Citation

Baggett P, Ehrenfeucht A. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 1991; 7(3): 217-227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two videotapes were designed which showed how to assemble an 80-piece object, a lift. The lift had a hierarchical structure (breakdown into subassemblies, subsubassemblies, etc.), which was used as the basis for the units in the videotapes. One tape showed the structure top-down, breadth first, so that actions were not always shown in an executable order. The second combined a top-down approach with a sequential execution of actions. Individuals watched one of the two tapes and then performed the assembly from memory. On a measure of similarity of structure to the correctly built lift, less experienced individuals (females) performed significantly better after viewing the second tape than after viewing the first, while for more experienced subjects (males) there were no differences between the tapes. A principle for instructional designers is suggested: When preparing procedural instructions, combine the task hierarchy and the step-by-step execution as was done here, and less experienced individuals will perform as well as more experienced individuals.