Future Research

In the context of this article, an interesting study would be to look at whether visual feedback is actually counter-productive. The implications from findings in this study are that audio feedback from computers is like the audio feedback you get from an alarm clock: it may be annoying, but it is effective. In fact, in this study audio feedback alone was more effective than a combination of audio and visual feedback. One hypothesis potentially worth testing is whether visual feedback, because of the time involved in message translation, i.e., reading, decreases user productivity. Indeed, one of the habits of good data entry personnel is to focus on the data to be entered rather than the visual image of the data on the screen. This procedure speeds up data entry because the operator is not continuously switching back and forth between the screen and the data to be entered.

As previously mentioned, Gibson notes that there is a great deal of diversity in screen layouts and feedback type provided. Given the diversity in screen layouts, it seems appropriate to question which screen layout best promotes user productivity and satisfaction. Clearly, only a few variables can be examined in any given study. While this study addresses lines per entry screen, future research focusing on some of the other variable could provide valuable insights.