Design Technology T.1 Glossary

Adjustability

The ability of a product to be changed in size, commonly used to increase the range of percentiles that a product is appropriate for.

Alertness

The level of vigilance, readiness or caution of an individual.

Fatigue

A person's sense of physical or psychological tiredness.

Cognitive Ergonomics

How mental processes, (memory, reasoning, motor response and perception), affect the interactions between users and other components of a system.

Functional Data

Dynamic data measurements while performing a required task e.g. reaching abilities, maneuvering and aspects of space and equipment use.

Comfort

A person's sense of physical or psychological ease

Ergonomics

The application of scientific information concerning the relationship between human beings and the design of products, systems and environments

Human Information Processing System

An automatic system that a person uses to interpret information and react. It is normally comprised of inputs, processes (which can be sensory, central and motor), and outputs.

Human error

Mistakes made by users, some of which can result in catastrophic consequences for people, property and the environment, as they are considered key contributors to major accidents

Dynamic data

Human body measurements taken when the subject is in motion related to range and reach of various body movements. E.g. crawling height, overhead reach and the range of upper body movements.

Human factors

A scientific discipline concerned with understanding how humans interact with elements of a system. It can also be considered the practice of designing products, systems or processes to take account of the interaction between them and their users. It is also known as comfort design, functional design and user-friendly systems.

Structural Data

Refers to measurements taken while the subject is in a fixed or standard position, e.g. height, arm length.

Physiological factor data

Human factor data related to physical characteristics used to optimise the user's safety, health, comfort and performance

Percentile Range

That proportion of a population with a dimension at or less than a given value. For a given demographic (gender, race, age), the 50th percentile is the average

Primary data

Data collected by a user for a specific purpose.

Perception

The way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted.

Clearance

The physical space between two objects.

Biomechanics

The research and analysis of the mechanics of living organisms. Biomechanics in Human factors includes the research and analysis of the mechanics (operation of our muscles, joints, tendons, etc.) of our

human body. It also includes Force (impact on user's joints), Repetition, Duration and Posture.

Interval Data

Interval data are based on numeric scales in which we know the order and the exact difference between the values. Organised into even divisions or intervals, and intervals are of equal size.

Range of sizes

A selection of sizes a product is made in that caters for the majority of a market.

Ratio data scale

A ratio scale allows you to compare differences between numbers.

For example, use a rating scale of 1-10 to evaluate user responses.

Qualitative data

Typically descriptive data used to find out in depth the way people think or feel - their perception. Useful for research at the individual or small (focus) group level.

Quantitative data

Data that can be measured and recorded using numbers. Examples include height, shoe size, and fingernail length.

Static Data

Human body measurements when the subject is still

Environmental Factors

A set of psychological factors that can affect the performance of an individual that come from the environment that the individual is situated.

Secondary Data

Data collected by someone other than the user.

Workplace environmental factors

These factors can be considered to maximise performance of a user

in a role and reduce the risk of accidents. They can be categorised as:

• Management (policies, safety education)

• Physical environment (noise, temperature, pollutants, trip hazards, signage)

• Equipment design (controls, visibility, hazards, warnings, safety guards)

• The nature of the job (repetitiveness, mental or physical workload, force, pressure)

• Social or psychological environment (Social group, morale)

• The worker (personal ability, alertness, age, fatigue)

Ordinal Data

A statistical data type that exists on an arbitrary numerical scale

where the exact numerical value has no significance other than to rank a set of data points. Deals with the order or position of items

such as words, letters, symbols or numbers arranged in a hierarchical

order. Quantitative assessment cannot be made

Nominal Data

Nominal means 'by name' and used in classification or division of objects into discrete groups. Each of which is identified with a name e.g. category of cars, and the scale does not provide any measurement within or between categories.

Psychological factor data

Human factor data related to psychological interpretations caused by light, smell, sound, taste, temperature and texture.

Anthropometrics

The aspect of ergonomics that deals with body measurements,

particularly those of size, strength and physical capacity.