Expert-novice knowledge organization: an empirical investigation using computer program recall

Abstract

Expertise in a given domain is regarded as being manifested in the knowledge structures or chunks that experts possess. This research sought to use the chunking hypothesis of expertise, operationalized via computer program recall, to distinguish the more expert from the less expert computer programmers in a group of programming professionals. Two expertise levels were required to investigate differences in debugging processes of expert and novice programmers. The programmer classification produced by the recall pretest, however, explained little variation in debug time and the number of errors subjects made, when compared with a programmer classification based on the effectiveness of subjects’chunking processes.

Subjects’ recalled programs were examined to determine whether the information structures in the program used for recall matched the declarative knowledge structures programmers could be expected to possess. Examination of the program suggests that programmers may not have been expected to possess two of the knowledge structures represented in the program. Examination of the programmers’ recalled programs suggests that those programmers classified as experts by the process classification may have had greater difficulty in recalling this program than those classified as novices, leading to the hypothesis that experts may be affected more than novices by non-matching knowledge structures.