IngentaConnect The Reduction of Uncertainty And Troubleshooting Performance

Authors: Teague, Ross C.; Allen, John A.

Source: Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Volume 39, Number 2, June 1997 , pp. 254-267(14)

Publisher: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Abstract:

Two problem-solving experiments were conducted to determine the effects of prior knowledge of problem intermittency on human troubleshooting performance. Intermittency was defined as the rate at which a network component or output, when tested, gave an incorrect report of its status (i. e., reported that it was working when it actually was not). Participants task was to find faulty components in a set of 18 computer-based problems that caused a network to malfunction. In the first experiment, half the participants were told whether a problem was intermittent or not before they began troubleshooting procedures. In the second experiment, half the participants were given specific rates of intermittency for the problems. It was found that providing participants with only general "intermittent" or "nonintermittent" prior information did not affect troubleshooting performance. Participants given specific problem intermittency rates did, however, perform better on the troubleshooting problems than did participants who were not given this information.

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