HEADPHONE USE FOR PRIVACY REGULATION: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS, CROWDING, AND INTERACTION IN PUBLIC WORKING SPACE.

Abstract

This thesis describes a quasi-experimental mixed methods study that investigates headphone use as a privacy regulation mechanism within open, public workspaces. It further examined the relationship between residential crowding and desire to interact. A survey consisting of a scale on perceived residential crowding and an image-based scale on desire to interact was distributed to 200 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers. Additionally, structured interviews were conducted with 30 student participants recruited from a student commons in a large research university. Analysis of survey data supported the hypothesis that participants felt that they would be less likely to interact with the people in the images who were wearing headphones. Interview results showed that headphone use was a widely understood mechanism to manage privacy levels within an open, public workspace. The results were discussed with reference to the privacy regulation model of crowding and the implicit interaction framework for social robotic design.