Introduction:
In this article, Paulus et al use three separate experiments
to measure the effectiveness of facilitators, instructions, and breaks in the
process of brainstorming. This research was conducted on both group
brainstorming and nominal brainstorming, partially as an attempt to increase
the effectiveness of group brainstorming creativity, which studies have shown
to be less effective than nominal brainstorming. Experiment 1 was conducted in
person, while experiments 2 and 3 measured the impact of additional rules for
individuals who wrote or used a computer, respectively.
Summary:
Experiment 1 measured the difference made by the presence of
a facilitator (in group settings) and the introduction of additional brainstorming
rules (to both groups and nominal participants). The main finding of this first
experiment was that both individuals and groups who were given additional rules
experienced an increase in their performance. Facilitators, on the other hand,
did not influence group performance other than to limit the number of
extraneous words used. The authors did note that further research would be
necessary to determine if a more active facilitation style could lead groups to
surpass nominal brainstorming in productivity.
Experiment 2 separated individuals into four groups: 1) a traditional
group with no rules and no breaks; 2) a 36 minute brainstorming session with
additional rules but no break; 3) a six-minute break after 15 minutes, and; 4)
and two three-minute breaks after 10 and 23 minutes. As the experimenters
predicted, the second and third group showed improvement over the first group during
the brainstorming session. While the fourth group also had better production,
they did not receive any additional benefit from the extra break.
Experiment 3 was broken into the same four categories,
although the participants were brainstorming alone on a computer. The results
of this experiment indicated that while the additional rules once again
improved the brainstorming session, the breaks had no additional effect on
electronic participants. Researches hypothesized that this was due to
electronic brainstorm being both less fatiguing and also easier to keep track
of (as the words are visible on screen at all times).
Source:
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Facilitators, rules and electronics appear to be very influential in the process and success of brainstorming. What other factors did you find that are important in order for brainstorming to be an effective tool?
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