Psychometric Properties of Subjective Workload Measurement Techniques: Implications for Their Use in the Assessment of Perceived Mental Workload

Abstract

This paper examines fundamental measurement issues that have largely been ignored in scaling techniques for assessing perceived mental workload. It is argued that both theoretical and practical advances in workload assessment have been unnecessarily slowed by a lack of concern for measurement issues. Typical of this impedance are some recently reported “empirical results“ comparing various workload assessment techniques which actually follow directly from some misunderstood statistical properties of the scales. The commonly used subjective workload assessment procedures have distinct psychometric properties that make each procedure sensitive to different kinds of workload measurement. Examination of the properties for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA TLX) support its potential as a general prediction model for experienced workload and for the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT) as a cognitive model sensitive to individual differences.