## 6 Discussion and Conclusions  
### Theoretical and Practical Contributions  
Our study investigated the outcomes of perceived interactivity and the subsequent effects on user attitudes in the context of data journalism. All hypotheses related to the models developed and tested have been supported. We have confirmed the mediating role of enjoyment (affective perceptions) and engagement (cognitive-affective perceptions) between perceived interactivity and user attitudes. Thus, if online news and visualization designers wish to attract and retain users, enhancements in user interactions on news pages are warranted. Factors such as engagement and perceived interactivity have been commonly used in previous studies to examine the impact on website attitudes and in research on attitudes toward advertising and online shopping, with less relevant research \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Data Journalism** & **Positive Emerging Concepts** & **Negative Emerging Concepts** \\ \hline \multirow{7}{*}{G2} & **Aesthetics: “Outstanding visual novelty”; “Nice color”; “The color is in line with the theme”; “With visual impact”; “With design sense”** \\  & **Emotion: “Toluch hearstrstring”; “Gratification”; “A sense of involvement and experience feeling”; “Novelty”; “Interesting”** \\  & **Functionality: “Data are accurate”; “Very detailed”; “Easy to remember”; “Information is clear and concise”; “Easy to access, easy to find information”; “Intuitive”; “Interactive’; “Sense of feedback and control”; “Room for manipulation and active choice”; “Interacting with the charts brings visual enjoyment”; “Vividly”; “Interactivity enhances my reading interest”; “Arouses curiosity to continue exploring more information”; “Increased communication power of the message”** \\ \hline \multirow{7}{*}{G3} & **Aesthetics: “Uniformity of color”; “Rejuvenation”; “Novel”; “Hollistic”; “Thematic Sense”; “Innovative”, “Easy to grab people’s attention”** \\  & **Emotion: “Very engaging”; “Interesting”; “Good experience feeling”; “Credible and convincing”; “Functionality: “Data are clear and intuitive”; “Detailed” “Useful for receiving data”; “Helps with memory”; “Interactive”; “With control”; “Easy access to data details”; “Interactivity makes data more straightforward”; “From passive acceptance to active interaction”; “Interactive maps are novel and more intuitive”; “Interactivity makes me feel that the data source is reliable”** \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: _Cont._on data journalism and interactive data visualization. This study provides new insights into the merits of interactive data visualization in the context of data journalism and, therefore, is useful to researchers as well as practitioners. Our study is based on data journalism as a prototype; however, the findings can be applied to other areas of data visualization and HCI as well. Statistically significant differences in perceived interactivity and user attitudes were found for data journalism embedded with three levels of interactive map visualizations (low, medium, and high). Although there were no statistically significant differences in enjoyment and engagement among the groups, the exploratory qualitative analysis provided some interesting insights for data journalism and visualization developers and suggested future research directions. Participants indicated a desire for the news to provide more interactivity, for example, by adding layers of hyperlinks to more detailed information of interest. To enhance the reading experience, participants also desired to enhance the richness of the medium, such as combining images, video, sound, and visualization. Interaction brings fun and enjoyment and positively influences user engagement and attitudes. Thus, interaction has a pleasure component, linking perceived interactivity to the enjoyment and fun of data journalism. It is also supported by aesthetic and emotional concepts derived from qualitative data.