UBC Faculty Research and Publications

A practical approach to measuring user engagement with the refined user engagement scale (UES) and new UES short form O'Brien, Heather, 1977-; Cairns, Paul, 1971-; Hall, Mark

Abstract

User engagement (UE) and its measurement have been of increasing interest in human-computer interaction (HCI). The User Engagement Scale (UES) is one tool developed to measure UE, and has been used in a variety of digital domains. The original UES consisted of 31-items and purported to measure six dimensions of engagement: aesthetic appeal, focused attention, novelty, perceived usability, felt involvement, and endurability. A recent synthesis of the literature questioned the original six-factors. Further, the ways in which the UES has been implemented in studies suggests there may be a need for a briefer version of the questionnaire and more effective documentation to guide its use and analysis. This research investigated and verified a four-factor structure of the UES and proposed a Short Form (SF). We employed contemporary statistical tools that were unavailable during the UES ’development to re-analyze the original data, consisting of 427 and 779 valid responses across two studies, and examined new data (N = 344) gathered as part of a three-year digital library project. In this paper we detail our analyses, present a revised long and short form (SF) version of the UES, and offer guidance for researchers interested in adopting the UES and UES-SF in their own studies.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International