While computer-mediated user studies tend to rely on surveys, observations, focus groups, and ethnography, participant-generated mental model diagrammatic representation can yield valuable data involving complex and abstract user practices and behaviour. Computer-mediated research has struggled with eliciting users’ beliefs of concrete representations in technology interactions. Using an investigation of authentication and user perceptions of security, we tested a method to elicit user mental model representations. We asked this overarching question: What are user perceptions of security when logging in to third-party apps and services via existing Facebook, Google, and Twitter accounts? Drawing from approaches to researching technology from the sub-fields of human-computer interaction, user studies, visual and risk communication, while incorporating methodological techniques from psychology on mental models, we offer a methodological innovation. We found evidence suggesting that a diagrammatic approach to representing mental models is feasible in addressing some of the challenges faced by existing computer-mediated approaches.

虽然以计算机为媒介的用户研究往往依赖于调查、观察、焦点小组和民族志，但参与者生成的心智模型图解表示可以产生涉及复杂和抽象的用户实践和行为的有价值的数据。以计算机为媒介的研究一直在努力激发用户对技术交互中具体表示的信念。通过调查身份验证和用户对安全的看法，我们测试了一种方法来引出用户心智模型表示。我们提出了一个首要问题：通过现有的 Facebook、Google 和 Twitter 帐户登录第三方应用程序和服务时，用户对安全性有何看法？从人机交互、用户研究、视觉和风险沟通等子领域研究技术的方法，在将心理学的方法论技术与心理模型相结合的同时，我们提供了一种方法论创新。我们发现有证据表明，用图表方法来表示心智模型在解决现有计算机介导方法所面临的一些挑战方面是可行的。