Damian Gordon Creative Techniques: In Your Research

Contents Individual Creativity  CoRT  Mindmaps  How to think like Leonardo  Thinking about words Group Creativity  Six Thinking Hats  The Wisdom of Crowds

CoRT

CoRT Thinking Programme PMI = Plus, Minus, Interesting CAF = Consider All Factors OPV = Other People’s Views FIP = First Important Priorities C&S = Consequences & Sequels AGO = Aims, Goals, Objectives APC = Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices

Introduction Literature Review Project Design Analysis – Quantitative & Qualitative Conclusions & Future Work Thesis Structure Project Description AGO, CAF, FIP CAF, OPV, PMI CAF, OPV, APC, PMI PMI, AGO C&S, PMI, APC, OPV Appropriate Techniques CAF, OPV, APC, PMI

Introduction Literature Review Project Design Analysis – Quantitative & Qualitative Conclusions & Future Work Thesis Structure Project Description AGO, CAF, FIP CAF, OPV, PMI CAF, OPV, APC, PMI PMI, AGO C&S, PMI, APC, OPV Appropriate Techniques CAF, OPV, APC, PMI

Mindmaps

Do your supervisor a favour, and when you give them a proposal, give them a mindmap of it as well.

Literature Design Organisation Technology Research Question Evaluation Mindmaps

How to Think like Leonardo

Seven Principles 1. Curiosità 2. Dimonstrazione 3. Sensazione 4. Sfumato 5. Arte/Scienza 6. Corporalita 7. Connessione

Curiosità Realise your Ideal Hobby  How will I benefit from this pursuit?  What are my goals?  What resources will I need?  Where can I find a good teacher?  How much time will I devote to it?  What obstacles must I overcome?  How can I make money from my hobby?

Curiosità Doing your thesis  How will I benefit from this pursuit?  What are my goals?  What resources will I need?  Where can I find a good teacher?  How much time will I devote to it?  What obstacles must I overcome?  How can I make money from my research? For your MSc

Curiosità Build a Lexicon  Codex Trivulzianus is full of them, define words, new vocabulary, foreign terms, neogolisms. Arduous – difficult, painful Alpine – of the region of the Alps Archimandrite – a leader of a group  A large vocabulary is a powerful ally

e.g. you are doing research on Communities of practice What other keywords do we need to look out for?  Network of practice  Virtual community  Virtual Ethnography  Virtual team  Community-driven knowledge management Curiosità For your MSc

Dimonstrazione Explore attitudes to mistakes  What did you learn from school about making mistakes?  What did your parents teach you about making mistakes?  What is the biggest mistake you have ever made?  What mistakes do you repeat?  What role does fear of making mistakes play in your life, your work, at home?  Are you more likely to make mistakes of commission, or omission?

Dimonstrazione Explore attitudes to mistakes  In terms of your research...  If you don’t get the research answer you expect, is this a problem?  What is a mistake in research?  Should I tell my supervisor if I’ve made a mistake in my experiment? For your MSc

Sensazione Visualization Visualization is a technique that Leonardo used a great deal in his work, and is now used by top athletes and business executives. It is simply a matter of imagining (practicing) a performance before you do it, to allow your brain to match the imagination.

Sensazione Visualization Use this for practising your proposal presentation and your final presentation Use this for practising interviews For your MSc

Sensazione Learn how to draw  Identify approaches  Get good pencils and paper  Take lessons or get a book  Doodle  Scribble  Etc.

Sensazione Draw diagrams Draw models Draw technical architectures For your MSc

Sfumato Count the number of times in a day you use absolute terms such as “totally”, “always”, “certainly”, “must”, “never”, and “absolutely” Consider how you close conversations, do you typically end conversations with either a statement or question?

Sfumato In your thesis avoid using terms such as “totally”, “always”, “certainly”, “must”, “never”, and “absolutely” Also do not use the terms “prove”, “proof” or “proven” For your MSc

Arte/Scienza

For your MSc

Connessione Setting goals – the SMART way  S PECIFIC  M EASURABLE  A CCOUNTABILITY  R EALISTIC AND RELEVENT  T IME LINE

Connessione Setting goals – the SMART way  S PECIFIC  M EASURABLE  A CCOUNTABILITY  R EALISTIC AND RELEVENT  T IME LINE For your MSc

Thinking about words

29 synonyms acronyms polysemy single-concept principle neologisms monosemy abbreviations quasi-synonyms, or near-synonyms pseudo-synonyms, or false synonyms antonyms phraseologism hyponyms hypernyms collocation Cross- references UNDERSTANDING WORDS tautonyms

Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats in the Thesis: Make sure each chapter has: BLUE:Introduction and overview of topic WHITE:Facts and Figures about the Topic YELLOW:Positive outcomes of Topic BLACK:Negative outcomes of Topic GREEN:Interesting outcomes of Topic RED:Personal, emotional and people-oriented aspects of topic WHITE:Review of new facts uncovered BLUE:Summary and finish up

The Wisdom of Crowds

The key factor that causes Groupthink is when the crowd is homogeneous. If all members think and act the same this can lead to groupthink, as can be seen in highly regulated organisations like the army. To harness the power of the wisdom of crowds you really need diversity, the nay-sayers, the moaners and complainers, and the crazy optimists, the fools, the happy-go-luckies – you need the whole mix.

The Wisdom of Crowds You are doing a taught MSc, harness the power of the group,  Meet regularly as a group during the dissertation module, e.g., twice a month  Swap papers, references, and models  Discuss issues in your research  Compare war stories about supervisors For your MSc

Conclusions Creative Techniques: In Your Research

Conclusions I’ve presented a few ways you can use the techniques we have explored for your research Don’t be limited by my suggestions, use the techniques in as wide and as many ways as you can think of. For your MSc