I’m working on a CBT course which takes the student though the checklist process. They have a shipment, they review the criteria associated with the checklist number and then click on their choice to review whether their thought process was correct. So in this example there’s a PG I toxic material. It’s in an authorized 4G package as per PI 652. But obviously when you get to item 46 on the checklist you have to reject it because it’s a 4G/Y.
So I have a couple things I can tell the student about which to check no or yes:
A: Checklist item 31 is asking about the authorized packaging type, a 4G is indeed authorized so you’d check “yes.” When you get to checklist 46 you check “no” because “Y” isn’t authorized for PG I.
B: Go ahead and mark item 31 “No” because even though you haven’t gotten to checklist item 46 yet you should probably be able to pick up the error before you get there and thus both 31 and 46 are no.
C: Check item 31 “yes” because 4G is authorized, and 46 “no” but then go back and cross out 31 and change the “yes” to a “no” because once you got to item 46 you realized the error.
My gut feeling is that “A” is the correct way to go — there are two different questions, the first is asking about the packaging type which is indeed authorized, and it’s not until you get to item 46 that you have a chance to mark “no” for the XYZ code. I think the other benefit of doing it this way is that for the customer, it’s less confusing — if they get a “no” on the packaging type it might confuse them as the box they used is the right type, just the wrong specs.
Humans (for now) have an easier time with ambiguity than computer systems which are still for the moment, binary.
– Jim Powell
