Creative Research Research Articles

International Creative Research Methods Conference, 11–12 September, 2023

International Creative Research Methods Conference, 11–12 September, 2023

Unpacking multilingual learners’ creativity in the TBLT classroom: a translanguaging perspective

ABSTRACT The past decade has witnessed a growing amount of research on TBLT, translanguaging, and creativity respectively. However, research on translanguaging and creativity has not yet been situated in the TBLT context, while creativity research in TBLT classrooms has not realised the role of learners’ full linguistic repertoire in creative meaning-making. To address this research gap, this qualitative study, conducted in a TBLT classroom at a Chinese university, explored how multilingual learners engaged in translanguaging practices to foster creativity and how they perceived their translanguaging practices. Data were collected from classroom observations, audio recordings, audio-simulated-recall interviews, and artefacts. Drawing on the theory of translanguaging, the 5A’s creativity framework, and the framework of moment analysis, this study revealed that multilingual learners agentively created translanguaging spaces where they promoted creativity through (1) bringing in past experience; (2) coordinating multilingual, multimodal, and multisensory resources; and (3) expressing multilingual identity. A contextualised 5A’s creativity framework was put forward to understand how these three types of translanguaging practices mediate the interactions among actors, audiences, and new artefacts within the affordances of the TBLT classroom. Implications for implementing translanguaging in TBLT to enhance creativity are discussed in terms of both micro-level teaching practices and macro-level education policy.

Refining Academic Conversations through Discourse with the Imperative Politeness Function

This study aims to describe the function of using politeness as an imperative in academic interaction. The deep data collection study was done through three techniques: recording, observation, and interviews. The in-depth data study analyzed in this research is in the form of recorded data from lecturers' and students' speeches. The selected data is the result of lecturers' speeches to students and students' speeches to lecturers in lectures which contain the imperative function of politeness. Note data fields in the form of recorded data fields descriptive and reflective. In addition, research data can be obtained from generation in a way creative intuition language researcher. The results of the research show that the use of imperative politeness functions by lecturers towards students includes: (1) commanding function, (2) requesting function, (3) prohibiting function, (4) inviting function, (5) suggesting function, (6) expecting function, (7) encouraging function, and (8) urging function. Use function politeness, which is imperative from student to lecturer in academic interaction, includes (1) function application and (2) function request. Politeness markers used to represent the function of imperative politeness in academic interaction include (1) linguistic politeness markers, (2) persona markers, and (3) informal diction markers. The study reveals that lecturers with power in the classroom often consider linguistic politeness in speaking, allowing students to express their speech the way the lecturer speaks. However, this can lead to a lack of harmony between lecturers and students, and may not set an example for students in speaking.

Practice-based research in architecture at the University of the Free State

The Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) established a new practice-based research programme in 2018, facilitating creative research toward master's and doctoral degrees. The programme is a first for South Africa, and possibly for Africa at large. In this paper, I consider research modalities that are proving to be pertinent to the programme, illustrated by examples of work currently underway at the university and which are new to South Africa. I seek to locate the specificity of creative research within the expanded nature and qualities of architecture conceived as a medium. This medium constitutes a vast nexus of relationships involving persons, environments, and things. I argue that creative research in architecture aims to harness and document the ingenuity of the designer's medium toward a rejuvenation of design practice. I address three primary questions: What is the medium of architecture?; What is research in the medium of architecture?; and How might one go about designing a creative architectural thesis? I also consider operative concepts such as design as proto-research, the research gap, speculative hermeneutics, tacit knowledge, exegesis, and discovery that leads to the renewal of creativity.

Working it out together: Lessons and insights into inclusive research in an arts context

AbstractBackgroundI'm Me is a creative research project co‐created between York St John University and Mind the Gap, investigating learning disabled and autistic artists’ understandings of identity, representation and voice.MethodsIn this paper, we use Walmsley and Johnson's criteria for inclusive research to reflect on the involvement of people with learning disabilities and autism in I'm Me.FindingsResearchers need to carefully reflect on who benefits from research. Long‐term relationships allow genuine allyship and for research design to emerge in an inclusive manner. Taking the time to develop access and clear structures for decision‐making can support people with learning disabilities’ participation and control over research. Part of access is sharing our findings in accessible ways, in this case, by using plain language and artistic outputs.ConclusionsWorking out how people with learning disabilities and autism should be involved in research has involved establishing structures, reflecting and responding to create as much involvement and enable as much decision‐making as possible.

Программа курса внеурочной деятельности для учащихся третьих-четвёртых классов: «Словесное творчество» (Часть 2)

The article presents a program for a course of extracurricular activities, the purpose of which is to develop the verbal creativity of younger schoolchildren. The content part of the “Verbal Creativity” program provides not only analytical work with texts of different genres, but also “immersion” of the child into a state of creative research and writing. The program offers methodological recommendations for the teacher, which make it possible to provide conditions for students to understand the creative act as a stage in the creation of a text, subject to their own ideas.

Photovoice for disability inclusion on campus

This study examined the lived experience of disability inclusion on the University of Georgia’s main campus in Athens, Georgia using photovoice. Photovoice is a creative research approach that combines photography with qualitative methods to promote social justice and advocacy related to an issue or topic. Ten project partners from various backgrounds participated in this study for four weeks. Through qualitative analysis of focus groups, nineteen themes were uncovered, fifteen of which were featured in a culminating exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art to promote disability inclusion on campus. The themes representing the lived experience of disability inclusion on campus spanned social, emotional, physical, political, and temporal dimensions. We took the project a step further by collaborating with disabled individuals as project partners and using poetry as a method.

Using photovoice to engage students in a non-major microbiology course.

In the past decade, it has become increasingly difficult to engage and encourage critical thinking and deeper learning in students who participate in higher education, particularly in non-major subjects. Photovoice is a participatory action research methodology that has been used in community-based research in many different areas including social science, health science and education. In this study, photovoice was used as a pedagogical tool in a third-year BSc Bioscience non-major microbiology module at Dundalk Institute of Technology. In order to ascertain if photovoice was an effective way of engaging these students, a qualitative descriptive methodological approach, in the form of a focus group, was employed. Six of the 13 students who took the module participated in the focus group, reporting a positive experience overall of using photovoice. Further analysis of the focus group data resulted in the overarching theme of choice, with creativity and critical thinking and research skills as sub-themes to emerge. These findings suggest that photovoice is an effective way to engage students in microbiology as a non-major subject. However, as it was a small sample size, future research would need to use a larger cohort of students to provide further evidence of using photovoice as a pedagogical engagement tool for non-major subjects.

“My mind is not in my brain”: exploring consciousness with children using creative research methods

ABSTRACT The focus on the brain over the last few decades has seen an overclaiming of the human condition through brain-based research. Researching consciousness is an enquiry into who we are, our subjective experiences and our relationality with others and the world. In typical and child development research, materialist orientations dominate the field, assuming brains as the manufacturers of consciousness. Qualitative research has the potential to engage children in consciousness research, while interrogating typical constructionist, realist and materialist orientations. In this article we discuss using creative research methods for exploring aspects of phenomenal consciousness, such as self and mind, with children in a UK primary school. We share findings in relation to how children understand consciousness, how consciousness bears on self for children in the study, and how children experience and perceive the mind/body.

SOME ASPECTS OF STIMULATING THE INNOVATION ACTIVITY OF SERVICE SECTOR ENTERPRISES

The article examines the main concepts of innovation and innovative activity for modern enterprises. In order to work effectively on the market, enterprises must constantly monitor innovations, adapt to the ever-changing realities of the market in a timely manner. In the course of the study, the criteria for assessing the ability of enterprises to develop were analyzed, the rating of the best countries according to the world creativity index and the rating of Ukraine in the Global Innovation Index were presented. It was found that the introduction of innovations has a positive effect on the development of enterprises and the improvement of their economic indicators in the modern economy. Modern enterprises strive to obtain the status of innovative, ready to implement changes, and their survival depends, in particular, on their openness to the introduction of innovations. This is explained by the fact that the avoidance of innovation will lead to the deterioration of competitiveness. In the course of the study, it was found that Ukraine has better results in innovative activities than innovative contributions. It also produces more innovative products compared to the level of innovative investments. In relation to GDP, the level of development of Ukraine exceeds expectations. It was also determined that Ukraine's indicators are above the average level for the income group below the average in terms of knowledge and technology, creative results, business complexity, human capital and research, infrastructure. To achieve the best results, companies in the service sector should pay special attention to the process of stimulating the innovative activity of personnel. To increase innovative activity, enterprise management should attract personnel with flexible thinking, who find it difficult to realize their intellectual resources within traditional bureaucratized enterprises. The article provides examples of strategies that can be used by enterprise managers to stimulate and develop the innovative activities of personnel. The results of the study indicate a close relationship between the economic indicators of the enterprise and the stimulation of personnel to innovative activities.

Understanding the Needs of Children Living with Parental Substance Misuse: Perspectives from Children and Practitioners

Abstract The findings presented here are from a qualitative research study, adopting creative research methods with seven children to provide an in-depth understanding of their lived experience of living with Parental substance misuse (PSM). The children’s data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The research also included focus groups with twenty-two professionals which added further understanding to the children’s experiences. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory was adopted as a framework to structure the research data from the micro to the macrosystem. Key messages identified the need for children living with PSM to be seen and heard and offered specialist support in their own right. The children experienced multiple risk factors, which were often enduring, and did not reduce as they grew older. This research provided an understanding of the complex needs of children and the risk factors which reach beyond their immediate home environment. This article argues for change, including improved training for front line practitioners, specialist service provision for children not reliant on their parents’ engagement, and for policy change and financial resources for their implementation. It is proposed that this would bridge the gap between research and practice and lead to improved outcomes for children living with PSM.

(Extra)ordinary images: photography, memory and creative documentary – Rwanda and Argentina

This essay is a reflection on two creative documentary films produced as outputs of projects supported by the British Academy: The Faces We Lost (2017) and (Dis)Appear (2023). Both films focus on the commemorative and memorial functions of domestic and ID photographs – The Faces We Lost in relation to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and (Dis)Appear in relation to the civic-military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983). The essay outlines the importance of domestic and ID photographs in each context and discusses some of the conceptual, formal and creative decisions behind the two documentaries. But it also attempts to contribute to the conversation about creative documentary filmmaking, and creative practice research more generally, as a form of academic enquiry. Lastly, it asks questions about the opportunities and limitations of making films within the academic rather than commercial environment, especially films made in and about the Global South.

Is television reformable? The ‘reformist tendency’ in inequality research in the cultural and creative industries

This article engages with research on UK Television (UKTV) and the wider cultural and creative industries by interrogating the role of academic research in industrial and social change. We argue that a ‘reformist tendency’ implicitly structures much creative industries research. This reformist tendency takes a critical approach to the problem of inequality, identifying it and making it visible, and at times developing strategies which attempt to enhance and promote greater equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Academic research seeking to reform the media and creative industries increasingly works in collaboration with – often relatively powerful – social actors within these industries. However, the creative industries in general and UKTV in particular, have shown a remarkable resistance to reform and remain characterised by persistent inequalities in terms of class, race, gender and disability. This article explores this problem aiming to provoke debate into the role of academic-industry collaboration in the failure of creative industries EDI. It argues that academics should adopt a more reflexive and selective approach to collaboration.

Automated Scoring of Scientific Creativity in German

ABSTRACTAutomated scoring is a current hot topic in creativity research. However, most research has focused on the English language and popular verbal creative thinking tasks, such as the alternate uses task. Therefore, in this study, we present a large language model approach for automated scoring of a scientific creative thinking task that assesses divergent ideation in experimental tasks in the German language. Participants are required to generate alternative explanations for an empirical observation. This work analyzed a total of 13,423 unique responses. To predict human ratings of originality, we used XLM‐RoBERTa (Cross‐lingual Language Model‐RoBERTa), a large, multilingual model. The prediction model was trained on 9,400 responses. Results showed a strong correlation between model predictions and human ratings in a held‐out test set (n = 2,682; r = 0.80; CI‐95% [0.79, 0.81]). These promising findings underscore the potential of large language models for automated scoring of scientific creative thinking in the German language. We encourage researchers to further investigate automated scoring of other domain‐specific creative thinking tasks.

Thinking outside of the (Western) Box: Cultural Psychology Perspectives on Creativity in Education

ABSTRACTThis paper expands upon the invitation to rethink how psychology has constructed knowledge, theories, and research while analyzing the epistemological foundations of educational practices in schools, especially those aimed at promoting creativity. Our goal is to critically explore the shortcomings of the traditional, Westernized individualistic, and mostly positivistic approach usually found in school contexts. To foster creativity, a more dialogical, socio‐cultural, and collaborative framework is suggested, involving multiple perspectives and possibility thinking to address current educational challenges. Through an examination of education and creativity, we analyze educational practices in Westernized societies and explore the possibilities that arise from non‐Western perspectives and dialogical approaches. The discussion is guided by the following questions: what kind of educational practices have been bolstered in Westernized societies? How do these relate to educating (with and for) creativity? A case study is included to provide concrete illustrations that substantiate our arguments. Incorporating decolonial frameworks into cultural and socio‐cultural perspectives, as well as in creativity research, would enrich the understanding of these fields. Decolonial approaches can offer valuable insights by addressing power relations inherent in knowledge construction and practice. Embracing these approaches enables these fields to contribute to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of human phenomena.

You See a Wall, I See Blue Skies: A Perception-Based Model of Constraints and Creativity

ABSTRACT Creative professionals from those in the DJ Booth to the writer’s room and in the C-Suite to the R&D department have demonstrated and argued for the importance of constraints for creativity. In contrast to this view, the empirical and academic literature on constraints has produced less conclusive and resounding results on the constraint-creativity relationship. In this paper, I argue that creativity researchers have focused too heavily on constraints such as a “main effect” on creativity and as a result, over constrained our own thinking in this area. In line with recent and emerging work, I propose a framework that shifts our thinking away from a direct influence of constraints on creativity, to one driven by perceptions of constraints based on individual and situational factors. Following, suggestions for future research and advancing our thinking in this area are proposed.

Turkish adaptation of a brief self-report measure of fantasy proneness: The Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ)

This research addresses the construct of fantasy proneness that is unexplored in the context of Turkey by adapting and assessing the psychometric properties of the widely accepted Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ), aiming to fill a significant gap in existing literature and contribute to the understanding of this construct and its correlates in a population aged between 18 and 60 years. The Turkish version of the CEQ demonstrated face validity, aligning participant responses with fantasy, imagination, and dissociation (n = 15). Exploratory Factor Analysis confirmed a single-factor solution based on the scree plot graphic, without item removal (n = 310). Reliability and validity analyses (N = 464) affirmed robustness with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.78, McDonald’s Omega = 0.77) and test-retest reliability (n = 110, r = .72). Convergent validity was supported by correlations with dissociative experiences (r = .51) and magical ideation (r = .51). Discriminant validity was evident in negative correlations with social desirability (r = -.10, p < .05), notably, impression management (r = -.12, p < .05), indicating unbiased capture of fantasy experiences. Predictive validity was supported by a positive correlation observed between fantasy proneness and interest in creative activities (r = .21). Participants engaged in or aspiring to engage in creative activities professionally scored notably higher, broadening implications for creativity research. Similarities between the original and Turkish versions suggested cultural variations do not significantly affect fantasy proneness in adults. Considering limitations, future research should explore age-related variations of fantasy proneness as well as its association with social desirability. Implications extend to clinical research, emphasizing consideration of fantasy proneness and its correlates in psychopathological and broader psychological health studies in Turkey and globally.

The state of play for contact training and coaching in women's rugby

AbstractThis article aims to review and comment upon the current “state of play” for research around contact and tackle training in women's rugby, covering tackle injury risk, match contact demands, players' experiences of contact coaching and contact skill preparation. In women's rugby, the tackle is the most common match technical‐physical contest, accounting for around two‐thirds of all injuries and carrying the greatest injury burden. Players' experience and technical abilities are key determinants of tackle safety and performance. Despite this, there is limited research available that connects insight into women's rugby contact demands with the how and why of effective tackle and contact training and coaching in context. This review suggests that adapting and adopting progressive tackle skill training frameworks and gender‐responsive coaching practices can aid tackle skill learning in women's rugby. Creative transdisciplinary research and more effective translation and implementation activities that take place within the vibrant and growing context of women's rugby can enhance science and safety whilst working as a medium for social change.

APPROVAL OF FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF FUTURE OPERATORS IN INFORMATION PROCESSING AND SOFTWARE

The article is devoted to the problem of researching the effectiveness of the process of forming the professional competence of future information processing and software operators in the process of professional training. It was found that the system of training future specialists in the process of professional training is aimed at ensuring their readiness for professional activity, taking into account all components of the educational process of the educational institution. It was clarified that the important factors of the problem of the formation of professional competence of future specialists in the process of professional training are inadequate readiness for professional activity and the appropriate level of their professional competence for such activity. It was revealed that the process of formation of professional competence of individuals for professional activity is influenced by the following factors: transformation of the content of training of future operators in information processing and software in professional (vocational and technical) education institutions; the prestige of the profession and its social significance; professional development and development of the personality of future specialists; acquisition of practical experience by students of education regarding the implementation of innovative technologies and project activities; purposeful mastery of professional skill and specialty; the formation of a culture of mastery and the readiness of qualified specialists for professional activity. It is specified that the formation of professional competence of future specialists in the process of professional training is oriented towards: purposeful formation of a complete system of professional competences in the process of professional training; development of motivational potential; enrichment of the development of individual and professional qualities, formation of self-assertion, improvement of personal and professional assets, acquisition of one's own style of work; accumulation of experience in professional skills for effective performance of professional activities, improvement of professional abilities and skills for further self-actualization, self-improvement of professional activities, development of quick adaptation to full-fledged future activities; improvement of assets of creative and scientific research, enabling professional self-development in professional activity. The study of the continuity of the development of future specialists to professional activity requires further development.

The Role of Knowledge in Creative Thinking

ABSTRACT In this invited paper, I briefly review my past, current, and future lines of research. The associative theory of creativity argues that higher creative individuals have a richer semantic memory structure that facilitates broader associative search processes, that leads to the combination of remote concepts into novel and appropriate ideas. Based on this theory, in my research I investigate the role of knowledge – or semantic memory – in high-level cognition, focusing on creativity, associative thinking, and memory search, in typical and clinical populations. To do so, I apply computational tools from network science, natural language processing, and machine learning, coupled with empirical cognitive and neural research. Such computational tools are enabling the representation and operationalization of the structure of semantic memory and the processes that operate over it. This is critical as it allows us to start quantifying issues that for a very long time were studied very subjectively in creativity research – remoteness of ideas, associative thinking, flexible/richer semantic memory structure, etc. Such work is offering unique, quantitative, ways to directly study classic theories of creativity, propelling forward our understanding of its complexity.