This study examined differences in motivation style and proficiency with unfamiliar computer tasks between intrinsically and extrinsically motivated proficient daily computer users. The researchers hypothesized that extrinsically motivated users would have more difficulty with unfamiliar tasks compared to intrinsically motivated users. They designed a study where participants completed a motivation questionnaire and were then observed performing unfamiliar tasks on a computer system. The observations found that extrinsically motivated users exhibited significantly more stumbles, falls, persistence and quitting behaviors compared to intrinsically motivated users. The study provides evidence that motivation style, rather than age, digital experience or perceived competence, impacts one's ability to adapt to unfamiliar computer tasks.

1. Understanding “Just Enough”
Computer Users:
Motivation Style and Proficiency December 2012
Dr. Chuck Wallace (CS) , Dr. Karla Kitalong
(Humanities), Dr. Paul Ward (cognitive Psych), Dr.
By Harriet King Robert Pastel (CS)
Masters Candidate in Computer Science
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2. Unfamiliar Task in
The Question familiar software &
system AND routine task
in unfamiliar software &
system
Why do some proficient daily
computer users, stumble over the
unfamiliar and others easily adapt?
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3. What Is a Just Enough (JE) User?
Predominantly
• Daily computer user Externally regulated
(driven by ends,
• Competent external
requirements or
• Extrinsic Motivation rules)
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4. The Hypothesis
We hypothesize that
extrinsically motivated
proficient daily computer users
have difficulty with unfamiliar computer
Intrinsic
(internal,
tasks and skill transfer, whereas
interest,
choice)
intrinsically motivated daily users
have no
problem
accomplish unfamiliar tasks readily.
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5. Who Cares? HCI is the main
computer science
field that my thesis
• Software designers falls under
• Human Computer Interactions (HCI)
Stakeholders include
• Software Users government,
education, industry
• Stakeholders for computer literacy who want productive
workforce
Instead
of “Lest we wish to change our field’s name to
“human” student-computer interaction we should make
effort to find more representative participants”
(Barkhuus and Rode 2012)
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6. Study Design Overview
Find people to study
by giving motivation
questionnaire
Unfamiliar
task in
home
system,
routine
task in
Statistics! OUTPUT unknown
INVENTORY system
Write scores & statistics
thesis! group descriptors
OBSERVATIONS
Coded & analyzed
attitudes & actions
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7. Adapting Change “this activity” to “using computers”
Questions from two sets of psych
Questions researchers, professionally validated
Precedent: (Shroff and Vogel 2009). Confirmed Inventory with two pilot studies.
32 questions, randomized,
six factors measured
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8. Who Took the Inventory? Everybody!
• Ages 13 to 87 from FIVE continents
• 9 countries: USA, China, Turkey, Australia, Sweden, U.K.,
South Africa, India, and France
And family, thank
• 130+ total completed questionnaire you!
• Used 66 for total respondents
• 16 participants observed (7 intrinsics, 9 extrinsics)
Community
Classmates
Faculty
Internet
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9. Important that
extrinsics not
different from
Inventory T Test Results
intrinsics for
Significant Differences in Inventory
age, grew up
on computers, Scores, Age, & Digital Native
or competence * Asterisk indicates non parametric Mann-Whitney U test
All other are Independent Samples T-test
Factor Different
Age* NOT different
Digital Native* NOT different
Perceived Competence* NOT different
Amotivation* Different
External Regulation Different
Interest/Enjoyment Different
Perceived Choice Different
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10. Not Significantly Different See how
close the
Age and Perceived Competence means
are?
Mean Age with error bars for Mean Perceived Competence with
standard deviation error bars for standard deviation
90.00 7.00
Mean Perceived Competence
80.00
6.00
70.00 5.38
60.00 55.67 5.00
50.00 46.57
3.70
Age
4.00
40.00
30.00 3.00
20.00
2.00
10.00
0.00
1.00
9 Extrinsics 7 Intrinsics 9 Extrinsics 7 Intrinsics
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11. Participant Hesitation Wording Fun
example
“uhhhh” looked in there” promising” of “think
“I’m looking for a way to “I think I can just... click on [sigh] aloud”
do...” this here, and... that didn’t “no, that's not it”
“maybe if I go here” work” “maybe this”
“what’s this?” “ok, that didn’t work” “so, we're not doing that”
“I can’t...” “I looked at the bottom but “I wouldn't think it'd be
“ummm” there’s nothing there” under that”
“let’s go back here” “I saw this click to ... but “I'm going to try right click
[giggling] that isn’t it” again”
“aaaaannnnnnnd” “hmmm” “I forgot what you said to
“I could try like..” “contacts....contacts.... do”
“no I can’t drag that..” contacts” “this damn mouse”
“I’ll look in here, no I just “that doesn't look very
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12. For Prompting the Participant
Example of how
qualitative ethnographic
techniques enrich
“go ahead and tell me what you’re seeing” quantitative methods by
getting more information
“please tell me what you’re thinking” about the participants
“Are you trying to decide something, can you tell me about it?”
“did that work?”
“what seems odd about this?”
“what are you thinking?”
“you’re giggling, …you’re sighing…you sound angry, what are you
feeling?”
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13. Rubric for Coding Observations
Took 32 hours of recordings of 16 observed
participants, turned it into 100 pages of
transcripts, coded it with this rule set, then
statistically analyzed it
CODE RULE
Stumble [action] >= 20 seconds
Fall [action] >= 1 minute
Persist [action] >= 3 minutes
Quit attitude towards a task
Resist attitude towards a task
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14. Transcript Example Fun to see example
stumble
persist
resist
quit
fall
time OLIVIA [action] “quote” (time on video) analysis
b 7:58 [while looking for spam, stumbles across trash 7:58 and says I’ll empty the trash 1 1 1
e 9:08 instead, I say go ahead] Participant: “I have no idea how to do that. It’s already IN the
trash” me: “Look around. ...you can empty the trash.” (8:10) Participant: “It’s already IN
trash. Where do you empty trash to? I’m thinking that I never empty my trash because
there’s no way to empty trash because it’s already trash.” (8:25) me: “no, there is a way
to empty trash.” Participant: “There’s no trash emptying.”
[ask about her agitation] Participant: “I’m not agitated at all. You’re just wrong. There’s
no trash emptying.” [ask what she’s feeling] Participant: “I think it’s dumb that the trash
doesn’t have an empty.” (8:40) me: “It does actually”
Participant: “I don’t see it. If I click on something in my trash, all I can do is trash
something in my trash, which is silly because it’s already in my trash” (9:08) me: “Ok,
we’ll come back to this. Let’s look at your spam” [so resistant that I stop this task on
test. Never does trash]
b 9:10 Participant: “I don’t know if I have spam” (9:10) me: “You do have spam.” “No. Really!? 1 1
e 9:45 I’m looking at all my folders and I do not have one called “spam”” (9:20) me: “Did you
find “more” at the bottom?” “There’s a more. Oh look at that, there’s spam.” (9:45)
b 9:50 [directed to delete all spam at once, (9:50), giving her hints] me: “It’s not that tricky, it 1 1
e 11:10 has words and I can see them, I’m looking at it right now” (10:37) (11:10) found “delete
all messages now”
b 11:20 [11:20 Go to address book] Participant: “I’m not fully sure where my address book is, I 1
e 12:10 think I have to go to my calendar”, then found contacts 12:10
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15. Most of the
stumbles etc are
Occurrences for Each Code extrinsics, statistics
say the two groups
are different
• Asterisk indicates statistically significant difference for this code
between extrinsic and intrinsic. Total occurrences with percent of
total in parentheses.
• There was no significant difference between Unfamiliar Task
compared to Near Skill Transfer for either intrinsics or extrinsics.
Stumble* Fall* Persist* Quit* Resist
JE Users 91 56 15 9 13
(81%) (84%) (88%) (90%) (87%)
Intrinsics 21 11 2 1 2
(19%) (16%) (12%) (10%) (13%)
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16. All Occurrences of Stumble & Fall
Intrinsics on left and Extrinsics on right Left intrinsics had
little trouble,
right extrinsics
stumble fall stumbled
Extrinsics
Intrinsics
20
15
10
5
0
More
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17. JE User vs. Intrinsic: Marsha & Rebecca
Exter: 4.5 Exter: 4.0
Int/En 2.57 Int/En 5.57
2 completely similar people with
Similar: different motivation style have different
1. both Amotivation = 1.0 performance
2. Both digital non-native Different:
3. similar experience level 1. Performance
4. similar self rate and perceived competence 2. Different motivation styles
5. similar age
6. Appeared to cruise through unfamiliar tasks
7. Responsible community leaders
8. Professional women
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18. Resist was the most
Resist entertaining
• Only 5 out of 16 resisted 8
• 4 extrinsic & intrinsic Mike 7
• Olivia had 7 resists
Total Occurrences of Resist
6
1. Can’t empty trash
2. there is no spam 5
3. doesn’t “add” to group but 4
insists she did
4. says “check mail” button is 3
broken 2
5. won’t remove attachment,
6. says used wrong address but 1
was sent folder issue 0
7. says did not spell a word Lucy Mike* Miranda Marsha Olivia
correctly when did spell
correctly
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19. Another Type of Resist
Instead of resist to a
task, this is resist against
“The Man”
Marsha shares, “I never use the google calendar. I’m not telling them what I’m
doing every day. Forget that!”
“Passionate?...I am. I’m not MAD at them [MS Word], I’m frustrated with them.
… they’re leaving out the average person. And maybe that’s what open office is
for. I don’t know.”
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20. Just Enough User Alice (1/9)
Cool example
“I don’t do ANYTHING that I’m not taught. And that is a big
drawback in my learning.”
“I know enough to get what I want, most of the time. And it
definitely is not a pleasure for me to try to figure out things on
my own. N-O-T AT A-L-L… Maybe everyone thinks they are a “Just
Enough” user.”
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21. Just Enough User Lucy (3/9)
Cool example
“Why would I Google it? I wouldn’t, because it’s a bunch of
teenagers who can’t spell right, who don’t use punctuation, all
lower case.”
“I am fine using the computer only for what I need. I think they
are ruining the world quite frankly, and am slightly proud I find
them somewhat repulsive machines.”
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22. Just Enough User Walter (8/9)
Cool example
“You are … confronting an unbelievably unfamiliar system, with all the
scariness of being surrounded by REAL fully paid, fully trained, card
carrying life member geeks … I got spooked by the surroundings. I got
intimidated by my high level of geekitude surroundings.”
“People do get on without a computer at all, so perhaps ‘No
Computer’ (or ‘The Computer They Make You Use At Work’) is the true
‘Just Enough Computer’.”
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23. Future Work
Re-analyze for digital literacy,
misunderstanding of novice, aging, and more
• So much data!
• Bigger sample Find out percent of population that is this or that
• “Just Enough” term?
• Gender, socioeconomic status, years of experience,
aversion to change?
• Separating work and play in motivation study
External motivation more common with
• Less frequent users? infrequent computer users?
• What if a “consequence” element?
• Hand held computers?
Probably unethical, oh well.
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24. Guess which one
CONCLUSIONS is intrinsic?
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25. They are competent,
they do fail, they do
Statistical Results exist, they are not
an insignificant
number, it’s not
• Confirmed competency of JE users their age or growing
up on computers.
• Extrinsic proficient daily users stumble, fall,
persist and quit significantly more than intrinsics
• AND it is not explained by age, perceived
competence, or being digital native
• JE users account for over 80% of performance
difficulties in our study
• Just Enough users exist in all age groups and
experience levels (18% in our sample)
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26. They look like anyone
Observed Phenomena else, there are “Just
Enough” in all experience
levels. Are you one?
• Impossible to differentiate JE user from any
other competent user, until faced with the
unfamiliar
• Just Enough users shed competencies as they
become unnecessary
• Wide range of attitudes and experience
related to exploring and performance
• Sense of “not belonging”
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27. A Haiku
Thank
Just Enough is cool
you! till unfamiliar and new
safe routine un-do.
Intrinsic novice, 87 years old 27 of 27

28. Just Enough User Lilly (2/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
When asked during the test about her feelings,
Lilly shares, “ohhh, why am I so stupid? How can
I not know how to do this? I dread asking one of
my kids because they have no patience.”
“I really want computers to be as unobtrusive in
my daily life as can be. Just Enough term sounds
a bit lazy.”
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29. Just Enough User Marsha (4/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
Marsha says, “I like to sign out, because then they,
THEORETICALLY, aren’t watching me, but you know
they are because advertisements for something I
just looked at turn up on the *weirdest* pages.”
“My feelings are that I would like to be more than
that [JE user]. I would consider a "just enough" user
to be one who uses only email, or only cruises the
web for news, or only uses one application.”
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30. Just Enough User Mary Ann (5/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
“When I’m at work, I’m so busy, that I don’t have
time to play around... I always have to do things
in the fastest way possible, which doesn’t allow
exploration.”
“My feelings are that I would like to be more
than that. I do not want to be a "dinosaur. I
sometimes can do a little more than just enough
if I get up my courage to try."
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31. Just Enough User Miranda (6/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
“It seems stupid and why should I waste my
time staring at the computer.”
“My feelings are, why would I spend any more
time at the computer? I'd rather read a book or
take a walk. Just enough is a perfect name.”
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32. Just Enough User Molly (7/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
“This all is stupid. This is ridiculous. I don’t know
why anyone uses computers. … I don’t really
care. I can basically do anything I need to do and
I have [IT worker] and if I can’t do anything I just
call [IT worker] and cry.”
“The term "Just Enough" is kind. I don't feel
judged or "less than" (stupid).”
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33. Just Enough User Olivia (8/9)
A few more examples because they’re interesting
“[it] is really annoying not to be able to find
these things that you’re CLAIMING it’s on here.
And it’s like, how are you supposed to know
where it is.....[I’m] irritated.”
“Very proud that I can do it enuf [sic]. People
should make more things easy for us.”
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34. “Just Enough Users”, a poem
Just enough is satisficing, works out fine till new and strange.
Computer changes make life messy, Would not be a
then it’s struggle stumble quit. Harriet project
without a poem.
Those interest people cruise along, Enjoy!
probably nothing ever wrong.
Curse you easy flexing user. Why can’t I just find my cursor?
Just Enough left me so helpless,
when the web changed all my favorites.
I just want to stay so lazy, stay low interest, stay low effort.
OK sometimes then I stumble. Just Enough was not effective.
Who to blame and who to curse?
Designers! They must be the worst.
Conclusion
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