Page 147 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

72/8. CRAWFORD SLIP METHOD

In 1925 C L Crawford of the University of Southern C
fornia invented the Crawford slip method (CSM), a type of

brainstorming.2' The name is derived from the use of slips
of paper, about the size of note cards, on which participants
write their ideas. A CSM group may consist of any number
of people, but larger groups are desirable since the time al-
lotted for generating ideas is short—normally about ten min-
utes. About 400 ideas should be produced by a group of 2()
people in a thirty- to forty-minute period. The process con-
sists of four key steps.

STEP I

The facilitator creates target or focus statements. These are
statements that help draw responses from participants. Tar-
gets must be carefully constructed. Most idea generation
methods simply state a problem. In CSM, a problem area
related to an issue is identified and an overall problem is
stated. Then additional statements are made that further
define the problem. Two representative target statements
are shown in Tables 5.1 and 5.2.

STEP 2

Participants then write their replies on slips of paper, using
one slip for each idea. The slips are small (4 1/4 by 2 3/ 4
inches) to ensure that answers are concise and clearly writ-
ten. (This size also helps ease data reduction in later steps of
the process.) [Notecards will suffice.]

In writing their responses, participants follow specific rules:

• Write across the long edge, not across the end of the slip.
• Write on the very top edge of the slip.
• Write only one sentence per slip.
• Use a new slip for explanations.
• Avoid words like "it" or "this."
• Write out acronyms the first time they are used.
• Write short sentences using simple words.
• Write for people outside your field.
• Write until time is called.

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