Creativity in Research
Cultivate Clarity, Be Innovative, and Make Progress in your Research Journey
Creativity is at the heart of successful research. Often the big goal is clear: Earn the PhD, write a winning grant, finish the master’s thesis, reach tenure, think up the next big thing in your field. But knowing which direction to go or how to move concretely toward that big goal is often not clear. Unfortunately, researchers are rarely taught how to manage their creative process, and modern academic life is not structured to optimize creativity.
Creativity in Research provides concrete guidance on developing creativity for anyone doing or mentoring research. Based on a curriculum developed at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, this book presents key abilities that underlie creative research practice through a combination of scientific literature on creative confidence, experiential exercises, and guided reflection. By focusing attention on how research happens as well as its outputs, you can increase your ability to address research challenges and produce the outputs you care about. Simultaneously, you may also transform your emotional relationship with your work, replacing stress and a harsh inner critic with a more open and emotionally empowered attitude. Whatever your background, discipline, or career stage, this book can give you concrete tools to gain clarity, be innovative, and make progress in your research journey.
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Reviews and Endorsement
David M. Kelley
Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; Founder, IDEO; Founder Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford
“In our work at the Stanford d.school, we've found that creative processes are useful to practitioners across many disciplines—design, business, and education to name a few. Through compelling, straightforward prose and concrete examples, this book shows that creative thinking is equally useful for researchers of all kinds. It is exciting to imagine the possibilities that will surely come from the approaches presented inside.”
Mark A. Runco
Director of Creativity Research and Programming, Southern Oregon University
“This book strikes an excellent balance between research and practice. It is perfect for people who draw on research findings to improve their research, which should be everyone. The authors get full marks for doing their homework and identifying a range of specific methods, justified by research, that will indeed support the creativity of researchers.”
Tina Seelig
Best selling author and Professor of the Practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) at Stanford School of Engineering
“At its essence, creativity is the heart of research. And yet, few researchers are taught how to hone the creativity skills needed to conduct research that will yield breakthrough results. This book addresses that critical need. By applying a wide range of tools, the authors provide a roadmap for crafting and performing experiments that lead to meaningful insights. It should be required reading for every aspiring scientist.”
Daniel Stokols
Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, University Of California, Irvine And Author Of Social Ecology In The Digital Age
“The goals, content, and clarity of this book are excellent. The chapters offer compelling insights and hands-on exercises for nurturing creativity in research. It will be a valuable and welcome contribution to the literature on promoting creativity among students and scholars working in several different fields.”
Pamela Matson
Goldman Professor, Stanford University, California
“Creativity in Research is a resource I'll share with all my students and colleagues. It's incredibly useful for all of us.”
Jamie McEvoy
Associate Professor of Geography, Montana State University
"Creativity in Research is a fantastic resource! After making it through the tenure process, I needed to reassess my professional goals. As I moved forward with my research, writing, teaching, and mentoring, I wanted to draw inspiration and motivation from a more creative and productive source (rather than falling back on feelings of obligation or fear). By summarizing cutting-edge research on creativity and providing exercises to bring creativity to research and writing projects as well as my teaching and mentoring, this book provided positive inspiration. Exercises such as Visual Thinking, Powers of 10, and Feedback Corner helped me clarify ideas, play with scale, and be more open to receiving feedback in my research process. One of the things I like best about this book is that it acknowledges that writing – a cornerstone of most academic work – is a creative process. Overall, Creativity in Research provides new tools for boosting the creative energy in your research."
PhD student & CIR workshop alum
Stanford University
"As a student just setting out in my PhD, I find the exercises and relatable experiences shared in this book extremely helpful as I begin to craft my own research questions. Creativity in Research has encouraged me to play more with my questions and preliminary data, and to consider approaching my work from angles I wouldn't have otherwise considered. When the task of completing a PhD seems daunting, this book helps to put things into perspective and reminds me that I'm here to be creative and curious about my field!"
Key features & benefits
Focuses on emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of research practice, thus treating research holistically.
Uses mindfulness, reflection, and self-awareness as a foundation for creativity in research and encourages readers to optimize their own individual approach.
Synthesizes research on the abilities underlying creativity from across a wide array of academic literature and presents this literature in a manner tailored to research practice.
Provides concrete exercises and techniques for readers to try, allowing readers to practice new approaches to build creativity in their research.