CAREER: The Role of Design Representation in the Synthesis Process

Montana State University, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

The research proposed is a cross-disciplinary study of the design processes used by student design teams at Montana State University. The study unit will cover senior design projects (or 'capstone' courses) in 5 engineering disciplines and 2 non-engineering disciplines. The investigator proposes to study the role representation plays in designers' reasoning and creative processes based on an emerging theory of design representation. Data collection and analysis activities will test and further develop this theory, while controlling for other factors that impact the success of design projects. Data collection will focus on characterizing the design process of each student team, and measuring project outcomes. Design process data will include design representations used, time/effort expended designing with these representations, design progressions, and timing of key decisions. Project attribute data will also be collected, such as team composition and diversity, motivation, technical skills, resources available, and so forth. Qualitative thematic analysis will look for patterns that distinguish "good" projects from "poor" projects. Statistical analysis will correlate design process attributes to project outcomes such as person-hours spent on the project, creativity and completeness of the final design, feasibility of final design, and whether design objectives have been met. The proposed education activity will incorporate the research results into instructional materials and/or intervention strategies designed to enhance students' synthesis capability. These will be implemented into one or more courses, and outcomes assessed to determine the impact of the intervention and/or new materials. This will also serve as a test for the newly developed theory on the synthesis process.