Research

This is a database summarising research into Dr.Edward de Bono's ideas and techniques.

If you are aware of other references then please contact us providing details.

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Dr. de Bono once wrote that "Proof is a lack of imagination".

The purpose of sharing this academic research is not to prove that his techniques work but to show that his ideas are being tested and investigated by others.

Belski and the Random Word

Belski et. al. (2014) conducted an experiment which compared idea generation for a test group who were shown Random Words  versus a control group who were not. The Random Word group on average generated a greater number of ideas than the control group, and the difference was statistically significant.


Belski et. al. (2015) repeated the experiment and showed that Random Word was more effective than the control situation wtih students in Finland, Russia, Czech Republic and Germany.


Belski et. al. (2019) repeated the 2014 experiment with Italian students. Those students in the Random Word Test group generated statistically significantly more ideas then their counterparts from the Control group.

Summary and references

Dingli literature review 2001

Professor Sandra Dingli compiled this literature review on the research into Dr. de Bono's work in 2001.

PDF document

Edwards on CoRT

A list of research and conference papers from Professor John Edwards.

Summary and references

Göçmen, Coşkun and the Six Thinking Hats

Göçmen, O., Coşkun H., 2019 "The effects of the six thinking hats and speed on creativity in brainstorming".


This paper reports on two experiments using thinking hats. In one experiment the green hat enhanced the generation of more unique ideas than the yellow hat and red one. The speed instruction appeared to further enhance the number of unique and flexible ideas of participants with the highest number of unique ideas being generated by participants using the green hat. 

Link to research paper

Tidona and CoRT in Sicily

Tidona, G. (2001, 2002) reports on research in a school in Ragusa, Sicily making use of the de Bono CoRT Programme to assess the effects of teaching Thinking Skills to young people. The report describes the process which was used over one school year with 14-year old children and the effects on the experimental group and the control group. Pre- and post-tests were used. The experimental group showed a significant increase in the skills which were assessed by the assigned tests, while the performance of the control group did not improve, even worsened in some respects. The experiment was repeated in 2002 with similar results.

Summary and references
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