Characterizing the Use of Contextual Factors During Engineering Design

工程技术的成功设计取决于设计者对环境的适当考虑--即，技术预期使用的总体物理、社会和经济环境。然而，很少有人知道，如何以及何时有经验的工程设计师将上下文因素纳入他们的设计。通过对经验丰富的工程设计师进行广泛的访谈，本研究旨在了解他们如何将上下文信息纳入整个工程设计过程中的设计决策。这项工作的结果，特别是与以前的研究与新手工程设计师相比，将导致在工程设计中的良好做法的建议。对于工程设计新手，这些建议有望加速他们的学习。对于经验丰富的工程设计师来说，这些建议将改善产品设计，从而通过创建更适合环境的产品，流程和系统来影响消费者。该研究将涉及定性方法，包括半结构化访谈，观察和三个工程设计领域的文件审查-医疗器械，消费产品和信息和通信技术。将招募60名经验丰富的设计从业者（每个领域20名）参加一个回顾性的基于项目的半结构化面试，旨在关注一个或两个特定的设计经验，在此期间，设计师纳入了上下文因素。此外，本研究亦会以两个正在进行的设计项目作个案研究，以收集更多有关设计师如何将情境因素融入设计的细节。收集的数据将通过描述性编码和迭代主题分析进行分析，以丰富和细致入微地理解经验丰富的设计从业者在工程设计过程中使用上下文信息。分析将导致上下文因素的细化分类;在工程设计过程中收集，合成和应用上下文信息的策略;以及上下文用例场景的丰富叙述。结果将提供深入了解的程度，行为是跨多个工程设计领域，工程设计师具有不同的经验水平，和各种使用settings.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The successful design of engineered technology depends on designers’ appropriate consideration of context - i.e., the total physical, social, and economic environment of the technology’s anticipated use. Little is known, however, about how and when experienced engineering designers incorporate contextual factors into their designs. Through extensive interviews with experienced engineering designers, this research aims to understand how they incorporate contextual information to inform design decisions throughout an engineering design process. Findings from this work, especially when compared against previous research with novice engineering designers, will result in recommendations for good practices in engineering design. For novice engineering designers, the recommendations are expected to accelerate their learning. For experienced engineering designers, the recommendations will improve product design, which in turn, will impact consumers through the creation of more contextually appropriate products, processes, and systems. The research will involve qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, observations, and document reviews across three engineering design domains - medical devices, consumer products, and information and communication technologies. Sixty experienced design practitioners (20 from each domain) will be recruited to participate in a retrospective project-based semi-structured interview designed to focus on one or two specific design experiences during which designers incorporated contextual factors. Additionally, case study research of two ongoing design projects will be conducted to collect more details regarding designers’ incorporation of contextual factors. The data gathered will be analyzed through descriptive coding and iterative thematic analysis to generate rich and nuanced understandings about the uses of contextual information within engineering design processes by experienced design practitioners. The analysis will result in a refined classification of contextual factors; strategies for gathering, synthesizing, and applying contextual information within engineering design processes; and rich narratives of context use-case scenarios. Results will provide insight into the extent to which behaviors are transferable across multiple engineering design domains, engineering designers with varying levels of experience, and various use settings.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.