The idea of using an animated persona has intrigued me, so I came up with this experimental research idea to test its effectiveness in education videos:
How do different types of persona (human, animated, audio-only) affect learner perception, retention, and engagement in educational video?
To measure this, I would create three videos with the exact same script:
- A “live-action” video with two speakers, shot with at least two angles and creative editing
- An animated video with two avatars in a virtual setting, using the same audio. The avatars, angles and editing should match the “live-action” versions as closely as possible.
- A slide-show using the audio from the above video as narration, along with text, pictures, and creative editing (Since there is no persona, this would act as a control)
I would then distribute a survey to three groups of equal size (I’m not sure how to ensure this. Perhaps there is a way to randomise which of 3 links they get).
Each group watches one of the 3 videos and then completes the same survey with questions about:
- Minimal, optional demographic info – gender, age, etc
- How they feel about the speakers – are they knowledgeable, credible, etc?
- How well they knew the subject already, followed by questions designed to find out how much of the video they remember
- Rating how interesting/engaging they found the subject
The three groups would then be compared to see if there are any significant differences between the answers. There would need to be a lot of participants (perhaps 300) to ensure enough diversity in each group.
