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Published in: International Journal of Technology and Design Education 1/2018

07-09-2016

Hierarchical thinking: a cognitive tool for guiding coherent decision making in design problem solving

Author: Grietjie Haupt

Published in: International Journal of Technology and Design Education | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

This paper builds on two concepts, the first of which is the extended information processing model of expert design cognition. This proposes twelve internal psychological characteristics interacting with the external world of expert designers during the early phases of the design process. Here, I explore one of the characteristics, hierarchical abstraction, and adapt it into an alternative ontological model of decision making. The model serves as an in-depth descriptor of how designers from different domains transform their mental states using judgment and decision making through hierarchical abstraction. The second concept entails an expansion of the idea of synergistic vertical transformation as a framework for mapping expert designers’ design process. Here, I focus on hierarchical decision making as multi-directional, and inter-relating the internal and external world of designers. In doing so, I provide a coding tool for researchers interested in exploring designers’ complex decision making processes. Concurrently, the model serves as decision making tool in design and technology education classrooms. As such, the paper focuses on the ontology of conceptual structures that support the early phases of the design process. This was based on empirical research.

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Metadata
Title
Hierarchical thinking: a cognitive tool for guiding coherent decision making in design problem solving
Author
Grietjie Haupt
Publication date
07-09-2016
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
International Journal of Technology and Design Education / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0957-7572
Electronic ISSN: 1573-1804
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-016-9381-0

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