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Understanding Task Analysis in HCI

Task analysis involves analyzing jobs to understand what tasks people perform and what they need to know to complete those tasks. It breaks tasks down into a hierarchy of subtasks and the order they are performed in. For example, cleaning the house involves getting the vacuum cleaner, attaching the appropriate attachments, vacuuming each room, and emptying the dust bag when full. Hierarchical task analysis diagrams the hierarchy of subtasks. Knowledge-based analysis identifies the knowledge required to perform tasks.

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kaye Cruz
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73 views13 pages

Understanding Task Analysis in HCI

Task analysis involves analyzing jobs to understand what tasks people perform and what they need to know to complete those tasks. It breaks tasks down into a hierarchy of subtasks and the order they are performed in. For example, cleaning the house involves getting the vacuum cleaner, attaching the appropriate attachments, vacuuming each room, and emptying the dust bag when full. Hierarchical task analysis diagrams the hierarchy of subtasks. Knowledge-based analysis identifies the knowledge required to perform tasks.

Uploaded by

kaye Cruz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

TASK ANALYSIS

Human-Computer Interaction
What is Task Analysis?
 Methods to analyze people's jobs:
 what they do
 what things they use
 what they must know

 The listing of actions a user carries

out in performing a task.


 In HCI, task analysis is the recording

of physical and perceptual actions of


the user whilst executing the task.
Example
 in order to clean the house
 get the vacuum cleaner out
 fix the appropriate attachments
 clean the rooms
 when the dust bag gets full, empty it
 put the vacuum cleaner and tools away
 must know about:
 vacuum cleaners, their attachments, dust
bags,
cupboards, rooms etc.
General Method
 The general method for Task Analysis
is:
 observe
 collect unstructured lists of words and
actions
 organize using notation or diagrams
Differences from other
techniques
System
Vs. Task Analysis
Analysis
System Design focus The user

Cognitive
Vs. Task Analysis
Models
internal mental
Focus external actions
state
practiced `unit' task Focus whole job
Task Decomposition
 Aims:
 describe the actions people do
 structure them within task subtask hhierarchy
 describe order of subtasks
 Procedural task knowledge elicitation
techniques:
 Observation, re-enactment
 Ask about procedures and triggers (pre-
conditions)
 “What happens if X goes wrong?”
 Sorting steps into appropriate orders
Hierarchical Task Analysis
(HTA)
 Hierarchy description
0. clean the house
1. get the vacuum cleaner out
2. get the appropriate attachment
3. clean the rooms
3.1 clean the hall
3.2 clean the living rooms
3.3 clean the bedrooms
4. empty the dust bag
5. put vacuum cleaner and attachments away
Hierarchical Task Analysis
(HTA)
 Plans
 Plans Plan 0: do 1, 2, 3, 5 in order; when
dust bag full, do 4
 Plan 3: do 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 in any order, as
needed
Knowledge Based Analysis
 A knowledge base (KB or kb) is a
special kind
of database for knowledge
management. A knowledge base
provides a means for information to
be collected, organized, shared,
searched and utilized.
Types Of Knowledge Base
 Machine-readable knowledge
bases 
 store knowledge in a computer-

readable form, usually for the


purpose of having automated
deductive reasoning applied to
them. They contain a set of data,
often in the form of rules that
describe the knowledge in
a logically consistent manner.
Types Of Knowledge Base
 Human-readable knowledge
bases 
 are designed to allow people to

retrieve and use the knowledge


they contain. They are commonly
used to complement a help desk or
for sharing information among
employees within an organization.
Types Of Knowledge Base
 Human-readable knowledge
bases 
 They might store

troubleshooting information,
articles, white papers, user
manuals, knowledge tags, or
answers to frequently asked
questions. Typically, a search
engine is used to locate
information in the system, or users
Types Of Knowledge Base
 Knowledge base analysis and
design
 (also known as KBAD) is an

approach that allows people to


conduct analysis and design in a
way that result in a knowledge
base, which can later be used to
make informative decisions. This
approach was first implemented by
Dr. Steven H. Dam.

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