Generic Non-technical Procedures in Design Problem Solving: Is There Any Benefit to the Clarification of Task Requirements?

The quasi-experimental field study with 174 advanced engineering students analysed the possibilities to assist the requirement analysis when solving design problems. Technical check lists are in common practice for assisting the requirement analysis. We wondered if a generic question answering system (GQAS) aiming at the ‘semantic relationships’ would offer an additional benefit to the exhaustive identification of the requirements of a design task when a technical check list were offered at the same time. Therefore, the students were asked to develop a list of requirements for the design of a machine collecting windfall. Whereas one group was offered the technical check list together with the generic question answering system, the other group was only offered the technical check list in assisting their task. The entire number of identified applicable requirements is significantly higher for the group with the additional GQAS. The additional benefit of answering generic interrogative questions holds for the majority of the individual categories of technical requirements. The benefit is explained with the proven stimulation of meta-cognitive processes by means of systems of interrogative questions. Practically, the consideration of generic procedures of problem solving in engineering design education may be recommended.