Klein Associates

About: Klein Associates is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Task analysis & Naturalistic decision-making. The organization has 89 authors who have published 131 publications receiving 11009 citations.

Naturalistic Decision Making

Abstract: Objective: This article describes the origins and contributions of the naturalistic decision making (NDM) research approach. Background: NDM research emerged in the 1980s to study how people make decisions in real-world settings. Method: The findings and methods used by NDM researchers are presented along with their implications. Results: The NDM framework emphasizes the role of experience in enabling people to rapidly categorize situations to make effective decisions. Conclusion: The NDM focus on field settings and its interest in complex conditions provide insights for human factors practitioners about ways to improve performance. Application: The NDM approach has been used to improve performance through revisions of military doctrine, training that is focused on decision requirements, and the development of information technologies to support decision making and related cognitive functions.

Critical decision method for eliciting knowledge

Abstract: A critical decision method is described for modeling tasks in naturalistic environments characterized by high time pressure, high information content, and changing conditions. The method is a variant of a J.C. Flanagan's (1954) critical incident technique extended to include probes that elicit aspects of expertise such as the basis for making perceptual discriminations, conceptual discriminations, typicality judgments, and critical cues. The method has been used to elicit domain knowledge from experienced personnel such as urban and wildland fireground commanders, tank platoon leaders, structural engineers, design engineers, paramedics, and computer programmers. A model of decision-making derived from these investigations is presented as the theoretical background to the methodology. Instruments and procedures for implementing the approach are described. Applications of the method include developing expert systems, evaluating expert systems' performance, identifying training requirements, and investigating basic decision research issues. >

Working Minds: A Practitioner's Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis

Abstract: Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) helps researchers understand how cognitive skills and strategies make it possible for people to act effectively and get things done. CTA can yield information people need -- employers faced with personnel issues, market researchers who want to understand the thought processes of consumers, trainers and others who design instructional systems, health care professionals who want to apply lessons learned from errors and accidents, systems analysts developing user specifications, and many other professionals. CTA can show what makes the workplace work -- and what keeps it from working as well as it might. Working Minds is a true handbook, offering a set of tools for doing CTA: methods for collecting data about cognitive processes and events, analyzing them, and communicating them effectively. It covers both the "why" and the "how" of CTA methods, providing examples, guidance, and stories from the authors' own experiences as CTA practitioners. Because effective use of CTA depends on some conceptual grounding in cognitive theory and research -- on knowing what a cognitive perspective can offer -- the book also offers an overview of current research on cognition. The book provides detailed guidance for planning and carrying out CTA, with chapters on capturing knowledge and capturing the way people reason. It discusses studying cognition in real-world settings and the challenges of rapidly changing technology. And it describes key issues in applying CTA findings in a variety of fields. Working Minds makes the methodology of CTA accessible and the skills involved attainable.

Making Sense of Sensemaking 1: Alternative Perspectives

Abstract: Sensemaking has become an umbrella term for efforts at building intelligent systems. This essay examines sensemaking from various perspectives to see if we can separate the things that are doable from the things that seem more like pie-in-the-sky

Taking stock of naturalistic decision making

Abstract: We review the progress of naturalistic decision making (NDM) in the decade since the first conference on the subject in 1989. After setting out a brief history of NDM we identify its essential characteristics and consider five of its main contributions: recognition-primed decisions, coping with uncertainty, team decision making, decision errors, and methodology. NDM helped identify important areas of inquiry previously neglected (e.g. the use of expertise in sizing up situations and generating options), it introduced new models, conceptualizations, and methods, and recruited applied investigators into the field. Above all, NDM contributed a new perspective on how decisions (broadly defined as committing oneself to a certain course of action) are made. NDM still faces significant challenges, including improvement of the quantity and rigor of its empirical research, and confirming the validity of its prescriptive models. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.