Information AboutExpert |
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INTRODUCTION Experts have prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field. In specific fields, the definition of expert is well established by consensus and therefore it is not necessary for an individual to have a professional or academic qualification for them to be accepted as an expert. In this respect, a shepherd with 50 years of experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep. Another example from Computer Science is that an Expert System may be taught by a human and thereafter considered an expert, often outperforming human beings at particular tasks. In Law , an Expert Witness must be recognized by Argument and Authority . EXPERTISE Expertise consists of those characteristics, skills and knowledge of a person (that is, expert) or of a system, which distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people. In many domains there are objective measures of performance capable of distinguishing experts from novices:expert chess players will almost always win games against recreational chess players; expert Medical Specialist s are more likely to diagnose a disease correctly and so on. There are broadly two academic approaches to the understanding and study of expertise. The first understands expertise as an emergent property of Communities Of Practice . In this view expertise is socially constructed; tools for thinking and scripts for action are jointly constructed within social groups enabling that group jointly to define and acquire expertise in some domain. In the second view expertise is a characteristic of individuals and is a consequence of the human capacity for extensive adaptation to physical and social environments. Many accounts of the development of expertise emphasise that it comes about though long periods of deliberate practice. In many domains of expertise estimates of 10 years experience or 10,000 hours deliberate practice are common. Typically recent research on expertise emphasises the nurture side of the Nature Versus Nurture argument.Anders Ericsson, Charness, Feltovich and Hoffman, 2006 It should be noted that some factors not fitting the nature versus nurture dichotomy are important as well. These typically are biological but not genetic factors, and include starting age, handedness, and season of birth.Gobet F. & Chassy, P. (in press). Gobet F. & Campitelli, G. (2007). A number of computational models have been developed in Cognitive Science to explain the development from novice to expert. In particular, Herbert Simon and Kevin Gilmartin proposed a model of learning in chess called MAPP (Memory-Aided Pattern Recognizer). Simon and Gilmartin, 1973 Based on simulations, they estimated that about 50,000 Chunks (units of memory) are necessary to become an expert, and hence the many years needed to reach this level. More recently, the CHREST Model (Chunk Hierarchy and REtrieval STructures) has simulated in detail a number a phenomena in chess expertise (eye movements, performance in a variety of memory tasks, development from novice to expert) and in other domains.Gobet and Simon (2000) Gobet, de Voogt, & Retschitzki (2004) Work on Expert Systems typically works from the premise that expertise is based on acquired repertoires of rules and frameworks for decision making which can be elicited as the basis for computer supported judgement and decision-making. However, there is increasing evidence that expertise does not work in this fashion. Rather, experts recognise situations based on experience of many prior situations. They are in consequence able to make rapid decisions in complex and dynamic situtions relying on Recognition-primed Decision-making . In a critique of the expert systems literature, Dreyfus and Dreyfus Dreyfus and Dreyfus (2005) suggest: If one asks an expert for the rules he or she is using, one will, in effect, force the expert to regress to the level of a beginner and state the rules learned in school. Thus, instead of using rules he or she no longer remembers, as the knowledge engineers suppose, the expert is forced to remember rules he or she no longer uses. … No amount of rules and facts can capture the knowledge an expert has when he or she has stored experience of the actual outcomes of tens of thousands of situations.”Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 2005: 788 An important feature of expert performance seems to be the way in which experts are able to rapidly retrieve complex configurations of information from long term memory. They recognise situations because they have meaning. It is perhaps this central concern with meaning and how it attaches to situations which provides an important link between the individual and social approaches to the development of expertise. In line with the socially constructed view of expertise, expertise can also be understood a form of Power ; that is, experts have the ability to influence others as a result of their defined social status. GERMAIN'S SCALE Marie-Line Germain (Germain, 2006) developed a measure of perception of employee expertise called the Generalized Expertise Measure ('''GEM'''). She also found that there is a behavioral dimension found in "experts", in addition to the dimensions suggested by Swanson and Holton (2001). The 16-item scale contains objective expertise items and subjective expertise items. Objective items (the first 5 items of the measure below) were named Evidence-Based items. Subjective items (the remaining 11 items from the measure below) were named Self-Enhancement items because of their behavioral component. #This person has knowledge that is specific to his or her field of work. #This person shows that they have the education necessary to be an expert in his/her field. #This person has knowledge about his/her field. #This person has the qualifications required to be an expert in his/her field. #This person has been trained in his or her area of expertise. #This person is ambitious about their work in the company. #This person can assess whether a work-related situation is important or not. #This person is capable of improving himself or herself. #This person is charismatic. #This person can deduce things from work-related situations easily. #This person is intuitive in the job. #This person is able to judge what things are important in his/her job. #This person has the drive to become what he or she is capable of becoming in his/her field. #This person is self-assured. #This person has self-confidence. #This person is an expert who is outgoing. ;note:This material is copyrighted and must not be used without citing the author (Germain, 2006). With a sample of N=307, the scale reliability (internal consistency, Cronbach Alpha coefficient) of the 16-item scale was high (.91 for the five Evidence-Based items and .92 for the eleven Self-Enhancement items). ;References:
CONTRASTS AND COMPARISONS An expert differs from the specialist in that a specialist has to ''be able to solve'' a Problem and an expert has to ''know its solution''. The opposite of an expert is generally known as a Layperson , while someone who occupies a middle grade of understanding is generally known as a Technician and often employed to assist experts. A person may well be an expert in one field and a layperson in many other fields. The concepts of experts and expertise are debated within the field of Epistemology under the general heading of expert knowledge. In contrast, the opposite of a specialist would be a Generalist , somebody with expertise in many fields. The term is widely used informally, with people being described as 'experts' in order to bolster the relative value of their opinion, when no Objective criteria for their expertise is available. The term Crank is likewise used to disparage opinions. Academic Elitism arises when experts become convinced that only their opinion is useful, sometimes on matters beyond their personal expertise. By a similar token, a fear of experts can arise from fear of an intellectual elite's power. In earlier periods of history, simply being able to read made one part of an intellectual elite. The introduction of the Printing Press in Europe during the fifteenth century and the diffusion of printed matter contributed to higher literacy rates and wider access to the once-rarefied knowledge of academia. The subsequent spread of education and learning changed society, and initiated an era of widespread education whose elite would now instead be those who produced the written content itself for consumption, in education and all other spheres. In contrast to an expert, a Novice (known Colloquially as a Newbie ) is any person that is new to any science or field of study or activity or social cause and who is undergoing training in order to meet normal requirements of being regarded a mature and equal participant. USE IN LITERATURE described an expert as "A man fifty miles from home with a briefcase." SEE ALSO ;General: Scholar , Know-how , Skill , Competence , Excellence , Technical Government , Insider ;Criticism: Anti-intellectualism , Denialism NOTES REFERENCES
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