An Analysis of Problem Framing in Multiple Settings

Abstract

Concerns have been expressed that digital tools disrupt the design process. Schon identifies the importance of problem framing in both design practice and design education. In this paper we use teamwork protocol analysis to examine the problem framing activities of architecture students to identify differences in framing activities in three different design settings, namely online co-located, online remote and paper-based co-located. In order to encode these design activities. we first developed Schon's model of ``reflective conversation with the situation{''} into ``framing{''}, ``moving{''}, and ``reflecting{''}. The ``framing moving - reflecting{''} model is adopted as first coding scheme to examine framing activities. Furthermore we use Minsky's frame system as second coding scheme to investigate the different types of problem framing activities. We find that paper based design tools can afford marginally more design communications than digital based tools; however, the proportion of framing activities in online remote setting is higher than others. Implication of these findings is discussed.