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 prefer environments with unobstructed views (prospects) and areas of concealment and retreat (refuges).






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






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






4. Elements perceived as either figures (objects of focus) or ground (the rest of the perceptual field)






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






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






7. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






14. 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






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






16. 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.)






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






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






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






20. The time required to move to a target is a function of the target size and distance to the target.


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






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






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






24. A relationship between controls and their movements or effects. When th effect corresponds to the expectation - the mapping is considered to be good or natural.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






39. 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.






40. The visual clarity of text - generally based on the size - typeface - contrast - text block - and spacing of the characters used.






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






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






43. 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)






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






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






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






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






48. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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