Small Group Facilitation: Improving Process and Performance in Groups and Teams

KJ Method/Affinity Technique

Name and Description

KJ Method, also called affinity technique and affinity diagram, was created by Japanese anthropologist Jiro Kawakita. This process relies upon intuitive, nonlogical thinking processes and encourages group involvement. Group members work individually to generate ideas and then at a board or other large surface with other group members to sort these ideas into groups or categories that have points of similarity or affinity that tie the ideas together.

References

Kawakita, J. (1982). The original KJ-method. Tokyo, Japan: Kawakita Research Institute.

Scupin, R. (1997). The KJ method: A technique for analyzing data derived from Japanese ethnology. Human Organization 56(2), 233–237.

Use

Although originally ...