{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T03:50:13Z","timestamp":1785556213297,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2010,2,11]],"date-time":"2010-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1265846400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":6434,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Cognitive Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1992,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>It is proposed that there are important generalizations about problem solving in design activity that reach across specific disciplines. A framework for the study of design is presented that (a) characterizes design as a radial category and fleshes out the task environment of the prototypical cases; (b) takes the task environment seriously; (c) shows that this task environment occurs in design tasks, but does not occur in every nondesign task; (d) explicates the impact of this task environment on the design problem space; and (e) demonstrates that, given the structure of the information\u2010processing system, the features noted in the problem spaces of design tasks will not all occur in problem spaces where the task environment is vastly different. This analysis leads to the claim that there are a set of invariant features in the problem spaces of design situations that collectively constitute a <jats:italic>design problem space<\/jats:italic>. Protocol studies are reported in which the problem spaces of three design tasks in architecture, mechanical engineering, and instructional design are explored and compared with several protocols from nondesign problem\u2010solving tasks.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1207\/s15516709cog1603_3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,8,6]],"date-time":"2005-08-06T01:09:49Z","timestamp":1123290589000},"page":"395-429","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":375,"title":["The structure of Design Problem Spaces"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Vinod","family":"Goel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Pirolli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2010,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","first-page":"115","article-title":"An exploration of the design process","volume":"13","author":"Akin O.","year":"1979","journal-title":"Design Methods and Theories"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","volume-title":"Psychology of architectural design","author":"Akin O.","year":"1986"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","volume-title":"On the art of building in ten books","author":"Alberti L.B.","year":"1988"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_5_1","volume-title":"Notes on the synthesis of form","author":"Alexander C.","year":"1964"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","first-page":"58","article-title":"A city is not a tree","volume":"122","author":"Alexander C.","year":"1965","journal-title":"Architectural Forum"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_7_1","volume-title":"The atoms of environmental structure","author":"Alexander C.","year":"1966"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","volume-title":"The architecture of cognition","author":"Anderson J.R.","year":"1983"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_9_1","volume-title":"Design methods of architecture","author":"Archer L.B.","year":"1969"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-273-08766-3.50006-2"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_11_1","first-page":"9","article-title":"Towards a taxonomy of problem\u2010solving types","volume":"4","author":"Chandrasekaran B.","year":"1983","journal-title":"AI Magazine"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","unstructured":"Chandrasekaran B.(1987).Towards a functional architecture for intelligence based on generic information\u2010processing tasks.Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence(pp.1183\u20131192). 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