Self-Service Aversion: correlations between Experience Design and rejection of bank ATMs by some users
I'm so excited: my Design and Psychology research has been approved in one of the most important design scientific journals in the country, “Estudos em Design”, which is Qualis CAPES A1.
The beginning
It all started with observation. I noticed that in various scenarios where there were self-service machines, many humans still preferred to be served by other humans. In the cafeteria, at the supermarket, at the airport, and in the bank branches.
If a machine is there to quickly place an order without waiting in line, why do many still choose to order from a human cashier? Or ask for help to use the machine that was made for self-service…?
I considered that this behavioral phenomenon could be directly related to the profile of Brazilians, but when I lived in Houston for a few months, I noticed a similar resistance.
Hypotheses
Could it be a user interface design problem, or are there emotional issues linked to this aversive behavior?
To continue the research, I defined three hypotheses:
- There are psychological factors that influence human preferences when they choose human assistance over using an ATM;
- Those who rely on human assistance may experience anxiety about their ability to perform tasks autonomously;
- The fear of making mistakes in public is a significant factor in increasing resistance to self-service.
Method
I went out into the field to observe humans. I stood in front of bank branches and analyzed the behavior of those seeking assistance when using the ATM.
Then, with permission, I conducted a questionnaire to 221 individuals. This is the Contextual Inquiry Method, a user research method used to understand the context in which people perform tasks or interact with a product or system. It involves observing and interviewing users in their natural environment while they engage in real-life activities related to the product or system being studied.
Analysis
With the investigation and answers, I delved deeper into the psychological aspects, linking cognitive biases based on the literature review I had conducted.
I created dozens of contingency tables with the responses, defined correlations between them, did a lot of crazy calculations — I explain further below in case you’re crazy about mathematics and statistics —, and was able to understand the magnitude of the correlation between psychological and behavioral factors and aversion. Phew! This is the Contingency Coefficient, a statistical method.
Statistical Analysis (boring stuff)
Then, an analysis from the perspective of Human Experience Design and Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology was conducted, allowing the construction of inferences and results by articulating theories about the collected data and observations made throughout the study.
For that, I used cross tabulations, chi-square tests, and modified contingency coefficients to demonstrate the dependence between the main qualitative variables derived from the survey.
The chi-square test was employed to verify the presence of association among categorical variables, while the contingency coefficient was utilized to examine the degree of association, with values close to 1 indicating a high degree of association between the variables.
Long story short: the statistical analyses facilitated the identification of the influence of psychological factors on the behavior and perception of banking customers. The contingency coefficient (C*) used in this study is expressed by the formula below:
Where:
- X² is the chi-square statistic, calculated from the observed and expected frequencies (under the assumption of independence) from the contingency tables.
- N is the total number of observations in the contingency tables.
- k is the smaller number of rows and columns in the contingency tables.
Conclusion
Finally, I gave it a name: Self-Service Aversion, a tendency of some people to prefer human assistance over automated service, which is built upon four constructs:
- Sense of uncertainty: doubts about how to perform tasks is an important factor in resistance to self-service technology.
- Environment: the people around worsen the aversive behavior.
- Sense of accountability: the more important the task, the higher the aversion.
- User interface design: the screen, being the point of contact between the user and the service, significantly impacts the user experience.
With the results of this research, it became evident that the user experience is not only determined by the user’s interaction with the screen, but by the combination of numerous factors and variables, from psychological and behavioral aspects to the interaction between humans and machines.
👉 I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW: Were you hesitant to use any self-service machines out there? Comment on your experience.
👉Available at: https://estudosemdesign.emnuvens.com.br/design/article/view/1707
