"I knew that, I was just testing you": Understanding Older Adults' Impression Management Tactics During Usability Studies.

Research has shown that participants often engage in impression management (IM) to present themselves in a favorable way, out of desire to increase self-esteem or enhance how others perceive them. This tendency has also been shown to affect the validity and reliability of studies. Yet, little is known about how older adults’ IM efforts influence the process of usability studies, even though the literature suggests that individuals perform more IM as they age, possibly to avoid negative stereotypes of ageing. Through a mixed-methods approach, we conducted two exploratory usability studies with older adults (65+). We found that participants performed a range of IM tactics including supplication (i.e., portraying oneself as weak or dependent to obtain help) and exemplification (i.e., doing more than is necessary). We discuss how IM tactics influence the study and define strategies to manage them.