Title: A cross-cultural study of users' craftsmanship perceptions in vehicle interior design

Authors: Jean-Francois Petiot, Cecile Salvo, Ilkin Hossoy, Panos Y. Papalambros, Richard Gonzalez

Addresses: Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernetique de Nantes (UMR CNRS 6597), Ecole Centrale de Nantes 1, rue de la Noe, BP 92101, 44321 NANTES, France. ' Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernetique de Nantes (UMR CNRS 6597), Ecole Centrale de Nantes 1, rue de la Noe, BP 92101, 44321 NANTES, France. ' Optimal Design Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ' Optimal Design Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ' Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

Abstract: This paper investigates the user-perception of vehicle interior craftsmanship. A survey, involving subjects of two different nationalities (American and French), was conducted on a set of vehicles. Several tasks were asked of the subjects in order to study differences in craftsmanship perception, in particular, relative to the nationality of the subject. This paper proposes an interesting illustration of the use of social science techniques to investigate differences in the perception of products. Several analytic techniques such as Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), cluster analysis, analysis of variance, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and preference mapping are presented to scientifically study user-perceptions.

Keywords: perceived quality; craftsmanship quantification; user oriented design; MDS; multidimensional scaling; preference mapping; vehicle interior design; vehicle design; USA; United States; France; craftsmanship perception; user perceptions; cluster analysis; analysis of variance; ANOVA; principal component analysis; PCA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2009.022275

International Journal of Product Development, 2009 Vol.7 No.1/2, pp.28 - 46

Published online: 25 Dec 2008 *

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