Trymyui

UX wars case competition

student universe
& sta travel

TARAH HOLLAND
JORDYNN MCKNIGHT
ERIN TURNER
NICOLE MCEWAN

Table of
Contents
Executive summary
1
Purpose of The Study/ Introduction
2
Methods 3
Student Universe Results
5
STA Travel Method Results
8
Findings & Recommendations
11
Site Comparison
13
Appendix 14

Executive
Summary
Both StudentUniverse.com and STATravel.com are student-centered travel booking
websites. Both websites provide flight, hotel and tour booking services for students
who are planning for individual or group travel. Each website boasts cheap rates,
discounts and deals for their target users. Both websites also allow users to find
flights, hotels and tours from prominent navigation at the top of their homepages.
The purpose of this usability study was to compare the online booking
experiences of StudentUniverse.com and STATravel.com users to determine the
overall effectiveness of each websites design, the ease-of-use of booking features,
and whether or not the flow or process of information on each
website is efficient. Points of interest included whether or not participants could
successfully book a flight from and to specified airports and within a determined
budget, successfully book a hotel room within a determined
budget and distance from the destination airport, locate hotel ratings, and book a
tour in the destination city. To answer these research questions, a
scenario was created to test users ability to book a flight, hotel room and tour on
both websites.
The scenario and task list, presented digitally via TryMyUI Usability Testing Services, asked participants to plan a seven-day trip to Phuket, Thailand, during March
18-28, 2016. Following an impression test of each website, participants needed to
find a round trip flight departing from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
to Phucket International Airport (HKT) under $1700, find a four or five star hotel
within 30 miles of the airport for less than $200 a night and book a tour during the
trip to Phuket.

Prior to the start of the usability test, facilitators provided participants with instructions
from a predetermined script to ensure a uniform experience for all. A total of eight participants were tested and each was administered a
pre- and post-test questionnaire. TryMyUI Usability Testing Services was used to record
screen captures of each users clicks and audio of each users verbal feedback during
testing. Usable testing data was obtained from all eight participants.
The results of the usability test are as follows:
COMPLETION RATE PER TASK

Student Universe

Task 1 - 100%

Task 2 - 75%

Task 3 - 50%

Task 4 - 100%

STA

Travel
Task 1 - 100%
Task 2 - 100%
Task 3 - 100%
Task 4 - 100%

COMPLETION TIME PER TASK

Student Universe

Task 1 - 1:53

Task 2 - 1:49

Task 3 - 0:41

Task 4 - 1:52

STA

Travel
Task 1 - 1:50
Task 2 - 0:75
Task 3 - 2:24
Task 4 - 5:34

STUDENT UNIVERSE ERRORS

Multiple participants had a
hard time finding a tour when

they searched by the full name of the destination

using both the city and country.
STA TRAVEL ERRORS Two out of four of the participants did not select the student option when
booking a flight.
All participants showed frustration and/or confusion while trying booking a hotel room after booking a flight. Three out of four of the participants
verbalized confusion while booking a tour at some
point during the task.
TASK LEVEL SATISFACTION

Student Universe
Usability average - 68.75%

Letter grade of a C

STA Travel
Usability average - 64.83%

Letter grade of a C
RECOMMMENDATIONS

Our research concludes that Student Universe should implement consistent design across
pages, organize listed information in chronological
or alphabetical order and employ visual elements
to establish a stronger information hierarchy. Dor
STA Travel our research suggests strengthening
the flow of information from page to page.

Upon launch, StudentUniverse.com and STATravel.com allow users to find

flights and hotels from a prominent search bar at the top of the page. In
addition, STATravel.com allows users to search for tours in the same search
bar, while StudentUniverse.com does not. For flights, users are prompted for
from and to locations, dates, whether or not the dates are flexible, and the
number of persons on the trip. For hotels, users are prompted for the
destination, check-in and check-out dates, and the number of persons
needing a room. Furthermore, STATravel.com asks for the number of rooms
needed. Both websites offer additional information, such as details about
discounts, deals, travel insurance and other travel services.
The features chosen for evaluation included booking options for flights, hotels
and tours on each website. The target users for these websites include
students looking to travel the world at affordable, reduced rates. While users
can book domestic travel, the websites offer the most options for students
traveling abroad.

Purpose

Both StudentUniverse.com and STATravel.com are student-centered

travel booking websites. Both websites provide flight, hotel and tour booking
services for students who are planning for individual or group travel. Each
website boasts cheap rates, discounts and deals for their target users. Both
websites also allow users to create accounts, however, this is not necessary to
utilize search features of the website.

The goal of this usability study was to compare the online booking
experiences of StudentUniverse.com and STATravel.com users to determine
the overall effectiveness of each websites design, the ease-of-use of
booking features, and whether or not the flow or process of information on
each website is efficient. Participants completed a pre-test questionnaire,
then began the test by completing a visual impression test of the websites to
gain a sense of their understanding of what the websites are about and what
they offer. During the test, participants interacted with booking components
for flights, hotels and tours, which included entering destination details, dates
and other factors. These booking components are the core functions of both
websites, therefore, their functionality, organization and effectiveness are cri
tical to each websites ability to attain and retain users. After the test,
participants completed a post-test questionnaire and rated their experiences
with each task.

METHODS
PARTICIPANTS. Test participants included eight users, all age 22, who
had no prior experience using StudentUniverse.com or STATravel.com.
Participants were selected via in-person requests. The entire group
consisted of undergraduate and graduate college students, of which six
were female and two were male. Under no segmentation criteria, four
participants were selected to test StudentUniverse.com and the
remaining four were selected to test STATravel.com.
Two participants had prior experience using StudentUniverse.com and/
or STATravel.com. Six participants had previously used online booking/travel websites to plan travel, and all but one had traveled abroad
1-3 times in one year. All participants planned their travel online, half
via third party websites and half via airline website. Individual flights
booked in the past year by the eight participants varied from 0-6. All
participants were interested in traveling abroad, and three had plans to
study abroad.
According to Alexa.com, the average users of both StudentUniverse.
com and STATravel.com are overwhelmingly college-educated females
in the United States who access the website mostly at work, but also at
home or school. Considering these demographics and the target user
demographics outlined by each website, the participants of this
usability test are among the intended audience for both Student
Universe.com and STATravel.com. users ability to complete each
booking task.

TASKS. Participants were introduced to TryMyUI Usability Testing

Services, which was the online tool used to conduct the usability tests.
Within the system, participants were presented with a scenario and
five tasks, which included an impression test and reading the frame of
mind or scenario out loud. The scenario was designed to test an
individual users complete booking experience, from travel to activities
in the destination. The following content was provided to each p
articipant via TryMyUI:
Scenario
You are going on a spring break trip to Phuket, Thailand to explore the
area on your own. Plan a seven day trip between March 18th-28th to
Thailand. Leaving from the Raleigh-Durham Airport (RDU) to Phucket
International Airport (HKT).
Tasks

1. Perform a short impression test.

2. Read the frame of mind scenario out loud.

3. Find a round trip flight from Raleigh Durham International

airport to Phuket, Thailand under $1700

4. Find a 4 or 5 star hotel within 30 miles of the airport for less

than $200 a night

5. Book a tour during your trip to Phuket, Thailand
The scenario and tasks were chosen to test the overall effectiveness of
each websites design and the ease-of use of booking features.
Furthermore, the tasks were chosen to test whether the flow or process
of information on each website is efficient. It was assumed that the
variance in the organization of each website, specifically an abundance
of information versus a simple structure, would greatly impact each
users ability to complete each booking task.

FACILITIES. Participants were tested on Mac desktop and laptop

computers in the Interactive Media Masters Program editing bays on
the second floor of Elon Universitys Powell building. Testing facilitators
remained in the room for the pre-test questionnaire, and observed
testing and the post-test questionnaire through a glass wall from
outside of the room.
Test Administrator Tools
The identities of test participants will remain confidential. In the
report, participants are referred to by number rather than by name.
The TryMyUI tool used the computers webcam and microphone to
record screen captures of each users mouse movements and clicks and
audio of each users verbal feedback during testing. The system also
included post-task questions, which asked participants if they were
able to complete the task and how difficult they thought each task
was. Pre- and post-test questionnaires were presented to participants
in printed, physical form.
The pre-test questionnaire included 10 open- and closed-ended
questions that centered on each participants prior experience with
online travel booking websites and their interest in traveling abroad
and/or plans to travel abroad. Demographic questions regarding each
participants age and sex also were asked. The post-test questionnaire
included 13 questions about each participants experience booking on
the website in which they tested. In addition to users rating their
overall experience using the website and an open-ended question about
what they felt were the most glaring difficulties or problems during
their test, the remaining questions were presented using Likert scales,
from 1-5. Please refer to the Appendices for the complete post-task,

PROCEDURES. Facilitators greeted participants and introduced

themselves as participants arrived to the second floor of the Powell
building. Participants were then taken to editing bays for privacy and
to minimize distractions while testing. Next, facilitators used a
predetermined script to relay the nature and purpose of the testing and
to give instructions to each participant. Participants were then asked to
read and sign consent forms, followed by the completion of the pre-test
questionnaire.
Participants were encouraged to think out loud while completing tasks.
Mouse movements and clicks and audio of each participant were
recorded via TryMyUI throughout testing. Facilitators observed
participants from outside of the editing bays, in case assistance was
needed for any technical difficulties during testing. Upon completion of
all tasks and post-test questions within the TryMyUI system,
facilitators administered printed post-test questionnaires to each
participant, leaving and observing from outside of the room. Finally,
participants were thanked for their cooperation and dismissed without
compensation.

STUDENT
UNIVERSE

RESULTS

TASK COMPLETION RATE A total of four college-aged students tested the

studentuniversel.com website. All participants were able to complete task 1,
75% of the participants were able to complete task 2 and 50% were able to
complete task 3 during the usability test. Each participant made verbal or
written notes about what they felt was unclear, confusing and/or frustrating
during a particular part of their testing experience.
TASK TIME AVERAGE On average, it took 1 minute and 53 seconds for all
four participants to complete task 1 perform a short impression test. For
task 2 read the frame of mind scenario out loud, it took an average of 1
minute and 49 seconds for all participants to complete the task .When it
came to task 3 find a round trip flight from Raleigh Durham International
airport to Phuket, Thailand under $1700 it took an average of 41 seconds
for all participants to complete this task. For task 4 find a 4 or 5 star hotel
within 30 miles of the airport for less than $200 a night it took 1 minutes
and 52 seconds. Lastly, for task 5 book a tour during your trip to Phuket,
Thailand it took an average of 5 minutes and 35 seconds for all
participants to complete. Based off of the average it can be seen that most
participants struggled more with task 5 the most during the usability test.

SATISFACTION RESULTS. Overall, studentuniverse.com recived a

usability average of 68.75% with a letter grade of a C. Like STA
Travel, for every test question each participants was able to rate
their overall experience ranging from 1(indicating the task was
very difficult to complete) to 7(indicating the task was very easy to
complete). The below chart indicates the numeric grade that each
participant gave the corresponding task based off of the above
feedback scale. Aside from participants rating each task
numerically, we also asked each participant to provide verbal or
written feedback after each task or at the point of confusion.

PARTICIPANT COMMENTS
Participant 1 :
The worst thing about my experience were the pop-up windows. I
hate that.
I would improve the color scheme/textual hierarchy of information.
I enjoyed the amount of photos on the landing page, offered some
solid brand identity.
Overall,I feel like overall design could be improved. Certain buttons/
elements could be augmented so theyre easier to find.
Participant 2:

The worst thing about my experience was not being familiarity

with the website.
I would not improve anything, I felt the website was fairly easy to
navigate.
I really enjoyed that the website was really visual, not just a
standard website with a ton of external ads.
Overall, a really cool website.
Participant 3:
I hated how there was no alphabetical order. That was terrible. For
a first time user I began to see that this site was organized but after
seeing the lack of organization with the country list or
continent list it just upset me.
The appearance of the lists that are clearly not in alphabetical
order.
I like how professional it was! The feature that stood out to me
the most was definitely how I was allowed to compare flights with
leading competitors in flight booking.
I think this site is great aside from the alphabetical order. Is this
site real? If so I will be doing my travel booking on here. I just want
to make sure that this is not just third party booking like cheapo-air and Im not able to actually be seated on a plane without my
seat being secure.

Participant 4:
Finding the hotel was hard because it didnt connect to the
finding the flight process, like when I am checking out buying
my flight ticket I would of wanted to see hotel listing near the
airport below my ticket purchase.
I didnt like how it connected me to an entirely new site when I
looked for a tour, I felt like I had to learn an entirely new layout
and site and that is confusing.
The simplistic (for a travel site) layout and clear, obvious
buttons (except the feedback button is tiny idk why).
I would advise the owner of the site to: put as much energy as
you did making the flight ticket finding and purchasing aspect,
into the tour and hotel areas of the site. Those two aspects of
the site should be of equal importance as the flight purchase
aspect but it seems like when this site was created those were
thought of as added perks and not created as thoroughly as the
flight ticket part.

Error: During task 5 the participant had a hard time looking through
the country and region due to the countries not being alphabetized.
Participant 4:
Error: During task 4 the participant had a hard time booking a hotel
due to being unfamiliar with the site. Had a few errors due to lack of
learning curve and previously using other booking site.
Common Errors:
Error: Multiple participants had a hard time finding a tour when they
searched by the full name of the destination using both the city and
country.

ERROR RATE.
Participant 1
Error:During task 2 the participant accidentally pressed a pop
up that generated during the test directing the participant to a
third-party site
Participant 2
Error: During task 4 the participant felt the need to complete a
Google search to find hotel rating because she failed to see this option on the actual site.
Error: During task 5 the participant had a hard time finding a tour
when they searched by the full name of the destination using both
the city and country.
Participant 3
Error: During task 5 the Participant had a hard time finding a tour
when they searched by the full name of the destination using both
the city and country.

STA TRAVEL
RESULTS

TASK COMPLETION RATE. A total of four college-aged students tested

the statravel.com website. All participants were able to complete each
test question presented during the usability test. Although each task
was completed by all of the participants, every participant made either
verbal or written notes about what they felt was unclear, confusing
and/or frustrating during a particular part of their testing experience.
TASK TIME AVERAGE: On average, it took 1 minute and 50 seconds
for all four participants to complete task 1 perform a short impression
test. For task 2 read the frame of mind scenario out loud, it took an
average of 0.75 seconds for all participants to complete the task. When
it came to task 3 find a round trip flight from Raleigh Durham
International airport to Phuket, Thailand under $1700 it took an
average of 2 minutes and 24 seconds for all participants to complete
this task. For task 4 find a 4 or 5 star hotel within 30 miles of the
airport for less than $200 a night it took 5 minutes and 34 seconds.
Lastly, for task 5 book a tour during your trip to Phuket, Thailand
it took an average of 2 minutes and 21 seconds for all participants to
complete. Based off of the average it can be seen that most
participants struggled more with task 4 and task 5 the most during the
usability test. Coincidentally, these task generated the most comments
from participants when it came to providing feedback.

SATISFACTION RESULTS: Overall, statravel.com recived a usability

average of 64.38% with a letter grade of a C. For every test question
each participants was able to rate their overall experience ranging from
1(indicating the task was very difficult to complete) to 7(indicating the
task was very easy to complete). The below chart indicates the numeric
grade that each participant gave the corresponding task based off of
the above feedback scale.Aside from participants rating each task
numerically, we also asked each participant to provide verbal or written
feedback after each task or at the point of confusion. With this, many
participants commented on the a wide variety of things from the speed
of the website and usability functions such as booking a hotel. Coincidentally, the task that received the highest rating received little to no
negative feedback. Whereas the task with the lowest numbers were not
only consistent, but the comments were consistent as well.

PARTICIPANT COMMENTS
Participant 1
The load time while booking a flight and a hotel was horrible
The drop down section for the hotels was a bit overwhelming
The worst thing about my experience was booking the tour. It was
very challenging. I didnt know how to specify specifically where I
was going in Thailand. The page was also very different from the
flight and hotel pages.
The website could be better marketed towards students. I didnt
really get that at first glance.

 I liked the simplicity of it. The site didnt have a lot of extra elements
in the way.
The load time was horrible. It took too long. I would definitely try
another site before this one.
Participant 2:
There were a lot of things going on while I was using the site
I found it hard to filter through the hotel section of the site
It was hard to filter through when trying to find a hotel. You had to
click in a certain area in order to receive the correct search.
There was a lot of things going on. It was a little distracting looking at
everything and then reminding myself of the task at hand.
I liked how the website had multiple tabs at the navigation. It was
super easy to select what you were looking for. However, the search
bar needs some work because what I was looking for did not show up
but then when I clicked on a different part of the website it did show
up.
I think the website would be more efficient if the search bar was
updated to find all the cities though I know that is a lot to ask for
sometimes.
I really liked how the ONE website allowed me to search for THREE
different things that relate to traveling abroad where usually I feel like
I would have to book my flight through one site, hotels through
another, tours through another, etc.
Participant 3:
The worst thing about my experience was probably navigating from
the flight page to the hotel page. I was thinking that it was going to
be a combined experience, so I just assumed there was going to be a
book a hotel link right from the flight landing page.
Making it clear what other selections I had made in the past could
have been improved. I dont believe there was a cart or anything that
I could refer back to.

It was well-designed given the amount of information on the

pages. I liked how based on what you clicked (find hotel, flight, etc.)
the booking section was right in the middle of the page. Travel
sites are tough just because of the amount of info.
The website was solid and welcoming, good first impression which
is super important.
Participant 4:
Navigating from flight to hotel was hard to do.
I didnt like how once I had my flight selected I had to go all the
way back to the home screen to search for hotels and tours around
there.
It would be awesome if after selecting the flight different options
for hotels and things to book to do in the area would then show up.
I realize that this system is likely having to reach out to other
servers and things to pull information relating to flight and hotel
prices but it still seems like it takes too long. I, as someone in this
program who understands these things was fine waiting for it but
other, less patient people, might not be.
Repeating Comments
Hard time differentiating between Adult or Student option when
selecting a flight.
long waiting time throughout the website
There are items on the site i.e. finding a location that I feel can be
simplified

ERROR RATE:
Participant 1:
Error: During task 3, the participant was asked to find a 4 or 5
hotel within 30 miles of the airport. The participant clicked on
the Hotel/Hostel link in the navigation page which led her to the
hotel booking page. While on the page the participant was asked
Where would you like to go
Error: During task 4 the participant selected adult when finding
a hotel but chose student when booking a hotel.
Participant 2
Error: During task 4 the participant entered the hotel abbreviation
rather than typing her desired city when booking a hotel.

Error: During task 5 the participant looked at the Google map

to see his proximity to the airport, but realized while on Google map that the information he wanted to find was not accessible on the map. He ended up guessing his proximity to
move forward with the task.
Common Errors:
Two out of four of the participants did not select the student
option when booking a flight.
All participants showed frustration and/or confusion while
trying booking a hotel room after booking a flight.
Three out of four of the participants verbalized confusion
while booking a tour at some point during the task.

Error: During task 5 the participant had a hard time finding a tour
because she was unable to locate an area on the page where she
could select and/or enter her desired city.
Participant 3:
Error : During task 3 the participant had a hard time deciphering
between being a student, under 26 or being an adult. Due to
this the participant select two different options student and under 26 which caused price confusion when booking a flight. Since
the participant chose two different options the website displayed
prices for two people.
Participant 4:
Error: During task 4 the participant had a hard time figuring out
how to book a hotel room. The participant found his own error
during this process which was: He selected his flight and expected
to see a link where he would be able to find a hotel, but that was
not the case.

10

FINDINGS &
RECOMMENDATIONS
STUDENT UNIVERSE SITE Student Universes current site is seen as
professional, fun, and geared toward the student traveler, but our study shows
that the lack of credibility, flow of information, and information hierarchy
loses users through the purchasing process.
Results from 75% of users stated that credibility was not established initially.
This can be reversed by eliminating the new window for price comparison
with sites like Priceline and making it a new page within the current site.
Users also noted that the comparison sites tended to load faster than the
host site, Student Universe, diminishing credibility there as well.
The navigation design of the interface guides users through various parts of
the site with a specific order of action. Users expressed
frustration navigating from the flight page to both the hotel and tours
pages. They felt that they should be walked through from step to step.

In this case, booking a hotel should be clearly highlighted as the next thing
to do after selecting a flight and the option of a tour should follow. When
searching for a location users often got misdirected when inputting both
the city and country. The search database didnt recognize both, but that
was not communicated to the users. Some users unknowingly spelled the
location wrong and couldnt find results. These minor problems can be fixed
by using an auto-fill search bar that guesses the input of the user to avoid
spelling errors and eliminate confusion.
On the tours page some users noticed an interface change while others did
not. The changed interface suggests a completely new site forcing users to
take time and figure out if this site is credible and how to use the site to
continue their task. Once on this new site users cannot navigate back to
the newer site design and must use a new browser to get to other parts of
the site. To eliminate this, the tours page can be designed just as the other
parts of the site and coded to work in tandem with the other pages.
Another point of frustration was with the order of various lists found on the
tour page. Users commented that the country and dates lists found on the
left navigation bar was not in any apparent alphabetical or chronological
order and seemed unorganized and unprofessional.
By streamlining the design of this page and arranging information in a
specific order, Student Universe can gain credibility and users can easily
use the site as intended

11

STA TRAVEL SITE STA Travels current site is seen as casual, clear,
and welcoming, but our study shows that the primary issue with the
site was the flow of information throughout the purchasing process.
Many of these issues were due to inconsistencies with design and
unclear guidelines. One major issue was on the flight page when
users were asked to select if they were an adult, student or under 26.
Many users noticed that this question was not all-inclusive and chose
more than one option, thus creating an error on the system later that
attempted to book for more than one person. A common suggestion
was an inclusion of a cart function that saved the flight information
making it possible for users to move from the flight page to the hotel
page without losing their flight information. Minor recommendations
from users were to see an exact number of days once the travel time
was chosen on the calendar. Another point of frustration was pop-ups
experienced by one user, slow loading times that can easily be adjusted
through web development.

12

Points of
Comparison

Both STA Travel and Student Universe are both seen as fun and
welcoming sites geared towards the student traveler. While Student
Universes site struggles to establish credibility with some issues in
information hierarchy, both sites can improve the flow of information from
one page to the next. Interlacing design interfaces and concepts from page
to page helps the user smoothly through the purchasing process without
losing focus and getting frustrated. Both sites can achieve this seamless
flow by linking to the next step or page after each task is completed. For
example, after one selects a flight there should be a link to book a hotel in
close proximity to the flight confirmation button. Overall, both sites have a
strong foundation for a successful student centered booking site that
impressed and encouraged the users to use the site in the future.

13

TestScript

Hi,

.Mynameis

,andI'mgoingtobewalkingyouthroughthissession.

Youprobablyalreadyknow,butletmeexplainwhywe'veaskedyoutocomeheretoday:We're
testingawebsitetoseewhatit'slikeforactualpeopletouseit.

Iwanttomakeitclearrightawaythatwe'retestingthesite,notyou.Youcan'tdoanything
wronghere.Infact,thisisprobablytheoneplacetodaywhereyoudon'thavetoworryabout
makingmistakes.

Wewanttoknowexactlywhatyouthink,sopleasedon'tworrythatyou'regoingtohurtour
feelings.Wewanttoimproveit,soweneedtoknowhonestlywhatyouthink.

Ifyouhavequestions,justask.Imaynotbeabletoanswerthemrightaway,sincewe're
interestedinhowpeopledowhentheydon'thavesomeonesittingnexttothem,butIwilltryto
answeranyquestionsyoustillhavewhenwe'redone.

Withyourpermission,we'regoingtovideotapethecomputerscreen.Thevideowillbeused
onlytohelpusfigureouthowtoimprovethesite,anditwon'tbeseenbyanyoneexceptthe
peopleworkingontheproject.

Throughoutthetestwewillbeadministeringquestionstobettergaugeyourexperience.Wewill
startwithpretestquestionstodetermineyourbackgroundandyourpriorexperiencewiththe
topic.Aftereachtaskiscompletedtherewillbe23questionswithinthetest.Finally,following
thecompletionofthetest,therewillbeposttestquestionsassessingyouroverallexperience.

Ifyouwould,I'mgoingtoaskyoutosignsomethingforus.Itsimplysaysthatwehaveyour
permissiontorecordyouractions,butthatitwillonlybeseenbythepeopleworkingonthe
project.

Doyouhaveanyquestionsbeforewebegin?


INFORMEDCONSENTFORM
ElonUniversity

TitleofProject:

COM560AGroupResearchProjectsforClass

PrincipalInvestigator:
QianXu
AssistantProfessor
SchoolofCommunications,ElonUniversity
2850CampusBox
Office:(336)2786454|EMail:
qxu@elon.edu

CoInvestigator:
JordynnMcKnight
NicoleMcEwan
ErinTurner
TarahHolland

1. PurposeoftheStudy:ThepurposeofthisstudyistogatherinformationaboutElonstudentsand
Eloncommunitymembersusesandevaluationonanumberofvariousmediainterfacesintheir
dailylife.Thestudyhasbeendesignedaspartofagraduatecourseprojectininteractivemedia
strategies(COM560A)andwillthereforereflectanumberofdifferentresearchquestionsbeing
examinedbymultiplesubgroupsofstudents.Thisprojectisdesignedtogivepracticalexperience
tostudentsinusabilitytestforcommunicationmedia.Thisprojectwilllookintotheusesand
effectsofcommunicationmediaonusers.

2. Procedurestobefollowed:Youwillbeaskedtofirstinteractwithsomemediaandthenanswera
fewquestionsraisedbythestudentresearchersorfilloutanquestionnaire.

3. DiscomfortsandRisks:Therearenorisksinparticipatinginthisresearchbeyondthose
experiencedineverydaylife.

4. Benefits:Therearetwopotentialbenefitstoparticipation:(a)Youmightlearnmoreabout
yourselfbyparticipatinginthisstudy.Youmighthaveabetterunderstandingofhowimportant
communicationistoyouand(b)Thisresearchmightprovideabetterunderstandingofhowuse
ofmediaaffectscollegestudents.Thisinformationcouldhelpplanprogramsandmakestudent
servicesbetter.

5. Duration:Itwilltakeaboutanhourtocompletethestudyandanswerquestions.

6. StatementofConfidentiality:Onlythepersoninchargeandthestudentresearcherswillknow
youridentity.Alldatarelatedtothisstudywillonlybeaccessibletotheprincipalinvestigator
andthestudentinvestigatorsforthisstudyandwillbekeptinlockedclosetsand/orsecured
computersoftheinvestigatorandstudentinvestigatordesks,inElonuniversityoffices.
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Scenario & Tasks

Scenario
You are going on a spring break trip to Phuket, Thailand to explore the area on your own.
Plan a seven day trip between March 18th-28th to Thailand. Leaving from the Raleigh-Durham
Airport (RDU) to Phucket International Airport (HKT).
Tasks
2. Read the frame of mind scenario out loud.
3. Find a round trip flight from Raleigh Durham International airport to Phuket, Thailand
4. Find a 4 or 5 star hotel within 30 miles of the airport for less than $200 a night
5. Book a tour during your trip to Phuket, Thailand

Pre Test Questions

Background info
1. Do you have prior experience with STA Travel and/ or Student Universe?
2. Interest in traveling abroad?
3. Have you travelled before using online booking/travel website?
4. Do you plan on studying abroad?(Closed-ended)
5. How often do you travel abroad in a year?
I dont travel abroad
1-3 times
4-6 times
7-10 times
11 or more
Questions
1. How do you usually purchase your flights? (Open-ended)
2. How many flights have you booked online in the last year?
3. How often do you use third party booking sites such as Orbitz, Hotwire,
Priceline, etc.)
4. How often do you use booking sites like (Kayak, )?
5. How often do you purchase flights directly from the airlines sites?
Demographic Questions
1. What is your age?
2. What is your sex?(Optional)

All Results
Background 1

Background 2

Background 3

Background 4

Background 5

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Age

Sex

STA Participant 4

Pre Test

NO

YES

YES

YES

1-3 times

Online using USAirways

Not often

Never

Usually, but I do check prices with other site

22

STA Participant 3

YES

YES

YES

YES

Less than once/year

Travel or airline websites

Not very often

Not very often

Most often

22

STA Participant 2

NO

YES

YES

YES

1-3 times

Jetblue.com

Occasionally, 5-10 tim

Rarely, 1-3 times

Most often; almost every time

22

STA Participant 1

NO

YES

NO

NO

1-3 times

Online

Never

Never

Every time

22

SU Participant 4

NO

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Online

2 or 3

Every time

Never

Not often

22

SU Participant 3

YES

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Kayak & Priceline

Frequently

Frequently

Every so often

22

SU Participant 2

NO

YES

NO

MAYBE

1-3 times

Google search; American Airl

Not too often

Occasionally

Most often; usually

22

SU Participant 1

NO

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Kayak

4 or 5

Always

Kayak

25% of the time

22

STA Travel
Background 1

Background 2

Background 3

Background 4

Background 5

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Age

Sex

Participant 4

Pre Test

NO

YES

YES

YES

1-3 times

Online using USAirways

Not often

Never

Usually, but I do check prices with other site

22

Participant 3

YES

YES

YES

YES

Less than once/year

Travel or airline websites

Not very often

Not very often

Most often

22

Participant 2

NO

YES

YES

YES

1-3 times

Jetblue.com

Occasionally, 5-10 tim

Rarely, 1-3 times

Most often; almost every time

22

Participant 1

NO

YES

NO

NO

1-3 times

Online

Never

Never

Every time

22

22

Student Universe
Background 1

Background 2

Background 3

Background 4

Background 5

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Age

Sex

Participant 4

Pre Test

NO

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Online

2 or 3

Every time

Never

Not often

22

Participant 3

YES

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Kayak & Priceline

Frequently

Frequently

Every so often

22

Participant 2

NO

YES

NO

MAYBE

1-3 times

Google search; American Airl

Not too often

Occasionally

Most often; usually

22

Participant 1

NO

YES

YES

NO

1-3 times

Kayak

4 or 5

Always

Kayak

25% of the time

22

Post-Test Questions
Rate your overall experience with the STA Travel and Studentuniverse website
a.
Very Unpleasant
b.
Unpleasant
c.
Neutral
d.
Pleasant
e.
Very Pleasant
Overall the site was easy to navigate?
Disagree

Agree

Booking a tour on the site was easy to navigate?

Disagree

Agree

Booking a hotel room on the site was easy to navigate?

Disagree

Agree

Did you find the needed information needed to complete all of the task? ( Change
the way the question is phrased)
Not at all satisfied
Very satisfied
1
2
3
4
5
Rate your experience on the website in regards to finding and booking a hotel
Very difficult
Very easy
1
2
3
4
5
How easy was it to find activity information in this website?
Very difficult
Very easy
1
2
3
4
5
Is the information on this website easy to understand?
Very difficult
Very easy
1
2
3
4
5
How easy is it to concentrate on searching for information (i.e. because of
distractions)?
Very difficult
Very easy
1
2
3
4
5
How easy is it to search for the desired information?
Very difficult
Very easy
1
2
3
4
5

Are you willing to register to be a member before you book the ticket/the
product?
Not agree
Agree
1
2
3
4
5
If you can change anything about your experience on the site what would you
change?
In general what was the most glaring problems you experience?

All Results
Post Test

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

SU Participant 3

Pleasant

4 I dislike how the lists for countries/cities wasnt in al[habeticall order

Same as above

SU Participant 1

4 I just was unfamiliar with it. It would get easier with more use!

SU Participant 2

Pleasant

2 Pop-up windows; Couldnt find a tour for Phucket, Lack of textual hierarchy; some info hard to read; color scheme

SU Participant 4

Neutral

1 I didnt like that I had to exit the flight ticket purchasing area to find a hotel -pretty annoying that I had to re-input the same destination and dates into a search bar to find a h Also didnt like how it took me to a new site for tours, I could see how that would confuse many people (it felt like I had clicked on an ad by accident).

STA Participant 1

3 MArket it otwards students if that is your audience; improve the tour page. It didnt function well ; all users to put in more infor before searching such as price, star ratings, etc.; increase font size on some features

STA Participant 2

Pleasant

4 More filters when searching/booking a tour

There was a lot to look at so I would scan and then fogret what I was doing and then backtrack because everything looked so cool

STA Participant 4

Pleasant

1 Speed and offer suggestions

not linking the three services together

STA Participant 3

Neutral

2 The flow of the site was choppy

Navigation, flow, finding relevant information

STA Travel
Post Test

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Participant 3

Neutral

2 The flow of the site was choppy

Navigation, flow, finding relevant information

Participant 4

Pleasant

1 Speed and offer suggestions

not linking the three services together

Participant 2

Pleasant

4 More filters when searching/booking a tour

There was a lot to look at so I would scan and then fogret what I was doing and then backtrack because everything looked so cool

Participant 1

3 MArket it otwards students if that is your audience; improve the tour page. It didnt function well ; all users to put in more infor before searching such as price, star ratings, etc.; increase font size on some features

Student Universe
Post Test

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Participant 4

Neutral

1 I didnt like that I had to exit the flight ticket purchasing area to find a hotel -pretty annoying that I had to re-input the same destination and dates into a search bar to find a h Also didnt like how it took me to a new site for tours, I could see how that would confuse many people (it felt like I had clicked on an ad by accident).

Participant 3

Pleasant

4 I dislike how the lists for countries/cities wasnt in al[habeticall order

Participant 2

Pleasant

2 Pop-up windows; Couldnt find a tour for Phucket, Lack of textual hierarchy; some info hard to read; color scheme

Participant 1

4 I just was unfamiliar with it. It would get easier with more use!

Same as above
-