Perceived difficulties in using blenders by user groups and product features

Abstract

Background In an aging society, the issue of usability merits increasing attention when the design of home appliances is discussed. Although usability tests have been adopted for more usable products to various users, no consensus has been reached by experts on the value of the usability tests frequently based on opinions of healthy young men. It means this existing approach is possibly not sufficient to reflect varied user segments including the elderly. Thus, this study aims at finding evidence to show the necessity of user diversity in usability issues by comparing perceived difficulties (degrees and points of difficulty) of two different user groups in using blenders. Methods To identify the perceived difficulties of two groups with four different types of blenders, a survey accompanying the experiment was executed. Data was gathered through convenience sampling, and 34 elderly users without UX specialty and 44 young users with UX expertise completed the survey with a use test according to their usage. Immediately after the tasks were performed, the participants were asked to answer questions according to their experience using a five-point Likert scale. Results The results of the two-way analysis of variance showed a disparity of perceived difficulties between the user groups and indicated the inadequacy of the present usability test, which focus on healthy young men. The results also identified the preferred features of blenders. Despite the disparity of perceived difficulties between the user groups, in most tasks, the participants noted common preferred features such as the light weight of jars, the ease in opening/closing lids, and simplicity of the buttons used for operation. The features can be adopted for the redesigning of blenders and referred to for the designing other products. Conclusions Between the two user groups, the elderly without UX expertise and the young UX experts, a disparity of perceived difficulties in using blenders was found. When this finding is interpreted as user effects and product feature effects, it can be considered as a signal that the present usability test can be improved by adopting user diversity to reflect various user segments in the real world. To make products beneficial for more people, supportive measures that offset the downsides of the present usability test should be explored and implemented.