The Relative Effects of Multiple Factors on Target Acquisition

Abstract

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the usefulness of visual acuity as a personnel selection criterion. In the first experiment a screening technique (fractional factorial) was employed to determine the relative effects of eleven factors on target acquisition performance. The factors and first-order interactions were ranked by the percent of the variance in the data for which each accounted. Slant range, far visual acuity, masking, and target type were among the highest ranked factors. Search times and detection probabilities were measured in the second experiment as far visual acuity, slant range to the target, masking, and observer experience were varied in a full factorial design. Masking accounted for most of the variation in the data followed by slant range and visual acuity.