Empirical Studies of Software Engineering Expertise

[1]
Article Name: Trait Complexes, Cognitive Investment, and Domain Knowledge
Author(s): Philip Ackerman and Margaret E. Beier
Chapter 1, Page 1

Premise:
Seek to understand the development of expertise as an interaction between individual characteristics (abilities, personality, interests, self-concept, and so forth) and the environment, as jointly influencing which person develop expertise and which persons do not.

Methods:
Different types of tests tested on adults on general aptitude vs their domain knowledge.

Ideas:
Testing to prove either ability or achievement has its drawbacks because ability tests don't show what people have learned and achievement tests only focuses on the specialized knowledge domains. [Difficult to do both at same time] p2

Intelligence tests (ie SAT + GRE) "yield results that substantially underestimate the intellect of adults" p26 -- more comprehensive tests must be created to be able to encompass domain knowledge and expertise.
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[2]
Article Name: On Abilities and Domains
Author(s) : Michael W. Connell, Kimberly Sheridan, and Howard Gardner
Chapter 5, Page 126

Premise:
An "alternative approach for linking abilities to potential for expertise by identifying two quantitatively different kinds of human abilities (modular and integrative) that we believe correlate with corresponding categories of problems (modular tasks and integrative situations, respectively). " Also, "individuals with highly developed specific capacities are more likely to be attracted to and excel in targeted task areas, whereas individuals with strong integrative capacities are more likely to be attracted to and excel in professions that require situational competencies". p127

Methods:
Studies different individuals in different job areas who are successful.

Ideas:
Some people "assume that every human has the same set of abilities as every other human (that is, expertise is independent of ability, and mostly or only a function of practice)" p135
While others "assume that there is a tight coupling between general abilities (for example, general intelligence) and attainable expertise in any domain." p135
The third perspective "hold that individuals have profiles of specific abilities (for example, mathematics or music) that enable them to excel in particular domains (for example, in the field of mathematics or in musical composition, resepectively)." [This is the view of the article]. p135
-----------which one do i think?

List on page 153 of general ides of article:
1. it should be possible to focus not on raw abilities per se but rather on the fit between an individual's profile and the available career options.
2. Both within and across domains, it would be useful to develop measures of task-competence, on the one hand, and situational competence on the other.
3. For both cognitive and personality considerations, individuals may differen in their proclivities towards task- or situational-competence. Using our notion of an ability space, points close to an axis reflect a highly peaked ability profile and suggest an individual "at promise" for task-like pursuits. In contrast, individuals with points further from an axis and a flatter profile of intelligences, may suggest more potential for situateional mastery and integration of information across domains.
4. Greater efforts ought to be expended in modeling and training situational competence, synthesizing and integrating capacities and in documenting success in doing so. Computer-aided simulations are a promising means for accomplishing this end.
5. It may be useful to create a map charting the demands of different domains and sub-domains, in terms of both content demends and task-situation demands. On this map one could overlay a map of individual ability profiles known to be successful in those domains. In this way one might be able to develop assessments that have an early predictie ability using the formal mesaures of fit that have been defined.

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[3]
Article Name: Expertise, Competence, and Creative Ability The Perplexing Complexities
Author(s) Dean Keith Simonton
Chapter 8, Page 213

Premise:
"The phoenomenon of creativity highlights some critical issues about the nature of abilities, expertise, and competencies" p214.
-basically how much is all this affected by creativity? was einstein just very smart or did his creativity push his abilities further?

Methods
Empirical evidence from other studies. Studies aren't that interesting.

Ideas
How can creativity be tested?
-domain specific aptitude tests?
-personality tests?

Does creativity require expertise?
Though certain findings seem to say that "creativity is merely an expertise", this guy differs by saying that creativity is not always come from expertise. 222