The document outlines Jan Claes's PhD research which investigates the relationship between business process modeling methods, cognitive styles, and model quality, with the goal of developing a prescriptive modeling method. The research will involve observational studies of modelers, cognitive tests, surveys, statistical analysis and development of a structured process modeling method and tool support. Feedback is sought on the research plans and statistical analysis approaches.

1. 1/29
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
www.janclaes.info
Jan Claes
Teaching assistant : PhD 2009 – 2015
Supervisors UGent : Geert Poels & Frederik Gailly
Supervisors TU/e : Paul Grefen & Irene Vanderfeesten
Investigating the process of process modeling
and its relation to model quality

2. 2/29
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
www.janclaes.info
Comprehensive overview PhD

3. 3/29
www.janclaes.info
Overview
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support

4. 4/29
www.janclaes.info
Overview
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support
P1
Chapter 1
• BPM conference paper P1
• Explorative research
• Hypothesis building
• Observational modeling sessions
• Structured process modeling relates to
model quality
• Correlation, t-test, linear regression

5. 5/29
www.janclaes.info
Overview
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support
Chapter 2
• BPM workshop paper P1
• ISEB journal paper A1
• PPMChart visualization
• Observational modeling sessions
• Visualization theories
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
P1 A1

6. 6/29
www.janclaes.info
Overview
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support
Chapter 3
• CAiSE workshop paper P1
• ISF journal paper A1
• Explanatory theory development
• Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT)
• Cognitive theories
• Observational modeling sessions
• Correlation, t-test, PLS-SEM, EGA
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
P1 A1

7. 7/29
www.janclaes.info
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
Overview
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support
A1Chapter 4
• Main contribution
• Prescriptive theory, modeling method
• Structured Process Modeling Method (SPMM)
• > measure cognitive style
• > determine modeling style

8. 8/29
www.janclaes.info
Overview
DESIGN SCIENCE
Process model quality
improving
modeling method
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and cognitive
overload
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Process
visualization
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Link between process and model
characteristics
Chapter 5
• Tool support
• Visualizing structure of model to help
modeler during model creation
• Phased modeling
DESIGN
SCIENCE
Tool support
?

9. 9/29
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
www.janclaes.info
How to test the developed theory (SPMT)?

10. 10/29
www.janclaes.info
Research model
A B A determines BA B The more A, the more B+ A B The more A, the less B– A B A translates into B
learning style
degree of
serialization
adopted serialization
style
need for
structure
field-
dependency
– +
intrinsic cognitive load
for modeling phases
intrinsic cognitive load
for aggregation phases
cognitive overload
intrinsic cognitive load
for strategy building phases
+ + +
serialization style fit
structuredness
of serialization
– –– –
1 2 3
process model quality overall construction effort
+–

11. 11/29
www.janclaes.info
Cognitive style
Need for structure
Learning styleField dependency
Sensory
Visual
Inductive
Active
Sequential
Intuitive
Auditory
Deductive
Reflective
Global
I ♥︎ chaos I #$@&! chaos
DON’T SEE THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES

12. 12/29
www.janclaes.info
Observational modeling session
Jools experimental platform
Simple modeling notation
activity – edge – start event – end event – xor gateway – and gateway
Experimental flow
 Cognitive tests
 Pre-survey
 Tool tutorial
 Modeling sessions
 Post-survey
 Interviews

13. 13/29
www.janclaes.info
Cognitive tests
Four cognitive tests
 Operation Span Test
 Counting Span Test
 Reading Span Test
 Hidden Figures Test
Fully-automated in tool
Taken at home
Avoiding cheating
 Intrinsic motivation
 Limited cheat detection (score, time, tool focus)

14. 14/29
www.janclaes.info
Pre-survey and post-survey
Cognitive style
 Need for structure scale
 Learning style scale
Cognitive load
 Intrinsic, extraneous, germane cognitive load scale
Prior knowledge
 domain, language, modeling
Cognitive fit
 language, modeling language, tool
Demographics

15. 15/29
www.janclaes.info
Tool tutorial

16. 16/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling session

17. 17/29
www.janclaes.info
Interviews
Feedback cognitive profile
Feedback used modeling style
Feedback cognitive load
Feedback SPMT
General feedback

18. 18/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling style
Flow oriented
modeling

19. 19/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling style
pauses
number of big gaps
distance
lines between
consecutive operations
progress
number of operations
per 3 minutes
overlap
number of overlapping
operations
alterations
number of non-green dots

20. 20/29
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
www.janclaes.info
Processing empirical data: statistical madness

21. 21/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling effectiveness and efficiency
Semantic quality
 Completeness & correctness (of content)
 Number of semantic errors

22. 22/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling effectiveness and efficiency
Syntactic quality
 Correctness (of syntax)
 Number of syntactic cognitive errors

23. 23/29
www.janclaes.info
Modeling effectiveness and efficiency
Time
 Time between start reading case and last operation
Effort
 Number of operations

24. 24/29
www.janclaes.info
Research model
A B A determines BA B The more A, the more B+ A B The more A, the less B– A B A translates into B
learning style
degree of
serialization
adopted serialization
style
need for
structure
field-
dependency
– +
intrinsic cognitive load
for modeling phases
intrinsic cognitive load
for aggregation phases
cognitive overload
intrinsic cognitive load
for strategy building phases
+ + +
serialization style fit
structuredness
of serialization
– –– –
1 2 3
process model quality overall construction effort
+–

25. 25/29
www.janclaes.info
Correlation
Cognitive style
Modelingstyle
Modeling resultCognitive load

26. 26/29
www.janclaes.info
T-test
Learning style Need for structure Field dependency
LoadSyntaxTimeEffort

27. 27/29
www.janclaes.info
PLS-SEM

28. 28/29
www.janclaes.info
PLS-SEM

29. 29/29
www.janclaes.info
Thanks for you attention!
> Do you have feedback on my research plans? <
> Do you have questions? <
Jan Claes
jan.claes@ugent.be
http://www.janclaes.info
Twitter: @janclaesbelgium