• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.463-467
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• 2012

This study aims to empirically investigate population stereotype of burner-control linkage of four-stove gas range for Koreans. Background: The previous studies' results for gas range stereotypes were different depending upon methods adopted, i.e., whether using questionnaires, computer simulation or physical models. It is known that the physical model experiment should not be methodologically replaced by the computer simulation or paper-and-pencil tests. Stereotype of gas range for Koreans was surveyed based on questionnaires, but has not been dealt with by using physical models. Method: An experiment was conducted to investigate stereotype of four-burner gas range, in which 32 subjects participated and a real gas range available in the market was bought and used. Four types of burner-control linkage were used as independent variable, and reaction time as dependent variable. Results: ANOVA revealed that four types of burner-control linkage and subjects' gender were not significant on reaction time. Duncan's multiple range test showed that reaction times for type III was significantly lower than those for the other three types of burner-control linkage(${\alpha}$=0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded based on the results of this study that stereotype of gas range for Koreans is type III. This is in agreement with results of existing studies using questionnaire survey, while different from those based on physical models. Application: The results of this study would be useful as an ergonomic guideline when designing gas ranges or similar equipments for minimizing operation errors.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.389-394
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• 2011

The aims of this study are to investigate the Korean population stereotype for control-display linkage of four-burner gas-range, and to compare the results of this study with those of the existing studies. The investigation used a paper-pencil test using questionnaire with a sign code system for eliminating suggestive effect of sequential code. Two hundreds and eighty subjects participated in the investigation, among whom 254 subjects effectively responded to question for the gas-range stereotype. The results showed that type III(refer to Table 2) was chosen more frequently than type II, IV and V(p<0.01). The gender is not significant on responding rate for the type of control-burner linkage(p>0.92), while the age and occupation have significant effect on the rate(p<0.01). Based on this study, it appears that type III represents the population stereotype of control-burner arrangement for Korean. The stereotype was the same as that of Chinese, but different from that of American(type II or IV). The findings of this study would be helpful as basic data for ergonomically designing gas-range or similar products.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.267-271
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• 2013

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the test-retest reliability of paper-pencil test for investigating population stereotype of burner-control linkages of four-stove gas ranges. Background: Much of the research on gas-range stereotype strength has been performed using the paper-pencil test. While the use of the paper-pencil tests has the advantage of collecting data in a large group of subjects against reasonable costs, concerns regarding the reliability of the paper-pencil test has also been stated. Method: Three paper-pencil tests classified by intervals of test-retest were performed, in which eight types of burner-control arrangements were investigated. Sixty eight subjects were test-retested within two weeks, 85 subjects were test-retested within four weeks and 58 subjects were test-retested three times in series with interval of two and four weeks. Results: Chi-square test showed that three intervals of test-retest including two, four and two & four weeks have not statistically significant effect on subjects' responses irrespective of eight types of burner-control linkages dealt with in this study(p>0.10). Concordance rates of subjects' responses ranged between 73.5% and 100.0% for two-week test-retest, between 67.1% and 97.6% for four-week test-retest, and between 65.5% and 100.0% for two- and four-week serial test-retest. The concordance rates were linearly correlated with proportion of subjects' responses for stereotypes of burnercontrol linkages. Conclusion: It is concluded that the paper-pencil tests for investigating gas range relevant stereotypes could reproduce reliable results compared to baseline test within interval of four weeks. Application: The results of this study would be useful as an ergonomic guideline when designing the paper-pencil tests for stereotype relevant studies.