Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-2012
Abstract
We examine learning outcomes in intelligence analysts--the likelihood to shift intelligence analyst's mental models--within policy-making dyads of analysts and decision-makers operating in complex, high-stake contexts. We ask to what extent do properties of information present in the environment--information overload and equivocality--and two behavioral dispositions present in the dyad--one possessed by the decision maker (feedback) and another by the analyst (perspective taking)--influence analyst's learning outcomes. In particular, we focus on the combined impact of three analyst's behavioral responses--filtering, dialogue and networking--to either mitigate the negative effects of overload and equivocality, and/or improve the potential positive effects of feedback and perspective taking. We find that some behaviors such as filtering and networking significantly improve the analyst's ability to learn by reducing the negative effects of information overload. On the other hand, dialogue amplifies the knowledge gained through perspective taking to aid in learning. But we also found evidence of confounding and suppressive effects. The use of filtering and networking has a downside of suppressing the analyst's use of feedback but we also found that dialogue had an emergent property of increasing analyst's use of feedback. A key finding is that as equivocality of intelligence data increases, dialogue with decision makers actually reduces analyst learning.
Keywords
overload, equivocality, feedback, perspective taking, boundary spanning, filter, engaged dialogue, social network, mitigation, learning, mental model
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Wolfberg, Adrian, "Do Filtering, Dialogue and Networking Improve Learning in Equivocal and Information Rich Contexts? - a Study of Sense-Making in Policy Making Contexts" (2012). Student Scholarship. 170.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/170