Designing Representative Model Worlds to Study Socio-Technical Phenomena: A Case Study of Communication Patterns in Engineering Systems Design
Designing Representative Model Worlds to Study Socio-Technical Phenomena: A Case Study of Communication Patterns in Engineering Systems Design
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DOI：
10.1115/1.4048295
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发表时间：
2020-12
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Ashish M. Chaudhari;E. Gralla;Z. Szajnfarber;P. Grogan;Jitesh H. Panchal
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ashish M. Chaudhari;E. Gralla;Z. Szajnfarber;P. Grogan;Jitesh H. Panchal
飞机和航天器等复杂系统的工程设计涉及多个组织中的大量人员，时间跨度多年。由于直接对真实的组织进行大规模的实证研究具有挑战性，一些系统工程和设计研究人员开始依赖抽象的模型世界，这些模型世界旨在代表参考社会技术系统，但仅保留其某些方面，但缺乏相应的知识，如何设计代表性的模型世界进行社会技术研究。我们的目标是通过对模型世界发展的反思性案例研究来创造这样的知识。这个“内部”的研究探讨了两个因素如何影响跨学科的沟通在并行设计过程中。参考真实的世界系统是NASA的一个使命设计实验室（MDL），模型世界是大学课堂环境中的一个简化的发动机设计问题。我们的分析集中在以下的思想过程中，关键的模型世界的设计决策，并在何种程度上的通信现象在模型世界（发动机实验）是代表的真实的世界（NASA的MDL）的重要评估。我们发现，发动机实验保留了一些，但不是所有的通信模式的利益，我们提出了具体案例的经验教训，实现和增加这种类型的研究的代表性。更一般地说，我们发现代表性并不取决于分别匹配的主题，任务和上下文，而是在这三个维度的相互作用中出现的行为。
The engineering of complex systems, such as aircraft and spacecraft, involves large number of individuals within multiple organizations spanning multiple years. Since it is challenging to perform empirical studies directly on real organizations at scale, some researchers in systems engineering and design have begun relying on abstracted model worlds that aim to be representative of the reference socio-technical system, but only preserve some aspects of it. However, there is a lack of corresponding knowledge on how to design representative model worlds for socio-technical research. Our objective is to create such knowledge through a reflective case study of the development of a model world. This “inner” study examines how two factors influence interdisciplinary communication during a concurrent design process. The reference real world system is a mission design laboratory (MDL) at NASA, and the model world is a simplified engine design problem in an undergraduate classroom environment. Our analysis focuses on the thought process followed, the key model world design decisions made, and a critical assessment of the extent to which communication phenomena in the model world (engine experiment) are representative of the real world (NASA’s MDL). We find that the engine experiment preserves some but not all of the communication patterns of interest, and we present case-specific lessons learned for achieving and increasing representativeness in this type of study. More generally, we find that representativeness depends not on matching subjects, tasks, and context separately, but rather on the behavior that emerges from the interplay of these three dimensions.