UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
EFFECTS OF INFORMATION VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES AND DECISION STYLE IN
DECISION SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT:
AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
WAN ADILAH WAN ADNAN
Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty of Information Technology and Quantitative Sciences
August 2007
Candidate's Declaration
I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of Universiti Teknologi MARA. It is original and is the result of my own work, unless otherwise indicated or acknowledged as referenced work. This topic has not been submitted to any other academic institution or non academic institution for any other degree or qualification.
In the event that my thesis be found to violate the condition mention above, I voluntarily waive the right of conferment of my degree and agree be subjected to the disciplinary rules and regulations of Universiti Teknologi MARA.
Name of Candidate Candidate's ID No.
Programme Faculty
Wan Adilah Wan Adnan 2001324298
CS990
Information Technology and Quantitative Sciences
Thesis Title Effects of Information Visualization Techniques and Decision Style in Decision Support
Environment: An Experimental Approach
Signature of Candidate:
Date : 10 August 2007
/•
ABSTRACT
Information visualization (IV) is an emerging technology that relies on the human's perception and cognitive abilities to visualize. Incorporating IV techniques to the decision support system (DSS) is the potential solution to improve system's effectiveness and to provide decision-makers with powerful decision support environment. The aims of IV are to support a deeper understanding and to foster new insights to decision-makers about the data that they are analyzing. Many innovative IV techniques have been developed. However, empirical evaluation on IV techniques is still at its early stage and still lacking in numbers, particularly in the area of business decision support applications. Besides, the adoption of IV techniques as reported in the literature, is still minimal. More evidence of measurable benefits supporting the use of IV is needed, and more attention to individuals' cognitive differences is recommended, to realize its potential advantage.
In the human computer interaction (HCI) and IV literature, the importance of individual differences has been emphasized. However, decision style, which is recognized as one of the key individual cognitive differences that affects system success, has received little attention in these areas. Meanwhile, in the DSS literature, decision style has been acknowledged to affect decision-making performance and one's preferences for human-machine-interface. Unfortunately, it has frequently been overlooked and rarely been given priority in the DSS design. This study aims to bridge these gaps. This thesis examines the extent to which individual differences with decision style in particular, IV techniques and task types affects decision performance, workload rating, and user satisfaction in the managerial decision support environment. The thesis adopts an experimental method, based on within- participant design approach. The results of this study show that there are significant differences in decision performance between IV techniques, individual differences and task. The overview+detail(0+D) techniques outperform zoom+pan(Z+P) technique in completion time, and workload rating. Besides, the study demonstrates that there is a significant difference in user preferences for IV techniques, with majority prefers O+D techniques compared to Z+P. This indicates that user preferences of IV technique is affected by time and effort required to complete a task. In addition, the results suggest that decision style is a significant moderator on the relationship between IV and performance. Findings from the work of this thesis provide theoretical, empirical and practical contributions. This thesis provides theoretical contribution in terms of introducing a new dimension, decision style, and presenting the IV/DSS framework. Besides, the proposal of the Expressive IV
Taxonomy is a novelty contribution of this thesis. This taxonomy aims to facilitate the design and evaluation of IV techniques in decision support environment. This thesis explores and reports the potential of main and interaction effects of decision style on decision performance and workload rating in using different IV techniques.
The results provide empirical contributions, which support the importance of matching the interface technology with individuals' task requirements and individuals' cognitive and perceptual needs. In terms of practical contributions, the findings have important implications for the DSS designers, and provide important research issues for future work.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
By the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Merciful.
Praise to Allah the Almighty for giving me the time and strength to complete this thesis. I hope this effort will contribute towards enhancement of the knowledge and will benefit others in the future.
First and foremost I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Dr Nor Laila Md. Noor for her endless support, guidance and patience. Her role in launching and completing this thesis has been central. Her encouragement has led to the publication of six research articles during the period of my study. My sincere thanks and appreciation extended to my second supervisor Associate Professor Dr Rasimah Aripin, for her helpful suggestions and continuous encouragement and support.
I would also like to thank my colleagues and all staff of the Faculty of Information Technology and Quantitative Sciences, as well as staff at the Centre of Strategic Planning, and at the Training and Scholarship Department, University Technology MARA. My thanks also go to all the staff of Centre of Graduate Studies, UiTM for providing me with the necessary facilities.
To my sponsor, University Technology MARA, thank you for the financial assistance rendered throughout the research period.
I am deeply grateful to my respected father and mother whose prayers and persistent support made it much easier to accomplish this work.
Last but not least, I would like to thanks my dearest husband Nik Ghazali Nik Daud, and my beloved children: Nik Nur Aisyah, Nik Nur Fatihah, Nik Muhammad Naim, Nik Nur Iman, Nik Ahmad Firdaus and Nik Nur Aini for their continuous encouragement, patience, inspiration, and support during the course of this thesis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background
1.2 Motivation 1.3 Research Goals 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 Research Objectives 1.6 Research Approach 1.7 Research Limitations 1.8 Research Contributions
1.8.1 Theoretical Contributions 1.8.2 Empirical Contributions 1.8.3 Practical Contributions 1.9 Publications Relating to this Thesis 1.10 Summary
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