How Do Groups and Individuals Select and Evaluate Ideas They Generated in a Brainstorming Session?

• In Event: Constraints and Opportunities in Group Decision Making Processes

Abstract

Brainstorming is a popular technique to generate ideas. Only few studies, though, investigated how groups select ideas. We asked participants to generate ideas and subsequently select their best ideas either individually (nominal groups) or in interactive groups. Interactive groups produced more unique ideas than nominal groups, but focused more on common ideas than the individuals when selecting ideas. The results question the widespread claim that brainstorming should be done individually rather than in interactive groups.

Authors

• Torsten Reimer, Purdue University

• Shuo Yao, Radford University

• Laura Harger, Univ of Maryland, Univ College