ABSTRACT
Cognitive task analysis methods focus on describing and representing the cognitive elements that underlie goal generation, decision making, judgements, etc. Although cognitive task analyses often begin with high-level descriptions of the task based on observations or initial interviews, the bulk of the data collection occurs via in-depth interviews with subject matter experts. These interviews focus on gaining information about the cognitive strategies used to accomplish the task including situation assessment strategies, identification and interpretation of critical cues,
metacognitive strategies, important perceptual distinctions, etc. One strength of these methods is that they aid experts in articulating knowledge that is generally difficult to verbalize. Although researchers are often cautioned concerning reliance on verbal protocol data (Nisbett and Wilson 1977), it can be argued that verbal reports are inherently no more or less problematic than any other methodology (Howard 1994, Spector 1994).
