The Effect of Instructional Format on Functional Testing Performance

The objective of the study was to investigate the impact on test technician performance of an action-sequenced, tabular test instruction manual format. Error and time scores on this tabular format were compared to those on traditional test instructions written in narrative prose. The study results showed an error rate ratio of three to one favoring tabular test instructions for the sample of technicians chosen. It is recommended that tabular test instructions be employed for manual or semiautomated test sets.