Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to explore the possibilities of exploiting psychological methods for the purpose of knowledge engineering. Hypotheses are presented why both the pure “psychological” and the pure “engineering” positions are not viable for building expert systems. A “middle-out” strategy is proposed that preserves the best of both worlds while minimizing the problems of each. This “middle-out” strategy consists of the application of so-called “task-level frameworks”. However, these frameworks do not sufficiently support one of the most crucial tasks in the knowledge engineering process, namely the mapping of the actual expert behavior onto conceptual models. In this paper, a new method which makes this process easier and more reliable is described and a standardized several-step procedure for mapping expertise-in-action protocols onto a task-level framework is illustrated with a case study. It is concluded (a) that protocol analysis is a good starting point for developing tools to support the knowledge engineering process—if appropriate methods are available, and (b) that methods are only appropriate if they are ecological on the one hand and pragmatic on the other.
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Pfeifer, R., Rothenfluh, T., Stolze, M., Steiner, F. (1992). Mapping expert behavior onto task-level frameworks: The need for “Eco-pragmatic” approaches to knowledge engineering. In: Schmalhofer, F., Strube, G., Wetter, T. (eds) Contemporary Knowledge Engineering and Cognition. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 622. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0045681
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0045681
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