| The purpose of this study was to examine the usability and usefulness of an expert system approach to the evaluation of hypertext engineering. The main body of this study was to develop a prototype expert system, Hypertext Evaluation Expert System (HEES). The HEES was knowledge-engineered by the author with the guidance of a human expert in hypertext software and the supervision of the advisory committee.;Using an expert system development shell, EXSYS Professional, the development process has been a cycle of reformulations, redesigns, and refinements. The HEES consists of 57 qualifiers and 999 rules based upon the combination of human expertise and the literature published by human experts. Using backward chaining, the HEES provides systematic guidelines in evaluating hypertext software and generates intermediate and final levels of evaluation results. An IBM AT or its compatible with VGA is desirable to run the HEES.;To validate and verify the HEES, data have been collected from 48 subjects at 3 different locations. The major disciplines represented by the subjects were computer science, information systems, information science, natural sciences, humanities, education, business, library science, engineering, pharmacy, and medical science. Through the analysis of data with the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedure for the factorial design on the SAS, the expert system approach proved to be usable and useful at the 0.01 level of significance, within the limitation and assumptions imposed on this study.;In order to generalize the empirical finding of this experimental research, further studies should be conducted in the following way: stratified sampling across the nation; using cognitive factors as experimental factors; integrating cost factors into the evaluation criteria; and, extending the number of hypertext software to test the HEES to include all the available hypertext software. Also, it is desirable to periodically upgrade the HEES to cope with rapidly changing trends of hypertext software engineering. |
