Crawford developed the Crawford slip writing method in
the USA in the 1920’s, for use in gathering ideas from large groups
(even up to 5000 people, though its much easier to handle with, say,
50 – 200).
It is actually one of the original forms of brainwriting,
and for small groups it reduces to an undemanding ‘private idea
generation’ phase. It is used with large gatherings of people
in say, a lecture theatre or hall and is in many ways is the manual,
text-based, predecessor of a modern radio or TV ‘phone-in’.
- Each person is given a stack or note-pad of at least 25 small
slips of paper (e.g. A6 paper). The pads are often pre-prepared
to consist of idea-jogging graphics, or in the case of larger groups,
the time and activity of handling the pads in Step 5 becomes crucial,
so the pad needs to be designed so that the ideas can be separated
and sorted easily.
- At appropriate points in the general proceedings, problem statements
are read out to the group using any of the well established procedures
such as: ‘How to…’ or ‘In what ways might
we…’. The search is generally for ideas for solutions,
however in some instances you may want to get ideas for alternative
problem statements, or related issues, etc.
- Participants are told to write ideas of the required kind one
per sheet, in any order. Displayed images or words to the whole
meeting to act as triggers, or organising participants to work in
twos or threes (e.g. with others sitting near them), can help with
stimulating ideas.
- When writing has begun to slow down (usually 5 – 10 minutes)
the note-pads are collected.
- If rapid feedback is being attempted, the booklets are immediately
divided up between the members of a team of helpers and sorted in
agreed ways – e.g. by frequency of occurrence and/or feasibility.
If a greater degree of sophisticated categorisation is required,
then the categories will probably have to be pre-determined (e.g.
from an earlier pilot), so that each team member can work to the
same categories. In the case of a very large meeting, presenting
early feedback as examples drawn from a limited random sample of
booklets may be the best option. Feedback during the same meeting
is difficult to achieve. However, for an event lasting several days
(such as a conference) quite complex feedback throughout the duration
of the conference is plausible if the logistics are well planned.
Rapid feedback from a large exercise can be quite a coup de theatre
if organised successfully.
- After the early feedback, analysis and evaluation can continue
at a steadier pace to identify the most useful ideas and develop
them into practicable proposals.
- Finally, a feedback report dispatched to participants is often
valuable.
This technique can successfully supply a method of
achieving large numbers of ideas swiftly, at the same time creating
a sense of democratic responsiveness
However, if the group is very large, the mass dynamics
of timing, mood, image, ‘warm-up’ cultural acceptability,
etc. can be critical. In the wrong environment, people may feel embarrassed,
angry or resentful at being asked to participate. Conversely, if you
create a very positive crowd mood, people may develop exaggerated expectations
about your ability to follow up their ideas, and become disillusioned
when very few ideas are take up.
To improve on this, automated techniques where participants
have electronic voting buttons or (in smaller numbers) each have their
own networked computer and keyboard have proved more successful. Evidence
from computer studies suggests that provided that pace and energy can
be upheld and that the logistics can be handled (easier said than done)
there is no ‘optimal group size’ the larger the group, the
more ideas you will get, though obviously there is a law of diminishing
returns.