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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE THE EFFECTS OF WARNING MESSAGE HIGHLIGHTING ON NOVEL ASSEMBLY TASK PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology Human Factors/Applied Experimental by Morris A. Zlotnik May, 1982 The Thesis of Morris A. Zlotnik is approved: Tyler Blake Ma~s. Sanders, Chair California State University, Northridge ;; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to acknowledge those persons who have assisted in the conception, development, and implemen tation of this study. I would like to thank Dr. Tyler Blake and Dr. Bill Wilsoncroft for agreeing to serve on my committiee. I would also like to thank my chairman Dr. Mark Sanders, for all the assistance he has rendered to me during this task, and especially throughout my (many) years at CSUN. My appreciation is also extended to Xyzyx Infor mation Corporation. Many of the documents reviewed for this study were obtained through my association with Xyzyx. In addition, the unrestricted use of their technical facil ities has been of invaluable help to me during the prepara tion of this manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Linda, for all the encouragement, patience, and love she has provided to me throughout this endeavor. This thesis is dedicated to my family and friends. i i; TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Figures • • v List of Tables • vi Abstract • vii INTRODUCTION • • 1 The Warning Process 2 Behavior and warnings • 3 Standardized Warnings 7 Warnings and Complex Written Procedures 10 Statement of the Problem 18 METHOD • • • 22 Independent Variables • 2.2' Dependent Variables • 25) Covariates 28 Subjects 29 Apparatus 30 Procedure 32 RESULTS 38 Multivariate Statistical Assumptions 38 Multivariate Analysis of Covariance 40 Analysis I 41 Analysis II 50 DISCUSSION • • 59 Warning Messages and Task Performance 63 Implications and Limitations • 65 REFERENCES 68 APPENDIX A • • • 72 APPENDIX B 97 APPENDIX C • 122 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Examples of NOTE configurations currently in use. 15 2. Examples of CAUTION configurations currently in 16 use. 3. Examples of WARNING configurations currently in 17 use. 4. Representation of experimental design. 23 5. Mean task completion times for each highlighting 43 condition by cell. 6. Mean total error rate for each highlighting 44 condition by cell. 7 Mean warning message error rate for each 45 highlighting condition by cell. 8. Mean warning message recall rate for experimental 46 highlighting conditions. 9. Mean percentage correct motor operation for each 47 highlighting condition by cell. 10. Mean task completion time for control and 51 experimental groups. 11. Mean total error rate for control and 52 experimental groups. 12. Mean warning message error rate for control and 53 experimental conditions. 13. Mean percentage correct motor operation for 54 control and experimental groups. v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Summary of recommended rules to follow when using precautinary information. 12 2. Overall tests of multivariate analysis of variance for the combined set of dependent 49 variables. 3. Source table of Roy-Bargman Stepdown analysis for experimental versus control conditions. 57 4. Source table of intercorrelations for the dependent variables. 122 vi ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF WARNING MESSAGE HIGHLIGHTING ON NOVEL ASSEMBLY TASK PERFORMANCE by Morris A. Zlotnik Master of Arts in Psychology A review of examples and specifications relating to emergency' and non-emergency operating procedures revealed a considerable amount of variation with respect to recom mended standards for highlighting of warning messages. An experiment was therefore conducted to examine the effec tiveness of various methods of highlighting warning mes sages contained in the instructions for a novel assembly task. Seventy-two male subjects screened for manual dex terity were randomly assigned to eight highlighting groups in a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design. One additional non orthoginal group (no warning) was used as the control. The highlighting factors employed were: dimensionality (2-D vs. 3-D), cross hatching (with diagional lines), and block ing of the warning messages (blocked vs. non-blocked). All conditions reflected highlighting practices currently em- ployed in written procedures. Subjects read a set of as- sembly instructions in which warning message highlighting vii was varied for each group. Warning message highlighting was omitted from the control group instructions. The sub jects' task was to assemble a "prototype" device according to the instructions provided. The primary dependent mea sures were: total task completion time, total task errors, errors associated with specific warning messages, and re call of warning messages. In addition, the outcome of the entire task itself was used as a qualitative indication of subject performance. Findings indicated that the presence of warning messages shortened task completion time, and re duced total task errors and warning message errors between the experimental and control groups. No significant dif ferences, however, were obtained between the various high lighting configurations for any of the dependent measures used. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made. viii INTRODUCTION Public concern for safety has increased dramatically in recent years. Major "large system" incidents such as the ThreeMile Island {TMI) accident and the DC-10 plane crash, both occuring in 1979, have brought the issue of safety to the public's attention in a dramatic fashion. Even prior to these events, the public concern for safety had been fostered by 1) the alarming increase in products liability litigation and 2) the sizable awards frequently presented to injured parties {Moll, 1976: Bry, 1978). The advent of the Consumer Products Safety Commission {CPSC) has also increased awareness by publicizing potentially hazardous products and compiling statistical data concern ing product related injuries. ProdUct manufacturers have both a legal and ethical obligation, given a possible hazard, to provide adequate warnings and instructions with the sale of their products. This is often accomplished by means of a label or sign at tached to the product and/or warning messages accompanied with the product instructions. It should be noted, howeve~ that the inclusion of these warnings with a product does not automatically relieve the manufacturer from product li ability. Ross {1981) cites several court cases in which the courts have ruled that warnings were inadequate because they " ••• did not adequately communicate the level of 1 2 danger, .. or ..... did not state the severity of the risk and the nature of the hazard 11 (P.35). Aside from the obvious legal obligation to warn of po tential hazards; warning labels are intended to lessen the risk of personal injury or property damage. Essentially this is accomplished by inducing certain patterns of behav ior and discouraging or eliminating other patterns of be havior (Dorris and Purswell, 1978). The Warning Process Previous research on visual warnings has primarily been related to traffic signage. These studies have empha sized such factors as interpretation (Brainard, Campbell, and Elkin, 1961); recognition, comprehension (Walker, Nico lay, and Stearns, 1965); readability, and visibility {King, 1975; Ells and Dewar, 1979). In many cases it is assumed that once a warning mes sage is received and understood, the user is capable of acting appropriately, in accordance with the message. Un til recently, however, capability on the part of the user was not seen as an intergral part of the warning process. Dorris and Purswell (1977) suggest that warning messages be designed to meet the following criteria: 1. The warning message must be clearly observable. 2. The warning message must be readily understood by the user. 3. The user must be willing to act in accordance with 3 the message. 4. The user must be capable of acting appropriately. The last criteria is an addition to the first three offered by Dorris and Purswell. It would seem logical that any warning could be considered ineffective, if it asked the user to perform some action the user was incapable of doing. Indeed, the courts have recognized this factor as being part of the warning process. For example, Ross (1981) cites a products liability case dealing with asbes tos fibers. The court ruled that a warning containing the statement to "avoid breathing the dust" was inadequate be cause there was no way for workers to avoid breathing as bestos dust (P.36). It would seem that a better understanding of the human factors that effect user responses to warnings is required. Such knowledge might aid in the development of warning mes sages and configurations that are more likely to induce ap propriate responses from users. Behavior and Warnings Most of what is known about the design of visual warn ings is concerned with optimizing the perception of infor mation i.e., receiving and understanding the information. Little research has been conducted regarding the behavioral aspects of warnings. This no doubt stems from the assumed logic that once a warning message is acknowledged by a pro duct user, little can be done about an individual's refusal 4 to act in accordance with the warning. This being the case, the ultimate criterion of a warning message, i.e., inducing an appropriate perceptual change in the user's be- havior, is rarely measured directly. It should be noted that some research on behavior and warnings is being per formed by private corporations. Unfortunately, the results of such studies are often deemed proprietary and thus un available to researchers outside of the corporation (Dorris, Note 1). However, there is some evidence to indi cate few people actually read or even recognize a product warning. Dorris and Purswell (1977) conducted an informal study on warning labels associated with a familiar object, a ham mer. They asked 100 subjects to use the hammer in a simple assembly task. Virtually no one noticed that warning la bels were affixed to the hammers.