Demand characteristics in human–computer experiments

Olga Iarygina, Kasper Hornbæk, Aske Mottelson

Research output: Journal Article or Conference Article in JournalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Demand characteristics refer to cues that can inform participants in experiments about the hypothesis and influence their behavior. They lead researchers to erroneously infer non-existing effects, undermining the experimental integrity of empirical studies. Despite a widespread acknowledgment of their confounding influence in experimental psychology, experiments involving humans and computers to a lesser extent consider effects of demand characteristics, as computerized protocols are thought to be immune to some experimenter biases. Furthermore, demand characteristics are considered to mainly effect subjective measures. As a result, demand characteristics often remain uncontrolled in studies involving computers, and in particular for objective measures such as performance.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Volume193
Number of pages14
ISSN1071-5819
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Demand characteristics
  • Experiments
  • Confounds
  • Bias
  • Validity
  • Human–computer interaction

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