ABSTRACT
The task of analyzing decision making or problem solving is vital if systems are to support these business-critical skills. However, to meet this goal the analyst must be able to identify, elicit, and analyze requirements embedded in episodic and semantic knowledge. This chapter presents decision process tracing and protocol analysis, paired techniques that enable analysts to trace and study a performer's decision-making processes. These techniques provide a framework within which the analyst can focus on higher level (i.e., semantic) thinking. After studying a decision maker's responses to tasks and problems with which he or she is presented, the analyst can compile heuristics, alternatives, attributes, and attractiveness values for the decisions made and problems solved. In concurrent verbalization the decision maker solves the problem and thinks aloud or verbalizes actions, considerations, decision points, and strategy. This method immediately reveals what the decision maker believes.
