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Abstract Designers often gather information, for instance through stakeholder or domain expert meetings, to understand their design problems and develop effective solutions. However, few previous studies have provided in-depth descriptions of novice engineering designers’ approaches to conducting information gathering meetings. In this preliminary study, we analyzed data from six capstone mechanical engineering design teams to identify the types of individuals from whom teams gathered information, when these meetings occurred, and how teams solicited information during meetings. Teams in our study exhibited a range of information gathering behaviors that aligned with recommended practices, particularly in their early meetings. We also observed relatively few instances of teams exhibiting behaviors that were less similar to recommended practices during their meetings. However, our findings revealed two key trends across teams that represented specific opportunities for improvement and that may reflect characteristic novice approaches to conducting information gathering meetings. First, teams explored domain experts’ perspectives in depth during meetings and met with additional domain experts to inform their projects. Teams' meetings with project partners contained few instances of deep exploratory information gathering behaviors in comparison. In addition, teams seemed to finalize design decisions during early design meetings and were less likely to conduct information gathering meetings during later design phases. The comprehensive descriptions of novice mechanical engineering designers’ approaches provided in our preliminary study provide an entry point for further investigations that can inform engineering training, tools, and pedagogy for conducting effective meetings. 

Information gathering activities in engineering design projects play an important role in the identification and definition of stakeholder needs and requirements. However, few studies have explored how students gather information from stakeholders and domain experts in capstone design settings. In this study, we analyzed audio recordings from 19 information gathering meetings submitted by six capstone design teams to investigate how student designers gathered information during these meetings. Our findings include 22 information gathering behaviors that student design teams exhibited during their meetings, half of which were more similar to recommended best practices for information gathering and half of which were less similar. Our findings, including the list of behaviors and associated examples, may be used to guide student designers in employing effective information gathering approaches.