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 four 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 four approaches were compared and tested against the empirical results of the experiment. The measure of McCabe (1976) proved to be the most effectiv