A Generic Tool to Study Human Design Activities

DS 58-9: Proceedings of ICED 09, the 17th International Conference on Engineering Design, Vol. 9, Human Behavior in Design, Palo Alto, CA, USA, 24.-27.08.2009

Year: 2009
Editor: Norell Bergendahl, M.; Grimheden, M.; Leifer, L.; Skogstad, P.; Lindemann, U.
Author: Kan, Jeff Wai Tak; Gero, John S.
Series: ICED
Section: Human Behavior in Design
Page(s): 123-134

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of using an ontologically-based generic approach to carry out protocol analyses of designers. The Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) ontology has been proposed as the basis of a generic coding scheme that transcends the domain of application, the task being studied, and the number of designers being studied. This paper presents results of testing this generic coding scheme in both in vitro and in situ conditions. After coding, these protocols was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Markov chains and the results compared. This work demonstrates the applicability of using the FBS coding scheme as a foundation for studying human design activities.

Keywords: protocol coding, generic coding, protocol analysis, design ontology

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