An Ounce of Preventative Research Design Is Worth a Tone of Statistical Analysis Cure

This response addresses the data analysis issues raised by Wierenga and van Bruggen (1998) concerning Massetti (1996). Their analysis suggestions were performed and resulted in no significant differences between the treatment conditions. However, these analyses are misleading because of normality and variance problems present in Massetti’s data set. Specifically, not controlling for individual performance differences in ideational fluency ability during experimentation created the need for the complex, but appropriate, analysis approach used in Massetti. This response further suggests that ideational fluency be included as an independent factor in future research on individual creativity support systems.