A Comparative Analysis of Methods for Tactical Data Inputting.

摘要

Nearly all information in tactical operations systems is input manually. Two problems that arise when manually inputting data are (a) the introduction of errors in translating information into computer format and (b) the introduction of a bottleneck in total system response time. Therefore, alternative methods of inputting data for accuracy and speed should be evaluated. Four methods were examined for speed and accuracy in inputting tactical messages concerning enemy activity into an Army computer format. The methods were (a) typing--the user types the appropriate codes into a message format; (b) typing with an error corrector--the computer automatically attempts to correct common spelling and/or typing errors; (c) menus--the user indicates which of the legal entries is desired from a list; and (d) typing with autocompletion and an English option--the user must type only sufficient characters to uniquely identify the item, using either the appropriate code or its English definition. The use of menus was the most accurate inputting method. For users of limited experience (1 day of inputting), there were no differences in speed among the inputting methods.