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. 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)






2. A technique used to teach a desired behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior.






3. People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience.






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






5. 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.)






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






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






8. 1) Functionality 2) Reliability 3) Usability 4) Proficiency 5) Creativity. In order for design to be successful - it must meet ppl's basic need before it can attempt to satisfy higher- level needs.






9. A diagram that describes the general pattern followed by the eyes when looking at evenly distributed - homogeneous information.






10. The use of pictorial images to improve the recognition and recall of signs and controls.






11. Beauty in design results from purity of function. Interpreted in 2 ways: A description of beauty or a prescription for beauty.






12. The ratio of face to body in an image that influences the way the person in the image is perceived. (High = intelligent / Low = physical)






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






14. An ability to detect threatening stimuli more efficiently than nonthreatening stimuli.






15. A space that has territorial markers - opportunities for surveillance - and clear indications of activity and ownership.






16. 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.






17. 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.






18. A relationship between variables in a system where the consequences of an event are fed back in order to modify the event in the future.






19. A method of creating imagery - emotions - and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience.






20. There are three ways to organize materials to support a load or to contain and protect something: Mass structures - frame structures - and shell structures.






21. A technique that influences decision making and judgement by manipulating the way information is presented.






22. The process of using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination.






23. A Gestalt law of organization; elements arrange in a straight line or a smooth curve are perceived as a group - and are interpreted as being more related than elements not on the line or curve.






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






25. The usability of a system is improved when similar parts are expressed in similar ways.






26. A phenomenon of memory in which items presented at the beginning and end of a list are more likely to be recalled than items in the middle of a list.






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






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






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






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






31. A phenomenon of visual processing in which certain line orientations are more quickly and easily processed and discriminated than other line orientations.






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






33. Teachers treat students differently based on their expectations of how students will perform.






34. Using more elements than is necessary to offset the effects of unknown variables which may cause a system failure.






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






36. A property of visual equivalence among elements in a form.






37. 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.






38. A technique used to modify behavior by reinforcing desired behaviors - and ignoring or punishing undesired behaviors.






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






40. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






48. A tendency to interpret ambiguous images as simple and a complete unit - versus complex and incomplete. (Gestalt principle of perception).






49. The quality of system output is dependent on the quality of system input.






50. A Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit