Perspectives on Explanation Formats From Two Stakeholder Groups in Germany: Software Providers and Dairy Farmers

TL;DR

This study compares software providers' perceptions with dairy farmers' preferences for explanation formats in decision support systems, revealing discrepancies that highlight the need for user-centered design to enhance acceptance.

Contribution

It introduces a comparative analysis of stakeholder perspectives on explanation formats in dairy farm decision support systems, emphasizing the importance of aligning software design with user needs.

Findings

Software providers often misjudge farmers' preferences.

Discrepancies exist between provider assumptions and farmer needs.

User-centered design can improve system acceptance.

Abstract

This paper examines the views of software providers in the German dairy industry with regard to dairy farmers' needs for explanation of digital decision support systems. The study is based on mastitis detection in dairy cows using a hypothetical herd management system. We designed four exemplary explanation formats for mastitis assessments with different types of presentation (textual, rule-based, herd comparison, and time series). In our previous study, 14 dairy farmers in Germany had rated these formats in terms of comprehensibility and the trust they would have in a system providing each format. In this study, we repeat the survey with 13 software providers active in the German dairy industry. We ask them how well they think the formats would be received by farmers. We hypothesized that there may be discrepancies between the views of both groups that are worth investigating, partly to find reasons for the reluctance to adopt digital systems. A comparison of the feedback from both groups supports the hypothesis and calls for further investigation. The results show that software providers tend to make assumptions about farmers' preferences that are not necessarily accurate. Our study, although not representative due to the small sample size, highlights the potential benefits of a thorough user requirements analysis (farmers' needs) to improve software adaptation and user acceptance.