Creativity in Science: How Scientists Decide What to Study

The creative process used in art is fundamentally different from the process of science.

• a.true
• b.false

Science has been described as "the art of the soluble." This means that science is about

• a.chemistry and chemical solutions.
• b.solving the world's problems.
• c.determining which questions are solvable.
• d.describing research artistically.

The ability to be creative in any field is enhanced by

• a.a wild imagination.
• b.background knowledge and experience.
• c.artistic abilities.
• d.interacting with other people.

In order to make progress in the study of genetics, scientists tended to choose an organism to research that was

• a.simple, and could provide the most straightforward case.
• b.complicated, and could provide a realistic example.
• c.well-known, and the significance would be appreciated.
• d.obscure, and therefore non-controversial.

Scientists are often concerned with the "big questions" in their field, such as Can we mitigate the effects of climate change? or What causes heart disease? or How important is a particular species to our ecosystem? Which of the following statements best represents how scientists tackle these big questions?

• a.Scientists design research studies that directly address the big questions.
• b.Scientists design studies that address a portion of the big question that can be addressed.
• c.Scientists hope that the work they do addresses a big question.
• d.Scientists ignore the big questions, knowing they are too challenging to answer.

Being a scientist often involves distinguishing between testable and non-testable questions. Based on what you've read here, which of the following do you think is a good definition of a "testable question"?

• a.A testable question can be answered definitively through experimentation.
• b.A testable question is a large, overarching question of importance to many scientists.
• c.A testable question can be addressed through the scientific process, which includes creativity and logic.
• d.A testable question is preferred by scientists because it has a simple answer or explanation.

Scientists "tell stories" in the sense that they

• a.interpret their data however they want.
• b.piece together information to make a coherent explanation.
• c.write scientific papers that simplify the process they went through.
• d.try to extrapolate from very simple cases to more complicated ones.