Mining the latent information by
the Affinity Diagram Method
quantificated by
QM3 (Correspondence Analysis)
KOIKE Teruyuki
andSHINDO Hisakazu
Yamanashi Research Institute Foundation

Contents
1. Introduction
2. Background of the problem
3. Preparation Quantification Method of Type 3（QM3)
4. A case study
5. An experiment
6. Concluding remarks

1１．Introduction• Conventionally, QM3 or Correspondence Analysis
has been used for the analysis of the inside
structure of the table which consists of two
different items such as samples and categories.

• In ISO 16355, QM3 is introduced as a method foranalyzing the Quality Table which comprises ofquality requirements and quality elements.
• In this paper, we propose a new applicationof QM3.

2

１．Introduction• So far, Quality Requirements Table has been
composed by applying the Affinity Diagram
Method to Voice of Customers.
• As the result, we can get a spatial arrangementof VOC and a quality deployment table for quality
requirement.
• However, the result cannot be uniquelydetermined.
• That's because the Affinity Diagram Methodis largely dependent on practitioners.
• Besides, it is difficult to detect andunderstand the latent Quality Requirements.
3• The new application method proposed here
will contribute to overcome such difficulties
no more than before.
• In the paper, it is described how to mine thelatent information by quantificating the Affinity
Diagram Method (KJ™-like method).

• Moreover, an experiment to examine theeffectiveness of the method will be described.

4

2. Background of the problem• From the beginning of QFD, it has been oftheoretical and practical importance tounderstand the real Quality Requirements.

• For the purpose of helping understand them,Quality Deployment table for quality requirements
was proposed, where the Affinity Diagram Method,or KJ™-like method was conveniently employed.
• In those days, other method available was notknown. It should be astonished that the method
has been used with QFD for over forty years fromthe beginning.
5• We think that it is useful to do KJ™-like
method qualitatively.
• Another problem is an eternal one, namely, how
could we detect and understand the latent QualityRequirements.

• "latent" means that even customers are notaware of the Quality Requirement. Therefore,
they are not being reflected in VOC.

6• Nevertheless, we cannot help but regard VOC as thekey to detect and understand latent information.
• We propose a new application method of QM3,i.e., applying QM3 to the relationship itself
between items of Quality Requirement.
• The results obtained help us multi-dimensionally
understand the structure of relationship between
Quality Requirements.

• Moreover, based on the structure, latent Quality
Requirements can be examined.
7

3. Preparation：
Quantification Method of Type 3• QM3 or Correspondence Analysis is one ofquantification methods which analyzes the inside
structure of a table.
• Usually the table consists of two different items
such as samples and categories.
• However, we try to apply QM3 to analyze freeanswers obtained through a questionnaire survey.
That is, there is no distinction between samples
and categories.
• QM3 is applied to the relationships themselves
between free answers.
8• The aims of this attempt are as follows:
1. Enabling the Affinity Diagram Method morequantitative and effective.
2. Detecting latent and invisible information by
examining the inside structure obtained by
QM3.

9Explanation of procedure
Table 1 An example of the text data

item
1.AAA
① Each free answer is transformed
to simple sentences.
② Transformed simple sentences arelisted up with numbered bypractitioners as shown in Table 1.

2.BB
3.C
4.DDDD
5.EEEEE
6.FFFFFF
7.GGGG
8.HHH
9.II10③ The relationship between free answers are
expressed as shown in Table 2.
Table 2 The relationship dataijv

12115123124128135136145147149156178189111

④ The data to which QM3 should be applied, iscomposed as a symmetric matrix by referring toTable 2 data.
Header i,j, and v indicate item no.
No. i relates to item no.j with relationshipstrength v.
In the paper, strengths are all set to be equal to1.

12

Table 2 The relationship data

For example, the second row
indicates the number 1 item relates
to item 2 with relationship strength
1 and the third row indicates thenumber 1 item relates to item 5with relationship strength 1.

Therefore, the symmetric matrix iscomposed so that the elements(1,1),(1,2),(2,1),(1,5),and (5,1)
may set to be 1.

ijv

121

1

512

3

124

128

1

35136145147

1491

561

78

1

89

113

Affinity Diagram Method(KJ™-like method).
１．AAA

６．FFFFFF

２．BB

７．GGGG

３．C

８．HHH

１．AAA

８．HHH

６．FFFFFF

９．II

３．C
４．DDDD
５．EEEEE

９．II

４．DDDD２．BB
５．EEEEE

７．GGGG
14

Quantification Method of Type 315

⑤ Applying QM3 to the symmetric matrix, Scoresbelonging to eigen values No.2, No.3, and No.4
are obtained as shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Items and Scoresitem

x-score y-score z-score

1.AAA

0.673

2.395

-0.888

2.BB

0.002

1.058

1.216

3.C

1.118

-0.678-0.718

4.DDDD-0.575-0.113-1.254

5.EEEEE

0.919-0.028

0.891

6.FFFFFF

1.490-1.643-0.073

7.GGGG-1.307-0.593

1.009

8.HHH

-1.211-0.141-1.1429.II-1.307-0.593

1.009
16

⑥ For convenience, they are called x,y,and z scores.
The biplots x-y and x-z are illustrated in Fig. 1and 2, respectively.
1z scores-1.0

2-0.5

1.0

1.5

0.5

0.0

1

5.EEEEE

1.0

5.EEEEE

6.FFFFFF

0x[,2]

7.GGGG
9.II

0.5

1.0

2.BB

x[,2]-0.5-0.5

3.C
-1-1

3.C
1.AAA

-1.0

7.GGGG
9.II

-1.0

1

2.BB

0

0.5

1.5

22

1.AAA

8.HHH 4.DDDD

0.0

0.0

0

1.5y scores -1

8.HHH
4.DDDD

6.FFFFFF-10

1x[,1]

Fig. 1 biplot x-y scores

2-1.0x scoresx scoresFig. 2 biplot x-z scores

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

x[,1]

17

⑦ Incidentally, three-dimensional scatter diagram isshown in Fig. 3.

-0.5

3x[, 2]0.0

y scores
2-1.0

10-1

-1.5

x[, 3]

0.5

1.0

1.5

z scores

-1.5

-2
-1.0

-0.5

0.0

x[, 1]

0.5

1.0

1.5x scoresFig.3 3-D scattering18

A case study• Globalization is bringing about an extension ofpoverty.
• After all, this influences poor families and children.
• Above all, Children in poor family are seriously
damaged. Government and local governments inJapan are confronting solving such problems.
• We were asked by a certain city to grasp thepresent problem and thereby how to makecountermeasures.
19• For considering the problem, hearing to membersof a child committee was executed.
• The morpheme analysis was applied to the dataobtained by hearing.
• The result was helpful for us to understand theproblems as a whole.
• Taking the result of the analysis into consideration,
the data was transformed into 31 simple
sentences (items) as is employed in QFD asshown in Table 4.
→The next page shows 31 simple sentences.
20

31 simple sentences
1.Parents do not open the mind
2.Parents do not know kinds and contents of support
3.Parents have shame and resistance to receiving support
4.There is an influence that parents grew up without proper education
5.No places to work
6.When finding jobs, the working conditions are disadvantageous
7.Become a parent without knowing adult society
8.Unable to raise children by working and getting income
9.Because of poor Japanese, accurate information can not be got
10.Taking care of brothers without going to school
11.Children of foreign nationality can not keep up with learning
12.Support outside of school is necessary
13.Reluctant to attend government-led top-down meetings
14.Encourage them to create a gathering of fellows voluntarily
15.The government supports gatherings made voluntarily21

31 simple sentences
16.Government should respond well
17.Don't rely on good intentions
18.Child committee is hard to move without request from administration
19.Should extend learning support including meals
20.No support system has been developed
21.An opportunity from the outside is necessary for making a support system
22.The understanding of the support recipient is necessary
23.Financial support should be provided first
24.It is worth considering the support of goods such as uniforms
25.Need to expand the scholarship system
26.Learning support is needed with children in not poor families
27.Improve after-school learning support
28.The idea of getting a qualification and a job is both necessary
29.It is good to be able to support learning and food
30.Gift certificates are better than retort foods
31.Cooperation of medical college and company is good in learning support

22

Table 2 The relationship data

• Moreover, these simple sentenceswere related to each other sothat the relationship wasexpressed as a set of triplets (i, j,v), which indicates the item i isrelated to the item j with degrees
of relevance v.
• The number of triplet data
became 56.

ijv

12

1

1

5

1

2

3

1

2

4

12

8

1

3

5

1

3

6

1

4

5

14

7

149

1

56

178

189

123

Table 5 results of QM3No.

eigen
value

percentagecummulative
percentage

10.9276

14.44

14.44

20.8947

13.93

28.37

30.7231

11.26

39.63

40.6846

10.66

50.29

50.6095

9.49

59.78

60.4432

6.90

66.68

70.3894

6.06

72.74

80.3496

5.44

78.18

90.3003

4.67

82.85

100.2062

3.21

86.06
24

eigenvalues 2
economy-related and society-related.
129.It is good to be able to support learning and f ood
19.Should
extendlearning
supportincludingmeals
26.Learning
supportis neededwith
childrenin makingnot poora fsupport
amilies sy stem
22.Theunderstandingof
supportrecipient
is necessary
21.An
opportunity
f rom
the outsidenecessaryf or
16.Government
shouldrespondwell is17.Don't
rely ongoodintentions
15.Thegov ernment
31.Cooperation
supports
ofgatherings
medical college
madeandv oluntarily
company
is good in learning support
14.Encourage
themtocreate
agatheringof
fellowsv
oluntarily
27.Improv
eaf
ter-school
learning
support
18.Child
hardhasto movwithout
request f rom administration
20.Nocommittee
support syisstembeene dev
eloped28.The idea of getting a qualif ication and a job is both necessary
12.Support outside of school is necessary
13.Reluctant to attend gov ernment-led top-down meetings
11.Children of f oreign nationality can not keep up with learning
10.Taking care of brothers without going to school0

scores belonging to eig v. 3

9.Because of poor Japanese, accurate inf ormation can not be got

1.Parents do not open the mind
2.Parents do not know kinds and contents of support

30.Gif t certif icates are better than retort f oods

colourRed-1

3.Parents hav e shame and resistance to receiv ing support
7.Become a parent without knowing adult society
8.Unable to raise children by working and getting income
4.There is an inf luence that parents grew up without proper education

24.It is worth considering the support of goods such as unif orms

-2
5.No places to work

23.Financial support should be prov ided f irst

6.When f inding jobs, the working conditions are disadv antageous-2-1

025.Need to expand the scholarship sy stem

1

scores belonging to eig v. 2

Fig. 4 A scatter diagram of scores

23

eigenvalues 1
causes and results or countermeasures25

00.5y scores

0.0
-1

-0.5
-1.0

-2

-1.5
-2.0
-2.5
-3xaxis[, 4]1.0xaxis[, 3]12z scores

-3.0
-2

-1

0

1xaxis[, 2]23

4x scores

Fig. 5 A 3-D scattering

26

An experiment• Another aim of the paper is to show that thequantification Affinity Diagram Method is able
to detect or find latent information throughthe scatter diagram of scores. However, it isdifficult to directly show the effectiveness.
• We therefore employ so-called capture-recapture
method as is sometimes used in software testing.
• The method begins with capturing bugs in thesoftware.
• After some of them are intentionally put back inthe software, recapturing them is requested toevaluate the power of detection of bugs.

27

The experiment was executed as follows:•Items No.5 and No.30 were removed andconsequently their relationship data werealso removed.

•The newly created two-way data included
29 items.

28

No.6

6.When f inding jobs, the working conditions are disad

2scores belonging to eig v. 3

6.When finding jobs, the working conditions are disadvantageous

1

Other than No. 6
colour※Scatter plot is not working
Red0

25.Need23.Financial
24.It
is worth
to expandsupportconsidering
theshould
scholarshipthebesupport
prov syidedofstem
goods
f irst such as unif orms

31.Cooperation
1.Parents
2.Parents
3.Parents
4.There7.Become
8.Unable
9.Because
10.Taking
11.Children
12.Support
13.Reluctant
14.Encourage
15.The16.Gov
17.Don't
18.Child
19.Should
20.No
21.An
22.The26.Learning
27.Improv
28.The29.It
isopportunity
supportgov
ernment
understanding
idea
good
iscommittee
relytoedohavcare
anextendaernmentofoutsideofafraiseofsupportparent
to
to
not
on
inf
poor
eter-school
them
fgetting
syof
beoreignofattendshame
luenceshould
good
open
know
stem
childrenlearning
brothers
fmedicalable
Japanese,romofwithoutistosupports
is ofintentions
schoolhardanationality
createtheneeded
gov
kinds
has
that
and
respondtothequaliflearning
theby
supportmind
ernment-led
without
collegeknowingbeen
tooutsideresistanceparents
supportandworking
isgatherings
aicationmovaccurate
withgathering
necessarywell
dev
contents
supportcanlearning
includingegoing
andchildren
is
adult
grew
without
elopedrecipient
and
and
not
necessary
tocompany
top-down
inf
made
toup
receivofasocietykeep
getting
ormationofandjob
schoolinmealsrequestfwithout
ellowssupport
is
not
vis
fup
ing
ood
oluntarily
necessary
meetings
isfboth
incomepoor
orwithsupportgood
canvproperfmakingrom
oluntarily
necessarylearning
f notamilies
inadministration
education
learning
bea support
got support
sy stem

-1
03

6

9

scores belonging to eig v. 2

Fig. 6 A scatter diagram (excluded No.5 and 30)

29

543-0.5

210

-1.0

-1.5

xaxis[, eig2]

0.5

1.0

y scores0.0

xaxis[, eig3]

1.5

2.0

2.5

z scores-1-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

xaxis[, eig1]

1.5

2.0

2.5

x scoresFig. 7 The 3-D scattering

Then the item No. 6 and its related data were removed
so that more information could be examined.
30

23.Financial support should be provided first
24.It is worth considering the support of goods such as uniforms
25.Need to expand the scholarship system
126.Learning
supportis neededwithchildrenandin notpoor f amilies
29.It
is good
toter-school
be abletolearning
supportlearning
f ood
27.Improv
e af
support
31.Cooperation of medical college and company is good in learning support
19.Should extend learning support including meals
28.Theidea ofof fgetting
qualif ication
job is11.Children
oreign anationality
canandnot akeep
upbothwith necessary
learning
12.Support outside of school is necessary
21.An
f romof thenecessary
f or making a support sy stem
22.Theopportunity
understanding
theoutside
supportisrecipient
is necessary
17.Don't rely on good intentions
16.Gov ernment should respond well
15.The gov ernment supports gatherings made v oluntarily
10.Taking20.No
supportcare syof stem
brothers
has without
been dev
goingeloped
to school
14.Encourage them to create a gathering of f ellows v oluntarily
18.Child committee is hard to mov e without request f rom administration

Group 1scores belonging to eig v. 40Group 2

25.Need23.Financial
24.It
is worth
to expandsupportconsidering
theshould
scholarshipthebesupport
prov syidedofstemgoods
f irst such as unif orms

13.Reluctant to attend gov ernment-led top-down meetings

9.Because of poor Japanese, accurate inf ormation can not be got

colour
Red-1
2.Parents
kinds
and contents of support
1.Parents do not know
open themind

These three items wereremoved andcontinued examination.

3.Parents hav e shame and resistance to receiv ing support-2

7.Become a parent without knowing adult society

8.Unableistoanraise
4.Thereinf luencechildrenthatbyparents
workinggrew
and upgetting
without
incomeproper education

-1.00

-0.75

-0.50

-0.25

0.00

scores belonging to eig v. 3

Fig. 8 The scatter diagram31

z1 1.Parents do not open the mind
z2 2.Parents do not know kinds and contents of support
z3 3.Parents have shame and resistance to receiving support
18.Child committee is hard to mov e without request f rom administratio
14.Encourage them to create a gathering of f ellows v oluntarily
z4 4.There is an influence that parents grew up without proper
education
13.Reluctant
to attend gov ernment-led top-down meetingsz5 7.Become a parent without knowing adult society
15.Thegov
ernmentshould
supports
gatherings
16.Government
respondwell made v oluntarilyz6 8.Unable to raise children by working and getting income
1

22.The sy
understandingof the
20.No support
stem has been
dev support
eloped recipient is necessary
21.An opportunity f rom the outside is necessary f or makin
17.Don't rely on good intentions

scores belonging to eig v. 4

1.Parents do not open the mind

0
3.Parents hav e shame and2.Parents
resistancereceiv
ingkinds
supportdotonotknow
and contents of support

19.Should extend learning support including meals
29.It is good to be able to support learning and f ocolour

7.Becomea parent
without
knowing
adultsociety
8.Unable
4.Thereistoanraiseinf luencechildrenthatbyparents
working
grewand up
getting
without
incomeproper education

Red

31.Cooperation of medical college and company is

26.Learning support is needed with children in no-1

27.Improv e af ter-school learning support

9.Because of poor Japanese, accurate inf ormation can not be got

11.Children of f oreign nationality can not keep up with
12.Support outside of school is necessary

10.Taking care of brothers without going to school-2

28.The idea of getting a qualif ication and a job is both-2

-1

0

1

scores belonging to eig v. 3

Fig. 9 The scatter diagram32

• The left group is a group of items as follows.
z1 1.Parents do not open the mind
z2 2.Parents do not know kinds and contents of support
z3 3.Parents have shame and resistance to receiving support
z4 4.There is an influence that parents grew up without
proper education
z5 7.Become a parent without knowing adult societyz6 8.Unable to raise children by working and getting income• Taking these items into consideration, it can be said“inclined to be between jobs, or no places towork”.
• In fact, the original item list had "No places towork" as No.5.
33

• As the result, we could detect theinformation that were intendedly hidden(item of No.5).
• Although the other information could not find, it
may be possible to examine more specifically bythe proposed method.

34

Concluding remarks•

From the beginning of QFD, it has beenemphasized the significance to grasp the realneeds of customers or voice of customers.

• KJ™-like method, or Affinity Diagram Method has
been usefully employed to arrange theinformation regarding customer needs.
• Since KJ™-like method is recommended touse with feelings or emotions, the result is
not always definitely unique.

35

• We recognize it is not a demerit of KJ™-likemethod, or Affinity Diagram method.
• It is of practical importance the classified subgroups include different values of variouscustomers.
• The paper proposed a new application ofKJ™-like method, or Affinity Diagram
Method by using Quantification Method oftype three.

36• The proposed method enables us to makestructures of sense of values andunderstand the whole customer needs.
• Moreover, the structure may give a chance
to detect or find the latent information aswas illustrated in the paper.

37

Acknowledgement• This paper was reported as a part of research
activities of the Yamanashi Research InstituteFoundation.
• The gratitude also goes to Chuo City andYamanashi Prefecture for the data provisioncooperation.
• The gratitude also goes to Dr. Yoshimichi
Watanabe and Mr. Masanobu Yoshikawa for theiradvices.
• Lastly, the authors express their gratitude to Mr.
Glenn H. Mazur for his long-term efforts to QFD
and his helpful comments.

38

Thank you very muchfor your attention.

39