Research: Engineering Students' Beliefs about Decision-Making

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Engineers' decisions drive the design of our ever-changing world and influence our quality of life. When making decisions, everyone, including engineers, uses at least three distinct forms of reasoning: rational, intuitive and emotive. Each reasoning pattern plays a valuable role in decision-making, and people's underlying beliefs about different forms of reasoning informs their approach to decision-making. Since our society relies on engineers to make robust decisions, a critical part of the professional formation of engineers is development of beliefs about different reasoning strategies. However, we do not know much about engineering students' beliefs in this area. What we do know is that undergraduate engineering students typically receive little formal instruction on how to make complex decisions. What instruction they do receive is often limited to analysis in contexts of abundant information or the introduction of rational decision-making tools. Typical engineering instruction may convey to students, who make decisions rationally, intuitively, and emotionally, that rational approaches alone are valuable. The sole focus on rational forms of reasoning may discourage some students from continuing in engineering. This project will investigate the beliefs that engineering students hold about decision-making and how these beliefs are influenced by their experiences with the engineering curricula. Findings from this project will be leveraged to change how decision-making is taught so engineering curricula will be more inclusive and realistic.To characterize engineering students' beliefs about different forms of reasoning for decision-making near the end of undergraduate engineering formation, this qualitative, exploratory study will: (i) develop and validate interview and reflection protocols, (ii) collect and analyze data using these protocols through semi-structured, one-on-one interviews and written reflections both during a capstone design experience and one year later, and (iii) engage capstone design instructors in translating the findings to recommendations for practice. The research team will utilize a framework for decision-making that values at least three different forms of reasoning: rational, intuitive, and emotive to guide their investigation. The pilot study in Year 1 will validate the data collection protocols before performing a larger study in Year 2. In both studies, written reflections will be submitted by participants at regular intervals to capture their beliefs about decision-making in the context of a capstone design experience. Also, interviews will be conducted both before and after participants receive formal instruction on decision-making in their capstone design courses. After written reflections and interview data have been analyzed, findings from the study are expected to shed light on students' beliefs. The findings will then be translated to concrete recommendations for the teaching and learning of decision-making in engineering through the engagement of capstone design practitioners with backgrounds; including industrial design, engineering industry, and entrepreneurship. The purpose is to change how engineering decision-making is taught and to hopefully change students' beliefs about engineering decision-making and their commitment to engineering. This work could be instrumental in transforming engineering education to be more inclusive though improving the ways in which undergraduates develop their beliefs about different forms of reasoning.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.