SD 142 Solution

SD 142 Solution

Mental Workload

The University of Waterloo has become concerned that the way they currently schedule final exams creates too much mental workload for students. They have hired you to determine whether or not this is true. Explain three general types of measures you could make of mental workload. Give an example of each, one advantage and one disadvantage of that type of measure. Which would you choose and why?

(12 marks)

1. Type of Measure	Physiological Measure
Example	heart rate, pupil diameter, blood pressure, brain waves
Advantage	quantitative data
Disadvantage	obtrusive to measure

2. Type of Measure	Secondary Task
Example	adding math questions (they will have to make something up)
Advantage	measures spare capacity, can be relevant
Disadvantage	secondary task is not usually relevant, can change primary task

3. Type of Measure	Subjective Measure
Example	NASA-TLX, SWAT, or questionnaire
Advantage	easy to administer, some are quantitative
Disadvantage	results are subjective, don’t reflect task performance

(1 mark) I would choose to use ______________________________________________________

The best choice would be a subjective measure like the NASA-TLX. Swat is also acceptable. A questionnaire that you write yourself is not acceptable because there are already standardized methods out there that have been tested. A physiological or secondary task measure is also not acceptable, even if you justify it. A secondary task would interfere far too much in an exam situation (think about it - would you agree to write Calculus while being asked to count backwards from 1000??). A physiological measure is not acceptable because the amount of data to analyse afterwards would be immense. Think sampling rate by 30, 000 students x 5 exams by 3 hours/exam.

(7 marks) Why? Explain your choice with specific reference to the case of university exams. In your explanation explain why you would not take the other two approaches.

___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

You should state 3 reasons particular to this case (university exams) to support your choice and 2 reasons for each method you have rejected. This is the best way to argue this kind of question - support your case and clearly argue why the alternatives would not be acceptable. The question has already indicated that you should adopt this type of argument style. The 7 marks for the question is another indication. The following is an example solution that would get full marks on this question.

Because it is standardized it generates quantitative data and can be easily compared across test results (1). It will reflect the workload that the students feel(1). Also, in an exam situation, it would be important to choose a measure that would not interfere with exam performance (1).. NASA-TLX could be administered after the exam. Because of the number of students involved, you need a measure that is easy to administer and comparable across disciplines and easy to assess the data.

Physiological measures would be too obtrusive (1) in an exam situation. Although quantitative, the amount of data would be overwhelming in this situation (1). They can also say that the data would not be directly relevant (1). Because of the variety of topics, it would be impossible to select a secondary task that would be equally difficult across all disciplines (1). So secondary task performance would not be a reliable measure. Also, performance of the secondary task could interfere with the primary task, jeopardizing exam results (1). which would certainly be unacceptable to the students participating in the study.