Abstract
This study was designed to evaluate the symbiosis of human-machine systems with varying levels of automation. This paper focuses on the protocol methodology employed in the study. The approach required the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques to derive a comprehensive evaluation of the human-machine system. Protocol Analysis supported by ethnographic software was used to evaluate the verbal transcripts. A qualitative process of code mapping and analysis was developed. The Modified Cooper-Harper scale was used to evaluate mental workload and objective measures of performance provided quantitative data of the system. The results confirmed the usefulness of a proposed classification scheme for human-machine systems. Using the methodology, human capabilities could be assessed against system demands for various configurations of a human-machine system. The importance of understanding the human's role in increasingly automated systems was again demonstrated.
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