ADVANCING THE THEORY OF DSS DESIGN FOR USER CALIBRATION - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 56

software that uses graphical images to improve user understanding by providing visual representa-
tions of the actual problem and operations.
Development of inquirability capabilities based on the dialectic method is not new (Nelson,
1973). However, very little research has been conducted on the effects of the different dialog
actions of inquirability. Because of this, inquirability is the least developed of the three compo-
nents of the theory.
In terms of a human metaphor, perhaps Helen Keller provides the best-known analogy for
expressiveness, visibility, and inquirability capabilities. Left deaf and blind by an illness as a child,
Keller's inquirability capabilities were intense and challenging, but she lacked the symbols to
express herself (expressiveness) and “see” (visibility) the world until she was taught sign language.
The computer industry itself has proposed a number of futuristic systems that depict various
combination and forms of expressiveness, visibility, and inquirability capabilities. One of the best
known is The Knowledge Navigator: Technologies to Get Us There and Beyond , produced by
Apple Computer in 1990. Another film that depicts several futuristic forms of the theory's com-
ponents is Multimedia Technology , produced by Southwestern Bell Telephone in 1991. Both of
these films depict very advanced levels of expressiveness, visibility, and inquirability by portray-
ing ultraintelligent systems capable of asking challenging questions, anticipating and suggesting
alternatives, and recognizing and synthesizing spoken language with multimedia visual display
capabilities.
PARTIAL TEST OF THE THEORY OF DSS DESIGN FOR USER CALIBRATION
A design theory should be testable for it to be useful (Walls et al., 1992). Design theories predict
that an artifact will achieve its goal to the extent that it possesses the properties prescribed by the
theory (Walls et al., 1992). In the following we present a partial test of the theory of DSS design
for user calibration.
Research Hypothesis
If users are to achieve perfect calibration, expressiveness and visibility must accurately convey
the functioning and functionality of the DSS in relation to problem novelty, and expressiveness,
visibility, and inquirability must accurately reflect and respond to problem novelty. For example,
if the DSS are capable of sophisticated, dialectic reasoning, but problem novelty is low, user cal-
ibration is primarily dependent upon expressiveness accurately conveying the functioning and
functionality of the DSS in relation to problem novelty, not in relation to the sophistication of the
DSS. Conversely, if problem novelty is high but the DSS have limited inquirability, expressive-
ness and visibility may help the user recognize the limitations of the DSS, but they cannot com-
pensate for the needed inquirability. In this way, expressiveness, visibility, and inquirability work
together as a system in response to problem novelty, and are equally important for user calibra-
tion, either because they accurately convey the applicability or inapplicability of the DSS, or
because they accurately reflect and respond to problem novelty.
Problem novelty, according to this design theory, determines the functional usefulness of
expressiveness, visibility, and inquirability, for decision-making user calibration. Depicted in
Figure 5.3, the theory of DSS design for user calibration posits that when problems are somewhat
novel and unfamiliar (the midpoint along the x-axis), visibility is a more significant contributor to
perfect calibration and expressiveness and inquirability play important but lesser, supporting
roles. As problems become more familiar and problem novelty decreases, the theory posits that