With affinity congregating, the participants are presented with a problem or design prompt, they individually write solutions on a sticky notes or other suitable media. When they are finished writing proposed solutions, the notes are collected and assembled by a moderator and grouped by affinities or themes into an affinity diagram. The themes arise from the data, which is founded on grounded theory. Grounded theory is a method common in the social sciences that allows categories and concepts to develop based exclusively on data and not from predisposed theories.
While these affinity congregations shown by the groupings of notes is subjective, general themes or affinities arise in a logical fashion. A variation of this approach is to have the group identify themes rather than a moderator. In this approach, the group gathers around the notes and identifies logical groupings. The notes are reviewed and duplicate ideas are stacked on top of each other. Finally, the affinities can be discussed and each idea can be critiqued by the group.
Affinity Congregating Technique Summary
1. Problem statement
or design prompt.
2. Individuals
write proposed solutions on sticky notes.
3. Moderator
collects notes and assembles by affinities or themes that arise (affinity diagrams).
Alternatively, the group identifies affinities as a team.
4. Duplicates
omitted.
5. Group critiques affinities
and proposed solutions.
Outcomes of Affinity Congregation
One example of applying this technique to
professional practice is addressing the issue of palliative care in the
developing world. In this case, I invited two physician colleagues to partner
with this investigation. Because we came from different disciplines (design,
pain management and palliative care), the congregation technique was used to
prevent the board-certified palliative care specialist from overwhelming the
pain management expert and the engineer. This cooperation led to identifying four
tracks of palliative care: physical, psychological, relational, and spiritual
as shown in Figure 4. These tracks were further divided into key concerns and we
developed practical treatment options.
In this example, the most common concerns were identified as pain, dyspnea (air hunger), nausea and vomiting, delirium, anxiety, and terminal secretions (‘the death rattle’). The affinity aggregation allowed artificial intelligence driven diagnosis systems to inhabit an equal space as recommending paracetamol or diclofenac for pain relief. This technique worked well in this interdisciplinary environment because we concluded with specific recommendations as well as the somewhat surprising result that the patient care should be the responsibility of a loving caregiver rather than a medical professional.
Figure 4 – Integrative palliative care factors.
From: T. Ask, “Engaging Creativity: Classroom Exercises for Enhancing Engineering Students' Creative Self Identity,” 2019 ASEE Zone I Conference & Workshop, Niagara Falls, NY, USA, April 2019, https://peer.asee.org/33791.
And T. E. Ask, J. Boll and A. Nesbitt, “Steps
towards Integrative Palliative Care in the Developing World,” Design for All Institute of India,
Newsletter Vol. 12, No. 3, p. 61, 2017.
