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Testing & Evaluation
Situational Awareness AnalysisSituation awareness (SA) refers to a person’s perception and understanding of their dynamic environment, and it is critical in making correct decisions and achieving performance levels (Wright, Taekman & Endsley, 2004). There are a number of measurements tools for situation awareness from verbal reports or observation methodologies to the performance assessment of the situation methodologies. Previous literatures examined analysis and interpretation of SA for both individual and team performance in various setting including medical environment and air crew performances.
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What is Situational Awareness Analyses?
Situation Awareness is an active mental representation of the status of current cognitive functions activated in the context of achieving a goal regarding a task (Breton & Rousseau, 2001). Situation Awareness in team can be defined as a person’s perception of elements in the environment, comprehension of that information, and the ability to project future events based on this understanding (Wright, Taekman & Endsley, 2004). This definition demonstrates the concept of SA in three levels including (1) Perception of the environment,(2) Comprehension of the meaning of information and (3) Projection of events or actions in the future based on perception and comprehension. See Figure 1 for the conceptual model of situation awareness.
Level 1 - Perception
- How elements of environment are retrieved and classified.
- Primes schemas in LTM.
- Attentional deployment filters relevant from irrelevant elements.
Level 2 - Comprehension
- Synthesizes disjointed elements from level 1
- SA refers to present state of mental model of the situation.
Level 3 - Projection of future states
- Generates probable future situation states from present situation states.
Level 1 - Perception
- How elements of environment are retrieved and classified.
- Primes schemas in LTM.
- Attentional deployment filters relevant from irrelevant elements.
Level 2 - Comprehension
- Synthesizes disjointed elements from level 1
- SA refers to present state of mental model of the situation.
Level 3 - Projection of future states
- Generates probable future situation states from present situation states.
Why Use Situational Awareness Analyses?
Situation awareness errors are one of the main causal factors of accidents and performance errors when human operators interact with systems. Maintaining appropriate SA would allow human operators to minimize errors, make correct decisions and improve their performances. Also, previous research suggested that SA may be critically related to expertise (Breton & Rousseau, 2001).
When Use Situational Awareness Analyses?
Situation awareness analysis is commonly used in the later design step of evaluation or in a monitoring/re-evaluation stage of a currently launched system or environment. For example, situation analysis is often used to detect SA loss related to incidents of flight incidents or medical accidents. Situation awareness analysis can be also utilized for training or procedure development.
Situation awareness in teams is often analyzed. SA is more complex for team performance because there are more factors involved including intra-team communication and team member role assignment (Jentsch, Barnett, Bowers & Salas, 1999). Examples of team SA analysis are for flight crews (pilot and first officers), military, maritime operations, power/chemical plants, air traffic control centers.
Situation awareness in teams is often analyzed. SA is more complex for team performance because there are more factors involved including intra-team communication and team member role assignment (Jentsch, Barnett, Bowers & Salas, 1999). Examples of team SA analysis are for flight crews (pilot and first officers), military, maritime operations, power/chemical plants, air traffic control centers.
How to do a Situational Awareness Analysis?
There are numerous methods for SA assessments. Personal, situational and content variables of measures should be considered to select appropriate SA measures. Personal factors include number of people (simpler person SA or Team SA) and expertise levels of persons involved, and situational variables include presence of technological interface and acceptable levels of realism/control and intrusiveness (Breton & Rousseau, 2001). In addition, the capacity of verbalization of the SA content and inference from the observation can be used as criteria.
SA can be assessed and analyzed with measures based on observation of on-going activities such as process indices and performance measures (e.g., WOMBAT and SABARS), direct measurements such as think aloud technique, real-time probes or freezing techniques (e.g., SAGAT), retrospective measurement techniques (e.g., SARS) and team SA measurements (e.g., CARS). Table 1 presents the directory of major instruments to measure SA, and Figure 2 demonstrates an example analysis of the SA measurement tools according to the objectives and the criteria from Breton & Rousseau (2001).
Table 1. Directory of available instruments to measure SA (from Breton & Rousseau, 2001)
SA can be assessed and analyzed with measures based on observation of on-going activities such as process indices and performance measures (e.g., WOMBAT and SABARS), direct measurements such as think aloud technique, real-time probes or freezing techniques (e.g., SAGAT), retrospective measurement techniques (e.g., SARS) and team SA measurements (e.g., CARS). Table 1 presents the directory of major instruments to measure SA, and Figure 2 demonstrates an example analysis of the SA measurement tools according to the objectives and the criteria from Breton & Rousseau (2001).
Table 1. Directory of available instruments to measure SA (from Breton & Rousseau, 2001)
Figure2. Analysis of the SA measurement tools according to the objectives and the criteria. (from Breton & Rousseau, 2001)
References & Resources:
- Breton, R., & Rousseau, R.(2001). Situation awareness: A review of the concept and its measurement. DREV TR-2001-220 Defence Research Establishment Valcatier.
- Jentsch, F., Barnett, J., Bowers, C. A., & Salas, E. (1999). Who is flying this plane anyway? What mishaps tell us about crew member role assignment and air crew situation awareness. Human Factors, 41, 1-14.
- Wright, M. C., Taekman, J. M., & Endsley, M. R. (2004). Objective measures of situation awareness in a simulated medical environment. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13, i65 - i71.
- Endsley, M. R. (1995). Direct measurement of situation awareness in simulations of dynamic systems: Validity and use of SAGAT. Paper presented at the International Conference on Experimental Analysis and Measurement of Situation Awareness, Daytona Beach, FL.
