Which is better a digital or an analog display of information? Consider your car

Question

Which is better a digital or an analog display of information? Consider your car for example. A digital speedometer would show you the actual number (just like your digital watch) of miles per hour, whereas an analog display (most likely what you have) shows a dial moving across a static display of increasing numbers. A human factors psychologist working for Ford Motor Co. decides to test these two displays in a car simulator. She assigns employee volunteers first to the analog display and then after running half of the volunteers in this condition she changes the simulator's display to analog for the remaining volunteers. The participants drive the car simulator for 50 miles under varying road conditions. The simulator is identical for the two groups except for the speedometer. The subjects are told to maintain whatever speed they are given, which varies at random intervals across the drive. Performance is measured by computing the average deviation of participants' actual speed from the target speed. In addition, she obtained an overall measure of tracking ability (deviation from road) for each participant.

The results showed that participants who drove the simulator with the analog display deviated from the target speed on average 3.5 mph whereas the participants receiving digital speed information deviated from the target speed 5.3 mph on average. A t-test test showed this difference to be statistically significant. However, when she looked at tracking performance she found that drivers using the digital displays stayed on track better than drivers using the analog display. The human factors psychologist recommended against putting digital speedometers in cars

1a) what was the independent variable?

a) digital vs analog display

b) driving performance

c) speed of car

d) night vs day conditions

1b) what was the dependent variable?

a) difference between desired speed and actual speed

b) night vs day conditions

c) car manufacture

d) digital vs analog displays

1c) how were the subjects assigned to groups?

a) by the order they arrived at the study

b) random assignment

c) matching

d) split pot

Explanation / Answer

1.a) The independent variable is : c) speed of car

1.b) The dependent variable is : d) digital vs analog displays

1.c) The way the subjects assigned to groups : d) split pot

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