Measuring Functional Creativity: Non-Expert Raters and the Creative Solution Diagnosis Scale

The Creative Solution Diagnosis Scale (CSDS) is a 30-item scale based on a core of four criteria: Relevance & Effectiveness, Novelty, Elegance, and Genesis. The CSDS offers potential for the consensual assessment of functional product creativity. This article describes an empirical study in which non-expert judges rated a series of mousetrap designs using the 30-item CSDS. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a simple structure that corresponded closely to the a priori theoretical model of functional creativity, resulting in a revised 24-item CSDS. Non-expert judges were able to use the scale with a high degree of reliability and internal consistency. The revised CSDS paves the way for further research into the use of non-expert judges as a possible replacement for more costly, harder-to-obtain experts when measuring product creativity using the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT).