FOR THE DEGREE OF Masters of Arts

This thesis was a large undertaking, which many people contributed to in various ways. Everyone I’ve come into contact with at the University of Minnesota has had an effect on me or more directly on this paper. I slowly grew this idea of kiosk research in my first class at the University, Evidence Based Design (EBD), from there it grew. Each class I took I added what I learned; the knowledge of the talented faculty/researchers at the University is clearly present in my paper. A special thank you needs to go to few people in particular. Dr. Caren Martin who taught the EBD class, and was also my earlier advisor, helped me develop the idea for my research and narrow my topic to a reasonable size for a first time researcher, me. Her high expectation also pushed me to go further and do my best. Dr. JunaJuan Wu taught me so much in her Retail Design course and Consumer Behavior course, from those two classes I was exposed to a wide array of retail, merchandising, and business articles. Those articles opened my eyes to what types of research is done in the retail community and the expectation I should have of my research. Dr. Wu also was integral in the design of my research instrument. Additionally, her expertise guided me with the statistical design used in this research. Dr. Marilyn Bruin, my qualitative professor, taught me a lot about research. Even though I used quantitative methods, the lessons from her class helped me through my years at the University. Dr. Bruin was also a wonderful person to discuss research issues with i