Exploring the relationship between creativity and engineering design outcome score

Abstract

Engineering design is the creative process. Some would believe that everyone has the capability to create or design a product or solution based on his or her knowledge and experiences. Engineering Design Process (EDP) steps can be described from the main steps to the most specific and detailed process. Each step involves a special task or strategy to meet the goal of the task. The EDP is an iterative process in nature. As the solution to a design problem develops, the engineering designer will be continually refining the design. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between creativity and engineering design projects among undergraduate engineering students. A non-experimental correlational research design was used in the study. Twelve engineering year project teams in the College of Engineering at Colorado State University were selected and voluntarily involved for the study. The students' creativity was measured using Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Figural A) (TTCT) while the tool to assess the engineering design outcome is adapted from the Student Product Assessment Form (SPAF). The results indicated that only TTCT — Resistance to Premature Closure had significant correlation with the SPAF — Technical Approach and Final Design Solution, r (11) = −.58, p = .048. There was no statistical significance found for the other pairs. Overall, the analysis of correlation indicated very low, negative, and non-significant correlation between creativity and design outcome, r (11) = −.012, p = .971. This led to the summary that in this study, the design team creativity level had no association with the engineering design outcome score.