Missing the Wood for the Wrong Trees: On the Difficulty of Defining the Complexity of Complex Problem Solving Scenarios

Jens F Beckmann; Natassia Goode

doi:10.3390/jintelligence5020015

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Missing the Wood for the Wrong Trees: On the Difficulty of Defining the Complexity of Complex Problem Solving Scenarios

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Missing the Wood for the Wrong Trees: On the Difficulty of Defining the Complexity of Complex Problem Solving Scenarios

Jens F Beckmann and Natassia Goode

Journal of Intelligence, Vol.5(2), 15

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence5020015

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Abstract

complexity

difficulty

person

task and situation

system characteristics

DYNAMIS

complex problem solving

In this paper we discuss how the lack of a common framework in Complex Problem Solving (CPS) creates a major hindrance to a productive integration of findings and insights gainedin its 40+-year history of research. We propose a framework that anchors complexity within the tri-dimensional variable space of Person, Task and Situation. Complexity is determined by the number of information cues that need to be processed in parallel. What constitutes an information cue is dependent on the kind of task, the system or CPS scenario used and the task environment (i.e., situation) in which the task is performed. Difficulty is conceptualised as a person's subjective reflection of complexity. Using an existing data set of N = 294 university students' problem solving performances, we test the assumption derived from this framework that particular system features such as numbers of variables (NoV) or numbers of relationships (NoR) are inappropriate indicators of complexity. We do so by contrasting control performance across four systems that differ in these attributes. Results suggest that for controlling systems (task) with semantically neutral embedment (situation), the maximum number of dependencies any of the output variables has is a promising indicator of this task's complexity

Details

Title: Missing the Wood for the Wrong Trees: On the Difficulty of Defining the Complexity of Complex Problem Solving Scenarios
Authors: Jens F Beckmann (Author) - Durham University, United Kingdom
Natassia Goode (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
Publication details: Journal of Intelligence, Vol.5(2), 15; 18
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2017
DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence5020015
ISSN: 2079-3200
Copyright note: Copyright © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450536202621
Output Type: Journal article

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