ABSTRACT
The notion “task analysis” is composed of two words. The term “task” is a conceptual construct, so there are numerous ways of defining it. There are two major dimensions in which definitions differ: breadth of coverage and external versus intrinsic definitions (Fleishman and Quaintance 1984). The latter provide a fundamental difference in perspective. Tasks are viewed either in terms of work (usually in terms of observable behavior) or in terms of people (usually in terms of cognitive processes). In terms of work a task may be defined as a set of actions with an objective, performed by a worker, and transforming inputs into outputs. From the people viewpoint, a task may be described as a series of goal-directed transactions controlled by “programs” that guide the operations of a human operator.
