Development of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary PerspectiveDevelopment of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary PerspectiveDevelopment of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary Perspective

Abstract

Problem-solving is used every day, in almost every aspect of our normal lives. It’s not really thought about much, it is just done naturally. In the fields of engineering, education, medicine, philosophy, psychology, and business, experts will spend months, years, even lifetimes attempting to solve large and complex problems. This research looks not into solving these problems, but instead takes a step back and peers deeper into the process with which these problems are solved. Nvivo qualitative text analysis software was used to compare and contrast previous research that has been done into problem-solving across each of the disciplines mentioned above. Papers were separated manually into their various disciplines based on titles, journals, and keywords found in abstracts, in addition to being separated by decade. The papers were then analyzed using this software in order to find information such as word frequency in order to compare common themes and wording found within previous research done on ‘problem-solving' for each discipline. These results were analyzed in order to make qualitative conclusions, such as noting key similarities and differences between the disciplines of interest. It is hoped that this research may be used in the future to further compare how various disciplines go about the process of problem-solving, in order to ultimately optimize how problem-solving is done across all disciplines.

Department: Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Davis