Presenting System Dynamics to Social Scientists:An economics example

摘要

The social sciences provide a rich repository of open, interesting, and unsolved questionsthat can benefit from the application of system dynamics (SD). After “solving” aproblem, SD researchers must present their results, which is not as straightforward as itmight seem. This study describes lessons learned presenting system dynamics results toan economics audience during the publication of Lofdahl (2002) and is organizedaccording to the four dicta of Repenning (2003): 1) size your model appropriately, 2)build the intuition of your reader, 3) do your homework, and 4) choose your audiencewisely. The study finds that the skills necessary to perform and to communicate systemdynamics research are different and can work at cross-purposes.