Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Let’S Take This One Step At A Time: The Effect Of Presenting The Brainstorming Rules In Stages On Brainstorming Effectiveness, Cassondra Batz

University Libraries Undergraduate Research Paper Award

The purpose of this research is to further our understanding of the way groups work together to generate ideas while using a procedure called brainstorming. Brainstorming requires groups to follow four procedural rules while generating their ideas (Osborn 1957). However, two of theses rules seem to call for contradictory processes. One of these rules states that “free-wheeling is welcomed; the wilder the idea the better,” while another rule says to “combine and build on the ideas already generated.” The contradiction is apparent when a person notices that one rule requests a group to generate ideas that are different from previously …