Four models in imparting decision-making information.

Abstract

Twenty-four students in a basic professional master's program were asked to assign muscle test grades after being given a description of the performance of a hypothetical patient. Each student used one of four experimental formats for presenting the decision-making information necessary to assign the muscle grades. None of the students had been previously exposed to the information and the speed and accuracy of their performance was measured. No differences were noted in accuracy regradless of the format used but the flow chart and the logic tree formats were significantly more efficient in terms of time. The algorithm format was significantly less effective on the time dimension. The prose format was intermediate with regard to time.