A comparison of two electronic idea generation techniques

Much research has compared verbal with electronic brainstorming, but very few studies have investigated the effects of different electronic techniques. Most studies of electronic brainstorming have been based upon the individual poolwriting technique. However, gallery writing may be superior to it in some situations. Here, we report on an experiment involving 88 subjects in nine groups of approximately ten people each. The subjects used both electronic techniques to discuss different problems. Results show that the subjects were more satisfied with gallery writing and preferred it. Although more raw comments were generated using poolwriting, the number of quality comments and the number of unique, quality comments were not significantly different.