Abstract
User satisfaction with a technology is an essential usability metric. Unlike efficiency and effectiveness, which are generally recorded during use, satisfaction is often measured subsequently using questionnaires, such as the modified version of the system usability scale (MSUS). This makes satisfaction the most costly usability measure to acquire in large-scale testing. To mitigate this cost, we compared the performance of a four-button kiosk with a standard SUS instrument for measuring satisfaction. Three hundred and fifty four demographically diverse subjects used the kiosk and completed a SUS questionnaire immediately after using one of two different alternative technologies. Kiosk ratings took only 11.43 (sd = 7.30) seconds on average to collect, much faster than 1200 seconds on average for the SUS. Kiosk ratings and MSUS scores were strongly correlated (r = 0.62, p < .005), showing the same pattern of differences between the tested technologies. However, the index of dispersion for kiosk ratings was 71.74% larger than for MSUS scores. We conclude that satisfaction kiosks are a cost-effective alternative for measuring satisfaction in usability studies with large sample sizes.