Task Taxonomy: Two Ignored Issues

Abstract

This paper focuses on two major issues concerning task taxonomies which to date have been ignored. The first issue involves the development of a set of criteria for the evaluation of existing and future task taxonomies. A set of criteria is proposed and several major existing taxonomies are evaluated. The second issue concerns the relation of empirical data, provided by field and laboratory research, to the development of the task taxonomy. Three approaches are cited which seem to encompass the relation between the taxonomy and the empirical data used in the development of task taxonomies. It is suggested that one of these approaches appears to be better suited for the development of a taxonomy to predict operator performance in any system.