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CONTINUITY IN MIS/DSS LABORATORY RESEARCH: THE CASE FOR A COMMON GAMING SIMULATOR *
Author(s) -
Courtney James F.,
DeSanctis Gerardine,
Kasper George M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5915.1983.tb00196.x
Subject(s) - comparability , computer science , software , replication (statistics) , field (mathematics) , decision support system , simulation , software engineering , operations research , data mining , operating system , engineering , statistics , mathematics , combinatorics , pure mathematics
To date, case analyses and field studies have predominated in MIS/DSS research. Laboratory studies seem not to have been given the attention they deserve. This trend is partially due to: (1) the high costs associated with developing decision simulators and related software to support laboratory research and (2) difficult problems with external validity because of unrealistically simple simulated decision environments and DSS software. Since MIS/DSS laboratory research has been most successful when studies have occurred in an interrelated stream, the development of common, portable, and flexible simulators seems desirable. Common simulators would reduce the time and cost of developing experiments, provide for research continuity, comparability, and replication, and facilitate researcher‐to‐researcher communication. Sufficiently complex simulators and DSS software would reduce problems with external validity by providing more realistic laboratory models. This paper presents a software package that offers considerable potential as a common tool for DSS research.