Design Engineers and the Design Process: Decision Strategies and Human Factors Literature

Abstract

The types of human perception and performance information that training device designers need in making design decisions were studied to identify the types of human performance data needed to make these decisions. A total of 50 experienced designers were studied. For a subset of 39 of these designers, the interviews focused on critical design decisions where there was a need for human perception and performance data. The utility of the sources used in the decision was assessed and showed the present technical literature database of little value in the problem solving of the designers.

The data collected indicated systematic decision making strategies were used in a minority of cases. Instead, there was a heavy reliance on informal experiments and analogous cases for guidance in resolving design questions, The implications are that human factors specialists can have a stronger influence on design through identification of analogous cases, and participating in prototype studies than by identifying basic research findings.