Brainstorming compared to what?

early draft

Although brainstorming has become a popular group technique, researchers have not found evidence of its effectiveness for enhancing either quantity or quality of ideas generated.--from Wikipedia's 2009 entry on brainstorming. As a social psychologist, an experienced researcher, and practicing creativity consultant, I have two big problems with this statement. First, most people will read this as being a definitive scientific rejection of the value of "brainstorming." It's not. Research results like this are known as confirming the null hypothesis, and trained researchers know not to draw any quick conclusions from such findings (e.g., maybe the researchers could have used a stronger brainstorming technique, maybe the data is so noisy it's hard to see the real differences). The wisest conclusion to be made from creativity research to date is not that brainstorming doesn't work, but that its impact varies across circumstances (e.g., the people involved, the nature of the problem or challenge, the organizational culture, implementation factors, etc., etc.). The next wisest conclusion from creativity research is that the research to date is very incomplete and fails to give us more than sketchy guidance in designing effective brainstorming sessions. The second big problem with both the Wikipedia statement and the research that is cited is that they rely on an unnaturally narrow and misleading definition of "brainstorming" (i.e., face to face group idea generation). Instead of comparing "brainstorming" with "no brainstorming," the research actually compares various brainstorming approaches with each other (e.g., individuals brainstorming together vs. brainstorming separately). Brainstorming in its most generic and everyday sense is "trying to come up with ideas." For example, people often refer to spending some time (by themselves) thinking about how to solve a problem or issue as "brainstorming." So our first question about all of this should be "Is trying to come up with ideas (brainstorming), more effective than not trying to come up with ideas (the control group)?" We really don't even need to do research on this, do we? Who would recommend doing nothing as the best way to get more and better ideas when you need them? The only time when doing nothing is the wisest course is when you are completely sure that 1. the problem is inconsequential and not worth addressing, 2. there is no possible solution to the problem 3. the problem will go away by itself (a variation of #1), or 4. you have zero resources to address the problem (a variation of #2). Can we ever know with complete accuracy that any of these conditions are true? Brainstorming--in all its many variations and forms and despite the shortcomings and foibles of its actual practice--remains a popular tool and option because it always holds out the promise and potential to help us find a brilliant and surprising solution to even the most impossible problem. Sometimes brainstorming is our only tool. That's the nature--and promise--of human creativity and that's also the promise of brainstorming.