A Practitioner's Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis

Jul 30, 2026

Uploaded by Ophelia

Working Minds presents a practical, field-focused approach to Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), framed around three meanings of the title: studying cognition in real work contexts, examining the practitioner’s own work of understanding minds, and analyzing successful accomplishment. The book explains how to design and run CTA studies, drawing on collaborative research and “tough case” scenarios. It outlines methods for eliciting knowledge, representing cognition, and applying CTA findings to system development, training, evaluation, and future directions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages356

Reading Time14 h 57 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Introduction

Overview of Cognitive Task Analysis Methods

Tools for Exploring Cognition in Context

Preparation and Framing

Using Concept Maps for Knowledge Elicitation and Representation

Incident-Based CTA

CTA Methods and Experiment-Like Tasks

Analysis and Representation

Finding Cognition

Thinking About Cognition

Trends and Themes

Information Technology

Putting CTA Findings to Use

The Role of Cognitive Requirements in System Development

Cognitive Training

Market Research

Measurement and Evaluation

Future Directions for Cognitive Task Analysis

Appendix

Guidance for Data Collection

Notes

References

Index

Working Minds https://archive.org/details/workingmindsprac0000cran Working Minds Working Minds # A Practitioner's Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis Beth Crandall,Gary Klein,Robert R.Hoffman A Bradford BookThe MIT Press Cambridge,MassachusettsLondon,England C2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic ormechanical means (including photocopying,recording,or information storage and retrieval)without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotionaluse.For information,please email special_sales@mitpress.mit.edu or write to Special Sales Depart-ment,The MIT Press,55 Hayward Street,Cambridge,MA02142. This book was set in Stone Serif and Stone Sans on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters,Hong Kong and wasprinted and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crandall,Beth. Working minds:a practitioner's guide to cognitive task analysis /Beth Crandall,Gary Klein,Robert R.Hoffman. p.cm. "A Bradford book." Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 10:0-262-03351-8(alk.paper)—ISBN 10:0-262-53281-6(pbk.:alk.paper)ISBN 13:978-0-262-03351-0(alk.paper)—ISBN 13:978-0-262-53281-5(pbk:alk.paper) 1.Cognition.2.Task analysis.I.Klein,Gary A.II.Hoffman,Robert R.II.Title.BF311.C7322006152.4—dc22 2005058030 Contents Preface viiAcknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Overview of Cognitive Task Analysis Methods 9 I Tools for Exploring Cognition in Context 27 3 Preparation and Framing 29 4 Using Concept Maps for Knowledge Elicitation and Representation 41 5 Incident-Based CTA:Helping Practitioners"Tell Stories" 69 6 CTA Methods and Experiment-Like Tasks 91 7 Analysis and Representation 107 ll Finding Cognition 129 8 Thinking About Cognition 131 9 Trends and Themes in the Development of Cognitive Task Analysis:The Rise ofModern Cognitive Psychology 149 10 Information Technology 159 II Putting CTA Findings to Use 171 11 The Role of Cognitive Requirements in System Development 173 12 Cognitive Training 195 vi 13 Understanding How Consumers Make Decisions:Using Cognitive Task Analysisfor Market Research 215 14 Cognitive Task Analysis for Measurement and Evaluation 229 15 Future Directions for Cognitive Task Analysis 245 Appendix:Guidance for Data Collection 259Notes 283References 287Index 315 # Preface There are three senses to the title of this book,Working Minds.One is the notion thatCognitive Task Analysis is the study of cognition in real-world contexts and profes-sional practice at work.A second is the sense that practitioners of CTA are themselvesengaged in the work of studying the mind.The third is the sense of studying mindswhen they are engaged in successful accomplishment—when things"work."Taken to-gether,these three senses capture what this book is all about.Our reason for writingthis book is to describe how to do CTA studies.Our motivation stems from our sharedinterest in Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA)and our shared experience with CTA meth-ods.The chronology of our collaboration illustrates the way our interest in CTA grewover time. In 1978,when Robert Hoffman was only two years out with his Ph.D.and still fo-cused on the psycholingustics of figurative language,he received a request for reprintsof articles from Gary Klein,who was trying to find ways to apply figurative language,inthe form of analogical reasoning,to challenges such as reasoning with ill-defined goalsand generating predictions in the face of uncertainty.Subsequent events and corre-spondence led to a realization that both researchers were following similar intellectualpaths. In the early 1980s,Hoffman began to turn from laboratory studies of sentence com-prehension to applied studies,in particular the perceptual learning skills of thermogra-phers and aerial photo interpreters.Th

FAQs

What does the title “Working Minds” refer to in the book?

It refers to CTA studying cognition in real-world practice, practitioners engaging in the work of studying the mind, and analyzing minds during successful accomplishment when “things work.”

How does the book describe the motivation and purpose for CTA studies?

It aims to show how to conduct CTA studies, motivated by shared interest in CTA methods and experience applying them to real expert work.

What role do “tough cases” play in the development of CTA methods?

The preface connects “tough case” scenarios and incident-based inquiry to learning about expert reasoning by confronting practitioners with challenging situations and recent incidents.

What later applications of CTA findings does the table of contents indicate?

The book discusses using CTA for system development based on cognitive requirements, cognitive training, market research for consumer decisions, measurement and evaluation, and future directions for CTA.

Jul 30, 2026

Uploaded by Ophelia