A cost-benefit analysis methodology for assessing product adoption by older user populations.

A methodology for assessing perceptions of a product through cost-benefit analysis is demonstrated in an experimental study involving use of one of two products for supporting interaction with telephone voice menu systems. The method emphasizes ratings of constructs related to costs and benefits considered relevant to decisions regarding product adoption, and the use of the analytic hierarchy process technique to derive subjective importance weights associated with those constructs. Twenty-five younger subjects (18-39 years of age) and 27 older subjects (60-82 years of age) interacted with simulated telephone voice menu systems supported by either a screen phone or a graphical device. Although analysis of the benefit-cost ratios revealed that benefits were perceived as more important than costs, the analysis of the constituent item ratings and importance weights provided potentially more useful information for predicting product adoption.