Effects of domain experience in the stock–flow failure

Abstract

Misperceptions of stock and fl ow relationships are pervasive and an important problem to solve in system dynamics. Prior studies have shown that individuals perform poorly on accumulation problems, even when considering relatively simple systems, an effect termed the Stock-Flow (SF) failure. This study examines the effects of domain experience in overcoming the SF failure. We compared performance of medical students and undergraduates with no medical education on accumulation problems in medical and general domains. Medical students performed better than undergraduates only in some of the problems (including the general domain problems), and they performed equally poorly as undergraduates in problems that required medical domain experience. There was no correlation between performance in the stock and fl ow problems and either duration of medical education or age. Thus we conclude that domain experience is not a strong indicator for overcoming the SF failure.

Thinking Aloud While Solving a Stock‐Flow Task: Surfacing the Correlation Heuristic and Other Reasoning Patterns

“…Research also demonstrates that task context in terms of salience and familiarity does not have an effect on stock‐flow task performance, nor does the ability to interpret graphs (differences between deriving information from line graphs, tabular format, bar graphs and text), nor cognitive capacity (the number of data points in the graph; Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Pala and Vennix, ; Cronin et al ., ; Brunstein et al ., ; Sterman, ). Similarly, reflection on cognitive conflict as a source to advance conceptual change (generated by utilizing a running total calculation) does not improve individuals' performance (Phuah, ).…”

“…This finding is in line with previous research (e.g. Cronin et al ., ; Brunstein et al ., ). There was also no effect of the factor mode: participants in the verbal and written condition showed no performance differences.…”

“…Sterman, ). In addition, our findings contribute to the existing scientific evidence pointing to the absence of a task context effect in stock‐flow performance (Cronin et al ., ; Brunstein et al ., ). Individuals' achievements appear to be independent of the domain or task context.…”

Bathtub Dynamics Revisited: An Examination of Déformation Professionelle in Higher Education

“…Participant variations include high school students (Fisher, ; Quaden and Ticotsky, ; Zaraza, ; Kasperidus et al, ; Moxnes and Jensen, ; Qi and Gonzalez, ), undergraduates, graduates, MBA students (Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Kapmeier and Zahn, ; Heinbokel and Potash, ; Kubanek, ; Lyneis and Lyneis, ; Kapmeier, ; Kasperidus et al, ; Kasperidus et al, ; Kapmeier et al, ; Kapmeier et al, ), Ph.D. students (Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Ossimitz, ), and diverse groups (Baghaei Lakeh and Ghaffarzadegan, ; Qi and Gonzalez, ). Furthermore, variations of participants' study programmes cover students majoring in business and management (Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Kapmeier, ; Cronin et al, ), engineering (Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Kapmeier, ; Kapmeier et al, ), environmental studies (Ossimitz, ; Kasperidus et al, ), medicine, biology (Brunstein et al, ; Abdel‐Hamid et al, ), and humanities (Booth Sweeney and Sterman, ; Brunstein et al, ).…”

“…Yet, its actual effect still remains unclear. Although some studies indicate that a domain‐specific problem context increases SF performance (general support in Brunstein et al, ; Kapmeier et al, ; Kapmeier et al, ; Newell et al, ), other studies do not find statistically significant impact (some particular problems in Brunstein et al, ; Abdel‐Hamid et al, ; Newell et al, ).…”