Protocol Analysis, revised edition Verbal Reports as Data

by Ericsson, K. Anders; Simon, Herbert A.

• ISBN13: 9780262550239
• ISBN10: 0262550237
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-04-13
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

Since the publication of Ericsson and Simon's ground-breaking work in the early 1980s, verbal data has been used increasingly to study cognitive processes in many areas of psychology, and concurrent and retrospective verbal reports are now generally accepted as important sources of data on subjects' cognitive processes in specific tasks. In this revised edition of the book that first put protocol analysis on firm theoretical ground, the authors review major advances in verbal reports over the past decade, including new evidence on how giving verbal reports affects subjects' cognitive processes, and on the validity and completeness of such reports. In a substantial new preface Ericsson and Simon summarize the central issues covered in the book and provide an updated version of their information-processing model, which explains verbalization and verbal reports. They describe new studies on the effects of verbalization, interpreting the results of these studies and showing how their theory can be extended to account for them. Next, they address the issue of completeness of verbally reported information, reviewing the new evidence in three particularly active task domains. They conclude by citing recent contributions to the techniques for encoding protocols, raising general issues, and proposing directions for future research. All references and indexes have been updated. K. Anders Ericsson holds the Dr. Edward Conradi Eminent Scholar Chair of Psychology at Florida State University. Herbert Simon is Professor of Psychology at Carnegie-Mellon University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 1978.

Author Biography

K. Anders Ericsson holds the Dr. Edward Conradi Eminent Scholar Chair of Psychology at Florida State University.

Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) was an influential psychologist and political scientist, awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics and the 1975 Turing Award (with Allen Newell). His many published books include Models of Bounded Rationality and Models of My Life (both published by the MIT Press)..

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface To The Revised Edition

Introduction And Summary

Using Verbal Reports: Some Issues

Doubts About Verbal Data

Extracting Data from Behavior

Soft versus Hard Data

Theoretical Presupposition in Encoding

Inferring Thought Processes From Behavior

Some Basic Assumptions

Plan of Attack

The Processing Model

General Specification

Detailed Specification

Types Of Verbalizing Procedures

Recoding Before Verbalization

Retrospective Reports

Inferential or Generative Processes

Directed or Specialized Probing

Particular and General Reports

Two Challenges To Verbal Reports

Apparent Inadequacies of Concurrent Verbalization

Apparent Inadequacies of Retrospective Reports

Concluding Remarks

Verbal Reports Of Cognitive States And Structures

Reporting of Sensory Stimuli

Reports of Information in STM

Reports of Information in LTM

Verbal Reports In Assessment Studies

Data

Effectiveness of Assessment

Processes Evoked by Assessment

Memories versus Inferences

History Of Verbal Reports And Introspection

Introspection

Watson's Attack on Introspection

Later Views

Summary And Prospect

Effects Of Verbalization

Verbalization And Thinking

Interference From Auditory Stimulation

Irrelevant Covert and Overt Articulations

Time Requirements for Vocalization

Experimental Studies Of Verbalizing Without Recoding

Simple Tasks With Oral Codes

Vocalization at Presentation

Verbalizing Rehearsal Processes

Verbalizing With Multiple Stimulus Displays

Verbalizing Associated With Mental Arithmetic

Some Conclusions

Thinking-Aloud Processes

Levels of Verbalization

Alternative Thinking-Aloud Instructions

Effects of Training and Reminders

Review Of Empirical Studies

Studies of Level 2 Verbalization

Differential Effects of Thinking Aloud

Studies Not Conforming With Level 2 Conditions

Verbalization of Perceptual-Motor Processes

Verbalization of Visual Encodings

Other Verbalization Studies

Effects from Retrospective Verbalization

New Research on Effects of Verbalization

Summary

Completeness Of Reports

Three Viewpoints

The Behaviorist View

Rationalism

The Information Processing View

Extensions of the IP Model

Recognition Processes

Evidence for One-Stage Recognition

"Spontaneous" Recall

Recognition and Inference

Assessment of Recognition Processes

Automation of Responses

Perceptual-Motor Processes

Information About Cognitive States

Tip-of-the-Tongue

Retrieval Without Direct Recognition

Judgments of Confidence

What Is Reported?

Learning Without Awareness

Concurrent Verbal Reports of Learning

Assessing Awareness from Post-Experimental Questioning

Sorting Without Awareness of Concept

Lack of Access to Relevant Knowledge

Retrospective Reports Of Earlier Cognitive Processes

Model of Retrospective Reporting

Reports of General Cognitive Processes During Experiments

Other Processes Without Awareness

Insight And Access To Solution Ideas

Insight as Recognition

Regeneration-Hypotheses

Conclusion

Interferences From Verbal Data

Requirements For Using Verbal Data

Perceptually Available Information

Information Generated and Retrieved

Memory As Evidence For Heeding

Alternative Models and Processes

Inferences From Verbal Reports

Identification of LTM Structures

LTM Traces as a Function of STM Patterns

Predictions of Latencies

Problem Behavior Graphs

Generalizations About Cognitive Processes

Model-Based Coding

Encoding Strategies

Direct Assessment Of General Processes

Coding Systems

Applications of the Encodings

Summary

Verbal Reports And Theories

Conclusion

Model Of Verbalization

General Model And Assumptions

Characterizing Cognitive Structures ("Thoughts")

Relation to Research on Language

Concurrent Verbalization

Talk-Aloud Procedures

Think-Aloud Procedures

Verbalizing Cognitive Process

Differences Between Verbal Reports and Descriptions

Incomplete Verbalization Of Information In STM

Implications of Real-Time Assumption.

Techniques for Increasing Verbalization

Implications For Protocol Analysis

Methods For Protocol Analysis

Early Protocol Analysis

Introduction To Techniques Of Protocol Analysis

Basic Assumptions

Encoding Vocabulary

Segmenting and Encoding Processes

Automation of Encoding

Level of Analysis

Methodological Issues

Translating Behavior Into Data

Context-Free Encoding

Other Issues

Selection of Information for Coding

"Contamination" of Data by Theory

Reliability And Validity Of Encoding

Encoding Process and Encoders

Mini Protocol Analysis System (MPAS)

Encoding Reliability

Automatic and Semi-Automatic Protocol Analysis

Effective Protocol Analysis Procedures

Matching Coding Categories to Verbalizations

Verbalization of General Knowledge and Rules

Conclusion

Techniques Of Protocol Analysis Examples

Informal Protocol Analysis

Example: Protocol from a Series Task

Major Processes

Protocol Interpretation

Using A Theory For Protocol Prediction

Characteristics Of Generated Information: Representations

The Eight Puzzle

Isomorphic Problems

Sequences Of Heeded Information

Mental Addition of Digit Sequences

Strategies for the Tower of Hanoi

Mental Multiplication

Processes With Alternative Realizations

Addition of Digits

Reliability Of Verbal Reports

Protocols for Anagrams

Series Problems

Concept Formation

A Memory Task

Summary

Concluding Remarks And Future Directions

Appendix

Talk-Aloud

Instruction:

Think-Aloud With Retrospective Reports

Bibliography

Author Index

Subject Index

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