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






2. 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.)






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






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






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






6. 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.






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






8. An activity will be pursued only if its benefits are equal to or greater than the costs. (ie. How much reading is too much to get the point of a message?)






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






10. Pictures are remembered better than words.






11. Given a choice between functionally equivalent designs - the simplest design should be selected.


12. Elements that are close together are percieved to be more related than elements that are farther apart.






13. A point of physical or attentional entry into a design. (Minimal Barriers - Points of Prospect - Progressive Lures)






14. 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.






15. An attribute of an object that allows people to intuitively know how to use it






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






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






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






19. There are five ways to organize information: Category - time - location - alphabet - and continuum.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






30. Hierarchical organization is the simplest structure for visualizing and understanding complexity.






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






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






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






34. Designs should help people avoid errors and minimize the negative consequences of errors when they do occur.






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






36. 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.






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






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






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






40. A method of illustrating relationships and patterns in system behaviors by representing two or more system variables in a controlled way.






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






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






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






44. A property in which a form is made up of parts similar to the whole or to one another.






45. 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.






46. A technique for bringing attention to an area of text or image.






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






48. 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.






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






50. The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging - despite changes in sensory input. (such as perspective - lighting - color or size)