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Problem Solving in Everyday Life

Problem solving involves six key steps: (1) identifying the problem, (2) understanding the problem and knowledge bases involved, (3) identifying alternative solutions, (4) selecting the best solution based on evaluation criteria, (5) listing instructions to implement the selected solution, and (6) evaluating the solution to ensure it is correct and satisfactory. These steps provide a systematic process for making well-informed decisions to solve problems across different contexts, from everyday choices to important life decisions.

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Priyanka D
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487 views2 pages

Problem Solving in Everyday Life

Problem solving involves six key steps: (1) identifying the problem, (2) understanding the problem and knowledge bases involved, (3) identifying alternative solutions, (4) selecting the best solution based on evaluation criteria, (5) listing instructions to implement the selected solution, and (6) evaluating the solution to ensure it is correct and satisfactory. These steps provide a systematic process for making well-informed decisions to solve problems across different contexts, from everyday choices to important life decisions.

Uploaded by

Priyanka D
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Problem Solving in Everyday Life

People make decisions every day to solve problems that affect their lives. The
problems may be as unimportant as what to watch on television or as important as
choosing a new profession. If a bad decision is made, time and resources are wasted,
so it’s important that people know how to make decisions well. There are six steps to
follow to ensure the best decision. These six steps in problem solving include the
following:
Identify the problem. The first step toward solving a problem is to identify the
problem. In a classroom situation, most problems have been identified for you and
given to you in the form of written assignments or problems out of a book. However,
when you are doing problem solving outside the classroom, you need to make sure
you identify the problem before you start solving it. If you don’t know what the problem
is, you cannot solve it.
Understand the problem. You must understand what is involved in the problem
before you can continue toward the solution. This includes understanding the
knowledge base of the person or machine for whom you are solving the problem. If
you are setting up a solution for a person, then you must know what that person knows.
A different set of instructions might have to be used depending on this knowledge
base. For example, you would use a more detailed set of instructions to tell someone
how to find a restaurant in your city if he has a limited knowledge of the city than if he
knows it well. When you are working with a computer, its knowledge base is the limited
instructions the computer can understand in the particular language or application you
are using to solve the problem. Knowing the knowledge base is very important since
you cannot use any instructions outside this base. You also must know your own
knowledge base. You cannot solve a problem if you do not know the subject. For
example, to solve a problem involving calculus, you must know calculus; to solve a
problem involving accounting, you must know accounting. You must be able to
communicate with your client and be able to understand what is involved in solving the
problem.
Identify alternative ways to solve the problem. This list should be as complete as
possible. You might want to talk to other people to find other solutions than those you
have identified. Alternative solutions must be acceptable ones. You could go from
Denver to Los Angeles by way of New York, but this would probably not be an
acceptable solution to your travel needs.
Select the best way to solve the problem from the list of alternative solutions. In
this step, you need to identify and evaluate the pros and cons of each possible solution
before selecting the best one. In order to do this, you need to select criteria for the
evaluation. These criteria will serve as the guidelines for evaluating each solution.
List instructions that enable you to solve the problem using the selected
solution. These numbered, step-by-step instructions must fall within the knowledge
base set up in step 2. No instruction can be used unless the individual or the machine
can understand it. This can be very limiting, especially when working with computers.
Evaluate the solution. To evaluate or test a solution means to check its result to see
if it is correct, and to see if it satisfies the needs of the person(s) with the problem.
(When a person needs a piece of furniture to sleep on, buying her a cot may be a
correct solution, but it may not be very satisfactory.) If the result is either incorrect or
unsatisfactory, then the problem solver must review the list of instructions to see that
they are correct or start the process all over again.

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