Visual or Textual: Effects of Explanation Format and Personal Characteristics on the Perception of Explanations in an Educational Recommender System
Explanations are central to improving transparency, trust, and user satisfaction in recommender systems (RS), yet it remains unclear how different explanation formats (visual vs. textual) are suited to users with different personal characteristics (PCs). To this end, we report a within-subject user study (n=54) comparing visual and textual explanations and examine how explanation format and PCs jointly influence perceived control, transparency, trust, and satisfaction in an educational recommender system (ERS). Using robust mixed-effects models, we analyze the moderating effects of a wide range of PCs, including Big Five traits, need for cognition, decision making style, visualization fam...
| Authors | Qurat Ul Ain, Mohamed Amine Chatti, Nasim Yazdian Varjani et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.HC |
| Published | 26 March 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 26 March 2026 |
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