Computer classroom wall color preference and personality type of college students

With the advent of the digita! era, computers are commonly used in teaching and leaming systems. The computer classroom is widely used in colleges and high schools in the United States. In order to create a more comfortable and effective teaching and studying environment, the most desirable wall colors for a computer classroom were identified in this study. Also, interior design students' classifications, and personality types were tested to determine if these factors have impact on their wall color preference. Two instmments were used: the Wall Color Preference Test, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The population for this study were 145 undergraduate students majoring in interior design at a university located in the southwestem United States. Students were asked to voluntarily participate in the Wall Color Preference Test. For this test, students ranked 15 slides displayed on a screen that depicted the same computer classroom and under the same lighting condition (8 parabolic fluorescent lighting fixtures) but with 15 different wall colors. The students also completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Personality type was examined in regards to its influence on preference for interior color applications. A pilot study using the same methodology was conducted prior to the population test in order to identify any problem with the questionnaire and with the procedure selected to coUect data.

Data from the study were analyzed by using one-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), Boferroni HSD post hoc test, and bivariate correlation analysis to detemiine overall preference and to reveal relationships between students' personality types, classifications and knowledge background have on their preference for wall colors of computer classrooms.

The results determined that the interior design students do have color preference for the 15 images. The results also revealed that students' classifications, knowledge background had impact on colors used in image2, 6, and 12, but not on others. Results also found that students' personality types had no impact on their wall color preference for a computer classroom. This study suggested cool colors in the Master Palette Color System are more desirable colors for walls of a computer classroom.