About this study
Who is behind this?
This study is part of a bachelor thesis at DHBW Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University) in the Business Informatics program. Conducted by Johannes Kling, supervised by the Faculty of Business.
What is being investigated?
We are researching how people find and process information in different presentation formats. Specifically, we compare two formats: structured tables and chat conversations. We are interested in how quickly and accurately participants find the correct answer — and whether individual decision-making styles play a role.
The study is part of a larger research project on the question of when dialogue-based AI interfaces (like ChatGPT) and when classical graphical interfaces are better suited for specific tasks.
Data protection
- • All data is collected pseudonymously — it is not possible to link data to your identity.
- • We do not store IP addresses, cookies, or tracking data.
- • Data is used exclusively for scientific purposes within the scope of the bachelor thesis.
- • Participation is voluntary and can be discontinued at any time.
- • Data is hosted in the EU (Supabase, Frankfurt/Paris region).
Contact
For questions about the study or data protection: johannes.kling@outlook.de
What do my results mean?
Decision type
Based on the Rational Decision Style (RDS) questionnaire — a validated psychological instrument from the research of Hamilton et al. (2016). The 5 questions at the beginning measure how analytically vs. intuitively you make decisions.
- • Analytical (RDS ≥ 5.5): You systematically gather information and carefully weigh options.
- • Balanced (RDS 3.5–5.4): You combine analysis with intuition.
- • Intuitive (RDS < 3.5): You rely more on your gut feeling.
The scale ranges from 1 (not at all rational) to 7 (very rational). Your score is the average of your 5 answers. None of these types is better than the other — they describe different, equally valid decision-making strategies.
Speed comparison
The average time (in seconds) it took you to find the correct answer in the table view vs. the chat view. The timer starts as soon as the task is displayed and stops when you click "Submit answer".
3 tasks per format, with increasing complexity: simple filter (cheapest direct flight), categorical filter (Business class), and compound filter (specific airport + departure time).
Accuracy
How many of the 6 multiple-choice questions you answered correctly. Each question has exactly one correct answer out of 4 options. Chance level would be 25% (1.5 out of 6).
Percentile ranking
Shows how your overall speed compares to all previous participants. "Faster than 73%" means you were faster than 73% of all participants. Only displayed once there are at least 10 participants.
Counterbalancing
To avoid order effects, half of the participants receive the table tasks first and then the chat tasks (Group A), while the other half gets the reverse order (Group B). Assignment is random at the start.