Kapur, Manu, Charles Kinzer, and John Voiklis. “Studying Problem Solving Through the Lens of Complex Systems Science: A Novel Methodological Framework for Analyzing Problem-Solving Processes.” In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society , vol. 27, no. 27. 2005.
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Viewed through the lens of complex systems science, one may conceptualize problem-solving as a complex adaptive activity. Theories of biological evolution point to an analogical equivalence between problem solving and evolutionary processes and, thus, introduce innovative methodological tools to the analysis of problem-solving processes. In this paper, we present a methodological framework for characterizing and analyzing these processes.
We describe two measures that characterize genetic evolution—convergence and persistence—to characterize the problem-solving process, and instantiate them in a study of
problem-solving interactions of collaborative groups in an online, synchronous environment. We conclude with a discussion of issues relating to reliability, validity, usefulness, and limitations of the proposed methodology.