Abstract
This paper describes a course in the human factors of the design of complex systems. The course content, methods, and source materials were chosen to emphasize the possibility of using “basic” research in the applied problem of designing complex human-machine systems. Students were required to handle interdisciplinary knowledge and work with engineers on designing a process control plant.
Three important principles are proposed to enable basic research to be applied to design problems. These are the Principle of Boundary Conditions which allows false theories to be useful: the Principle of Limiting Values, which allows exact quantities collected in context free research to be used in context dependent design: and the Principle of Importance in statistics, which states that significant results which have small magnitudes should be ignored in design.
The paper will describe the experience of centering human factors training on design rather than knowledge acquisition.
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