Enhancing the Rigor of User Engagement Methods and Measures

Abstract

Previous chapters reported on the use of self-report, analytic, and physiological methods, and highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of each approach for measuring user engagement. We also discussed emerging work in the areas of multitasking, mobile use, and networked engagement that are challenging us to move beyond the single task, single website, desktop model of user engagement. This presentation has allowed us to address current methodological and measurement practices—and the research that has applied them—in great depth, but is limited in that we have thus far examined them in isolation. The reason for this is that, as we have demonstrated, the measurement of an experiential concept such as engagement is complex. Multiple user attributes, e.g., motivation and attention, and system attributes, e.g., aesthetic appeal, novelty, and interactivity, coalesce to create, shape, and predict online interactions.