Showing papers on "Tacit knowledge published in 1985"

Practical intelligence in real-world pursuits: The role of tacit knowledge.

Abstract: We carried out three experiments to examine the role of tacit knowledge (knowledge that usually is not openly expressed or taught) in intellectual competence in real-world pursuits. In Experiment 1, subjects were divided into three groups, whose 187 members differed in amounts of experience and formal training in academic psychology. Differences in tacit knowledge useful for managing oneself, others, and one's career were related to criterion measures of performance for both academic psychologists and psychology graduate students. In Experiment 2, the subjects were 127 individuals differing in amounts of experience and formal training in business management. Differences in tacit knowledge were related to criterion measures of performance for business managers. In Experiment 3, the results of the second experiment were cross-validated on a group of 29 bank managers for whom detailed performance evaluation information was available. Again, tacit knowledge differences were related to criterion measures of job performance. Tacit knowledge was not related to verbal intelligence as measured by a standard verbal reasoning test. We conclude that a comprehensive theory of practical intelligence in real-world pursuits will encompass general aptitudes, formal knowledge, and tacit knowledge that is used in managing oneself, others, and one's career. Consider two observations. First, with surprising frequency, individuals with histories of distinguished performance in formal schooling are only moderately successful in their occupations, and conversely, individuals who are highly successful in their occupations have unremarkable academic records. Second, many professionals report that much, if not most, of the learning that matters to their careers took place after completion of their formal training. Comparing the relations between performance on IQ tests, on the one hand, and performance in schooling and in real-world pursuits, on the other, suggests there may be more than a hint of truth in these observations. Whereas IQ test scores are moderately correlated (.4-.7) with various measures of

Knowledge creation and knowledge use in professioal contexts

Abstract: This paper presents a radical reconceptualisation of the theory-practice problem in initial and continuing professional education, based on considering the influence of academic and professional contexts on knowledge operation and knowledge use. The first part is concerned with making important conceptual distinctions, the second with implications for the practice of professional education and the relationships between higher education and the professions. The conceptual section of the paper first distinguishes different kinds of professional knowledge with particular attention to generalisability (knowledge of particular cases, knowledge of precepts, knowledge of theory) and explicitness (codified knowledge, knowledge embedded in traditions, craft Knowledge, tacit knowledge, etc.). Then it takes Broudy's four modes of knowledge use—replication, application, interpretation, association—and illustrates their significance for understanding the theory-practice relationship in a number of professions...

Enhanced Maintenance and Explanation of Expert Systems Through Explicit Models of Their Development

Abstract: Principled development techniques could greatly enhance the understandability of expert systems for both users and system developers. Current systems have limited explanatory capabilities and present maintenance problems because of a failure to explicitly represent the knowledge and reasoning that went into their design. This paper describes a paradigm for constructing expert systems which attempts to identify that tacit knowledge, provide means for capturing it in the knowledge bases of expert systems, and, apply it towards more perspicuous machine-generated explanations and more consistent and maintainable system organization.

Explainable (and maintainable) expert systems

Abstract: Principled development techniques could greatly enhance the understandability of expert systems for both users and system developers. Current systems have limited explanatory capabilities and present maintenance problems because of a failure to explicitly represent the knowledge and reasoning that went into their design. This paper describes a paradigm for constructing expert systems which attempts to identify that tacit knowledge, provide means for capturing it in the knowledge bases of expert systems, and apply it towards more perspicuous machine-generated explanations and more consistent and maintainable system organization.

Tacit knowledge in social work research and practice

Abstract: (1985). Tacit knowledge in social work research and practice. Smith College Studies in Social Work: Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 137-149.

Testing Design Alternatives: A Comparison of Procedures

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a way to test design alternatives that are available. Since the mid-1970s, there has been remarkable growth in developing new process measures to aid document design. These process measures provide those interested in text design with the means to conduct direct assessments of the processes subjects use as they attempt to handle the documents with which they are faced. Such direct tests are not aimed at replacing decisions made on the basis of tacit knowledge gained by those who design documents. Rather, these procedures can come to play a useful role in providing evidence on difficult aspects of a particular text design, in helping to externalize the knowledge that good designers of text have gained, and in deriving general principles of document design.

Skepticism and Political Participation

Abstract: Introduction 1. A Neopragmatist Defense of Democratic Participation 2. The Political Implications of Wittgenstein's Skepticism 3. Participation and Tacit Knowledge in Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes 4. The Role of Tacit Knowledge in the Argument of Federalist Number Ten 5. Leadership, Knowledge, and Truth in Gramsci's Political Thought 6. Nietzsche, Foucault, and the Prospects of Postmodern Political Philosophy 7. Maimonides and Lyotard: Convergences between the Premodern and the Postmodern Notes Index

Creating context within text : an investigation of primary-grade children's character introductions in stories

Abstract: This study examined primary-grade children's ability to construct felicitous, or audience-accommodating, character introductions in their stories. Character introductions were identified in original dictated and written stories collected from 36 children at Spring Grade 1, Fall Grade 2, and Spring Grade 2. The qualitative portion of the analysis showed (1) that children have tacit knowledge of the range of linguistic variation available for character introductions and that they make use of this knowledge even though it often leads to ambiguous introductions; and (2) that construction of felicitous character introductions includes audience accommodation as well as text accommodation. The quantitative analysis indicated (1) that a temporary setback in constructing felicitous introductions can be expected as children take on the multiple demands of the written mode; and (2) that the increase of felicitous character introductions over time can best be described as a growing ability to coordinate multiple narrative functions within an introductory clause. The findings support the view that language development cannot be analyzed as a stepwise addition of skills but must be analyzed as a dynamic process involving interactions between multiple social, linguistic, and cognitive dimensions. Children's first linguistic messages are interpreted primarily from clues found in the physical context of the speech event, accompanying gestures and behaviors, and shared knowledge of experiences and intentions (CookGumperz, 1977; Donaldson, 1978). With development, however, more of the meaning is encoded in the linguistic channel, and language becomes less dependent on a contextual crutch and, therefore, more autonomous. Although a progressive movement from context-dependent language to autonomous language occurs, this progression does not indicate the replacement of the former by the latter; rather the process is better described as broadening the ability to express meaning in a variety of situations. Children become more adept at communicating meaning in ordinary face-to-face conversations (situations usually characterized by context-dependent language) as well as in expressing meaning in situations such as writing in which participants are separated in time and space and share only "common" knowledge (situations usually requiring autonomous language). Research in the Teaching of English, Vol. 22, No. 2, May 1988

Om kommunikation, 3 : Selected papers from a seminar arranged by the Department of Communication Studies on 24-25 May, 1984

Abstract: The guiding concept for the seminar was that of 'understanding'. The contributors to this report discuss various aspects of the understanding of hidden meanings and implicit messages, the acquisition of tacit knowledge in specific contexts as well as the role played in understanding by background knowledge and fundamental assumptions. One of the papers deals specifically with pictorial communication. Three papers are related to the acquisition, learning and teaching of seeond or foreign languages.

Interpretive Approaches: A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Abstract: An interpretive approach to studying human activity is a potentially powerful set of procedures for the social sciences. The proponents of this methodology focus on levels of “discourse constraints” that give meaning to public behavior in their attempt to link the “explanation” of texts to an “understanding” of context. The argument can be extended to the search by cognitive scientists and psycholinguists for constraints on the “discourse of thought,” including the interrelationship of thought and the context within which thinking takes place. The “texts” of human behavior, linguistic or otherwise, seem to cohere. Discovering how the principles of coherence are acquired by individuals as they develop, and how this “tacit knowledge” informs “public action,” will require joint effort by many social scientists, including psychologists. A rigorous interpretive approach also requires that we acknowledge how, as researchers, we add layers of meaning to the activities we observe.