Static, Adaptive, Adaptable, and Mixed-initiative approaches in ecommerce: Controllability and Customisation

摘要

This paper describes a comparative empirical study that aimed to investigate usability and controllability of four interactive conditions: Static, Adaptive, Adaptable, and Mixed-initiative. Each of these conditions implemented separately as a web-based e-commerce application. The structure of the platform is similar to many web-based e-commerce platforms, except that users can purchase items by clicks along with using four types of keyboard: QWERTY, QWERTY with Keypad, AZERTY and Alphabetical keyboard. The difference between the four conditions applied to the content, items position on the list, and keyboard type. These environments were tested independently by four separate groups of users. Each groups consisted of 15 users. Results showed that the mixed-Initiative condition was the best in terms of controllability. In addition, surprisingly subjects who utilised the Static condition were found to be having similar level of control comparing to the adaptive conditions.