Papers
A few things I've written.
Thesis
Title: The Effect of Consistent and Inconsistent Evidence and the Presence and Absence of Risk Evidence on the Perceived Risk of Acquiring AIDS
Year: 1995
Institution: Idaho State University
Abstract: This study examines how people perceive the risk of acquiring AIDS. It is important to understand how people integrate AIDS information so that information concerning AIDS can be presented more appropriately. Experiment 1 examines the relationship between various behaviors that contain some degree of risk for acquiring AIDS and the perceived risk of acquiring AIDS. Experiment 2 manipulates three independent variables concerning the perceived risk of acquiring AIDS: presence or absence of risk behavior, consistent and inconsistent evidence, and high, medium, and low levels of perceived risk. Results indicate that (a) people integrate the presence of medium and high risk behaviors in a non-additive manner, (b) inconsistent evidence is perceived as a higher risk than consistent evidence, and (c) high, medium, and low-risk behaviors are integrated differently. Implications of results are discussed.
Download: thesis.pdf
Dissertation
Title: Touch Screen Performance as a Function of the Duration of Auditory Feedback and Target Size
Year: 1999
Institution: Wichita State University
Abstract: Touch screens are commonly used in the retail industry as a replacement for mechanical key based devices. However, data entry speed and error rates are often worse with touch screens than with mechanical key based devices, possibly due to the decreased proprioceptic feedback provided by touch screens. An appropriate auditory feedback signal may help compensate for the reduced proprioceptic feedback and increase touch screen performance. Three studies were conducted to empirically evaluate the effect of the duration of auditory feedback (12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, & 800 ms) and target size (10 mm × 10 mm & 30 mm × 30 mm) on touch screen ten-key entry movement time, contact time, and errors. Results indicate that (a) performance is better with large targets than small targets, and (b) error rates with small targets are reduced if auditory feedback between 50 and 400 ms is provided. Design recommendations for touch screen point of sale interfaces are discussed.
Download: dissertation.pdf