Problem finding, creativity style and the musical compositions of high school students

This study sought to understand the effect of problem finding and creativit y style on the creative musical product. Participants (N = 32) were categor ized by creativity style (adaptor or innovator) using the Kirton Adaption-l nnovation Inventory. The participants completed two musical composition pro blems involving two different degrees of problem finding behaviors: an open fill defined and a closed (more defined) problem. The resulting products w ere scored for creativity by three judges using a modified version of Amabi le's "consensual assessment technique." A repeated measures analysis of var iance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The independent variables were composition problem type and creativity style, and the dependent variable w as the creativity score on the open and closed problems. No significant dif ferences due to problem type, creativity style, or the interaction of the t wo factors was found. This research supports the assertion of Kirton that a daption-innovation theory is a measure of creativity style rather than crea tivity level, but calls into question its use in individual creativity styl e.