More Like this

1. How Should We Measure Creativity in Design Studies? A Comparison of Social Science and Engineering Approaches

   https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2020-22446  

   Miller, Scarlett R. ; Hunter, Samuel T. ; Starkey, Elizabeth ; Ramachandran, Sharath ; Ahmed, Faez ; Fuge, Mark ( August 2020 , Proceedings of the ASME 2020 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE202-)

   null (Ed.)

   Design researchers have long sought to understand the mechanisms that support creative idea development. However, one of the key challenges faced by the design community is how to effectively measure the nebulous construct of creativity. The social science and engineering communities have adopted two vastly different approaches to solving this problem, both of which have been deployed throughout engineering design research. The goal of this paper was to compare and contrast these two approaches using design ratings of nearly 1000 engineering design ideas paired with a qualitative study with expert raters. The results of this study identify that while these two methods provide similar ratings of idea quality, there was a statistically significant negative relationship between these methods for ratings of idea novelty. Qualitative analysis of recordings from expert raters’ think aloud concept mapping points to potential sources of disagreement. In addition, the results show that while quasi-expert and expert raters provided similar ratings of design novelty, there was not significant agreement between these groups for ratings of design quality. The results of this study provide guidance for the deployment of idea ratings in engineering design research and evidence for the development and potential modification of engineering design creativity metrics. 

   more » « less
2. Work in Progress: Using Neuro-responses to Understand Creativity, the Engineering Design Process, and Concept Generation

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--35701  

   Hartog, Tess ; Marshall, Megan ; Alhashim, Amin ; Ahad, Md Tanvir ; Siddique, Zahed ( January 2020 , Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   Investigations of creativity have been an intriguing topic for a long time, but assessing creativity is extremely complex. Creativity is a cornerstone of engineering disciplines, so understanding creativity and how to enhance creative abilities through engineering education has received substantial attention. Fields outside of engineering are no stranger to neuro-investigations of creativity and although some neuro-response studies have been conducted to understand creativity in engineering, these studies need to map the engineering design and concept generation processes better. Using neuroimaging techniques alongside engineering design and concept generation processes is necessary for understanding how to improve creative idea generation and creativity studies in engineering. In this paper, a survey is provided of the literature for the different neurological approaches that have been used to study the engineering design process and creative processes. Also presented are proposed strategies to apply these neurological approaches to engineering design to understand the creative process in greater detail. Furthermore, results from a pilot study investigating neuro-responses of engineers are presented. 

   more » « less
3. Calibrating Novelty Metrics Using Human Raters: A Case Study

   Ramachandran, S.K. ; Ahmed, F. ; Fuge, M. ; Hunter, S. ; Miller, S.R. ( January 2019 , ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Design Conference)

   One of the key challenges facing the engineering design community is how to effectively measure the nebulous construct of design novelty. The community has adopted two vastly different approaches to solving this problem; a more quantitative approach that relies on feature-trees and a more subjective approach that uses human raters. The goal of this study was to identify a method for using human raters as a means of calibrating feature-tree based novelty metrics in engineering design. This was accomplished through a study where four raters were asked to follow a think-out-loud protocol while they physically created idea maps for 10 design concepts based on the similarity of these concepts. Content analysis was used to identify the relative importance of idea properties that informed judgements of concept similarity. This analysis was then compared to the weights used in traditional feature-tree based novelty methods. These results of this study can be used to calibrate existing metrics against expert ratings to provide justification for the categorizes used in the creation of a feature tree in engineering design research and also justify the weights used in the computation of design novelty. 

   more » « less
4. Can We Get an Intervention, Please? The Utility of Teaming Interventions on Engineering Design Student Psychological Safety.

   Scarpinella, S. ; Cole, C. ; Ritter, S. ; Mohammed, S. ; Jablokow, K. ; Miller, S. ( August 2022 , International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference)

   Research on psychological safety has been growing in recent years due to its role in promoting creativity and innovation, among other items. This is because teams with high levels of psychological safety feel safe to express ideas and opinions. While we are becoming more aware of the importance of psychological safety in teaming, there is limited evidence in how to facilitate or build it within teams, particularly in an educational context. This paper was developed to respond to this research void by identifying the impact of teaming interventions aimed at improving psychological safety in engineering design student teams. Specifically, we studied two cohorts of students in a cornerstone design class (N = 414 students), one who received a series of video interventions and introduced role playing (intervention) and one who did not (control). These role assignments — referred to as the Lenses of Psychologically Safety - were created to promote key leadership attributes that have been shown to be crucial in facilitating psychologically safe teams. To compare the utility of the intervention, Psychological Safety was gathered at 5 key time points of a multi-week design project. The results identified three key findings. First, the interventions were successful in increasing psychological safety in engineering teams. In addition, the results indicated the utility of the Lenses of Psychological Safety throughout the design process. Finally, the results identified that groups who used these lenses had higher perceptions of Psychological Safety in their teams. Overall, these results indicated that psychological safety can be improved in engineering education through the intervention methods described within. 

   more » « less
5. Exploring the Development of Engineering Design Creativity and the Role of Spatial Skills in this Process

   Reid, Clodagh ; Sorby, Sheryl ( September 2023 , SEFI Conference Proceedings)

   This study aims to investigate the development of creativity in engineering education and how spatial skills relate to creativity of design solutions. Undergraduate students in the first (n=86) and fourth/fifth year (n=48) of their engineering programme were invited to participate. Students completed four spatial tests to precisely measure visualisation skills. In a separate session, students were invited back to solve two engineering design tasks: a ping pong problem where they designed a ping pong ball launcher game to meet specified criteria and a rain catcher problem where they were tasked with developing as many ideas for capturing rainwater as a water source for a remote location as they could. Students were asked not to consider feasibility, cost, etc. and to come up multiple radical solutions to the rainwater capture problem. The creativity of design solutions was assessed using Adaptive Comparative Judgement. Statistical analysis indicated significant relationships between spatial skills, students’ year of study and gender. A statistically significant relationship was also found between students’ creativity scores on both design challenges. No statistical differences were determined in the creativity of first and fourth/fifth year students’ solutions. These findings will be discussed relative to existing research, future work, and potential implications for education practice. 

   more » « less