Problem solving as a complex, evolutionary activity: a methodological framework for analyzing problem-solving processes in a computer-supported collaborative environment

Viewed through the lens of complex systems science, one may conceptualize problemsolving interactions among multiple actors, artifacts, tools, and environmental structures as goal-seeking adaptations, and problem-solving itself, as a complex adaptive activity. Theories of biological evolution point to an analogical equivalence between problem solving and evolutionary processes and, thus, introduce innovative methodological tools to the analysis of computer-supported, collaborative, problem-solving processes. In this paper, we present a methodological framework for characterizing and analyzing these processes. We describe four measures that characterize genetic evolution number, function, fitness, and persistence to characterize the process of collaborative problem solving, and instantiate them in a study of problem-solving interactions of collaborative groups in an online, synchronous environment. Issues relating to reliability, validity, usefulness, and limitations of the proposed methodology are discussed.