The evaluation of different on-line design technologies that demonstrate within-website or web application advertising: the case study of an academic integrity quiz

Since the late 1990's, on-line advertising has (increasingly) become a reliable form of (company) revenue (generation) and an "apparently" persuasive means of obtaining user click-throughs. However, the problem with the design of this advertising is pop-up (and pop-under) windows are persuasive, but can reduce the usability' and credibility of applications. In contrast advertisements banner and column can maintain good levels of usability and credibility, but are relatively unpersuasive. Existing templates for advertising are either too specific applicaple to search engines or check out pages or result in advertisements that are ignored, irritating or misleading. Many studies have identified features (such as navigation placement) that contribute to usability and credibility of websites or web applications containing advertising, but these studies have not synthesized or applied such knowledge to produce a recommendation. This research makes a recommendation in the form of a advertising template; this advertising template (called a follow-on) looks to promote a sponsored task in a sequential fashion. To evaluate the effectiveness of the design template, this research compares Banner Ads, Follow-on ads and Banner + Follow-on ads, to measure advertising within the context of an onlíne Academic Integrity Quiz that promotes- the take up of an Academic Integrity Pledge. Laboratory tests show that follow-on ads are more persuasive than banner ads, therefore suggesting presenting persuasion at the end of a previous task; will achieve a high user click-through without "negatively" influencing the usability and or credibility of the application. A recommendation for modifying free-to-use Internet sites or applications to better accommodate follow-on ads is suggested.