Like found in the study testing the rate of violations in various presentations, violations of the Principle of Compatibility were least common, whereas one of the most annoying and prevalent reported concerns fell under the principle of Limited Capacity (slides contained too much material to comprehend before the next slide was presented). These results show that presentations have much room for improvement, especially with the audience having time to understand everything. 

Results of Most Emphasized Complaints)

In an attempt to understand if viewers are generally sensitive to presentation flaws, a survey was conducted. 205 eligible participants were asked to report how many slideshows they had seen in the last year, and then rate the various aspects of those presentations, in terms of quality. 

Ohio State University, Columbus

An analysis of PowerPoint presentations was done through a recent experiment, which was broken up into three focus areas: 
Study 1: The frequency of which certain principles are broken.
Study 2: What participants found to be inefficient in the PowerPoint presentations they’ve encountered in the last year.
Study 3: The ability or inability for participants to recognize which principles were being violated on certain slides.
Then, participants were shown slides that violated principles, and asked to point out the violated principle, and define which principle was violated. This description was centered on the first and third focus areas. The second focus area was experimented on by asking participants what problems that they encountered with PowerPoints they had seen in the last year. 

The Experiment Regarding the Psychological Analysis of PowerPoint Presentations

This study found that even when guided to pay attention to specific features of slides, observers don’t always understand when the psychological principles have been violated. Even when they do realize that there is a problem, they’re often not aware of the nature of this problem. The researchers noted that because of the way information processing works in the brain, one could argue that even if viewers don’t notice a violation, they could still be affected by it. 

PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and Failures: Results of Identifying Presentation Faults

Kosslyn, S. M., Kievit, R. A., Russell, A. G., & Shephard, J. M. (2012, July 17). PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and failures: A psychological analysis. Frontiers. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00230/full 

PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and Failures: A Psychological Analysis

This experiment was conducted by attaining a sample of 137 PowerPoint presentations from various different sectors, including: (academic) research, education, government, business, and miscellaneous. These presentations were then evaluated to see if they failed or succeeded in covering the eight principles. They were judged in both “strict” and “liberal” manners.

PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and Failures: Testing if Various Presentations Meet Principle Requirements 

Participants in the final study were used to figure out whether or not people can identify graphical displays in individual slides, in which different principle had been violated. If they could identify the defective displayed, they were then asked to explain why the display was defective. An example evaluation question was, “Which slide does a better job showing how closely two variables are related?” After answering that example question, they’d explain why they made that choice, and hypothetically, what principle(s) the defective graph violated.

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