R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Howell, William C."

Browsing by Author "Howell, William C."

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A comparative analysis of data entry devices and typing modes
(1985) Holden, Kritina L.; Lane, David M.; Howell, William C.; Laughery, Kenneth R.
In our technology oriented society, data entry and manipulation are some of the most important tasks in which the human is involved. The present research is concerned with optimization of data entry via a computer keyboard. There is evidence that foot pedal devices could prove beneficial when used in conjunction with a keyboard for complex data entry. In the present research, the viability of a foot pedal entry device and a parallel mode of keystroking were examined. These two conditions, along with the standard key input and serial mode of keystroking were compared in two studies. Results showed that for inexperienced or unskilled typists, the addition of a foot pedal does not provide for better performance. Subjects performing with a foot pedal were consistently faster but committed more errors. Worst performance was noted for subjects using the foot pedal in a serial mode. There are indications in the data which suggest that high-skill typists may be able to more successfully adapt to using a foot pedal device, and may also be more able to coordinate their limbs in order to take advantage of the benefits of parallel entry. Implications for these results in light of current computer system design are discussed.
A contrast of guideline recommendations and Tullis's prediction model for computer displays: Should text be left-justified?
(1988) Fontenelle, Gail Ann; Howell, William C.
Two experiments investigated the effect of layout complexity for performance at varying levels of practice on four types of information extraction tasks. Layout complexity is defined as the number of unique horizontal and vertical starting positions of items in the display (Tullis, 1984). Tullis investigated the ability of display-formatting variables (overall density, local density, number of groups, size of groups, number of items, and layout complexity) to predict human performance and preference. Although layout complexity was the best predictor of subjective ratings, it did not contribute to the prediction of search time beyond what could be predicted by overall density, local density, number of groups, and size of groups. This is a particularly interesting finding since vertically aligning lists and left-justifying items, practices strongly recommended in guidelines for display formatting (e.g., Engel & Granada, 1976; Smith & Mosier, 1986), are important factors in Tullis's definition of layout complexity. Thus, the guidelines and Tullis's model lead to conflicting predictions concerning the effect of left-justifying text on user search time. In the first study, layout complexity was manipulated by either left-justifying or not left-justifying text. Although the text was not left-justified, the starting positions of the text were ordered rather than random. In the second study, subjects viewed a third experimental screen that displayed the starting positions of items in a completely unpredictable pattern. Subjects performed all four tasks (find label, scan data, compare labels, and compare data) in four one-hour sessions. Moderate violations of the typical guideline recommendations did not increase user search time across all four tasks in either the first or the second study. However, when subjects compared multiple data values, the random format did increase user search time. Though performance using the three experimental screens was comparable across the four tasks with only one exception, subjective ratings demonstrated differences between the three formats. Subjects disliked the random format and degraded their performance using the random screens.
A demonstration of belief perseverance for hypothetical social theories
(1984) Sechler, Elizabeth S.; Anderson, Craig A.; Howell, William C.; Watkins, Michael J.
Two groups of subjects were induced to form opposing beliefs about the relationship between two social variables, preference for risk and performance in firefighter jobs. Specifically, one group created a causal explanation for a positive relationship (high risk preference related to high performance and low risk preference related to low performance), whereas the other created an explanation for the opposite, negative relationship. Subsequent assessment of subjects' own beliefs revealed a tendency to believe in whichever relationship they had explained. Both groups then examined and evaluated inconclusive "case histories" (half supporting a positive relationship and half supporting a negative relationship). A new assessment of subjects' beliefs showed that this new evidence had little if any effect; subjects' evaluations of the new evidence gave no indication that the groups had evaluated the evidence differently. Why beliefs that are newly formed, and based on no valid evidence survive non-supportive evidence is unclear, but a few ideas are briefly discussed and possible directions for future research are proposed.
A principal components analysis of the professional and managerial position questionnaire with a subsequent translation into a task-oriented job analysis procedure
(1982) Wedding, Daryl L.; Thomas, Jay C.; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.
Data was collected on 74 professional and managerial jobs using the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PMPQ). In the first study a principal components analysis was performed with eight principal components being selected for rotation and interpretation. These components were compared to the original ten components found in the developmental study. This comparison revealed a high degree of congruency between the two sets of components. In the second study expert raters attempted to reliably translate job descriptions based on PMPQ data into the task-oriented functions of People, Data, and Things used by the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The results indicated that raters could not do this, thus highlighting the differences between worker- and task-oriented job analysis procedures. The advantages and disadvantages of principal components analysis and ideas for future lines of research are discussed.
A psychophysical study of performance ratings
(1983) Martin Domingo, Maria del Carmen; Thomas, Jay C.; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.
A systematic consideration of labor market dynamics in the development of compensation systems
(1988) Holmes, Christopher Wells; Howell, William C.
Johnson and Ash (1986) proposed a new model for developing compensation systems which is designed to systematically and simultaneously reconcile differences between internal and external pay equity criteria without necessarily including market based gender biases. Central to their model is the development of a labor market variable (LMV) which is designed to be sensitive to the dynamic affects of supply and demand on occupational wages over time, and which is to be used as a compensible factor in the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) based job component/policy capturing approach to job evaluation. The present research is designed to examine three issues regarding Johnson and Ash's (1986) model and research: (1) determine if their results can be replicated using actual organizational data regarding relatively heterogeneous sets of jobs; (2) examine the operational adequacy of their LMV; and (3) examine possible differences in outcomes between the application of their method and the more traditional PAQ points driven method. In order to investigate these issues, PAQ based job evaluation data and archival labor market data were obtained for jobs from two organizations (Organizations A and B). The results regarding Organization A tended to support the viability of Johnson and Ash's (1986) model. Regardless, of how the LMV was operationalized, its inclusion in the policy capturing equation caused a significant reduction in the discrepancies between the internal and external equity criteria. Also, the LMV was not related to a measure of the gender dominance of these jobs and the measure of gender dominance did not add, incrementally to the prediction of organizational wages in the policy capturing equations. The results obtained using this method also compared quite favorably with those obtained using the traditional PAQ points method. The results regarding Organization B were less promising. Here, regardless of how it was operationalized, the LMV failed to significantly reduce the discrepancies between the internal and external equity criteria. Further, some evidence was found indicating that the LMV is related to the gender dominance of these jobs, and only minor differences were found between the outcomes of the new method and the traditional PAQ points method.
Choosing among alternatives with uncertain outcomes: effects of prior cuing and estimation requirements
(1982) Kerkar, Shanta P.; Howell, William C.; Watkins, Michael J.; Lane, David M.
The present study sought to clarify the influence of frequency and probability estimation on subsequent predictive choice performance. The experimental design involved a manipulation of quality of prior estimations via combinations of instructional set and response requirement. The results demonstrated that frequency judgments were consistently superior to probability judgments regardless of initial frequency or probability set. However, accuracy of predictive choices did not directly reflect the subjects’ estimation-performance. All experimental groups made better choices than a control group which had no set or estimation requirement; however, the experimental groups did not differ among themselves in choice performance. The latter finding suggests that estimation enhanced choice accuracy by cuing information that was accumulated in a similar fashion by all experimental groups: the record of event frequency. Some possible determinants of predictive choice for future practical and theoretical consideration are discussed.
Effects of imagining self-relevant behavioral scripts on subsequent intentions and behavior
(1985) Godfrey, Sandra S.; Anderson, Craig A.; Howell, William C.; Martin, Randi C.
This experiment examined the effects of imagining oneself acting out specific behavioral scripts on subsequent intentions and behavior. The imagination process was varied according to: (1) outcome of the script (decided to perform the behavior or decided not to); (2) amount of time allowed to imagine each scene in the script (fifteen seconds or three seconds ); and (3 ) order of the scenes (logical or jumbled ). Subjects' intentions were assessed by pre- and post-imagination rating scales. Later subjects were given an opportunity to perform the behaviors. The ratings shoved intention changes that corresponded with the outcome of the scripts that were imagined, but there were no significant effects of time or of order. The correlations between the behavioral responses and the post-imagination intentions were significantly higher than the correlations between the behavioral responses and the pre-imagination intentions. The results indicate that intentions and possibly behavior were affected by the imagination process.
Effects of repetition of identical and similar advertisements on retention and attitude change
(1976) Valenti, Cornelius D.; Howell, William C.
It is generally held that repetition enhances the effectiveness of television advertisement in terms of information retention and affective rating. The present experiment examined this effect in light of similar predictions made by the encoding variability and mere exposure hypotheses. Seven different groups of 17 subjects each served in a between groups design. Conditions were defined by different levels of presentation frequency (one, three, and six) and repetition similarity (low, medium, and high). The results suggest that greater frequency and lower similarity (higher variability) of repetition enhance retention measures. No firm conclusions could be made concerning the affective ratings. These findings were interpreted as providing support for the encoding variability hypothesis, but not for the mere exposure hypothesis. The implication of these findings for advertising repetition, in particular, and stimulus repetition, in general, were discussed.
Group vs. individual decisions: the strength of judgments in a juridical inference task
(1982) Smith, Janet K.; Schum, David A.; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.
Twenty subjects worked first as individuals, then as members of a group, in assessing the probative strength of evidence in favoring either the guilt or innocence of "defendants" in contrived criminal court cases. Past research in group related phenomena, such as group polarization, has indicated that group judgments tend to be an enhancement of the average individual judgments. In this study, however, no evidence of group polarization was found. When the subjects considered evidence items one at a time, the group post-deliberation judgments were weaker than the average individual pre-deliberation judgments, when all of the judgments favored guilt. When the judgments all favored innocence and when the evidence was considered all together, no significant differences were found between the group and individual assessments. When pre-deliberation responses Were not homogeneous, the minorities appeared to have the ability to shift the majority toward neutrality. Whereas past research has indicated that a minority of one has no ability to shift the majority, in this study, when evidence items were considered separately, a minority of one, favoring innocence, was able to shift the majority favoring guilt toward neutrality. The method of aggregation of evidence items was examined using a Baysian and an Additive Model. Neither model usefully described the data. In both models, the aggregations made by individuals were widely dispersed, indicating that individuals used varying strategies to aggregate the evidence. The group aggregations, however, tended to be less variable. This indicated that the group served to make the aggregations more homogeneous, thus reducing individual differences.
Imagery and memory : the bizarreness issue reexamined
(1979) Kennedy, Pamela Ann; Burnett, Sarah A.; Howell, William C.
This research examined the effects of the bizarreness attribute of imagery on memory. While previous research has not generally supported the facilitory effects of bizarreness on recall performance, there are a number of conceptual and methodological problems with this body of research. The present research attempted to overcome these problems by developing a more rigorous conceptualization and operationalization of the construct of bizarreness, and utilizing a design which controls for past methodological contaminants. Half of the 64 subjects were instructed to form images while the other half rehearsed phrases in rote fashion. Within each of these conditions, half of the subjects were tested by free recall and half by frequency estimation. For all subjects, half of the phrases were bizarre and half were common, as defined by pre-ratings made by independent subjects. Frequency level of phrase presentation was varied, with frequency levels 1, 2, 4 and 6 being represented. Finally, subjects were tested immediately after list presentation and again after one week. The results indicated that for cued recall, bizarre phrases were superior to common phrases. In addition, the superiority of bizarre over common imagery increased between the immediate and delayed tests. For frequency estimation, the data did not reveal any readily interpretable differences between common and bizarre phrases. The results were discussed as they relate to previous research on bizarreness. It was concluded that bizarreness does have a facilitory effect in imagery mediation. Suggestions for future research to further clarify the effects of bizarreness were presented.
Occupational stress and coping behaviors in clerical and secretarial workers
(1981) Stramler, Carlla S.; Murphy, Kevin R.; Howell, William C.; Dipboye, Robert L.
Clerical and secretarial workers completed an openended questionnaire in which they recorded stressful jobrelated incidents. This information was used to construct a behavioral stress scale and coping behaviors inventory. Another group of clerical and secretarial workers (N=282) rated these Incidents according to their perceived stressfulness and categorizéd concomitant coping behaviors. They also listed the occurrence of specific psychosomatic illnesses and filled out a widely-used measure of occupational stress. Factor analytic results suggest that clerical and secretarial workers consider instances of role conflict and interpersonal problems to be the most important job-related stressors. The'average respondent is a moderately stressed woman who employs a range of both action-oriented and cognitive-oriented behaviors, with the cognitive-oriented behaviors predominating slightly. However, as the level of perceived occupational stress increases, the use of action-oriented behaviors rises in this group.
Phonemic priming in the lexical decision task : Evidence for graphemic dependence
(1985) Jensen, Cary Robb; Martin, Randi C.; Lane, David M.; Howell, William C.
Hillinger (198) reported that a target word was identified as a real word faster when it was preceded by a phonetically related prime than by a neutral prime. He found that this facilitation occurred even when the prime and target were graphemically dissimilar. On the basis of this he concluded that activation spread automatically from the lexical entry of the prime to phonologically related lexical entries. The series of experiments reported in this thesis were designed to investigate several aspects of Hillinger's experiments. Hillinger's findings were replicated when his design was employed. Further investigations showed that minor variations in this design resulted in very different patterns of facilitation and inhibition. While it was demonstrated that lexical decisions to word targets are facilitated, apparently automatically, when the targets are preceded by graphemically similar-phonemically similar primes, no such facilitation was observed when graphemically dissimilar-graphemically similar primes were used. These results were found even when subjects were required to access the phonology of the primes. It was concluded that phonetic facilitation is the result of a process of structure that is based both on phonology and orthography.
The effect of arousal on a selective attention task
(1982) Pearson, Deborah A.; Lane, David M.; Burnett, Sarah A.; Howell, William C.
In two experiments, subjects performed a luminance detection task under conditions of low arousal and high arousal. In the low arousal condition, subjects heard 7 dB(A) broadband noise, and in the high arousal condition they heard 1 dB(A) noise. Stimuli were presented on a cathode ray tube, and appeared at the center and along the perimeter of an imaginary circle. Two expectancy conditions were used: a central expectancy condition, in which most of the stimuli appeared at the center of the screen and a few appeared along the perimeter, and a peripheral condition in which the opposite was true. Subjects responded faster to central stimuli than peripheral stimuli; they also responded faster to expected stimuli than unexpected stimuli. Noise had no effect on the way in which subjects processed location or expectancy information . It was concluded that arousal has no effect on the breadth of attention in this task.
The effect of information display formatting and information availibility on optional stopping behavior
(1984) Schwartz, David R.; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.; Martin, Randi C.
The manner in which data are presented on information displays has been shown to affect human performance on a host of system-related tasks, presumably through their relationship with cognitive or response tendencies. The demonstration of the superiority of analog display formats, however, has been limited to tasks where decision makers are required to perform few, if any, transformations on static information. In contrast, the present study attempted to assess the effect of display format in a relatively complex optional stopping task requiring judgments of when as well as what course of action to take. Display format and the amount of information displayed were varied factorially in a simulated optional stopping task. The latter variable was included to provide a broader context with which display-induced processing differences might emerge. A significant display effect was not found although previous findings with respect to information sampling were corroborated and extended. Also, insights were gained into the effects of practice on sampling behavior. The present results did indicate that display effects might appear under more demanding conditions, that is, those conditions where there is the greatest benefit to be made in system performance. Several approaches to increasing the demands of the present task were discussed.
The effect of specific practice on the capacity demands of detecting a target letter among two types of distractors
(1984) Kleiss, James Alan; Lane, David M.; Howell, William C.; Watkins, Michael J.
Although there is considerable evidence that visual stimuli are processed in a parallel and capacity-free manner, recent data suggest that letter perception is a limited capacity process in at least some situations. Research on practice effects in perception has been interpreted as indicating that perceptual tasks that initially demand attentional capacity can be performed in an automatic and capacity-free manner after much consistent practice. The present research investigated the effect of practice on the attentional demands of processing a multi-stimulus letter display. The results showed that practice did not eliminate capacity limitations although there was evidence of a decline in the capacity demands of the feature integration stage of perception early in practice. The fact that capacity limitations generally persisted throughout the experiment suggests that there is at least one other source of limited capacity processing in letter perception and that this source is much less affected by practice.
The effect of task characteristics on the availability heuristic for judgments under uncertainty
(1983) Fontenelle, Gail; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.; Anderson, Craig A.
The present study sought to generalize the effect of the availability heuristic to more complex tasks and across various task categories. The experimental design involved the manipulation of event characteristics in order to induce a heuristic processing strategy for designated available events. The effect of these manipulations was investigated for three types of response measures and across a range of event frequencies. Results demonstrated the generalizability of the availability heuristic across complex tasks and three types of response measures -- frequency estimation, probability estimation, and choice predictions. The availability of an event in memory produced an overestimation of the frequency and probability of event occurrences. Similarly, choice predictions judged available events as more likely to occur. However, this effect was not consistent across all levels of assigned event frequencies. The present study extended the generalizability of the availability heuristic to more complex tasks and provided an exploratory step toward defining the degree to which basic findings hold across a range of task characteristics.
The effects of feedback and method of eliciting subjective weights on the decision process
(1981) Haertel, Robert Jude; Dipboye, Robert L.; Howell, William C.; Lane, David M.
A widely accepted finding in the area of decision research is that decision makers are not aware of how they make decisions. The present study re-evaluates this conclusion from two methodological perspectives: (1) the data analysis techniques used in decision research and (2) the methods used to elicit decision makers' descriptions of their decision process. The paper cites evidence suggesting that the results of previous studies which conclude that decision makers are not aware of their decision strategies are highly dependent upon the data analysis techniques employed. Also, the results of the present study demonstrate that eliciting subjective weights using slope related questions produce more accurate decision models than eliciting subjective weights using the traditional 1 points method. The present study also investigates the effect that process feedback has on decreasing the discrepancy between decision makers' subjective and statistical decision strategies. It was found that process feedback had a negative effect on the accuracy of decision makers' descriptions of their decision strategies. An explanation for this finding is presented as well as recommendations for future research.
The role of imagination stereotype maintenance
(1985) Slusher, Morgan Paul; Anderson, Craig A.; Howell, William C.; Carpenter, S. L.
The present studies examine how failures in reality monitoring contribute to stereotype maintenance. In one study, subjects imagined members of occupational groups within specific contexts that could be relevant to a trait stereotypic of that group. Subjects tended to incorporate the stereotyped trait into the imagination. In another experiment, subjects read sentences that matched traits (stereotyped and nonstereotyped) with occupations with equal frequency. Subjects also imagined members of each occupation in situations relevant to particular stereotypic traits. In subsequent judgments of presentation frequency, subjects overestimated stereotypic occupation-trait combinations, replicating earlier studies. More importantly, subjects further overestimated the presentation frequency of imagined stereotypic combinations, indicating failure of subjects to distinguish between their imaginations and actual presentations. Thus, stereotype-based imaginings led to inflated association of groups with their stereotypic traits. The possible role this "imaginal confirmation" process may play in the maintenance of stereotypes is also discussed.
Toward definition of the structure of work: The development of a general-purpose job analysis instrument
(1989) Lynskey, Michelle C.; Howell, William C.; Autrey, Herbert S.
The purpose of the current investigation was to develop and validate a general-purpose job analysis questionnaire capable of analyzing all types and levels of jobs, and to use this questionnaire as a means to investigate the underlying structure of work. The instrument was developed using existing items from the Job Element Inventory (Cornelius & Hakel, 1978) and managerial, supervisory, executive, and professional items which were based on dimensions reported in the literature. After completion of a pilot study, the questionnaire was administered to incumbents from a sample of jobs from various public and private sector organizations, resulting in the collection of 395 questionnaire responses. The job ratings were subjected to an exploratory factor analyses, and five overall and 28 divisional dimensions were interpreted. A policy-capturing approach was used to assess the validity of the questionnaire; R$\sp2$s ranged from.38 to.68. A confirmatory factor analysis investigated the following competing hypotheses of work structure. (1) The dimensionality of work resembles three dimensions: Working with People and Data, Physical Activities and Related Environmental Conditions, and Using Machines and Equipment. This structure is similar to Fine and Wiley's (1971) theory of work, which includes three factors: Data, People, and Things. (2) The dimensionality of work resembles six dimensions: Information Input, Mental Processes, Work Output, Relationships with Other Persons, Job Context, and Other Job Characteristics. These dimensions resemble information-processing theory and the a-priori divisions used by McCormick, Jeanneret, & Mecham (1977) to catagorize work. A covariance analysis confirmed the first two factors of the first hypothesis, but only three of the factors from the second hypothesis. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Browsing by Author "Howell, William C."

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