Morphological Analysis
Morphological Analysis is a method for systematically structuring and investigating the total set of relationships contained in a multi-dimensional, usually non-quantifiable, problem complexes.
Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss astrophysicist and aero-space scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, developed this method in the sixties of last century for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional non-quantified problem complex. He also claimed that many of his discoveries were made using this method.
When to use Morphological Analysis -
How to use MA:-
How MA works:-
It works through two simple principles of creativity –
Decomposition is to break-down the problem into component variables and possible value identified for each;
Forced association principle is then brought into play by 'banging together' multiple combinations of these values.
For instance, if you have some products that could be made of 4 types of materials, in 6 possible shapes, and with 4 kinds of mechanism, theoretically of 96 (4x6x4) potential combinations of material, shape and mechanism can be created. Some of these combinations must already be existing, others may be impossible or impractical to make; those left over may represent prospective new products. This method can be extended to virtually any problem area that can be structured dimensionally.
Today with computers support many millions of configurations can be treated quite rigorously. Thus, with computers the Morphological Analysis field can be turned into a laboratory with which one can assign initial conditions and examine alternative solutions.
Questions:
