Using the Gini Coefficient to Characterize the Distribution of Group Problem-Solving Processes in Collaborative Tasks

Abstract

Existing literature has outlined the processes necessary for problem solving of ill-structured tasks. These processes have been identified in groups’ verbal interactions in the context of collaborative engineering tasks. In this paper, we present analysis using the Gini coefficient as a group-level measure of the distribution of the four processes as characterized by groups’ verbal interactions. We use this coefficient to evaluate the design of two ill-structured tasks.