Understanding the complexity of the model formulation process: A protocol analysis approach Academic Article

abstract

• Formulation of a model involves organization of certain elements of reality into an abstract structure that exhibits features and characteristics of the reality. The formulation process is complex, and this paper explores that complexity by looking at five previously analyzed problem situations in the managerial domain. This is done in several steps. First, the existing model formulation support (MFS) architectures are analyzed using structures-mechanisms-policies (SMP) model to extract the characteristic attributes of the model formulation process. It is then argued that an integration of these attributes into an architecture, called integrated modeling architecture (IMA), would be useful in supporting the complexities of the model formulation process. The validity of such an architecture is also examined using the verbalization transcripts for the five problems mentioned above. Our protocol analysis shows that the IMA attributes can explain the complexities of the model formulation process.

authors

• Sen, Arun

published proceedings

• DECISION SCIENCES

author list (cited authors)

• Sen, A., & Vinze, A. S.

citation count

• 8

complete list of authors

• Sen, A||Vinze, AS

publication date

• January 1997

publisher

• Wiley  Publisher

published in

• Decision Sciences  Journal

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1111/j.1540-5915.1997.tb01318.x

start page

• 443

end page

• 473

volume

• 28

issue

• 2

URL

• http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1111%2Fj.1540-5915.1997.tb01318.x