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Design+ Transposing human action research to design

Figure 7. Online setting for a study analogous to the description of Bavelas’ experiment by Guetzkow and Simon 77

generalizability across all human task performance contexts. transposed Kirsh and Maglio’s study into the context of
Examples can be found in purposeful human action theory design and observed not only the two interdependent
and empirical task performance research. Design, however, kinds of action described by Kirsh and Maglio but also a
has repeatedly been characterized as constituting a distinct more differentiated outcome. Specifically, we observed
regime of human action and task performance deserving “design episodes” that began with epistemic objectives
and requiring specific aptitudes and sensibilities. This and ended with pragmatic fulfillments, and vice versa.
calls into question the generalizability and, therefore, the Additionally, we observed design episodes that began with
validity of the “design agnostic” purposeful human action either epistemic or pragmatic objectives but ultimately
theory and empirical task performance research that reached dead-ends, contributing neither epistemic nor
developed in well-structured task performance contexts. pragmatic fulfillments to the remaining design processes.
We argued that this questionability constitutes not only Instead of Kirsh and Maglio’s distinction between the two
a considerable research gap but also an opportunity kinds of action, our observations suggested a distinction
for empirical research into/about design. To enable the of six different relationships between objective setting and
pursuit of these, we proposed a standard form of analogical objective (non-)fulfillment.
reasoning to serve both as an operational heuristic and as The second project we proposed for a transposition
post facto explanatory rationale. This analogical reasoning from a well-structured context into an ill-structured
guided the transpositions of existing theories of purposeful context was an empirical task performance study by
human action and empirical task performance research Bavelas. In this study, groups of five were tasked to jointly
from well-structured contexts into ill-structured contexts. perform a closed-ended deductive reasoning task by
We demonstrated this approach with the transposition of exchanging messages only via experimentally controlled
two projects. patterns of communication. Bavelas observed significant
One of the projects was a purposeful human action effects of the communication patterns used on both group’s
theory proposition by Krish and Maglio. Based on task performance effectiveness and task satisfaction
observations of Tetris play, Kirsh and Maglio distinguished perceived by group members. Some of these effects on
between epistemic (acting in order to understand) task satisfaction were considerable, including significant
and pragmatic (understanding in order to act) actions. frustration, disengagement, and even the disintegration
Furthermore, they postulated a mutual interdependency of workgroups, and hence failing the group objectives.
between the two types of action, challenging earlier We discussed a preliminary, speculative on transposing a
conceptions of purposeful human action that held well-structured context into an ill-structured context from
understanding must necessarily precede acting. We offline to online communication.

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 11 doi: 10.36922/dp.4875