A 4-Space Model of Scientific Discovery

An extension of Klahr and Dunbar's (1988) Dual space model of scientific discovery is presented. We propose that, in addition to search in an experiment space and a hypothesis space, scientific discovery involves search in two additional spaces: the space of data representations and the space of experimental paradigms. That is, discoveries often involve developing new terms and adding new features to descriptions of the data, and the also often involve developing new kinds of experimental procedures. The 4-space model was motivated by the analysis of human performance in a discovery microworld. A brief description of the data is presented. In addition to the general 4-space framework, a description of the component processes involved in each of the four search spaces is also presented.