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Ph.D. Projects

Susanne Thalemann

[Person] [Project]

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Susanne Thalemann, Dipl. Psych.

Short Vita

1974:

Born in Frankfurt a.M. (Germany).

1993-1999:

Study of Psychology at the University of Bonn (Germany).

1999:

Graduation in Psychology at the University of Bonn (Germany). Thesis: "Die Rolle des Vorwissens beim Lernen mit Text und Hypertext" [The role of prior knowledge in knowledge acquisition with text and hypertext].

1999-2002:

Graduate student of the VGK (with scholarship).

Contact

Phone: ++49 (0) 761 / 203 4939
FAX: ++49 (0) 761 / 203 4938
email: Susanne.Thalemann@vgk.de
WWW: My homepage

Center for Cognitive Science
"Institut für Informatik und Gesellschaft"
University of Freiburg
Friedrichstr. 50
D-79098 Freiburg (Germany)

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Ph.D. Project

Topic: The role of shared knowledge in collaborative problem solving (working title)

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. G. Strube (Freiburg); Prof. Dr. Dr. F. Hesse (Tübingen)

Start/End of the Ph.D. project: November, 1999 - November 2002

Summary

Theoretical background: The present PhD project focuses on the role of shared knowledge in the process of net-based collaborative problem solving. Shared knowledge is defined by the amount of information two or more persons share, i.e., know and understand in the same way (e.g., Smith, 1994; Wittenbaum & Stasser, 1996). Information possessed by only one person is called individual or distributed knowledge. Taking the perspective of groups as information processors (Hinsz, Tindale & Vollrath, 1997) shared knowledge is supposed to be an important variable determining the functioning of groups consisting of members with heterogeneous background knowledge (e.g. expert groups) in complex cognitive tasks. Shared knowledge about the distribution of information within the group is a major constituent of the group's transactive memory system that guides information encoding and retrieval on the group level (Wegner, 1987). Shared knowledge about the task and the goal of the group's work guides collaborative activity. Furthermore, effective communication requires shared vocabulary (Waern, 1992). Although the importance of shared knowledge in effective problem solving is widely acknowledged throughout the literature (e.g. Lewis & Sycara, 1993; Smith, 1994) empirical studies supporting this assumption are still missing. The aim of the present study is therefore to demonstrate the facilitating effect of shared knowledge in a task that is normally performed by groups consisting of heterogeneous members.

Experiment: Web design, in the present case the design of online-shops, is a typical problem solving activity performed by groups consisting of multiple experts (Smith & Browne, 1993). With the emergence of computer-mediated communication it is realistic to assume a scenario in which specialists distributed over distant places form virtual teams and collaboratively engage in problem solving activities. Therefore, a net-based collaborative problem solving activity will be the object of the present experiment: Dyads of subjects taking the role of an information technology adviser (IT-expert) and a representative of a big company (company-expert) have to design an online-shop that meets the companies needs. The amount of prior shared knowledge is varied as an independent variable in four experimental conditions. As shared knowledge has to be relevant to the problem solving domain it is conceptualized as either shared knowledge about the companies starting situation and first goals (knowledge of the company-expert) or about technical operators to reach the desired solution (knowledge of the IT-expert) (cf. Newell & Simon, 1972). Furthermore, qualitative aspects of the communication process such as order of information discussed and potential leading role of one subject will be analysed.

References

Hinsz, V. B., Tindale, R. S., & Vollrath, D. A. (1997). The emerging conceptualization of groups as information processors. Psychological Bulletin,
121 (1), 43-64
Lewis, M. C., & Sycara, K. P. (1993). Reaching informed agreement in multispecialist cooperation. Group Decision and Negotiation, 2, 279-299.
Newell, A., & Simon, H. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewoods Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Smith, G. F., & Browne, G. J. (1993). Conceptual foundations of design problem solving. IEEE Transactions On Sytems, Man, and Cybernatics, 33(5), 1209-1219.
Smith, J. B. (1994). Collective intelligence in computer-based collaboration. In G. M. Olson, J. S. Olson, & B. Curtis (Hrsg.), Computers, Cognition, and Work. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Waern, Y. (1992). Modelling group problem solving. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 200, 157-174.
Wegner, D. M. (1987). Transactive memory: A contemporary analysis of the group mind. In B. Mullen & G. R. Goethals (Eds.), Theories of group behavior (pp. 185-208). New York: Springer.
Wittenbaum, G. M., & Stasser, G. (1996). Management of information in small groups. In J. L. Nye, A. M. Brower, et al. (Eds.), What's social about social cognition? Research on socially shared cognition in small groups (pp. 3-28). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

 

Publications

Thalemann, S. (2000). Die Rolle des Vorwissens beim Lernen mit Text und Hypertext. Abstracts des 42. Kongresses der DGPs, Jena, 24.-28.September.

Presentations/Workshops/Conferences

1999-2000:

Member of the organizational board of the 9th Autumn School on Cognition, September 10-15, 2000 in Freiburg (Germany).

December 12-15, 1999:

Computer Support for Collaborative Learning - CSCL 1999, hosted by Stanford University/SRI International at Stanford, California, USA

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Last update: 5 Dec 2002, Erik Ründal
URL: www.vgk.de/projects/thalemann/index.html