Task analysis

Task analysis

Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary clothing and equipment, and any other unique factors involved in or required for one or more people to perform a given task. Task analysis emerged from research in applied behavior analysis and still has considerable research in that area.

Information from a task analysis can then be used for many purposes, such as personnel selection and training, tool or equipment design, procedure design (e.g., design of checklists or decision support systems) and automation.

The term "task" is often used interchangeably with activity or process. Task analysis often results in a hierarchical representation of what steps it takes to perform a task for which there is a goal and for which there is some lowest-level "action" that is performed. Task analysis is often performed by human factors professionals.

Task analysis may be of manual tasks, such as bricklaying, and be analyzed as time and motion studies using concepts from industrial engineering. Cognitive task analysis is applied to modern work environments such as supervisory control where little physical works occurs, but the tasks are more related to situation assessment, decision making, and response planning and execution.

Task analysis is also used in education. It is a model that is applied to classroom tasks to discover which curriculum components are well matched to the capabilities of students with learning disabilities and which task modification might be necessary. It discovers which tasks a person hasn't mastered, and the information processing demands of tasks that are easy or problematic. In behavior modification, it is a breakdown of a complex behavioral sequence into steps. This often serves as the basis for Chaining.

Task analysis: data collection

The analyst will often directly observe tasks performed by practitioners (as in ethnographic studies) and may audio-tape and videotape actual task performance. A more controlled study may be done in a laboratory, as in experimental psychology, where the practitioner may work with a simulation of the real task environment. An analysis of actual work procedures, manuals, etc. is also valuable.

Computational models of cognitive task performance

Task analysis versus Work Domain Analysis

If task analysis is likened to a set of instructions on how to navigate from point A to point B, then work domain analysis (WDA) is like having a map of the terrain that includes Point A and Point B. WDA is broader and focuses on the environmental constraints and opportunities for behavior, as in Gibsonian ecological psychology and ecological interface design.

Task analysis and documentation

Since the 1980s, a major change in technical documentation has been to emphasize the tasks performed with a system rather than documenting the system itself. (Hackos and Redish, 1998) In software documentation particularly, long printed technical manuals that exhaustively describe every function of the software are being replaced by online help organized into tasks. This is part of the new emphasis on usability and user-centered design rather than system/software/product design.

According to the historian of technical communication, R. John Brockmann, this task orientation in technical documentation began with publishing guidelines issued by IBM in the late 1980s. Later IBM studies led to John Carroll's theory of minimalism in the 1990s.

With the development of XML as a markup language suitable for both print and online documentation (replacing SGML with its focus on print), IBM developed the Darwin Information Typing Architecture XML standard in 2000. Now an OASIS standard, DITA has a strong emphasis on task analysis. Its three basic information types are Task, Concept, and Reference. Tasks are analyzed into steps, with a main goal of identifying steps that are reusable in multiple tasks.

ee also

* Business process mapping and business process modeling
* Cognitive ergonomics
* Job analysis
* Workflow
* Human reliability
*Programmed instruction
*Direct Instruction
*Applied Behavior Analysis

Further reading

*
*
*
*
*

External links

* [http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCINTYRE/TaskAnalysis.html Task analysis]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Task allocation and partitioning of social insects — Task allocation and partitioning refers to the way that tasks are chosen, assigned, subdivided, and coordinated (here, within a single colony of social insects). Closely associated are issues of communication that enable these actions to… …   Wikipedia

  • Task — may refer to: Task analysis Task (project management) Task (computing), in computing, a program execution context TASK party, a series of improvisational participatory art related events organized by artist Oliver Herring Task (language… …   Wikipedia

  • Task-based language learning — (TBLL), also known as Task based language teaching (TBLT) or Task based instruction (TBI) is a method of instruction in the field of language acquisition. It focuses on the use of authentic language, and to students doing meaningful tasks using… …   Wikipedia

  • Analysis — (from Greek ἀνάλυσις , a breaking up ) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle,… …   Wikipedia

  • Task Force Scorpio — was a biological and chemical response team that was activated during the first gulf war to respond to any potential use of weapons of mass destruction on civilians. The task force was composed of volunteer Swiss members of the Disaster Relief… …   Wikipedia

  • Анализ рабочих заданий (task analysis) — А. р. з. один из множества методов профессиографического анализа, обычно начинается с разраб. перечня заданий исчерпывающего списка всех заданий, выполняемых штатным сотрудником на рабочем месте. Большую часть опросника по перечню заданий… …   Психологическая энциклопедия

  • analysis — /euh nal euh sis/, n., pl. analyses / seez /. 1. the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis). 2. this process as a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its… …   Universalium

  • Analysis paralysis — The term analysis paralysis or paralysis of analysis refers to over analyzing (or over thinking) a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. A decision can be treated as over complicated, with too… …   Wikipedia

  • task-orientation versus time-orientation distinction — A distinction, widely employed in industrial sociology, to indicate contrasting orientations to work and forms of labour discipline. In the narrow sense, task oriented workers relate the measurement of time to naturally occurring phenomena and… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • Applied behavior analysis — (ABA) is the science of applying experimentally derived principles of behavior to improve socially significant behavior. ABA takes what we know about behavior and uses it to bring about positive change (Applied). Behaviors are defined in… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”