Fuzzy Reasoning & Quality of Knowledge Capture

• Sometimes, the information gathered from the experts via interviewing is not precise and it involves fuzziness and uncertainty.

• The fuzziness may increase the difficulty of translating the expert's notions into applicable rules.

• Analogies/Uncertainties:
  • In the course of explaining events, experts can use analogies (comparing a problem with a similar problem which has been encountered in possibly different settings, months or years ago).

  • An expert's knowledge or expertise represents the ability to gather uncertain information as input and to use a plausible line of reasoning to clarify the fuzzy details.

  • Belief, an aspect of uncertainty, tends to describe the level of credibility.

  • People may use different kinds of words in order to express belief.

  • These words are often paired with qualifiers such as highly, extremely.

• Understanding experience:
  • Knowledge developers can benefit from their understanding/knowledge of cognitive psychology.

  • When a question is asked, then an expert operates on certain stored information through deductive, inductive, or other kinds of problem-solving methods.

  • The resulting answer is often found to be the culmination of the processing of stored information.

  • The right question usually evokes the memory of experiences that produced good and appropriate solutions in the past.

    Sometimes, how quickly an expert responds to a question depends on the clarity of content, whether the content has been recently used , and how well the expert has understood the question.

• Problem with the language: How well the expert can represent internal processes can vary with their command of the language they are using and the knowledge developer's interviewing skills.

  
  

  The language may be unclear in the following number of ways:

  • Comparative words (e.g., better, faster) are sometimes left hanging.

  • Specific words or components may be left out of an explanation.

  • Absolute words and phrases may be used loosely.

  • Some words always seem to have a built-in ambiguity.