ELICITING KNOWLEDGE FROM EXPERTS - A METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The psychological study of expertise has a rich background and has rec ently gained impetus in part because of the advent of expert systems a nd related technologies for preserving knowledge. In the study of expe rtise, whether in the context of applications or the context of psycho logical research, knowledge elicitation is a crucial step. Research in a number of traditions-judgment and decision making, human factors, c ognitive science, expert systems-has utilized a variety of knowledge e licitation methods. Given the diversity of disciplines, topics, paradi gms, and goals, it is difficult to make the literature cohere around a methodological theme, For discussion purposes, we place knowledge eli citation techniques into three categories: (1) analysis of the tasks t hat experts usually perform, (2) various types of interviews, and (3) contrived tasks which reveal an expert's reasoning processes without n ecessarily asking about these processes. We illustrate types and subty pes of techniques, culminating in a discussion of research that has em pirically evaluated and compared techniques. The article includes some recommendations about ''how to do'' knowledge elicitation, some cauti onary tales, and a discussion of the prospects. (C) 1995 Academic Pres s, Inc.