Cognitive work analysis

Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a framework that was developed to model a complex sociotechnical system.

Modeling of system constraints
The framework models different types of constraints, building a model of how work could proceed within a given work system. The focus on constraints separates the technique from other approaches to analysis that aim to describe how work is actually conducted, or prescribe how it should be conducted.

The CWA approach can be used to describe the constraints imposed by the purpose of a system, its functional properties, the nature of the activities that are conducted, the roles of the different human actors, and their cognition skills and strategy.

Application
Rather than offer a prescribed methodology, the CWA framework instead acts as a toolkit that can be used either individually or in combination with one another, depending upon the analysis needs. These tools are divided between phases. The exact names and scopes of these phases differ slightly dependent on the scope of the analysis. However, the overall scope remains largely the same. As defined by Vicente (1999), the CWA framework comprises five different phases: work domain analysis, control task (or activity) analysis, strategies analysis, social organisation and co-operation analysis, and the Industrial & Organizational Assessment.

Various models can be created based on the different phases of the CWA. A common way to structure the work domain analysis is to create an abstraction hierarchy, which includes identifying the systems purpose, values, functions, and physical objects. The control task analysis can be analyzed from different perspectives. From one perspective, a decision tree can be created based on the various steps an operator in the analyzed systems has to make in their work. From a second perspective, a contextual activity template can be created to analyze which activity is done by an operator at which times. Here, the activities are derived from the abstraction hierarchy from the work domain analysis. In the social organization and co-operation analysis, various identified roles within the system can be mapped on the contextual activity template to see which roles does what activity at which point.

The different tools within the CWA framework have been used for a plethora of different purposes, including system modelling,   system design, process design, training needs analysis, training design and evaluation, interface design and evaluation, information requirements specification, tender evaluation, team design, and error management training design. Despite its origin within the nuclear power domain, the CWA applications referred to above have taken place in a wide range of different domains, including naval, military, aviation, driving, and health care domains.

Research and design aims
It is especially difficult to prescribe a strict procedure for the CWA framework. In its true form, the framework is used to provide a description of the constraints within a domain. This description can then be used to address specific research and design aims.