Page 62 - THE DUTCH TALKING TOUCH SCREEN QUESTIONNAIRE

Chapter 3
The five main problem areas for low literate persons are cognitive, social/psychological, cultural, technological and application-related. They are briefly described as follows:
• Cognitive problems refer to the aforementioned literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills. They include reading, writing, listening, calculation, visual organization and memory, speed of cognitive processing, mental spatial orientation, vigilance and multi-tasking. An example guideline is:
“Provide spoken language as an alternative to written text. Spoken language can either be natural speech or text automatically converted to speech by using speech synthesis software, which is particularly useful for unpredictable or dynamic texts. However, natural speech may be preferable since it is less distracting.”
• Social/psychological problems occur mainly due to the lack of self-efficacy [15] and stress low literate persons experience using a product/service in a public place. An example guideline is:
“The system should not stigmatize users. Design the user interface in such a way that the fact it was designed for illiterate persons is not too obvious or visible to others. Preferably design an interface that is easy to use for users with all levels of literacy.”
• Cultural problems may be different in different countries/cultures, leading to different solutions. An example guideline is:
“Take into account that mental models about technology may be different between cultures.”
• Technological problems low literate persons encounter include computer anxiety; they perceive a computer as being complex and impersonal, leading to fear of making mistakes they cannot correct anymore. An example guideline is:
“The physical appearance of the product or service should be appealing to the user. The interface should have a personal, inviting, simple and non-technical look.”
• Application domain-specific problems may occur, for example lack of health literacy may play a role when using a health assessment questionnaire. An example guideline is:
“Do not use specific health-related terms in the questionnaire, which illiterate persons may not understand.”
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