Department of Industrial Engineering

School of Engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering

IENG410 – Human Factors Engineering

Final Exam

Fall 2018-2019
Monday, January 22nd, 2018, 11:30-13:30

Student Name

Student ID

Question Grade Weight

1 20
2 15
3 10
4 15
5 20
6 20
Bonus 5
100

Instructions
Closed book/notes
Answer all questions
The booklet contains 11 pages (including cover)
Non-programmable calculators are allowed

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Question 1 (20 points):

Mark the following statements as either TRUE (T) or FALSE (F). If you change your answer, scratch
previous one and clearly re-write the new one. Questions with a confusing answer will
automatically get a zero mark. Wrong answers do not penalize correct ones. The weight for each
question is 2 points.

1. The accuracy of displays does not necessarily support human perception and
understanding. F

2. Warnings, cautions and advertisements are all examples of alerting displays. F

3. In the context of control design, the principle of response expectancy implies that the
reaction time (RT) is much smaller for expected events. T

4. A computer mouse is a good example of direct positioning control devices. F

5. Stress may be positive or negative. F

6. Humans have biological clocks that control their circadian rhythm. T

7. Given that computers are information processing systems, people engage with them in
a dialog involving giving and receiving information. T

8. In human-computer interaction (HCI) interface design, the degree to which the system
supports users’ performance after they become familiar with it is referred to as
learnability. F

9. Employees’ selection may be conceptualized based on signal detection theory in terms

of hits, misses and false alarms. T

10. Human factors engineers must adopt a systems perspective and view the human as
the most critical element of any performance support system. T

Question 2 (20 points):

Given the following Nintendo game controller, answer the questions that follow:

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Question 2 Solution:

a) Identify two issues in this design? (5 Points)

b) Which areas of HFE do these issues fall into? (5 Points)
c) What is your assessment of the user experience? (5 Points)
d) Suggest 4 possible improvements to the design. (5 Points)

Answer

a) The design of this controller has the following issues:

 It may create confusion and frustration for novice users as they may have difficulty
knowing the function of each button.
 Cluttering due to the relatively large amount of buttons. There were four directional c-
buttons, two shoulder buttons, the A, B, and Z buttons... it all got to be too much for
one game to use.
 The buttons are not clearly labeled. The labelling is mostly based on colors. Color
blind users may have difficulty distinguishing them.
 The shape is also a major drawback. It has a trident type design where you could hold
it in like three or four different ways, none of which let you easily press all the buttons
on the controller. It seemed as if at any point in time, you were missing at least a third
of the entire controller.
 The expansion port on the controller on the back eventually gives us the rumble pack
which really was one of first major forays into force feedback design. Unfortunately,
the bulky battery makes the controller unbalanced and even more awkward to hold
because now there was more weight pressing down on the back.

b) The presented issues fall into the following HFE areas: Controls design, displays, interface
design, decision making, user experience, human computer interaction, training, visibility
and discriminability.

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c) The user may be frustrated, stressed and confused. Fatigue may also be a factor due to the
placement of buttons.

d) The following improvements may be introduced: Buttons labelling (legibility), placing the
analog near the arrows (mapping), proper distancing between the buttons with respect to the
thumb to reach them all (proximity), easier discriminating of buttons (principle of
discriminability), removing of the center arm, and increasing the space between the 2 colored
keys (yellow and blue) to increase accuracy.

Question 3 (10 points):

Expedia, a popular on line travel booking website, pops up a two-month calendar view when users
specify the departure or return date for a trip. The composite screenshot below shows what happens
when you want to book a trip that starts on March 10 and ends on March 15:

Question 3 Solution:

a) Does this design respect all of the 13 principles discussed in the course? Explain why or why
not? (5 points)

Consistency: Displays are designed in a consistent manner (Attention)

Inconsistency
Non-standard GUI controls are a special case of the general problem of inconsistent design.
Confusion results when applications use different words or commands for the same thing, or
when they use the same word for multiple concepts in different parts of the application.
Similarly, users are confused when things move around, u sing the same name for the same
thing in the same place makes things easy.

In the second pop-up, the month of March has moved to the left, leaving room for April to
appear on the right. This may seem like a convenient shortcut, since there's no way the user
would want a February return date when traveling out in March.

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In reality, however, the user is looking for March 15 in the same spot where it appeared in the
first pop-up calendar: in the right-most column.
In our testing, the inconsistent placement of the months in the second pop-up caused
confusion and delays, but users ultimately figured it out. We tested only a few users with this
site, but if you observe this kind of almost-miss error in user testing, it's usually a sign that a
few users will make the mistake for real during actual use.

Booking the wrong return date can have disastrous consequences — customers could arrive at the
airport without a ticket for their expected flight. If a site has good confirmation emails, users
might discover the problem before departure, but even that will cause aggravation and expensive
customer support calls to resolve the situation.

b) Identify and explain 1 respected/not respected principle? (5 points)

Even if people eventually use the calendar correctly, it takes more time to ponder the
inconsistent design than the time users save by not having to click the next-month button for
April departures.
The shortcut that moves the months around saves time only for very frequent users who learn
how to efficiently operate this part of the UI. So, an application for professional travel agents
should probably use Expedia's calendar design. A site targeting average consumers should not.

Question 4 (15 points):

Critique the following dialog boxes that appear in a hypothetical user interface. For each,
explain how it violates the recommended HFE principles.

a)

b)

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c)

d)

Question 4 Solution:

a) Here are the key points:

 Long convoluted question – check!

 Frightening subheading – check!
 Options that don’t map onto the question – check!
Should be made simpler and easier to understand for the user.

b) Here are the key points:

The dialog does (eventually) pose a question that can, technically speaking, be answered using Yes or
No. The sins here, I think, are that a) the dialog box asks two questions, and b) the first one is not a

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Yes/No question, and c) the second one (then one you're actually supposed to respond to) is not
phrased as a question.

The thing about dialog boxes (as noted before) is that a) they basically are interrupting what the user is
trying to do, hence b) users are already disinclined to deal with them, so c) they're going to skim. It's
simply not possible to make the text of a dialog box, and -- importantly -- the "ask" too clear. This
particular attempt falls pretty short of "too clear."

Also, if it's a default setting, why do I need to choose it? This seems like exactly the sort of behind-the-
scenes thing the end user should never have to deal with.

Cluttering is a problem.

Help link is missing!

c) Here are the key points:

What would continue do? If the action is carried on then the whole dialog is useless. The dialog box is
also missing the header (caption at top in the blue border). The user should have the option not to
proceed with the action through a Quit button for example.

Question 5 (15 points):

The overall control function can be expressed mathematically as:

Question 5 Solution:

a) The equation describes mathematically the PID controller, what is a PID controller? (5 Points)

A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller or three term controller) is

a control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems and a variety of
other applications requiring continuously modulated control. A PID controller continuously
calculates an error value e(t) as the difference between a desired setpoint (SP) and a
measured process variable (PV) and applies a correction based on proportional, integral,
and derivative terms (denoted P, I, and D respectively) which give the controller its name.

b) In what situations is it recommended to use PID controllers? Illustrate with a real life
example? (5 Points)

In practical terms it automatically applies accurate and responsive correction to a control

function. An everyday example is the cruise control on a road vehicle; where external
influences such as gradients would cause speed changes, and the driver has the ability to alter
the desired set speed. The PID algorithm restores the actual speed to the desired speed in the
optimum way, without delay or overshoot, by controlling the power output of the vehicle's
engine.

c) Would you qualify PID controllers as open or closed loop? Justify your answer. (5 Points)

This is a closed-loop system; e.g. electrical heating. Open loop would be when operator notes
correction needed and simply puts switch to new position regardless of correction needed.
Example: Propane gas heater.

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Question 6 (20 points):

The media called it the “Miracle on the Hudson.” On the wintry afternoon of January 15, 2009,
just minutes after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 struck
a flock of birds. Both engines were knocked out, and pilot Sully Sullenberger had no choice but
to land his 81-ton Airbus A320 in the frigid Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan. It
was the first crash-landing of a major aircraft in the water in some 50 years, but all of the 155
people on board survived.

Interestingly, the passengers on Flight 1549 had no way of knowing that Sullenberger’s salary
was about 40 percent less than it had been just a couple of years earlier, before his employer,
United Airlines, had declared bankruptcy. A month after the crash, Sullenberger informed a
Congressional subcommittee that United had also defaulted on his pension, which had been
taken over by a government agency at “pennies on the dollar.” United’s pilots and their
families, he said, had been placed “in an untenable financial position.”

Interestingly, if Sullenberger, who was 57 at the time of the crash, had been an air traffic
controller instead of a pilot, he would probably have been required to retire a year before
Flight 1549 took off. Both jobs, of course, are extremely stressful, and the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) mandates retirement ages for both. Pilots, however, can stay on the job
until they’re 65, whereas controllers must in most cases call it quits at age 56. Why? Because
being an air traffic controller, it seems, is more stressful. According to Health magazine, it’s
the fourthmost-stressful job in the U.S., just behind police officer (#2) and miner (#3); pilot
comes in at a relatively nerve-calming #22. “In a one-hour sitting,” explains one member of
the profession, “an air traffic controller may be responsible for more money and lives than an
average person during his entire lifetime.” At present, there are about 11,000 fully trained air
traffic controllers in the U.S. and the total number of positions is slated to increase by 13
percent by 2018.

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Based on the presented case, address the questions in the solution section.

Question 6 Solution:

a) Identify and classify 5 stressors that the pilot Sullenberger exhibited? (5 Points)
Low wage (LS), financial (LS), environmental (fly), fatigue (PS), frustration (PS), fear
(PS), birds (ES), noise & vibration (ES), anexiety (PS),

b) The pilot and the passengers experienced a certain level of arousal, what does this
mean and how does it differ between the pilot and the passengers? (5 Points)

Level of Arousal: Level of concern for situation which depends on accurate appraisal and
skill for dealing with situation. Anxiety & danger may produce an increase in physiological
arousal (Heart rate, pupil diameter or hormonal chemistry).

The pilot is certainly more experienced and has a better appraisal of the situation and as
such his level of arousal is less than the passengers who probably experienced high levels
of arousal leading to panic and hysteria.

c) What would you recommend as selection procedure to hire pilots and air traffic
controllers? (5 Points)

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• Measures of cognitive ability:

– Standardized tests of cognitive or information processing abilities.
– Example: Pilots’ verbal & numerical abilities, mechanical knowledge, spatial
ability, perceptual speed and reaction time.
• Measures of physical ability & psychomotor skills:
– Physical: Static, trunk & dynamic strengths, flexibility, body coordination &
equilibrium and stamina.
– Psychomotor: Reaction time or control precision.
– Personality assessment:
– Clinical measures to detect mental illness or behavior disorder; troublesome.
– Personality dimensions measures as neuroticism, extraversion, openness,
agreeableness and conscientiousness.
• Work Samples:
– Applicants complete a sample of work.
– Example: Driving test, typewriting, etc.
• Structured Interviews:
– Questions should be based on and related to knowledge and skills identified in
the job analysis.
– Ask applicants to describe previous work behaviors.
– Future Trends:
– Accelerating knowledge turnover.
– Rapid advances in IT.
– Increasingly diverse work force.
– Increasing competition with focus on productivity and quality.

d) What would you qualify the support that the air traffic controller provided to the pilot
to perform the landing? Justify your answer. (5 Points)

Job aid or aiding.

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Bonus Question (5 points):

Fill in the blank with one word only:

The Yerkes-Dodson Law shows the relationship between the level of arousal which is induced by stress
and performance.

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