Impact of Avionic Design Characteristics on Technical Training Requirements and Job Performance

This study was performed in two phases. The first phase concentrated on the influence of avionic design and technical training factors on student performance. The second phase dealt with the impact of design and personnel factors on the performance of technicians in operational Air Force units. Avionic components were scaled on a variety of design characteristics, and data were collected on the task time and error performance of students and technicians performing a functional checkout maintenance task on the components. Personnel data were also obtained on each subject. Multiple-regression equations were then developed to predict task performance from design characteristics and personnel measures. The multiple R's for students were 0.90 for time and 0.82 for errors. The multiple R's for technicians ranged from 0.60 to 0.88, depending on the type of maintenance and criterion measure used; all R's were significant at the p < .001 level.