Understanding Human Behaviours in Engineering Design to Aid its Teaching and Research

dc.contributor.advisorLi, Simon
dc.contributor.authorGress, Gary Robert
dc.contributor.committeememberRadford, Scott K.
dc.contributor.committeememberWood, David H.
dc.contributor.committeememberOnen, Denis
dc.contributor.committeememberMarsden, Catharine C.
dc.date2020-11
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-14T22:37:32Z
dc.date.available2020-09-14T22:37:32Z
dc.date.issued2020-09-11
dc.description.abstractThe objective of this thesis is to better understand the process of engineering conceptual design in terms of human abilities and behaviours so as to provide insights and improvements in its practice, education and research. The thesis aims to help educators better guide novice designers towards proficiency by allowing for their natural predispositions, if any, and to contribute towards a common theoretical foundation upon which future design research can be conducted. To do this the thesis seeks to identify and understand those predispositions, and to determine their underlying causes where possible. This necessarily involves an outside-of-design multi-disciplinary approach, and includes several facets. Literature in the fields of child development and neuro-psychology are reviewed for their similarities or possible causative links to designer behaviours already elucidated in an initial design-research literature review. This is followed by a self-observation study of the researcher while undertaking an actual design project, to provide any insights or context and to illuminate any aspects that may require further investigation. That study uncovered the extreme importance of lengthy observation of the physical artifact – and of discussing the artifact with others – to successful outcomes for this designer. It lead to a subsequent extended review of the literature in the fields of memory, visualization and spoken language, which provided key information for the completion of near-identical object-learning and design problem-solving models. These models are shown to explain several design behaviours usually disparaged upon by design educators and researchers; they also provide guidelines for dealing with these behaviours and for design learning and instruction generally. These explanations and guidelines form the key contributions of this research. The research is completed by a series of interviews with practicing designers to discern their design approaches, which are found to align with the published literature, this researcher’s own design approach, and the aforementioned models. Finally, it is also found that the models’ paired tenet of observing and conjecturing, aligning with Simon and Schön’s paradigms of recognition and reflection respectively, is likely an essential or core process of design.en_US
dc.identifier.citationGress, G. R. (2020). Understanding Human Behaviours in Engineering Design to Aid its Teaching and Research (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38194
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/112529
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineeringen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectdesigning, design learning, design teaching, engineering, conceptual design, underlying theory, visualization, verbalizationen_US
dc.subject.classificationSpeech Communicationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Curriculum and Instructionen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Early Childhooden_US
dc.subject.classificationEducational Psychologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Guidance and Counselingen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Industrialen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Teacher Trainingen_US
dc.subject.classificationSociology--Theory and Methodsen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Mechanicalen_US
dc.subject.classificationPsychology--Behavioralen_US
dc.subject.classificationPsychology--Cognitiveen_US
dc.subject.classificationPsychology--Developmentalen_US
dc.titleUnderstanding Human Behaviours in Engineering Design to Aid its Teaching and Researchen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Mechanical & Manufacturingen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ucalgary_2020_gress_gary.pdf
Size:
7.17 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.62 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: