Development and Validation of the TechTra Scales: A Tool to Assess Perceptions of and Needs for Technology Transparency in UX Research

The users’ subjective experience of a technology’s transparency is a crucial variable in human-computer interactions, shaping trust, satisfaction, and use. Technology transparency refers to different types of information, such as what the technology currently does, how it gets its results, and why. Depending on the use context, more or less transparency can be helpful and desired from a user experience perspective, posing a design challenge and making it important to assess and contrast both users' transparency perceptions and needs. In three studies (N1 = 191, N2 = 23, N3 = 73), covering different technologies, user groups, and methodological approaches, we developed the TechTra Scales — including TechTra-N for measuring users’ transparency need and TechTra-P for users’ transparency perception. Results support the relevance of differentiating between needs and perceptions, the scales’ applicability and sensitivity to different technology interactions, and their validity. Moreover, we showed good scale properties and a high use intention of practitioners, underlining TechTra’s significance for research and industry.