Counting the Muses: Development of the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS)

If one takes a domain-specific approach to studying creativity, 1 key question is to determine the most important domains to measure. One approach is to look at common perceptions of creativity. Building on past studies that used self-report questionnaires, this study presents a new instrument, the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale. A factor analysis of 2,318 college student responses led to 50 items and 5 broad domains: Self/Everyday, Scholarly, Performance (encompassing writing and music), Mechanical/Scientific, and Artistic. Coefficient alphas and coefficients of congruence were generally strong. Correlations between the 5 creativity domains and the Big Five personality factors were consistent with past research, lending evidence of convergent validity.