Identifying Experts for the Design of Human-Centered Systems: The Pentapod Principle
Robert R. Hoffman 1
The identification of experts is crucial in many research projects and domain application areas. However, research reports often assert that the research participants were experts, when in fact the participants were graduate students, or individuals having only a few years of professional experience. This essay briefly discusses the conceptual definition of expertise, and questions the tendency of researchers to bifurcate humanity into novices versus experts. The essay then addresses the matter of how to identify experts, offering a method that is more robust and scientifically grounded than the common, and questionable reliance on the so-called “10-year” or "10,000 hours" rules for deciding who is, and who is not an expert. The approach presented here is based on five distinct classes of methods. The Pentapod Principle asserts that rigorous proficiency scaling should rely on methods from at least three of the classes. This approach should be useful in any investigation that intends to study experts and present conclusions about expertise.