Concept Paper: Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a group decision-making technique. The purpose of brainstorming is to

generate as many ideas as possible. There are three basic phases associated with brainstorming
but phases can be expanded until you have reached the desired result:
Philosophical base
1. Many ideas are preferable to a few
2. From many ideas, a few good ones will emerge
3. Ideas seem to generate other ideas
4. Criticizing an idea during the idea generation phase inhibits idea generation
5. Generating new ideas can be fun and stimulating
Problems
1. Groupthink may occur as one idea sparks another related idea.
2. People with divergent ideas may keep quiet in order to not interrupt the flow of ideas
3. The most assertive individuals can dominate the process.
Phase 1
1. Decide the topic that you wish to explore.
2. Assign one person as the recorder and provide them with lots of paper, chalkboard, etc.
3. Assign a specific amount of time to the brainstorming session. Usually 15-20 minutes.
4. Agree upon the rules for the brainstorming session. These rules should be simple and few
so that everyone in the group remembers them. If anyone in the group forgets a rule, just
remind them of it and continue. A sample set of rules might be:
4.1. All ideas have value and are recorded as close to the author’s statement as possible
4.2. Even variations on other ideas will be recorded as new ideas
4.3. No clarification or discussion of the ideas is allowed
4.4. Do not judge or comment on an idea even if it is the total opposite of what you
believe
4.5. Do not qualify or expand your idea
4.6. Ideas that are contradictory are permitted
4.7. You can use another person's idea to generate additional ideas.
4.8. Silence should be expected and welcomed as ideas are generated.
5. Everyone in the group generates words or short phrases on the topic. The recorder writes
these down. Do not attempt to group, or organize the ideas as they are written.
6. Keep to the time. When the time is up, stop! No doubt, there will still be additional ideas
that people want to add but this can be done at the next step of Phase 1.
7. The group should now take a break. Ideally, this break should be 24 hours during which
you should jot down any ideas that come to you so that they can be added to the list. If
such a long break is not possible at least get a coffee. The important thing at this time is to
separate yourself from the other group members to give yourself a chance to reflect on the
various ideas. After the break resume the group, change the recorder so that everyone has
a chance to generate ideas, set an amount of time (usually this can be less than the first
time), and generate additional ideas. Before you start this second step, be sure everyone is
familiar with the first list of ideas. The same rules as the first session still apply.

U. of TX at Arlington School of Social Work, Dr. Schoech, 15-Aug-04

 8. If many ideas are still coming forward at the end of the time, you may want to repeat step
7. If there are no ideas coming forward at the end of step 6 you may not want to do step
9. The important thing is to get all the ideas written down.
Phase 2
1. As a group, you should now take the ideas you have accumulated and organize them. Do
not eliminate any of the ideas. You will find that some ideas are really the same but
written in a different way. These should be combined. Make sure the entire group agrees
to the new combined wording. If there is disagreement on the wording, leave the ideas the
way they were. Some of the ideas will be just an expansion of one of the ideas. These
should be combined and again the group must agree on how the combination is worded.
You should try to get this list down to 12 to 20 items.
2. Write each idea on a separate piece of paper and then "brainstorm" each individual idea to
be sure that you have exhausted everyone's ideas on the topic.
Phase 3
1. The group should now examine each page of ideas and:
1.1. Throw out ideas that are not feasible, practical, or are beyond the scope of the
project.
1.2. Any ideas that are contradictory should be removed and placed on a separate piece
of paper to be dealt with later.
1.3. The remaining ideas should be organized as to sequencing, importance, feasibility,
or resource requirements. You may also find that the items should be listed as
major topics with several subtopics. Again, list items in order of importance.
2. Now organize the pages in order. If your original brainstorming was designed to find out
what topics should be considered, this list should be your answer.
3. It is now necessary to evaluate your work. The group can review the entire list to decide if
this is what they wanted. There might be a few changes necessary. It is also a good idea
to bring in someone from the "outside" and review the list with him or her. If you are
working as part of a larger group, it is a good idea to present your results to the large group
to verify that you have correctly achieved your part of the total project. You may have to
make some changes because of these reviews. This way the total project will appear as
though one person did it. Verify that every item on the list is an answer to the original
question. It is possible for the group to answer a different question.
4. Now examine those ideas that you set aside because they did not "fit". Often these ideas
are things to "watch out for" and so although they should not appear you must keep them
in mind. Sometimes these are answers to a different question and can be discarded.
5. Combine your lists into one document and number all of the items so that they can be
easily referred to. You may want to use Roman numerals for the page items, capital letters
for the major page topics, and numerics for the subtopics. Another useful numbering
method is to use 1.1.1 where the first number shows the page item, the second shows the
major topic, and the third the subtopic. Whatever method is used, be consistent since these
numbers will be referred to for the rest of the project.
Adapted from: http://www.nait.ab.ca/cst/courses/bcs460/WWWPages/BRAIN.HTM and other sources.

U. of TX at Arlington School of Social Work, Dr. Schoech, 15-Aug-04