The effects of structural characteristics of explanations on use of a DSS

M. Sinan Gönül; Dilek Önkal; Michael Lawrence

doi:10.1016/j.dss.2005.12.003

The effects of structural characteristics of explanations on use of a DSS

M. Sinan Gönül, Dilek Önkal^*, Michael Lawrence

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

84 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Research in the field of expert systems has shown that providing supporting explanations may influence effective use of system developed advice. However, despite many studies showing the less than optimal use made of DSS prepared advice, almost no research has been undertaken to study if the provision of explanations enhances the users' ability to wisely accept DSS advice. This study outlines an experiment to examine the effects of structural characteristics of explanations provided within a forecasting DSS context. In particular, the effects of explanation length (short vs. long) and the conveyed confidence level (weak vs. strong confidence) are examined. Strongly confident and long explanations are found to be more effective in participants' acceptance of interval forecasts. In addition, explanations with higher information value are more effective than those with low information value and thus are persuasive tools in the presentation of advice to users.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1481-1493
Number of pages	13
Journal	Decision Support Systems
Volume	42
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2005.12.003
Publication status	Published - Dec 2006

Keywords

Adjustment
Explanation
Forecast
Judgment

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10.1016/j.dss.2005.12.003

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AB - Research in the field of expert systems has shown that providing supporting explanations may influence effective use of system developed advice. However, despite many studies showing the less than optimal use made of DSS prepared advice, almost no research has been undertaken to study if the provision of explanations enhances the users' ability to wisely accept DSS advice. This study outlines an experiment to examine the effects of structural characteristics of explanations provided within a forecasting DSS context. In particular, the effects of explanation length (short vs. long) and the conveyed confidence level (weak vs. strong confidence) are examined. Strongly confident and long explanations are found to be more effective in participants' acceptance of interval forecasts. In addition, explanations with higher information value are more effective than those with low information value and thus are persuasive tools in the presentation of advice to users.

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The effects of structural characteristics of explanations on use of a DSS

Abstract

Keywords

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