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






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






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






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






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


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


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






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






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






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






11. 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)






12. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






32. 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.






33. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






39. 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.






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






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






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






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






44. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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