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. 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?)






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






3. Adjusting parts of a device in relation to each other to create a sense of unity and cohesion.






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






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






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






7. An original model on which something is patterned






8. 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)






9. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






17. 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.






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






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






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






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






23. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






32. 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






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






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






35. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






40. A phenomenon in which mental processing is made slower and less accurate by competing mental processes.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






49. A technique used to asociate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.






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.