Trial lecture title: "Technology Acceptance: Key factors and design principles, in particular for 'digital immigrants'."
The ordinary opponents are:
- First opponent: Professor Klaus Miesenberger, Johannes Kepler University, Austria
- Second opponent: Associate Professor María José Rodríguez Fórtiz, University of Granada, Spain
- Leader of the evaluation committee: Associate Professor Yury Kiselev, OsloMet
The leader of the public defence is Professor Ellen Karine Grov, Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Weiqin Chen, Faculty of Technology, Art and Design, OsloMet
The co-supervisors are Professor Astrid Bergland, Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet, and Professor Morten Fjeld, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg.
Thesis abstract
Quality of life is an important area of concern reflecting the health status and well-being of older people. It is a multidimensional concept, and older people often value social relationships as important elements in their quality of life.
Previous studies have shown that information and communications technology (ICT) has the potential to enhance older people’s social interactions. However, ICT designers often fail to consider the special needs of this user group.
This has resulted in usability issues that contribute to low technology acceptance among them. Tangible user interface (TUI), which couples digital information with physical object, has been considered a more intuitive user interface for older people.
Despite its potential, research in TUI for the older people's technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life has not been fully explored.
There is therefore a need to design and develop TUI applications that accommodate the special needs of older people and study their impact on home-dwelling older people’s technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life.
Aims
This research’s overarching goal is to explore how TUI can impact on home-dwelling older people’s technology acceptance and quality of life by enhancing their social interactions.
The main aims of the study are threefold:
- to study the-state-of-the-art of TUI for the older people’s social interactions and identify the knowledge gaps in this research field
- to design and develop a TUI application based on the literature review and the older people’s needs
- to study the impact of TUI use on the older people’s technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life.
Methods
The research consists of three main stages:
- the systematic literature review
- the design and development of the TUI application, Tangible Cup
- the three-month empirical study evaluating the use of Tangible Cup in relations to technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life.
The systematic literature review followed the guidelines for systematic literature reviews in software engineering.
User-centered design and co-design approaches then guided the design, implementation, and usability testing process for developing the TUI application used in the empirical study.
Finally, a mixed of qualitative and quantitative approach was used in the three-month empirical study with 20 older participants where they used Tangible Cup to make calls and talk to each other.
Systematic literature review
Article I: The findings show that although TUI was introduced 20 years ago, very little research on TUI for the older people’s social interactions has been carried out, i.e. 21 relevant papers were identified.
Several recommendations were identified for future research, including involving older people in the whole research process from designing to evaluating the prototype, investigating the effect of TUI on older people’s social interactions and health, conducting interdisciplinary research and longitudinal study in TUI for their social interactions, and developing guidelines for designing TUI for them.
Design and development of the TUI application
Article II: Tangible Cup was developed through four iterations of design, implementation and usability testing with ten participants.
Through the processes, a list of lessons learned was gathered which can serve as guidelines for what to consider when designing TUI for older people and when involving older people in the design process of TUI and general ICT.
Empirical study
Articles III and IV: The quantitative data shows that 12 out of 16 participants (20 were recruited, but four withdrew after one month) had positive changes in their technology acceptance. No statistically significant change in the quality of life was found.
A few statistically significant correlations were observed between changes in the dimensions of quality of life and the dimensions of technology acceptance. The strongest correlation was a positive correlation between the general assessment of quality of life with attitude in technology acceptance.
This indicates that using Tangible Cup could help the participants feel more positive when using ICT and thus assess their quality of life better. The qualitative data shows that some participants enjoyed the conversations.
They even thought of further developing the friendship and meeting in person. Usability challenges, such as failure to log out properly and no battery level indication on the cup attachment, were identified.
Nevertheless, all the participants agreed about the potential of Tangible Cup. Through the qualitative data analysis, we have also identified the target user group that TUI can be suitable for.
Conclusions
This interdisciplinary research contributes to adding new knowledge regarding TUI’s potential for improving older people’s technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life.
When designing TUI for them, integrating TUI into their daily life and considering their diversity are important.
The potential of TUI for the older people and research design considerations for implementing and evaluating TUI from the perspective of technology acceptance, social interactions, and quality of life over a longer period time frame are among the new knowledge that clinicians, practitioners, and policy-makers can utilize.
