Data-Driven Personas Creation Based on the CHARLS Database: Analyzing the Interaction Design of Mobility Aid for the Chinese Elderly with Difficulty in Indoor transferring

Abstract

China has entered into a light aging society and is gradually moving into the moderate aging society stage. A portion of the elderly with indoor transferring difficulties has become the core user of mobility aid design. In order to construct a persona for this relevant population, the data of the elderly in various fields in the CHARLS database from 2018 was sorted, and a hierarchical clustering analysis was conducted using 12 variables of 119 samples. Based on the overall variability of sample variables, the elderly with indoor transferring difficulties in China were classified according to the similarity of their characteristic data. The results of the hierarchical clustering analysis indicated that the elderly with indoor transferring difficulties in China can be divided into seven clusters. By sorting and refining the data of each cluster, seven data-driven personas containing their characteristic labels were obtained. By utilizing the cluster characteristics, the design direction of the mobility aid was determined, and a summary was made of the mobility aid 's functional features and corresponding interactive solutions for the physical needs of the elderly with indoor transferring difficulties in China.