Testing a model of user‐experience with news websites

Abstract

Although the Internet has become a major source for accessing news, there is little research regarding users' experience with news sites. We conducted an experiment to test a comprehensive model of user experience with news sites that was developed previously by means of an online survey. Level of adoption (novel or adopted site) was controlled with a between-subjects manipulation. We collected participants' answers to psychometric scales at 2 times: after presentation of 5 screenshots of a news site and directly after 10 minutes of hands-on experience with the site. The model was extended with the prediction of users' satisfaction with news sites as a high-level design goal. A psychometric measure of trust in news providers was developed and added to the model to better predict people's intention to use particular news sites. The model presented in this article represents a theoretically founded, empirically tested basis for evaluating news websites, and it holds theoretical relevance to user-experience research in general. Finally, the findings and the model are applied to provide practical guidance in design prioritization. IntroductionNews media have had a constantly increasing web presence since the middle of the 1990s, when most of the major news providers in the Western world launched online versions of their newspapers. More recently, with the rapid spread of handheld electronic devices, such as tablet computers, smart phones, and e-book readers, online publishing has become a major source of media use. For example, by August 2012, sales of electronic books on Amazon surpassed those of print books by 14%, including print books with no electronic editions and excluding free electronic books (Malik, 2012). With regard to the decline of print news publishing in the United States, Mitchell and Rosenstiel (2012) report that, in 2011, losses in print advertising revenue outweighed gains in online advertising revenue 10 to 1, and that in terms of the combined circulation and advertising revenue, the print-newspaper sector has shrunk by 43% since 2000. The increase in the use of online news, as opposed to print news, is not attributable only to the spread of Internet-enabled handheld devices. Mitchell and Rosenstiel also point out that 8 in 10 people who access news on smart phones or tablets also access news on conventional computers. News sites are becoming the primary source of accessing news and daily information. The success of interactive products, such as news sites, is largely influenced by the extent to which they promote positive experiences in their users (Law & van Schaik, 2010). Indeed, research in user experience (UX) is primarily motivated by the notion that high-quality experiences with interactive products promote the adoption and repeated use of these products (Hassenzahl, 2003). Model of UX with News SitesNews sites differ from other types of websites in many aspects, which carry important implications to their use, experience of use, evaluation, and quality criteria. News sites are a specific ...

Facets of Website Content

“…De McKinney et al, 2002;Shukla et al, 2010), their intention to revisit and loyalty (e.g. Aranyi & van Schaik, 2016;Kim & Niehm, 2009;Thielsch et al, 2014).…”

“…Existing research stress the importance of user perceptions: A number of studies find that subjective perceptions of website content are systematically related to general user reactions, such as overall attitudes and satisfaction (e.g., Kang & Kim, 2006;Palmer, 2002;Shukla, Sharma, & Swami, 2010), perceived ease of use, usefulness, and usability (e.g., Ahn, Ryu, & Han, 2007;Thielsch et al, 2014), trust (e.g., De Wulf et al, 2006Rahimnia & Hassanzadeh, 2013;Seckler et al, 2015), perceived website quality (e.g., Aladwani & Palvia, 2002;Kincl & Štrach, 2012), perceived overall service quality (e.g., Liu & Arnett, 2000;Yang et al, 2005), purchase intentions and sales performance (e.g., Hsieh et al, 2015;Shukla et al, 2010;Thongpapanl & Ashraf, 2011;Verhagen, Boter & Adelaar, 2010), website success, or website preference in terms of commitment, loyalty, and the intention to revisit (e.g., Aranyi & van Schaik, 2016;De Wulf et al, 2006;Kim & Niehm, 2009) or to recommend a website (e.g., Cober et al, 2003;Kim & Niehm, 2009;Thielsch et al, 2014). However, these studies are mostly correlational and use partly diverging conceptualizations of web content.…”

“…Publications covering the specific facet Accessibility / availability Abdinnour-Helm et al (2005), Caro et al (2008), Karreman et al (2007), , Ranganathan & Ganapathy (2002), Smith (1997) Accuracy / adequacy / correctness / consistency / reliability of information Aladwani & Palvia (2002), Aranyi & van Schaik (2016), Cao et al (2005), , De Marsico & Levialdi (2004), , , McKinney et al (2002), Ozok & Salvendy (2001), Parker et al (2006), Seckler et al (2015), Smith (1997), Sutherland et al (2005), Tsakonas & Papatheodorou (2006), Yang et al (2005) Amount of information / data Caro et al (2008), Kang & Kim (2006), Palmer (2002), Spyridakis (2000) broadness / diversity / specificity / variety of information Agarwal & Venkatesh (2002), Aladwani & Palvia (2002), Caro et al (2008), Clarke et al (2008), , Palmer (2002), Rosen & Purinton (2004), Selden & Orenstein (2011), Smith (1997) Completeness / sufficiency Aladwani & Palvia (2002), Caro et al (2008, DeLone & McLean (2003), Moustakis et al (2006), Parker et al (2006), Smith (1997) Conciseness of content Aladwani & Palvia (2002), Caro et al (2008), Spyridakis (2000) * Clarity / comprehensibility / ease of understanding / intelligibility / understandability …”

Improving Heart disease risk through quality-focused diet logging: pre-post study of a diet quality tracking app

“…Among these mobile health apps, diet monitoring is one of the most popular domains. Reasons attribute to diabetes and obesity leading as the top two fields producing revenue in the mobile health market (4) and their significance in impacting public health. A systematic review of mobile applications showed that mobile health apps increased adherence to diet monitoring and reduced efforts to maintain diet without using the apps (5).…”

The effect of cognitive and affective aspects on usability

“…In the information systems (IS) domain, it has been suggested that a design's affective dimensions, including colours, images and shapes, affect the overall perception of the information system. Numerous studies conducted decades ago focussed on such emotional aspects as enjoyment (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw 1992;Head, and Ivanov 2009;van Schaik and Ling 2011;Aranyi and van Schaik 2016). Therefore, although research on acceptance of new technologies has been primarily centred on cognitive dimensions, awareness of the importance of the affective dimension in design, in relation to a growing perception of utility, reveals the need to adopt cognitive-affective models to analyse and design information systems (Kwong et al 2016).…”