Editing Problem solving (section)

=== Engineering ===
When products or processes fail, problem solving techniques can be used to develop corrective actions that can be taken to prevent further [[failure]]s. Such techniques can also be applied to a product or process prior to an actual failure event—to predict, analyze, and mitigate a potential problem in advance. Techniques such as [[failure mode and effects analysis]] can proactively reduce the likelihood of problems.

In either the reactive or the proactive case, it is necessary to build a causal explanation through a process of diagnosis. In deriving an explanation of effects in terms of causes, [[Abductive reasoning|abduction]] generates new ideas or hypotheses (asking "how?"); [[Deductive reasoning|deduction]] evaluates and refines hypotheses based on other plausible premises (asking "why?"); and [[Inductive reasoning|induction]] justifies a hypothesis with empirical data (asking "how much?").<ref name="Staat">{{cite journal|last=Staat|first=Wim|title=On abduction, deduction, induction and the categories|journal=Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society|volume=29|number=2|year=1993|pages=225–237}}</ref> The objective of abduction is to determine which hypothesis or proposition to test, not which one to adopt or assert.<ref name="Sullivan">{{cite journal|last=Sullivan|first=Patrick F.|title=On Falsificationist Interpretations of Peirce|journal=Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society|volume=27|number=2|year=1991|pages=197–219}}</ref> In the [[Charles S. Peirce|Peircean]] logical system, the logic of abduction and deduction contribute to our conceptual understanding of a phenomenon, while the logic of induction adds quantitative details (empirical substantiation) to our conceptual knowledge.<ref name="Yu">{{cite conference|last=Ho|first=Yu Chong|title=Abduction? Deduction? Induction? Is There a Logic of Exploratory Data Analysis?|year=1994|conference=Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association|location=New Orleans, La.|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED376173.pdf|access-date=2023-09-20|archive-date=2023-11-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102041717/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED376173.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Forensic engineering]] is an important technique of [[failure analysis]] that involves tracing product defects and flaws. Corrective action can then be taken to prevent further failures.

Reverse engineering attempts to discover the original problem-solving logic used in developing a product by disassembling the product and developing a plausible pathway to creating and assembling its parts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://litemind.com/problem-definition/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621145314/https://litemind.com/problem-definition/|archive-date=2017-06-21|title=Einstein's Secret to Amazing Problem Solving (and 10 Specific Ways You Can Use It)|website=Litemind|language=en-US|access-date=2017-06-11|date=2008-11-04 |last1=Passuello |first1=Luciano }}</ref>