MAP-01-011 HFI Technical Guide - Human Factors Integration ...

MAP-01-011 – HFI Technical Guide (STGP 11)A3.7.8Situation Awareness Behavioural Rating Scale (SABARS)The situation awareness behavioural rating scale (SABARS) is an objective SArating technique that has been used to assess infantry personnel situationawareness in field training exercises. The technique involves domain expertsobserving participants during a task performance and rating them on 28observable SA related behaviours. A five point rating scale (1=Very poor, 5=Very good) and an additional ‘not applicable’ category are used. The 28behaviour items were gathered during an SA requirements analysis of militaryoperations in urbanised terrain (MOUT) and are designed specifically to assessplatoon leader SA. Since the SABARS technique rates observable behaviours, itis worthwhile to remind the reader that it does not actually rate a participant’sinternal level of SA, rather it offers a rating of those behaviours that may provideassumptions regarding the participant’s internal level of SA.• Advantages• The behaviour items used in the SABARS scale were generated from aninfantry SA requirements exercise.• The technique is quick and easy to use.• Requires minimal training.• Has been used in a military context.• It appears that SABARS shows promise as a back-up measure of SA. Itseems that the technique would be suited for use alongside a directmeasure of SA, such as SAGAT. This would allow a comparison of the SAmeasured and the SA related behaviours exhibited.• Disadvantages• As SABARS is an observer-rating tool, the extent to which it measures SAis questionable. As SABARS can only offer an expert’s view onobservable, SA related behaviours, it should be remembered that thetechnique does not offer a direct assessment of SA.• The extent to which an observer can rate the internal construct of SA isquestionable.• To use the technique appropriately, a number of domain experts arerequired.• Access to the tasks under analysis is required. This may be difficult toobtain, particularly in military settings.• To use the technique elsewhere, a new set of domain specific behaviourswould be required. This requires significant effort in terms of time andmanpower.• Limited validation evidence.May 2006 Page A3-64 Issue 4