Research: Understanding Ambiguity in Engineering Problem Solving

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The grand challenges of the 21st century will be difficult to solve. Problems such as access to water and affordable healthcare have no simple solutions. Solving these problems will require engineers who are comfortable with ambiguity. Surprisingly, ambiguity has not been defined in the area of engineering problem solving. Lack of a definition makes it more difficult to teach students how to solve ambiguous problems. This project's goal is to identify different types of ambiguity in engineering. It will then be possible to determine how engineering knowledge relates to different ambiguity types. In turn, we can create new educational approaches that will prepare students to solve the grand challenges of the future.The goal of this project is to develop knowledge about how novice and expert problem solvers experience ambiguity. The results are being used to create a taxonomy of ambiguity. This taxonomy will guide researchers in future studies on how to teach students to solve ambiguous problems. The research question for this study is: What are the qualitatively different ways that novice and expert civil engineers experience ambiguity? The project uses phenomenography in combination with artifact elicitation interviews. Categories of ambiguity are being identified for novices (students) and experts (practicing engineers) in civil engineering. The result is a description of how ambiguity is experienced by these two groups when they have been engaged in solving engineering problems.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.