Session: DAC-05-01-Decision Making in Engineering Design

Paper Number: 89949

89949 - Does Narrative Play a Role in Engineering Decision-Making and Design? A Preliminary Study 

This paper presents data from a preliminary study designed to test the hypothesis that narrative is the primary decision-making tool employed in engineering design. We also look for evidence that analysis and optimization provide anchor points that drive the narrative forward, even in the presence of unresolvable uncertainties. The data in this paper comes from student engineers who are engaged in an 8-month, NASA-sponsored design competition. The evidence that we have collected from this study suggests that a mixture of thought, analysis, and emotions are used in creating mental simulations about how different courses of action may play out over time. We code 46 statements from our interviews, spanning 10 different narrative elements as defined by Fenton-O’Creevy and Tuckett. We find that engineers use multiple narrative elements to develop the conviction to act, and that of the 46 coded statements, only 14 corresponded to quantitative analysis in the form of models and calculations. We find that in engineering design the decision-making journey involves a combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative engineering judgment that is evaluated to develop the conviction to act. We hope that our findings provide richer insight into how engineers balance quantitative information with engineering judgment, enabling the incorporation of computational narrative models into design environments.

Presenting Author: Scott Ferguson North Carolina State Univ

Presenting Author Biography: Scott Ferguson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University.

Authors:

Scott Ferguson North Carolina State Univ
Kenneth Bryden Iowa State University