Conference article

Currently, user evaluation systems in online shopping sites and content download sites mainly employ a 5-point evaluation scheme. This scheme was devised to facilitate statistical use by discretizing the continuous quantity of evaluation into 5 points. However, some think that framing the evaluation in terms of only 5 points reduces the dependability of resulting judgments. Therefore, we reasoned that if an evaluation scheme could be designed, which could capture individuals’ Kansei evaluation easily and intuitively with continuous quantities, using smartphone sensors, this problem might be partially overcome. The main aim of the present study, then, was to develop a better evaluation system, which reflected the Kansei characteristics of a given user. To this end, we examined the relationship between user evaluation results and the vibration data collected using built-in smartphone sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, and investigated the error characteristics in the evaluation. In the prototype application we developed, when a user shakes the terminal, the strength of the vibration is measured with the built-in smartphone accelerometer. We conducted an experiment to compare the user evaluation results obtained by our application with those obtained by the conventional 5-point evaluation scheme. The results suggested that the evaluation based on the proposed application was effective because it showed a positive correlation with that based on the 5-point scheme.

Kansei evaluation, smartphone, continuous quantity