Elegance in product design

The data have been used to test the following research hypotheses

H1: Perceived Elegance is inversely correlated to expected effort;
H2: Perceived Elegance is positively correlated with the EC of a product interface.
H3: Elegance is positively correlated to the actual effort of using a new product.

Perceived was elegance was measured through an online survey (see survey) in which participants were asked to rank several models of an appliance control panel in order of perceived elegance using a one to 5 scale (1 most elegant, 5 least elegant)

Expected effort was measured through an online survey (see survey) in which participants were asked to rank several models of an appliance control panel in order of perceived elegance using a one to 5 scale (the easiest to use) to 5 ( the hardest to use)

Effective complexity is a metric described in the file Microwave EC.ppt. The EC value is computed based on the spatial organization of control elements on the panel (knobs, buttons, screens, etc.).

Actual effort was measured through total execution time of the three tasks by every participant, including possible mistakes and subsequent new attempts.

The Kruskal Wallis test and post hoc test are reported in the data actual effort folder