Collaborative Research: Research: RUI: Engineers making process safety judgements...Mind the Gap! Beliefs vs. behavior

合作研究：研究：RUI：工程师做出过程安全判断...注意差距！

基本信息

批准号：
2113846
负责人：
Elif Miskioglu
金额：
$ 5.11万
依托单位：
Bucknell University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2113846&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research RUI Engineers making

项目摘要

Chemical plant explosions and fires often make headlines due to the far-reaching implications for the health and safety of workers, the environment, and the local community. Investigations into these incidents have found that they are typically the result of a series of judgements that are made by company personnel (including engineers) over a significant period of time. Researchers have established that how individuals believe they will make decisions is often not the same as how they actually behave, and we posit that an inability to reflect on any gap between beliefs and behaviors is a barrier to sound judgements. Therefore, it is critical that engineers gain awareness of any gap that may exist between their beliefs and behavior to enable reflective and safe judgements. In this research project, we will investigate and compare the beliefs and behaviors of both senior chemical engineering students and engineers working in process safety contexts. As judgements related to process safety would be difficult to model in the classroom and potentially dangerous within an actual facility, we will use a game-based simulation that allows individuals to role-play as a senior plant engineer. The digital environment allows individuals to experience first-hand the safety challenges that arise in an industrial environment while being safe and preventing the disastrous outcomes that could occur in a real life setting when making these judgements. Participants will then learn about the relationship between how they believed they would behave and how they behaved, which is intended to enable awareness of the complexity of process safety judgements.The research study will leverage both quantitative and qualitative methods through interviews, written reflections, and immersive game-play to answer the following four research questions: 1) What do participants believe about how they approach making judgements? 2) How do they behave when actually making judgements? 3) What gap, if any, exists between their beliefs and behavior, and 4) How do participants reconcile any gap? Our research design captures beliefs at multiple data points over time enabling us to generate an understanding of the efficacy of both 1) the game play, and 2) exposure to an individualized profile demonstrating the relationship between beliefs and behaviors. Our method for characterizing the gap between beliefs and behaviors and presenting that information to engineers to enable awareness and reflection has two potential impacts. First, it has the potential 1) to be transferable across diverse contexts with implications for improving professional judgement widely, and 2) to make specific recommendations for the efficacy of the aforementioned two distinct interventions based on participants who include engineering students and engineers working in process safety contexts. The knowledge produced by this project can benefit not only scholars seeking to further study the relationship between beliefs and behaviors, but also engineering educators responsible for the professional formation of their students’ ability to exercise reflective judgement, especially in process safety contexts. Finally, the outcomes of this work have the potential to contribute to the professional formation of practicing engineers by informing workforce development. This reflective process, which brings awareness to gaps between beliefs and behaviors, is an unconventional yet promising approach to ultimately reducing process safety incidents.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于对工人、环境和当地社区的健康和安全产生深远影响，化工厂爆炸和火灾经常成为头条新闻。对这些事件的调查发现，它们通常是一系列判断的结果。研究人员发现，个人相信自己会做出的决定往往与他们实际的行为并不相同，我们认为，他们无法反思信念与决策之间的差距。行为是正确判断的障碍。因此，认识到他们的信念和行为之间可能存在的任何差距，以便做出反思和安全的判断，这一点至关重要。在这个研究项目中，我们将比较化学工程高级学生和从事过程的工程师的信念和行为。由于与过程安全相关的判断很难在课堂上进行建模，并且在实际设施中可能存在危险，因此我们将使用基于游戏的模拟，让个人能够在数字环境中扮演高级工厂工程师。个人亲身体验在环境中出现的安全挑战在做出这些判断时，参与者将了解他们认为自己的行为方式与他们的行为方式之间的关系，同时确保安全并防止现实生活中可能发生的灾难性后果。该研究将通过访谈、书面反思和沉浸式游戏，利用定量和定性方法来回答以下四个研究问题：1）参与者对他们做出判断的方式有何看法？实际上，他们的行为如何3）他们的信念和行为之间存在什么差距（如果有），以及 4）参与者如何调和任何差距？我们的研究设计随着时间的推移捕捉多个数据点的信念，使我们能够了解两者的功效1) 游戏玩法，以及 2) 展示信念和行为之间关系的个性化配置文件，我们描述信念和行为之间差距并向工程师提供该信息以实现意识和反思的方法有两个潜在影响。它有潜力 1)可以在不同的背景下进行转移，对广泛提高专业判断力有影响，2) 根据包括工程学生和在过程安全背景下工作的工程师在内的参与者，对上述两种不同干预措施的有效性提出具体建议。不仅使寻求进一步研究信念与行为之间关系的学者受益，而且也使负责学生反思判断能力专业形成的工程教育工作者受益，特别是在过程安全背景下。为执业工程师的专业培养做出贡献这种反思过程使人们认识到信念和行为之间的差距，是一种非常规但有前途的方法，可最终减少过程安全事故。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识进行评估，被认为值得支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。