Interactions between Analysts in Developing Collaborative Conceptual Models

摘要

Conceptual models are frequently developed as part of IS analysis and design. Development of such models involves expertise in conceptual modeling techniques, served by modeling analysts, and in the domain applications, served by domain analysts. This paper focuses on understanding how these two types of analysts interact and develop conceptual models collaboratively. The subjects as analysts were placed in pairs (one modeling and one domain) and asked to develop conceptual models collaboratively on a complex domain. The interactions during conceptual model development were analyzed using a sensemaking framework. It was found that all groups performed the reciprocal acts of modifying each other's understanding of the concepts that were required to develop the model collaboratively. The study also indicates that the groups which had high incidence of sensebreaking acts (i.e. attempts to question the existing understanding of other) and high incidence of shared conceptualization, created higher quality conceptual models.