The Ends or the Means? Understanding How Students Use Causal and Effectual Information During Design Activities

Although prior research has shown that information utilized during conceptual design plays a vital role in product success, there is no comprehensive framework for characterizing the types of knowledge used by designers for creative design. Furthermore, it is important that any such framework provide empirically investigates the impact of each information type on the development of successful ideas. Thus, this study focuses on understanding the impact of one such information type, effectual information, on design creativity. Since research on effectual information in engineering design is relatively sparse, a controlled pilot study was conducted where students interacted with a web interface and addressed a design problem. Detailed observations of participants’ interactions with the design information and the creativity of design outcomes was investigated. The findings of this study provide insights into the role that effectual information plays in design reasoning and contribute to an emerging Typological Framework of Design Information