Test your basic knowledge |

Design Principles

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






2. Tendency to form an overall positive impression of a person on the basis of one positive characteristic






3. The level of control provided by a system should be related to the proficiency and experience levels of the people using the system.






4. The deliberate use of a weak element that will fail in order to protect other elements in the system from damage.






5. It is often preferable to settle for a satisfactory solution - rather than pursue an optimal solution.






6. A tendency to assume that a system that works at one scale will also work at a smaller or larger scale. (2 kinds: Load assumptions and Interaction assumptions)






7. An original model on which something is patterned






8. The distressing state of thought caused by recognizing an inconsistency between behavior/thought and value/belief.






9. A phenomenon of memory in which noticeably different things are more likely to be recalled that common things. (AKA Isolation/Novelty Effect)






10. When participants realise the aim of the study and may change their behaviour to help or disrupt the study.






11. A state of mental focus so intense that awareness of the 'real' world is lost - generally resulting in a feeling of joy and satisfaction.






12. The use of simplified and incomplete models of a design to explore ideas - elaborate requirements - refine specifications - and test functionality.






13. The greater the effort to accomplish a task - the less likely the task will be accomplished successfully.






14. A tendency to interpret shaded or dark areas of an object as shadows resulting from a light source above the object.






15. A term used to describe a set of data - that when plotted - forms a symmetrical - bell- shaped curve.






16. The tendency for people to perform better or worse based on the expectations of another.






17. The debgree to which prose can be understood - based on the complexity of words and sentences.






18. Tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single - recogniable pattern - rather than multiple - individual elements.






19. A tendency to see people and things iwth baby- faced features as more naive - helpless - and honest than those with mature features.






20. A tendency to prefer environments with unobstructed views (prospects) and areas of concealment and retreat (refuges).






21. The process of organizing information into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships in the information.






22. The relative ease with which a destination - idea - or concept may be reached.






23. Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things.






24. A phenomenon in which perception and behavior changes as a result of personal expectations or the expectations of others. (Halo effect - Hawthorne effect - Pygmalion effect - Placebo effect - Rosenthal effect - Demand characteristics.)






25. As the flexiblity of a system increases - its usability decreases.






26. A method of presentation in which information is presented in descending order of importance. (Critical information presented first).






27. All products progress sequentially through four stages of existence: introduction - growth - maturity - and decline.






28. 1) Physiological 2) Safety 3) Love 4) Self-Esteem 5) Self-Actualization


29. People tend to prefer savanna- like environments to other types of environments. Open areas - scattered trees - water - and uniform grassiness rather than other natural environments such as desert - jungle - and complex mtns.






30. The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal- to- noise ratio is desirable in design.






31. A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time.






32. A tendency to prefer faces in which the eyes - nose - lips and other features are close to the average of a population.






33. A method of reorganizing information to make the information simpler - more meaningful and easier to remember. (ie. First Letter - Keyword - Rhyme - Feature Name)






34. Successful products typically follow four stages of creation: requirements - design - development - and testing.






35. Teh act of copying properties of familiar objects - organisms - or environments in order to realize specifice benefits afforded by those properties.






36. A process in which similar characteristics evolve independently in multiple systems.






37. Elements that are similar are perceived to be more related than elements that are dissimilar.






38. Repeated exposure to stimuli for which people have neutral feelings will increase the likeability of the stimuli.






39. An action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






40. A preference for a particular ratio of waist size to hip size in men and women. Men prefer 0.7 in women. Women prefer 0.9 in men.






41. A technique for preventing unintended actions by requiring verification of the actions before they are performed.






42. The act of measuring certain sensitive variable in a system can alter them - and confound the accuracy of the measurement.






43. Patients experience treatment effects based on their belief that a treatment will work.






44. A method of managing system complexity that involves dividing large systems into multiple - smaller self- contained systems.






45. The tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied






46. The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.


47. The use of more elements than necessary to maintain the performance of a system in the event of failure of one or more of the elements.






48. The tendency to see attractive people as more intelligent - competent - moral and sociable than unattractive people.






49. A process of repeating a set of operation until a specific result is achieved.






50. A technique of combining many units of information into a limited number of units or chunks - so that the information is easier to process and remember.