In order to understand diagrammatic reasoning with multiple diagrams, this study proposes a theoretical framework that focuses on the cognitive processes of perceptual and conceptual integration. The perceptual integration process involves establishing the interdependence between the relevant system elements that have been dispersed across multiple diagrams, while the conceptual integration process involves generating and refining hypotheses about the system by combining the higher level information inferred from the diagrams. This study applies the diagrammatic reasoning framework of a single diagram to assess the usability of multiple diagrams as an integral part of a system development methodology. We conducted an experiment that evaluated the effectiveness and the usability of design guidelines to aid problem solving with multiple diagrams. The results of the experimental study reveal that understanding a system represented by multiple diagrams involves a process of searching for related information and of developing hypotheses about the target system. The results also showed that these perceptual and conceptual integration processes were facilitated by incorporating visual cues and contextual information in the multiple diagrams as representation aids. Visual cues indicate which elements in one diagram are related to elements in other diagrams, and the contextual information indicates how the individual datum in one diagram is related to the overall hypothesis about the entire system. 1
While the effectiveness and usability of design guidelines for multiple diagrams were evaluated in REF , there are neither guidelines for designing nor for easily understanding declarative process models.
How Do We Understand a System With (So) Many Diagrams? Cognitive Integration Processes in Diagrammatic Reasoning
Computer Science