Skill components of task analysis.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) is a crucial method for breaking down complex tasks into subgoals.
• Learning to effectively perform HTA is a non-trivial skill, posing challenges for novices.
• Understanding the difficulties novices face and the performance of experts is essential for improving HTA training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the challenges novices encounter when learning Hierarchical Task Analysis.
• To assess the performance of experienced task analysts in performing HTA.
• To identify skill components that can inform the development of better HTA training objectives.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: 36 novices performed HTA on cooking and communication tasks before and after receiving different training materials (general handout plus list of steps, flow-diagram, or concept map).
• Study 2: 8 experienced task analysts performed HTA on the same tasks, thinking aloud to demonstrate their process.
• Performance was evaluated using coding criteria for task analysis quality.

Main Results:

• Novices initially scored low on all HTA criteria, with performance improving but remaining suboptimal.
• Experienced practitioners' HTA achieved 2-3 levels of depth but also had low scores on certain criteria.
• The purpose of the analysis may influence the specificity of the resulting task hierarchy.

Conclusions:

• Learning HTA requires targeted training to address specific skill deficits observed in novices.
• Even expert task analysts may not consistently meet all quality criteria, suggesting room for refinement.
• This research provides valuable insights into the nature of HTA as a skill and informs training design.