Styles of problem solving and their influence on the design process

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on individual styles of problem solving and their influences on the design process. In an empirical study, engineering design students worked on two computer simulated problems, which were used to investigate the subjects' problem solving behaviour in a non design context, and an adaptive design problem. The results demonstrate that individual styles of problem solving determine the way in which designers organise their design processes. Linking the subjects' proceeding to their performance, it furthermore turned out that—depending on the demand characteristics of the situation—each style of problem solving may be adequate in some situations and inadequate in other ones. Results suggest that diagnosing and training individual problem solving behaviour may be an essential contribution to optimise individual design processes and therefore should be a part of design education as well as of further vocational training. This paper is based on Eisentraut [1]and was updated and revised for this Special Issue.