Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is gaining recognition as a promising approach for the analysis, design, and evaluation of complex, sociotechnical systems. The successful and widespread application of CWA, however, is limited by the lack of a well-defined methodology. This paper proposes a methodology for performing work domain analysis (WDA), the first phase of CWA, and it illustrates this methodology with a work domain of a home — a 'system' that will be highly familiar to everyone. This research will help to: make WDA more accessible to researchers and practitioners who were not involved in the development of WDA or who cannot be apprenticed to experts in WDA; reduce the amount of time and effort it takes to perform WDA even for experts in the area; and facilitate the application of WDA to large-scale, industry projects.
