In this study, researchers from New York University and the University of Southern California examine whether presenting online financial prospectus information using an accordion navigation design can improve investor performance. Accordion navigation design arranges information into a vertically stacked list of headers that can be clicked to reveal or hide content. The use of this design allows for large amounts of information to exist in a small space, and it minimizes the need for users to scroll through and scan less relevant information. The research team found that an online financial prospectus using accordion navigation design may benefit novice users while having adverse effects on the performance of experienced investors. This research was conducted with a grant from the FINRA Foundation.
Authors: Jeremy Burke (USC), Oded Nov (NYU) and Ayanna Seals (NYU)