Jon’s Network

What exactly is an open-ended problem? It’s a problem with no obviously right answer. This uncertainty causes great discomfort for many that are accustomed to approaching problems as if there is a single right answer. This, however, is a sign of underdeveloped critical thinking ability.

Jack posted a bit on the importance of critical thinking and linked to a great document from Susan Wolcott: Steps for Better Thinking Rubric(.pdf). He indicates that solving risk issues as “open-ended” problems rather than “well-structured” problems is a useful approach.

The Tutorial for Optimizing and Documenting Open-Ended Problem Solving Skills describes open-ended problems thusly:

• Cannot be described completely
• Have more than one solution option
• Generate controversy, even among experts
• Have incomplete information that is subject to a variety of interpretations
• Have a variety of solution options with unknown outcomes
• Often need to be addressed repeatedly over time as conditions change and better information becomes available
• Can be addressed through a problem solving process that uses information in increasingly complex ways

For open-ended problems, the “right” solution depends wholly on the model you use to interpret the facts that reality presents to you. Your model is a subjective abstraction of reality based on which facts are important to you, which you feel like ignoring and what your ideal outcome would be.

For example, the US government uses a model that says (among other things) it needs to intervene in the affairs of foreign countries when it is serves the “national interest”. However, another country (e.g. Switzerland) might have a model built upon an axiom of non-agression which leads to much different behavior and much different solutions. The open-endedness comes in because it is so difficult to figure out and prove what is “right” because the problems are so complex and because we each value different outcomes.

A skilled problem solver will deliberately use models to iteratively interpret information and update the model based on the new information, while a less skilled problem solver will tend to accept information that supports his position and ignore information that doesn’t. (see Cognitive Dissonance

If you read that doc Jack linked to (here) you will notice that the columns to the right indicate decisions are made using general principles to interpret and reinterpret information. This is another way of saying that models are used, while in the left columns there is no cohesive framework for decision making but instead the problem solver proceeds with the goal to find the single, “correct” answer or to stack up evidence to support a specific conclusion.