Comparing Engineering Students' and Professionals' Conceptions of Ambiguity

Engineers are frequently confronted with complex, unique, and challenging problems. Many of our most pressing engineering problems contain ambiguous elements, and a core activity of engineering is being able to solve these complex problems effectively. While engineering problems are often described as ambiguous, ambiguity has not been clearly defined in the literature in the context of engineering problem solving. This work-in-progress paper describes our initial results to understand how ambiguity is experienced during engineering problem solving. We interviewed both engineering students and engineering professionals about ambiguous problems they have encountered. We found that both groups identified technical ambiguity as the core element of engineering problem solving. They also described differences between classroom and workplace problems, with students describing classroom problems as "purposefully" ambiguous. Students had strong negative emotional reactions to ambiguity, in contrast to professionals who seemed to accept ambiguity as a common element in engineering problems. Our initial findings suggest that changes to engineering education practice that allow students to become comfortable with ambiguity would better prepare them for the ambiguous problems they will face in the workplace.