Variation in experimentation styles and domain-specific knowledge

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between experimental strategies and domain-specific knowledge within a task of scientific discovery. Groups of expert biologists, experimental psychologists, and lag people in both biology and experimentation were asked to solve a task on population ecology, which implied reaching an equilibrium between preys and predators through parameter manipulation. Success rates, depth and breath of search, and global styles of experimentation were-analyzed. Results indicated that experimentation styles are associated with the participants prior knowledge. Novices engaged in an extensive search through the scope of the problem, whereas expert participants focused their research process on a limited number of parameters.