A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON USE OF THE CRITICAL DECISION METHOD WITH INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS

TL;DRAbstract

Intelligence analysts engage in information seeking, evaluation, prediction, and reporting behavior in an extremely information-intensive work environment. A Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) was conducted on intelligence analysts to capture data that will provide input to support development of a computational model of the analyst's processes and analytic strategies. A hybrid method was used to conduct the CTA, including a modified version of the critical decision method. Participants were asked to describe an example of a critical analysis assignment where they had to collect, analyze, and produce a report on intelligence of a strategic nature. Procedures used to conduct the CTA are described in this paper along with initial results. Several factors contribute to making the analyst's task challenging: (i) time pressure, (ii) a high cognitive workload, and (iii) difficult human judgments. Human judgments are involved in considering the plausibility of information, decidi

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