Persuasive technology is defined as any computer technology that is designed to change the attitudes and behaviors of users through persuasion and social influence, but not through coercion (Fogg, 2002). This area of research encompasses a wide range of technological systems, design frameworks, human behavior theories, and research methodologies. As research in this area continues to grow, new insight is being gained into persuasive system design and human behavior psychology.
In the book Persuasive Technology 5th International Conference, a collection of essays are presented covering a wide range of themes and topics related to persuasive technology. Some of the themes that are discussed in the book include emotions and user experience, ambient persuasive systems, persuasive design, persuasion profiles, designing for health, psychology of persuasion, embodied and conversational agents, economic incentives, and future directions for persuasive technology. Each of these themes are explored through a variety of different research projects each of which utilize qualitative and/or quantitative methodological approaches.
In order to conduct a review of Persuasive technology 5th International Conference, I have picked four essays and divided them into similar themes of technological inquiry. Each essay will be analyzed through comparative analysis in order to identify strengths and weakness of their methodological approaches. I will also identify qualitative and quantitative methodologies that occurred throughout the book and provide insight into how similar projects differentiated in their research approaches. Two research methodologies that will be discussed in this review include;
A qualitative approach by analyzing an existing persuasive technology through the lens of a persuasive theory or design framework. This research method tries to identify what persuasive techniques are currently being used by persuasive technologies and how they might be improved through better design.
A qualitative approach by analyzing existing design frameworks and theories in order to create a new persuasive technology. The new design is then tested and analyzed using quantitative and/or qualitative research and analysis.
Two essays on Persuasive Technology in Health Related Websites
In the essays: Pitfalls In Persuasion: How Do Users Experience Persuasive Techniques in a Web Service?, and Persuasive Features in Six Weight Loss Websites: A Qualitative Evaluation, a qualitative approach was used to analyze existing persuasive technologies in order to to provide new insight into existing design frameworks. Although both essays analyzed current weight-loss websites, I felt Pitfalls to Persuasion had a more effective approach for conducting qualitative research.
In the research project Pitfalls to Persuasion, a qualitative analysis of a popular weight- loss website was done though the use of online questionnaires and personal interviews to gain insight into user perspectives. Qualitative data was also collected through the use of the Persuasive System Design Model. This model provides a way to analyze and evaluate persuasive systems by identifying the intent (persuader, change type), event (use context, user context, and technology context), and strategy (message, route) used by the persuasive system. The PSD model also identifies 28 persuasive techniques that are categorized into primary task support, dialogue support, system credibility, and social support.
Using the PSD Model, the researchers of Pitfalls to Persuasion identified key persuasive techniques utilized by the weight-loss website and created questionnaires and interviews to to provide qualitative data on how users experience these techniques. I found this research approach to be very effective because it provided a deeper understanding of why persuasive technologies may be unsuccessful even if they implement persuasive techniques identified by existing models. For example, one of the core techniques identified by the PSD model is self-monitoring (allowing users to track online activities with online tools). Although the weight-loss website utilized this strategy by allowing users to track their calories online, the questionnaires and interviews revealed that many users were frustrated with the complexity and time commitment of the calorie calculator. The feedback from the questionnaire demonstrates that user experience needs to be taken into consideration when designing self-monitoring systems. This data can only be collected through interviews and questionnaires conducted with the users of the technology being studied.
One problem I had with the research approach of Pitfalls to Persuasion was the researchers only used one weight-loss website for data collection and only focused on problems of persuasive design. Expanding the research field into other weight-loss websites might have revealed other problems with current persuasive techniques that were not identified in the website they focused on. I would have also liked the questionnaires and interviews to focus on positive aspects of the weight-loss website because it would have provided information on what users like about certain persuasive techniques. This would be helpful for future research and design of online persuasive systems.
In contrast to Pitfalls of Persuasion, the essay titled Persuasive Features in Six Weight Loss Website: A Qualitative Evaluation, did not Interview or collect data from online users, but Instead, only used qualitative evaluation by using existing design frameworks and theories. The PSD model was once again used for qualitative analysis, but was applied to multiple websites rather than just one. This allowed for the identification of persuasive techniques that are being used across several current weight-loss websites, but did not provide any information on user perspectives. I think the addition of online interviews or questionnaires with users would have added more depth to the project and provided better insight into how to design better weight-loss technologies. For example, one technique that was identified as having strong support in most of the weight-loss websites was social support. While this is an important technique identified by the PSD model, an understanding of how user's experience the social support systems of current weight-loss websites would have provided important information for future persuasive technology development. This was clearly shown in Pitfalls of Persuasion, which found that many users did not relate to the online forums or felt uncomfortable sharing private information online.
The use of qualitative research through online questionnaires, surveys, and interviews is an important research method that could add new insight to many of the research projects in Persuasive Technology, 5th International Conference. Using existing design models and frameworks can help to identify what techniques are being used effectively or ineffectively in current persuasive technologies, but it assumes many ideas about how users experiences those techniques. Qualitative research through online surveys and questionnaires can help nullify some of these assumptions and let the users speak for themselves.
Two essays on Persuasive Technology in health related Websites
Another research method that was used in many of the research projects in Persuasive Technologies, 5th International Conference, was a qualitative analysis of previous research and design frameworks in order to create new persuasive technologies. The technology was then tested through quantitative and/or qualitative analysis in order to discover how users felt about the technology and if it was an effective system for attitude and behavior change.
Two research projects that I found particularly interesting that created new persuasive technologies and tested them on human subjects was Ambient Persuasive Technology Needs Little Cognitive Effort: The Differential Effects of Cognitive Load on Lighting Feedback versus Factual Feedback, and Designing for Persuasion: Toward Ambient Eco-Visualization for Awareness. In Ambient Persuasive Technology, research was conducted through a literature review which provided information on existing theories and helped guide the researchers when designing their project. The design idea was then tested on human subjects by having each participant perform ten tasks using a digital thermostat to program temperatures based on simulated scenarios. Feedback was given either through ambient lighting on the wall (green for low energy, red for high) or through factual feedback by providing users with the amount of wattage being used. Results indicated that less energy was used when feedback was provided by the lighting system than factual feedback.
One problem I had with this research project was no interviews or questionnaires were conducted with the participants after the study was completed. I thought this would have provided important information on why users reacted better to the lighting system than the factual design. I felt the researchers made conclusions about the project which were true, but couldn't explain why users reacted the way they did beyond the theoretical explanations they discovered in their literature review. Interviews with participants might have uncovered new information about user experience with ambient technologies or might have revealed problems with the project that the researchers might have overlooked.
Another issue I had with this research project was the actual testing of the project done in a very short time period. I think this creates problems because users may react to the persuasive system in a certain way because of the novelty of the technology. Perhaps if the study was done over the course of a couple months and done in the context of the users house results may have been different. Although this may have been impossible due to financial and time restraints of the project, it would have been helpful to acknowledge these limitations in the discussion section of the essay.
In another project , Designing for Persuasion: Toward Ambient Eco-Visualization, two ambient technologies were created as widgets for the apple laptop computer. The widgets provided feedback on energy consumption in two different visual forms, one consisting of meters, and the other using eco-visualization of a coral reef. The goal of the project was to test if ambient displays can be an effective technology for reducing energy consumption, and if so, what type of visual form is most best for achieving this behavior.
One approach that I found be effective about this project was the test subjects implemented the technology into their day to day lives by downloading it off a server and installing it on their laptop computer. This allowed for the technology to be tested in a real world context, which I think is important for understanding how users truly react to the persuasive technology. Another research approach I found effective about this project was in addition to the quantitative data that was collected, qualitative research was also conducted by interviewing test subjects after the study was complete. This provided a deeper understanding of the quantitative data results and allowed for the users to express what they did and did not like about the ambient display technologies. This contrasted from the other study mentioned above, which made conclusions from only quantitative data.
Concluding Thoughts
The four essays/projects I have discussed in this review represent only a small portion of the essays in Persuasive Technology, 5th International Conference. I chose these essays because I felt they demonstrate how research approaches can differentiate across projects of similar persuasive technology inquiry. Comparing and contrasting these projects helps to highlight shortcomings and good practices of research methodology in persuasive design. I felt the use of qualitative research through online surveys, interviews, and questionnaires to be very helpful for providing a deeper understanding of the persuasive technologies being investigated. Although this approach was outside of the scope of some of the projects, I think interviews are extremely important for understanding user perspectives and providing a deeper understanding of quantitative data results. If possible, which often is not, I also think it best to conduct the research project over a long time period in context of real world settings. This will provide more accurate results of how effective the technology will be if it becomes a real product and is used in people's day to day lives. One area that I think I could have covered better in my review was the quantitative approaches used by the different research projects. Unfortunately, I don't have much background in this area so it will be important for me to become more familiar with quantitative research as I move forward with my project.
Overall I found Persuasive Technology, 5th International Conference to be a very good book for anyone interested in persuasive research and design. The book provides insight into new theories and design ideas that can helpful for anyone interested in designing their own persuasive technology. The book demonstrates how broad the field of persuasive technology is and how it can be used in a variety of different contexts for achieving behavior change. I think this book will be very helpful for designing my own research project because each essay provides a frameworks for how to approach research methodology in this field. As I continue forward with my project I think it will be important to incorporate research approaches that I found to be most effective from this book.
Ploug, T., Hasle, P. F. V., Oinas-Kukkonen, H., & SpringerLink. (2010). Persuasive technology. Berlin: Springer.
Fogg, B. J., & Books24x7, I. (2003). Persuasive technology. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
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