Single Vs Dual: Influence of the Number of Displays on User Experience within Virtually Embodied Conversational Systems

TL;DR

This study compares user experience and preferences when using a healthcare application on single versus dual tablets, finding higher usability with one tablet but some users favoring two for increased presence.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on how the number of displays affects usability and user preferences in virtually embodied conversational systems.

Findings

Higher usability ratings for single tablet setup

Some users prefer dual tablets for increased presence

Significant differences in pragmatic quality ratings

Abstract

The current research evaluates user experience and preference when interacting with a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) healthcare application displayed on a single tablet in comparison to interaction with the same application distributed across two tablets. We conducted a within-subject user study with 43 participants who engaged with and rated the usability of our system and participated in a post-experiment interview to collect subjective data. Our findings showed significantly higher usability and higher pragmatic quality ratings for the single tablet condition. However, some users attribute a higher level of presence to the avatar and prefer it to be placed on a second tablet.