A method to evaluate the usability of interactive climate change impact decision aids

Abstract

Reducing the impacts from climate change requires people to make decisions that may prompt substantial changes in their lives. One possible way to help them is with personalized decision aids. Here we describe a method for evaluating such aids, in terms of how they affect users’ understanding of their situation, defined in terms of their (a) knowledge, (b) consistency of preferences, and (c) active mastery of the material. Our method provides a simple way to evaluate the usability of climate-change decision aids, and to address concerns that the choice of display could bias users’ attitudes. We demonstrate it with the Surging Seas Risk Finder, a decision aid focused on coastal flooding (http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/.