Browsing by Author "Kotnour, Timothy G."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Design, development, and testing of an automated knowledge-acquisition tool to aid problem solving, decision making, and planningKotnour, Timothy G. (Virginia Tech, 1992-09-14)This research studies the process of acquiring knowledge from experts; that is, studies knowledge-acquisition methods to acquire expert knowledge. Forty subjects used a machine-aided knowledge-acquisition tool to model a word processing task. By using the tool, the subjects developed models that were on average 72.8% accurate with a baseline model of the task and 88.5 % consistent among themselves. This research makes four contributions: 1) a complete review of thirty-one knowledge-acquisition methods from manual to machine learning, 2) an evaluation methodology and metrics to evaluate knowledge-acquisition methods, 3) an evaluation of an automated knowledge-acquisition tool called Cognitive Analysis Tool (CAT) developed for this research, and 4) suggested improvements to the current version of the tool. This research describes, develops a taxonomy of, and evaluates thirty-one knowledge-acquisition methods to determine which method matches a defined set of criteria A method is chosen, extended, and automated in the form of a machine-aided knowledge-acquisition tool. The method is chosen based on five criteria including a connection between the chosen, method and the information processing model of problem solving as defined by Newell and Simon (1972). This research evaluates the performance of the tool in terms of the accuracy and consistency of the knowledge bases generated by using the tool. A baseline is derived from this study to which other knowledge-acquisition tools' performance can be compared. The evaluation methodology and metrics developed in this research can be used to evaluate other knowledge-acquisition tools. From this research, four groups of changes to the automated knowledge-acquisition tool are suggested to improve the usability and performance of the tool. The changes are suggested for the user interface and the modes of operation of the tool.
- The effect of lessons-learned sharing processes for organizational learning on decision-making performanceKotnour, Timothy G. (Virginia Tech, 1995-07-05)The aim of this research was to operationalize and validate a lessons-learned sharing process for supporting organizational learning. I validated the process by measuring and evaluating the effects of the process on decision-making (i.e., management) performance. The research results provide tangible evidence about the effects of a lessons-learned sharing process to support organizational learning. A lessons-learned sharing process does improve decision-making performance as measured by decision quality. A three phase research process was used. The first phase consisted of a task analysis at an industrial site. The results of the task analysis served as the basis for an experiment. The second phase was a laboratory experiment. Sixty students participated in the experiment. The experiment involved twenty groups of three subjects. One subject completed a task and constructed a lesson learned based on feedback from his or her decisions. The next two subjects used different parts of the lesson learned to solve the same problem. The factors studied in the experiment were the content (no lesson learned, a lesson learned containing only recommendations, and a lesson learned containing the original set of decisions, results, and recommendations) and structure (informal or formal). Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The quantitative results of the experiment show: 1) having a lesson learned was better than not having a lesson learned; 2) a formal or structured lesson learned had a greater effect on decision quality than an informal or unstructured lesson learned; and 3) the formal or structured lesson learned produced an higher-quality lesson learned. The qualitative results show: 1) subjects want explanations for the recommendations in the lesson learned; 2) the accuracy and consistency of a lesson-learned content needs to be ensured because people may use the lesson learned as an answer without further work; and 3) prompts for eliciting the information in a lesson learned need to be developed. Subjects used the lesson learned in six different ways when solving the problem. The problem consisted of making a set of decisions for a manufacturing shift. The third phase of the research involved a follow-up at the original industrial site. The purpose of this second field study was to gain an insight into how the experimental findings related to a field setting. Implications are discussed for the theory of organizational learning and users of lessons-learned sharing processes in organizations.