Does Collaboration Facilitate Rule Discovery? Different Types of Information Exchange and Domination Influence New Ideas Generation
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Chen, Yen-Ching
Abstract
Past research showed that generating new-perspective hypotheses is crucial for solving a rule discovery task, such as ‘2 4 6 problem’. Collaboration is usually used for facilitating the generation of new ideas. In the current research the author intended to find out whether in which way that collaboration can improve the performance of rule discovery task, particularly the generation of new-perspective hypotheses. In experiment 1, the team members (two in each team) were either allowed to freely interact with each other while they were solving the problem together or to exchange hypotheses alternatively while they were solving problem on they own. Compared to the control group (solving problem individually), both types of collaboration could increase the correct rate and facilitate the generation of new-perspective hypothesis. In experiment 2, three types of information exchange were applied to each of 18 teams. Team members must exchange hypotheses with each other in all conditions and the number of testing trials was kept the same (twelve times) across conditions as well. However, the second member of each team might (1) had no control of what to test in all testing trials (dominant condition), or (2) took charge of what to test for half of the times (six times. non-dominant condition), or (3) allow to freely discuss with the other member before they tested any instance (freely interactive condition). Compared to the control condition (the fourth group in which an individual solved the same problem, with a bystander watching), exchanging hypothesis was found to be in vein in the dominant condition but had facilitating effect in the non-dominant condition. In addition, freely discussion after exchanging hypothesis and before testing further enhances the performance. How information exchange in collaborative problem solving influenced performance is discussed in the thesis.
Subjects
collaborative problem solving
rule discovery task, new-perspective hypothesis
hypothesis testing
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