Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Those Days When People Are Creative: Diary Methods in Creativity Research

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Social Creativity Research

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture ((PASCC))

Abstract

Quantitative diary studies have been increasingly popular in various fields of psychology, mainly in social, developmental, and health psychology. The crucial strength of dairy research is that it relies on less recall than surveys and reduces retrospective biases. Moreover, it offers to examine the day-to-day dynamics of changes at both within- and between-person levels. Diary methodology seems promising for creativity research; it allows investigating cognitive, physiological, emotional, behavioral and social predictors of creative activities and self-perceptions in a natural context. In this chapter, I focus on several methodological issues related to the diary method in creativity research. I review various diary protocols, formats, and technological solutions to designing diary studies. Moreover, I suggest that collecting data with the micro-longitudinal approach and using multilevel modeling procedures is particularly promising for investigating patterns in social creativity research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    This figure presents re-analyzed and extended data originally demonstrated by Gunthert and Wenze (2012) and Bolger and Laurenceau (2013).

  2. 2.

    Researchers draw attention on the frequency and duration of assessments. These two aspects determine types of assessment schedule and should be chosen appropriately for the variable of interest.

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1942). The use of personal documents in psychological science. (Social science research council bulletin, no. 49.). Oxford, UK: Social Science Research Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beghetto, R. A., & Karwowski, M. (2017). Toward untangling creative self-beliefs. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self (pp. 3–22). San Diego, CA: Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Binnewies, C., & Sonnentag, S. (2013). The application of diary methods to examine worker’s daily recovery during off-job time. In A. Bakker & K. Daniels (Eds.), A day in the life of a happy worker (pp. 72–84). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binnewies, C., & Wörnlein, S. C. (2011). What makes a creative day? A diary study on the interplay between affect, job stressors and job control. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 589–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, N., Davis, A., & Rafaeli, E. (2003). Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 579–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, N., & Laurenceau, J.-P. (2013). Intensive longitudinal methods: An introduction to diary and experience sampling research. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, L. M. (2006). Analysis of longitudinal data: The integration of theoretical model, temporal design, and statistical model. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 505–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conner, T. S., DeYoung, C. G., & Silvia, P. J. (2016). Everyday creative activity as a path to flourishing. Journal of Positive Psychology, 13, 181–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1257049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conner, T. S., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Creative days: A daily diary study of emotion, personality, and everyday creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9, 463–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., Larson, R., & Prescott, S. (1977). The ecology of adolescent activities and experiences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 6, 281–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Sonnentag, S., & Fullagar, C. (2012). Work-related flow and energy at work and at home: A study on the role of daily recovery. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 276–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gevers, J. M. P., & Demerouti, E. (2013). How supervisors’ reminders relate to subordinates’ absorption and creativity. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28(6), 677–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2010). Paradigms in the study of creativity: Introducing the perspective of cultural psychology. New Ideas in Psychology, 28(1), 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, S., Meier, L. L., & Semmer, N. K. (2013). Latent growth modeling applied to diary data. In A. Bakker & K. Daniels (Eds.), A day in the life of a happy worker (pp. 114–131). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruner, D. (2016). New digital media and flow: A study of experience. Creativity: Research-Theories-Applications, 3(2), 343–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunthert, K. C., & Wenze, S. J. (2012). Daily diary methods. In M. R. Mehl & T. S. Conner (Eds.), Handbook of research methods for studying daily life (pp. 144–159). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iida, M., Shrout, P., Laurenceau, J. P., & Bolger, N. (2012). Using diary methods in psychological research. In H. Cooper (Ed.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Foundations, planning, measures and psychometrics (Vol. 1, pp. 277–305). Washington, DC.: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ivcevic, Z., & Nusbaum, E. (2017). From having an idea to doing something with it: Self-regulation for creativity. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self (pp. 536–576). San Diego, CA: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, O. (2000). Job demands, perceptions of effort-reward fairness and innovative work behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73, 287–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., & Brzeski, A. (2017). Selfies and the (creative) self: A diary study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(172), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., Lebuda, I., Szumski, G., & Firkowska-Mankiewicz, A. (2017). From Moment-to-Moment to Day-to-Day: Experience Sampling and Diary Investigations in Adults’ Everyday Creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11, 309–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1983). The experience sampling method. New Directions for Methodology of Social and Behavioral Science, 15, 41–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehl, M. R., & Conner, T. S. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of research methods for studying daily life. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nezlek, J. B. (2012). Multilevel modeling analyses of diary-style data. In M. R. Mehl & T. S. Conner (Eds.), Handbook of research methods for studying daily life (pp. 357–383). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, H. T., & Gable, S. L. (Eds.). (2000). Event-sampling and other methods for studying everyday experience. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosing, K., Frese, M., & Bausch, A. (2011). Explaining the heterogeneity of the leadership innovation relationship: Ambidextrous leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 956–974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubenstein, L. D., Callan, G. L., & Ridgley, L. M. (2018). Anchoring the creative process within a self-regulated learning framework: Inspiring assessment methods and future research. Educational Psychology Review, 30(3), 921–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. (2012). Why researchers should think “real-time”: A cognitive rationale. In M. R. Mehl & T. S. Conner (Eds.), Handbook of research methods for studying daily life (pp. 22–42). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semmer, N. (1984). Streßbezogene Tätigkeitsanalyse. [Stress-oriented analysis task-analysis]. Weinheim, Germany: Beltz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silvia, P. J., Beaty, R. E., Nusbaum, E. C., Eddington, K. M., Levin-Aspenson, H., & Kwapil, T. R. (2014). Everyday creativity in daily life: An experience-sampling study of “little c” creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(2), 183–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvia, P. J., Cotter, K. N., & Christensen, A. P. (2017). The creative self in context: Experience sampling and the ecology of everyday creativity. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self (pp. 437–458). San Diego, CA: Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney, P., Farmer, S. M., & Graen, G. B. (1999). An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 52, 591–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberger, E., Wach, D., Stephan, U., & Wegge, J. (2018). Having a creative day: Understanding entrepreneurs’ daily idea generation through a recovery lens. Journal of Business Venturing, 33, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welbourne, T. M., Johnson, D. E., & Erez, A. (1998). The role-based performance scale: Validity analysis of a theory-based measure. The Academy of Management Journal, 41(5), 540–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilden, R. G., & Zacher, H. (2014). A daily diary study on ambidextrous leadership and self-reported employee innovation. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(4), 813–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zacher, H., & Rosing, K. (2015). Ambidextrous leadership and team innovation. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), 54–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zapf, D. (1993). Stress-oriented analysis of computerized office work. European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 3, 85–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by a grant obtained from The Maria Grzegorzewska Pedagogical University, Poland (BSTM 1/16-I).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Science, The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warszawa, Poland

    Marta Czerwonka

Authors
  1. Marta Czerwonka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marta Czerwonka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland

    Izabela Lebuda

  2. Department of Psychology, Webster University Geneva, Bellevue, Switzerland

    Vlad Petre Glăveanu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Czerwonka, M. (2019). Those Days When People Are Creative: Diary Methods in Creativity Research. In: Lebuda, I., Glăveanu, V.P. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Creativity Research. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95498-1_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation