Is it possible to teach creativity? Here is a short survey designed to try and answer that question. The work came out of a class called, "Creativity, Innovation, and Change | 创意，创新, 与 变革 offered by the Pennsylvania State University through Coursera.

1. A SURVEY
By Lynda Roy
Creativity, Innovation, and Change | 创意，创新, 与变革
The Pennsylvania State University
29 August 2014

2. How this survey came about. Shorter Version.
Q: Can Creativity Be Taught?
A: Ask People I Know.

3. How this survey came about. Longer Version.
Can creativity be taught?
I never thought about it until I enrolled in a Coursera class this summer called, “Creativity,
Innovation, and Change”. I think of myself as creative and no one ever taught me, so it caused me
to wonder. Could creativity actually be taught? My professors thought so, but I was skeptical. I
read the course materials, watched quite a few TED talks, and did what everyone does when
wrestling with an important issue – I Googled it!
But I wasn’t satisfied. Then it occurred to me. I should ask the people I know! And that’s how this
survey came about. I wanted a little help from my friends.
You can see the mechanics of how the survey was put together at the back of this document.
Basically, the survey instrument developed out of a surveying project I had been involved in at
work. Then I reached out to my Facebook Friends, LinkedIn Connections, and a handful of my
email contacts. The response rate was just okay.
But, for me, the quality of the responses was eye opening. And maybe for you, too!
Take a look and let me know – do you think creativity can be taught? And just what the heck is
creativity anyway?
Thanks everyone who took the survey! You are the best!
Thanks also to Dr. Kathryn Jablokow, Dr. Darrell Velegol, Dr. Jack Matson, and Elizabeth
Kisenwether of the University of Pennsylvania. Great class!

4. What I learned. Shorter Version.
Creativity has Four E’s
• Everyone is creative!
• Everything is creative!
• Creativity is Everywhere!
• Creativity is Encouraged rather than Taught!

5. What I learned. Longer Version.
Each one of the survey respondents said they were to some degree creative! And most said
they were ‘Always’ and ‘Very Often’ creative!
Respondents resoundingly disagree that creativity is just for the arts. Creativity is in
Everyone, Everything, and Everywhere. All fields of human endeavor are creative. Where
thought exists there is creativity. Wherever there is a problem to solve, a challenge to meet
or an obstacle to overcome you will find creativity. Yes, creativity is on display in the arts,
but it is also integral to science, medicine, engineering, research, relationships, raising kids,
cooking, gardening, teaching, diving, sailing, exploring, traveling, adventure and even in
organizing a closet. Wherever you must think out of the box – which for humans is
frequently – you will find creativity.
Many respondents felt that creativity could be “tapped into” rather than taught. Others
said that what could be taught were strategies, techniques, or methods to bring out
whatever creativity was inherent in the individual. The word “encouraged” showed up
many times in the Comments as did “predisposition”, “innate”, “genetic” and “creative by
nature”. Many expressed that everyone has varying degrees of creativity and it wasn’t so
much teaching as sparking what creativity was already there. A few comments were made
about the importance giving permission to people to be creative and especially early on
with children that we take care to protect their confidence in their creativity because this
will serve them well all throughout their lives.

6. Recap of the Survey Questions
1. Do you think you are creative?
2. What do you think about this statement?
“Creativity applies only to the arts.”
3. What do you think of this statement?
“Creativity can be taught.”
4. When were you born?
5. How do you identify your gender?
6. What is your highest level of schooling?
7. Where do you live?
8. What kind of work do you do?
9. What question about creativity were you expecting that wasn’t asked?

7. Q1. Do you think you are creative?
The largest number of Respondents said they were creative ‘Very Often’!
25%
45%
28%
2%
0%
Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never
No Respondent said ‘Never’!

8. Q1. Do you think you are creative?
Equal Numbers of Men and Women Responded ‘Very Often’!
Creativity by Gender
Total Male Female
Prefer Not To
Answer Self Describe
Always 25% 13% 10% 2%
Very Often 45% 21% 21% 3% 1%
Sometimes 28% 13% 16%
Rarely 2% 2%
Never
100% 46% 49% 3% 3%
(totals effected by decimal rounding)
Women responded ‘Rarely' or 'Sometimes' slightly more often than men.

9. Q1. Do you think you are creative?
60% of Silents & Greats - especially men - were most often ‘Always’ creative.
Creativity by Gender by Generation
Total Silents & Greats Baby Boomers Generation X Millennials Not Given
M F S M F S M F S M F S PNTA*
Always 25 4 1 1 4 8 5 0 1 1 1
Very Often 46 2 1 10 15 5 4 4 1 3
Sometimes 29 1 8 10 2 4 2 2
Rarely 2 2
Never
102 7 1 2 22 35 0 12 8 1 7 4 0 3
6/10 25/57 9/21 5/11
60% 44% 43% 45%
(totals effected by decimal rounding)
Under 50% of all other generations were most often ‘Very Often’ creative.
*Prefer Not To Answer

10. Q2. What do you think about this statement?
“Creativity applies only to the arts.”
Disagree
94%
Neither agree or
disagree
Not Given
3%
2%
Agree
1%
Respondents
Disagreed
Resoundingly!

11. Q2. What do you think about this statement?
“Creativity applies only to the arts.”
62% of Respondents Commented. This Word Cloud sums up what they wrote!
Word Cloud by Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

12. Q3. What do you think about this statement?
“Creativity can be taught.”
Agree
43%
Neither agree or
disagree
23%
Disagree
18%
Undecided
13%
Not Given
3%
Respondents
were Less Uniform
with these Answers

13. Q3. What do you think about this statement?
“Creativity can be taught.”
56% of Respondents Commented. This Word Cloud sums up what they wrote!
Word Cloud by Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

14. Q4. When were you born?
The greatest number of Respondents were born between 1946 and 1964.
9%
57%
21%
11%
1% 3%
1945 or earlier 1946 - 1964 1965 - 1981 1982 - 2005 Prefer Not To Answer Not Given

15. Q4. When were you born?
More Baby Boomers took the survey than any other generational category.
Generations in the Survey Compared to the Experts
Date Range Generation
% of Population
CNN Infographic Creativity Survey
% Difference
Infographic to
Survey
1945 or earlier Silents & Greats 17% 9% -47%
1946 – 1964 Baby Boomers 33% 57% 73%
1965 – 1981 Generation X 28% 21% -25%
1982 - 2005 Millennials 22% 11% -50%
Date ranges for generations are based on the 2011 CNN Infographic:
“American generations through the years”
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/05/living/infographic.boomer/
Sources given in the Infographic are:
“Millennials: A portrait of Generation Next”, Pew Research
“Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069”, Strauss & Howe
U.S. Census

16. Q5. How do you identify your gender?
Equal numbers of men and women responded to the survey.
Female
48%
Prefer Not To
Answer
Self Describe 3%
3%
Male
46%
Not Given
0%
Three terrific responses here!
Human
Spiritual Being
An Old Fart

17. Q5. How do you identify your gender?
Most women who responded were Baby Boomers.
Gender by Generation
Generation Date Range Male Female PNTA* Self Describe Totals
Silents & Greats 1945 or earlier 6 1 2 2 11
Boomers 1946 - 1964 22 36 58
Generation X 1965 - 1981 12 8 1 1 22
Millennials 1982 - 2005 7 4 11
47 49 3 3 102
*Prefer Not To Answer

18. Q6. What is your highest level of schooling?
Most Respondents had a 4-year college degree or more.
No schooling completed
Schooling to the 8th grade
Some high school, no diploma
High school graduate with diploma or equivalent such as…
Some college credit, no degree
Trade/technical/vocational training
Associate degree
Bachelor's degree
Master's degree
Professional degree
Doctoral degree
Schooling not in list
Prefer not to answer
Not Given
3%
0%
1%
5%
4%
7%
6%
4%
30%
11%
25% 4%
2%
0%

19. Q7. Where do you live?
Respondents were predominantly from the United States.
World
10% Not Given
4%
United States
86%

20. 88%
10%
20%
Q7. Where do you live?
State % Total Respondents
Connecticut* 25%
New York 16%
Massachusetts 7%
Florida 6%
Minnesota 5%
New Jersey 5%
California 4%
Texas 3%
Colorado 2%
Maryland 2%
Missouri 2%
Virginia 2%
Washington 2%
DC 1%
Illinois 1%
Kansas 1%
Michigan 1%
North Carolina 1%
South Carolina 1%
Wisconsin 1%
Country % Total Respondents
Canada 1%
China 1%
England 1%
France 1%
India 1%
Indonesia 1%
Ireland 1%
Italy 1%
Spain 1%
Switzerland 1%
City/Town % Total Respondents
New York, NY~ 11%
Minneapolis, MN 3%
San Antonio, TX 3%
South Windsor, CT* 3%
*home state & town
~home base
Not Given = 4%

21. Q8. What kind of work do you do?
Respondents worked across a diverse range of areas.
Business/For Profit Firm
Retired
Information Technology
Teaching
Health/Medicine
Creative Field
Education Services
Non Profit Management
Executive/Leadership Coaching
Exploration
Research
Sales/Marketing
Social/Spiritual Impact
Education Management
Human Resources
Not Given
Real Estate
Fitness
Space
Television
Trucking
Unemployed
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
3%
5%
8%
12%
10%
10%
21%
Nice surprise?
The number of Respondents
who are teaching, both in
Higher Ed and K-12!

22. Q9. What question about creativity were you expecting
Even though this question was optional, 74% of Respondents wrote Comments.
Here are the top 10:
What is creativity?
that wasn’t asked?
Why is creativity important?
Is everyone creative?
Is creativity a state of “being”?
Is creativity more prevalent in women than in men?
How do you recognize creativity?
Would someone else say you were creative?
Does your creativity in one area influence your creativity in other areas?
Is creativity inspiration or perspiration or both?
Why is the question “what is creativity” so hard to answer?

23. Q9. What question about creativity were you expecting
that wasn’t asked?
Among the Comments these are fun to think about:
“Is creativity necessarily a function of a definition?”
“Why do you think the [U.S.] Congress and Senate
don’t have an ounce of creativity between them?”
“Is creativity ‘genius’ or vice versa? Sometimes that
brilliant insight or innovation is maybe a little of each?”
“I think creativity is the adult word for imagination.
As kids we imagined all the time. Call it daydreaming,
imagining, creativity, it all comes from the same source
and is framed in two questions: ‘What if … ?’ and the
follow-up question ‘If it could how would I … ?’”

24. Survey Mechanics
SURVEY
Provider: Survey Monkey
Dates: 8/8/14 - 8/15/14
Duration: 8 days – Two 72 hour cycles
Total Responses: 102
POPULATION
Social Sites Target Audience Population Size Responses Response Rate
Facebook Friends 526 74 14%
LinkedIn Connections 1,176 7 1%
Personal Email
Subset Address Book Select Contacts 30 21 70%

25. No part of this survey or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted
without the prior written consent of the author. Thanks for your consideration.
Questions?
Comments?
© Lynda Roy 2014
Reach me through LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/lyndaroy/