential of Software Programs By Ammu Prabha Kolandai LIU-IDA/LITH-EX-A--12/056 SE Linköpings universitet SE Linköping, Sweden Linköpings universitet Linköping

2 Linköping University Department of Computer and Information Science Final Thesis A Method for Evaluating the Persuasive Potential of Software Programs by Ammu Prabha Kolandai LIU-IDA/LITH-EX-A--12/056 SE Supervisor: Eva L. Ragnemalm Examiner: Magnus Bång

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4 Upphovsrätt Detta dokument hålls tillgängligt på Internet eller dess framtida ersättare från publiceringsdatum under förutsättning att inga extraordinära omständigheter uppstår. Tillgång till dokumentet innebär tillstånd för var och en att läsa, ladda ner, skriva ut enstaka kopior för enskilt bruk och att använda det oförändrat för ickekommersiell forskning och för undervisning. Överföring av upphovsrätten vid en senare tidpunkt kan inte upphäva detta tillstånd. All annan användning av dokumentet kräver upphovsmannens medgivande. För att garantera äktheten, säkerheten och tillgängligheten finns lösningar av teknisk och administrativ art. Upphovsmannens ideella rätt innefattar rätt att bli nämnd som upphovsman i den omfattning som god sed kräver vid användning av dokumentet på ovan beskrivna sätt samt skydd mot att dokumentet ändras eller presenteras i sådan form eller i sådant sammanhang som är kränkande för upphovsmannens litterära eller konstnärliga anseende eller egenart. För ytterligare information om Linköping University Electronic Press se förlagets hemsida Copyright The publishers will keep this document online on the Internet or its possible replacement from the date of publication barring exceptional circumstances. The online availability of the document implies permanent permission for anyone to read, to download, or to print out single copies for his/hers own use and to use it unchanged for noncommercial research and educational purpose. Subsequent transfers of copyright cannot revoke this permission. All other uses of the document are conditional upon the consent of the copyright owner. The publisher has taken technical and administrative measures to assure authenticity, security and accessibility. According to intellectual property law the author has the right to be mentioned when his/her work is accessed as described above and to be protected against infringement. For additional information about the Linköping University Electronic Press and its procedures for publication and for assurance of document integrity, please refer to the webpage: Ammu Prabha Kolandai.

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6 Abstract Today, web, Internet, mobile and other ambient technologies engage in persuasive interaction with people. The technology designed to reinforce and change user s attitude or behaviors or both through persuasion and social influence are persuasive technologies. Recently, persuasive systems and services are becoming increasingly abundant and ubiquitous. Evaluation of these systems is a challenging endeavor and typically requires a simple and efficient method. Nielsen suggests heuristic evaluation as a method for intuitive, inexpensive and easy evaluation of a user interface design. The purpose of this thesis is to examine heuristic evaluation as a method to evaluate the persuasive potential of software programs. The Heuristics used were operationalized version of Fogg s persuasive design principles. Software programs MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Counter- Strike, The Sims, Stone and Plan Eat Smile were chosen with the goal of measuring their ability to change behavior or attitude of users. The Evaluation was performed on the software programs using three evaluators and the test results indicated that they possess significant persuasive potential. It was concluded that the set of heuristics which were developed can be used to perform summative heuristic evaluation and the method used was helpful in evaluating the persuasive potential of software programs.

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8 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Eva L. Ragnemalm for providing me this thesis opportunity. Her guidance and suggestions certainly made this project a lot easier to complete. I would like to thank my examiner, Magnus Bång for his presence and feedback. Thanks to Johan Åberg, for assisting me with Plan Eat Smile. I would like to especially thank my evaluators Florent and Hongzhan, who gladly offered me their time. Special thanks go to my Dad, Mom and brother Siddharth for their endless love and encouragement throughout my studies.

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10 Table of Contents 1 Introduction Background Purpose Method Thesis Structure Literature Review Defining Persuasion Persuasive Technology Captology Types of Persuasion Levels of Persuasion Functional Triad Credibility and computers Computers as persuasive Tools Computers as a Persuasive Media (Simulation) Computers as a persuasive social actors Applications of Persuasive Systems Evaluation of Persuasive Systems Heuristic Evaluation Usability inspection methods vs. usability testing Why Heuristic Evaluation Ten Usability Heuristics General Procedure Test Objects Tools Microsoft Word Microsoft PowerPoint Computer Games Counter-Strike The Sims Educational Programs STONE Plan Eat Smile... 29

11 4 Test Conduction Test Procedure Operationalization of the principles into heuristics Test Participants Evaluator A Evaluator B Evaluator C Test Analysis & Discussion Test Observations Test Results Evaluators Agreement Comparative Study Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Appendix A: Heuristics Appendix B: Evaluation Feedback Appendix C: Results Summary Appendix D: Data Calculation... 82

12 Table of Figures Figure 1: Fogg's Captology... 7 Figure 2 : Types of Persuasion... 8 Figure 3 : QuitNet, an online smoke cessation program... 9 Figure 4 : Fogg's Functional triad Figure 5 : Key dimensions of Credibility Figure 6 : Nike Sports Kit, a persuasive tool Figure 7 : Baby think it over, a persuasive simulator Figure 8 : Smokey Bear, a persuasive social actor Figure 9 : Alcohol 101 Plus, online program against alcohol drinking Figure 10 : Powerhouse, a game for energy saving Figure 11 : Shower calendar Figure 12 : Usability problems Vs. No: of Evaluators Figure 13 : Screenshot: Microsoft Word Figure 14 : Screenshot: PowerPoint presentation Figure 15 : Screen shot: Counter-Strike game Figure 16 : Screenshot: Sims Game Figure 17 : Screenshot: Stone Figure 18 : Screenshot: Plan Eat Smile Figure 19 : Mean: MS Word Figure 20 : Mean: MS PowerPoint Figure 21 : Mean: Counter-Strike Figure 22 : Mean: The Sims Figure 23 : Mean: Stone... 44

13 Figure 24 : Mean: Plan Eat Smile Figure 25 : Evaluator Agreement: MS word Figure 26 : Evaluator Agreement: MS PowerPoint Figure 27 : Evaluator Agreement: Counter-Strike Figure 28 : Evaluator Agreement: The Sims Figure 29 : Evaluator Agreement: Stone Figure 30 : Evaluator Agreement: Plan Eat Smile Figure 31 : Mean for group of principles... 54

14 List of Tables Table 1 : Types of Credibility Table 2 : Evaluator A Table 3 : Evaluator B Table 4 : Evaluator C Table 5 : Heuristic Evaluation Form Table 6 : Five-Point Rating Scale Table 7 : Overall Mean Calculation... 37

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16 1 Introduction 1.1 Background In today s world, people interacting with computer-based devices and systems are commonplace. We use numerous interactive products such as mobile phone, the web, calculator, video game, ticket machine, ATM and many more in our daily life. Most products require users to interact with them in order to perform their tasks e.g. playing music from an ipod or purchasing tickets online from the web. Generally, interactive products or devices are engineered as systems to accomplish a specific function or set of functions and it may not be necessarily created with users in mind. The practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services for people s use is referred as Interaction design. It is observed as the fundamental to all disciplines, fields, and approaches that are concerned with research and designing computer based systems. The main objective of interaction design is to develop interactive products that are efficient, easy and enjoyable to use from the user s perspective. In other words, it is about building user experiences that enhance and augment the way people work, communicate, and interact (Newman & Lamming, 1995). According to ISO definition, user experience is a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service. It is essential that the designers should know about users, technologies, and interactions between them in order to develop an effective user experience. Persuasive technology has emerged as a new discipline with the ability to influence all aspects of the way in which users interact with computers. Persuasion is intended communication that affects how others think, feel, or act toward some object, person, group or idea (Cegala, 1987). Systems which are designed to intentionally change or reinforce user s attitude or behavior through persuasion process, without involving coercion or deception are known as persuasive systems. Fogg labels this phenomenon as persuasive technology (Fogg, 2003). Persuasive design shapes a product's user experience so that the user's actual interaction with the product changes their behavior. Persuasive technologies 1

17 can be categorized by their functional roles such as tools, media, or social actors or as more than one at once which is referred as Functional Triad. It is based on how people view, use or respond to the computing technologies. Recently, Persuasive technology has rapidly established a wide range of applications in many fields of research and development like marketing, education, entertainment, health care, safety and environment. These persuasive applications are increasingly developed to have systems that can motivate and provide opportunities for positive change in behavior. Though persuasive technologies are found in many domains, considerable recent interest has centered on behavior change in health and environment domains. Here are some examples of persuasive technologies: Mind bloom is an online life game that encourages users to set goals, priorities and targets at improving the quality of life by building meaningful relationships. The game represents a user s life as a Life Tree whose branches include: Career, Creativity, Finances, Health, Lifestyle, Relationships, and Spirituality. It motivates user to take steps to fulfill his or her goals, the Life Tree grows and the user is rewarded with seeds that can be used to unlock new features. Mind bloom also incorporates a social networking aspect where users are encouraged to share their trees with friends (Kientz et al., 2010). Pos or not is an online game to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. It shows real photographs of real people and asks the player to choose whether the person pictured has HIV positive or negative. The game result proves that it is really hard to assume a person by their looks and it raises the consciousness of the users about their body, health and motivates to get tested and to know more about HIV. Also, it demands users for postal code to locate the nearest testing centers. Users are encouraged to join the game by uploading photos and sharing their personal details (Inc, 2009). Code red rover is an interactive home safety website that offers games, activities, home safety checklists, safety tips for kids, parents, and teachers. It motivates children to make safe, smart choices in and around the home by providing home safety checklist, and template for creating escape plan. It also provides sources to know and read about other kids who are home safety heroes, or to submit a story or artwork (Council, 2004). More applications of persuasive systems will be discussed in the section 2.4. The framework and principles developed by Fogg, offers valuable means for understanding persuasive technologies but they seem to be too general when applied to design and evaluate persuasive systems. Therefore, evaluation of persuasive technologies requires a fully-operational prototype and long-term deployment (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2008). Ever since it was 2

18 first introduced by Jakob Nielsen, Heuristic evaluation has been a classic and popular usability inspection method in the field of human-computer interaction. Practitioners have stated that heuristic evaluation as an efficient method to discover significant usability problems at various stages of the design process (Nielsen & Mack, 1994). Heuristic evaluation method has been widely adopted, and lately, there has been progress in the development and validation of more specialized heuristics for evaluating technologies. This thesis work helps to explore the use of summative heuristic evaluation as the method to design and evaluate persuasive technologies. 1.2 Purpose The main objective of this thesis is to examine summative heuristic evaluation as a method to evaluate the Persuasive potential of software programs. Based on Fogg s design principles, a set of heuristics are designed and developed to be more appropriate for evaluating technologies which aim at persuading users. The specialized heuristics are categorized as providing system credibility, Computer as a persuasive tool, computer as a persuasive medium and computer as a persuasive social actor. The software programs used for evaluation are tools MS Word and MS PowerPoint, computer games The Sims and Counter-Strike, and educational programs STONE and Plan Eat Smile. Using three expert evaluators, the method of heuristic evaluation is performed. This thesis shows how efficient is the heuristics developed and how effective is the method used in assessing the software programs which results in behavior change. Following Research questions will be addressed during this thesis: Does the different heuristics which are developed exhibit different behavior? Does the specialized heuristics developed can be used to evaluate different software technologies? What insights can we get about the evaluated software using the method? How effectual is the method heuristic evaluation to assess the software programs? 3

19 1.3 Method This section describes the steps and procedure used to explore heuristic evaluation as a method to examine the persuasive potential of software programs. First, the research was initiated with literature study about persuasive technology, Fogg s design principles and the method heuristic evaluation. Specialized heuristics were developed based on persuasive principles presented by Fogg. Six software programs such as MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Counter-Strike, The Sims, Stone and Plan Eat Smile were chosen with the goal of measuring their persuasive potential. It also helps to find whether the set of heuristics developed can be applied to evaluate the software technologies. Tools MS Word, MS PowerPoint is designed with no persuasive intentions and is expected to exhibit low persuasiveness on the heuristics scale. Games Counter-Strike, the Sims are expected to be persuasive by its nature but it is tough to predict. Counter-Strike being a violent game and Sims being a non-violent game, they were chosen in order to identify whether the nature of the game affects the persuasiveness and results in behavior change. Educational Programs Stone, Plan Eat Smile are assumed to engage persuasive strategies to reinforce learning. These software programs were selected because an effective method used for evaluation should be able to discriminate the programs based on their persuasive features and exhibit diverse results. Using the method of heuristic evaluation, three expert evaluators performed the test evaluation on the test objects i.e. six software programs. Each expert reviewed the software individually and reported with a feedback. Once the evaluators have worked their way through the goals set and provided their ratings and comments, it was recognized as results. This result was used to determine the persuasiveness of the technologies. Consequently, this helps to show how helpful is the method used in assessing the persuasive potential of the software programs. 1.4 Thesis Structure The thesis is organized as follows: Firstly, literature review is presented with good understanding of the topics: persuasion, persuasive Technology, functional triad, applications and evaluation of persuasive systems. Secondly, description about the test objects MS-Word, MS-PowerPoint, The Sims, Counter-Strike, Stone, and Plan Eat Smile. Thirdly, explanation about test conduction where it discusses about the procedure, specialized heuristics and test participants used to perform the evaluation. Finally, the test analysis, discussion and conclusion of this thesis work are presented. 4

20 2 Literature Review 2.1 Defining Persuasion Fogg defines persuasion as an attempt to shape, reinforce, or change behaviors, feelings, or thoughts about an issue, object, or action (Fogg, 2003). It is a form of interaction that targets at changing the way people think, feel or act. The user experience is a significant factor that should be included in the persuasion process. Researchers show considerable interest in the study of persuasion and theories from social psychology as they can be used for predicting user intentions and behavior (Harjumaa & Oinas-Kukkonen, 2007). The study of persuasion helps to improve the persuasion process and acts as a key element in designing successful persuasive systems. The information systems and services that target at persuading and motivating people by altering their attitudes and behaviors are known as persuasive systems. It is important that persuasive systems should not involve the concept of coercion and deception. Coercion implies force or compulsion and deception involves misinformation and act of deceiving people. Three successful goals of a persuasive system are reinforcement, changing, shaping of attitudes and behaviors. A reinforcing outcome means the strengthening of present attitudes, making them more impervious to change. A changing outcome means alterations in a person s response to a problem, e.g. to social questions. A shaping outcome means the creation of a pattern for a situation when such one does not exist earlier. In many cases, a shaping outcome may have a greater probability of success than interaction that aims at behavior change. Different purposes may involve the use of different persuasion strategies and techniques. Since computing technology is prevalent, it allows persuasive messages through technology to be interactive instead of altering and adjusting the design of interaction based on the characteristics or actions of the persuaded party. Researchers and industry both have developed a number of applications that use software, mobile technologies, games, and websites that encourage and motivate people. The web, internet and mobile 5

21 technologies increase the likelihood for persuasive communication as they reach people simple and faster. Foursquare and Mint are good examples of putting the concept of persuasion into practice. Foursquare is a location based social networking website for mobile devices such as smart phones. Once registered, the application persuades users to posts their location at a venue which they call "check-in" and to connect with friends. Users are also convinced to add pictures, personal information to have a profile and to choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook, or both. Users are awarded with points at each check-in and it also offers badges like Newbie, Adventurer, Explorer etc., by checking into various venues and cities. Mint is a free web based application for personal financial management. It persuades people by simplifying the tasks of managing all their financial accounts through a single user interface. It has options like budget, cash flows, alerts, advices where it provides a good overview of the user s bank accounts, sending reminder to pay bills on time and suggestions to maintain a good budget. The application can also be accessed from mobile and other digital services like ipad, Tablets that act as an easy and fast way to track user s bank transactions and expenditure. Both applications use persuasive strategies like reduction, rewards, suggestions which will be discussed in section Persuasive Technology Persuasive technology is a recent research field that integrates both computing and human psychology aspects. It is defined as the technology designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not through coercion (Fogg, 2003). While the concept of persuasive technology can sometimes comprise a range of definitions, persuasive technologies can also be categorized by whether they change attitude and behaviors through direct interaction or through a mediating role (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2008). Most popular persuasive technology research centers on health, safety, environment and education. Persuasive technology can also be used in other domains like marketing, religion, politics, diplomacy, and management. A variety of interfaces have been used for persuasive technologies, including interactive web-based applications, computer and video games, computerized toys and many more. On the other side, persuasive technology could also be used 6

22 unethically. For instance, People might be convinced to buy products which they really do not desire or need. As computers are machines, they do not possess objectives of their own. There is a golden rule which is used to guide is that the creators of a persuasive technology should never ask to persuade anyone of something they themselves would not consent to be persuaded of (Berdichevsky & Neuenschwander, 1999). It can be briefly said as that designers of persuasive technology should not create any product that persuades someone to do or think something that they, the designers would not want to be persuaded of themselves. Designers are the ones who build, distribute, or adopt the technology and who have the intention to influence someone s attitudes or behavior. It is considered that the responsibility of the designer is to develop ethical and reliable technologies and systems. The following section explains Captology, types and levels of persuasion Captology B.J. Fogg is the first scientist to express the concept of "Captology," a word he devised to illustrate the overlap between persuasion and computers. Fogg defined Captology as design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of changing people s attitude or behaviors. According to Fogg, persuasion is based on intentions and not on results whereas Captology focuses on endogenous intent built into products not on exogenous intentions (Fogg, 2003). Figure 1: Fogg's Captology- Computing technology and Persuasion Overlap, Adapted from (Fogg, 2003) 7

23 When a technology is deliberately designed with the purpose to persuade and it has planned persuasive effects, the technology inherits endogenous intent. For example, energy conservation game which targets the user with a purpose to change the behavior and thoughts towards energy saving. When someone personally chooses to use a technology with the intention to change his or her own thoughts or actions, the technology is said to inherit exogenous intent. For example, Zune mp3 player is not a persuasive product by design but a person buys the product to play music and considers that listening to music encourages him/her to stay active and happy Types of Persuasion Understanding a persuasive system needs a detailed study of the persuadee, message, channel and context. Persuadee is a human information processor which observes at the individual attributes that can either retard or propel persuasion. Persuader is one who or that which persuades, influences, or leads on. Messages are conveyed through channels, with nonverbal and verbal social interactions. The situation in which the message is delivered is referred as context and it may include the surrounding environment or broader culture. Originally, persuasion has been regarded as a communication process in which a persuader sends a persuasive message to a persuadee or audience (individuals or groups to which the message is delivered). The aim of the persuader is mostly to convince the persuadee with the idea of altering the attitudes or behavior, even though always letting the persuadee with the power of decision and control. Figure 2 : Types of Persuasion, adapted from (Fogg, 2003) 8

24 Three types of persuasion exist: Interpersonal persuasion, human-computer persuasion and computer-mediated persuasion (Fogg, 2003). Interpersonal persuasion happens when two or more people interact with each other, involving e.g. verbal and non-verbal behavior, feedback and coherence of behavior. Human-computer persuasion is the study of how people are persuaded when interacting with computer technology e.g. Apple laptop persuades people by their design. Computer-mediated persuasion means that people are persuading others through computermediated communication, e.g. discussion forums, , or social network systems like Facebook, Google+, Twitter and more. Persuasive systems may employ either human-computer persuasion or computer mediated persuasion Levels of Persuasion The technology can persuade on two levels, macro and micro. Macrosuasion refers to products that are used exclusively for persuasion. The overall target of the product would be to persuade and to have behavioral change. For instance, Figure 3 QuitNet shows good example for Macrosuasion which is developed to motivate users to quit smoking. Figure 3 : QuitNet, an online smoke cessation program (Health, 1995 ) QuitNet is an online smoke cessation program which helps people to quit smoking. It has applications like Quit Gadget that helps to calculate the money and lifetime that users have saved by quitting. Quit Wizard and self-assessment quizzes persuade the user to plan and pick a date to 9

25 stop smoking. QuitNet encourages users by providing certificates for achievement of each quitting milestone and gadget stats. The website displays the list of active users celebrating their quitting anniversaries and also sends greeting cards and s for appreciating smoke quitters (Fogg, 2003). Microsuasion refers to products that include small persuasive elements meant to persuade and they do not have an overall intent. Microsuasion can be just feedback or rating system in an online websites like e-bay, IMDB where they do not have an overall goal to persuade but they incorporate in smaller persuasive amounts to achieve a completely different target (Fogg, 2003). E-Bay is an online shopping website which has a feedback mechanism where both buyers and sellers are encouraged to rate one another at the end of each transaction. It motivates users to be trustworthy and responsible in order to have a good feedback, seller rating and these ratings are valued by the customers. It also encourages sellers by giving reward like ebay top-rated seller badge. IMDB (Internet Movie Database) has a rating scale where the users are influenced to provide their feedback and reviews for a movie, series or television show. To encourage this, it displays overall rating in a star, Meta score, Top 500 features which are valued by the viewers. 2.3 Functional Triad B.J.Fogg proposes the Functional Triad as a classification of three basic ways that people view or respond to computing technologies. The persuasive technology can function as tools, media or social actors based on the functional role of the computing device or system. Figure 4 : Fogg's Functional triad, adapted from (Fogg, 2003) 10

26 Firstly, the computer as a persuasive tool can encourage people by performing some behavior easier or more capable to do, or guiding people through a process or performing calculations or measurements that motivates. Secondly, the computer as a persuasive medium can influence by permitting people to explore cause-and-effect relationships, or affording people with vicarious experiences that motivate or helping people rehearse activities. Thirdly, the computer as a social actor can persuade by rewarding people with positive feedback, or exhibiting a target behavior and providing social support (Fogg, 2003) Credibility and computers It is significant for the designers of persuasive technology to understand the concepts of credibility. Credible products have the ability to change thoughts and behaviors, to motivate and persuade. Fogg refers credibility as believability; Credible people are believable people; credible information is believable information. Basically, researchers describe credibility as a perceived quality made up of multiple dimensions which does not reside in an object, a person, or a piece of information. Therefore, in discussing the credibility of a computer product, one is always discussing the perception of credibility. If the credibility for a product is low, the potential for behavior change is also considerably low. Although studies vary on how many dimensions contribute to credibility evaluations, the vast majority of scholars identify two key components of credibility: Trustworthiness Expertise In evaluating credibility, a person makes an assessment of both trustworthiness and expertise to attain at an overall credibility valuation. Figure 5 : Key dimensions of Credibility, adapted from (Fogg, 2003) 11

27 Trustworthiness is described as system that is observed as truthful, fair and unbiased will have increased powers of persuasion. The three main aspects of trustworthiness are credibility of source, arguing against own interests, familiarity. Website provides information about its products rather than simply marketing information. Expertise is a system that is viewed as incorporating expertise (knowledge, experience, and competence) will have increased powers of persuasion. Website updates information on a regular basis without obsolete data. Four Types of Credibility Fogg s four types of credibility are presumed, reputed, surface and earned. TYPES Presumed credibility Surface credibility Reputed credibility Earned credibility EXPLANATION When user trusts someone or something because of general assumptions in their mind. User makes initial assessments of the system credibility based on a firsthand inspection. Recommendations from credible third-party endorsements, reports, or referrals. Performance consistent with expectations (positive). Table 1 : Types of Credibility Credibility perceptions can strengthen or weaken over time, but once lost, credibility may be hard to regain. (Near) Perfection is a principle that emphasizes computing technology will be more persuasive when it never commits errors or mistakes (or very few and easily explained) (Fogg, 2003). 12

28 2.3.2 Computers as persuasive Tools As tools, persuasive technology increases the ability of users to perform a target behavior by simplifying target. Persuasive principles suggested by Fogg are reduction, tunneling, tailoring, suggestion, self-monitoring, surveillance and conditioning. Reduction means using technology to simplify complex tasks. The aim of this strategy is to make the desired behavior more tempting by making it easier for the user. For instance, some online shops don t make you fill out forms during registration, instead request you to provide your personal number where it automatically fills out your details for signing up new account. Tunneling means guiding the user through a process or experience provides opportunities to persuade. Tunneling makes it easier to go through a process for the users. For designers, it controls what the user experiences - the content, possible pathways and the nature of the activities. Software installation provides a simple example of tunneling technology. It helps you through the process, step by step. Tailoring means tailoring information to the user's specific situation, interests, personality or needs increases the persuasive effect. Tailoring has been acknowledged as one of the most potential persuasive strategies in e-commerce. They discount coupons, offer newsletters to keep customers informed of new products and promotions. Suggestion means intervening at a time when the target behavior is/would be relevant or at opportune moments, which means interacting with the user at the right time and in the right context and place. Application for healthier eating habits advises children to eat fruits instead of chocolate at a snack time. Self-monitoring means systems that allowing people to monitor themselves and learn from information on their actions in order to change their behavior. Simulations can persuade by enabling them to observe immediately the link between the cause and the effect. Heart rate monitor displays user s heart rate and the duration of the exercise. Surveillance technology is based on the overt monitoring of other people s behavior and it increases desire to fulfill perceived expectations. For example, Parental Controls in antivirus software like Norton where it helps to track children s online activities. 13

29 Conditioning means using operant conditioning to have immediate positive reinforcement after target behavior. The levels, game points and rewards provided in online games like angry birds makes the player to continue the game and play more. Example of a persuasive tool Nike + IPod Sports kit Nike ipod Sports Kit is a tool that has attempted to motivate people to exercise more. It uses a design that is compatible with the ipod and running shoes. It implies persuasive strategies reduction, suggestion and self-monitoring to have behavioral change. Figure 6 : Nike Sports Kit, a persuasive tool It keeps track of distance covered in a work-out, time to complete individual goals and other fitness benchmarks. It also provides auditory directions for working out, satisfying the role of a virtual personal trainer (Wai & Mortensen, 2007 ) Computers as a Persuasive Media (Simulation) Computer as a persuasive medium discovers the current and potential use of the simulations. Cause and Effect relationships are a scenario that provides simulation and persuades by enabling them to observe immediately the link between the cause and its effect. For example, before and after pictures of people who have lost weight are shown on a weight losing Website. Virtual Rehearsal is defined as a system providing means with which to rehearse a behavior can enable people to change their attitudes or behavior in the real world. Online shopping provides a 14

30 virtual dressing room where you can customize a model to look alike you, and then "try on" clothes. Virtual reward is a system that provides virtual rewards for users in order to give credit for performing the target behavior. Punch cards provided at Subway, a card is stamped with each qualifying purchase. Once you have the required number of punches, you get a free sandwich. This type of reward program persuades people to eat more in subway. Simulations in real-world contexts provide persuasive information vicariously through life-like settings. Baby think it over is a good example. Example of a persuasive medium - Baby Think It Over Baby Think It over Program (BTIO) designed to educate teens about parenting responsibilities. It is a baby stimulator (hi-tech doll) that looks like a human baby and simulates many infant needs. Participants are required to care the baby stimulator, just as they would care an actual baby. It implies persuasive strategies virtual rehearsal, cause and effect relationships and simulations in real-world. Figure 7 : Baby think it over, a persuasive simulator It helps teenagers to understand how much attention a baby needs. In a study of 100 and more young students who participated in this program, 95% of them were not ready to accept the responsibility of parenting. This shows strongly the persuasive potential of BTIO as a simulated object (Fogg, 2003). 15

31 2.3.4 Computers as a persuasive social actors The third corner in the functional triad which persuade by providing a variety of social cues that elicit social responses from their human users. Attractiveness is a System that is visually attractive for its users is likely to be more persuasive. If appearance of the website or design of a game is appealing, it tends to be more persuasive. Similarity is a System that imitates users in some specific way. A good example of similarity, when a user is allowed to alter the graphical layout of an application or personalize his/her character. Praise leads the user to be more receptive to the giver of praise. A System can use praise through words, images, symbols, or sounds as a way to provide positive response for a user. Reciprocity is defined as returning a favor. When the customer is ready to fill a feedback form/ survey then the system is said to be reciprocative. Authority is a system that refers to people in the role of authority. Website displays the logo of ISO 9001 certification. Example of a persuasive actor Smokey Bear Smokey Bear is an online website and mobile application for the prevention of forest fires. Smokey is a fictional character (mascot) of the United States Forest Service created to educate people about the dangers of wildfires. Figure 8 : Smokey Bear, a persuasive social actor (Ad Council, n.d.) 16

32 The role of the smokey motivates people to know the importance of wildlife conservation. The application provides step by step guide for wildfire prevention, smokey s past history, kids' section features "Bear Facts" about Smokey's species, campfire games and stories. It also displays the map of current wildfires across America (Ad Council, n.d.). 2.4 Applications of Persuasive Systems First, the most significant application domain for persuasive systems is health and wellness. For instance, health care technologies can be developed to promote physical fitness, encourage people towards healthy behavior, perhaps delay or prevent medical problems and early death (Kientz et al., 2010). Some popular persuasive applications for health are: Alcohol 101 Plus: Alcohol 101 plus is an interactive online program which fights against alcohol drinking and drunk driving. It aims to help students make safe and responsible decisions about alcohol on college campuses. It has various interactive programs to persuade students in a virtual campus like virtual bar, DUI (driving under the influence), alcohol and the brain. Virtual Bar, Virtual Brain shows how alcohol can influence body functions, activities and actions whereas DUI creates awareness about the issues, legal work, penalties caused as a result of drunk driving. Figure 9 : Alcohol 101 Plus, online program against alcohol drinking (Council, n.d.) 17

33 Figure 9 shows the interactive program in alcohol101plus. It uses the technology of virtual rehearsal and cause and effect where it provides a motivating simulation environment to rehearse a behavior and shows the consequences of user s actions that motivate people to change their attitudes and behaviors in real world (Council, n.d.). Stay Teen: Stay teen is an online website to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. It conducts quiz, polls campaign and also includes videos encouraging teens stay teens and avoid teenage pregnancy. It has featured games and videos which help to evaluate the health of their relationships and know more about birth control measures. Pocket Pikachu: It is a digital pet as a technology that persuades individuals to be physically active on a consistent basis. The user had to walk, run, or jump anything to activate the pedometer. HIV roulette: It is a kiosk that simulates the health threats of having unprotected sexual contact. It provides the user with hypothetical choices about sexual behavior. It uses the cause and effect technology to show how these choices would affect their chances of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Another common application area is energy conservation. New design products and systems are also developed to persuade human behavior towards the aim of saving resources efficiently like saving water and reducing the use of electricity through individual or feedback systems. The Powerhouse: It is a computer game designed to persuade teenagers to have an energy aware lifestyle and to promote efficient use of energy in their homes. The game tries to influence players interest in energy-related issues and improve their knowledge on energy-consuming activities in their houses. In the game, player manages a simulated domestic environment with seven characters. Almost all activities in the game need electrical energy such as taking a shower, washing clothes, and watching television. The objective is to direct the characters to perform the appropriate energy-efficient actions. The game engages many persuasive strategies like cause and effect relationships provides instant 18

34 Figure 10 : Powerhouse, a game for energy saving, source (Bång et al., 2006) feedback for the actions performed, virtual rewards like energy and money meter and conditioning provides sound and visual effects to motivate user to play more (Bång et al., 2006). Shower Calendar: It is a persuasive system for reducing consumption of water used for showering. It introduces a little competition to get people to change their behavior. While in shower, it helps to track water use against everyone else you live with (Laschke et al., 2011). Figure 11 : Shower calendar, adapted from (Laschke et al., 2011) 19

35 2.5 Evaluation of Persuasive Systems In order to study user s thoughts and behavior, theories and methods from social psychology have been applied. These theories were modeled for predicting the user acceptance of the information systems rather than providing systematic analysis and design methods to develop software technologies. Fogg s design principles and framework, which offers first and most utilized theories of persuasive technology but these concepts, are too limited for evaluating persuasive systems. Fogg s principles do not explain how the proposed principles can be modified into software requirements and further implemented as actual system features (Oinas- Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2008). However, there has not been an agreed method for evaluating persuasive systems and it is seen as a very difficult task for several reasons. The main reason concerns the fact that determining the efficacy of persuasive technologies needs a research method to assess whether the persuasive strategies used are functional and effective. A typical research study involves an intervention where variables of interest are measured before and after using the system for target and control groups. The problem is that statistical research approach represents a bottleneck: they are expensive and resource intensive, in terms of the amount of work required, techniques for data collection and the subsequent statistical analysis. Moreover, an additional problem, in terms of system development is that iterative evaluations cannot be done as part of the design process. Therefore, the method for evaluating persuasive systems as described above requires a fully operational prototype and long term deployment. For this reasons, there is a need for quick and inexpensive evaluation method for assessing how successful a technology may be in helping to promote behavior change or the likelihood of longterm adoption (Ragnemalm et al., 2011) Heuristic Evaluation Heuristic evaluation is an informal usability evaluation method in which several evaluators comment on interface design judging based on usability principles termed heuristics. It involves small set of evaluators who analyze whether each dialogue element conforms to the heuristics or not. The main goal of heuristic evaluation is to identify the usability problems in the design so that they can be attended as part of an iterative design process. 20

36 It is considered as an efficient evaluation method as it discovers many usability problems not found by 31 user testing; since it is bounded to specific tasks as user testing is. The evaluation method reveals about twice as many minor problems as major problems in absolute numbers (Nielsen & Mack, 1994). There are two ways to distinguish heuristic evaluation based on their purpose. When it is more intentional on finding problems, it is formative evaluation. This type of evaluation provides design feedback, mostly in the form of a list of problems and recommended solutions. Heuristic evaluation can also be used in a summative manner; it provides an overall assessment of a single interface or a comparison of multiple interfaces, often in the form of numerical data which is statistically analyzed. It also centers on the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of a product. This thesis centers on the summative heuristic evaluation of the persuasive potential of software programs. Some researchers use the term heuristic evaluation in a bit different meaning than Nielsen and Molich. For example, they use the term to specify an evaluation that user interface specialists conduct depending on their experience with similar systems without any specific strategies. In this thesis, the term heuristic evaluation stands for an inspection using heuristics relying solely on the evaluators' expertise Usability inspection methods vs. usability testing According to Nielsen Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. Usability testing is a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. It focuses on determining a human-made product's competence to meet its planned purpose. Usability testing can be regarded as an exclusive usability method, since it offers direct feedback on how real users use the system. However, real users can be difficult or expensive to recruit in order to test all aspects of all the versions of an evolving design. Nielsen conforms that many usability issues are overseen by user testing, but that user testing also discovers problems that are ignored by inspection. 21

37 Usability testing is in contrast with usability inspection methods where experts use different techniques to evaluate a user interface and does not entail users. Usability inspection is the common name used for a set of methods that are all based on having experts review a user interface or examine usability-related aspects of a user interface. Usability evaluators can be usability specialists or experts who should have a broad background in usability evaluation and human computer interface (HCI) design. An example would be in evaluating a website a person who is an expert in HCI and web designing (Nielsen & Mack, 1994) Why Heuristic Evaluation Heuristic evaluation is a popular discount usability technique that enables a few expert evaluators to examine a technology artifact for finding the usability problems. It is easy to learn, cheap and it does not require advance planning so it is also referred as discount usability method. In addition, it can be used very early or any part of the development process, since it does not require a running version of the system. An important advantage of using this technique is to provide some quick and relatively inexpensive feedback to designers. Feedback can be obtained early in the design process as they can be attended to as part of an iterative design. Drawbacks of using this method, it requires a certain level of knowledge and experience to apply the heuristics effectively. Trained usability experts are sometimes hard to find and can be expensive. It is not a thorough method to detect each and every problem and does not provide a systematic way to fix the problems found (Nielsen & Mack, 1994) Ten Usability Heuristics Rolf Molich and Jakob Nielsen developed a set of heuristics that are most likely used in the field of interface design. In 1994, Nielsen came up with a refined set of ten heuristics for user interface design. They are called "heuristics" because they are more in the nature of rules of thumb than specific usability guidelines. Nielsen's Ten Heuristics 1. Visibility of system status 2. Match between system and the real world 3. User control and freedom 4. Consistency and standards 5. Error prevention 22

38 6. Recognition rather than recall 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors General Procedure Number of Evaluators In general, heuristic evaluation is difficult for a single individual to do because one person will never be able to find all the usability problems in an interface. Nielsen recommends using three to five evaluators since one does not gain that much additional information by using large numbers. The evaluation is performed by having each individual evaluator examine the interface alone. In figure 12, Curve shows the proportion of usability problems in an interface found by heuristic evaluation when various numbers of evaluators are added. The curve represents the average of six case studies of heuristic evaluation. The heuristic Evaluation involves essential three stages: a pre-evaluation training session, actual evaluations and debriefing session (Nielsen, 1992). Figure 12 : Usability problems Vs. No: of Evaluators, Source (Nielsen, 1992) Briefing on the Method, the domain and the scenario During training session, a short lecture given to the evaluators as they knew very little about the topic. 23