Sandra P. Roth

Bio: Sandra P. Roth is an academic researcher from University of Basel. The author has contributed to research in topics: Usability & Web page. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 12 publications receiving 611 citations.

Is beautiful really usable? Toward understanding the relation between usability, aesthetics, and affect in HCI

Abstract: This paper analyzes the relation between usability and aesthetics. In a laboratory study, 80 participants used one of four different versions of the same online shop, differing in interface-aesthetics (low vs. high) and interface-usability (low vs. high). Participants had to find specific items and rate the shop before and after usage on perceived aesthetics and perceived usability, which were assessed using four validated instruments. Results show that aesthetics does not affect perceived usability. In contrast, usability has an effect on post-use perceived aesthetics. Our findings show that the ''what is beautiful is usable'' notion, which assumes that aesthetics enhances the perception of usability can be reversed under certain conditions (here: strong usability manipulation combined with a medium to large aesthetics manipulation). Furthermore, our results indicate that the user's affective experience with the usability of the shop might serve as a mediator variable within the aesthetics-usability relation: The frustration of poor usability lowers ratings on perceived aesthetics. The significance of the results is discussed in context of the existing research on the relation between aesthetics and usability.

Mental models for web objects: Where do users expect to find the most frequent objects in online shops, news portals, and company web pages?

Abstract: In interface development, it is crucial to reflect the users' expectations and mental models. By meeting users' expectations, errors can be prevented and the efficiency of the interaction can be enhanced. Applying these guidelines to website development reveals the need to know where users expect to find the most common web objects like the search field, home button or the navigation. In a preliminary online study with 136 participants, the most common web objects were identified for three web page types: online shops, news portals, and company web pages. These objects were used for the main study, which was conducted with 516 participants. In an online application, prototypical websites had to be constructed by the participants. Data analysis showed that Internet users have distinct mental models for different web page types (online shop, news portal, and company web page). Users generally agree about the locations of many, but not all, web objects. These mental models are robust to demographic factors like gender and web expertise. This knowledge could be used to improve the perception and usability of websites.

Location matters, especially for non-salient features-An eye-tracking study on the effects of web object placement on different types of websites

Abstract: Users have clear expectations of where web objects are located on a web page. Studies conducted with manipulated, fictitious websites showed that web objects placed according to user expectations are found faster and remembered more easily. Whether this is also true for existing websites has not yet been examined. The present study investigates the relation between location typicality and efficiency in finding target web objects in online shops, online newspapers, and company web pages. Forty participants attended a within-subject eye-tracking experiment. Typical web object placement led to fewer fixations and participants found target web objects faster. However, some web objects were less sensitive to location typicality, if they were more visually salient and conformed to user expectations in appearance. Placing web objects at expected locations and designing their appearance according to user expectations facilitates orientation, which is beneficial for first impressions and the overall user experience of websites.

Randomized controlled comparison of two cognitive behavioral therapies for obese children: mother versus mother-child cognitive behavioral therapy

Abstract: Background: Parent-child treatments have been shown to be superior to child-focused treatments of childhood obesity. Yet until now, the comparative effectiveness of parent-only and

Simple but Crucial User Interfaces in the World Wide Web: Introducing 20 Guidelines for Usable Web Form Design

Abstract: Most websites use interactive online forms as the main contact point between users and website owners (e.g. companies, governmental institutions, ect.). Therefore, a proper design of such forms is crucial to allow smooth information exchange. It can be decisive on the success or failure of an online transaction. Users mostly visit a website with an intention that is related to the content of that site (e.g. purchasing an article, gathering information). Hence, they do not visit a website with the intention or goal of filling in a web form. Let us illustrate this with an online shopping example: Once users have chosen the items that they wish to buy, they want to finish their shopping as quickly, easily and safely as possible. But to successfully complete the shopping process users have to provide some personal data such as shipping address or credit card information. In the users perception, an online form may be perceived as a hurdle. There is evidence that unusable web forms lead to customers aborting the transaction prematurely, resulting in loss of profit (Wroblewski, 2008). To prevent such dropouts from the buying process, a revision of the form is necessary. A successful redesign of a suboptimal online form may result in an increased completion rate in the range of 10%-40% (Wroblewski, 2008). For instance, the eBay User Experience and Design Group reported that a redesign of the eBay registration form made a significant contribution to eBay’s business and user success (Herman, 2004). The World Wide Web contains a wide range of different web form design solutions for similar interface aspects and problems. Exemplarily, Figure 1 shows four different ways of implementing and communicating format restrictions to users. It can be seen, that even website developers of major companies choose very different ways to solve the same problems. This raises several important questions: Are these solutions equivalent or are there ways that lead to superior web forms in terms of an enhanced usability? Would it not be advantageous to use similar solutions for similar problems, so that predictability for users can be increased? Are there different solutions that may be used depending on the developer’s intentions? In the last years a growing body of research and guidelines have been published on how to make online forms more usable. They answer to a certain extent the questions mentioned

Remembering. A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, Cambridge (University Press) 1964.

Abstract: Part I. Experimental Studies: 2. Experiment in psychology 3. Experiments on perceiving III Experiments on imaging 4-8. Experiments on remembering: (a) The method of description (b) The method of repeated reproduction (c) The method of picture writing (d) The method of serial reproduction (e) The method of serial reproduction picture material 9. Perceiving, recognizing, remembering 10. A theory of remembering 11. Images and their functions 12. Meaning Part II. Remembering as a Study in Social Psychology: 13. Social psychology 14. Social psychology and the matter of recall 15. Social psychology and the manner of recall 16. Conventionalism 17. The notion of a collective unconscious 18. The basis of social recall 19. A summary and some conclusions.

Interventions for treating obesity in children

Abstract: Childhood obesity affects both the physical and psychosocial health of children and may put them at risk of ill health as adults. More information is needed about the best way to treat obesity in children and adolescents. In this review, 64 studies were examined including 54 studies on lifestyle treatments (with a focus on diet, physical activity or behaviour change) and 10 studies on drug treatment to help overweight and obese children and their families with weight control. No surgical treatment studies were suitable to include in this review. This review showed that lifestyle programs can reduce the level of overweight in child and adolescent obesity 6 and 12 months after the beginning of the program. In moderate to severely obese adolescents, a reduction in overweight was found when either the drug orlistat, or the drug sibutramine were given in addition to a lifestyle program, although a range of adverse effects was also noted. Information on the long-term outcome of obesity treatment in children and adolescents was limited and needs to be examined in some high quality studies.

The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust.

Abstract: A growing reliance on the Internet as an information source when making choices about tourism products raises the need for more research into electronic word of mouth. Within a hotel context, this study explores the role of four key factors that influence perceptions of trust and consumer choice. An experimental design is used to investigate four independent variables: the target of the review (core or interpersonal); overall valence of a set of reviews (positive or negative); framing of reviews (what comes first: negative or positive information); and whether or not a consumer generated numerical rating is provided together with the written text. Consumers seem to be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is negative. However, positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases both booking intentions and consumer trust. The results suggest that consumers tend to rely on easy-to-process information, when evaluating a hotel based upon reviews. Higher levels of trust are also evident when a positively framed set of reviews focused on interpersonal service.

Going Native: Effects of Disclosure Position and Language on the Recognition and Evaluation of Online Native Advertising

Abstract: Despite recent industry attention, questions remain about how native advertising is perceived and processed by consumers. Two experiments examined effects of language and positioning in native advertising disclosures on recognition of the content as advertising, effects of recognition on brand and publisher evaluations, and whether disclosure position affects visual attention. Findings show that middle or bottom positioning and wording using “advertising” or “sponsored” increased advertising recognition compared to other conditions, and ad recognition generally led to more negative evaluations. Visual attention mediated the relationship between disclosure position and advertising recognition. Theoretical, practical, and regulatory implications for disclosures in native advertising are discussed.

Diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obese children from the age of 6 to 11 years

Abstract: Background: Child and adolescent overweight and obesity has increased globally, and can be associated with significant short- and longterm health consequences This is an update of a Cochrane Review published first in 2003, and updated previously in 2009 However, the update has now been split into six reviews addressing different childhood obesity treatments at different ages Objectives: To assess the effects of diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions (behaviour-changing interventions) for the treatment of overweight or obese children aged 6 to 11 years Search methods: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, LILACS as well as trial registers ClinicalTrialsgov and RsdI1401 Diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obese children from th 2 / 499 ICTRP Search Portal We checked references of studies and systematic reviews We did not apply any language restrictions The date of the last search was July 2016 for all databases Selection criteria: We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diet, physical activity, and behavioural interventions (behaviour-changing interventions) for treating overweight or obese children aged 6 to 11 years, with a minimum of six months' follow-up We excluded interventions that specifically dealt with the treatment of eating disorders or type 2 diabetes, or included participants with a secondary or syndromic cause of obesity Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently screened references, extracted data, assessed risk of bias, and evaluated the quality of the evidence using the GRADE instrument We contacted study authors for additional information We carried out metaanalyses according to the statistical guidelines in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Main results: We included 70 RCTs with a total of 8461 participants randomised to either the intervention or control groups The number of participants per trial ranged from 16 to 686 Fifty-five trials compared a behaviour-changing intervention with no treatment/usual care control and 15 evaluated the effectiveness of adding an additional component to a behaviour-changing intervention Sixty-four trials were parallel RCTs, and four were cluster RCTs Sixty-four trials were multicomponent, two were diet only and four were physical activity only interventions Ten trials had more than two arms The overall quality of the evidence was low or very low and 62 trials had a high risk of bias for at least one criterion Total duration of trials ranged from six months to three years The median age of participants was 10 years old and the median BMI z score was 22 Primary analyses demonstrated that behaviour-changing interventions compared to no treatment/usual care control at longest follow-up reduced BMI, BMI z score and weight Mean difference (MD) in BMI was -053 kg/m2 (95% confidence interval (CI) -082 to -024); P < 000001; 24 trials; 2785 participants; low-quality evidence MD in BMI z score was -006 units (95% CI -010 to -002); P = 0001; 37 trials; 4019 participants; low-quality evidence and MD in weight was -145 kg (95% CI -188 to -102); P < 000001; 17 trials; 1774 participants; low-quality evidence Thirty-one trials reported on serious adverse events, with 29 trials reporting zero occurrences RR 057 (95% CI 017 to 193); P = 037; 4/2105 participants in the behaviour-changing intervention groups compared with 7/1991 participants in the comparator groups) Few trials reported health-related quality of life or behaviour change outcomes, and none of the analyses demonstrated a substantial difference in these outcomes between intervention and control In two trials reporting on minutes per day of TV viewing, a small reduction of 66 minutes per day (95% CI -1288 to -031), P = 004; 2 trials; 55 participants) was found in favour of the intervention No trials reported on all-cause mortality, morbidity or socioeconomic effects, and few trials reported on participant views; none of which could be meta-analysed As the meta-analyses revealed substantial heterogeneity, we conducted subgroup analyses to examine the impact of type of comparator, type of intervention, risk of attrition bias, setting, duration of post-intervention follow-up period, parental involvement and baseline BMI z score No subgroup effects were shown for any of the subgroups on any of the outcomes Some data indicated that a reduction in BMI immediately post-intervention was no longer evident at follow-up at less than six months, which has to be investigated in further trials Authors' conclusions: Multi-component behaviour-changing interventions that incorporate diet, physical activity and behaviour change may be beneficial in achieving small, short-term reductions in BMI, BMI z score and weight in children aged 6 to 11 years The evidence suggests a very low occurrence of adverse events The quality of the evidence was low or very low The heterogeneity observed across all outcomes was not explained by subgrouping Further research is required of behaviourchanging interventions in lower income countries and in children from different ethnic groups; also on the impact of behaviour-changing interventions on health-related quality of life and comorbidities The sustainability of reduction in BMI/BMI z score and weight is a key consideration and there is a need for longer-term follow-up and further research on the most appropriate forms of post-intervention maintenance in order to ensure intervention benefits are sustained over the longer term