Asymmetrical Effects of Using Positive and Negative Examples on Object Modeling

Analysis and design is a critical distinction (and consummate challenge) of information systems as a discipline. Object orientation as a mantra and central focus has characterized much recent analysis and design attention. The role of object models in information systems development and challenges associated with developing quality object models especially by novice analysts is a salient point of interest. Illustrative examples of good-quality and poor-quality object models or parts of object models offer guidance available for learning and developing object models. Our research attempts to assess the usefulness of using positive versus negative examples in teaching object modeling skills, so as to enable better learning outcomes for novice analysts. Results of a controlled experiment comparing the effects of positive and negative examples on the quality of object models produced show that positive examples enhanced syntactic quality, negative examples improved semantic quality, and neither had much impact on pragmatic quality.