Factors Influencing the Cooperative Problem-Solving of People and Computers

Abstract

It was the goal of this research to study the influence of different computer system designs on cooperative problem-solving performance. In particular, given that a computer has some knowledge about a domain, how should such knowledge be shared with the practitioner such that overall performance is improved? It was hypothesized that multiple factors contribute to performance changes, and that such factors may interact. In order to test these ideas, a formal, empirical study was conducted comparing the effectiveness of a critiquing system vs. a partially automated system when performing a medical diagnosis task. Thirty-two certified practitioners used one of the two systems to solve five test cases. The results showed that the design of the system interacted with the case characteristics and the competence level of the practitioners such that overall performance was slightly better with the partially automated system on cases where the computer's knowledge was competent (5.6% vs. 11.9% misdiagnosis rate) but on a case where the computer's knowledge was incompetent, the partially automated system induced more errors (76% vs. 43% misdiagnosis rate, p < .05). Details of the interactions causing this tradeoff in performance are discussed so that future designers may take what was learned from this study and apply it to their work.