HCI homework 2
Research Question
– Which is more distracting to drivers: making/receiving calls or texting?
Hypothesis:
– Texting while driving will be more distracting to making call because texting typically requires more visual and manual attention compared to calls, which can be conducted hands-free.
Study Design:
Participants:
– 18-65 old drivers
Equipment:
– Driving simulator with realistic road scenarios.
– Eye tracker
Procedure
– Participants complete a baseline driving task without any distractions.
- Participants then complete the driving task under each experimental condition (calls and texts) in a randomized order to control for order effects.
– Each condition includes a 10-minute driving session on a simulated urban road with various traffic scenarios.
Variables:
– Independent Variable
– Type of smartphone activity (no activity, making/receiving a call, texting).
– Dependent Variable
– Driver attention
– Reaction time
– Number of driving errors (e.g., lane deviations, missed signals)
– Simulated accident occurrences
Measurements
– The simulator would record the different instances of accidents or near accidents, the missed signals etc. The eye tracking data would characterize what caused the irresponsible driving behaviors. Some visualizations can be made to compare the two groups
Nice study idea. You could do this where each participant has some texting to do and also some calls to do, or each participant is in a just-texting or just-calling condition. The latter would be easier to analyze statistically but might be less realistic.
The existing research on talking while driving, btw, says that the mental load doesn’t have to do with being hands-free or not; it’s really about the stress level of the call. IF you’re just chatting with Grandma to see if she was able to pick all the strawberries ok, lower cognitive load. If you’re negotiating with a supervisor for raise, bad news. If you’re arguing with your significant other, bad news. Keep it light.