| Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of beliefs students hold about the field of computer graphics and their understandings regarding the character of creativity in the field. Participants in the study were 46 students from three dissimilar computer graphics programs at regionally accredited colleges/universities. Q methodology was utilized. Students sorted 48 statements about the determinant of creativity in the person, process, product, or environment and about the creative type as scientific, artistic, or some intersection of these two. Participants' arrangements of statements were correlated and factor analyzed.; Findings and conclusions. Three factors were extracted. Each factor was named and described based on the arrangement of statements that characterized the factor (highest and lowest z-scores), those statements that differentiated the factor from the other two, and participants' comments. Artistic Creatives appeared to value intelligence and the able to mentally manipulate objects. They characterized computers as “mere tools.” They noted that the truly creative work takes place before one sits down at the computer. Personal characteristics of creative individuals, to include a keen eye, an aesthetic sense, and an intuitive feel, seem to be understood as innate and of greater worth than an individual's education and experience. Technological Creatives understood the technology to compel workers in the field to be problem solvers. They stressed the need for balanced skills and abilities: logical and emotion, rationality and impulse. Technological Creatives indicated that creating with technology could be an intimate and sensuous experience. For Romantic Creatives, intelligence was not assumed to be crucial. Romantic Creatives indicated that given enough time and education, anyone could succeed in the computer graphics field. Consensus statements pointed to a shared understanding of creativity with an emphasis on imagination and motivation. |
