An Analysis of Workloads Experienced by Scientists Working in the Chemical Wet Lab
Conference Proceeding
Overview
abstract
Abstract; Experimental science research conducted in chemical wet labs involve cognitively demanding and physically intensive work, which poses various health risks for researchers working in the chemical manufacturing industry. We recruited 10 scientists working in a chemical wet lab at 2 universities and 1 biotechnology company in the United States. Using a semi-structured interview method, we conducted voice-recorded interviews, which were transcribed and coded. We applied open coding to identify 100 instances of expressed workload. We followed a Directed Content Analysis approach, where we employed the a priori coding method to categorize the instances of expressed workload into one of the 6 NASA Task Load Index subjective workload subscales. We further consolidated these instances to define causes of workload during experimental science research conducted in a chemical wet lab. We identified 5 causes of mental demand from 48 instances, 5 sources of physical demand from 10 instances, 3 reasons for temporal demand from 4 instances, 3 tasks associated with high effort from 4 instances, 1 reason for high performance demand from 8 instances, and 5 causes of frustration from 26 instances. Using these results, we modified the definitions of the NASA TLX subscales in the context of experimental science research conducted in the chemical wet lab. These results will help develop an in-depth understanding of scientists’ experiences working in a chemical wet lab and enable the design of a more safe, efficient, and accessible research environment.
