Slavica evku ic Slavica Maksic Institute for Educational Research Belgrade, Serbia QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CREATIVE

1. Slavica �evku�ic* & Slavica MaksicInstitute for Educational ResearchBelgrade, SerbiaQUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CREATIVE PRODUCTS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS** * ssevkusic@rcub.bg.ac.rs** This paper is the result of the work on the project �Education for knowledge-based society (No. 149001) which is financially supported by the Serbian Ministry of Science (2006-2010).

3. One of the definition Creativity is the result of the relation between the person that is marked as creative, the evaluator who provides that judgment & social context in which evaluation happens (Westmeyer, 1998).

4. Measuring of creativity Domination of psychometric oriented research studies. No valid and reliable instruments & no consensus regarding the indicators of creativity. The existing statistical measures are insufficient and often inadequate, and it was also perceived that there is a poor predictive and competitive validity of creativity tests (Cropley, 1996).

5. Qualitative research Has not been generally accepted yet in studying giftedness and talent. Criticism pointed at research designs that rely on qualitative analytic models claims that they are often vague and indefinite. Recent studies pursue the direction of developing stringent qualitative models of analysis (Persson, 2006).

6. Multivariate basis of creativity More complex instruments, combining different measures and approaches. Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC) Divergent and integrative measures Graphic and verbal material (different end and beginning of the story, as well as the way respondents came up with the title and description of characters) (Lubart, 2008).

7. Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test (STAT) Creative skills - performance tasks Written and oral stories Stories are rated on 5 points scales for: Originality Complexity Emotional evocativeness Descriptiveness (Sternberg, 2006)

8. Our research (2007) Studying the possibilities of qualitative analysis of child creative products. That was a part of a wider research about the possibilities of measuring creativity in formative period in different ways.

9. Instruments Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) (Urban-Jellen, 1993) Subjects wrote a story about the drawing as their solution of TCT-DP Test of Associational Fluency to measure verbal fluency (Guilford & Christensen, according to B. �ordevic, 1979) Questionnaire on children�s interests (constructed for the purposes of this study).

10. Aims of the study To improve quantitative procedures of measuring creativity by introducing qualitative analysis of creative products. We examined the link between evaluation of story creativity, as indicators of verbal creativity, and scores obtained on TCT-DP, as indicators of graphic creativity.

11. Participants The primary school from Belgrade city. 151 pupils of 6th and 7th grade (aged 13 to 14). 87 pupils from the 6th, and 64 the 7th grade; 67 boys and 84 girls.

12. Procedure Studying creativity using TCT-DP and writing story was performed during one school class. TCT-DP: an incomplete drawing containing 5 elements in a large square frame (semi-circle, right angle, point, curved line, dashed line), with the small open square (located outside the square frame) (25 minutes). Subjects wrote a story about the drawing as their solution of TCT-DP (20 minutes).

13. Evaluation of the stories (N=151) The creativity of stories was evaluated independently by 2 qualified evaluators (a psychologist and a pedagogue). 1. Using global-synthetic approach (based on the first impression), 20% of stories was singled out (1st evaluator), that is, 30% (2nd evaluator). 2. Through discussion and clarification of meanings, evaluators singled out 14 most creative stories, which comprises nearly 10% of evaluated stories. 

14. Method: Narrative analysis searching for creative format of the story, meanings and components that were built in it, which could point out to the creative expression of pupils.

15. Narrative analysis is scientific procedure of studying language structures based on the assumption that objects of reality are grounded in language, its structures and grammar as well as the ways of its usage Criteria are applied most often: who are the characters whether the text has the beginning, the middle and the end whether it is oriented towards the past whether it has a linear sequence whether it has a plot whether it makes sense to the person telling it variations that can raise the tension in the story

16. Structure of results 1) Characteristics of linear and non-linear format of the story; 2) Creative components of stories in both formats; 3) The link between evaluation of story creativity and scores obtained on TCT-DP.

17. Linear format of the story linear timeline regular, expected sequence of events participants are most often people events are oriented towards the past good composition (part-whole ratio; introduction, elaboration and conclusion) type: once upon a time...

18. Creative components of linear format detailed, rich descriptions elegant sentences, stylistic figures of speech creating atmosphere, emotional experiences responding to the �topic� successfully guided narration taking a moral stand (what good is, what happiness is...)

19. Example No. 1: LIVING ROOM (Jana, girl, aged 13) In my grandma�s house, on the ground floor, there is a room that I will always remember. In that room, playing, I spent the first years of my childhood, and that is why I have nice memories about it. I made my first steps in it, spoke my first words and learned to recognise colours and shapes. In my favourite corner, there was a big blue armchair where my granny often sat and told me bedtime stories, swinging me gently in her lap. I would also usually fall asleep there together with my granny, and woke up again the next day in her warm embrace. In front of it there was a shelf with the picture of me, my mom and dad and a big lamp. I had always loved that lamp. While I was young, my dream was to grow tall enough and reach for that lamp. Next to it, there was a big picture of a girl praying for something. I kept asking granny who was in the picture, but she just smiled mysteriously. Beneath it was a small table where there were always fresh flowers picked in our garden. Today when I enter the room, only the most beautiful memories stir inside of me. I slowly walk on the black-and-white tiles and come closer to the lamp on the shelf. I remember my childhood dream and light it with a smile.

21. Non-linear format of the story sequence, meanings and logic of events are irregular, unpredictable or unclear events are placed in the future sudden, dramatic turns, unexpected resolution there is a tension between text elements (for example, between the title and the story) participants are often imaginary creatures or animals participants have non-stereotypical thoughts, feelings and behaviour

22. Creative components of non-linear format - existence of unreal - connecting the non-connectable - unusual, non-stereotypical solutions - atypical word meaning, neologisms - multi-perspectiveness - humour - taking a critical attitude (what is not good, what could be better)

23. Example No 2: No title (Tanja, girl, aged 14) I drew a bear standing on two legs and playing with a ball. He throws the ball over a very low tree, low as he himself. But that tree in fact is not small, but he is very big, the biggest bear alive. Lonely, without company, he goes to take his ball that he made in order to be big enough for him. The bear, a dangerous animal, and in addition to that if he is the biggest in the world, cannot make friends as some other kinds of animals. He remains alone with his ball.

25. The link between evaluation of story creativity & scores obtained on TCT-DP  Analysis of variance factor � the group chosen according to the evaluation of the story by 2 evaluators; dependent variable � total score on TCT. There is a significant statistical difference between the groups by Mean on TCT-DP.

26. Table 2: M and S.D. on TCT-DP score for creative and non-creative story writers

27. Results of qualitative analysisindicate that essential characteristics of creativity are recognised in larger measure in non-linear format and its components, while the influence of school curriculum as the context in which creativity is encouraged is perceived in the linear. significance of broader conception of creativity which is defined as the novel and personally meaningful interpretation of experiences, actions, and events (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007).

28. Conclusions It is difficult to explain why something was evaluated as �creative�, and something else as �non-creative�. It is difficult for different evaluators to have the same relation towards the actual product if they are guided by the defined criteria, because the characteristics of an actual product never exactly match the previously planned categories. It is more useful for evaluation of a creative product to clarify the subjective meanings of independent evaluators and to reach an agreement on these meanings for an actual product, than the previously developed criteria for evaluation of creativity.

29. Qualitative story analysis could be valid method of measuring creativity and that it can be used as a way to improve the quantitative measures of creative products of pupils. contributes to the more complete description of a creative product than quantitative measures, because it shows the variety and richness of the components involved in a creative product.

30. Some implications for  school syllabus The need for introducing creative writing as a special subject in, with the aim of nurturing pupils� creativity. Pupils to get introduced with different narrative formats and components of creative writing (the linear narrative format is encouraged in a larger degree in school).

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