Abstract
Collaborative problem solving is more important than ever as the problems we try to solve become increasingly complex. Meanwhile, personal and professional communication has moved from face-to-face to computer-mediated environments, but there is little understanding on how the characteristics of these environments affect the quality of interaction and joint problem solving. To develop this understanding, methods are needed for measuring success of collaboration. For this purpose, we created a collaborative block design task intended to evaluate and quantify pair performance. In this task, participants need to share information to complete visuospatial puzzles. Two versions of the task are described: a physical version and one that can be completed in virtual reality. A preliminary study was conducted with the physical version (N = 18 pairs) and the results were used to develop the task for a second study in virtual reality (N = 31 pairs). Performance measures were developed for the task, and we found that pair performance was normally distributed and positively associated with visuospatial skills, but not with other participant-specific background factors. The task specifications are released for the research community to apply and adapt in the study of computer-mediated social interaction.
Highlights
Collaborative problem solving is a vital future skill
Mean standard score in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) block design subtest was 12.6 (SD = 2.8, min = 5, max = 19) indicating that the participants had better than average visuospatial skills as compared to the Finnish norms (Wechsler, 2005). 29 % of participants were using virtual reality (VR) for the first time in the experiment, 53 % had tried VR 1–3 times before, 15% had used VR several times before, and 3% reported that they used VR frequently
In the second study we explored whether the task was adequately difficult to produce variance in pair performance (RQ3) and whether perceived task load differed from the physical version (RQ4)
Summary
Collaborative problem solving is a vital future skill. For instance, in professional contexts, the problems that people focus on are growing in complexity, and finding optimal solutions requires input from multiple people. Collaborative problem-solving in online environments has previously been investigated using a very wide variety of tasks These include traditional cognitive tests such as matrix reasoning and memory tasks (Chikersal et al, 2017; Engel et al, 2014), creative discussion and production (Siddiq and Scherer, 2017), business cases (González et al, 2003), an electronics problem (Andrews-Todd and Forsyth, 2020), and visuo-spatial tasks (Shen et al, 2018; Heldal et al, 2005). The tasks used in studies by Chikersal et al (2017); Engel et al (2014); Siddiq and Scherer (2017); Buisine et al (2012); González et al (2003); Heldal et al (2005), while used to study cooperation, do not necessarily demand interaction and joint problem solving This means that a single highly skilled individual could potentially complete the task alone and perform well without input from the other team members. Other background variables: gender (p-values > 0.31), education (p-values > 0.07), age (p-values > 0.23) and experience with VR (p-values > 0.16) were not associated with pair performance in any of the three models with either mean, minimum, or maximum WAIS block design raw score as an independent variable
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