A formative approach to developing synthetic environment fidelity requirements for decision-making training

This paper describes a new approach for developing design specifications for synthetic environments that support decisions making training. The approach starts by modelling the constraints governing decision-making activity in the real world. A focus is placed on what could happen in the decision-making process, rather than what does or what should. Importantly, the developed model is independent of specific actors and events, providing a robust description of the domain that remains applicable in almost all perceivable situations. By modelling the relationship between information elements, and the way decision-makers develop an understanding of their environment, the approach identifies the information that may be pertinent to the decision-maker. It is contended that the approach has utility in the design of first-of-a-kind synthetic environments, as well as the evaluation of existing simulators for the specific role of decision-making training. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society.