Data on the design of truss structures by teams of engineering students

Christopher McComb; Jonathan Cagan; Kenneth Kotovsky

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2018.02.078

Data on the design of truss structures by teams of engineering students

Data Brief. 2018 Mar 8:18:160-163. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2018.02.078. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Authors

Christopher McComb¹, Jonathan Cagan², Kenneth Kotovsky³

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, PA, USA.

Abstract

This experiment was conducted in order to compare different approaches that human teams use to solve design problems that change dynamically during solving. Specifically, study participants were given the task of designing a truss structure (similar to a bridge spanning a chasm) in teams of three. At two points during design, the problem statement was changed unexpectedly, requiring participants to adapt. Two conditions were given different initial problem representations. During the study, every participant had access to a computer interface that allowed them to construct, test, and share solutions. The interface also made it possible to collect a step-by-step log of the actions made by participants during the study. This article contains data collected from 48 participants (16 teams). This data has been used previously in behavioral analyses, sequence-based analysis, and development of computational models.

Keywords: Design; Engineering; Structures; Teams.