1. TECHNIQUES OF CREATIVE
THINKING
BY
Pranav Kumar Ojha
Siddharth Kumar Upadhyay

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Different techniques of creative thinking.
– Focus Groups
– Brainstorming
– Attribute Analysis
– Synectics
– Checklist of questions
• Conclusion
• Reference

3. Thank You

4. Introduction
• Techniques which are used in developing
creativity or resolving problems by creative
thinking come under the techniques of
creative thinking.

5. Different techniques of creative
thinking
• Focus Groups
• Brainstorming
• Attribute Analysis
• Synectics
• Checklist of questions

6. FOCUS GROUPS
• A focus group is a form
of qualitative research in
which a group of people are
asked about their attitude
towards a product, service,
concept, advertisement,
idea, or packaging.

7. FOCUS GROUPS
• Questions are asked in an
interactive group setting
where participants are free
to talk with other group
members

8. FOCUS GROUPS
• The first focus group was
created at the Bureau of
Applied Social Research by
associate director,
sociologist Robert K.
Merton.
• The term itself was coined by
psychologist and marketing
expert Ernest Dichter

9. FOCUS GROUPS
• Types of focus groups.
• How to plan and prepare
for Focus Groups.
•Useful tips to encourage
discussion
•Benefits of focus groups
•Problems related to
focus groups

10. Types of focus groups
• Two-way focus group - one focus group
watches another focus group and discusses
the observed interactions and conclusion.
• Dual moderator focus group - one moderator
ensures the session progresses smoothly,
while another ensures that all the topics are
covered.

11. Types of focus groups
• Dueling moderator focus group - Two
moderators deliberately take opposite sides
on the issue under discussion.
• Respondent moderator focus group - one or
more of the respondents are asked to act as
the moderator temporarily.

12. Types of focus groups
•Client participant focus groups - One or more
client representatives participate in the
discussion, either covertly or overtly.
•Mini focus groups - Groups are composed of
four or five members rather than 6 to 12.

13. Types of Focus Group
• Teleconference
focus groups -
telephone network
is used.
• Online focus
groups - computers
connected via the
internet are used

14. How to plan and prepare for Focus
Groups
• Invite around 6 to 8 people to participate for
a session to last for about an hour.
• Then, prepare an agenda including a list of the
top-level issues to be tackled (if appropriate).

15. How to plan and prepare for focus
groups
• Prepare an introduction script explaining the
purpose of the day and how the day will be
run.
• Be sure to always use a quiet room
and arrange people in a circle (possibly around
a table).

16. Useful tips to encourage discussion
• Ask participants to
think about an issue for
a few minutes and
write down their
responses.
• Ask each participant to
read, and elaborate on,
one of their responses.

17. Useful tips to encourage discussion
• Note the responses on a flipchart/whiteboard
• Once everyone has given a response,
participants will be asked for a second or third
response, until all of their answers have been
noted.
• These responses can then be discussed.

18. Benefits of focus groups
• Group discussion produces data and insights
that would be less accessible without
interaction.
• Group members discover a common language
to describe similar experiences. This enables
the capture of a form of “native language” or
“vernacular speech” to understand the
situation.

19. Benefits of focus groups
• Focus groups also provide an opportunity for
disclosure among similar others in a setting
where participants are validated.

20. Problems related to focus groups
• The researcher has less control over a group than
a one-on-one interview, and thus time can be lost
on issues irrelevant to the topic.
• The number of members of a focus group is not
large enough to be a representative sample of a
population; thus, the data obtained from the
groups is not necessarily representative of the
whole population, unlike the data of opinion
polls.

21. BRAINSTORMING
• Brainstorming is
the way of making of
a group of people all
think about
samething at same
time, often in order to
solve a problem or to
create a good idea
(oxford dictionary).

22. BRAINSTORMING
• Brainstorming is a group
creativity
technique designed to
generate a large number
of ideas for the solution of
a problem.
• In 1953 the method was
popularized by Alex
Faickney Osborn in a book
called Applied Imagination.

23. BRAINSTORMING
• Rules of Brainstorming
• Methods of Brainstorming
• Types of Brainstorming

24. Rules of Brainstorming
• Focus on quantity: This rule is a means of
enhancing divergent production, aiming to
facilitate problem solving through the maxim-
quantity breeds quality.

25. Rules of Brainstorming
• Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism
of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'.
• By suspending judgment, participants will feel
free to generate unusual ideas.

26. Rules of Brainstorming
• Welcome unusual ideas: To get a good and
long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed.

27. Rules of Brainstorming
• Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas may
be combined to form a single better good
idea, It is believed to stimulate the building of
ideas by a process of association.

28. Methods of Brainstorming
• Set the problem
• Create a background memo
• Select participants
• Create a list of lead questions
• Session conduct

29. Types of Brainstorming
• Webbing
• Venn Diagram

30. Types of Brainstorming
Webbing-
• Webbing is a way to see what you know about
a topic.

31. Types of Brainstorming
Webbing-
• Start with a bubble in the center of the page,
then write your thesis statement in the
bubble.
Mr. T is the best teacher ever

32. Types of Brainstorming
Webbing-
Webbing (2)
 Add supporting evidence or
information around the edges in
connected bubbles. Awesome
musician
Funny
Mr. T is the
best teacher
ever
Gives easy Cool room
work

33. Types of Brainstorming
Webbing-
Webbing (3)
 Go back around and explain why
your evidence makes your thesis
true. Makes up songs
about school; easy to
Awesome
Makes class remember musician
interesting
Want to pay
Funny attention
Weird voices help
Mr. T is the
me remember
best teacher
Want to go
Can focus
on material
ever to class
Gives easy Cool room
High Lots of
work avg. information

34. Venn Diagram
A Venn diagram is used to
help visualize the similarities
and differences between two
subjects.
 Venn diagrams are very useful
when brainstorming a
compare/contrast essay

35. Venn Diagram
 Start
with the two topics you’re
comparing in overlapping circles.
JFK Bill Clinton

36. Venn Diagram
 Write similarities in the
overlapping space.
President
Popular
JFK Bill Clinton
Good hair
Popular wife (?)

37. Venn Diagram
 Writedifferences in the non-
overlapping space.
Started
space Almost
President impeached
program
Popular
JFK Bill Clinton
Good hair
Assassinated Popular wife Still alive

38. ATTRIBUTE ANALYSIS
• Attribute analysis is the process of breaking
down a problem, idea, or thing into attributes
or component parts and then thinking about
the attributes rather than the thing itself.

39. Steps in attribute analysis
Identification of major attributes
Generation of alternatives
Evaluation of alternatives

40. Principles of Attribute Listing
• Creativity deals with
inspiration
• Product A + Product B =
New Creation
• Search concrete and closely
related substitutes of an
existing or current attribute

41. Principles contd..
• Now it can be upgraded to more and more far-
out alternatives
• Creation is a continuing stream of
modification

42. Procedures of Attribute Listing
• Listing of all obvious attributes of an object or
activity. e.g.- color, shape, size etc.
• Identifying those attributes that can be
altered without destroying the main function
of the object

43. Steps in attribute listing
• Listing of basic but modifiable attributes
• Generating alternatives to the current
attribute
• Listing abstract or generic attributes of the
object or activity

44. SYNECTICS
Synectics is a problem solving method that
stimulates thought processes of which the
subject may be unaware. This method was
developed by George M. Prince and William J. J.
Gordon, originating in the Arthur D. Little
Invention Design Unit in the 1950s.
Synectics is a technique of problem solving by
using a variety of analogies.

45. Major Analogies
1. Direct analogy
2. Personal analogy
3. Fantasy analogy
4. Symbolic analogy

46. Checklist of Questions
• Questions are the creative acts of intelligence,
for that they could be so designed as to force
a dramatic shift of perspective.

47. CONCLUSION
Creative thinking techniques are very much
useful to generating new ideas in every
organization . The new way of thinking should
always be encouraged and creativity should
always be welcomed.

48. Reference
• Creativity and Entrepreneurship
By- Dafna Karif
• Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
By- M.B.Shukla
• www.creativecommons.org
• www. expertise.ac .in
• www.nbcindia.com
• www.egyankosh.com (Oxford Dictionary)
• WWW.gogle.com
• WWW.wikipeadia.org
• www.slideshare.com
• IGNOU study Materials.

49. Link
• To become a successful entrepreneur, one
must be creative , because creative thinking
yields idea, plan, technology and most
importantly solution of many problems. And
for being creative , one should learn the
techniques of creative thinking. So
friends………….
• John fitzgerald Kannedy 35th US president