SAGAT was used as a measurement tool when testing whether cross-training, particularly in leadership roles, might lead to better situation awareness.
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Infantry
Aviation
Navy
Air Traffic Control
SAGAT – SA Global Assessment Technique
One of the most widely used objective measures of SA is the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). As an objective, diagnostic and sensitive metric, SAGAT is highly validated for use in a wide variety of applications. SAGAT has been successfully used to directly and objectively measure operator SA in evaluating avionics concepts, display designs and interface technologies.
With SAGAT, mission or task simulations are frozen at randomly- selected times, the system displays are blanked and the simulation is suspended while operators quickly answer questions about their current perceptions of the situation. The questions correspond to their situation awareness requirements as determined from the results of an SA requirements’ analysis. Operator perceptions are then compared to the real situation, based on simulation computer databases, to provide an objective measure of SA.
Multiple “snapshots” of operators’ SA are acquired in this way, which gives an index of the quality of SA provided by a particular design. The collection of SA data via SAGAT provides an objective, unbiased assessment of SA that overcomes the problems incurred from post-hoc assessments.
As a global measurement tool, SAGAT includes queries about all operator SA requirements, including level 1 (perception of data), level 2 (comprehension of meaning) and level 3 (projection of the near future) components. This includes a consideration of system functioning and status as well as relevant features of the external environment. By including queries across the full spectrum of an operator’s SA requirements, this approach minimizes the possible bias of attention, as subjects cannot prepare for the queries in advance.
The only validated, objective measure of SA in the industry, SAGAT provides the gold standard for other SA measures. SAGAT has been shown to have predictive validity, with SAGAT scores indicative of performance. It is also sensitive to changes in task load and to factors that effect operator attention, demonstrating construct validity. The tool produces high levels of reliability. It has been widely used in aviation, air traffic control, power plant operations and military operations to measure both individual and team SA.
