Creativity in Research

What Is Research?

Research is a form of enquiry that aims to find answers to questions that would fill a gap in an existing knowledge base, resolve anomalies in that knowledge base, or add to the existing stock of the knowledge base. Here the knowledge refers to any subject or discipline or combination thereof.

Depending on the stage of the research enquiry, different types of questions are asked, and answers sought through different actions. Some of these questions require a greater emphasis on the critical appraisal of existing knowledge and observations, and data. Many other questions are speculative and open ended, requiring a more creative approach to address them. All stages however require some measure of both types of thinking (see Appendix 1: Creative Behavior).

The various stages in the research cycle are shown schematically in Fig. 1 below (Harwood et al. 2004). This is based on the views of a number of scientists who were asked how they thought research is conducted. This...

Appendix 1: Creative Behavior

In the context of the skills for doing research in any field, it is useful to refer to a spectrum of creative behaviors. At one end of the spectrum is an everyday form of unconscious creative behavior that would include the ability to form the next few words to be expressed verbally. Another example might be when a solution is sought for an existing problem in a routine way by drawing on memories of earlier solutions (e.g., stabilizing a table by placing a folded beer mat under one of the legs). At the other end of the spectrum are the big insights or “Eureka” moments that lead to breakthroughs and possibly progress in research.

The former end of the spectrum may be defined as small “c” creativity and the other as large “C” creativity. “c” creativity in the first example cited earlier is the continuous generation of relatively small ideas (words and phrasing) about something that is required to be communicated, and these ideas are coupled to syntax and other cognitive, noncognitive, and physical mechanisms that make communication possible. All of these small ideas are in themselves unoriginal, but collectively they constitute a unique event in the sense of something being spoken by a certain person at a certain time, and in a certain place.

“C” refers to big ideas or discontinuities in current thinking and the temporal relationship to other measurable processes taking place in parallel is quite different. “C” creativity in the example cited earlier occurs mostly (but not always) at unusual times, and in unusual places often away from the environment (e.g., the laboratory, the studio, the library, the office, etc.) in which the original challenge that led to the insight was first articulated. These “Eureka” moments appear to arise unbidden and without conscious effort, and are a delayed (sometimes after a period of years) response to an earlier unresolved challenge or problem.

Though it has not been verified experimentally, the general consensus is that these ideas arise after a period of prolonged unconscious incubation. That is to say at the time the idea arises in conscious awareness, the person – though not aware of any earlier effort being expended on seeking the idea – is working away on solving it in the background as it were. It is difficult to prove whether or not the incubation process is actually taking place because some random reminder of the problem or challenge may equally have stimulated the idea instantaneously.

Occupying the region in between these two extremes on the spectrum are forms of deliberate creative behavior and examples of this occur on the following occasions:

• When the focus of attention is on a specific problem or challenge, and ideas are sought in real time to solve it

• When working with others to find ideas (e.g., in a group brainstorm or in an academic argument)

• When creative tools and techniques are applied in a deliberate way (e.g., SCAMPER, Forced Connections, TRIZ) to find ideas

Consistent with the extremes of the aforementioned spectrum of creative behavior, deliberate creative thinking (the default process of which is thinking by association) is an unconscious activity but the difference here is that the researcher is consciously aware of the questions that are asked at the same time ideas to answer them are being sought.

With the possible exception of the “Eureka” end of this spectrum, it is important to note that creative thinking does not exist in isolation but has a symbiotic relationship with a cluster of other cognitive abilities generally referred to as critical thinking (e.g., analyzing, rationalizing, synthesizing, evaluating, inferring, judging, deciding, etc.). This symbiosis is driven by a certain degree of emotion that provides the motivation to solve problems in whatever form they take.

Strictly speaking, the processes of critical thinking cannot be separated from creative thinking – ideas emerge from questions posed in both these modes of thought – but there are times when seeking new ideas, it is beneficial to temporarily suspend the critical faculties and let the imagination take the driving seat.