THE UTILIZATION OF HUMAN FACTORS INFORMATION BY DESIGNERS.
Abstract
Three design tests were developed to determine how human factors criteria and information are applied to design problems. Each 4-hour test was administered individually to 20 designers. Test results indicate that designers have little or no interest in human factors and usually fail to apply human factors criteria to design. They do not read human factors handbooks. Design analyses appear to be quite primitive, being largely determined by spatial constraints and experiential stereotypes. Designers have difficulty in anticipating operational problems that may result from design parameters and are unable to evaluate completed designs. Design managers are somewhat more sophisticated in their design analyses than designers, but only slightly so. Both designers and human factors specialists were highly consistent in their responses. The most important source of information for the designer is the design specification. Where a designer does not have formally assigned responsibility for a design parameter, his analysis will not reflect this factor. It is recommended that design specifications emphasize human factors to the same extent that other functional requirements are emphasized. The format of handbook material directed at designers should be simplified, and contain procedures for analyzing design problems and examples of the application of information to these problems. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 16, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0642057
Entities
People
- David Meister
- Donald E. Farr