The effects of different interface presentation modes and users' individual differences on users' hypertext information access performance

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction effects of different interface presentation modes (text-only and text/graphic) and individual differences (cognitive style and computer experience) on users' hypertext information access performance. The study employed a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. The three independent variables were cognitive style (field dependent, field independent), level of computer experience (less experience, more experience), and interface presentation mode (text-only, text/graphic). Performance was assessed by task scores, completion time, number of cards searched, and number of blocking loops.

Sixty-one undergraduate students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign voluntarily participated in this experiment. The experiment was carried out in two stages. First, subjects filled out the background information sheet, completed the computer experience inventory questionnaire, and took the Group Embedded Figure Test (Wltkin et al., 1971). Second, subjects were assigned to either text-only or text/graphic interface presentation modes and were requested to locate answers to the simple fact-based task questions in the Western Civilization Hypertext Information System.

The findings of the study lead to the following conclusions. (1) The field-independent users performed significantly better on hypertext information access tasks than the field-dependent users in the text-only interface presentation mode. However, in the text/graphic interface presentation mode the field-dependent users performed slightly better than in the text-only interface presentation mode indicating that this text/graphic interface presentation mode may be somewhat beneficial to the field-dependent users. (2) Users with different levels of computer experience (less and more) performed about equally well on hypertext information access tasks in the text-only and the text/graphic interface presentation modes. Both less-experienced and more-experienced computer users' performance were slightly improved (not statistically significantly different) in the text/graphic interface presentation mode. (3) Cognitive style was found to be a significant factor on users' hypertext information access performance in both text-only and text/graphic interface presentation modes, and was more influential than the computer experience factor.