Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine the stopping policy of inspectors after they detected a faulty item. Self-paced subjects inspected 113 computer-drawn geometric patterns. Inspection time and detection rate were measured. The predictions of reinforcement theory, expectancy theory, and a combined theory of the two were compared. The results were found to be consistent with the combined theory where, following the detection of a faulty item, stopping time decreases for the second and third items, increases for the sixth and seventh items, and then levels off This phenomenon is found consistently for different levels of defect difficulty and for different informed or feed-forward defect rates. Field-dependent inspectors, designated so by their scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test, were found to detect more faulty items.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barrett, G. V. , and Thornton, C. L. (1968). Relationship between perceptual style and driver reaction to an emergency situation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 52, 169–176.

Colquhoun, W. P. , and Baddeley, A. D. (1964). Role of pretest expectancy in vigilance decrement. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68, 156–160.

Drury, C. G. (1982). Improving inspection performance. In G. Salvendy (Ed.), Handbook of industrial engineering. New York: Wiley.

Gardner, R. W. , Jackson, D. N. , and Messick, S. J. (1960). Personality organization in cognitive controls and intellectual abilities. Psychological Issues, 2, No.8.

Harano, R. M. (1970). Relationship of field dependence and motor vehicle-accident involvement. Perception and Motor Skills, 31, 272–274.

Harris, D. H. (1964). Development and validation of an aptitude test for inspectors of electronic equipment. Journal of Industrial Psychology, 29–35.

Kirk, R. E. (1968). Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

McGrath, J. J. , and Harabedian, A. (1961). Signal detection as a function of intersignal interval duration. In Human factors problems in anti-submarine warfare (Technical Report #9). Los Angeles: Human Factors Research, Inc.

Oltman, P. K. , Raskin, E. , and Witkin, H. A. (1971). Group Embedded Figures Test. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

10.

Tsao, Y. -c. , Drury, C. G. , and Morawski, T. B. (1979). Human performance in sampling inspection. Human Factors, 21, 99–105.

11.

Witkin, H. A. , Dyk, R. B. , Peterson, H. F. , Goodenough, D. R. , and Karp, S. A. (1962). Psychological differentiation. New York: Wiley.

Inspectors' Stopping Policy after Fault Detection

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References