thinking hats for doctoral studies

Thinking Codes, Triggers, Games & Templates for Doctoral Studies

Alwyn Lau

““Give me Give me white, yellow, white, yellow,

black black and green.”and green.”

Edward de Bono

Inventor of the 6 Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, etc.

Facts

Figures

Information

a CODE for clearer a CODE for clearer communicationcommunication

Problems

Risks

Judgment

Benefits

Optimism

All Positive

AdversarialThinking

ParallelThinking

a GAME to remove bias from thinking

EgoEgo must be must be separated from separated from

PerformancePerformance

Alternatives

Options

Choices

““Creativity begins with Creativity begins with the generation of the generation of alternatives.”alternatives.”

Edward de BonoEdward de Bono

The Birthday

Present

““Our traditional thinking is Our traditional thinking is concerned with: concerned with: What-ISWhat-IS. . It isn’t good at designing It isn’t good at designing What-CAN-BEWhat-CAN-BE.”.”

Edward de BonoEdward de Bono

Invent. Reinvent. Invent. Reinvent. Repeat.Repeat.

a TRIGGERto generate ideas

Emotions

‘Gut-Feel’

Feelings

Always ‘Factor In’ Emotions

Be Sensitive to Sensitivity

Avoid “Cognitive Violence”

No matter how great your ideas and arguments are…

Controllingthe other 5 hats

“We need more options!”

“Is it too yellow? Too

much black?”

a TEMPLATE for all-rounded thinking

The 6 Hats are useful as a…

• CodeCode for systematic communication

• GameGame for objective evaluation/analysis

• TriggerTrigger to generate more and new ideas

• TemplateTemplate for all-rounded thinking

How do we use the hats in doctoral studies

Doctoral Studies and the Hats

• More effective communication between faculty and students

• Clear and focused thinking

• Thinking games for (facilitated?) group discussion and more objective analysis

• Full spectrum of thinking about research (especially emotions!)

• Green– List down at least a dozen topics, areas, industries,

problems you may have an interest in researching– What are all the possible issues, angles and

dimensions which could emerge from this survey?– What are 10 recommendations resulting from this

research

• Black & Yellow– What are the key problems with arguments I admire?

Have I covered all the benefits of views I don’t agree with?

– What else can I do? What could I have missed out?

Doctoral Studies and the Hats (cont’d)

Doctoral Studies and the Hats (cont’d)

• White– What are all the facts I need to know BEFORE I

begin? Do I have enough hard data?– Are all my facts accurate? Could I have mistaken

‘subjective interpretation’ for ‘objective truth’?

• Red & Blue– What are my biases and possible blind-spots?– How does this topic affect me emotionally and what

does this say about me, the topic, etc.?– Have I generated enough ideas, points and options?

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