What kind of questions do creative people ask?

Abstract

Asking questions is a key characteristic of creativity and an important component of the creative process. Although much evidence has supported the association between asking questions and creativity, less research has examined the nature of questions asked by creative persons. In this study, we investigated the relation between creativity indicators—fluency and originality—and three types of questions: Open- vs. Closed-Ended questions, Possibility thinking, and Temporal thinking. To examine these relationships, we conducted four sets of analyses using questions posed by a sample of undergraduate students (n = 165) in two divergent thinking tasks (i.e., Activity 1 – Asking Questions and Activity 6 – Unusual Questions) from two different forms (i.e., Form A and Form B) of an earlier version of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking—Verbal. Results indicated that participants with higher originality and fluency scores were more likely to ask Open-Ended Questions. Additionally, creativity indicators were significantly associated with Possibility Thinking Questions in Activity 6, and Temporal Thinking Questions in Form A – Activity 1. We discussed the implications of the findings and potential reasons for varied results.

Keywords

• Question asking
• Creativity
• Open-ended questions
• Closed-ended questions
• Possibility thinking
• Temporal thinking