How to Measure Cognitive Complexity in Human-Computer Interaction

A framework to conceptualize measure of behaviour complexity (BC), system complexity (SC) and task complexity (TC) was developed. From this framework cognitive complexity (CC) is derived as CC = SC + TC- BC. In an empirical study to investigate different measures of cognitive complexity 6 beginners and 6 experts solved 4 different tasks with an interactive database management system. To analyze the empirical data recorded during the interactive sessions a special program was developed. The program's purpose and the program architecture are described. Four different approaches from the literature to measure complexity in a quantitative way were considered and discussed. Application of these 4 approaches were compared and tested against the empirical results of the experiment. The measure of McCabe (1976) proved to be the most effective.