Measurement and Evaluation

Abstract

Publisher SummaryThis chapter discusses the measurement and evaluation. A variety of measurement settings exist: the laboratory for basic and applied research; the engineering facility, simulator, and field test site for developmental testing; for operational testing, the actual use environment. Measurement is more difficult where system goals are very broad, general, or abstract. Although the same measurement techniques can be applied to all classes of systems, these techniques must be tailored to the peculiarities and constraints of the individual system. Above all, if the computer system of the future will be a problem solver and decision maker, one must increase the efforts in decision making research. Much has been made about the need for a match between the “processes of the computer and those of the human who will use it. The computer must be developed to map into the peculiarities of human cognitive activity. It is entirely possible that what scientists consider irrationality in man does not represent degradation, a weakness, but has in some unknown way utility for him. A perfectly rational computer may be inferior to the human's irrationality.