The effect of qualitative and quantitative system dynamics training: an experimental investigation

While there are numerous studies that test the effectiveness of qualitative system dynamics and quantitative system dynamics training individually and in isolation, there are none that test their relative contribution to solving dynamic problems. The study reported here seeks to answer the question of whether people trained in qualitative system dynamics alone are able to solve dynamic problems or whether they also require quantitative system dynamics training. A pre-test/post-test-based experiment was conducted over 6 weeks involving 31 participants. The findings suggest that exposure to either methodology is successful in solving a relatively simple task (a one-stock problem with no feedback). However, for a complex task (a two-stock forecasting problem with feedback), qualitative system dynamics training alone is not sufficient and in such cases the knowledge of quantitative system dynamics must be used to effectively solve the problem. Copyright (C) 2011 System Dynamics Society.