Culturally-Relevant Persuasive Technology
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Culturally-Relevant Persuasive Technology by Rilla Khaled A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. Victoria University of Wellington 2008 ii iii Abstract Persuasive technology (PT) has been defined by B. J. Fogg as “any interactive com- puting system designed to change people’s attitudes or behaviors”. The kinds of attitudes people hold, and the behaviours they exhibit, are influenced by culture, so cultural beliefs play a large role in persuasion. The cross-cultural psychology literature has demonstrated the power of culture on attitude change. To date, however, there has been limited persuasive technology research outside of coun- tries characterised as having individualist culture, where individualism describes cultures in which society members have a primarily individual identity. Little re- search has explicitly investigated the relationship between persuasive technology and culture. In this thesis, we investigated the hypothesis that persuasive technol- ogy is more effective when it reflects the culture of its intended target audience. Firstly, we established a set of effective, culturally-relevant persuasive technology strate- gies, almost all of which are targeted at use in tools for collectivist audiences. The strategies are based on a combination of findings from the cross-cultural psy- chology literature focused on the dimensions of individualism and collectivism, an analysis of existing PT strategies, and qualitative insights. Secondly, we de- veloped a culturally-relevant PT prototype based on several of our strategies, in the form of two versions of a game titled Smoke? about smoking cessation. One version of Smoke? was designed to be more persuasive for a NZ European player audience, while the other was designed to be more persuasive for a Maori¯ player audience. We conducted focus groups with potential players, the insights of which guided how we applied several of our culturally-relevant PT strategies in the design of the two game versions. Finally, we evaluated both game versions on individualist, and collectivist test players, using both quantitative and quali- tative methods. The results of our evaluation support our hypothesis. Not only did both sets of players engage with, and use the culturally-relevant interface el- ements of the game designed for their culture, they also demonstrated that the culturally-relevant game versions had increased their anti-smoking beliefs. iv Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere gratitude to a number of people, without the help of whom this thesis would simply not exist. My three supervisors James Noble, Robert Biddle, and Ron Fischer, all pro- vided me with excellent guidance and support over the course of this study. Their enthusiasm for the topic was invaluable at times when my own enthusiasm was waning. Everard Halbert and Mena Aukuso were superb gatekeeper ambassadors for my research, and made it possible for me to obtain a Maori¯ and Pacific test player sample. Shona de Sain, Liz Richardson, and Debbie Whare were also very helpful in obtaining players. Over the course of my study, my family and friends have been very support- ive and encouraging, and unexpectedly understanding of my reclusive behaviour during the write-up stage. Mary Barr, Pippin Barr, my father Mohammed Khaled, and Bella Cawthorn did a fantastic job of wading through these foreign pages, by carefully proof- reading and editing chapters. Matt Duignan and Richard Procter kindly provided their excellent expert opinion on Smoke? during the development phase. Pippin, my lovely husband, also provided much1 general mental health relief, and took on the role of the world’s most patient research assistant. The participants involved in this study (all 200 of them... give or take a few!) contributed invaluably towards my research, and made the whole experience in- credibly rewarding. The social marketing organisation members I interviewed deserve a special mention, as they not only agreed to participate, but maintained ongoing communication with me over the entire duration of my study, which enriched my research. Finally, without the support of TEC, the Health Sponsorship Council, and the Royal Society of New Zealand, I really would have been a starving student. 1SO MUCH! v vi Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Overview . 1 1.2 Problem context . 1 1.3 Methodology . 2 1.4 Contributions . 3 1.5 Delimitations and limitations of the study . 4 1.6 Thesis structure outline . 5 1.7 Publications . 7 2 Background 9 2.1 Persuasive technology . 9 2.1.1 Fogg’s PT tool strategies . 10 2.1.2 Persuasive technology research . 11 2.1.3 Games as persuasive technology . 14 2.1.4 Discussion . 17 2.2 Culture . 17 2.2.1 Definitions . 17 2.2.2 Cross-cultural comparisons . 18 2.2.3 Discussion . 21 2.3 Cultural aspects of HCI . 23 2.3.1 Covert culture . 23 2.3.2 Cultural metaphors . 24 2.3.3 Cultural dimensions . 24 2.3.4 Discussion . 25 2.4 Cross-cultural psychology and consumer behaviour . 26 2.4.1 Cultural styles in advertising . 27 2.4.2 Individualism, collectivism, and persuasion . 27 2.4.3 Stability of cultural preferences . 28 2.5 Limitations of the current approaches . 29 vii viii CONTENTS 3 Methodology 31 3.1 Overview . 31 3.1.1 Culture and persuasion . 31 3.1.2 Research design . 33 3.1.3 Research phases . 34 3.1.4 Researcher bias . 34 3.2 Theory Development . 35 3.2.1 Objectives . 35 3.2.2 Process and methods . 36 3.3 Prototype Development . 38 3.3.1 Objectives . 38 3.3.2 Process and methods . 41 3.4 Evaluation . 45 3.4.1 Objectives . 45 3.4.2 Process and methods . 46 3.5 Delimitations, limitations, and other study considerations . 49 4 Culturally-Relevant PT Strategies 53 4.1 Social marketing stakeholder interviews . 53 4.1.1 Universal relevance: the views of NZ European stakeholders 54 4.1.2 Reduction of relevance: the views of Maori¯ stakeholders . 55 4.1.3 A collective focus: the views of Maori¯ stakeholders . 56 4.2 Fogg’s PT strategies from a context of individualism and collectivism 58 4.2.1 The REDUCTION and TUNNELLING strategies . 59 4.2.2 The TAILORING strategy . 60 4.2.3 The SUGGESTION strategy . 61 4.2.4 The SELF MONITORING strategy . 62 4.2.5 The SURVEILLANCE strategy . 62 4.2.6 The CONDITIONING strategy . 64 4.3 A set of eight culturally-relevant PT design strategies . 65 4.3.1 The GROUP CUSTOMISATION strategy . 66 4.3.2 The HARMONY strategy . 68 4.3.3 The GROUP OPINION strategy . 69 4.3.4 The MENTORING strategy . 71 4.3.5 The DIFFERENCE MONITORING strategy . 73 4.3.6 The DISESTABLISHING strategy . 75 4.3.7 The TEAM PERFORMANCE strategy . 77 4.3.8 The ACHIEVEMENT strategy . 78 CONTENTS ix 5 Smoke? Game mechanics 83 5.1 Initial design decisions . 83 5.1.1 The starting point . 83 5.1.2 Game objectives . 84 5.1.3 Determining game genre . 85 5.1.4 Conceptual overview of Smoke? ................. 87 5.2 Concrete design decisions . 90 5.2.1 Game narrative . 90 5.2.2 Game design concepts . 92 6 Smoke? Incorporating culture 103 6.1 Focus group insights . 103 6.1.1 Willingness to engage with social marketing . 104 6.1.2 Taking up smoking . 104 6.1.3 Smoking as a habit . 105 6.1.4 Locus of smoking . 106 6.1.5 Reasons for wanting to quit smoking . 108 6.1.6 Opinions on characteristics of effective appeals . 109 6.2 Incorporating insights into the design . 111 6.2.1 Insights into design: common features . 111 6.2.2 Insights into design: the NZE version . 113 6.2.3 Insights into design: the NZM version . 115 6.3 Incorporating the strategies into Smoke? ................ 121 6.3.1 Decision and incorporation process . 121 6.3.2 Tactics into design: the NZE version . 122 6.3.3 Tactics into design: the NZM version . 127 7 Smoke? Play testing and refinement 135 7.1 Play testing details . 136 7.1.1 User evaluations . 136 7.1.2 Expert evaluations . 137 7.2 User evaluation themes . 139 7.2.1 Managing player attention . 139 7.2.2 Balancing replay with reality . 142 7.2.3 Player control vs. system control . 144 7.2.4 Identity issues . 146 7.3 Expert evaluation themes . 147 7.3.1 Adopting “traditional” interface norms . 147 7.3.2 Feedback about changes to game state . 149 x CONTENTS 7.3.3 Reduction of text instructions . 150 7.3.4 Fixing game world inconsistencies . 151 8 Evaluation 153 8.1 The quantitative evaluation . 153 8.1.1 Method . 153 8.1.2 Analyses and results . 158 8.1.3 Discussion . 166 8.2 The qualitative evaluation . 166 8.2.1 Method . 166 8.2.2 Findings for the NZE version . 167 8.2.3 Findings for the NZM version . 177 8.3 Discussion . 186 8.3.1 Support for our hypothesis . 186 8.3.2 Assessment of the design strategies . 187 9 Conclusions 189 9.1 Contributions . 191 9.1.1 An original set of culturally-relevant PT design strategies . 191 9.1.2 A prototype of a culturally-relevant persuasive technology . 191 9.1.3 Evaluation of the culturally-relevant persuasive technology 192 9.2 Delimitations and limitations of the study . 193 9.3 Related work . ..