Are Two Solutions Better than One? Effects of Multiple Solutions on Group Problem Solving
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Throughout problem solving literature, little is known on the effects of the availability of multiple equally satisfactory solutions on the behavior and performance of groups. Our study fills the gap in knowledge, and makes recommendations for future work. In this experiment, four-person groups solved card exchange problems with either one or two possible solutions and different structural properties: (a) sort (a single-solution control problem); (b) a two-solution problem; (c) a two-solution problem and detour; and (d) a two-solution problem and restructuring. We predicted that groups solving for problems with more than one solution would solve these problems more quickly. Our results, however, indicated that when more than one solution existed, this significantly increased solution times, search path complexity, and the number of moves needed to reach solutions, particularly for problems with detour or restructuring properties. The findings suggest that increased coordination difficulties due to increased problem structure complexity and the goal interdependence of group members outweighed potential performance improvements related to the availability of multiple solution states.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.017 | 0.146 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".