Interactivity: a factory to increase memorization

ABSTRACT Today, approximately 29% of the world population use the Internet, against 38% in Brazil, which shows its importance in people’s routine not only in Brazil, but also worldwide. Being the Internet a communication media, this research evaluates the influence of Interactivity as a factor to increase memorization of Internet sites. According to literature, multiway, immediacy and contingency factors increase Interactivity and sites that provide one or more of these factors influence memorization. 20 in-depth personal interviews were conducted to improve the understanding the issue, to identify leads and elaborate our hypothesis, followed by a quantitative survey of 300 people. Hypotheses were tested using Chi-square and a hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis. Results showed that the smaller the number of leads of a specific website, the larger are its memorization and access. The theoretical contribution of this investigation is that websites that offer fewer leads are more interactive, which causes them to be remembered. The managerial implication is that websites with a clear position and a small quantity of information or leads tend to be more remembered and accessed by internet users.

摘要
如今，全球约29%的人口使用互联网，巴西的互联网普及率更是达到38%，这既凸显了互联网在巴西民众日常生活中的重要地位，也印证了其在全球范围内的关键作用。作为一种传播媒介，本研究探讨了互动性作为提升互联网网站记忆度的影响因素。根据现有研究文献，多向性、即时性与偶发性三类因素可提升网站互动性，而具备其中一项或多项此类特征的网站，会对用户的记忆产生显著影响。
本研究首先开展了20场深度个人访谈，旨在深化对该议题的认知、梳理研究方向并构建研究假设；随后针对300名受访者开展了定量调研。研究采用卡方检验、层级聚类分析与非层级聚类分析对假设进行验证。
研究结果表明，特定网站的引导线索数量越少，其被用户记忆与访问的程度越高。本研究的理论贡献在于证实：引导线索更少的网站具备更强的互动性，进而更易被用户铭记。本研究的管理启示为：定位清晰、信息与引导线索简洁的网站，往往更易被互联网用户记住并访问。