Collaborative Stimulation in Design: A Retrospective Protocol Analysis Approach

Studying collaborative creativity in design requires an understanding of how individuals' creativity relevant cognitive processes are influenced by design interactions. Investigating the occurrences of cognitive processes in design is challenging. Investigating cognitive processes occurring in collaborative design is even more difficult. This paper discusses a retrospective protocol analysis approach used to study cognitive processes in collaborative design. Unlike past approaches, the proposed approach analyzes both individual verbalization and group dialogs. This allows for the identification of both internal (private) and external (shared) thoughts.