DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN FACTORS DESIGN GUIDELINES

1. DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN FACTORS DESIGN GUIDELINES John Campbell October 24, 2007

2. IntroductionsPresenter, John L. Campbell • Research Leader, Battelle Human Factors Transportation Center • 22 years of experience in the development of transportation systems and human factors design guidelines. • 1985 to 1991, conducted research and developed design guidelines for advanced automotive displays for Hughes Aircraft Company’s Display Systems and Simulation Laboratory. • 1991 to 1994, led the conduct of human factors research projects at Anacapa Sciences, with particular emphasis on advancing human factors methodology for development of design guidelines and applying these advances to the development of automotive displays, icons, symbols, and secondary controls. • Since joining Battelle in 1994, has had primary responsibilities for design guideline development and transportation research projects in the areas of Crash Avoidance Systems (CAS), Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), Icons, Intelligent Transportation Systems, and Driver modeling.

3. IntroductionsPresenter, John L. Campbell (cont.) • Past guideline development efforts include: • Human factors guidelines for road systems (TRB, 2007) • Human factors lessons learned for crash warning systems (NHTSA, 2006) • A CD-ROM-based interactive software tool for symbol design, Icon IDEA (Icon Development and Evaluation Assistant; FHWA, 2003) • Human factors guidelines for in-vehicle icons (FHWA, 2002) • Human factors design guidelines for in-vehicle navigationsystems (FHWA, 1999) • Interface guidelines for intersection collision avoidance devices (NHTSA, 1997)

4. Discussion Topics • Developing Human Factors Guidelines • Examples of Past Guidelines • Lessons Learned

5. Original Research Research Compilations User-Centered Guidelines System Design Books EXPERIMENTS Design Environment Designer needs for content, organization, and format • Objectives & Tasks • Available Design Data • Design Process • Existing Constraints • “Givens” in Design • Diverse Designers Journal Articles Literature Reviews Conference Proceedings Formulation of Individual Guidelines Handbooks Technical Reports Standards Integrative review of data sources FINAL DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS Database of Human Factors Research Developing Human Factors GuidelinesRole of Guidelines

6. Developing Human Factors GuidelinesHistorical Perspective • Despite increasing demands for HF design guidance, it has been difficult for the HF community to develop information that designers judge to be valuable. • designers didn’t use and had little interest in available HF information (Meister & Farr, 1967). • designers found much of the HF research literature difficult to understand and that few data were generalizable to specific issues of concern (Rouse & Cody, 1988) • designers rated information as very costly to obtain, with low value; they, would only expend small amounts of effort to obtain the information (Burns & Vicente, 1994) • general design principles and HF heuristics were not deemed useful by non-human factors designers (Campbell, Carney, & Kantowitz, 1997)

7. Developing Human Factors GuidelinesKey Challenges • Identifying appropriate content for the guidelines • Lack of generalizeable research data • Developing selection criteria for choosing data sources to be used to produce guidelines • Variability across guideline users • Developing effective guidelines without restricting innovative and effective design

8. Developing Human Factors GuidelinesKey Assumptions • System design will proceed with or without human factors inputs to the design process. • The “best-available” human factors information is better than no HF information at all. • Users should be able to determine the relative contribution of expert judgment and experience data in design guidelines. • HF design guidelines are intended to augment, not replace, designer experience, skill, and judgment.

9. Developing Human Factors GuidelinesKey Steps

10. Developing Human Factors Guidelines Step 1: Conduct User Requirements Analysis • Demographics (education, work experience) • Primary Design Responsibilities • Design process • Current HF Inputs to design design • Difficulties in acquiring or using HF design information (and suggested solutions) • Priorities for system functions • Priorities for HF topics and design data • Review of candidate guideline formats

11. Developing Human Factors Guidelines Step 2: Identify Relevant Components of the Design Process • Key steps • Starting points or “givens” in their design effort • Manner in which requirements are expressed • Design constraints • Relative priorities among potential topics

12. Developing Human Factors Guidelines Step 3: Select Data Sources • Acquire a comprehensive and representative data base of relevant sources • Employ a broad, inclusive search strategy • Sources obtained from: • in-house libraries • university collections • on-line data bases, NTIS, DTIC, DIALOG, SAE • foreign collections

13. Developing Human Factors Guidelines Step 4: Determine the Quality and Applicability of Data Sources • Criteria include: • source type • intended application area • for empirical sources: • study setting • independent and dependent variables • sampling approach • internal and external validity • consistency of findings/recommendations to other sources

14. Developing Human Factors Guidelines Step 5: Formulate the Design Guideline • Conduct integrative review and analysis of data sources • Consider the design constraints and uncertainties associated with specific guideline topics • Consider the use of transformed data • Identify any caveats, exceptions, interactions with other guidelines, special performance issues

15. Developing Human Factors GuidelinesProcess for Recent Road System Guidelines

16. Abbreviated Chapter Title (Both Pages) Abbreviated Handbook Title (Both Pages) Revision Version (Both Pages) Guideline Title Bar Scale Rating Introduction Discussion Design Guideline Design Issues Figure, Table, or Graphic Cross References References Left-hand page Right-hand page Page Numbers Developing Human Factors Guidelines Presentation Format

17. Ineffective Use of Text Label Make the type >0.27 degrees visual angle. Overheight vehicles take another route around restricted clearance. The space between lines should be at least 1/30 the line length. Avoid using italics to emphasize words. Effective Use of Text Label Use both uppercase and lowercase letters. Use a clear and simple font. Keep text labels brief - use no more than 2 to 3 words. Low Clearance Ahead ExamplesIcon Guidelines for the FHWA Use of Text Labels in Icon Design

18. ExamplesIcon Guidelines for the FHWA Perceptual Principles for Icon Design

19. ExamplesIcon Guidelines for the FHWA Identifying Icons as Part of a Group

20. ExamplesCWS “Lessons Learned” for NHTSA Selecting Display Types for FCW Devices

21. ExamplesCWS “Lessons Learned” for NHTSA Recommended Detection Zones for LCW Devices

22. ExamplesCWS “Lessons Learned” for NHTSA Design of CWS Controls

23. ExamplesHF Guidelines for Road Systems (TRB/NCHRP) Schematic showing the Perception-Reaction Time and Maneuver Time Components of Sight Distance

24. ExamplesHF Guidelines for Road Systems (TRB/NCHRP) Acceptable Gap Distance

25. ExamplesHF Guidelines for Road Systems (TRB/NCHRP) Countermeasures for Improving Accessibility of Vision-impaired Pedestrians at Roundabouts

26. Lessons Learned • Involving end-users in the guideline development and review process is crucial to success. • Human factors design guidelines based on the "best-available" human factors research data can still provide useful information to designers. • The human factors discipline has the tools needed to provide clear, relevant, and useful design guidelines to the system design community.