Theorising and practitioners in HRD: the role of abductive reasoning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that abductive reasoning is a typical but usually unrecognised process used by HRD scholars and practitioners alike. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper that explores recent criticism of traditional views of theory-building, based on the privileging of scientific theorising, which has led to a relevance gap between scholars and practitioners. The work of Charles Sanders Peirce and the varieties of an abductive reasoning process are considered. Findings – Abductive reasoning, which precedes induction and deduction, provide a potential connection with HRD practitioners who face difficult problems. Two types of abductive reasoning are explored – existential and analogic. Both offer possibilities for theorising with HRD practitioners. A range of methods for allowing abduction to become more evident with practitioners are presented. The authors consider how abduction can be used in engaged and participative research strategies. Research limitations/implications – While this is a conceptual paper, it does suggest implications for engagement and participation in theorising with HRD practitioners. Practical implications – Abductive reasoning adds to the repertoire of HRD scholars and practitioners. Originality/value – The paper elucidates the value of abductive reasoning and points to how it can become an integral element of theory building in HRD

Increasing information feed in the process of structural steel design

Research initiatives throughout history have shown how a designer typically makes associations and references to a vast amount of knowledge based on experiences to make decisions. With the increasing usage of information systems in our everyday lives, one might imagine an information system that provides designers access to the ‘architectural memories’ of other architectural designers during the design process, in addition to their own physical architectural memory. In this paper, we discuss how the increased adoption of semantic web technologies might advance this idea. We investigate to what extent information can be described with these technologies in the context of structural steel design. This investigation indicates significant possibilities regarding information reuse in the process of structural steel design and, by extent, in other design contexts as well. However, important obstacles and question remarks can still be outlined as well

Representing and coding the knowledge embedded in texts of Health Science Web published articles

Despite the fact that electronic publishing is a common activity to scholars electronic journals are still based in the print model and do not take full advantage of the facilities offered by the Semantic Web environment. This is a report of the results of a research project with the aim of investigating the possibilities of electronic publishing journal articles both as text for human reading and in machine readable format recording the new knowledge contained in the article. This knowledge is identified with the scientific methodology elements such as problem, methodology, hypothesis, results, and conclusions. A model integrating all those elements is proposed which makes explicit and records the knowledge embedded in the text of scientific articles as an ontology. Knowledge thus represented enables its processing by intelligent software agents The proposed model aims to take advantage of these facilities enabling semantic retrieval and validation of the knowledge contained in articles. To validate and enhance the model a set of electronic journal articles were analyzed

Extending the design process into the knowledge of the world

Research initiatives throughout history have shown how a designer typically makes associations and references to a vast amount of knowledge based on experiences to make decisions. With the increasing usage of information systems in our everyday lives, one might imagine an information system that provides designers access to the ‘architectural memories’ of other architectural designers during the design process, in addition to their own physical architectural memory. In this paper, we discuss how the increased adoption of semantic web technologies might advance this idea. We briefly discuss how such a semantic web of building information can be set up, and how this can be linked to a wealth of information freely available in the Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud

Argumentation and reasoning in design: An empirical analysis of the effects of verbal reasoning on idea value in group idea generation

Reasoning is argumentative and is at the core of design activity and thinking. Understanding the influence of reasoning on the value of ideas is key to support design practice. The paper aims to show the effect of verbal reasoning on the value of ideas. Protocol analyses of four industry cases doing idea generation shows that framing by certainty and deductive reasoning lead to useful incremental ideas while framing by uncertainty and abductive reasoning lead to radical ideas. The paper concludes that the way of framing ideas is indicative of how ideas add value to on-going design processes

Transforming Problem-Based Learning through Abductive Reasoning

Background: Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is the current approach for reasoning through care situations within problem-based learning (PBL). While this approach is widely used in both PBL and non-PBL curricula, abductive reasoning is recommended (as an alternative approach) due to its broader method for analyzing and explaining care situations within problem-based learning. Method: A step-by-step process rooted in abductive reasoning is proposed and demonstrated as a new way of examining and explaining care situations within problem-based learning. Results: The proposed strategy emphasizes the creation of hypotheses through phenomena detection, development of a causal model, identification of learning needs, recognition of salience, synthesis and reflection. Conclusion: Since the proposed approach has not been implemented previously, its practical implications require research attention which will contribute to the emerging field of abductive reasoning within nursing education. Résumé : Contexte : Dans l’apprentissage par problèmes (APP), le raisonnement hypothético-déductif est l’approche actuellement utilisée pour raisonner à partir de situations de soins. Or, bien que cette approche soit largement utilisée dans les programmes fondés sur l’APP et ceux qui ne le sont pas, le raisonnement abductif est recommandé (comme autre approche) puisque sa méthode d’analyse et d’explication des situations de soins au sein de l’APP est plus vaste. Méthode : Proposer et démontrer un processus étape par étape ancré dans le raisonnement abductif, comme une nouvelle manière d’analyser et d’expliquer des situations de soins dans le cadre de l’APP. Résultats : La stratégie proposée favorise la formulation d’hypothèses par la détection de phénomènes, la mise en place d’un modèle causal, l’identification des besoins d’apprentissage, la reconnaissance de la prépondérance, la synthèse et la réflexion.. Conclusion : Puisque l’approche proposée n’a pas été mise en place auparavant, ses implications pratiques nécessitent des recherches, qui contribueront au domaine émergent du raisonnement abductif dans le cadre de la formation en sciences infirmières

Analyzing the proving activity of a group of three students

We present an analysis and outline an evaluation of the proving activity of a group of three university level students when solving a geometrical problem whose solution required the formulation of a conjecture and its justification within a specific theoretical system. To carry out the analysis, we used the model presented by Boero, Douek, Morselli and Pedemonte (2010) that centers on the arguments and rational behavior. Our analysis indicates that the student‘s proving activity is close to the one we used as a reference

Empirically analysing design reasoning patterns: Abductive-deductive reasoning patterns dominate design idea generation

Reasoning is a fundamental process in design activity, and it provides a way to understand design behaviour. Theories and models of design propose reasoning that follows abductive-deductive patterns. At the micro-level, these patterns are untested. This study analyses verbal reasoning patterns at the micro-level for group idea generation using protocol analyses of concurrent verbalisations from five design teams with industry participants. The results show that reasoning in design activity across 218 ideas follows general patterns of abductive-deductive reasoning. At the individual idea level, the reasoning patterns are disorderly and enter into micro-patterns of inference. The study concludes that understanding reasoning at early-stage idea generation processes is indicative of the mental models and abductive-deductive reasoning that are prevalent in design activity

Epistemological Foundations for Neuroeconomics

Neuroeconomics is an emerging field crossing neuroscientific data, the use of brain-imaging tools, experimental and behavioral economics, and an attempt at a better understanding of the cognitive assumptions that underlie theoretical predictive economic models. In this paper the authors try two things: 1) To assess the epistemological biases that affect Neuroeconomics as it is currently done. A number of significant experiments are discussed in that perspective. 2) To imagine an original way - apart from what is already being done - to run experiments in brain-imaging that are relevant to the discussion of rationality assumptions at the core of economic theory.Neuroeconomics, Rationality Assumptions, Abduction

Design Thinking

{Excerpt} In a world of continuous flux, where markets mature faster and everyone is affected by information overload, organizations regard innovation, including management innovation, as the prime driver of sustainable competitive advantage. To unlock opportunities, some of them use mindsets and protocols from the field of design to make out unarticulated wants and deliberately imagine, envision, and spawn futures. Design is more important when function is taken for granted and no longer helps stakeholders differentiate. In the last five years, design thinking has emerged as the quickest organizational path to innovation and high-performance, changing the way creativity and commerce interact. In the past, design was a downstream step in the product development process, aiming to enhance the appeal of an existing product. Today, however, organizations ask designers to imagine solutions that meet explicit or latent needs and to build upstream entire systems that optimize customer experience and satisfaction. Therefore, although the term design is commonly understood to describe an object (or end result), it is in its latest and most effective form a process, an action, and a verb, not a noun: essentially, it is a protocol to see, shape, and build. Lately, design approaches are also being applied to infuse insight into the heart of campaigns and address social and other concerns