A Clinical-Experimental Analysis of Design Problem Solving.

Abstract

Two studies of design problem solving are reported. Experiment 1 presents an observational study of an actual client-designer work session. Analysis of the session transcript reveals a systematically structured interaction. The client and the designer decompose the overall design problem into sub-problems, each of which is smaller and somewhat more well-structured than the overall problem. Experiment 2 is a laboratory study. The 'client' role is simulated by an instruction booklet; subjects play the 'designer' role. Again, it is found that subjects spontaneously structure the elements of a design problem into sub-problems the nature of which is systematically related to aspects of problem structure. There is high intersubject agreement as to how the decomposition into sub-problems should proceed. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 24, 1978
Accession Number
ADA071674

Entities

People

  • Ashok Malhotra
  • John C. Thomas
  • John M. Carroll

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  • IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

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