Understanding and Improving the Mechanical Design Process

本项目将研究设计历史对人工制品再设计质量的使用和影响。在对照实验中，设计师将获得“设计历史”，并被要求执行重新设计任务。基于先前研究中收集的方案数据和FMC公司提供的10个设计的回顾性研究的设计历史将在计算机化浏览工具中正式表示。通过比较使用历史的设计师和不使用历史的控制组的表现，将评估使用设计历史对重新设计质量的影响。

This project will study the use and effect of design histories on the quality of artifact re-designs. In controlled experiments, designers will be given access to a "design history" and asked to perform a re-design task. Design histories, based on the protocol data gathered in a previous study and on a retrospective study of ten designs provided by FMC Corporation, will be formally represented in a computerized browsing tool. By comparing the performance of designers who use the history with a control group that does not use the history, the effects of using a design history on the quality of re-design will be evaluated.