Date of Award

12-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair/Advisor

Mocko, Gregory M

Committee Member

Summers , Joshua

Committee Member

Georges , Fadel

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate whether gallery method increases idea quality in conceptual design for engineering design problems. The gallery method is a group ideation process which allows individuals to first generate ideas individually, followed by pooling of ideas to conduct group ideation. Design engineers are often encouraged to work in groups to generate concepts and solutions for design problems. However, past research argues that individual ideation results in higher quality design concepts compared to the group ideation methods. The limitations of group ideation such as free riding, production blocking, evaluation apprehension, and goal incongruity are identified to limit its effectiveness. However, group ideation is still popular in industry settings despite the identified limitations. There is a contrast between the past research findings and actual industrial practice of group ideation. This research identifies an opportunity to evaluate the combination of the merits of individual and group ideation through the gallery method for increasing idea quality in conceptual design.

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