CONTINUITY IN MIS/DSS LABORATORY RESEARCH: THE CASE FOR A COMMON GAMING SIMULATOR*
指出MIS/DSS实验室研究因成本高和外部效度问题而不足，提出开发通用、便携、灵活的模拟器可降低成本、增强研究连续性和可比性，并介绍了一个有潜力的软件包。
ABSTRACT To date, case analyses and field studies have predominated in MIS/DSS research. Laboratory studies seem not to have been given the attention they deserve. This trend is partially due to: (1) the high costs associated with developing decision simulators and related software to support laboratory research and (2) difficult problems with external validity because of unrealistically simple simulated decision environments and DSS software. Since MIS/DSS laboratory research has been most successful when studies have occurred in an interrelated stream, the development of common, portable, and flexible simulators seems desirable. Common simulators would reduce the time and cost of developing experiments, provide for research continuity, comparability, and replication, and facilitate researcher‐to‐researcher communication. Sufficiently complex simulators and DSS software would reduce problems with external validity by providing more realistic laboratory models. This paper presents a software package that offers considerable potential as a common tool for DSS research.