The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Collaborative problem solving and program development model
Author:	DeFranco-Tommarello, Joanna
View Online:	njit-etd2002-043 (xxi, 319 pages ~ 23.8 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Computer and Information Science
Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Program:	Computer and Information Science
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Deek, Fadi P. (Committee chair) McHugh, James A. (Committee member) Hiltz, Starr Roxanne (Committee member) Van de Walle, Bartel Albrecht (Committee member) Perez-Alvarez, Cesar (Committee member)
Date:	2002-05
Keywords:	Collaboration Programming Group Software development Cognitive
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	A model to enhance collaborative problem solving and program development is presented. The collaborative model is a detailed cognitive model that takes into consideration the cognitive and social activities that occur during collaborative problem solving and program development. The cognitive activities required for collaborative problem solving and program development are identified and integrated into a six-stage model. An extensive literature review in the associated fields is presented to show the need for the model described in this dissertation. In addition, a comprehensive study of tools to support collaboration during problem solving and program development was also performed as well as a critique of these tools. A detailed statistical experiment to study the effect of this model on subjects, collaboratively solving a software problem was designed and executed. The experiment included testing the collaborative problem solving and program development model with and without assistance from groupware tools. The subject teams each constructed a software design and this design was evaluated based on, research hypotheses. This experiment produced results indicating the positive effect the Collaborative Model has on problem understanding and the quality of solution planning during collaborative problem solving and program development efforts.