@inproceedings{346292e187b14df8a778e6e0369d90ba,
title = "How the agent{\textquoteright}s gender influence users{\textquoteright} evaluation of a QA system",
abstract = "In this paper we present the results of a pilot study investigating the effects of agents{\textquoteright} gender-ambiguous vs. gender-marked look on the perceived interaction quality of a multimodal question answering system. Eight test subjects interacted with three system agents, each having a feminine, masculine or gender-ambiguous look. The subjects were told each agent was representing a differently configured system. In fact, they were interacting with the same system. In the end, the subjects filled in an evaluation questionnaire and participated in an in-depth qualitative interview. The results showed that the user evaluation seemed to be influenced by the agent{\textquoteright}s gender look: the system represented by the feminine agent achieved on average the highest evaluation scores. On the other hand, the system represented by the gender-ambiguous agent was systematically lower rated. This outcome might be relevant for an appropriate agent look, especially since many designers tend to develop gender-ambiguous characters for interactive interfaces to match various users{\textquoteright} preferences. However, additional empirical evidence is needed in the future to confirm our findings.",
keywords = "METIS-271077, IR-73715, User studies, HMI-HF: Human Factors, Anthropomorphic agents, EWI-18616, HMI-MI: MULTIMODAL INTERACTIONS, Gender-ambiguous vs. gender-marked look",
author = "A.I. Niculescu and D.H.W. Hofs and {van Dijk}, {Elisabeth M.A.G.} and Antinus Nijholt",
year = "2010",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1109/IUSER.2010.5716715",
language = "Undefined",
isbn = "978-1-4244-9049-3",
publisher = "IEEE",
pages = "16--20",
editor = "{Mohd Saman}, F. and {Md Noor}, N.L. and H. Haron and A. Yeo and A. Edwards",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the International Conference on User Science and Engineering 2010",
address = "United States",
note = "null ; Conference date: 13-12-2010 Through 15-12-2010",
}