Informing Intentional Use of Prototyping in Engineering Design: Context-Specific Novice Approaches and Stakeholder Feedback by Michael Deininger A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Design Science) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Kathleen H. Sienko, Co-Chair Assistant Professor Shanna R. Daly, Co-Chair Professor Colleen M. Seifert Associate Professor Bruce M. Tharp Michael Deininger [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9961-0858 © Michael Deininger 2018 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of the individuals who enabled me to complete this work. It truly was a collaborative effort. First and foremost my thanks go to my advisors Kathleen Sienko and Shanna Daly, for the support, guidance, opportunities and, most importantly, patience with my sometimes-crazy ideas. Next my committee members: Colleen Seifert has advised me since before I began my graduate studies and has gone above and beyond to help me navigate my journey. Thank you Colleen, I truly appreciate your guidance. Bruce Tharp has broadened and deepened my work and pointed me in directions I might not otherwise have explored. Elsie Effah Kaufmann mentored and guided me throughout and facilitated my research in Ghana. Aileen Huang-Saad was an early and enthusiastic supporter and has become a valued mentor. Diann Brei guided me through the multidisciplinary Design Science program and allowed me to pursue my academic and professional interests in both creative and intellectually stimulating ways. Jennifer Lee was an irreplaceable partner in and contributor to this research, thank you Jennifer for all your hard work. Cheryl Moyer, Tom Robins, April Bell and Aesha Mustafa all enabled and made my U-M PARTNER II experience productive and insightful, as did Esenam Nyador who looked after me during my fieldwork in Ghana. The late Samuel Obed facilitated my research at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, while Samuel Dery, Andy Akibateh and Ernest “Bullet” Bediako provided incredible logistics support. At U-M, Karin Martin and Alexandra Murphy from Sociology allowed me to participate in their qualitative research courses, which were immeasurably helpful. Kerby Shedden, who ii directs CSCAR (Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research), patiently guided me through data analysis. Current and former Sienko Lab members Tian Bao, Vincent Barone, Marianna Coulentianos, Catherine Kinnaird, Victor Le, Ibrahim Mohedas, Ilka Rodriguez- Calero, Amir Sabet-Sarvestani, and Maria Young shared ideas and expertise. Almost 100 study participants in the United States and Ghana contributed their time and shared their experiences with me and made this research possible – thank you. The research reported in this publication was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the U. S. National Institutes of Health under award number 1D43TW009353 and by the University of Michigan's Investigating Student Learning Grant, 2016, funded by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, the Office of the Vice Provost for Global and Engaged Education and the College of Engineering and by the University of Michigan’s Mechanical Engineering PhD Ghana Internship, and the Rackham Graduate Student Research and Travel Grants. And finally, thank you to my parents who have provided unconditional support and have encouraged me since… forever, to Abby for her faithful service as graduate student therapy dog and my wife Kimberlee for her unwavering love and support -- I really could not have done this without her. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... ii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction, background and motivation ............................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction and background ........................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Defining prototypes and their uses .............................................................................. 1 1.1.2 Types of prototypes ..................................................................................................... 3 1.1.3 Novice and expert use of prototypes ........................................................................... 5 1.1.4 Using prototypes during stakeholder engagement ...................................................... 6 1.1.5 Prototypes and aesthetic preferences in low- and middle income countries (LMICs) 8 1.2 Objective and motivation ................................................................................................ 8 1.3 Chapter overview ........................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Research methods .......................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Expected contributions .................................................................................................. 13 1.6 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2 Novice designers’ use of prototypes in engineering design ................................... 23 2.1 Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 23 2.2 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Research design ................................................................................................................. 28 2.3.1 Participants ................................................................................................................... 28 2.3.2 Interview protocol development .................................................................................. 30 2.3.3 Data collection ............................................................................................................. 32 2.3.4 Data analysis ................................................................................................................ 33 iv 2.4 Findings .......................................................................................................................... 37 2.4.1 How did novice designers conceptualize prototypes? ................................................. 37 2.4.2 When did novice designers report using prototypes in practice? ................................ 41 2.4.3 How did novice designers report using prototypes in practice? .................................. 44 2.4.4 How did novice designers report using prototypes in practice to engage with stakeholders? ......................................................................................................................... 49 2.4.5 To what extent did novice designers engage in prototyping best practice behaviors? 52 2.5 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 58 2.5.1 Participants’ conceptions of prototypes ....................................................................... 58 2.5.2 Participants’ reported use of prototypes ...................................................................... 59 2.5.3 Participants’ behaviors in the context of prototyping best practices ........................... 61 2.6 Limitations and future work ............................................................................................ 62 2.7 Implications for design practice ................................................................................... 64 2.8 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 66 2.9 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 67 2.10 References ........................................................................................................................ 67 2.11 Appendix .......................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 3 Investigating Ghanaian novice designers’ use of prototypes during design ....... 77 3.1 Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 77 3.2 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 78 3.3 Research methods ............................................................................................................. 80 3.3.1 Participants ................................................................................................................... 80 3.3.2 Interview protocol .......................................................................................................