- From: Yvette P. Hoitink <y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl>
- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 00:21:55 +0100
- To: <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Hello everyone, Tonight we talked about whether we should have 3 or 2 levels of conformance. I remembered a case study from when I was taking management studies classes and looked it up again (thanks Google!). This study showed that people did not want to choose the extreme option and were more likely to choose the second option if they could choose between 3 instead of 2 options. McDonalds has known this for quite a while: letting you choose between small, medium and large means more people will choose medium than without the large option. In literature, this is known as the 'compromise effect'. This article explains this phenomenon in clear terms: http://www.indicator.co.uk/books/uk101sbk/example1.htm. A more scientific explanation can be found here: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/acad_unit/marketing/seminar_papers/Srinivasan.p df. In WCAG terms, the compromise effect means that more people will be aiming for level 2 if they can choose between 3 levels than if they could only choose between 2 levels. Thus, from a psychological point of view I would argue against 2 levels instead of 3. Yvette Hoitink Heritas, Enschede, the Netherlands
Received on Thursday, 25 March 2004 18:21:39 UTC