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Abstract

For many years, the Department of Defense (DOD) Design Criteria Standard: Human Engineering (MIL-STD-1472F) was the premier standard in the field of Human Factors; however, over the past 20 years Human Factors knowledge has advanced more rapidly than the standard. Not only is the standard technologically out of date, but it lacks basic usability features. This paper describes the survey undertaken to kick-off the first major update to this standard in many years. 58 typical users of the standard were surveyed on a variety of topics including format, data, technology, and user needs. Results indicate several areas for improvement such as including more references and adding recent technological innovations. Additionally, while a majority of the participants expressed a preference for an electronic version of the standard, many users still wished to maintain a hard-copy version. The results of this survey will be used to drive a major revision to MIL-STD-1472.

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References

Ahlstrom

, (October 2008). The Usability Paradox of the Human Factors Standard. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52^nd Annual Meeting, 52, 1994–1998.

Likert

(1932), “A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes,” Archives of Psychology, 140: 1–55.

Poston

, (May, 2008). Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group. Minutes of Human Factors Standardization SubTAG at the 59th meeting, Alexandria, VA, O-2.

Poston

, (November, 2003). Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group. Minutes of Human Factors Standardization SubTAG at the 59th meeting, Alexandria, VA, O-2.

Assessing the Human Factors of a Human Engineering Standard

Abstract

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