The effect of interactive analytical dashboard features on situation awareness and task performance

Area of Science:

• Information Systems
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Interactive analytical dashboards are increasingly used in operational decision support systems (DSS).
• These dashboards combine analytical optimization with interactive graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
• Their impact on decision-maker situation awareness (SA) and task performance remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically investigate the effects of interactive analytical dashboard features on SA and task performance in operational DSS.
• To test hypotheses derived from SA theory regarding the influence of 'what-if' analysis features.
• To identify potential risks, such as the out-of-the-loop problem.

Main Methods:

• A laboratory experiment was conducted with 83 participants.
• Eye-tracking data was collected to analyze user interaction and cognitive engagement.
• The study focused on the impact of a 'what-if' analysis feature within the DSS.

Main Results:

• The 'what-if' analysis feature significantly improved task performance.
• However, the same feature was found to potentially reduce situation awareness.
• This suggests a risk of decision-makers becoming 'out-of-the-loop'.

Conclusions:

• Interactive dashboards offer performance benefits but require careful design to maintain SA.
• Practitioners must mitigate the out-of-the-loop syndrome when implementing and using these systems.
• Implications for dashboard design in operational DSS are provided to address these challenges.