Laboratory vs. Field Experimentation in Human Factors—An Evaluation of an Experimental Self-Service Airline Ticket Vendor

Abstract

Human response times in the experimental Automatic Ticket Vendor (ATV) system were studied first in a laboratory test with simulated operation of some parts of the system and then in a field test at the O'Hare airport in Chicago. Results for human response times were comparable in the two tests, but the field test answered other questions about consumer behavior and subjective reactions that could not be studied in the laboratory. This paper compares the test conditions and results and discusses the relative advantages of the two methods of testing for various purposes.