ABSTRACT
This paper revisits the challenge laid down over 15 years ago that ergonomics needs to report on the reliability and validity of its methods if it is to maintain its standing amongst the engineering community. Unfortunately, a review of books reporting on ergonomics methods since that time shows very little change. The theoretical constructs of reliability and validity are presented together with the rationale for conducting studies of training in ergonomics methods. Revisiting the original study shows the way in which such validation work can be undertaken and data reported. It is hoped that this article provides the stimulus for more studies of this nature now the approach has been demonstrated.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges that this work was based on funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and involved various collaborators including Dr Dan Diaper, Dr Catherine Harvey and Dr Mark Young.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Neville A. Stanton
Professor Neville Stanton, PhD, is both a chartered psychologist and a chartered engineer and holds the Chair in Human Factors in the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton. His research interests include modelling, predicting and analysing human performance in transport systems as well as designing the interfaces between humans and technology. Professor Stanton has worked on cockpit design in automobiles and aircraft over the past 25 years on a variety of automation projects. He has published 30 books and over 240 journal papers on Ergonomics and Human Factors, and is currently an editor of the peer-reviewed journal, Ergonomics. The University of Southampton has awarded him a DSc degree in 2014 for his sustained contribution to the development and validation of Human Factors methods.