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






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






3. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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

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






16. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






26. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






31. 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.






32. A method of creating imagery - emotions - and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience.






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






34. 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.






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






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






37. Pictures are remembered better than words.






38. 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.






39. 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






40. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






50. 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?)