ABSTRACT
Procedural analysis has been particularly useful in business and industry, where it is used to describe the on-the-job performance of laborers and skilled workers. Designers use procedural analysis to describe assembly, service, and repair tasks as a series of discrete actions. Since procedural analysis is so useful in describing these types of performances, some analysts believe that its primary function is describing job tasks or motor skills tasks. However, procedural analysis can be used also to analyze cognitive activities, provided the steps can be described as observable performances. Tasks such as counting numbers, balancing checkbooks, and writing sentences have been outlined in procedural terms. Consequently, procedural analysis is used to design instruction in education and training as well as to describe job tasks in business and industry.
