MITS5507: Business Process Modeling Research Report Analysis

This report provides a critical analysis of the research paper "Cognitive Complexity in Business Process Modeling" by Figl and Laue. The report begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction outlining the report's purpose: to critique the selected research paper. The discussion section delves into the paper's intentions, content, and research methods, including the use of experiments and questionnaires to assess cognitive difficulty in understanding different relations between model elements. The report then evaluates the findings, highlighting the impact of order, exclusiveness, and interactivity on comprehension, and discusses the problems highlighted in the original research. The conclusion summarizes the key points, future implications, and recommendations for improving the understandability of business process models, such as avoiding deep nesting of control flow blocks and highlighting syntax. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of problem identification and method selection in research, aligning with the course's focus on business process modeling and cognitive complexity.

BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING
PAPER: COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY IN BUSINESS PROCESS
MODELING
AUTHORS: KATHRIN FIGL AND RALF LAUE
STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT ID:

Executive summary
In this report, an article regarding complexity in business process modeling has been
analyzed critically. Main intention of the article including aims and objectives are elaborated.
Different contents of the articles like elements of model comprehensibility, models and
literature review are discussed. Research method of this article is critically evaluated. The
results of the study and conclusion are briefed in this report.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
a. Intention and content of the article.....................................................................................4
b. Research method.................................................................................................................4
c. Findings..............................................................................................................................5
d. Problems highlighted..........................................................................................................6
e. Discussing conclusion part.................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Reference list..............................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Purpose of this report is to critique a research paper related to Business Process Modeling
(BPM). Several researchers have worked on this topic and this paper is focusing on a
particular paper on this topic. In this report, journal article with the title "Cognitive
Complexity in Business Process Modeling” is being reviewed. Intention of authors and the
content of this article are being evaluated at the beginning. After that, research methods,
findings, and highlighted problem are being criticized. At the end, conclusion part of this
article is being reviewed critically. Aim of this report is to provide clear insight into
researching a topic and writing the report.
Discussion
a. Intention and content of the article
Main intention of this study is to analyze the cognitive difficulty in understanding various
relations of elements of BPM. It can be seen that consciousness has increased regarding the
need for comprehensibility of different process models. However, few research works has
been done in this matter, which can help to find links between different elements of a model.
Comprehensibility and cognitive load theory have been used in this article for increasing
understanding of the research. As stated by de Oca and Rodríguez-Morffi (2015, 193), BPM
can be elaborated and understood properly if an individual is able to describe its elements,
structure and operational context. As mentioned in the cognitive load theory, capability of
working memory in a predetermined time is limited. In addition, this article also contains a
discussion about the relations between elements, element separateness and elements
interactivity. In a BPM there are different factors, which involve different levels of
understanding. This creates cognitive complexity among individuals, which influence in
higher error rates. Moreover, higher interactivity of elements leads to higher cognitive loads
as each element needs to be processed properly. These factors have helped the researchers to
build a research model. Analyzing the model has helped in framing the hypothesis of the
research.
b. Research method
Research method selection is one of the crucial parts of research projects as the outcome
depends on this decision. In case of this chosen article, experiment research method has been
considered suitable. Hypotheses have been developed and for testing, those hypotheses and
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experiments have been done for getting answers from participants on BPM. According to
Chen and Yong Tat Yao (2016, 1667), getting answers to comprehensive questions consume
less time and cost. Due to this reason, this technique of data collection is preferred by many
of the researchers. Comprehensive questions have been designed to gather an understanding
of participants regarding four different relationships between selected activities. In all of the
four-level including concurrency, order, exclusiveness and repetition, understandability of the
BPM has been measured. Eight types of comprehensive questions have been formed in this
research. Objective and subjective measures of cognitive difficulty have been measured. As
stated by Billig and Carlyon (2016, 339), adhering to both subjective and objective
measurements helps to generate accurate as well as reliable result. It has been found that the 7
scales Likert scale has been included in the questionnaire to gather accurate information from
participants.
Research materials must be selected based on available capital for the research. In case of the
selected article, pencil-and-paper questionnaire has been used and this questionnaire had
three sections. As mentioned by Patten (2016, 2), it is mandatory to include demographic
questions to gather information about participants. In this chosen article, demographic
questions have been added in the first section and a tutorial on the process modeling has been
added in the second section. The third section of the questionnaire is comprised of four
models and eight questions for each of the models. This order of questions is effective in
gathering data systematically. Four models have been selected from different domains.
Different graphic styles have been used to make participants understand models. Graphical
layouts of models have been included. A total of 21 activities were there in the four selected
models.
Selection of eligible participants helps to accumulate detail information regarding the topic of
the research. In this case, 199 business students have been included as participants. All of
them were above 23 years old. They were having a different level of experiences. For
example, 10% of the participants had experience of working with BPMs and 27% have
worked in the IT industry. Collected data has been analyzed through ANCOVA and
hypotheses have been tested. It can be stated that selection of methodology was correct in this
case and it has helped in getting a reliable outcome.
c. Findings
From the research, it was found that a direct effect of different forms of relationships between
elements of a model on cognitive difficulty is present. Several kinds of relations like order,
repetition, exclusiveness, and concurrency have an impact on cognitive understanding. From
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the analysis, it was found that order was the easiest relation, where 80% of correct answers
are evident. Exclusiveness is the toughest relations, which has incurred only 70% of correct
answers. Perceived difficulty of exclusiveness is higher than all other relations, which proves
the hypothesis. In order, mean of perceived difficulty is 3.08; while in exclusive, mean of
perceived difficulty is 3.19. Thus, it can be stated that cognitive difficulty rises along with
complexity of relations (Figl and Laue, 2011, 461).
On the other hand, it was proved that interactivity of elements has a direct influence on the
tendency to give correct answers. Moreover, it has a significant impact on perceived
difficulty. From the results, it can be analyzed that a greater number of element interactivity
has helped in achieving a higher percentage of correct answers. Hence, element interactivity
is positively associated with cognitive difficulty.
Moreover, it was found that 79.9% of questions about two activities with a cut vertex have
been properly answered. Whereas, 75.8% of questions were there without a cut vertex and
these questions have been answered properly (Figl and Laue, 2011, 462). Results derived
from ANCOVA indicate that this difference is not significant. Hence, there is no significant
evidence to prove the hypothesis that the presence of a cut vertex influence in answering a
question correctly. The results also support that cognitive process in order to understand a
model totally relies on the activities that are being undertaken. On the other hand, it has been
proved that if a BPM has more cut vertices then the ability to answer the question increases
but statistically in this research it was not proved.
d. Problems highlighted
Problems in understanding the relations between elements of BPM have been highlighted in
this research. Authors have conducted the experiment to gather data regarding understanding
of participants on different BPM models. It has been found that the relationship between
components with larger PST-distance create more difficulty in understanding the model. This
research has focused on determining whether the nesting level of BPM is impacting on
understanding or not. Result of this research has revealed that PST-distance is the main
element that is increasing the difficulties of tasks. This research has found that small PST-
distance can be a reason behind inappropriate conclusion.
Focusing on PST-distance and adhering to the collected data have helped to draw a reliable
conclusion at the end of this research. However, this research has not mentioned about the
impact of a cut vertex on the understanding of tasks. It can be considered a ga of this research
and future researchers can conduct research on this problem. The participants of this research
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were having knowledge regarding BPM. However, they were not experts and this gap has
impacted on the evaluation of problems highlighted.
e. Discussing conclusion part
The conclusion of the article summarizes the essential points of the study, future implications
and relevant recommendations that can decrease difficulty in understanding a BPM. This is
the first study to analyze the cognitive difficulty regarding BPM understandability and its
relation with elements of BPM. This research has a great implication on business process
modeling practice and research. Moreover, this research has implication on future
experiments. It was proved from the experiments that high interactions between components
can increase cognitive load and decrease comprehensibility of a model of business process. It
was recommended that deep nesting of control flow blocks needs to be avoided. This can
help to increase understanding of a BPM and can also help in increasing the quality of the
model. Moreover, Zugal and Weber (2015, 1095) stated that a complex model can be
composed into smaller sub model that can help to improve comprehensibility of the model. In
addition, it was also recommended in this article that highlighting syntax can help in
increasing comprehensibility of deeply nested blocks. This study is relevant to the study
contents of this semester as it analyzes complexity of BPM and different factors that impact
on a cognitive difficulty while understanding a BPM.
Conclusion
From the entire discussion of this report, it has been understood that identification of
problems and selection of methods are an important part of research. Research needs to be
designed in such a manner that can help in fulfilling the purpose of the research. The selected
article has focused on cognitive complexity in BPM. Selection of experiment method and the
comprehensive questionnaire formation have helped to understand the problems of BPM.
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Reference list
Billig, Alexander J., and Robert P. Carlyon. "Automaticity and primacy of auditory
streaming: Concurrent subjective and objective measures." Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 42, no. 3 (2016): 339.
Chen, Won Sun, and Adrian Yong Tat Yao. "An empirical evaluation of critical factors
influencing learner satisfaction in blended learning: A pilot study." Universal Journal of
Educational Research 4, no. 7 (2016): 1667-1671.
de Oca, Isel Moreno-Montes, Monique Snoeck, Hajo A. Reijers, and Abel Rodríguez-Morffi.
"A systematic literature review of studies on business process modeling quality." Information
and Software Technology 58 (2015): 187-205.
Figl, Kathrin, and Ralf Laue. "Cognitive complexity in business process modeling." In
International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (2011):452-466.
Patten, Mildred L. Questionnaire research: A practical guide. UK: Routledge, 2016.
Zugal, Stefan, Pnina Soffer, Cornelia Haisjackl, Jakob Pinggera, Manfred Reichert, and
Barbara Weber. "Investigating expressiveness and understandability of hierarchy in
declarative business process models." Software & Systems Modeling 14, no. 3 (2015): 1081-
1103.
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