About preconceived notions

Don't have preconceived notions." is difficult to understand because it is Negative form instructions. Dig deeper into this term "preconceived notion".

Think of a specific situation where you want to "take a survey and get some new insights from the responses. In this case, the "arrangement that would have been made even before the survey was taken" does not use information obtained from the survey. Rather than such a "normal arrangement", an arrangement that "looks unusual at first glance, but based on the content of the questionnaire, this arrangement is better" is more suitable for the purpose.

For example, suppose there are four cards here: "dog", "cat", "lizard", and "houseplant". If we were to group these without detailed survey content, most people would probably group "dogs" and "cats" together first. Next closest would be "lizards" because they are the same animal. Houseplants" is the furthest.

This is an example of grouping without using the survey results.

Let's say the free response to the survey was something like this

• My dog-loving friends say, "I like lizards, they don't sit still and look funny," but every day I look at them, they look a little different. I can tell if they seem to be in a good mood today or a little dry. Fun."
• I grow evergreen houseplants. Sometimes new buds appear, and sometimes old leaves fall off. I like the slow flow of time. I don't like animals that are in a hurry."

Based on this, it seems rather good to place "lizards" and "houseplants" close together among "dogs," "cats," "lizards," and "houseplants". Compared to this group, dogs seem far away. Among cats, the type that ignores humans and lives a free human life seems closer, while the type that spoils humans and demands to be cared for seems farther away.

This is an example of grouping with a solid use of survey results.

Some may look at this group that includes "lizards" and "houseplants" and say, "Isn't this classification strange?" You may think, "Oh, this person has a preconceived notion before the survey. At such a time, you may think in your mind, "Ah, this person is stuck in preconceived notions before the survey," and without showing your face, you may say, "It is natural for them to think so. You can answer confidently, "This is the new structure that was first discovered in this survey.

summary

• A more specific instruction to "eliminate preconceived notions" would be "emphasize new knowledge rather than what you already know.

Related Topics

• I think this card example is a good subject for various other questions about the KJ method.

• For example, "How can I cut from the length of the questionnaire to a sticky note?"

  • In this example, we cut out the tasteless "lizards" and "houseplants". So, during the grouping phase, I said, "Let's put dogs and cats together; houseplants are too far away. This is not a very good way to cut out.
  • My dog-loving friends say, "I like lizards, they don't sit still and look funny," but every day I look at them, they look a little different. I can tell if they seem to be in a good mood today, or if they are a little dry. From "fun," you can cut out, for example, "Every day you see them, their expressions are a little different.

• For example, "How should I put a nameplate on it?"

  • Consider what you would do with a nameplate for a group of "dogs and cats" versus a nameplate for a group of "lizards and houseplants."
  • Groups created according to preconceived notions and existing classification criteria are likely to suffer from a lack of words to describe what to put in the title.
  • A good group would be overflowing with words to title it. 'Why did you put lizards and houseplants in one group?' It would be, "That's just it."

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