Summary
The paper categorizes the two forms of diversity and studies how brainstorming is affected by internal and externals diversity. The paper finds that brainstorming is positively affected by external stimuli as well as cultural diversity.
Reflection
The paper examines how diversity can affect the outcomes of brainstorming. It states that there are different forms of brainstorming and these can affect brainstorming in various ways. The paper wants to determine how internal and external diversity can affect brainstorming. The results showed that external stimuli such as pictures enhanced results along with groups that were multicultural in nature.
The research doesn’t quite involve building of a tool or a system. It informs how diversity can play a positive role in brainstorming. Some people may think that cultural differences may hinder productivity when brainstorming but the results of this paper contradicted that belief. The results stated that brainstorming benefits from cultural differences. Additionally, the research found that external sources of stimuli were helpful in driving new discussions which is something that I would’ve expected. Even though there is no tool or system involved in the research, the research helps confirm the effectiveness of diversity in the workplace.
The paper is loosely related to my own project. My project involves the creation of a system that allows instructors to ask students questions. My system could perhaps use stimuli (hints) which could enhance the student’s ability to come up with the right answer. Note, my system uses free-form text as input for answers therefore a hint wouldn’t give away too much information to the student.
The paper examined cultural differences but there can be many different forms of diversity besides cultural. For instance, it is quite common to be working on a team with a large age difference. I’m curious to learn whether a large age difference has any effect on brainstorming activity. Additional other factors such as education differences, backgrounds, etc. would be an interesting metric to analyze. I feel like in the workplace (at least in the U.S), these differences are much more common than differences in cultural backgrounds.
Creativity is measured by examining the originality and breadth of different ideas created by the groups. There is some room for errors using this method but overall, I thought this idea covers the essence of what a brainstorming is meant to accomplish. I feel like there is still a qualitative aspect to this approach but I think that is something which is unavoidable when measuring creativity.