Comparison of Paper-Pencil and Hardware Tests for Investigating Stereotypes for Controls of Passenger Cars
The purposes of this study are to survey stereotypes of control-display relationships for seven principal controls in passenger cars using the paper-pencil and hardware tests, and to examine stereotype strength of the paper-pencil test through comparing the stereotypes for the controls derived by the two methods. Ninety two and 60 college-aged students participated in the paper-pencil test and the real car simulation of the hardware test, respectively. There are dominant motion-directions for all controls in the paper-pencil test, while in the hardware test, there are dominant motion-directions for six controls including head light, high beam, door window, ignition key, door key and door lock controls. The stereotypes of motion-directions for six controls obtained by the paper-pencil test were the same as or similar to those by the hardware test. It was inferred from this that the congruence of the stereotypes by the two methods might be attributed to two simple motion-direction principles of 'clockwise for increase' and 'upward for increase.' Although it is known that the hardware test would be best for obtaining accurate stereotypes between controls and displays, this study implies that if the paper-pencil test is well designed, the paper-pencil test can produce the same results as the hardware test at low cost and without consuming time.