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Does mouse size affect study and evaluation results?: a study comparing preschool children's performance with small and regular-sized mice
Conference proceeding

Does mouse size affect study and evaluation results?: a study comparing preschool children's performance with small and regular-sized mice

Juan Hourcade, Michael Crowther and Lisa Hunt
Proceedings of the 6th international conference on interaction design and children, pp.109-116
IDC '07
06/06/2007
DOI: 10.1145/1297277.1297300

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Abstract

When researchers and practitioners conduct research studies or software evaluations where children use mice, it is unclear whether using different mouse sizes would affect the results of these studies and evaluations. To answer this question, we conducted a study with 50 four and five year olds who were randomly assigned to use either small or regular-sized mice. The children in the study had been using regular-sized mice 35 minutes a day, four times a week, for two months previous to the study. In analyzing the results of the study we found no statistically significant differences in accuracy or efficiency between the children who used small and regular-sized mice. We also found no statistically significant differences in accuracy or efficiency between the four and five year olds. The latter result was somewhat surprising given previous research results. In spite of the participants being frequent users of mice, they still had low accuracy rates when pointing and clicking on the smallest target size we tested (16 pixels in diameter). This result provides further evidence of preschool children's need for interactions designed specifically for their developing motor skills.
 Human-Computer Interaction accuracy children efficiency experience Fitts' law maturation mouse mouse size target reentry training

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