[comp.ai.edu] A Questionnaire on Explanation Capabilities

giboin@andy.inria.fr (Alain Giboin) (06/12/91)

If you are interested, could you please complete the following questionnaire,
and return it to us? Thank you.



      -------------------------------------------------------
     |			A Questionnaire                      |
     |	about the Explanation Capabilities of Expert Systems |
     |        and of Industrial Expert System Shells         |
      -------------------------------------------------------



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* QUESTIONNAIRE ADDRESSEES

  => Expert system shells DESIGNERS

  => Expert system USERS



* QUESTIONNAIRE GOALS

  => To better characterize the explanation capabilities of experts
     systems and of industrial expert system shells

  => To identify the explanation needs of users and the effective
     use of explanations provided by expert systems

  => To determine if ideas proposed by researchers in the field of
     explanations are effectively integrated in current expert systems.
     And if not, why



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* FEATURES OF YOUR EXPERT SYSTEM SHELL


  <> Is your system devoted to a specific kind of task?

     -> Analysis tasks?
	
	- Classification	 []
	- Diagnosis		 []
	- Monitoring		 []
	- Prediction		 []
	- Others		 []
	       Specify:





     -> Synthesis tasks?

	- Design  		 []
	- Planning		 []
	- Modeling		 []
	- Others		 []
	       Specify:




     -> Modification tasks?
	- Repair     		 []
	- Control		 []
	- Others		 []
	       Specify:




  <> What kinds of explanations do system users need to perform the tasks above?

     -> Explanations for analysis tasks?
	
	- For classification:



	- For diagnosis:



	- For monitoring:



	- For prediction:



	- For other analysis tasks:





     -> Explanations for synthesis tasks?
	
	- For design:



	- For planning:



	- For modeling:



	- For other synthesis tasks:





     -> Explanations for synthesis tasks?
	
	- For repair:



	- For control:



	- For other modification tasks:





  <> What is the formalism used to represent knowledge?

     -> Rules
	
	- Propositional	rules	 []
	- First order rules	 []
	- Fuzzy rules		 []
	- Metarules		 []
	- Others		 []
	       Specify:





     ->	Frames 			 []

     ->	Semantic networks	 []

     ->	Hybrid representations	 []





  <> What are the mechanisms of the inference engine?

     ->	Forward chaining	 []

     ->	Backward chaining	 []

     ->	Mixed chaining		 []

     ->	Bidirectional chaining	 []

     -> Others	      		 []
	       Specify:



  <> Is the system based on a complex architecture?

     ->	Blackboards	 	 []

     -> Second generation architecture with:
	
	- Deep models		 []
	- Causal models		 []
	- Qualitative models	 []
	- Other models		 []
	       Specify:



     -> Other architectures	 []
	       Specify:





  <> Does the system use explicitly the notion of task?
	Specify:






  <> Does the system use hypermedia tools?
	Specify:







* KINDS OF INTERACTIONS

  <> What kind of user-system interaction is allowed?

     ->	Natural language dialogues	  []
     ->	Query language			  []
     ->	Menus				  []
     ->	Graphics			  []
     ->	Others				  []
	     Specify:


  <> Who can guide the interaction?

     ->	The system		    	  []
     ->	The user			  []
     ->	Both of them		    	  []


  <> Is it possible for the user to influence the system reasoning?
     And how?


  <> Is it possible for the user to modify the results provided by the system?
     And how?




* USER'S CHARACTERISTICS

  <> Has the end user been involved in the application development?
     And how?








  <> In which stage of the KBS life cycle explanations are intended to be used?

     ->	Development	 	 []
     ->	Validation	 	 []
     ->	End use			 []
     ->	Others			 []
	      Specify:




  <> And who uses the explanations?

     ->	Knowledge engineer 	 []
     ->	Expert	  	 	 []
     ->	End user	 	 []
     ->	Student			 []
     ->	Others			 []
	      Specify:




  <> And for achieving what kind of goal?

     ->	Debugging          	 []
     ->	Understanding  	 	 []
     ->	Learning	 	 []
     ->	Others			 []
	      Specify:




  <> If possible, specify the following characteristics of the user:

     ->	Needs:




     ->	Goals:




     ->	Level of expertise in the domain:





     ->	Level of computing knowledge:




  <> If possible, give a short description of user task:








  <> If possible, give a short description of the help expected by the user:










  <> Is the user satisfied by the help provided by the system?
     If not, why?








* EXPLANATION MODULE


  + Existence of the module
    -----------------------

  <> Is an explanation module available in the system?
     If not, why?




  + Design of the module
    --------------------

  <> Is the explanation module:

     ->	General 	 	 		 []
     ->	Specific to the application	 	 []



  <> How were selected the kinds of provided explanations?







  <> Was the user involved in the explanation module design?
     If not, why?






  + Internal functioning of the module
    ----------------------------------

  <> Are the explanations based on (explicitly stored, or implicitly
     acquired) user models?


  <> Were explanations acquired or inspired from the analysis
     of explanation dialogues between humans?



  <> Are explanations based on the reasoning traces?



  <> Does the system use:

     ->	Discourse strategies 		 []
     ->	Planning of explanation text 	 []




  + Contents of explanations
    ------------------------

  <> Does the system provide (resp. does the user need):

     ->	Shallow explanations 		 []
     ->	Deep explanations		 []
     ->	Graphical explanations 		 []
     ->	Follow-up explanations 		 []
     ->	Multi-level explanations	 []



  <> What kinds of questions are available?

     ->	"Why" questions 	 []
     ->	"How" questions 	 []
     ->	"Why-not" questions 	 []
     ->	"When" questions 	 []
     ->	Other questions 	 []
	      Specify:




  <> How explanations are presented?

     ->	Textually 	 []
     ->	Graphically 	 []
     ->	Other modes 	 []
	      Specify:






  + Use of the module
    -----------------

  <> Do end users effectively use the explanation module?
     If not, why?




  <> Do end users meet some problems with the explanation module?
     If yes, what kinds of problems?










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* ANSWERS

  Answers to the questionnaire may be sent by email either to:

	 Rose Dieng (INRIA): dieng@mirsa.inria.fr

	 or to:

	 Alain Giboin (INRIA): giboin@mirsa.inria.fr


  Answers may also be sent by mail to the address given in the signature
  below.


  NB: Answers will be considered as anonymous.



  Documentation
  -------------
  If some documentation about your system (especially documentation
  about its explanation capabilities) is available, we'll be grateful
  to you to send it to us.


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* RESULTS

  If you are all interested in knowing the results of the questionnaire,
we will published in this newsgroup.



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  THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR RESPONDING TO THIS QUESTIONNAIRE !!








-- 
Alain Giboin, INRIA Sophia Antipolis -- France
giboin@andy.inria.fr               Phone: (33) 93.65.78.14, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 66
INRIA - Sophia Antipolis, 2004 route des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE