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270 Socially Intelligent Agents

were balanced amongst the participants. Participants were distributed equally
according to gender and age group (age 18-35, 36-49, 50+).
Participants were told they would be asked to speak to assistants to com-
plete short tasks in the applications. In all cases the participants were asked
to carefully observe the assistant and the application. After the conversation
participants completed a 7-point Likert [8] attitude questionnaire relating to
the assistant. When participants had seen all four agents in an application they
filled out a questionnaire relating to the application. After participants had in-
teracted with all agents in all three applications they completed a questionnaire
stating their application preference. A structured interview followed.

2.3 Experimental Findings
2.3.1 E-Commerce Applications. The mean rating scores from the
10-point (low-high) application rating scale show a largely positive response
to the applications. No effects for between-subject variables of age and gender
were found. A 3 x 1 repeated measures ANOVA taking experimental applica-
tion as the independent variable showed no significant effects for applications
(F =0.76,df =2.0,p =0.47). The cinema was rated the highest, fol-
lowed by the travel agency and thirdly the bank (mean score: cinema = 6.56;
travel = 6.46;bank = 6.12). The 7-point Likert questionnaire used to retrieve
information about the participants’ attitudes toward the applications showed
participants felt the applications were convenient and easy to use.
A chi-square test showed the cinema application was significant preferred
in comparison to the other applications (p< 0.05). In fact, 40% of partici-
pants preferred the cinema application, 14% of participants preferred the travel
agency and 14% preferred the banking application. A further 8% did not like
any of the applications and 25% of the participant sample liked all applications
equally.
One participant commented the experience was an improvement because of
the feeling of “dealing with someone face to face” and the cinema applica-
tion “seemed easier to use”. In all three applications participants experienced
delayed responses from the system as it was processing information and the
general thought was that if the delays could be eliminated, the applications
would be more successful. The delays seemed to reduce user confidence is
the systems, especially where more critical information was being inputted
(travel, bank). Participants were also uncertain about security, confidentiality
and reliability when completing transactions in the banking application. It was
suggested that more visual content in the form of text output would be an im-
provement. Also, having the opportunity to use the keyboard to enter security
numbers may be a beneficial feature.