Characterizing the Use of Contextual Factors During Engineering Design

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The successful design of engineered technology depends on designers’ appropriate consideration of context - i.e., the total physical, social, and economic environment of the technology’s anticipated use. Little is known, however, about how and when experienced engineering designers incorporate contextual factors into their designs. Through extensive interviews with experienced engineering designers, this research aims to understand how they incorporate contextual information to inform design decisions throughout an engineering design process. Findings from this work, especially when compared against previous research with novice engineering designers, will result in recommendations for good practices in engineering design. For novice engineering designers, the recommendations are expected to accelerate their learning. For experienced engineering designers, the recommendations will improve product design, which in turn, will impact consumers through the creation of more contextually appropriate products, processes, and systems. The research will involve qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, observations, and document reviews across three engineering design domains - medical devices, consumer products, and information and communication technologies. Sixty experienced design practitioners (20 from each domain) will be recruited to participate in a retrospective project-based semi-structured interview designed to focus on one or two specific design experiences during which designers incorporated contextual factors. Additionally, case study research of two ongoing design projects will be conducted to collect more details regarding designers’ incorporation of contextual factors. The data gathered will be analyzed through descriptive coding and iterative thematic analysis to generate rich and nuanced understandings about the uses of contextual information within engineering design processes by experienced design practitioners. The analysis will result in a refined classification of contextual factors; strategies for gathering, synthesizing, and applying contextual information within engineering design processes; and rich narratives of context use-case scenarios. Results will provide insight into the extent to which behaviors are transferable across multiple engineering design domains, engineering designers with varying levels of experience, and various use settings. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.