Methodological issues in systems Human Factors and Ergonomics: Perspectives on the research-practice gap, reliability and validity, and prediction

The changing nature of work and society, and a proliferation of complex global challenges, is increasing the need for systems Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE). The discipline is well equipped to respond, but there remain a number of longstanding issues preventing systems HFE from realizing its full impact. There is a research-practice gap, a lack of reliability and validity evidence associated with systems HFE methods, and a shortage of methods that can predict behavior. In this article we revisit each issue, with each co-author providing their own perspective on the extent and causes of each issue, and their resolution. The perspectives reveal a consensus that the issues exist and are problematic but are challenging, multi-factorial, and require various solutions. The findings are subsequently synthesized to form an agenda for the wider discipline.

Automated summary

The changing nature of work and society has increased the demand for systems Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) due to complex global challenges. However, there are longstanding issues preventing systems HFE from realizing its full impact, including a research-practice gap, lack of reliability and validity evidence, and shortage of behavior prediction methods. The perspectives of multiple co-authors in this article reveal a consensus on the existence and challenges of these issues, emphasizing the need for various solutions. The findings are synthesized to form an agenda for the discipline.