Diagnosing Wicked Problems

Burge, Janet E.; McCall, Raymond

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-14956-1_18

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Rittel's work was not clear about whether all 10 properties were required to hold in order for a problem to be wicked. Our earlier work suggested that Rittel's properties could be used along with analysis of the cause of the wickedness to determine if a problem was wicked or just challenging (Burge & McCall, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This literature provides examples of the application of the wicked problems concept in a wide range of real-world problem-solving fields, including software engineering (DeGrade & Stahl, 1990), interaction design (Stolterman, 2008), military science (Clemente & Evans, 2015), systems engineering (Kovacic & Sousa-Poza, 2013), architectural design (Fischer et al, 1996), environmental policy (Balint et al, 2011), health care (Arnett, 2012), and management science (Dunne & Martin, 2006). Much of the literature, however, has centered on wicked problems in design (e.g., Buchanan, 1992; Cherry, 1999; Coyne, 2005; Rith & Dubberly, 2007; Burge & McCall, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Untangling wicked problems

McCall¹,

Burge

2016

AIEDAM

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More than 40 years after Rittel and Webber published the first articles on the theory of wicked problems this theory has been applied to a wide range of fields involved in real-world problem solving. Interest in the theory seems greater than ever. This has led to an interest in rethinking the theory. A number of authors do this by imposing interpretations on the theory that are incompatible with each other and with the statements of the theory's authors. We agree that it is time to critically reexamine the theory and rethink what implications it has for design. However, rather than imposing an incompatible interpretation, our approach is see what new conclusions can be drawn from a systematic and critical examination of what Rittel and Webber actually said. This reexamination of their specific claims and arguments is what we call untangling wicked problems. From this untangling, we derive new conclusions about how designers should tackle wicked problems and how design rationale can aid them in doing so.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling wicked problems

McCall¹,

Burge

2016

AIEDAM

Self Cite

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“…The design activity of technology and engineering has been characterised as dealing with 'wicked' problems (Burge & McCall, 2015). For some researchers (Farrell & Hooker, 2013), this characterisation has been for the purpose of identifying the cognitive character of such problems, but in this case we see it as a mechanism that characterises the epistemic practices of technology and engineering.…”

Section: Technological/engineering Epistemic Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

STEM literacy or literacies? Examining the empirical basis of these constructs

Tang

Williams

2018

Review of Education

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The term ‘STEM literacy’, while often used as a slogan for the goal of STEM education, is open to multiple interpretations and used without much research evidence to support its validity. The purpose of this paper is to review the research literature in science, technology/engineering and mathematics education to examine how literacy in each respective discipline has been defined, conceptualised and studied. The literacies across the disciplines are then compared to identify similarities and differences in order to determine on what basis these literacies can be conceptualised collectively, or not. Based on the similarities found in several language and thought processes of the disciplines, we conclude that there is presently a research basis for postulating a unitary STEM literacy that reflects the shared general capabilities required in all the STEM disciplines. At the same time, there are also substantial differences that support the retention of the existing literacy constructs (i.e., S.T.E.M. literacies) to reflect the specific linguistic, cognitive and epistemic requirements found in each disciplinary area. This distinction from the singular STEM literacy is necessary to highlight the skills and practices that are unique to each particular discipline, and therefore not applicable in all the other disciplines. Given the haphazard rhetoric regarding STEM education, what STEM literacy comprises requires analysis and clear articulation that is framed by literacy research and scholarship in each STEM discipline.

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“…On the contrary, conventional and usually disciplinary approaches still persist, which focus mostly on fisher's non-compliance as the sole or main aspect of the problem. However, conventional approaches can fail when it comes to characterize a problem that is wicked, for example, by producing narrow interpretations of the social dimension of the problem (Head, 2019), which can result in either policy design failure (if wickedness is not identified and the problem is regarded as benign) or design paralysis (if incorrectly perceived wickedness is used as an excuse for not working in identifying and implementing solutions; Burge & Mccall, 2015). There is also the possibility of declaring a problem as wicked when it is not, or it is wicked in only some dimensions but not all, which can mislead policy analysis and interventions (Head & Alford, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reframing illegal fishing in small‐scale fisheries as a wicked problem

et al. 2023

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Wicked problems are typically social justice and social change problems, complex and messy. They mobilize opposed views about the essential nature of the issues, their relative importance and adequate responses. We assert that illegal fishing in small-scale fisheries (SSF) can be considered a wicked problem and our aim is to test this assertion. We relied on a conceptual framework that defines wicked problems as (1) indefinable and non-generalizable, (2) ambiguously bounded, (3) temporally exacting, (4) repercussive, (5) doubly hermeneutic and (6) morally consequential.We applied a qualitative research approach based on field data comprising three illustrative Chilean SSF, whereas secondary data complemented the analysis. The results demonstrate that illegal fishing fits most of the requirements of a wicked policy problem. It is indefinable and non-generalizable, with different representations and uncertainty about its nature, magnitude and effects. Depictions of the nature of the problem varied from a lack of regulations' legitimacy, to a 'combat' to be won. It is ambiguously bounded, caused by interrelated sub-problems (e.g. poverty, access), involving multiple policy sectors, administrative scales and actors. It is also temporally exacting and repercussive as it lacks criteria to prove that a solution has been reached and the implications of alternative solutions (e.g. self-regulation) are unknown. As long as illegal fishing is reframed as a wicked problem, the stakeholders involved can also recognize that there are no perfect solutions and therefore promote a mix of substandard governance approaches.

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Diagnosing Wicked Problems

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Untangling wicked problems

Untangling wicked problems

STEM literacy or literacies? Examining the empirical basis of these constructs

Reframing illegal fishing in small‐scale fisheries as a wicked problem

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