AN EXPLORATION INTO FRAMING EFFECTS AND USER PREFERENCES: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF ENERGY FEEDBACK INTERFACES

摘要

A recent topic in the energy industry is promoting behavioral change in the individual energy consumer.Interfaces provide people with more useful energy feedback. The goal is to prompt the motivation andability to adopt less wasteful energy consumption behaviors. Skillful HCI design will include attention toinformational preferences, and framing effects due to presentation choices. A questionnaire study exploredthis domain, and the results were used to guide the design of test interfaces. An online survey yieldedresults from 36 male and 49 female United States residents. Cost ($) was perceived as the most usefulmetric and kW as the least useful. Further, a test of framings effects showed a higher likelihood to changebehavior to save 100 dollars per year than 2 per week (U=1248.5, p=0.001). Respondent preference wasexpressed for lower levels of automation, which was not attributable to distrust of automation to effectivelycontrol energy consumption. A 2×2×2 factorial design was used to compare goal-type (specific vs. openended),metric use ($ vs. kWh), and visualization (graphical vs. text-only) in prototype displays. Goal-typeand metric use independently affect perceived utility of a feedback interface, and visualization affectsperceived comfort sacrifice from changing consumption behaviors.