The effect of dynamic information display on perception of public restroom cleanliness

The cleanliness of restroom drives peoples preferences. In places such as hotels, restaurants and hospitals, a dirty bathroom will drive away potential customers as it lead them to question the cleanliness of the whole facility. Visionstate Inc. developed WANDA (Washroom Attendant Notification Digital Aid), a LCD touch screen that display the time of most recent restroom service and a interactive interface to request restroom maintenance. The proposed study is to investigate whether features of WANDA enhance peoples perception of bathroom cleanliness. The study asks people to fill out an anonymous survey when they exit a public restroom, asking about how clean they feel the bathroom is. If the study found people perceive the bathroom to be cleaner with presence of WANDA, the finding would help Visionstate Inc. to promote WANDA to clients. If WANDA is ineffective to influence the perception of cleanliness, the finding might help Visionstate to further improve product features.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jeremy Caplan

Student:

Yang Liu

Partner:

Visionstate Inc.

Discipline:

Psychology

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Alberta