How to explain it to data scientists? A mixed-methods user study about explainable AI, using mental models for explanations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Degen, Helmut, Min, Ziran, Nagaraja, Parinitha
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Degen, Helmut
Min, Ziran
Nagaraja, Parinitha
author_facet Degen, Helmut
Min, Ziran
Nagaraja, Parinitha
contents In the context of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), limited research has identified role-specific explanation needs. This study investigates the explanation needs of data scientists, who are responsible for training, testing, deploying, and maintaining machine learning (ML) models in AI systems. The research aims to determine specific explanation content of data scientists. A task analysis identified user goals and proactive user tasks. Using explanation questions, task-specific explanation needs and content were identified. From these individual explanations, we developed a mental model for explanations, which was validated and revised through a qualitative study (n=12). In a second quantitative study (n=12), we examined which explanation intents (reason, comparison, accuracy, prediction, trust) require which type of explanation content from the mental model. The findings are: F1: Explanation content for data scientists comes from the application domain, system domain, and AI domain. F2: Explanation content can be complex and should be organized sequentially and/or in hierarchies (novelty claim). F3: Explanation content includes context, inputs, evidence, attributes, ranked list, interim results, efficacy principle, and input/output relationships (novelty claim). F4: Explanation content should be organized as a causal story. F5: Standardized explanation questions ensure complete coverage of explanation needs (novelty claim). F6: Refining mental models for explanations increases significantly its quality (novelty claim).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_16083
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How to explain it to data scientists? A mixed-methods user study about explainable AI, using mental models for explanations
Degen, Helmut
Min, Ziran
Nagaraja, Parinitha
Human-Computer Interaction
In the context of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), limited research has identified role-specific explanation needs. This study investigates the explanation needs of data scientists, who are responsible for training, testing, deploying, and maintaining machine learning (ML) models in AI systems. The research aims to determine specific explanation content of data scientists. A task analysis identified user goals and proactive user tasks. Using explanation questions, task-specific explanation needs and content were identified. From these individual explanations, we developed a mental model for explanations, which was validated and revised through a qualitative study (n=12). In a second quantitative study (n=12), we examined which explanation intents (reason, comparison, accuracy, prediction, trust) require which type of explanation content from the mental model. The findings are: F1: Explanation content for data scientists comes from the application domain, system domain, and AI domain. F2: Explanation content can be complex and should be organized sequentially and/or in hierarchies (novelty claim). F3: Explanation content includes context, inputs, evidence, attributes, ranked list, interim results, efficacy principle, and input/output relationships (novelty claim). F4: Explanation content should be organized as a causal story. F5: Standardized explanation questions ensure complete coverage of explanation needs (novelty claim). F6: Refining mental models for explanations increases significantly its quality (novelty claim).
title How to explain it to data scientists? A mixed-methods user study about explainable AI, using mental models for explanations
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.16083