Cognitive work analysis: An influential legacy extending beyond human factors and engineering.

Jens Rasmussen's multifaceted legacy includes cognitive work analysis (CWA), a framework for the analysis, design, and evaluation of complex sociotechnical systems. After considering the framework's origins, this paper reviews its progress, predictably covering experimental research on ecological interface design, case studies of the application of CWA to human factors and engineering problems in industry, and methods and modelling tools for CWA. Emphasis is placed, however, on studying the nexus between some of the recent results obtained with CWA and the original field studies of human problem-solving that motivated the framework's development. Of particular interest is a case study of the use of CWA for military doctrine development, a problem commonly regarded as lying outside the fields of human factors and engineering. It is concluded that the value of CWA, even for such diverse problems, is likely to result from its conceptual grounding in empirical observations of patterns of human reasoning in complex systems.

[1]  Ann M. Bisantz,et al.  Integrating Cognitive Analyses into a Large Scale System Design Process , 2001 .

[2]  Kevin B. Bennett,et al.  Display and Interface Design: Subtle Science, Exact Art , 2011 .

[3]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Designing Teams for First-of-a-Kind, Complex Systems Using the Initial Phases of Cognitive Work Analysis: Case Study , 2003, Hum. Factors.

[4]  Daniel P. Jenkins,et al.  Work domain analysis: concepts, guidelines and cases , 2013 .

[5]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  A Consideration of Design Approaches Based on Cognitive Work Analysis: System Design and Integrated System Design , 2016, ECCE.

[6]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Testing the Impact of Instrumentation Location and Reliability on Ecological Interface Design: Fault Diagnosis Performance , 2000 .

[7]  Arthur J. Helmicki,et al.  The Application of the Ecological Interface Design Approach to Neonatal Intensive Care Medicine , 1998 .

[8]  Tab Lamoureux,et al.  Control Task Analysis: Methodologies for Eliciting and Applying Decision Ladder Models for Command and Control , 2016 .

[9]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Testing the Impact of Instrumentation Location and Reliability on Ecological Interface Design: Control Performance , 2000 .

[10]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work , 1999 .

[11]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Skills, rules, and knowledge; signals, signs, and symbols, and other distinctions in human performance models , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[12]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Man-machine communication in the light of accident record , 1969 .

[13]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Ecological interface design and computer network management: The effects of network size and fault frequency , 2005, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[14]  John R. Anderson.  Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications , 1980 .

[15]  Tab Lamoureux,et al.  Two Methods for Control Task Analysis , 2007 .

[16]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Work Domain Analysis of Australia's Air Power System: Purpose-related Functions of Combat; Transport; and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Subsystems , 2015 .

[17]  Guy H. Walker,et al.  Using Work Domain Analysis to Evaluate the Impact of Digitization on Command and Control , 2008 .

[18]  Nancy G. Leveson.  Intent Specifications: An Approach to Building Human-Centered Specifications , 2000, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[19]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  The role of hierarchical knowledge representation in decisionmaking and system management , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[20]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Ecological Interface Design: Progress and Challenges , 2002, Hum. Factors.

[21]  Wan Chul Yoon,et al.  The effects of presenting functionally abstracted information in fault diagnosis tasks , 2001, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[22]  Greg A. Jamieson,et al.  From Work Domains to Worker Competencies: A Five-Phase CWA , 2016 .

[23]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Ecological interface design: a new approach for visualizing network management , 2003, Comput. Networks.

[24]  Geoffrey Sloan,et al.  Military doctrine, command philosophy and the generation of fighting power: genesis and theory , 2012 .

[25]  David Crone.  Selecting Sensitive Measures of Performance in Complex Multivariable Environments , 2007 .

[26]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  The Application of Work Domain Analysis to Defining Australia's Air Combat Capability , 2014 .

[27]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Designing Displays Under Ecological Interface Design: Towards Operationalizing Semantic Mapping , 1998 .

[28]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Information Processing and Human-Machine Interaction: An Approach to Cognitive Engineering , 1986 .

[29]  Karlene H. Roberts,et al.  The Incident Command System : High Reliability Organizing for Complex and Volatile Task , 2007 .

[30]  Karlene H. Roberts,et al.  The Self-Designing High-Reliability Organization: Aircraft Carrier Flight Operations at Sea , 1987 .

[31]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Coping with Human Errors through System Design: Implications for Ecological Interface Design , 1989, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[32]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Improving Social Connection Through a Communities-of-Practice-Inspired Cognitive Work Analysis Approach , 2014, Hum. Factors.

[33]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Ecological interface design: theoretical foundations , 1992, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[34]  N. Naikar.  Cognitive Work Analysis: Foundations, Extensions, and Challenges , 2011 .

[35]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Cognitive Work Analysis Beyond Human Factors and Engineering , 2014 .

[36]  Ann M. Bisantz,et al.  Integrating cognitive analyses in a large-scale system design process , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[37]  Tanja Manser,et al.  Adaptive coordination in surgical teams: an interview study , 2015, BMC Health Services Research.

[38]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Reinventing the Wheel: Control Task Analysis for Collaboration , 2010 .

[39]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Evaluating Design Proposals with Work Domain Analysis , 2000 .

[40]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  A formative approach to the strategies analysis phase of cognitive work analysis , 2014 .

[41]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Putting It All Together: Improving Display Integration in Ecological Displays , 2000, Hum. Factors.

[42]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Ecological Interface Design on Skill Acquisition , 1996, Hum. Factors.

[43]  Wei Xu,et al.  Identifying Problems and Generating Recommendations for Enhancing Complex Systems: Applying the Abstraction Hierarchy Framework as an Analytical Tool , 2007, Hum. Factors.

[44]  Benjamin Naumann.  The Architecture Of Cognition , 2016 .

[45]  Kevin B. Bennett,et al.  Evaluation of an Ecological Interface Design for Military Command and Control , 2012 .

[46]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Crossing the boundaries of safe operation: An approach for training technical skills in error management , 2003, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[47]  G. Skraaning,et al.  Ecological Interface Design in the Nuclear Domain: An Empirical Evaluation of Ecological Displays for the Secondary Subsystems of a Boiling Water Reactor Plant Simulator , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[48]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Designing safe and effective future systems: A new approach for modelling decisions in future systems with Cognitive Work Analysis , 2008 .

[49]  Wei Xu,et al.  Facilitate Complex Search Tasks in Hypertext by Externalizing Functional Properties of a Work Domain , 1999, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[50]  J. Rasmussen,et al.  Study of mental procedures in electronic shooting , 1973 .

[51]  G. A. Jamieson,et al.  Ecological Interface Design for Petrochemical Process Control: An Empirical Assessment , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans.

[52]  C. Borst,et al.  Ecological Interface Design for Terrain Awareness , 2006 .

[53]  Kevin B. Bennett,et al.  Ecological Interface Design for Military Command and Control , 2008 .

[54]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  1. Cognitive engineering research at Risø from 1962–1979 , 2001 .

[55]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Supporting operator problem solving through ecological interface design , 1995, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[56]  Jonathan Pfautz,et al.  Methods for the Analysis of Social and Organizational Aspects of the Work Domain , 2008 .

[57]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Ecological Interface Design , 2004 .

[58]  M. Lenné,et al.  A structured approach to the strategies analysis phase of cognitive work analysis , 2013 .

[59]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Work Domain Analysis for Training-System Definition and Acquisition , 1999 .

[60]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Designing new teams with Cognitive Work Analysis , 2000 .

[61]  Gemma J M Read,et al.  Designing a ticket to ride with the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit , 2015, Ergonomics.

[62]  Wan Chul Yoon,et al.  Design of Information Content and Layout for Process Control Based on Goal–Means Domain Analysis , 2001, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[63]  Neville Moray.  Prologue. Ex risø semper aliquid antiquum : sources of a new paradigm for engineering psychology , 1988 .

[64]  Robyn Hopcroft,et al.  Work Domain Analysis: Theoretical Concepts and Methodology , 2005 .

[65]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  The Ecology of Human-Machine Systems II: Mediating 'Direct Perception' in Complex Work Domains , 1990 .

[66]  Christopher Durugbo,et al.  Work domain analysis for enhancing collaborations: a study of the management of microsystems design , 2012, Ergonomics.

[67]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Evaluating Design Proposals for Complex Systems with Work Domain Analysis , 2001, Hum. Factors.

[68]  Penelope M. Sanderson,et al.  Evaluating the generalizability of the Organizational Constraints Analysis framework: a hospital bed management case study , 2013, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[69]  J. Rasmussen,et al.  ANALYSIS OF FAILURE DATA FOR ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AT RISO , 1963 .

[70]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Integrated System Design: Promoting the Capacity of Sociotechnical Systems for Adaptation through Extensions of Cognitive Work Analysis , 2016, Front. Psychol..

[71]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  DECISION SUPPORT IN SUPERVISORY CONTROL , 1985 .

[72]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Inducing effective operator control through ecological interface design , 1996, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[73]  J. Rasmussen,et al.  SAFETY AND RELIABILITY OF REACTOR INSTRUMENTATION WITH REDUNDANT INSTRUMENT CHANNELS , 1962 .

[74]  Donald M. Snow,et al.  Making Strategy - An Introduction to National Security Processes and Problems , 1988 .

[75]  Wan Chul Yoon,et al.  Experimental study on the effects of visualized functionally abstracted information on process control tasks , 2008, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[76]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Cognitive Systems Engineering , 2022 .

[77]  N. Naikar,et al.  Analysing activity in complex systems with cognitive work analysis: concepts, guidelines and case study for control task analysis , 2006 .

[78]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Designing for Adaptation with Cognitive Work Analysis: Initial Conceptualisation of an Approach for Integrated Sociotechnical System Design , 2015 .

[79]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Attention Allocation within the Abstraction Hierarchy , 1997 .

[80]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  Organisational storytelling with cognitive work analysis: Case study of air power doctrine and strategy narrative , 2013 .