A feedback system for a children's helpline training-chatbot

Master Thesis (2023)
Author(s)

A.A. Braam (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Contributor(s)

Willem Paul Brinkman – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Interactive Intelligence)

M. Al Owayyed – Mentor (TU Delft - Interactive Intelligence)

Ujwal Gadiraju – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Web Information Systems)

Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright
© 2023 Ayrton Braam
More Info
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Publication Year
2023
Language
English
Copyright
© 2023 Ayrton Braam
Graduation Date
12-12-2023
Awarding Institution
Delft University of Technology
Programme
['Computer Science']
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
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Abstract

De Kindertelefoon is a children's helpline aimed at providing (pre-)adolescents with a person to talk to for a variety of subjects such as bullying, sex, and abuse. These people who talk for De Kindertelefoon need proper training and guidance. Among the tools that De Kindertelefoon provides is the 5-phase model, a conversational model. Researchers set up a simulation of a virtual child and De Kindertelefoon to help teach the 5-phase model. However, simulation alone was not enough, and we wanted to see if a feedback system could improve the results, with immediate feedback being the focus.
Immediate feedback is when the user fills in an answer and the system immediately provides information to strengthen knowledge.
When applied to an academic environment, both immediate feedback and student engagement have been proven to be important for completing a task.

Using a literature review, we found that immediate feedback can be directly linked to educational techniques such as self-improvement, self-efficacy, and the Self-Determination Theory. Through a focus group, we also found that constructive immediate feedback is an important pillar of De Kindertelefoon.

The design was achieved by looking at the existing and limited 5-phase model as a graph and trying to find an optimal path through that graph.

After conducting a within-subjects study experiment with 34 participants, the results were inconclusive, with neither condition appearing to be more useful for the group of participants, nor either condition being better at teaching them the 5-phase model.
As the results were inconclusive, the data was explored more by looking at it as a between-subject study, which showed that the explanation sheet might perform better for knowledge.

The research shows the possible strength of feedback in a practical manner. From the results, the immediate feedback is neither more nor less resonant than a classical approach to teaching the 5-phase model.

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