The free association
technique begins by trying to think about nothing in a relaxed,
tension-free environment. Try as we might, something always intrudes
on our consciousness. It may a line running toward the center of the
web or it may be a seemingly meaningless, circular line. Every
thought should be written down as it comes to mind, and the task of
thinking about nothing begun anew. After ten or fifteen minutes, the
train of intrusive thoughts usually begins to slow down, and we can
then take the list of seemingly unrelated thoughts and sort out the
ones that relate to the problem. The next step of brainstorming is to
take the free association / stream of consciousness list and circle
the words that pertain to the problem, and connect them with "web"
lines into "clusters." These crude webs and clusters can then be
reconstructed into a more legible outline. (Several styles of
outlining are illustrated in the Appendix 2.) This outline can then be
used in the subsequent steps of problem solving. The subsequent steps
of the problem solving procedure involve hypothetico-deductive
reasoning and is a part of the scientific method.[4]
* * * * *
Problem Solving Steps.
1. Identify the problem (state the hypothesis).
2. Gather facts: three ways in the order of most reliability.
A. Research -- library, Internet.
B. Ask someone knowledgeable.
C. Brainstorm: free association / stream of consciousness, web and
cluster, outline.
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