User Preference Analysis of a Sustainable Workstation Design for Online Classes: A Conjoint Analysis Approach

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the sudden shift of the interactions between students and teachers from the four corners of the classroom to fully online learning through the workstations. By using a conjoint analysis approach, this study aimed to evaluate the preference of undergraduate students from the Philippines on the workstation design attributes during the pandemic. Seven attributes were examined through orthogonal design: the type of gadget, keyboard, mouse, earpiece, desk, kind of chair, and light device. Through a purposive sampling approach, a total of 315 undergraduate students from the Philippines were gathered. Through an online survey with two holdouts, the respondents voluntarily responded to 51 stimuli produced by IBM SPSS using a 7-point Likert scale. Type of gadget (37.925%) was found to be the most significant attribute preferred by the students, followed by the type of mouse (28.345%), kind of chair (14.840%), type of keyboard (7.548%), earpiece (7.177%), light device (2.109%), and desk (2.056%). It is worth noting that the preferred workstation design combination is the personal computer, mechanical keyboard, wired mouse, headset, height-adjustable table, high-back office chair with neck support, and floor lamp. This study is the first to use a conjoint technique to examine undergraduate students’ preferences for workstation design attributes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, by applying the attributes and design developed in this study, the conjoint method can be used and expanded to evaluate the workstation design attributes of other courses and even employees worldwide.

Determining Ergonomic Appraisal Factors Affecting the Learning Motivation and Academic Performance of Students during Online Classes

“…Researchers suggest that tables must be designed to have drawers, adequate space for an individual's body parts, and an adjustable length and angles of tables, while chairs should have lumbar support and hand rests, wheels, and footrests [79]. As evaluated by Gumasing et al [11], the workstation design during the online learning setup promoted the type of gadgets being used in elearning, followed by the mouse used, kind of chair, keyboard, earpiece, light devices, and the desk used. These were the preferences of students in the Philippines which correlate to their satisfaction and performance.…”

“…Additionally, according to specific academic studies, the PLS-SEM sample size should range from 200 to 500 [29,30]. Following the study by Gumasing et al [11], students who are taking up online classes in the Philippines can be represented by 300, generalizable. The sample size is appropriate since 316 respondents were obtained for this study to assess learning motivation and academic performance as seen in Figure 1.…”

“…Those that were able to utilize online learning were still challenged and were not ready, especially because of the availability of the internet in developing countries [9]. Students' learning capabilities [10], adoption of technology [6], and working environment [11] were key challenges as ergonomic appraisals during the onset of online learning. These factors are focused on aspects such as cognitive, macro-ergonomics, and physical ergonomics.…”

“…It is increasingly vital to assess these factors, as one study reported that students have little access to other working equipment and materials at home, which plays a role in their academic performance [13]. It was reported that students have constantly relied on regular home chairs, textbooks, laptops, hours of sitting at their desks, and technology usage [11]. Moreover, it was also proved that workstation design, light, noise, temperature, and even color could impact learning ability, distraction, and discomfort.…”

Indonesian martial artists’ preferences in martial arts schools: Sustaining business competitiveness through conjoint analysis

“…Conjoint analysis is a well-known statistical approach that identifies consumer preferences by evaluating business attributes [18,19]. Attributes refer to the value of product or service characteristics [18].…”