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






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






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






4. 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.)






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






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






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






8. The usability of a system is improved when its status and methods of use are clearly visible.






9. Elements that are connected by uniform visual properties - such as color - are perceived to be more related than elements that are not connected.






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






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






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


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






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






15. A sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the preceding two.






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






17. A ratio within the elements of a form - such as height to width - approximating 0.618.






18. 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)






19. The designs that help people perform optimally are often not the same as the designs that people find most desirable.






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






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






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


24. A tendency to see objects and patterns as 3D when certain visual cues are present.






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






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






27. A phenomenon of memory in which information that is analyzed deeply is better recalled than information that is analyzed superficially.






28. A technique of composition in which a medium is divided into thirds - creating aesthetic positions for the primary elements of a design.






29. 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.






30. 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.






31. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






45. A method of limiting the actions that can be performed on a system.






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






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






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






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






50. 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.