The disconfirmatory interview as a strategy for the assessment of system dynamics models

Abstract System dynamics requires the intense use of qualitative data and human judgment in all stages of model development. Most approaches to the formal inclusion of qualitative data have been employed with the purpose of knowledge elicitation during the conceptualization or formulation stages of modeling. In recent years, a small community of practice has explored the creation of interviewing tools to assess system dynamics models. We present the disconfirmatory assessment interview as a specific technique to be used during model assessment. This paper explores the use of interviews as a research and knowledge acquisition technique and more fully describes disconfirmatory assessment as an interview strategy. Based on a comparison of four applications of disconfirmatory interviews as a tool to assess system dynamics models, we present seven features that should form the core of the disconfirmatory interview. Copyright © 2012 System Dynamics Society.