SGER: Operation Variables and Metrics for Evaluating/ Optimizing Group Creativity Techniques in Engineering Design

该项目将制定一套指导方针，用于进行实证研究，以评估在协作环境中产生想法的正式方法。为了对idea generation methods进行好的实验，需要对实验变量、方法变量、数据收集变量有一个清晰的认识。此外，还需要一个框架来分析从这些实验中收集的数据。研究分为四个主要任务：创造性认知模型的调查与评价；确定操作变量、指标和实验设计；设计草图分析框架的开发；分析和批判之前关于进步思想产生的实验（C-Sketch， Method 635和Gallery Method）。这个项目将研究如何扩大适当的认知模型来研究典型的设计问题，这些问题比心理学实验中使用的问题要复杂得多。本研究将尝试了解与协同设计相关的四组因素之间的相关性：个体、情境/环境、结果和过程。本研究还将开发一种分析设计草图的方法，用于研究通过跟踪设计概念在连续发展阶段的演变而产生的认知过程、心理结构和想法。研究表明，概念设计的早期阶段对产品的功效有重大影响；开发有效的设计方法来支持替代设计思想的产生是至关重要的。与此同时，设计师必须确信使用这些方法有潜在的好处。因此，收集和分析关于创意生成技术有效性的数据是至关重要的。可用的实验方法和指标来评估和/或优化创造性设计方法是朝着这个方向迈出的重要一步。如果成功，未来的研究将采用这些指导方针来产生可验证的正式创意方法性能数据库，这可能最终导致更广泛地使用有效的创意生成方法来探索替代设计。

This project will formulate a set of guidelines for conducting empirical studies to evaluate formal methods for idea generation in collaborative environments. In order to conduct good experiments on idea generation methods, a clear understanding of experiment variables, method variables, and data collection variables is needed. Also, a framework to analyze the data collected from such experiments is required. The research is divided into four major tasks: survey and evaluation of creative cognition models; identification of operation variables, metrics, and experiment design; development of a framework for analysis of design sketches; analysis and critique of previous experiments on progressive idea generation (C-Sketch, Method 635, and Gallery Method). This project will investigate the issue of scaling up appropriate cognitive models to study typical design problems which are far more complex than those used in psychological experiments. This study will attempt to understand the correlation between four sets of factors relevant to collaborative design: the individuals, the situation/environment, the outcome, and the process. This research will also develop a methodology for analyzing design sketches for studying the cognitive processes, mental structures, and ideas generated by tracking the evolution of design concept at successive stages of development. Studies have shown that the early stages of conceptual design have a substantial impact on the efficacy of a product; development of effective design methods to support the generation of alternative design ideas is critical. Along with that, designers must be convinced that the use of these methods has potential benefits. Therefore, it is essential to collect and analyze data on the effectiveness of idea generation techniques. The availability of experiment methodology and metrics for evaluating and/or optimizing creative design methods is an important step in this direction. If successful, future research will employ these guidelines to produce verifiable database of performance of formal creativity methods which may eventually lead to wider use of effective idea generation methods to explore alternative designs.