Human factors methods for design : making systems human-centered

ist of illustrations ix Foreword xii Preface xiii Acknowledgments xix Abbreviations xxi PART I Human factors practice 1 1 The human-made environment 3 1.1 The systems model 4 1.2 Requirements 10 1.3 Life cycle 15 1.4 The development process 16 1.5 System issues 23 1.6 Human factors practice 25 1.7 Summary 32 2 Human abilities and limits 33 2.1 Human roles 34 2.2 Input 36 2.3 Mediation 40 2.4 Output 47 2.5 Response to environment 51 2.6 Motivation 57 2.7 Adaptation 58 2.8 Human erroneous actions, or error 59 2.9 Group versus individual 64 2.10 Summary 65 3 How we think about development problems 67 3.1 Reasoning 68 3.2 Philosophical thought 69 3.3 Intelligence 71 3.4 Problem solving behavior 72 3.5 Impediments to problem solving 75 3.6 Summary 78 4 What influences development? 80 4.1 Problems and opportunities 80 4.2 Influences on research and development 84 Contents vi Contents 4.3 Process 88 4.4 Rapid prototyping 94 4.5 Personal conduct 96 4.6 Summary 98 5 Human factors in research and development 99 5.1 Applied human factors research 100 5.2 Observation 104 5.3 Inferential studies 111 5.4 How to choose methods 118 5.5 Summary 123 PART II Human factors methods 125 6 Analysis methods 127 6.1 Pareto analysis 128 6.2 Operational analysis (‘mission analysis’) 131 6.3 Analysis of similar systems 135 6.4 Activity analysis 137 6.5 Verbal protocol analysis (‘thinking aloud’, ‘directed dialog’) 142 6.6 Critical incident study 145 6.7 Management oversight and risk tree analysis (MORT) 149 6.8 Error analysis 152 6.9 Root cause analysis 156 6.10 Summary 160 7 Design guidance methods 161 7.1 Flow analysis 164 7.2 Time line analysis 172 7.3 Link analysis 175 7.4 Function allocation 180 7.5 Task description (‘task identification’) 187 7.6 Task analysis 190 7.7 Cognitive task analysis 195 7.8 Technique for human error rate prediction (THERP) 202 7.9 Work design 208 7.10 Decision analysis 212 7.11 Summary 216 8 Evaluation methods 218 8.1 Simulation 219 8.2 Fault tree analysis 224 8.3 Failure modes and effects analysis 229 8.4 Operational sequence analysis 233 8.5 Workload assessment 237 8.6 Summary 245 9 Surveys: interviews and questionnaires 247 9.1 Questionnaires 248 9.2 Interviews 252 Contents vii 9.3 Self-administered questionnaires 260 9.4 Bias, presumption and non-response 261 9.5 Summary 262 10 Usability assessment 264 10.1 Usability 264 10.2 Usability assessment methods 265 10.3 Usability testing 268 10.4 Usability benefits and issues 281 10.5 Summary 282 11 Controlled studies 284 11.1 Basic controlled studies 285 11.2 Process 296 11.3 Experimental design 298 11.4 Inferential study 306 11.5 Summary 316 PART III Application 319 12 Cost-effectiveness 321 12.1 Value 321 12.2 Cost-benefit analysis 323 12.3 Cost-effectiveness 324 12.4 Determining cost-effectiveness 327 12.5 Application to practice 329 12.6 Summary 331 13 Effecting change 332 13.1 Research and development is change 332 13.2 Working relationships 333 13.3 Traits for change 334 13.4 Change management 336 13.5 Change evolution 337 13.6 The change process 339 13.7 Example 340 13.8 Summary 343 14 Communication 344 14.1 Purpose 345 14.2 Nature of research and development communications 345 14.3 Types of human factors communications 348 14.4 Summary 352 15 Examples 353 15.1 Bus workstation 353 15.2 International currency exchange 358 15.3 Web site design 361 15.4 Remote site collaborative communications tool 362 15.5 Sharps disposal container 364 15.6 Infusion pump 367 15.7 Reference laboratory assay system 370 Notes 373 Appendix 374 Bibliography 379 Index 388