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User Expectations Regarding the Water Faucet Operation  

Jung, Hwa-Shik (Department of Industrial Engineering, Dongshin University)
Publication Information
IE interfaces / v.17, no.1, 2004 , pp. 104-112 More about this Journal
Abstract
The purposes of the study were twofold: to investigate the stereotype of position and direction that the users expect when operating the handles of a water faucet in different directions, and to collect information about user’s preferred directions. Six hundred subjects, aged from teens to over sixties, participated in the experiment with the procedure of showing them actual water faucets of a lever-type handle and two round-shaped handles mounted on the sink(horizontal plane) and wall(vertical plane). The water faucets presented to the subjects were most widely used devices in our living environment. The results showed that when the handle of the lever-type water faucet was in the 'up' position, 63% of the subjects expected the device was 'open'. When the cold hot separated water faucets were mounted on the horizontal or vertical plane, over 50% of those who answered the 'open' direction of round type handles responded as 'counter clockwise' for a 'hot' water faucet and 'clockwise' for a 'cold' water faucet. In conclusion, this study suggests that water faucet devices be designed and installed in the way that the users expect them to operate.
Keywords
water faucet; human expectations; population stereotype; compatibility;
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