ERROR HANDLING IN OFFICE WORK WITH COMPUTERS - A FIELD-STUDY

An observational field study gives an account of error types, error ha ndling time and use of support in case of an error situation when work ing with computers in the office. Subjects were 198 clerical employees from 11 companies and seven small firms in Germany. The analyses are based on 1155 observed errors which were concordantly classified into an error taxonomy by two independent re-raters. Clerical employees spe nt approximately 10 per cent of their computer working time handling e rrors. Error handling time is also positively related to indicators of emotional strain. Although the tasks performed were largely routine, more than 11 per cent of all errors required the use of supports such as advisory services, co-workers, on-line help and menus or user manua ls. Different error classes showed variations in the amount of support used and in error handling time. On the basis of the results, we disc uss how the error taxonomy and measures of the human error handling pr ocess can be of practical use for evaluation in software ergonomics an d for improving human error handling while interacting with computers.