Ebook: Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering Design

Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering Design presents empirical evidence for this claim. It demonstrates a unique attribute of design thinking by identifying and characterizing a class of questions called "Generative Design Questions". These questions are frequently asked by designers in dialog. Their use constitutes a fundamental cognitive mechanism in design thinking. Their discovery stems from another finding of the work: a conceptual duality between questions and decisions that is engraved deep within the design process.
This duality challenges a view that treats designing as decision making. Decisions form the tip of the iceberg; Questions keep it afloat: Can an effective decision making process be performed without having high quality information? Can high quality information be acquired and generated without performing an effective inquiry process? The answer to both questions is no, and underscores the importance of our quest to better understand the role of inquiry in design.

---

Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering Design presents empirical evidence for this claim. It demonstrates a unique attribute of design thinking by identifying and characterizing a class of questions called "Generative Design Questions". These questions are frequently asked by designers in dialog. Their use constitutes a fundamental cognitive mechanism in design thinking. Their discovery stems from another finding of the work: a conceptual duality between questions and decisions that is engraved deep within the design process.
This duality challenges a view that treats designing as decision making. Decisions form the tip of the iceberg; Questions keep it afloat: Can an effective decision making process be performed without having high quality information? Can high quality information be acquired and generated without performing an effective inquiry process? The answer to both questions is no, and underscores the importance of our quest to better understand the role of inquiry in design.

---

Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering Design presents empirical evidence for this claim. It demonstrates a unique attribute of design thinking by identifying and characterizing a class of questions called "Generative Design Questions". These questions are frequently asked by designers in dialog. Their use constitutes a fundamental cognitive mechanism in design thinking. Their discovery stems from another finding of the work: a conceptual duality between questions and decisions that is engraved deep within the design process.
This duality challenges a view that treats designing as decision making. Decisions form the tip of the iceberg; Questions keep it afloat: Can an effective decision making process be performed without having high quality information? Can high quality information be acquired and generated without performing an effective inquiry process? The answer to both questions is no, and underscores the importance of our quest to better understand the role of inquiry in design.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Question Asking: A Fundamental Dimension in Design Thinking....Pages 11-32
Development of a Taxonomy that is Comprehensive of the Questions Asked While Designing....Pages 33-49
Hypothesis Generation in the Field: Shadowing the Design Team....Pages 51-64
Designing the Intervention: Differentiating Designing from Problem Solving....Pages 65-84
Learning from the Pilot Experiments: “Good” Questions and Discoveries....Pages 85-93
Conducting the Redesigned Experiment: Putting the Question asking Aspect of Design Cognition under the Microscope....Pages 95-128
Synthesizing a Question-Centric Design Thinking Model....Pages 129-138
Back Matter....Pages 139-154

---

Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering Design presents empirical evidence for this claim. It demonstrates a unique attribute of design thinking by identifying and characterizing a class of questions called "Generative Design Questions". These questions are frequently asked by designers in dialog. Their use constitutes a fundamental cognitive mechanism in design thinking. Their discovery stems from another finding of the work: a conceptual duality between questions and decisions that is engraved deep within the design process.
This duality challenges a view that treats designing as decision making. Decisions form the tip of the iceberg; Questions keep it afloat: Can an effective decision making process be performed without having high quality information? Can high quality information be acquired and generated without performing an effective inquiry process? The answer to both questions is no, and underscores the importance of our quest to better understand the role of inquiry in design.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Question Asking: A Fundamental Dimension in Design Thinking....Pages 11-32
Development of a Taxonomy that is Comprehensive of the Questions Asked While Designing....Pages 33-49
Hypothesis Generation in the Field: Shadowing the Design Team....Pages 51-64
Designing the Intervention: Differentiating Designing from Problem Solving....Pages 65-84
Learning from the Pilot Experiments: “Good” Questions and Discoveries....Pages 85-93
Conducting the Redesigned Experiment: Putting the Question asking Aspect of Design Cognition under the Microscope....Pages 95-128
Synthesizing a Question-Centric Design Thinking Model....Pages 129-138
Back Matter....Pages 139-154
....