Perceived disorientation: an examination of a new measure to assess web design effectiveness

In this paper, we present the development of a new measure of perceived disorientation that helps to explain experiences with Web-based systems. Two studies, incorporating over 300 participants, provide evidence for the measure's construct validity. The first study is a survey that develops this new measure and distinguishes it from ease of use. The second study, an experiment investigating users performing an information retrieval task on the Web, further distinguishes disorientation from ease of use, and relates it to actions. Moreover, the study compares the effects of Web designs containing simple and global navigation systems; these systems related to perceived disorientation but not to ease of use or actions. Finally, the study examines disorientation's relationship with user performance and demonstrates that perceived disorientation relates more strongly than actions to performance. Our perceived disorientation measure is simple and quick to administer to users, and we conclude by suggesting that designers will find it useful in assessing and comparing Web designs.