Empirical Study of the Relationship between Situation Awareness and Decision Making

摘要

It is assumed that good situation awareness (SA) leads to good decision making, which is then expected to result in a good outcome. Despite increasing reliance on this assumption by the land force, little research has been undertaken to validate it. This study attempts to address this deficiency. SA was assessed using the Direct Questioning Technique (DQT), which elicits SA through direct questioning during play. This is an adaptation of the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique. Responses to SA questions were compared against the ground truth of the scripted scenario. A relationship was found between SA and decision making, such that participants with a high degree of SA made high-quality decisions. SA also was related to planning. However, other factors also contributed significantly to decision quality and performance.