Fewer Steps the Better? Instructing Older Adults’ Learning and Searching in Smartphone Apps

ABSTRACT

This study challenges the common rule of thumb, fewer steps the better, in the context of older adults’ learning of smartphone apps under remote support. During the learning of new apps, a predominant problem is that older adults easily get lost. Therefore, this study examined various information structures and proposed two types of instructions in two experiments. In the first experiment, twenty-four older adults learned to use smartphone apps with three information structures through step-by-step instruction or metaphorical instruction. Compared with step-by-step instruction, the metaphorical instruction contributed to greater ease of learning and shorter task completion time. However, the advantage of metaphorical instruction over step-by-step instruction depended on the information structure. Older adults’ performance of learning the information structure 2 × 2 were poorer than that of learning the information structure 4 × 1 or 1 × 4, which might imply that fewer steps is not necessarily better. To further test the finding, the second experiment was conducted among 30 older adults who learned to use smartphone apps with five information structures (2⁸, 4⁴, 4¹ + 8², 8² + 4¹, and 16²). The results indicated that the advantage of fewer interaction steps depends on preview size. The highest number of interaction steps with the fewest number of preview size, 2⁸, contributed to best learning performance of older adults.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funding from the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing [cstc2016jcyjA0406] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants no. 71661167006].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ziyao Zhou

Ziyao Zhou has been registered as a full-time student in the Master’s degree program in the department of Industrial Engineering (branch of human–computer interaction) at Chongqing University. Her research focuses on touch gestures and navigation on mobile devices for older users.

Jia Zhou

Jia Zhou is an assistant professor in the School of Management Science and Real Estate at Chongqing University and a visiting research scholar at Trace Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on acceptance and usability of mobile devices for older adults.

Fengli Liu

Fengli Liu is an industrial engineer in Chongqing Chuanyi Control Valve Co.,LTD. His research focues on industrial digitalization, industrial internet, and design information technology for older adults.