An Expert View of the System Dynamics Modeling Process: Concurrences and Divergences Searching for Best Practices in System Dynamics Modeling

摘要

We intended this research both to discover a set of core practices in the system-dynamicsmodeling process and to identify the best of them according to the knowledgeable opinionof a recognized group of experts in the field. The paper addresses two questions: (1)What aspects of the system dynamics modeling process are common to all model buildingregardless of the modeler, the model, the type of practitioner, the tool used or thepurpose of the model? (2) Which of these areas can be described as “best practice”?We used a multi-method approach starting with interviews, then two virtual meetingswith the former presidents and award winners from the System Dynamics Society to elicitbest practices and, lastly, a discussion of the results and the implications for furtherresearch was conducted. The paper identifies 71 ‘best’ practices grouped into sixcategories: problem identification and definition (15), system conceptualization (9),model formulation (11), model testing and evaluation (8), model use, implementation anddissemination (8), and design of learning strategy/infrastructure (7). More importantly,the study also identified (13) practices in which experts appeared to disagree.