Comparison of State Tables and Ordnance Publications for Troubleshooting Digital Equipment.

Eight Navy technicians participated in an evaluation of the effectiveness of state tables in troubleshooting the Missile Control Unit (MCU) of the NATO Seasparrow Surface Missile System. In a repeated-measures design, the technicians used either state tables or ordnance publications (OPs) to troubleshoot 96 problems in the MCU. With state tables, 31 of 48 problems were solved in 1499 minutes. With OPs, nine of 48 problems were solved in 2027 minutes. Twice as many checks were made with OPs as were made with state tables. Seven of the eight subjects rated state tables as excellent or good. With OPs, the ratings were lower and less consistent, ranging from poor to good. In general, state tables were preferred over OPs. Results are discussed in terms of state table implementation in the fleet. (Author)