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






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






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






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


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






6. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






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






12. An original model on which something is patterned






13. 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






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






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






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






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






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






19. 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.)






20. 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.






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






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






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






24. 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.






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






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






27. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






33. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






42. 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.






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






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






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






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


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






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






49. 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.






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