Empirical Testing of Model Relativism Theory: Does Modeling Affect How Acquisition Stakeholders Think About the System Under Development

Abstract

The Department of Defense is adopting model-based systems engineering in which models will replace the extensive amounts of documentation generated in developing a new system. This research examines how this shift from textual description of requirements to a model-based description will effect the requirements engineering process. Specifically, the research conducts experiments to determine if models affect how stakeholders understand, reason, and make decisions concerning the acquisition of weapon systems. An experimental design split participants into two groups: group one was given a model-based specification and group two was given a text-based specification of the same system. The results provide weak evidence for a difference in performance between the two groups with model-based group performing better. Our research into model representation is part of a larger effort on a theory of model relativity postulating that models affect how we think about the system of interest.