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Website Preferences |
| Introduction Technology Issues and Decisions Phase I: Color Preference Test Phase II: Shades of Difference Phase III: Website Preferences |
Phase III | Experiment Design Experiment DesignIntroduction The third phase of COPE testing goes beyond color preference but continues to look at gender preferences, this time in regard to website design. It also continues to examine whether or not web content--technological, social, or artistic--influences preferences. Websites within each category reflect a variety of design elements and styles with some being mostly utilitarian to others being artistic or unusual. Additionally, at least one of the four websites in each category is mostly blue since that color was the overwhelming preference in COPE 1. While there is a not a great
deal of research that looks at gender preference and websites, there are
a few studies that look at gender preferences and design (Joiner, 1996;
Gorriz & Medina, 2000; Whitley, 1996, 1997). General studies dealing
with website interaction (Lin & Lu, 2001; Benbunan-Fich, 2001; Bachiochi,
et al., 1997) also provided background for this phase of the study. Four websites in each of the three categories were chosen. Test participants were given one minute each to explore the four websites within each category. After examining the websites, test participants, undergraduate Information Technology and Informatics students, were asked a series of questions about their preferences. Not only were they asked which of the four websites they preferred, they also were asked questions about the content and ease of use for the website they chose. These questions covered satisfaction with information, ease of navigation, artistic design, and attractiveness of color scheme. Participants were then asked whether they would recommend the website to others, whether they would revisit it themselves, and what changes they would make to the website. Students were also asked to indicate their gender. After finishing each set of questions, the students proceeded automatically to the next of the three groups of websites. Questions were the same for each of the three website categories. Websites
Designed for the Experiment Project C.O.P.E.: Content,
Organization, Preference, Evaluation
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