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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






9. A property of visual equivalence among elements in a form.






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






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






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






13. 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.






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






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






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






17. The deliberate use of a weak element that will fail in order to protect other elements in the system from damage.






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






26. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






33. A tendency to prefer faces in which the eyes - nose - lips and other features are close to the average of a population.






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






35. 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.






36. People tend to prefer savanna- like environments to other types of environments. Open areas - scattered trees - water - and uniform grassiness rather than other natural environments such as desert - jungle - and complex mtns.






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






38. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






40. 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.






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






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






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






44. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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