Exam 1 Flashcards
Goals of human factors (3)
- making the human interaction with systems one that enhances performance
- increases safety
- increases user satisfaction
What does Human Factors involve?
The study of factors and development of tools that facilitate the achievement of these goals
What do human factor experts they assume?
Machines affect human behavior, the interface affects total system performance, a superior design improves performance
Approaches for Problem-Solving: Equipment Design
change physical equipment
Approaches for Problem-Solving: Task Design
change how task is accomplished
Approaches for Problem-Solving: Enviromental Design
change features of the work environment such as temperature, lighting, sound
Approaches for Problem-Solving: Training
change worker behavior by providing skills and teaching procedures
Approaches for Problem-Solving: Selection
recognizes individual differences in ability to accomplish work
Benefits from Human Factors: Personal (4)
- Reduced design-induced operator error
- Increased productivity
- Increased safety
- Improved satisfaction
Benefits from Human Factors: System benefits (3)
- Increased reliability
- Increased availability
Increased public safety
Benefits from Human Factors: Cost (2)
Lower staff, training, & life-cycle costs
Lower personnel turnover
How important is “Human Factors”?
Inclusion of Human Factors in the design and operation of safety critical, complex systems can avoid severe, negative consequences.
According to the FAA National Plan for Aviation Human Factors and other data analyses, human error has been identified as a causal factor in 80% of aviation accidents and incidents
Human (or User-) Centered Design
design philosophy, or methodological principle, that centers the design process around the user.
Three important attributes of HCD:
- Focus on the roles of humans in complex systems
- Design objectives are elaborated in terms of roles of humans
- Specific design issues follow from these objectives
Four general approaches to HCD/UCD:
- Understand users, their tasks and their environment
- Use observations and measurements to gather user requirements and limitations
- Iterative design using prototypes, where rapid changes are made to the design
- Participatory design where users are directly involved as part of the design team
Human-Centered Design Objectives should support…
- enhance human abilities
- help overcome human limitations
- foster user acceptance
Human centered design should…
- enhance human abilities
- help overcome human limitations
- foster user acceptance
Design Issues should:
- Formulate the right problem – make sure that system objectives and requirements are right
- Design an appropriate solution – excellence in engineering is necessary but not sufficient to assure that system design is successful
- Develop the solution to perform well – operability, maintainability, supportability
- Assure user satisfaction
Function Analysis:
What are the basic functions of the system?
Preliminary Task Analysis:
What are the jobs, duties, tasks, and actions that user will be performing?
Function Allocation:
the assigning of tasks to humans or machine taking into account human vs. machine capabilities and limitations
Affordance
The physical property that gives a way what can be done with an object
Sound is
the vibration of air molecules