University of Twente Student Theses
Website Navigation Structures: Eliciting Mental Models of University Students using Card Sorting and the Perceived Usability
Renes, L.E.M. (2023) Website Navigation Structures: Eliciting Mental Models of University Students using Card Sorting and the Perceived Usability.
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| Abstract: | The aim of this research is to elicit the mental model of university students regarding the educational page of university websites and to determine whether the perceived usability rises if a website matches this mental model. Since there is little knowledge yet about the mental model of university students in this field, an open, remote card sort study took place. In this study, a structure of five clusters with four subclusters is found. Also, four ambiguity groups are found and interpreted. By comparing this cluster structure to already existing websites, two sets of three tasks are created; one for tudelft.nl/en/education where the information goals are in the right place according to the mental model, and one set for tue.nl/en/education where the information goals are not in the correct place according to the mental model. After performing these tasks, participants filled out the System Usability Scale (SUS) for each website. The SUS is a valid tool to measure the perceived usability of systems and works for a small sample. The results of the SUS show, contrary to the expectations, that the perceived usability of the website where the information is “in the wrong place” is higher. When the participants are asked directly which website they prefer, the majority indicates the website where the information goals are “in the right place.” Since the results of this research indicate that no relation is found between the mental model and the perceived usability, more research is necessary in this field to determine whether there are relations or are no relations between these two subjects. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/94243 |
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