ABSTRACT
A lack of empirical data is often been presented as a large challenge for HRA, which begs the question: why is this so difficult? HRA methods were not developed as objective quantitative test methods, but more as qualitative evaluation methods because objective data did not exist. Since HRA methods include substantial qualitative evaluation of the meaning of the elements in HRA methods, such as definitions of the performance shaping factors as well as their strength, these elements cannot be objective measured. This paper also discusses other challenges with collection data from event reports, literature reviews, experiments and databases. The conclusion in this paper is that a decision should be made about how we should look at HRA methods: as qualitative evaluation methods or objective quantitative test methods. Quantitative and qualitative methods have different approaches to evaluate the quality of the methods making it difficult to be something in between.
