Objectives:
Noted educational technology researcher William Winn posed the
following questions almost a decade ago:
1) To what extent are the conventions of graphics
culture specific? And
2) Are the processes that enable detection, discrimination and configuration
universal? (Winn, 1994)
Based on these questions, we will investigate the influence of
culture and context on the interpretation of graphic depictions. Using
a variety of graphical depictions in culturally familiar signs (e.g.
such as the graphics used for “restroom” and “stop”),
we will determine if there are any differences in how Koreans and
Americans interpret the meaning of graphical symbols when interpreted
without their familiar context (Phase 1). We will also investigate
the influence of context in interpretation of meaning by offering
certain signs in a variety of familiar and unfamiliar settings (Phase
2). We may then investigate a number of situations with a mixture
of cultural and contextual situations to determine the relative strength
of each factor in the interpretation of graphics. A third phase of
investigation will investigate the graphical components of the signs
used in Phase 1 and 2 of this research. We will investigate features
of signs that held significant meaning in cultural and contextual
meaning. The findings will help inform our understanding of how we
interpret meanings from graphical representations, and may impact
the design of graphics to increase understanding in a variety of cultural
and contextual instances.
Research Project Overview:
Phase 1 Procedure
Participants in the research will complete an online consent form
and questionnaire. The questionnaire will display a number of graphical
depictions from a group of culturally familiar signs. The signs will
be a from a variety of contexts including Accommodation Service signs,
General Information signs, Land Recreation signs, Traveler Services
signs, and road signs. These signs would normally be seen on government
and privately owned property, road sides, in national parks, in federal
buildings and other public settings. Approximately half of the signs
will be from Korea, the remaining signs will be from America.
Participants will
read and submit an online consent form before beginning the questionnaire.
The questionnaire consists of a number of demographic questions before
presenting a sign and asking about the meaning of each. The demographic
questions are necessary to ensure a representative sample, and to
separate groups between Korean and American participants. Each participant
will also be asked about his/her familiarity of each sign, and the
degree to which they are certain that their interpretation is correct.
(Please see accompanying rationale and questionnaire for specific
signs.) It will take approximately 30 minutes for each participant
to complete the questionnaire. Two versions of the same questionnaire
will be available, one in Korean and one in English. One of the demographic
questions asks if the participant is willing to be contacted in the
future about further participation in a follow-up study. If the participant
agrees, contact information will be requested.
At the conclusion
of the Phase 1 questionnaire, participants will electronically submit
their completed questionnaire that will be electronically delivered
to PI Shelton. Each questionnaire will then be coded for confidentiality,
all names and identifying information will be removed from the data.
The codes and consents will be kept in a locked drawer in the office
of PI Shelton until they are destroyed at the conclusion of the study,
August 2007.
Phase 1 Sample
At Utah State University, we have large pools of possible research
study participants from different cultures from around the world.
We will contact participants through a number of acquaintances and
personal contacts at USU and offer them the URL for the consent/questionnaire.
Participants will not be offered any remittance for participating.
We do not expect participants to incur any physical or psychological
risks, other than what would normally be experienced by interacting
with a computer for approximately 20 minutes. All participants will
be adults, 18 or older. The research team will continue to solicit
participants until at least 30 Korean and 30 American participants
have completed the questionnaire. The solicitation is expected to
take no longer than 2 weeks, beginning August 2005.
Phase 2 Procedure
and Sample
Based on the results from Phase 1 of the study, we expect there to
be a number of signs that statistically were no different in interpretation
between people from Korean and American cultures. Using these signs,
we then formulate a questionnaire that places these signs in both
hypothetically familiar contexts (where you would expect to see them)
and unfamiliar contexts (where you would not expect to see them).
Using a similar sampling procedure as Phase 1, we calculate statistical
tests to determine the effect that context has on the interpretation
of culturally-neutral graphics. As with Phase 1, participants will
not be offered any remittance for participating. We do not expect
participants to incur any physical or psychological risks, other than
what would normally be experienced by interacting with a computer
for approximately 20 minutes. All participants will be adults, 18
or older. The research team will continue to solicit participants
until at least 30 Korean and 30 American participants have completed
the questionnaire. The solicitation is expected to take no longer
than 2 weeks, beginning September 2005.
As with Phase
1, participants will read and submit an online consent form before
beginning the questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of a number
of demographic questions demographics before presenting a sign within
a context, and asking about the meaning of each. The demographic questions
are necessary to ensure a representative sample, and to separate groups
between Korean and American participants. Each participant will also
be asked about his/her familiarity of each sign, and the degree to
which they are certain that their interpretation is correct. (Please
see accompanying rationale and questionnaire for specific signs.)
It will take approximately 20 minutes for each participant to complete
the Phase 2 questionnaire. Two versions of the same questionnaire
will be available, one in Korean and one in English. One of the demographic
questions asks if the participant is willing to be contacted in the
future about further participation in a follow-up study. If the participant
agrees, contact information will be requested.
At the conclusion
of the Phase 2 questionnaire, participants will electronically submit
their completed questionnaire that will be electronically delivered
to PI Shelton. Each questionnaire will then be coded for confidentiality,
all names and identifying information will be removed from the data.
The codes and consents will be kept in a locked drawer in the office
of PI Shelton until they are destroyed at the conclusion of the study,
August 2007.
Phase 3: Investigating
the graphical components that influence cultural and contextual interpretation.
Based on the findings of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of this research, we
investigate possible elements within the graphics that may hold cultural
or contextual significance. What elements exist that are common across
signs that were correctly interpreted by both cultural groups? What
elements exist that were common across signs that were only correctly
interpreted by the Korean group, and only the American group? Is it
possible to generalize these elements into the creation of more efficient
and more valuable design heuristics? Are these findings consistent
with what we know about semiotics and vision theory? What additional
implications do the findings have in areas of instruction and message
design? These questions will be investigated through a variety of
interpretive perspectives in Phase 3.
Research Team:
- Creative Learning Environments
Lab with
- Brett Shelton, PhD – Principle Investigator
- Nate Olson – Research
Assistan
Technology:
- Computers and other display technologies found
in the Creative lab
- Internet-based data collection
Key references:
Butcher, K. R. (2004). Cognitive processes and visualization, Teaching
Geoscience with Visualizations: Using Images, Animations, and Models
Effectively. Carleton College , Northfield , MN .
Quiye, W. (2000). A cross-cultural comparison of the use of graphics
in scientific and technical communication. Technical Communication,
47(4).
Tversky, B. (2001). Chapter 4: Spatial schemas in depictions. In
M. Gattis (Ed.), Spatial schemas and abstract thought (pp.
79-112 ). Cambridge : MIT Press.
Winn, W. (1994). Contributions of perceptual and cognitive processes
to the comprehension of graphics. In W. Schnotz & R. W. Kulhavy
(Eds.), Comprehension of graphics: Elsevier Science.
Status: We are currently in the process of internal review
of this research.
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