Directed epistemic network analysis

Quantitative ethnographers across a range of domains study complex collaborative thinking (CCT): the processes by which members of a group or team develop shared understanding by making cognitive connections from the statements and actions of the group. CCT is difficult to model because the actions of group members are interdependent—the activity of any individual is influenced by the actions of other members of the group. Moreover, the actions of group members engaged in some collaborative tasks may need to follow a particular order. However, current techniques can account for either interdependence or order, but not both. In this paper, we present directed epistemic network analysis (dENA), an extension of epistemic network analysis (ENA), as a method that can simultaneously account for the interdependent and ordered aspects of CCT. To illustrate the method, we compare a qualitative analysis of two U.S. Navy commanders working in a simulation to ENA and dENA analyses of their performance. We find that by accounting for interdependence but not order, ENA was not able to model differences between the commanders seen in the qualitative analysis, but by accounting for both interdependence and order, dENA was able to do so.